She's Here!

My niece Reagan Elizabeth Reader was born today around 9 a.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces and is 21 inches long. She was delivered by c-section because her mother had not dilated more than 3 centimeters after 16+ hours of contracting and the baby was not tolerating it well. Both are doing fine now and here she is on her first day with grandma.

Snow No More

My hubby finished the rough draft of his dissertation proposal. The document was something like 70 pages long. With this step complete, he had time to play outside! On Saturday the snow was perfect for packing so he took Levi out in our courtyard and built his first snowman. It had oranges for eyes, carrots for the nose and mouth, and a lovely blue hat and scarf. With that all-important winter requisite fulfilled, I believe we can now move on to spring.

In love

I've only seen him twice but I'm already in love with my new nephew. Maybe it's the dazzling chocolate eyes. Or the chubby cheeks. Or the exuberant way he signs "more!" But probably it's just the fact that he's soon-to-be family. I like to think that this is the way God loves us. Even before we love Him, He's totally enthralled with us--His children, His Church, His bride.

Birthday Boy

Ian's party turned out great--I don't have much to say as the pictures say it all!

When you live in the ghetto...

...this is what you expect, I guess. Someone's SUV burned up in our apartment parking lot on the night of the blizzard. It must've been quite a blaze because the car is so badly charred, but we never heard a thing and we live quite close to where it is parked. I don't think we somehow missed any sirens blaring or anything. Some unknown tenant has had enough of this eyesore and put up posters like this in every building of our complex except the one where the landlord lives--or so she thinks. I think it is hilarious but the landlord took it as a personal attack on her because she hasn't been able to get the wreck towed yet. She said all the tow trucks are busy after the blizzard. I love how childish the poster is, though.

Ian's First Ear Infection

Our visit to the doctor today revealed that Ian has an ear infection in one ear. Both my hubby and I used to get frequent ear infections as children. Eventually I had ear tubes put in and my tonsils taken out, which seemed to clear up the problem. Besides that, Ian is doing well and now weighs 26 pounds and is 31 inches tall. Amazingly, these are almost the same as Levi's stats at one year.

God's Timing

God's timing is perfect. If this hadn't been leap year, Ian would've gotten his first high fever (103.3) right on his birthday. We might've had to cancel his party anyway. As it happened, we got to celebrate the little guy's birthday at home and now he has a week to recover before the big party. And guess what other little miracle God worked for us? Ian already has a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning! It was supposed to be his one-year well-check and I scheduled it three months ago but now it is a sick baby visit.

Ian's First Birthday

March 8 didn't turn out anything like we planned. We got hit with the biggest blizzard of the season here in northeast Ohio. This meant that we were snowed in and couldn't go out for lunch to celebrate Ian's birthday and we had to cancel his family party. I was in a grumpy mood for most of the day, I'll admit. Sometime in the afternoon we decided to have a little party at home. Nathan braved the cold and snow to pick up pizza, wings and salad from the Marco's Pizza shop that is within walking distance of our apartment. I can't believe some people actually thought the store would be delivering during the blizzard! Anyway, we got pizza, decorated the table and enjoyed a fun meal. Then we let Ian open his three little presents. After that, he dug into a piece of chocolate brownie that I had decorated with frosting and sprinkles. All in all, we had a good time, but I'm still looking forward to the family party next week. Today, Ian woke up with a fever and he's been sleeping most of the morning. Poor guy, I guess all the partying wore him out.

Ian's First Year