Life's lessons for my little men.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Early the other morning, the entire family was laying in bed. Griffin began to cry, Jack was very concerned about Griffin and said "is the baby okay?" and then went on to say "mom, don't break the baby." I replied "I won't, honey" Jack said "cause if you break the baby we would have to get another one from the doctor..." "Oh, really" Jack replied "I want a black one." I replied "well honey then mommy will have to get a new daddy." Jack did not like that idea.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Jack vs. The Potty

So, everytime I have suggested Jack using the potty he refuses. At first I thought it was a boy/girl thing since it seemed he would do it for daddy. Well, I was wrong... It's more of a Jack do it himself thing. This morning I was working on getting Jack dressed and before I did the phone rang and I ended up talking for a bit. I was sitting in the living room upstairs when I noticed Jack going into the bathroom. I decided to wait and see what would happen. After a few minutes he emerged and proudly told me he went pee-pee on the potty. Sure enough he had. So this afternoon I let him run free of clothing and sure enough I noticed him run into the bathroom. I decided to wait. Then I heard the toilet flush. Jack again came out and said "mommy, I went pee-pee" Of course, I was excited and went into the bathroom and asked "where did you go?" Jack proudly held up one of his bath nesting cups and said "in here."

Monday, May 26, 2008

GBR II

Griffin loves his fingers and thumb... He has been quite successful so far at finding them and soothing himself.

Family Life..

We are all settling in nicely with Griffin's arrival. Griffin is a true joy, he is mellow and an easy going guy. He has some special traits already and we joke that we are going to nickname him "goose" since he honks like a goose when he's nursing. He's a good eater and sleeper so far. We decided to try a night without the swaddle since he seemed to be fighting it and the night went very smooth. He's been to the park twice with his big brother, been to his first restaurant and an outing to Target. All were successful without a fuss. We have all fallen in love.

Great Grandma Tigges

Garry's grandma Mary recently was diagnosed with cancer and has gone home with Hospice. She has been suffering with ongoing pain issues since her bout of shingles almost two years ago and hope that with the help of Hospice the pain will be controlled.

Great grandma was able to meet the newest addition to the family this last week and was amazed at how strong he is. Grandma is an inspiration to all of us and we love her very much..

Uncle Justin's Visit

My brother - Justin was in Colorado for his new job with CACI and was able to make it up to Fort Collins for an overnight visit. Jack took to Justin immediately and became his shadow for the entire visit. Jack was spoiled by Justin and all the attention he gave to Jack. It was a nice visit and we were all sad to see him go..

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Thank You...

A big thank you to all of our many friends that stepped up to help us during our time of need. Thank you to our great neighbors the Johnson's for coming over Friday morning to take care of Jack until reinforcements arrived, for our balloons and tomorrows pot roast (we are looking forward to it). Thank you to my dear Elexa for leaving work (sadly) and driving up to Fort Collins to take care of Jack and spend the night here!! We couldn't have done it without you.. Thank you to Dustin (firefighter friend) that came to the hospital to properly install our car seat since we hadn't had a chance to get that done.. Thank you to my dear friend Melissa - for your support, for your meals, for your ongoing care of Jack and for your birthing support during the entire delivery. I couldn't have done it without you.. We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful support system around us... Thanks for all the gifts and love everyone has showered us with. Garry, Maura, Jack and Griffin

Griffin Brahm Rickart

Griffin Brahm Rickart is finally here!! Born - May 16th, 2008 at 2:26 pm, Weight - 7 lbs. 9 oz., Length - 20.5 inches. Griffin is healthy and strong. He arrived in this world so quickly (6 minutes) that he had "skid marks" on his head, that's what the nurses were saying... The delivery was fast and furious. I didn't have time to get an epidural, so needless to say it all went so quick. We came home the following day and are enjoying settling in as a new family. Jack is doing great. He proudly showed Griffin his excavators, has given him toys to play with, helped change his diaper, helped wipe his mouth and much more. He has been a helper to mommy, bringing me water this morning without being asked and proudly introducing Griffin to our neighbor. So far so good... We are proud of both of our boys and enjoying our new journey.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Big Boy Jack

Today was a very grown up day for Jack... First at nap time, I said "let's go upstairs and read books for nap" Jack said "no, I do it". He ran ahead of me and grabbed a book, I was putting some things away and heard him talking as he looked through the book, then I saw him jump from the couch run into his room and close the door. I thought hmmm, what's he up to? Then the door opened and he ran out and asked me to take his shorts off. I did. Then he turned around said "night" and went to bed. I just smiled at my independent boy. Then later today - some neighbor kids ran down to our house with their mom and asked if Jack could come to their house and play. I looked at Jack and said "do you want to go to Bonnie's house to play" Jack said "Oh, sure." and walked away. He didn't look back once. I came inside, felt my eyes well up and called GBR. He is not a baby anymore or even a toddler for that matter - he's a boy. We just love this age so much and it is changing so quickly...

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Midwife Visit

I start my weekly visits to the midwife this week. Today's visit went well. The midwife checked the baby and he is no longer breech... Yeah. I spoke with her about labor and delivery. I have been so busy with life, school, Jack, etc. that I haven't given a lot of thought to the labor or delivery - Yikes..

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Haircut

Jack got a haircut tonight... He loves to pull apart my jewelry box and knows that it is a special treat, so he sits still and doesn't complain. Works like a charm.

Rockies Game

Tuesday we went to Jack's first Rockies game... Our friend's Melissa and Maya were able to go with us. We bought Jack his very own cotton candy and after one bite he decided that the stick inside the cotton candy was much more interesting, so he peeled off the layers of cotton candy and handed it to daddy... Although the Rockies lost, it was a nice evening with friends.

If you give a pig a party

This past Sunday I took Jack to the play "If you give a pig a party" at the Lincoln Center. We met our friends, Melissa & Maya, Megan & Reid, & Christy & Hailey. The play started at 11 am, I was curious to see how my monkey would do for an hour of sitting still... He did great! He seemed to love the play. He clapped and would say "Yeah!" when the audience clapped. His eyes sparkled as he watched the show. It was wonderful. One of those times I will treasure forever.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

33 Weeks and counting...

As GBR would say "someone stole a watermelon from the five and dime." Very funny...

Chocolate Dreams

Saturday Morning... Garry and I were getting dressed so that we could head out the door for breakfast at Lucille's. We started looking for Jack to get him ready and were surprised at how quiet he was. I walked into the kitchen and this is what I saw. Jack had gotten up on the counter top, reached up to the top of the fridge, pulled down this plastic container filled with Easter candy, opened it, and then opened the small piece of chocolate. When I came around the corner I got the big smile and a "hi mommy". I asked Jack what he was doing and he proudly held up his piece of chocolate. I asked him where he got it and he pointed to the top of the fridge. I couldn't contain myself, I just laughed and called Garry to come look. Good Times!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Breech Baby...

I had a checkup today with my midwife, everything looks good. I have gained 29 lbs. and measuring "perfect" according to the midwife. She does think the baby is breech - of course. I was laying there thinking about how already this little guy is throwing me some curve balls, but isn't that the beauty of having children. Learning to take the curve balls and go with the flow. So, I am going to try some breech tilts and maybe some alternative treatments if necessary. I would prefer to have a normal delivery but then again what is normal.

Popsicle Fun

Jack spent the morning over at his friend Maya's. One of the highlights were Melissa's homemade popsicle.. As you can see. Very cute...

Friday, March 21, 2008

Bathtub Toys

Last night I decided to take a nice and quiet bath... Shortly after I had settled in I hear Jack come running in, he stopped at the tub and said "hi, mommy." "hi, jack" Jack said "do you need anything?" I smiled "no, honey, I don't need anything." He must have not liked my answer because he said "do you need some toys?" I started to say no but could tell he was dying to bring me some of his bath toys so I said "sure." Off Jack went to his bathroom and before I knew it he was back at our tub with an armful of bath toys for mommy to play with. He dumped them into the tub and off he went for another armful. Before I knew it I was surrounded by boats, a fishing pole, squeeze toys and more. A sweet reminder of the beauty of a two year old.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Inspiration Park

A recent trip to Inspiration Park... Jack saw a couple older boys digging in the sand, he walked up towards the boys, hesitated, then mustered up his courage, and walked up to the boys and said "hey guys, what are you doing?" The boys replied "we're digging a hole." Jack stood there and said "can I help?" The boys replied "sure." Jack walked around to an open spot and began digging. We were very proud of our social butterfly... Pretty good for a two year old.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Denver Zoo

We had an unusually warm day here for March - 74 degrees. So we decided to face the crowds at the Denver Zoo. Jack was very excited and enjoyed taking it all in. He especially loved the monkeys, elephants and the lions. Jack and GBR rode the carousel and the train with our friends Melissa and Maya. Here Jack and Maya are watching the elephants.