Grandma Lauri and Grandpa John's First Visit to Kodiak

Grandma Lauri and Grandpa John came early in January to visit us and meet Ethan. They had some unfortunate weather on the way in, and actually had to spend a night in Anchorage after their plane made 3 attempts to land here in Kodiak with no luck.

The next day they were able to finally make it in! During the time they were here, the weather was pretty bad. It rained most of the time, with a few sunny days and a snow day.

Grandma and Grandpa got to spend ALOT of time with Emily and Ethan. Emily discovered a new love for wasabi chips and jalapeno chips, all thanks to grandma and grandpa.

We got a lot done while they were here...put wallpaper up in the bathroom and painted Emily's room (which looks awesome!) Emily now has a beautiful green Big Girl Room. Here are some pictures of their journey here in Kodiak:

Ethan is getting so big. He is about 2 1/2 months old now and more than double his size when he was born. He's finally into the 3 month clothes! And, although he's still a bit small for his age (in the 50th percentile) he's just growing like a weed!!!

He's been a little fussy lately, so I bought him a Mommy Bear and a Tummy Warmer with some of the gift cards we received for Baby Shower Gifts. The Mommy Bear makes womb sounds to help calm babies...kind of weird, but HEY!, what ever works!

So The Kid Isn't Afraid of a Little Fire!

Here's a video of Emily and her new favorite snack.

Seriously, she LOVES this stuff!

122 lbs

Chloe went to the vet today and she weighs 122 lbs!

She's been on some thyroid medication for the last 3 weeks. Personally, I think she's losing weight, but apparently not. No, she doesn't over eat...and yes, we probably need to get her out to take a walk on a regular basis so she can work off those calories. (It's just so damn cold outside!)

17 Days

So, I give up. It's been seventeen days and I over my New Year's Resolution. No, it wasn't to lose weight or anything crazy like that...losing weight has been my New Year's Resolution for many, many years; and since I always fail at that one I decided that I try something simpler.

My New Year's Resolution this year was: To go out once a month.

So, tonight we went to go and see a movie at the theater. Emily does pretty good as long as she has some popcorn, and Ethan sleeps almost all day, everyday. So, we gathered everyone up for The Blind Side. I wish I could say that it was a good movie; but sadly, I didn't get to see much of it. I'm sure the people behind me were pissed. Up and down...Up and down...rocking back and forth...shhhh...Up and down...rocking....shhhh... It was constant the entire film! I saw about the first hour and then I had had enough and Ethan and I resorted to the chilly lobby where we paced back and forth waiting for the movie to be over.

I know what you're thinking...just get a babysitter next time. Gosh, if it were only that easy. We're never going to get to go anywhere again! It's over! So much for my New Year's Resolution; I can just see it now...trying to get out of the door for a Date Night; Emily screaming because she sees the babysitter, Ethan fussing...I dread the poor girl that walks into my house to try to sit for me.

...I should have tried to lose weight instead...

Going through Withdrawals

Well, last night we got the infant that every new parent DREADS...the infant that is fussy, colicky, won't sleep, refuses to eat but is hungry, refuses to sleep but is tired; the infant that cries and cries and cries. And, no matter what you do, you cannot calm your newborn baby. Yep, that is my new little one.

I write this now after a long sleep-deprived night. Chris was up for more than 3 hours trying to calm Ethan before it was my turn to try to get him settled. Ethan was awake and fussy for a total of about six hours last night. Why? Why do we have a colicky baby? Nothing was out of the norm...why was he so fussy? (Luckily we have family on town right now who can help; Lauri took on the "cause" around 8am and I got to go back to bed...Chris took a short nap later that afternoon.)

It later occurred to me that Ethan hadn't received his caffeine dosage in one-and-a-half days. Yes, my son is on caffeine. That sounds kind of funny, and No, we're not putting coffee in his bottles. He gets a caffeine dosage everyday to prevent him from going into a deep sleep. According to research, most apneic events happen when infants are in a deep sleep and the simply forget to breathe. For those of you who may not know, Ethan spent 10 days in the Anchorage NICU because he had apneic events due to prematurity; due to our initial concern, and a doctor who believed us, we're thankful to have Ethan here with us today.

Well...we, along with Ethan's doctor, decided that he can begin to come off the caffeine. The "plan" was for him to have a dosage every-other-day. So, he didn't get the dosage yesterday...and it wasn't until the early evening that it all clicked. My son is going through withdrawals.

He has all the symptoms: sweating, irritable, fussy, cranky. The poor thing! Around 5pm, when it clicked, I gave him today's dose of caffeine. He's been asleep and calm ever since.

I guess this is a lesson learned. Caffeine is an additive drug, and this process of getting him off his dependency isn't going to be easy. I'm sure there will be many more sleepless nights ahead of us. And we'll need a better plan of attack. We're hoping to have him off the caffeine by February.

Kodiak Polar Plunge

Perhaps next year I'll get my butt out of bed in time to participate...

About 1,000 people showed up for the annual Kodiak Polar Plunge.

(that's 1/6 of the entire island!)

What a great way to start off the new year!

Happy New Year!

It was a FUN New Year's Eve! Grandma and Papa stayed home with the kids and allowed us to go out and paint-the-town. I haven't been "out on the scene" since...well...never. So, it was a blast being able to hang out with our friends, sing karaoke, go dancing, and party-it-up. There is much of the New Year I remember...and much I don't. (lol) But, we all had a great time!!

Lisa's New Year's Eve Kiss.