Jon's First Father's Day

Quote of the day: "Argh! I got it on my hands!"

This is what Jon called out from the bathroom while he was cleaning up Ezra's dirty diaper. It was a cloth diaper, and it was relatively full, which meant it needed a good toilet-dunking. So his statement made me laugh because I was thinking "How would you NOT get it on your hands?"

Anyhow, I salute my diaper plunging husband for being such a great dad to Ezra, who loves him TO PIECES. You should see Ezra's smile and hear his shrieks when dad gets home from work. It's like the world is as it should be.

Oh how beautiful!

North Carolina

It's been a while again, sorry! Life has been just moving along and I find myself busy with a multitude of things that keep me from posting. But here are some recent pictures. Over Memorial Day we went to North Carolina with some friends of ours. Ez had a great time in nature and among the farm animals at the petting zoo. Actually, I think dad had more fun in the petting zoo than Ezra.

Family Photos

Argh~!

I have been trying to upload several different videos - but blogger always denies me. Shucks! Oh well - here are a few more still shots of our little champion. As you can see, he is out of casts and into his cool, bright purple brace. Awesome. Also, we got the results back from his MRI and he DOES NOT have spina bifuda! Praise Jesus! We will now go see some other specialists to determine what is 'wrong'.

Just chillin, watching his favorite show. Just kidding. Don't think the tv is on. But it reminded me of a man sitting on the couch drinking a beer, flipping through channels.

How I LOVE my cow puppet!

Freedom! 1 hour of "no-brace-time" per day. Here he is trying to figure out how to crawl. Heidi, this is the weird shirt I was talking about.

The pediatrician has awesome huge pictures above the exam tables - every room is different with a different color theme. We liked this one!

Some Recent Pictures

Sorry it has been so long! A lot has happened:

• Ezra got bigger and can now sit on his own!


• Ezra continues to smile and laugh and smile and laugh almost all day long


• Ezra had his tenotamy (cutting of the tendons in his legs to stretch them out)


• My parents came to visit again (see below) and were super duper helpful as...


• We moved to a new apartment. We now have two bathrooms and a dishwasher. Yay.


• The swans at Lake Eola had babies. I'll post pictures next time.


• Jon and I both had terrible March Madness brackets.


• I was offered an opportunity to be on the McDonalds payroll. No, not as a burger-maker. As an English instructor for a bilingual managment program. Haven't decided yet if I can accept a paycheck from that company.

Tomorrow our little guy has his MRI to check for neurological problems. The day after that, he gets his last set of casts off and starts to wear his brace. It's going to be a tough week!

Life is Good

Food, Glorious Food!

Hmm...what the heck was that?
No, I don't think I like this very much....!

Ugh! It feels so WEIRD! I don't think I want any more.

Well, okay - if you're going to make airplane sounds that changes everything!

Today we tried solid food for the first time. I'd say it went pretty well - he ate about five spoonfuls. Then he was done with it. We'll try again tomorrow! I was planning on waiting till 6 months, but that's only a week and a half away - and I got a new food processor and baby food cook book that I really want to try out!!!!

Happy Boy

Our Growing Boy

Here are a bunch of pictures of our boy - in no particular order. He is such a character! Growing and changing like crazy! We cannot believe how time has flown by already.

My Big Mistake

I am now a stay-at-home mom. Well, we don't stay at home ALL the time - we go out for walks, to Starbucks, for groceries, to meet friends and to a variety of doctor appointments. I also still work on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
But the staying-at-home-and-not-using-a-whole-lot-of-my-brain thing is quite an adjustment. So on Monday I decided I'd whip up an amazing dinner.
And I did: panko and garlic encrusted tilapia over rice with an onion and red wine vinegar butter sauce; coconut fried shrimp; broccoli; roasted carrots and radishes. It was phenomenal. Made up all the recipes myself.



Then on Tuesday I made up another recipe - I marinated some chicken for a few hours in soy sauce, red wine vinegar, chili peppers and salt. Then I tossed the chicken pieces in flour and fried them up nicely. Then I made a red wine sauce and tossed in some carrots, red peppers and basil. Then mixed in the chicken again. Served it over rice. Awesomeness.

But here's the MISTAKE part of it all. On Wednesday, Jon goes "ooh, I wonder what dinner will be tonight!" GULP.

Pizza from Target.

And tonight: breakfast -- omelets, hashbrowns and toast. Not so exciting.

Jon says my "streak" is over. I guess it was dumb to go all gung-ho two nights in a row. That creates expectations.

And I've realized that my days are WAY to un-planned to have expectations.

oh Boy!

Life is almost starting to feel like normal. Almost.

I am still astonished at how little I get done during the day! Ezra is sleeping right now. I'm hoping this nap is at least 30 minutes so after I quickly write this post I can change into clothes and brush my teeth!

Grandpa and Grandma S have already come to visit, and so has Auntie Janice. Ezra really likes visitors cause that means he gets almost 100% face time! But he's also really chill - Janice and I went out a few times and he was as easy as pie!

Tomorrow he goes back to his pediatrician and also to a urologist. Yesterday he got his second set of casts on. He doesn't like them too much, but he only complains a bit and then moves on with life. We also have appointments with a neurologist coming up because we and the orthopedist are pretty certain Ezra has spina bifuda. We will keep you updated as we find out more.

He is growing and changing every day. When he first came, he would speak softly and smile. Now he squeals and laughs! He has even developed a bit of a fake cry that he busts out every now and then to make us jump up give him exactly what he wants! He also has moved from touching a toy to grabbing it, and now even moving it from one hand to another. Okay, okay - all babies do that and it isn't exciting. But it is for first time parents!!!!

Here's a picture of the precious kid:

More Pictures

Hi! Sorry it has taken us so long to post more pictures, but our internet connection sucks. Our little buddy is doing really well. Grandpa and Grandma Stelpstra are here visiting and they love him to pieces. We've had one pediatrician visit and have a follow-up next week. We also have the evaluation with the orthopaedic specialist next week. We will keep you updated on that side of things as well. For now, here's a few pictures.