Ian Uses The Potty!!

I am excited to tell you that Ian has finally peed in the potty! Woo Hoo!!

(no pictures will be forthcoming)

This is Awesome.

Big Smiles!

IMG_2806, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Stek.

I finally caught one of those elusive little smiles on camera. Enjoy!

Kick it!

Going Strait to Hell!

Two Months!

Noa is two months old as of yesterday. The time goes fast! He came back from the doctor with an 'A'. He is 13lbs 12ozs, 22 1/2 inches long and has a 39cm head circumference. He is one solid baby! His rankings are: 90% for weight, 50% for height and 25-50% for head. Ian however is in the 10th percentile for fashion. He is becoming quite independent and sometimes wants to pick out his own clothes - with funny and charming results! We think that Noa suffers from reflux which fits with the stomach sleeping, not liking the car seat and the frequent spitting up and discomfort after eating. Now that we know this we can keep him upright after feedings and it seems to help - except at bedtime when he is just fussy. But the good news is that once he decides to settle down to sleep he is out - for the night. Last night he slept from 10 to almost 5am! Which is why I am up early blogging - hardly worth going back to sleep for only a half hour.

Moratorium on Road Trips!

The Steks of Chicago hereby notify all family that we will not be undertaking anymore road trips until Noa has decided that a car seat will not kill him. The return trip on Sunday took us approximately six hours due to repeated stops to try to find out why our youngest son was crying. Our particularly favorite moment was when Ian could not stand to hear Noa crying, or that his Momma had her finger in Noa's mouth, so he proceeded to solve the problem by drowning out Noa's cries with his own. And I am on record that traveling to Chicago turned around with your finger in a babies mouth, switching positions as your arm grows numb from the car seat edge cutting off all circulation, is not recommended for comfort or chiropractic health.

Come this holiday season, anyone who would like to see us or our children, can come to Chicago. We will be more than happy to see you but we will NOT be driving anywhere. Trains will be considered IF Noa does not have to be in a car seat.

Ian's birthday party will be the weekend of the 17th - in Chicago. Thanksgiving dinner will be served the weekend of November 28th - in Chicago. Christmas - ditto. Humpf!

:-) Gift Ideas for the Boys!

I love this website. Very cute clothes if you are feeling the urge...

www.punkbabyclothes.net

Growing Fast

It seems like time is passing faster with Noa than it did with Ian. I was looking at him this weekend - really looking at him and it just amazes me. He smiled at me for the first time this weekend! And he has just started holding his head up. He gets right up on his elbows and looks around - still a little wobbly but that head is up. Won't be too long before both of them are dating and wanted to borrow the car!

The Boys at Play

The Boys at Play, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Stek.

Ian loves his little brother... when Noa is willing to act as a road!

Things are good in the Stek house. We survived my first week back at work! I was pretty sure I would make it but I was a little concerned for Aaron. Contrary to the opinion of many, I am fully aware that as the stay at home parent, he has the harder job.

We are all adjusting to a life as four and getting back to a routine (??). I realized as I wrote that, that probably for the next year, nothing will be routine in our lives :-)

Ian continues to amaze me with his verbal skills and the charming mistakes. Lately he is calling his bicycle helmet, his "Melman". I think helmet just sounds a lot like the giraffe character in his favorite movie, "Madagascar". I think it's hilarious. Yesterday he was painting with Daddy-O and wrote a recognizable letters A, O and P all while saying out loud what he was drawing. Is this part of the normal two year old development milestones or am I right in saying my child is brilliant!

Noa continues to grow at an amazing rate. He has now outgrown at 6 weeks what I have pictures of Ian wearing at 2 months. But I have to say the reason he outgrew a couple sleepers was because his feet didn't fit the booties anymore! Unlike Ian, who's feet are so long, Noa's don't fit because they are too wide. That he gets from me!

The little guy is suffering from a bit of a cold and is having a hard time eating because of a stuffy nose which makes him pretty cranky. So today we are taking it easy, because none of us slept well last night, Ian included. It's hard when one wakes up the other. Luckily there are two kids and two parents. I can't imagine what it would be like to be married to a chauvinist or to have 3 children. The other day we saw a couple who had a toddler and triplet infants!! I felt for them. Yikes!

Ian is helping me make peanut butter cookies today and him and Aaron are at the grocery. Noa was sleeping up to now. Gotta go!

Noa's Stats

Hi all. Thanks for a lovely party on the 4th. We had a relatively uneventful ride home after running around GR in search of strawberries. The jam is now made, the shortcake and pie consumed in delight and the rest of the berries frozen for the winter months. We even got to take home some of the first cherries of the year and Ian loves those. He is looking forward to learning how to spit pits like mom and dad. I told him dad would teach him next year.

We took Noa to the doctor on Tuesday for his one month check up and he tipped the scales at a hardy 11lbs! He also put an inch on his length - making it 22 inches total. All this growth is in the last two weeks!! The doctor is a little concerned that he is putting on weight a little fast but oh well, it's not like I'm force feeding him. He just doesn't know the growth potential of our children. Ian was 13.5lbs at 2 months and he started out smaller! So overall Noa is in the 98th percentile for weight, the 75th for length and 50th for head circumference.

Thanks again for a great visit and I will get all the pics posted soon. I can't believe I have to go back to work again on Monday. Argh...

Noa Comes Home

Good News!! Noa should be released today (that sounds like he's been in jail) if all goes well. I have been up since just after 4pm in anticipation. It's now 6am and I think I will wake up the rest of the house as soon as I take a shower. The doctor's do their rounds between 8 and 10 so by the time we get everyone up and dressed and Ian to school - I should be able to take my little munchkin home! I was so happy yesterday when they told us. They let me try to nurse him yesterday but it was unsuccessful. He isn't used to working at nursing now that he has been bottle fed for the last 4 days. Time and patience should solve the problem. It did with Ian when we first brought him home and things got out of wack. Then he wouldn't stop so hopefully things will work out as well for Noa. Yeah for little Noa. I can't wait to snuggle him all day long. He has been just laying in a light bed with not enough kisses for too many days. Aaron and I will make up for it!!

Noa Douglas Stek

Noa Douglas Stek was born at Prentice Hospital at 3:33am on June 5, 2009. He was born at 36 weeks - one week premature and four weeks early. In spite of this he weighed in at a healthy 8lbs 9ozs and measured 20 inches. My water broke on Wednesday afternoon and I was induced Thursday morning. The birth went well except that Noa was big and didn't appear to be making progress down my birth canal. Under threat of a c-section, he and I put in a mighty effort and he crowned as the doctor arrived to take me to the operating room. Unfortunately he then got stuck in my pelvic bone and things were a little scary (and a lot painful) for a couple of minutes. We were discharged from the hospital on Saturday afternoon with the stipulation that we call first thing Monday morning to get Noa into the pediatrician's office as his biliruben was elevated. When we went to the doctor, there was some concern with a contusion on his right testicle that they thought might be more than birth trauma so we were sent to the ER of Children's Memorial to have a ultrasound performed on it. That turned out to be ok but he was admitted with a very high biliruben level (jaundice). There was concern that this was more than normal infant jaundice because of the very high levels but everything seems to be working out ok. He is responding exceptionally well to treatment (that's my boy!) and we hope that he will be able to come back home on Friday or Saturday.

Grandpa Stek left us this week. He died of cancer on June 6, 2009. He will be missed. I sure wish he could have met Noa. We love you Grandpa.

Weather Bitch

Hello - it's June now! Why is it still so damn cold? So maybe this is a little relative. I mean it isn't 5 degrees below or anything but it is only in the 40's this morning and only supposed to get up to mid 50's. I don't normally participate in weather bitchin' being that I've been in the midwest most of my life and have learned to roll with and be grateful for what cha get, but really now! One of the things I just love is spring time in the midwest and it seems like I got cheated out of that this year. Nothing but rain and chill. ARGH! Bring on the sun!!

Fun in Chicago

The last two weekends have found us spending the morning at the zoo. Ian just loves it and what's better than that. The first weekend we went courtesy of my friend Pat who has a membership. Yesterday we bought our own membership. Can't beat it for summer entertainment and it pays for itself in two trips! Ian sleeps like a rock and talks about it all week long. We let him get a plastic elephant yesterday and he hasn't let go of it yet. He took it to sleep with him last night and when I checked on him this morning he was still clutching it. I figure if I let him pick out an animal at each visit he can have his own zoo to play with at home too. They don't cost much and if we buy it on the way out, it distracts him from the fact that we are indeed leaving the zoo.

The top picture is of our latest art. Aaron and I love the work of an artist around town in GR. His name is Reb and you may have seen some of his murals decorating construction barriers around and about. When we were visiting a couple of weekends ago we took the opportunity to visit his gallery with Mary. We had this big long white wall in our living room that gave the whole room a cavernous feel. It definitely needed big color. The courage cow looks great there and the room finally feels like a living room and not a warehouse. Yes, our apartment is big!

It took awhile for me to feel 'at home' here but now that I have most of the art on the walls and curtains up, etc. Things are feeling good. Still need to finish that nursery but we have clothes, diapers and last night we bought a car seat and the changing table and crib are set up. So if we have the baby today we would be ok. I'm just enjoying fluffing the nest and feel this need to have everything in the apartment done before baby arrives. Which is a little unrealistic - so instead of worrying about it - we go to the zoo! Gets all of us out of the house.

LEED AP

Yeah! May is over! Well not physically but my life in May is over. This has been an incredibly busy and stressful month cumulating with me having to take the LEED AP exam this morning. I passed! Barely... but pass/fail is all that matters. To do it, I had to take a couple of days off - one day and night (yes, all night) to study and one to recover. Now all I have to do is nest. That feels good.

Wash clothes and diapers, buy a car seat, pack a bag, all the fun stuff. And most important I can start taking better care of myself and the baby that is growing inside of me. Who will probably come out addicted to adrenaline, stress and anxiety. Just like his dear ol' mom. Ah well. I do ok.

YEE-HAW!

Still Here, Still Pregnant

Hi all! May has been a hectic ride. We have been busy non-stop and I am only blogging now out of procrastination. Life is good but I am looking forward to seeing the backside of Thursday, after which we don't have any plans except that whole giving birth thang. Things are going well with me and the baby. I have been promised that this labor will not be 6 days and that they will have me through it in under 20 hours. That would be refreshing! Baby X will certainly not be hanging out till his due date. He is an impatient sort like his mom. I have been having contractions for several months now and most recently they have become a bit serious. At my check up on Thursday I had the midwife take a look at things and she tells me that I am already starting to dialate! She says it is just the beginning stages and that there is very little chance that the baby will be premature and at this stage, even if I went into labor it wouldn't be stopped. So I'm not worried, but I am considered full term in just three weeks so you might want to move up your plans by a couple of weeks. We aren't going all the way to July! And we better get that nursery set up!

Rain Rain Go Away...

I can't believe it is supposed to T-Storm all during the day tomorrow. Yuk. It did this last time we moved too. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I'm so glad the day is almost upon us. That means the back side of this move is close. I have a friend who has been so good at keeping me putting one foot in front of the other and running me around on errands since her car isn't broken down. That's been a big help since we won't get our jeep back from the shop until maybe as late as Friday. She's putting us up for the night too as we are officially homeless for one night. Thank goodness for friends! Thanks Pat!

Life On The Move

Things are a little hectic in the Stek household this month. We are getting ready for the big move this Thursday and Friday, the jeep has broken down (sob) and Ian and I are both struggling. Ian has been misbehaving since the first box came out. We are both (Aaron and I) trying to be understanding of the fear and insecurity the move is causing in him but at the same time trying to keep his behavior in line. It's exhausting. Nothing is accomplished without a tantrum or maybe I should say nothing that involves a change. It seems that he is trying to balance the insecurity of the move by not allowing any other change to happen in his life. This includes taking on or off of any article of clothing, changing of diapers, going outside or inside, not being able to take the jeep, not being able to take the wagon, etc. You probably have the picture.

I'm just struggling for the obvious reason of being a bit prego. Which makes me unable to do some of the things I want to do - like packing and cleaning. Oh, I do a bit, but I am having to let Aaron do the majority of the work. Which involves me letting go of control and letting others help me and all sorts of other things that this very independent lady doesn't like to do. So sometimes I get a little cranky which combined with Ian (see first paragraph) isn't always a good scene. We are managing though, and it will all be over soon. I can't wait to have a dishwasher!