i know, i know

I have a lot of explaining to do. It has been over 3 months since I posted on here and I'm sorry. Needless to say, a lot has been happening in these past 3 months but, yeah, I should have put down the Bon-Bons and turned off the soaps to update everyone. Ha!

Our little Piper Aren (Ar--from Matthew's Grandpa's middle name, Arnold; En--from my Grandpa's middle name, Warren) was born December 20 at 7:06 PM weighing 9 pounds 1.5 ounces!


You can seen his clubfoot in this picture. It hurts me just to see the pictures now.


My parents got here Friday night at about 11:30 and I started having contractions Sunday morning at 2:00. They had a full day to see our routine with Finn so they could take over when we went in. It worked out perfectly! Here's Nana with Piper.


Grandma with Piper.


Papa Morken with Piper.


Papa Stabley with Piper.


We were discharged from the hospital on the morning of the 22, had a pediatric orthopedic appointment half an hour later and were home with a cast on Piper's clubfoot in the afternoon.


Matthew and Piper.


One of the many sweet moments of Finn loving on Piper. He will go up to him randomly throughout the day, get really close to Piper's face and say "Hi, Poo-Poo"! He's never been able to say Piper's name correctly.


Another one of those moments.


Finn holding Piper in his hospital outfit. The nurses brought him into the room one time wearing a Christmas hat and a big Christmas stocking. He looked just like a Christmas gift.


After a month of casting this is what his foot looked like. He ended up having the cast for 2 months in all.


Finn just HAD to be in this picture. He wouldn't let me take a picture of Piper alone so I told him I would take a picture of his feet. He was pleased with this compromise. =)


Sarah (Aunt Deah) came to visit at the end of January. She helped out the most organizing the kitchen for me and playing with Finley. We also just had a great time hanging out with the kids. She learned very quickly that if she squat down, sat down or even bent over too far Finley would come up behind her and ask for a "roy peese" which means "ride please". Most of the time she would just give him a ride because he asked nicely. He loved all the piggy-back rides, games on the floor, rough-housing and "nomas"--snowman building with Aunt Deah.


Piper in a tired daze.


Here we are at the hospital waiting for Piper to have his surgery to release his heel cord. It was a quick surgery and his heel came down perfectly!


Finn and Piper hanging out on the couch.


His cast was removed February 15 at 11:00 and 30 minutes later he had his Ponsetti brace fitted and on. We all then went out and had a celebratory dinner thankful for the first chapter of this healing process to be over with. He's had the brace for 1 month now and we have no problems with it. He has it off for about an hour every day and doesn't care if it's on or off and actually prefers to sleep with it on. One night I had just changed him and swaddled him when he 'let me know' that I had forgotten something. It took me a few minutes to realize that he didn't have his brace on. As soon as he had it on, he settled right down.


Finn in his Sunday School class for the first time. I had tears in my eyes as he walked down the hall to the classroom. He looked so small going back there on his own. He had a great time though and was so proud of himself for coloring pictures and making crafts. I hear from his teacher that he's a pro at singing VeggieTale songs and praying. A couple of weeks ago, he wanted to pray for his food. He squeezed his eyes shut, folded his hands and bowed his head as he said "mesus, kee-kee. Maymen"--Jesus, thank you. Amen.


Alyssa, one of Finn's teachers sitting with him coloring.


Putting on his boots, getting ready to go outside.


Out with the dogs.


Finley still likes to be chased and he sometimes asks for "poo-poo go, go, go" or poo-poo geetle"--Piper tickle. This all means that he wants Piper to chase him and tickle him. Matthew or I will then chase Finley around the house holding Piper down so it looks like Piper is going to catch him. It's actually a very tiring game and Piper isn't a big fan yet.


My guys...they all have very interesting expressions in this picture.



This video was taken a couple of days ago. Piper will smile now pretty much anytime you look at him. He's a very happy baby and we are getting a great schedule down...evenings are still up in the air, but he's a relatively good sleeper and loves to eat. Here's a tiny bit of a smile from Poo-Poo.

we're so proud...

Finley likes to walk around the house in my shoes and he's especially proud of himself when he walks around in my high heels.


Here he is walking through the hallway into the kitchen. He will stomp through the house to make them sound louder on the floor.


We really are proud of Finley and the big help that he's been. Matthew brought meat in to put in the freezer upstairs. Here is Finley helping me put it away.


This video was taken about half an hour before we found the lump on his neck again. Don't really have anything new to report on it, but we are going to call the doctor in Minneapolis first thing Monday morning to see what he says to do. We were told that if it came back it would mean surgery, but we'll see if maybe he just wants another scan done or a checkup. We'll keep you posted on what's going on. All we know is that God is sovereign and in control and that, like Paul, we can be content in whatever situation God places us in.

update on baby

I went for a doctor appointment this morning and apparently there is no change from last week...40% effaced and no dilation. This is fine by me as I don't have the nursery set up and Mom and Dad can't get here until after the 19th. Also Dr. Bell is out of town until the evening of the 14th! She checked his heart rate and it was 120s which was a slower rate than it had been, but she thought he was sleeping. He's usually kicking and punching her as she checks his heart rate, but she had to "tickle his feet" to get him to move today, but then she got a good kick and the heart rate jumped up to 160s. She says he must have been mad at her for waking him up (must be another Matthew). His head seems to be facing up and it's causing me some discomfort and nausea as that means the rest of his body is resting on my sciatic nerve and his feet have an easy target of my stomach and intestines. I lost weight at my last appointment, which Dr. Bell was NOT happy about. I've never been talked to like that by her and it was scary. I tried to explain to her that we had moved and that I was just getting a lot of exercise, but she said, "that isn't a good excuse". Today, I had gained back almost 2 (1.8 and I told the nurse to write down 2, Ha!) pounds so she seemed okay with that. We are up to 25 pounds total gain...6 less than I was with Finn at this point. She also said she thinks that he weighs around the high 7 range. Finn was 8.8 so I am pleased with this. Will let you know if anything changes!

the move from 402

I know it's been a long time since I last posted. I'll try to catch everyone up on what's been going on. We recently left the house we had lived in for 8-1/2 years and moved out to the farm that Matthew grew up on. We later found out that Matthew was Finn's age when he moved out here. As far as the moving went, it was pretty easy since we only had half a mile to haul the stuff. We had two pickup trucks going all the time rotating 4 houses worth of stuff...Matthew's parents were moving into town, his sister was moving next door to their parent's new house in town, her boyfriend bought our house and was moving his stuff and then Matthew and I moved out to the farm. Sometimes it was like a circus, but it all got done. Crazy couple of weeks!!!

Matthew and I the day we left the house for the last time.















From the living room down the hall. Living room is to the right and kitchen to the left. First door on the left was the main floor bathroom. Last door on the left was Finn's room. Last door on the right was our bedroom.




















Living room and front door.















Oh the kitchen...Matthew spent countless hours redoing this kitchen and I loved it! I will miss the cabinets that he build.




















The cabinet I used as a pantry and to the right is the back door.




















The main floor bathroom. I don't know why, but we didn't get a picture of the basement bathroom.


Here is Finley helping me put food in the fridge. Turns out he is a wonderful help when packing and unpacking. When I was packing everything up all I had to do was hand him the kitchen stuff and he would put it in a box and he was actually very meticulous about how things were packed. Here he is putting away the eggs...he was so careful not to let any break.


Handing me more food to put in the cabinets...


Looking out the window at Bo and Ryder. He missed them while we were at our old house and they were already out at the farm. Sometimes, he would open the back door and call for them.


The farmhouse. We were leaving for church Sunday morning and I just had to stop and take a picture of the snow on the house. It looked so pretty.


Here are a couple of videos of Finn helping Grandma and Grandpa move their stuff out of the nursery upstairs. If you listen carefully, you can hear him huffing and puffing like Daddy and Grandpa did when they picked something heavy up except that he does it with almost every step and each time he put something down. =)




Here is a tour of the house as we have it now. It's only the main level and we aren't quite finished with even that yet, but it's how it's going to be for awhile. We haven't really started on anything upstairs. Each of us have beds and dressers up, but that's about it. My main goal for today is to get the nursery set up. I've washed the baby clothes and now they just need to be hung in the closet and put into drawers. By the way, I truly hate talking on videos and hate even more listening to myself talk, so I tried not to say too much, just wanted to explain what each room was.

ohhhhh...a mess

Finn loves to say "ohhh a mess" or "it's messy". He has the opportunity to say this many times in a day because he seems to be constantly making messes. I don't clean up after him much and have him do it so he knows that it's not fun cleaning up a mess, but he enjoys saying "mess" so much that I think he's missing the point.

We went for a walk down to Grandma and Grandpa's new house in town and met some very enticing-looking mud puddles. We were able to avoid them on the way down, but I couldn't run fast enough to save him from them on the way home. Once he was in them, I just let him go. There was no saving him at that point and he had so much fun!

Here he is sitting on the back porch showing me how messy his shoes are.


And now his hands.


Checking out the neat mud on his shoes


Playing in his sandbox while Daddy works on the house.

hope you don't get sick...

Okay, I realize not everyone wants to see this, but it's what's going on every single hour of my life right now and it's a sign that things are going well in the pregnancy...so here you go. To all of you men out there or women who haven't been pregnant and are easily grossed out, feel free to skip this post.

On the other hand, if you are anything like me, you will find this beautiful and just another reminder of the miracle of pregnancy. This is the view that I see looking down.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant today and feeling alright with just the normal sleep deprivation and aches...with maybe just a few more with moving. Finn was laying his head on my belly yesterday and got a good punch right to the face. He sat up and stared at my belly for a while until I put his hand on the spot where Baby was punching and he got another good punch. He probably thinks it was me doing that to him even though I tried to explain that it was Baby moving. We have a name picked out and we 'made up' the middle name (I'll explain after he's born)...although I did find it in a baby name book later. He has been stubborn in moving to the head-down position and only has about 2 more weeks until Dr. Bell tries to turn him. Let's hope he moves on his own soon!

minneapolis trip

Last Thursday Matthew, Finley and I headed down to Minneapolis to see Dr. Rimell, a pediatric ear, nose and throat doctor. He checked out Finn's old CT scan, felt the lump on his neck and ordered a new CT scan.

Here is Finley waiting for Dr. Rimell. He had fun spinning on this chair.


Still on the chair spinning.


This is the face I got when I told him to smile.


Quick family picture.


For the CT scan we went to the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital. In the pediatric x-ray waiting room they had a little child-size CT scanner that you can "practice" on before they go in. Finley put some babies on the bed and pushed them in and out of the machine.


Here is Finley after getting the IV in for the sedation meds.


I hated to see this again, but it was much better at this hospital. You can tell that they do this all day long. They were so patient and understanding with Finn. We really appreciated that!


Here are a couple of goofy pictures of Finn waking up from the anesthesia. They didn't let him sleep long...after about 15 minutes they woke him up and started feeding him. It was 5 o'clock and he hadn't eaten since 8:30 that morning!


A silly anesthesia grin. After he woke up he ended up having 2-1/2 packs of Teddy Grahams a juice container and a carton of milk and still wanted more!


Matthew quickly showing Finn how the bed will go in the CT scanner and then come back out. He really wasn't impressed and turns out they didn't even try to do a CT with him awake.


After the CT, Dr. Rimell came in and told us that the lump was considerably smaller but that he still wasn't 100% sure what it was. He said to keep him on the antibiotics for another week and then take him off. If the lump goes away then it is a swollen lymph node. If it comes back it is most likely the branchial cleft anomaly. He has been on the antibiotics for the last week (A total of 5 weeks) and we will watch and wait from here. I've noticed that it is a little smaller and more mobile whereas before it was totally fixed and very firm. Stay tuned!