Oops

This is what happens when I am not paying attention to what I am doing.  I didn't realize it until about 15 minutes after I put his shirt on.  Sorry Joe.

Crazy Joe!

Joe and I are down in NC for a few days for his 1 year appointment.  I left PJ back in MI with his grandparents.  It was so weird coming back here with JUST Joe.  It was really sad actually, it felt very empty.  I have never really been home alone since we have been married, almost 7 years ago.  So to be alone and 700 something miles away from family was really weird.  Pete is still in North Dakota so he is even further away.  Anyway, so we made the trip in 12 1/2 hours of driving plus we stopped over night.  Not bad for just Joe and I.  Joe is really lovin all the attention since no one here to take it away from him.  He was just full of it tonight and was laughing at anything I did.  It was so fun to spend some quality one on one time with him.  He is such a happy kid.  Here are a few pictures from tonight.   

                                                                     Bottoms Up!

My little helper

I was getting ready to make a short trip down to NC with just Joe the other day (he has his 1 year appointment) so I was vacuuming out the van.  At first PJ thought it was loud, as he does alot of things, but he then wanted to help.  I did all the nooks and crannys and he did the rest for me.  I just sat in the chair in the sunshine and watched.  If you know him he is a very picky/anal kid, gets that from his dad, so he was back there for a good half hour making sure he got everything cleaned up.  It was so funny to watch.

Happy Birthday Joe!

Of course I can not believe that a year has gone by already.  It seems like forever ago that I was pregnant and ready to be done.  This past year has been an eventful one for our family.  Alot of traveling, moving, and adjusting to another child.  It has been busy but a great year.  When Joe was born he came out not breathing and a low heart rate.  He was face up and got stuck, so they had to use the forceps to get him out.  Not pleasant at ALL, but I was just thankful that I got him out on the first contraction with the forceps.  If he was in there any longer it could have been a lot worse than what it was.  The doctor had called in a whole bunch of people, after I had been pushing for 2 1/2 hours, and I had no idea what was going on.  Once Joe came out, the doc cut the cord and quickly brought him over to the table where they started doing CPR on him.  All I can see if Pete's face that does not look good and the doctors are saying "come on buddy" -- not good.  They were able to get him back right away and then he was in the room for maybe 3 minutes until they rushed him off to NICU where he stayed for the next 5 days.  I got to see him for a second, literally, and never got to hear him cry.  It was a crazy morning and all I wanted to do was call my mom.  So I did and I started bawling my eyes out.  I had no idea what went wrong or what had really happened.  I never did find out until 2 days later from the doctor in the NICU.  I must say that I was soooo THANKFUL that I delivered him in NC, cause that morning was the morning that the helicopter hit Spectrum downtown and that is where I would have been.  As of today, Joe is a very happy and healthy boy that did not suffer any effects of his traumatic birth.  We are so thankful that God protected both Joe and I thru that delivery.  It was not pleasant and I hope it never happens to any of you.  

Joe brings us so much joy and happiness to our family, and is such a blessing.  He has been through a lot in his first year of life, and is a real trooper.  Here are some pictures of what he has done. First day in the NICU, they were scared the first few hours, but he perked up that night and then more the next day.

Here are my two babies meeting each other for the first time.  PJ is 16 1/2 months Joe 5 daysWe made our first trip to MI when Joe was just two weeks old.  I was determined to go to my cousins wedding and camping at Pentwater.  We made it in 15 hours stopping every 3 to feed Joe.  I was a loong trip.  Here Joe is making his footprints on the Tshirts we made.Joe's first flight with me.  We had to go back to NC for somethingOur trip to Bear Lake with our friends.  We also did another camping trip about 3 weeks later with friends at Gun lake.Joe just starting to sit up on his ownPlaying in the rain

After a bath

He LOVES to swing, or any type of movement like that

What happens when you are the youngest cousin and are not able to say no yet

At Fredrick Meijer Gardens

Happy Birthday Joe!

He did well with the cake, he got to do this again the next night as well

Riding the tractor.

Happy Birthday Jodgee, we love you so much are so thankful God has trusted us as your parents.  You are such a blessing to us and we so PROUD to call you our Son.  We pray that we have many more birthdays with you and can not wait to see what God has in store for you. We love you!! 

Joe's accomplishments in one year:

-- Made it through a traumatic birth

-- traveled to MI at two weeks old

-- made about 5-6 (maybe more) trips to MI, 

--all of them in the car anywhere from 11 1/2 hours to 15 hours

-- Went camping 2 times plus a cottage vacation

-- Had a minor surgery at 2 months old and spent the night in the hospital

-- Flew at least 2 times that I remember, once to Charlotte from MI 

and we went out to CO to visit Nick

-- survived living with his brother for the first year without ever really getting hurt

--  He only has 4 teeth and recently just got 2 of them

-- I think that is it.  That is a busy year for him.

So wished I had my camera handy!

We got PJ a sand and water table to go back on the deck since we don't really have a yard to play in.  He was out there with Joe the other day and I watched him take a FULL shovel of sand and dump it on Joe's head.  I SO wished I had my camera at that moment cause I totally saw it coming.  Joe had no idea what had just happened to him.  I found it kinda funny and tried not to laugh when I disciplined him.  Here is what Joe's head looked like.  

Spring Break 09'

Well the DeJong's came down to visit again during the kids spring break.  This time Ted joined them instead of my mom.  We had great weather for the most part so the kids got to play outside a lot and go swimming (taking advantage of living on a lake).  You will be able to tell who lives in NC and who lives in MI in one of the photos.  They were so desperate to go swimming that they went when it was cold and rainy.  Jake turned blue he was so cold.  We did have a nice mid-70's day though where it was a little better.  Another big event was the Lazy 5 Ranch.  I had never been , but heard a lot about it.  So we took the kids up there to check it out.  It is a ranch that has a 3 1/2 mile trail where you take your car or you can go on a horse and trailer ride.  Since Ted had his truck, we all jumped in back (except for Ted, Pete and Joe they sat in the cab) and went for the ride.  The animals come right up to your car and we got to feed them.  The emu's where a little aggressive, they even nipped Joe's hand ( he cried, but was ok).  It was so neat seeing the animals up close.  The kids had a great time and I think we are going to have to visit it every time they come down.  It was so great having family come my way and we didn't have to travel.  Thank you DeJong's for coming to visit.  We had a great few days with you.  Our home is open anytime you want.   That goes for anyone who wants to visit.  The house sure felt empty after they left and it took a little bit to get use to the four of us again.  Great fun with the family.

Colorado Trip

A few weeks ago I got to go out to Colorado to surprise my brother. I flew out there with my parents and the boys. My sister in law was going to Dubai to visit her aunt for the week, so we were going out there to take care of the kids while Nick worked. Nick had turned 30 the beginning of March so I decided that it would be fun to surprise him for his birthday and just to go out and see them. We had not seen them since last June when Joe was just 2 weeks old. Now he is 10 months old. It worked out great and he was totally surprised. We had a great, busy, fun week. The boys played great together. They have only met a few times before so it was nice for them to have a chance to spend some time together to get to know one another. Nick and Kristin bought a house a while ago and have been fixing it up so my dad helped him out during the week and made some good progress. In the mean time my mom and I kept the boys busy. We went to the park, zoo, swimming, the house a few times, gymnastics place, the mall, and just playing outside at home. We had great weather so they got to play in the sandbox a lot. My parents left on a Sunday and I stayed a few more days. That way I got to see Kristin for a few days. It was a great trip and I was so thankful that I was able to go spend some quality time with them. On the way home I braved traveling with both boys alone. I took my car seat, 2 bags, 2 kids and a stroller on the plane. I know, call me crazy, but it beat traveling 3 hours from Chicago and then another 12 back to NC. We had a layover in Detroit for a little bit so it was a pain unloading everything and then putting it all back on, but I had some nice people offer to help me. The last flight I sat in the very last row and was able to have to whole row to myself. It was so nice to have that extra seat. I usually had one kid in the car seat and then another on my lap or sitting next to me. We were on the descend into Charlotte when they came around with a bag of cashew nut mix. I shared it with PJ cause he was getting restless and was tired from traveling. When we were just about to land he started acting weird and I just thought he was overly tired. Well then he proceeded to start coughing like he was going to throw up. So I put Joe back in the car seat and took PJ out. He finally started to throw up. Luckily I had a blanket with me and all the dukes we normally carry with us. He threw up a few times then fell a sleep. Well by now we had landed and everyone was off the plane. The pilot came back to see what was going and told me that PJ looked dehydrated and that we needed to get him to the hospital before we go home. GREAT! just what I wanted to do after traveling al day. Joe had fallen asleep in the 5 minutes that he was in the car seat. So now I have 2 sleeping boys, 2 bags and a car seat to get off the plane. The staff helped me get Joe out and the bags and put me in a wheel chair since I was holding PJ. We were then put on a gulf cart thing to transfer us to Pete. They put Joe in the stroller and pushed him next to us. Well the guy driving the cart thought it was ok to stop and pick up someone else getting off a plane which took forever. The guy pushing Joe kept going and told me to have Pete meet him at gate B. Great, now Joe is out of my site and PJ is still sleeping not looking good at all. I was so mad and felt helpless. Well Joe made it safely to Pete and we joined him shortly after. We got everything in the car and was off the the hospital. Luckily Petes Dad was down by us so he meet us there to take Joe home. PJ woke up when we got there and proceeded to throw up again. Then he was just out of it for about another 20 minutes. When we went into triage he started to perk up a little more. We then noticed that he was starting to break out in hives. We got back in the room and was waiting for the doctor to come in. By now PJ was fully awake and fully broken out. He was itching all over. When the doctor finally came in PJ was jumping on the bed and messing around with Pete. I asked her if she thought he was dehydrated and she just laughed. She kinda just laughed at PJ the whole time cause he was acting like he had been confined on a air plane all day. It turned out that he had an allergic reaction to the cashews. So we were sent home and gave him some benadryl and he was fine by the next morning. He just slept in til 12:15. It was a combination of the 2 hour time change and the benadryl. It took him a few days to get back on schedule. We took him to the doctor the next day to get some blood drawn to have it tested. It turns out that he in only allergic to cashews. So we always have to carry and epi pen and benadryl with us at all times. I might still take him in to a allergist just to get more questions answered and just to make sure that that is all he is allergic too. So it was an exciting end to a week and a half long trip. Not a good way to come home, but I am just SOOO thankful that he did not stop breathing and that it was not any worse than what it was. Nut allergy's can be harsh. The perk to all of this was I wrote a letter complaining about the flight attendant that was sitting right behind during this whole thing. She heard him coughing, and then heard him throw up, and knew I was flying alone with 2 little ones and never got up to see if he was ok or if she could help me out. Even after we landed NO ONE paid any attention to me. The flight attendant casually said that she had nothing back there for me to put the blanket in and then proceeded to talk to the man that was sitting across from me. She said that she had had a long few days and was looking forward to her day off. The only thing she really did for me was call to have someone meet us. I was so mad and disappointed with her. She even told the pilot when he came back that PJ was coughing before he threw up so I know she heard him. So today I got an email with a 100 dollar voucher for both PJ and I. So I guess it pays to complain sometime. Here is a video of our trip. Sorry this post is long but I wanted to explain my story. Thanks Nick and Kristin for having us out there and invading your house for a while. It was a great trip and I hope we can do it again soon. Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help with the kids. Love you all.