Monday, July 25, 2011

Welcome Baby Noah!




We welcomed Noah Michael Palmer to the world on Monday, July 25, 2011 at 10:55 am. He was 7 lb. 3 oz. 22 in. and just perfect!



Mommy and Daddy stayed up late the night before, thinking it was our last night to do that for awhile and promised for the next week we'd go to bed early to get ready for our little arrival. We were both convinced that he or she would not be arriving for at least another week. Well, we were very wrong! Mommy's water broke around 2:45am & had to go get Daddy out of Drew's room (Drew had fallen out of bed, couldn't find his blanket & Daddy went in to help. Drew then pointed to the floor and said: "Daddy get blanket & pillow please!" So how do you say no to that?! You apparently don't!) We called the OB on call and waited for the return call for an hour - in which time Mommy ironed some clothes & emptied the dishwasher & Daddy took a shower. The adrenaline was pumping initially, but after an hour's wait, we were exhausted. We were hoping the OB would say we could wait a few hours before coming into the hospital and waking up the whole family, but we were told it was time to come. So we called Grandma to please come over to the house to be there when Drew woke up & Nana & Grandpa packed and started the trip from Houston.


We got to the hospital around 6am, checked in, and started filling out paperwork, etc. Soon it was time for some medicine for Mommy to feel a little better. She got a narcotic, that helped a little bit, but made her a little loopy, dizzy, and tired. But soon those wore off and she finally asked her nurse to get the epidural. The nurse had warned us it took about 20 minutes to get it, so not to wait too long to ask for it, and Mommy should have listened more closely to this...in the 20 minutes it took to get the epidural placed, Mommy dilated from 4cm to the full 10cm, and Mommy was demanding that this baby was coming. The nurse initially told her to not push, but after Mommy's persistance, he checked and sure enough, it was time to deliver! The OB was called immediately and couldn't have arrived any sooner before Mommy was adamant about delivering! The epidural was in, but hadn't taken effect unfortunately, so Mommy felt the whole thing. Fortunately, it only lasted about 5 minutes - this baby was ready to join us!


We were blessed with wonderful staff, nurses, doctors, and family for help. We happily left the hospital on Tuesday, greeted by sweet Big Brother Drew and Nana at home! Nana was able to stay for the week to help out and Drew has already smothered his little brother with kisses and hugs! We are so blessed by the Lord to have been given 2 wonderful, healthy, beautiful boys! Oh what the years will bring!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

A Surprise Visit!


So, we knew that cousin Carlos was traveling around the U.S. with Grandpa & Grandma Glienke in an RV, with no real agenda or itinerary, but the call still surprised us! Monday night, we got a call letting us know we would have visitors Tuesday afternoon! We were so excited, and honored, to be placed on the list of visits for this monumental trip!


Now, I'm not sure how long they were planning on staying, but I think they were ready to get home by the time they left! :) The RV had been overheating, and a line busted, right before pulling into Fort Worth. So, with the RV in the shop, at the whims of the not so speedy mechanics, they were stuck with us! :)


We got to visit with Veronica, who is in Texas for the summer with her dad, and was able to get away for a night, so that was a fun, but short visit. We went out to the Gaylord Texan hotel Friday morning for a bit of an adventure away from home, to see some FortWorth sites, and avoid the blazing heat! Otherwise, they were excellent house guests, making themselves right at home so we didn't feel like we had to take care of them! Before we knew it, they had the RV back, but it was a day away from Drew's birthday party, so they decided to stay and celebrate - what a treat! They also then got to see Grandpa, Nana, & Uncle Kevin for a bit more too!


We were so happy they decided to stop by 'on their way' home. We know they were anxious to get back to their own home that doesn't ride on wheels, but we were happy to be able to be the ones to help out in the RV's time of need! :) Such a treat to have some nice, relaxing time with the three of them!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

An Early Birthday Party Celebration



So, Drew will be 2 August 1! Hard to believe no doubt...but we celebrated a little early, not because we are just that anxious for him to be truly 2, but because of the pending arrival of our Baby, we thought it best to play it a little safe & try and celebrate before Baby arrived. Our wishes came true, Baby held out, and we had a fabulous time!


The theme, as obvious by the cake, was planes, trains, and automobiles, spurred by Drew's intense love of all things with wheels. His favorites were displayed on the cake! And he was most pleased to be showered with gifts, most going right along with the theme...he was SO excited opening his gifts, jumping up & down & screaming...as if they were what he had always wanted, though never knew it until just then! So hilarious!


We were joined by lots of family and close friends to celebrate. All the boys had a blast together, playing with balloons, cars, trains, and even outside! Goodness, it was HOT, but we tolerated being outside for a bit to appease the deep down desire of all little boys to play outside! They had fun on the playground that Daddy & Papa had just completed not but a few weeks earlier! They also found the stash of toys - pure instinct - and had fun with all of those.


Good times were had by all hopefully, but the 3 of us certainly enjoyed the celebration! Thanks again to all that joined in for the fun!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

My Park!


So, we've always thought we would had a fort/swingset of some sort at some point for our kids. And it somehow got in our head that maybe now was a good time...Drew LOVES to be outside, and mostly on the swing, his birthday is coming up, the baby is coming so a swing in the backyard for Drew could be nice...these all seemed like good reasons. So, despite the possibility of a little baby showing very soon, and it being BLAZING hot outside, and Lynn's hesitancy to commit others to such an undertaking, Matthew decided to go through with it. The original plan was for Matthew to do quite a bit of prep work (staining & cutting) and then putting it all together one weekend when Lynn's family was in town for Drew's birthday party. The instructions claimed it would take 5-7 hours for 1-2 people. Well, thankfully, Matthew & Dennis were more ambitious than that, and couldn't sit around and wait, so they went full force into the project, putting in a good 30-40 hours into the playscape build over a span of 2 weeks or so. The end result is amazing and Drew lovingly calls it his park! While it's too hot to get all the playtime out of it he would love to right now, the evenings have allowed some good times already, and one day, we pray, this heat will go away, and we visualize our family being out there quite a bit!

The beginning stages...


Drew being so helpful...


Drew wanted to swing so badly - it's so hard to be patient!


The inaugural swing! :) That is the face of pure joy!


So much fun to be had!

Friday, July 1, 2011

23 Months!



Hard to believe we are only 1 month away from having a 2 year old in the house, amongst another baby at some point! Here's what's been going on this month!


Well, we are not the only ones to say it - our Drew is all boy! The boy loves to be rough & tumbling...obvious by the ER visit noted earlier in the month, but even so on a daily basis! He loves to discover new ways to get around - playing on his slide, learning to go down backwards and sideways; jumping off just about anything - his step is a favorite, but likes to jump down each stair sometimes, and will also dive from his zebra (standing up on it of course) onto the couch next to it! UGH! It's definitely keeping us on our toes to try and prevent a huge accident, but there's just no stopping him it seems. Thankfully, the Lord has blessed him with some pretty good coordination, so even though there are things that we would rather him not do, after a few times of trial, he seems to get pretty good and we don't worry as much about that particular 'move' - not sure that's the right approach, but again, it's seems we are in a helpless position otherwise! He is also often seen galloping and skipping around - yes, a true gallop! And most other times, he's running around silly-like, moving/pumping his arms and legs in the funniest of ways!


He is more and more verbal and we are loving it! He really does a great job of picking up and repeating new words and phrases. He's started to chime in at prayer time more so, adding in his own requests! He also likes to read along with familiar books, finishing sentences with us. Singing is getting more and more fun, and he'll let us know if he wants to sing along - "No! Drew sing!" or wants us to join in - "Mommy/Daddy sing?!" Some favorite, daily phrases are "Hello, have a day?!" (Hello, did you have a good day?), "Whatcha doin?", and "Um-mon Mommy/Daddy" (Come on/come here M/D). "Thank you M/D" & "Bless you M/D" (after a sneeze or cough), and even "Scuze me" are becoming more and more common too, which we are excited to see/hear that while our boy certainly has habits we wish we could stop immediately (throwing food/cups, hitting), some manners are sinking in as well, so maybe there's hope! Another funny thing he has started doing is, thanks to catching "The Electric Company" on PBS in the mornings while Mommy gets ready on a fairly regular basis, Drew will put his hands to his mouth & shout "Hey You Guys!", just like the opening of the show - pretty funny! He'll do the same in the car, when looking for a specific type of vehicle - "Garbage truck?!" as if to say, 'Where are you?"! Another very fun development is that we'll catch him having conversations with and between toys/stuffed animals - so exciting to see that his imagination is starting to learn to create on it's own! Pictured below is his pose while asking "Have it". :)


Drew moved up to the 2 year old room at preschool at the beginning of this month, and has adjusted well. The teacher for the summer is pretty regimented in theory, which we agree could be a good thing for Drew! He and all his buddies that he's been in class with since about 3 months moved up all at the same time, so they are having a good time together. He seems to have quite a bit of fun, and does all sorts of things we as first time parents don't even think about for an almost 2 year old. Lots of art projects have made there way home in the last few months, surprising Mommy that anyone would want to give a 2 year old a paintbrush! But happy they are willing! :) One night Drew totally surprised us and asked, "ring a rosy?" - it took us a few times of hearing it to realize, he wanted to sing & play Ring Around the Rosie! We had no idea he knew this song or game - obviously played at preschool. Now we love to play - such fun to see him getting into the beginnings of 'games'!


Some silly little things this month that have appeared...Drew has started to give us a big, pouty bottom lip at times when sad or whining - just hilarious! It's so over-exaggerated! He will also sometimes roll his eyes up when 'answering' a question, or talking to us, as if to avoid eye contact or telling a fib - so hilarious! Hopefully our son is not ALREADY learning the art of deception! He has also began giving a loud, high-pitched scream when excited about whatever strikes him in the moment. He still loves to snuggle, and especially loves his green blanket, but is starting to request 2 blankets at night - sometimes to cover up, other times, just to snuggle with!


So, we are getting closer & closer to meeting our next little one, and in prep for this event, we got Drew a little play baby. We wanted to practice lots of soft hands, etc. with him, as well as mock up a teensy bit of what will be happening. Drew's been surprisingly good with 'Baby', almost instinctively holding the baby softly, and patting it's back for comfort! Granted, when he's done with it, he doesn't hesitate to throw it across the room, so it's not full proof by any means! However, one evening, Daddy was pretending that Baby was crying, and Drew ran over, putting the Baby's hand to it's mouth, as if to get the Baby to suck it's thumb! We thought this was hilarious, Drew being such a thumb-sucker! I guess all our children will be - Drew will be sure of that! :)


And a Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy ever! We couldn't resist the Target Dollar Spot Medieval foam weapons as a Fatther's Day gift - something for both boys to play with! (Yes, Mommy realizes this doesn't necessarily help decrease the 'aggressiveness' Drew seems to have about playing, but maybe it will channel it?!)