Reed's Lake 5K

Saturday I joined some friends in running the Reed's Lake 5K. It was the first time most of us had participated in a running event like this, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the morning. I ran a few miles on Thursday and Friday to make sure I would survive the race.

Over 1700 runners participated in the 5k and 900 runners ran the 10k. A microchip sticker they gave us to put on our shoe told me online that my time was a little over 38 minutes.

I don't have a fancy ipod like many of the other runners, so I enjoyed listening to the conversations around me as I ran. Just having labored with Elliot I realized that giving birth and running have a lot of similarities. The encouragement runners offer each other sound a lot like the coaching needed in labor, "you're doing a good job," "let's get to the top of this hill," "relax your arms and shoulders." After thinking this, I even heard several women joke about memories running evoked for them of their labor experiences. So you might wonder, why in the world would you want to wake up at 6a.m. and run three miles? Because discipline and hardwork reaps great rewards, confidence and lots of celebration after completing the race!

Several dads were running with their young daughters or sons and it was fun to hear their conversations. My favorite was about a 9-year old boy, who had enough energy to run circles around his mom ask, "can I sprint the next half mile and then wait for you?"

Now I have to convince Brian to run with me. In high school he was running 400 meters in less than a minute at State and the Drake relays....if I just gave labor three weeks ago, he has no excuse!

U - Pick Strawberries

The U-Pick fruit season has begun in Michigan. U-pick strawberries are first, and the cherries and blueberries follow. Peaches and apples are ready in August and continue into the fall. We picked a nice box of strawberries (u-pick is priced at $1.25 a pound) and canned one batch of strawberry jam. We froze a few bags for later to top ice cream or angel food cake later in the summer. Yum!

And an extra picture of Grandpa enjoying a book on Father's Day weekend. We thought this picture was funny.

New Patio Project

Memorial Day weekend Brian, Ezra and I tackled putting in pavers around an old hot tub patio that wasn't quite big enough to do anything on. It is a fenced in area and a great spot for Ezra to be outside by himself when I need to be working inside. It will still work great as a hot tub patio, but for now it serves our family well as a sand box/pool/three wheeler riding area. Some before and after pictures are below.

Being 39 weeks pregnant I didn't help as much as I would have liked to, but I carried a lot of bricks from the trailer to their spots. I had it all researched out on the internet the week before to make sure we'd do the project well. I explained the whole process to Brian and he grinned and listened. As we got started on Friday night, it was apparent that he'd done this before and listened to appease me. He and Ezra worked hard at digging the river rock out around the site. Thanks grandma Jan for the red shovel!

Ezra stays cool on an 80 degree day with the water hose. The downside is that I find sand all over the house.

Birth Announcement

Spring Garden

The first snow peas from the spring garden are ready. Planted Saint Patrick's Day, they took three months to grow - through a few snow falls and quite a few freezes. The deer hit them hard in early May, so I put some fence up to keep them out. The lettuce also looks great and has been ready for a few weeks. But the spinach and radishes did really poorly. The radishes put all their energy into shooting out leaves, and produced very little root growth. I'm wondering if my soil is low in phosphorous - so I think I'll give radishes a try again this fall, but fertilize them with 0 - 20 - 0 fertilizer and see what happens.

Honey Bees

Last week while looking out the kitchen window I noticed an unusually large amount of bugs swarming underneath our grove of trees. I went outside to see what they were and couldn't believe how loud the buzzing was - they were honey bees! It was a little intimidating at first, but was able to get close enough to take some pictures (Don't worry, I have a great zoom).

I did a little research online to figure out what this unusual happening was. Honey bee "swarming" happens when a single colony of bees divide in two. The new colony finds a replacement queen bee and sends out a few worker bees to find a new nesting place. This usually happens in the spring, but occasionally happens throughout the summer season. Beekeepers often catch swarms and relocate them. Honey bees are highly valued for their aid in pollination (corn and blueberry farmers, etc). An old poem says,

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly.

After swarming, they settled in the branch of our tree and were there a few days and nights, all tightly balled up. Eventually they must have found a new nest, because they left.

Elliot's Cool Sunglasses

We had to make a special trip back to the hospital because Elliot's bilirueben count got pretty high. When Becky went to the doctor his count was at 20.2. So we get to spend the night in the hospital again. As you can see he seemed to enjoy his ride to the hospital and his cool new sunglasses.

While we were at the Hospital we learned that Elliot will have to have some IV's to keep his fluid level up...not cool...but I guess it is needed. We also learned that the helipad for the Aero-Med Helicopter is right above our room, there is only one floor between us and the helipad, check out this cool picture.

Elliot James Ochsner

We are happy to announce the birth of Elliot James Ochsner!
Born June 1, 2009 7:20 p.m.
10.0 pounds
20.5 inces long

Ezra and I the morning I went in to the hospital.

We were so grateful Jen was there again!

Grandma Jan and Big brother Ezra meet Elliot for the first time. A beautiful baby boy. There are some signs of him being a little overdue - suggesting our due date might have been off? Only God knows. We are glad he came just when he did.

The picture below is of Ezra. We think Elliot looks a little more like Brian?

38 Weeks

Now that it is green outside and feeling like summer weather I'm getting eager for the baby to arrive. Ezra is sleeping great in his new toddler bed (thanks Cassia!) in a new room, and the nursery is ready. I'm getting more uncomfortable, and feel better when I'm outside working than setting at my desk at work. I've not packed the suitcase yet, but I'm not too worried about things happening before the due date.

Iowa

Ezra and I are spending the week in Iowa and are enjoying the great April weather. Spring planting has started, and so Ezra got to ride in the tractor. He's having a lot of fun playing with cousins and learning things that Iowa kids do. My three year old nephew John rode home with us from riding with his dad (my brother) in the tractor last night. He explained that he was going to get to come to my house in Michigan this summer, and had a lot of questions about my house and going swimming at the big lake. He asked where my brothers and sisters were and if they lived in Michigan. When I explained that his dad was my brother and he said, "no, really?" This was quite humorous to me, but also frustrating. Someday I will have to tell him about how mean his dad was.

Here are some pictures of our time so far...

Cousins Ethan, Amelia and John playing on the equipment during suppertime.

Uncle Mark and John checking the seed depth.

Ezra loves the kittens.



Getting muddy.Uncle Karl power washing off our boots before going inside for the night.

Happy Easter

Words

We took this video a few weeks ago when Ezra really started using his words. What is a bit awkward for him in this video is that we are asking him to say them out of context - so you can tell he is a bit confused by some of them. I'll post the words below that we know he is saying. I'm sure there are others, but we've yet to understand them. He turned seventeen months yesterday.

Some first words:
Dad-eeee
Dee-Dee (Blankie)
Cha-Cha (Tractor)
Pupeeeee (Puppy)
MaMa
Snaaah (Snack)
Kitteee-Kitteee (Kitty)
Baaaaah-Bah-Baaah-Bah (Bob the builder)
pst(Grapes)
fisss (Fish, the crackers)
Nin-na (Jenna, his friend from church)
Ahck (Socks)
Tahh Tahh (Thank you)
Keys
Deep (Jeep)
Bow-Bow (Brown Bear, the book)

And most recently
Naahhh - yeeh (Not-yet)
Cheeeeeese
Bath tup
Vooof (Juice)
And just tonight - Wuh bah (Wilbur, the pig from Charlotte's Web)

He has started repeating things when we ask him to, so we've been working on "E, can you say, Kurt?" so that he is ready in a few weeks :)

Helping Dad Build

Brian and E built a daybed for the mattress on our sun porch on Saturday. You can't tell it from this video, but it turned out nice. Brian has now built several projects that I've pointed out to him in a Pottery Barn magazine including shelves, a book rack for the nursery, and closet organizers. We can now slide baskets of toys, outdoor blankets and craft supplies underneath, and still have a nice mattress for guests and Sunday afternoon naps. He bought the supplies at Lowes for $30! He would like router saw bits and could use a new cordless drill, so I'll have to keep those in mind for his birthday.

I spent the morning painting a small table we got from the free furniture pile while we were in seminary, which goes great with four little chairs I found at a garage sale. We used to use it for a side table, but now it is a great size with the small chairs. I will post before and after pictures soon.

This video is of E helping Brian by bringing him screws.

Pregnancy: Week 29

This is my 29 weeks picture for family and friends who haven't seen me in awhile. My babycenter.com email this week said the baby is approximately two and a half pounds (like a butternut squash), and 15 inches long. I'm still comfortable, but ready to be able to be outside more. This weekend we did some spring clean up on the yard with weather in the 50s. The Seven Sisters climbing rose behind me will bloom in May - a hot pink. I've cut the old growth off to cover our tulips from the deer. The prickly stems keep them away. The tulips on the south side of the house are really starting to pop out of the ground.

Rainy Days and Rhythms

We've had a rainy weekend that we spent mostly inside because we all took a turn being sick. All of our family rhythms were off - meals, morning routines, projects around the house and Sunday's activities. Even though Ezra is only 16 months he knows these rhythms and reminds us in his own way when we are off...pointing at the snack cupboard, getting his boots out of the closet, finding his blankie, reaching for the door knob, pulling at his clothes to be changed, folding his hands when we sit down (even when there is no food in front of us). In fact, he points out things that we didn't even know we did until we do them wrong! This weekend he reached for the door knob to go outside, which most of Saturday and Sunday wasn't an option.


Finally on Sunday night, after the sixth bath that day (sick kids = lots of baths) and pajamas, Ezra had enough. He reached for the back door, and then ran to the front door and whined, and then the back door... until I had had enough. Even though it was raining and we weren't feeling 100 percent, we ventured out. (Brian was preaching and Ezra and I skipped church). He led me right to the spot he likes to go to - the little bench that he is almost big enough to sit on himself. The creek was pretty full so it was fun to see all the water spilling in. He could do without some things during the weekend, but going outside was not one of them!

A year ago on March 12 I wrote in his journal, "He is slowly getting a nice schedule finally, sleeping 10 hours... we just started solid foods this week." As new parents we didn't realize that it took so much work to teach a baby life's normal rhythms of sleeping and eating. We honestly thought they came with that built in. So much has changed in a year! I had fun looking at pictures from last year... One thing that hasn't changed - his hair still sticks straight up.

Lake Michigan Winter Hike

This morning we went to Rosy Mounds, a county park by between Holland and Grand Haven. The hike is only two miles, but the added ice and snow on the steps up and down the sand dunes made it extra adventurous. Lake Michigan sometimes freezes on the Michigan side, creating mountains of ice from the waves tumbling over the already formed ice. Along the shore was a section that melts during warm days, and Ezra was eager to see how close he could get with his boots before we yanked him back. We left with only one wet boot. It was 15 degrees along the lake this morning, but the wind was what made things uncomfortable. The sun was a beautiful change of scenery for us.