Big News...

Well, the last week has been much more eventful than anticipated. During a routine check-up last week, it was noticed that "Baby Shibata" was having some unusual heart rate decelerations. It was decided that Mom and Marie go to triage for more monitoring and that Jon should come to the hospital right away.

It was quickly decided that since we were at 37 1/2 weeks and the baby seemed to be a reasonable size, we were not going home from the hospital without first having a baby. Uncle Mark came to the rescue and took Marie home while Grandma and Grandpa Shibata jumped in the van for the 3 hour drive to Michigan.

We were induced Wednesday afternoon and were monitoring the baby continuously, watching the heart rate very closely. Things moved fairly quickly, thankfully. If they hadn't, then it is possible that we would've had to have had a C-section.

By 8:49 PM, we had a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Joseph Abraham was 7 lbs and 21 inches long. (Actually, they measured him at 20 inches when he was born. But at his 3-day-old check-up, he was measured at 21.25 inches. We figure it is somewhere in between.)

As it turns out, the cord had a good knot in it, in addition to being wrapped around his neck and legs. What a blessing it was to have been at the hospital that day. We can't begin to express how thankful we are that Little Joey is safe and with us right now.

We are home and getting used to our new family. Marie is doing quite well. She definitely is adjusting to Mom and Dad being distracted by the new baby, but overall she is quite intrigued by having a little brother.

A huge thanks to Uncle Mark, Sarah, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart for dropping everything to help. We couldn't have done it without you! We love you!

A good laugh...

Jon and I had a good laugh yesterday...

Marie has started the phase where she repeats things that we say. She has also started to make connections between related concepts. Yesterday at lunch, Jon offered to help her eat part of her grilled cheese sandwich, which she had only been nibbling. Here's the basic exchange...

Jon: Marie, your sandwich is cold now. It was much better when it was warm… You missed the boat.
Marie: Missed the boat.
Peg: Yep, you missed the boat.
Marie: (facial expression showing the wheels churning inside her mind)
Missed the ark. Noah's ark.
Peg: That’s right Marie, you don’t want to miss the ark.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was somewhat quieter than usual, given that we didn't drive anywhere. We stayed close to home and let family come to us! On Thanksgiving Day, Mark and Sarah came to hang out and partake in our Thanksgiving meal. Turkey and pumpkin pie was on the menu, but we didn't go to the trouble of making a whole bird.

We did still have a little bit of snow on the ground, just enough for Marie to take a few trips down our hill in her sled. (See the video below from a few days earlier.) So, at least she and Jon got the chance to work off some of those holiday calories. We're looking forward to many more opportunities for sledding this winter!

On Friday, we were fortunate to have ALL the Shibata's here. It is not too often that we are able to get everyone in the same place at once. It was quite the long day for the travelers, but we were so happy to see everybody. We had a small engagement "party" for Joel and Jenn and spent most of the afternoon chasing after the 1- and 2-year-olds. We did get to watch a little football, though. (Go Pitt!)

We're looking forward to having a couple more days "off" before heading back to work next week. 16 days (max) until Baby! We'll keep everyone posted!

Happy Advent!

Oh, the weather outside is...

...a bit cold for November, if you ask me.

Marie has definitely gotten her first taste of snow this "winter." We've had flurries off and on for at least the last week, but it really started sticking here on Sunday. When we got home from church Sunday morning, she enjoyed watching it come down and accumulate on our deck.

By Monday morning, we were covered, even though areas not too far from us didn't seem to have hardly any accumulation.

Marie and I decided to go outside and brave the temperature. Marie turned out to be more brave. It actually snowed a little more while we were out there, but the biting wind didn't seem to phase her a bit. She also wasn't bothered by the cold, wet feet she had when I had to drag her inside. I didn't expect that Marie would need boots already! Thankfully, she had a snow suit.

Marie enjoyed making her first snow angel of the season and new tracks in the fresh snow. And, who said that swinging and going down the slide were summer activities? That was her favorite part.

The snow has started to melt, but Marie reminded me again today that she needs boots....now!

On the baby front, we are plugging along. At last week's visit, the baby measured at about 5.3 lbs....right on track. Everything else is going as expected, so we're still looking at inducing on Dec 15th.

It's about time...

I know that's what you're all thinking. I'd be thinking it too, if I were you. Yes, I'm finally getting around to posting a note about our recent trip around the Midwest.

Marie did remarkably well during all of the driving. She is getting to be quite the little traveler. We probably had to stop more times for Mom (potty breaks!) than for Marie.

After arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's house (Marie had been talking about it all week), one of the first things on the agenda was for Grandpa to see just how big Marie was getting. The verdict was...she's growing. Marie actually gets a kick out of this on a regular basis and knows just what to do when anyone gets out the "tape." Another order of business was to try out the toddler swing out back. She loved it! In fact, it was sometimes hard to pry her away from it!

We had many wonderful visitors on Saturday. Thanks to everyone that took time out of your busy schedules to stop by. We very much enjoyed catching up with everyone, even if it was for just a short while. Benjamin was such a good sport about sitting in the rocker with Marie! I think most people got hugs from Marie when leaving...she's usually pretty good at that.

Sunday consisted of getting back into the car to go to St. Louis. On the way over, we explained to Marie that we were going to see "Great-Grandpa." Since "job" usually comes after "great," Marie started calling Grandpa Boedeker "Great Job Paw Paw." She got it figured out before the day was over though. She was quick to make new friends and even got to have a book read to her by "Great Paw Paw." We were quite impressed the next day when without any prompting whatsoever, she remembered that she had seen "Mary" at Great-Grandpa's house.

We took a little different route during the drive back to Michigan on Tuesday so that we could stop in Valparaiso, IN to visit with Jon's grandparents. We thought that it might be confusing to Marie to see another Great-Grandpa, but she caught on very quickly. We had a very nice visit; Marie warmed up to "Great Paw Paw" and "Great Maw Maw" right away. She of course wanted to have another book read to her. And, any time Great Grandpa would leave the room, she would follow after him and to see where he was going. You'd never know she was that worried about him from the skeptical look she was giving him at dinner!

We arrived home safely late on Tuesday night. It was a tiring, fun-filled and definitely worthwhile trip. We were so glad to see everyone that we did, especially since we won't be driving down for the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays. We hope everyone had a good time at the Meinhart "Thanksgiving." So sorry to have missed it! We heard there was a great crowd and not nearly enough food. :) Just kidding....about the food.

Thanks to Peg's parents for putting up with us and always making us feel at home. Thanks also to Uncle Matt for making the trip down from Peoria to visit.

On another note, we owe Jon's parents a million thanks for coming to up to Michigan this past weekend so that Jon and I could go to a married couple's retreat at our parish. It was a great opportunity for us to get away (somewhat) and spend some quality time together, something that will be increasingly harder to accomplish in the next few weeks!

Love to all and we'll keep you posted on any developments on the baby front!

Thanksgiving...

I thought I'd just post a quick message since we had a few questions about our Thanksgiving plans....

Before Shirl sent out the message about Meinhart Thanksgiving being on the 8th, we had actually decided to make a trip down over the weekend of Nov 1-2. Jon gets Nov 4 off, so by taking a vacation day on the 3rd (and voting absentee), we have a four day weekend to work with. That was also a good weekend for us to head over to St. Louis to see Grandpa Boedeker, since we won't be making it for his 90th birthday party at the end of November.

SO....we will not be at Meinhart Thanksgiving. We will be down around home next weekend, driving home on Friday night. We are planning to head to St. Louis on Sunday, but don't have any major plans other than that. Right, Mom? We would love to catch up with anyone who is around and available! I know of a couple of new houses and a new baby we haven't even gotten to see yet!

"Big Girl"

Marie is into her "big girl" phase. She spent her first night in her "big girl" bed last night. She actually did fairly well. But, it did take her awhile to get over her excitement and actually go to sleep. She woke up once through the night and was somewhat disoriented so, Daddy had to go upstairs and calm her down.

She has also been spending some time in "big girl" pants the last few days. There has been some success, but we are (as expected) still working getting her to tell us when she has to go BEFORE she goes. She sure does like the concept though...we're making progress.

Yesterday, the weather was nice, so we spent some time outside playing with Uncle Mark. Marie also helped to pace off, measure, and mark where the garden will be next spring. She is ALWAYS interested in helping with whatever we're doing. We had to keep her occupied while Jon was spraying the Round-Up to kill the grass.

Things went well at the doctor this week. As far as we can tell, the baby is right on schedule as far as size goes. And, it seems as though his/her head is down. I'll be visiting again in a couple of weeks and then the visits will be bumped up to weekly. The doctor and I looked at the calendar, too. As long as the baby continues to do fine (and as long as I don't go into labor on my own), he is tentatively thinking that he will induce me on the 15th of December. Now....nobody start hoping for a really long labor and delivery or anything... :)

The last couple weeks...

Well, it's been a while since our last update, so we wanted to keep you informed on what's been going on....

The first weekend of October, we took a quick trip to Ohio/Pennsylvania to see most of the Shibata's and to celebrate cousin JJ's 1st birthday. What a party! Good company, great food, and the cutest little 1-year old! We had a great time and Marie did very well in the car.

We got back late Saturday night so that Jon could go to his LifeTeen planning session on Sunday. Plus, since Uncle Matt was in town, we had a change to catch up with him a bit. Marie made sure that he was up to speed on the latest and greatest Courdory book.

The weather here as been great. In the afternoons it has been quite warm for October and the sunny days combined with the changing fall colors make it beautiful. Marie and Peg took another trip to an apple orchard and picked a bushel of IdaReds. When we talked about going, she asked if Grandma and Grandpa were going to be there and was quite disappointed to find out that they weren't. The apples were lower on the trees this time, so she was able to help a bit more.

We then spent a good day at a friend's house making applesauce. Marie was excited not only that we were making applesauce, but that it was PINK! What more could you ask for??? She did get to play with some friends her age while the moms worked.

Marie is enjoying her toddler swimming class, especially when she gets to swim after the floatie ball. Monday, she was actually using her arms and legs at the SAME time. We've also been going to Story Time at the local library. She is catching onto the songs, and particularly likes stomping her feet during "If You're Happy and You Know It."

Other than that, it has been life as usual. Her latest favorite phrase is "Do it," meaning she wants to do it. She also surprised us the other day by saying "St. Patrick" (her first saint!). She still gives out great hugs. Lately, she has been adding a "Squeeze" while virtually choking the receiver. She is starting to get better (or luckier) at finding certain colors and is fascinated by pumpkins, especially little ones that she can pick up. Sometimes we catch her reciting portions of the alphabet or counting things that she is putting away. Her recent night-time routine is that as we are rocking, she wants to hear a song / story about a "boy duck." She gets the biggest kick out of it when the "little boy duck" did all the same things as she did that day....right down to the chicken and green beans for supper.

Baby #2 is growing and growing. We are 31 weeks along. We may get a better idea of the projected delivery date at our appointment this week. If not, then likely in the next couple of weeks we'll have a better sense. It'll be here before we know it....time to get ready!

Marie Turns Two!

What a fun-filled birthday weekend we had! We couldn't have ordered nicer weather and Marie sure had fun with all of her visitors. To begin on Friday, we took a trip to a local apple orchard, complete with picnic lunch, tricycle course (though her legs were too short), wagon ride, and apple picking.

By Friday night, more visitors had arrived! James, Jaclyn, JJ, and Jess got here just in time to (hopefully) get a little bit of rest before the next big day. Grandpa and Grandma Shibata were here by lunchtime and got the indoor and outdoor tour. We stopped for a bit to enjoy the swings and slide and the sunshine.



After lunch, there was more time for playing and opening presents, of course!

We enjoyed some burgers, hot dogs, and the usual summer fare before bringing out the birthday cake. Bob and Larry!!!

All too soon, it was time to say good bye to the Shibata's. We came to find out that Marie and JJ have the same set of PJs.

We took a short evening stroll and had time for a story or two before we were too exhausted.

The next morning, Marie wasn't even out of her pajamas before she had convinced Grandpa to watch a "Bob & Larry" with her.

All in all, it was an AWESOME weekend, made so much better by being able to be surrounded by family. We are truly blessed! Thanks everyone!

Today Marie had her 2-year checkup. She did very well and is doing great according to Dr. Anderberg. She is 1/2 inch shy of being a 3 footer and weighed in at 27 lbs. We think she'll be tall. :)

Also, thanks to all of you that remembered Marie's birthday and sent cards. One of her favorite "jobs" is going out to get the mail. She opened them all herself and read each one!