Santa

I was wrong about pictures with Santa.  Brad did manage to snag this beauty.

Santa = fail

Finally got the new Michael Buble Christmas album.  Inserted it into my cd player while still in the Target parking lot.  CD player consumed cd. 

 

Is it Christmas?

Sitting through my last night of managerial economics, I have realized I haven't updated my blog in a while. Actually my Halloween post was sitting in preview mode for over a month. Geesh.  This is mostly the fault of managerial economics.  So I think I'll doing some blogging to stay awake during a night of presentations. I love grad school. Really.  Alas, here is a picture from Maddie's first ever Christmas program. 

Not sure what that face is. I'm pretty sure she didn't sing at all. But it was all pretty adorable.

There will be no picture of Madeline with Santa this year, as she refused to get within a 10 foot radius of Santa. I think that just shows good common sense on her part.

The Long family has not started it's holiday preparation yet, primarily thanks to our crazy work schedule and grad school.  In fact the tree in the first picture is as decorative as we're getting this year.  Glad we had this little bit of seasonal joy to get us in the mood. 

Trick or Treat

Halloween was a little disapointing this year because Brad was out of town over the whole weekend on business.  We did manage to make it to Trunk or Treat at church.  Madeline did MUCH better this year - no fear or fussing.  She is still pretty short, so reaching in trunks was a bit of challenge, but she had a great time.  Here's a shot of her and BFF Jaycie.  For the non-toddler crowd, Madeline's costume was Abby Cadaby from Sesame Street.  I personally thank Abby for her potty training book which Madeline read faithfully during her potty training time.  We also made a lap around the neighborhood on Halloween night, with our neighbor Kendra educating Madeline on the appropriate ettiquette of Trick or Treating.  We also handed out glow sticks which was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately Madeline noticed that I dumped her candy stash into our bowl and put it on the front porch. I probably won't get away with that next year!


The back of Abby Cadaby     






LOVE these girls.
                                       

School Pictures

Call me cynical, but I had pretty low expectations regarding Madeline's school pictures.  Primarily because by the time we get to school in the morning, her hair looks like it's been outside during a wind storm.  Brad, being the brilliant father that he is, thought ahead and brought a hair brush for some on-site maintenance.  My next doubt was that she would neither still still nor smile for said event.  Imagine my surprise when I saw these beauties: 

Warning: Picture of a picture. They are much higher quality in person!

This is my favorite. I realize I am genetically programmed to think so, but she is seriously beautiful. And looking so grown up.  

She came home from her first week of preschool saying "I have big, beautiful brown eyes," clearly quoting her teacher. It's easy to see why. Love love love this girl.

Going under the knife

The pumpkin that is. Brad is a monster pumpkin carver. If you have not see the Chuck-O-Lantern, you are seriously missing out.  This year was a little quicker and more kid friendly.

Getting some help from little miss.

Someone asked if this is what I look like when I'm frazzled. Seriously?

The final product.

crappy phone shot. eek.

Pumpkin Patch

Despite a miserable, wet week, Saturday shaped up to be a beautiful fall day.  Post nap, we ventured to a local farm for some fall fun.  A quick wagon ride into the pumpkin patch yielded a nice pumpkin for carving.  Madeline had a blast running around the corn maze and I managed to score some cider and a strawberry rhubarb pie for later.  Nothing better than outdoor family time!

Random Updates

New bike. Must always be ridden to Clara's house. And yes, she has a helmet.

Since I took a blogging hiatus thanks to a crazy summer school schedule, here are the major points of the last few months:

-After a very unfortunate situation involving our babysitter, Madeline is now in full time preschool. She loves it and is doing amazing.
-After about 2 weeks at said preschool, she decided that she was done with diapers. Within 4 days she was dry all day AND all night. Dream. Come. True.
- She is obsessed with singing "Bible songs." It melts my heart every time.
-She is up to 25 pounds and 34 inches. Last week she was released from the pediatric GI specialist. YES!
-We have been making all sorts of mini road trips: Holiday World, an epic failure of a camping trip, Conner Prairie, Brown County, the grandparents'....more pictures to come.

Such a big girl, riding everything by herself at Holiday World. Now if only she were a little taller...

(sugar free!)

Cousins

A crappy iphone shot of Madeline and Evan. How big and adorable is he? These two are going to have so much fun once he's mobile!

Back from the dead

After being called out by a co-worker today for my pathetic lack of posts, I figured I had better get something up here! Pardon me, summer school was a time killer. Lots to report on. But to hold you over, here's a picture of my beautiful little girl:

102 Days Later....

Evan has finally graduated from the NICU and come home to sleep in his own bed. Which means our whole family is sleeping a little better in ours.

 

At 8 pounds and true to his due date, Evan arrived home, sporting only an oxygen tank and an apnea monitor. Hopefully they will never return to Akron Children’s Hospital ever again.

Thank you so much for all the prayer and support that has been given to Matt and Brittany.

What a miracle.

First Trip to the Dentist

We take oral hygiene very seriously at the Long house. 

This little girl never squirmed for a minute!

And I swear I tried flossing her teeth at home....IMPOSSIBLE!

Evan

Evan Charles Hartzler

Born December 31, 2010
1 lb. 15 oz.

13 inches long

Day 4.

Day 16.

7 weeks.

It's been a long journey, but we love our little miracle nephew.

Praying he comes home soon!

Is it spring YET?

Cuz this girl is ready to get her warm weather on!

Her refusal to wear socks any longer says it all.

She's been begging to play outside, ride in her wagon, and ride her bike.

New Year's Eve

I don't know what you did for New Year's Eve this year, but mine was more excitement than I can even handle.
We had a wonderful Christmas celebrating with our families.  This year was particularly exciting because my little sister Brittany and her husband Matt were expecting their first baby in the spring.  There was much baby stuff to be had.  Brittany was 24 weeks and 4 days pregnant on Christmas Day. (See previous post for picture) 

On Thursday, December 30 morning I got an e-mail from her talking about how glad she was that baby boy Hartzler wasn't due until April because they were a long way from ready. 

On Thursday, December 30 evening I got a call from her asking what Braxton Hicks contractions felt like.  Having been plagued by these from about 24 weeks on, I gave her the low down. 

On Friday, December 31 I was having a relatively peaceful day at work when I got a call from my mom around 11 a.m. telling me that was Brittany was in labor.  Like real labor. As in 7 cm dilated, no turning back labor.  Enter panic. 

Get in car. Drive. To Ohio. Panic.

This can't be happening.  This isn't the right month. This isn't the YEAR! This isn't the right trimester. Nothing about this is right. 

I will never ever forget the image of walking into my sister's hospital room and the look of sadness on everyone.  She was as upside as they could reasonably get her, being pumped full of steroids, trying to buy every second that they could of keeping that baby in. The look of defeat on her face is ingrained in my memory.

The day a baby is born is supposed to be the best day of your life.  But this was....panic. Sheer panic.

Unfortunately the hospital in my hometown does not have NICU and she was far too unstable to transport.  We asked several nurses if they had ever delivered a baby this early (25 weeks).  No one answered.

I got there at 6 p.m. Within the hour the doctor announced they were out of time and that the NICU team from Akron Children's Hospital was en route because this was baby was bound and determined to make it out before the ball drop.

Prep for c-section.  Choose name. Wait for emergency team to arrive. Panic.

Watch NICU team roll in. Panic. Panic moves from inside to outside.  Freak out the happy family waiting for their healthy baby to be born.  (Turns out that they had TWO babies born severely premature. Nice placement God.)

7:54 p.m. Enter Evan Charles Hartzler.

Christmas?

Ok so I realize that Christmas was nearly 3 months ago, but unfortunately I never had a chance to get up any pictures. Here are a few quick shots plus a lead in to my next story...

New easel with chalk and magnets and millions of little letters and numbers oh my!

Stockings with Grandma Dyer on Christmas Eve morning

The present labyrinth of my parents' house.

This is a picture of my sister on Christmas Day at 24 weeks pregnant. I realize she's holding a box, but you wouldn't know she was pregnant even without all the crap piled on her lap.



Birthday Party the Second

At Grandma and Grandpa Webb's house with ALL of our grandparents! Coccia House pizza to boot!

Grandma and Grandpa Dyer!

I discovered on this day that Maddie knows what a Barbie is. scary.

Baby "Niam"

"Ok people! I'm ready for the Nemo cake!"

And I'm out of patience with trying to upload pictures so that will have to suffice.

More Birthday Pictures

These are from the nice, fancy camera...taken by a person without a verifiable visual impairment. 

Ready to ride her motorcycle into the crowd!

Did I mention how she just puffed up when everyone sang to her. Such a big girl!

Ryne helping to blow out the candles.

New Dora tent to hide in! (STATIC central)

Instead of presents, we asked our guests to bring donations for the Ronald McDonald House. We had a nice assortment of cleaning supplies, dry goods, cash donations and toys!

(Apparently Blogger is against text editing tonight. Sorry for the small font)

2nd Birthday Party The First

I know.  It's been like 6 weeks since I've posted. This includes Christmas pictures. I know.  But if you know me, you know that last 6 weeks have been INSANE.  More to come. 

Today we were able to host Madeline's 2nd birthday party with most of our Fishers friends.  House full of toddlers (12!), playing, eating, and generally having a lot of fun.

This was a Dora themed party. During some last minute pre-party shopping, we decided to get the BIG Dora balloon. Maddie loves it. Shoot, all the kids loved it.  Here is Ollie trying to make Dora sit with him. Unfortunately Dora met her demise during a chance meting with the ceiling fan later in the day. Oops.

Here is the birthday girl grinning ear to ear.  Don't tell the gastroenterologist we let her eat this.

Several of the kids enjoying the goodies.

Normally Maddie is a die-hard fork fan, but apparently she couldn't shovel the goods in fast enough and resorted to finger food.

More to come....