Time is Flying

Wow, is it really already the 31st!?  I guess time flies when you are having fun.  We officially moved into our new apartment this weekend and I would like to give a shout out to both "grandpas".  They were a huge help in moving and we couldn't have done it without them.  Since relocating we have already seen the grandparents multiple times, attended a few softball games, and tried out a new church.  In spite of all that life seems to be slowing down a little.

Ady is doing great with the transition. She is officially rolling over on a consistent basis and has already bonked her head a few times.  She seems pretty resilient though and is always ready to go for it again.  She had her first attempt at a splash pool yesterday. (Yes, there are pictures. I'll post one when I get it) I would give it about a 2 out of 10. She pretty much screamed non-stop after the first 10 seconds. Guess there's something we can improve on.  

She is quickly growing out of 6-9 month clothes which has her mother a little worried.  However, garage sale season is kicking into high gear so I'm sure they will be fine. The 22nd Annual New Paris Garage Sales are June 4th and Emily usually rocks the home field.  (If you want to see how serious players garage sale this is your ticket...and yes I just used garage sale as a verb.)

If you would like our new address feel free to send me an email or leave a comment.  I don't want to just throw it out there for security reasons but it's not a secret.  Look for more consistent posts as life slows down a little.  Softball, church shopping, outdoors activities...we have all kinds of new adventures just around the bend.

Change Is A Comin'

Ok, I admit it.  Having a kid makes life really busy really fast.  Blog posts have been severely lacking. I have tried (unsuccessfully) to get my wife to contribute every once in a while but she insists on using all of her creative juices to make crafts and clothes for Ady.  I think it takes all the humor and stamina she can muster just to put up with me every day.  But the winds of change have been blowing and here is what they have stirred up.

I will start work at an orthopedic company in Warsaw, IN on May 16th.  Didn't see it coming and I'm still not sure the full realization has actually hit me.  It means that we will be packing up the family, attempting to sell the house, and starting a new chapter of our lives in Northern Indiana.  I'm very excited about the new opportunity but it doesn't come without some trepidation.  The transition will be quick and it won't be easy but we know God will see us through. 

Leaving has brought on a whole host of emotion.  I didn't realize how attached I was to our house and how much I will miss the daily challenge of public accounting.  I'm sure I will be challenged in a corporate setting but it just won't be the same.  Now I will have to split time between Colts games and Bears games on Sunday afternoon and it won't be as easy to sell/use my season tickets or see a playoff game.  I'll also have to find a new slow pitch softball team.  Yes, I know all of those things are probably small potatoes but I'm the one writing so I get to say whatever I want.

In the end we are still very excited.  We will really miss all of our friends from church and Anderson but we know we have a great support system and can't wait to meet new friends up in Warsaw.  No matter how you slice it change is a comin' and we are going to see where it takes us.

Ady Update: She rolled over for the first time today.  Emily is nervous because that means mobility...but I'm pumped!

Dad Post: The Grammy's

I'll admit straight off that this post has little to do with Ady's recent activities, growth spurts, or cute faces.  So if that's what you're looking for stop reading now.  Probably not worth your time.  You will most likely just come away thinking "Dan, I think you've actually lost it this time" which could very well be true. (But not like these people)  Sometimes it takes a little "crazy" to make life interesting right?

Oh the Grammy's.  With a young daughter in the house I'm starting to think about what I will and won't allow her to watch and be influenced by.  Overall I considered the Grammy night nearly a complete waste of my time.  Lady Gaga disturbed me, Justin Beiber dismayed me (because I was actually very entertained), and the rest of the show just distracted me from anything productive.

So there's no way I will encourage/allow my daughter watch this kind of thing right? Or is there a level of creativity and a breadth of music I want her to be exposed to at a certain age?  Emily and I both were involved in music and we hope that our daughter at least has an appreciation for it (yes Emily, even classical music).  At least an appreciation that goes beyond being able to sing along with the most recent hit song on the radio.  I guess at some age it will be appropriate for her to watch and appreciate.  Unfortunately at the rate things are going I'm also going to have to give her a sex ed. lesson before she will be able to understand what/who is performing.  While the Grammy's probably aren't appropriate for a three year old I think I'd like to be able to expose her to different genres and artists in the home rather than her being exposed through friends at school. 

So my question is this. As Christians we are to be "in the world but not of the world".  Does this include watching (and even supporting through the purchase of music) artists such as those profiled and awarded on the Grammy's? Are the Grammy's something I want my daughter to watch?  If not are there aspects we can learn from and appreciate? Parenting is hard and I haven't even had to do anything yet (teenage girl years are still a ways away).

Random Sidebar: Sorry Emily, I have a new band crush, Mumford & Sons.  (Former band crushes include Relient K, The Fray, Snow Patrol, Sufjan Stevens, and Owl City)  A four man Indie Folk band from England gave a performance that caught my ear and reintroduced me to a song that I can't get out of my head.  I discovered the group a while back while watch CoolTV (yes, that broadcast channel that only plays music videos).  I all but forgot about them until their Grammy performance.  Banjo, tight harmonies, and lyrics that can get a guy thinking (I may investigate them in a future post).  Their music is an aspect of human creativity and thought that I hope my daughter has an appreciation for.  People who think and ask why, who create, and who want more than just face value from the this life.  Aren't those the attributes God created us for but in a worship context?

Aunt Post: The Cool Aunt

I've decided to be the cool Aunt. (No offense to Sarah)

So... Ady is pretty awesome. I am currently babysitting while mommy and daddy are out for Valentine's Day!!! Which at the moment consists of sitting on the couch, watching rugby on TV, and letting Ady sleep. But I should enjoy it while it lasts, cause I hear that 7 pm is her usual "unhappy" time.

So I'm not near as cool as Dan and I don't know how to make surveys and ask deep questions. But I have been thinking that I'm going to have to work really hard to be a "cool" aunt. I remember going to visit my aunt at college. It was something that I looked forward to every year... Grandma and Grandpa usually took me to see her for my birthday. But I shall be graduating in a little over a year and then I will have to find something else that will make me a "cool" aunt.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!!

Aunt Steph

Dad Post: Success!

Emily took pity on me and agreed to help me find an outfit for Ady's first superbowl party.  For our first official outing the whole family headed to Once Upon a Child (can I get some cash for that little endorsement?) and took a look through what seemed like miles and miles of little people clothing.  You'd think that a store can't fit that much into 2000 square feet but when you can hang four levels of clothes on each side of each rack things really start to get overwhelming.  Admittedly we had all of our success on the boy's side of the aisle, but I think we maintained her femininity just fine.

Sunday morning we took Ady to Sunday School so our class could oohh and aahh over how cute she is.  I think Emily had been waiting for that day since she found out she was pregnant.  As planned by the Big Man Himself our Sunday School lesson was on Proverbs 22:6 and our teachers went over some practical application on raising children.  The thoughts brought up have really got me thinking.  Look for a post with some of those thoughts in the near future.

Sunday afternoon we rested up for our big night.  It was superbowl time!  We were attending a party with our Sunday school class so we loaded up Ady, some crackers & dip, our biggest TV, and the superbowl boxes game I drew up.  If you know me at all, anywhere there is a group of people I'm always happy to turn things into a competition (even if there's no skill involved).  Ady had a great time!  She got to be held pretty much every minute of the entire game only cried a little when the baby got slammed against the window. (see sidebar for video) Also, I have decided that Ady has baby crushes on both the eTrade baby (I call him Frank) and Mini Darth Vader (MDV).  Her parents are leaning more toward Frank since we think he may have a more stable work and financial future.  MDV may be a little old for her (and slightly dim witted) but he also seems very imaginative and funny.  So I guess the jury is still out on the baby crush.

Overall the first weekend of outings was a great success!  Be thinking of Emily this week as I am spending my first time out of town since Ady was born.  It's not that I really did that much anyway (Emily rocks at Mom-dom) but I know she liked to at least have me around just in case.

Final Note: I'm holding off on the nickname poll for right now since I have all these great pictures I want to post.  Can you tell me which one is your favorite?  Vote in the picture poll!

You Want Pictures? - Take Two

  
      Can You Say No To This Face?                          A Timeout Already!?!

  
     I'm So Cute In My Sunday Best                                It's Game Time!

Dad Post: Dad Needs Help!

Sorry, this is a quick post.  I'm working on something longer for next week. 

The readers have spoken (I may or may not have voted from multiple computers) and unless something drastic changes in the polls, Ady will be wearing "Something Cute - Football Themed" to the superbowl party tomorrow night.  Unfortunately Ady's mother has stated that if Ady is going to wear "Something Cute - Football Themed" then I have to find it tomorrow. And I completely stink at shopping in general, let alone shopping for tiny girl clothes.

Any ideas where I can look for a tiny football outfit? Any kind of direction or suggestions will be better than what I have now (ie. nothing).  Cheerleader outfit (tasteful of course), tiny jersey (not Colts, just general), just a shirt with a football on it; I'll take whatever I can find.  Anything!  Worst case scenario I'll have to bust out some old nasty sweatbands.  Believe me, nobody wants that.  I was also trying to figure out how to do eye black, but that might be going a little to far (it would be so cute!!...please someone help me justify it)  So in the end I really need your help!  Suggestions???

PS. For all the concerned mothers and grandmothers out there, Emily has already stated that no matter what I pick out Adylyn has to wear some sort of a girly headband/bow.  It is not my intent to just dress her up like a boy.

Fool me once...

So goes the expression "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." (Hilarious G. W. Bush video) I did a quick google search but I can't find anything on foolings numbers five and six.  Since the last time I posted, that's what happened.  Under dad's supervision Ady has again pooped on our comforter, peed on the sheets in her crib, and pooped on two outfits mid diaper change.  So I guess since our first explosive bowl indident I've been fooled four addition times. (Note: yes, I was using a changing pad for two of the four so I have gotten slightly smarter)  Thank goodness my wife is forgiving.

Yesterday Ady was officially introduced to Carter's brand 3 month clothing.  Sadly this means that all of my favorite new born outfits won't be worn until the next little one comes along.  It's amazing how much she is growing!  We have two of the exact same little ducky outfits.  Side by side one outfit looks twice as big as the other, but she wore the infant size a week ago and she fills out the 3 month size today.  She also starting to smile a little and giggle every once in a while.  Not at anything particular, but we'll get to that soon.

Here are a few more pictures for those who are interested.

   

Dad Post 2 - Conundrums

 A post of conundrums.  I have so many dad thoughts flying around up there that I'm having a tough time landing the plane.  I'd appreciate it if you would voice your thoughts using the opinion poles on the right side of the screen.

Parenting Conundrum: Does anyone else find it odd that so much time and money goes into making sure kids poop with their clothes on at a very young age.  But then we go and trying to teach kids to poop without their clothes on just a few years later?  If I was still trying to develop basic motor skills and the ability to communicate I think this would be highly confusing.

Sports Conundrum: Now that I have a young impressionable life under my influence what team should she root for in the Superbowl?  The Packers are a respectable franchise with a dedicated and hardworking fan base.  The Steelers are much the same.  I have good friends in both cities.  Such a tough decision.  But what fun is the Superbowl without picking a team to root for?

Nickname Conundrum: I need a good dad nickname.  You know, the name that only the dad uses.  Ady or Adylyn will be what everyone else calls her, but I want something different and original.  I already periodically call Emily, E-dizzle, so A-dizzle is no good.  I also figure it shouldn't be something that implies girth, promiscuity, or ugliness (Adasaurous Rex, A-girl, Little Ady Alligator).  Emily has emphatically vetoed everything I have suggested to date. Anyone have any ideas?  I will post any suggestions I receive in a poll starting after the Superbowl (vote in the What Should Ady Wear to the Superbowl Party? poll right now!).

Fun Fact: In an average day, a four year old child will ask 437 questions (and when that day comes I plan to make up a legitimate sounding answer for every one of them)

It Finally Happened

I wondered how long it would take. We have been lulled into a false sense of security but late last night the event finally took place.  Emily woke me up around 2:00am so I could take my turn to change Adylyn.  Our last few nights had been relatively uneventful.  Normal feedings and poopy diapers on a relatively consistent schedule.  (On another note, Adylyn has started sleeping for longer periods during the night. Praise Jesus!)  I got up, pulled Adylyn out of her bed, and set up a diaper and a few wipes on the end of our bed for her diaper change.  I took her out of her swaddle blanket, unbuttoned her onesie, and checked her diaper.  Definitely both wet and dirty.  Then it happened...projectile poop. EVERYWHERE.  All over her, all over her swaddle blanket, AND all over our bed.  She was positioned in such a way that the poop (the consistency of applesauce) actually ran down the side of our comforter.

I've heard lots of stories about crazy baby bowel movements, but generally those apply to boys (peeing on people, etc.)  I now have personal experience with the phenomenon and I can say that while it's not fun or funny and the time it sure is later.  From this point forward I plan to use the changing pad and position the new diaper as soon as possible. I'll never know when that poop might spray.  (In case you were curious the pee just kind of dribbles out for little girls so there's not as big of a chance of a "diaper disaster" via number one)



Adylyn Right Now
Bear Down! Chicago Bears!



In other news, Adylyn keeps growing and changing.  She is developing a little bit of neck control and seems to react to sights, sounds, and smells (I have no idea if this is valid, but it at least appears that way).  Emily is terrified that Adylyn is going to start crawling early. (This would mean that Emily will have to start baby proofing earlier and lose some of her home decor) Thank you too all of you who attended baby showers, provided hand-me-downs, provided meals, and checkin to see how we are doing.  Once our pediatrician mandated six week quarantine is up (see the reader poll on the right) we plan to take Ady out to meet all of you (baby party?!?). Everything is going great and we can't wait to see what God has in store next week.

PS. Also, congrats to our friends Chris and Christy who were blessed with Claire Elizabeth last week. I feel a play date coming on!

It's Been Two Weeks

Hard to believe it but it's been two weeks already.  Having no past experience in child rearing it's a little difficult for me to rate how it's going, so I'm going to say that it's going great.  Adylyn eats about every 3 hours but she seems to enjoy being awake and held during the 11pm-2am time slot.  So Adylyn and her dad are getting their money's worth out of the Netflix subscription.  Do you think infants can be traumatized at a young age by action movies or HBO miniseries?

Today was the first rough day.  It actually started last night when the Colts lost.  I could tell that Adylyn was pretty upset because she decided to scream for the remainder of the night and through the next morning.  After getting off her feeding schedule for a while she started back again this afternoon and has finally calmed down.  We think that it might actually be the Italian or dairy that Emily ate yesterday but I we will just have to evaluate it again in the future.

Next week should be a big test.  Work picks up pretty quickly for me (accounting busy season) so Emily will be at home with Adylyn for a long time during the day.  Thankfully our friends from church have set up meals for us.  If anyone would like to participate the link is on the top right of the page. 

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support.  The doctor says Adylyn isn't supposed to go out in public for six weeks (come on Doc!).  I think that's a little long (I want her to meet people!) but we can't take her out for now.  If she gets sick then we will have to explain to the doctor why we took her out.  I guess it's better safe than sorry. 

Do you have any tricks or tips you used when your kids were infants?  We'll take all the suggestions we can get.

Birth Story - Baby Adylyn

First I would like to thank all of you for your support and prayers.  We are blessed to have a great network of family and friends to support us as we raise Baby Adylyn.

At 5:30am Christmas morning Emily woke me and told me that she thought her water had broken.  We hadn't packed our bags for the hospital and really weren't totally prepared for the baby to come but off to the St. Vincent Hospital - Carmel we went.  When we arrived at the hospital the nurses checked everything out and informed us that Emily's water had actually broken (sometimes expecting mothers just have bladder control issues).  After that we made ourselves confortable in a labor and delivery room.  Emily's parents were already planning on heading down for Christmas Day so they came straight to the hospital when they arrived.  Emily wasn't very dialated so they started medication to make her dialate.  We all talked, watched movies, ate ice chips, and played card games (Monopoly Deal is great!). 

This went on until around 8:30pm (ya, that's 13 hours and we were expecting quite a few more).  About that time the doctor came in and informed us that after each contraction the baby's heart rate was not returning to baseline as quickly as the doctor would prefer.  The medical staff tried a few different techniques but we finally came to the realization that the baby would need to be born via caesarean section. Around 10pm Emily and I went into the operating room and baby Adylyn Esther was born at 10:22pm.  The surgery went great (I got to watch!) and everything went exactly as planned.  The doctor told us that the baby looked great and we could take her to the recovery room.

The next few days consisted of lots of rest and recovery.  We watched movies and Emily took a lot of time resting and waiting for her incision to heal.  On Sunday my parents and sisters came down to visit and got to hold Ady for the first time. Everyone agreed that she is the most beautiful baby ever.

On day two we faced a little rough patch. Emily has struggled in the past with allergic reactions from stress, skin pressure, and hormone changes. As you might guess this scenario was somewhat of a perfect storm.  Emily ended up having a severe allergic reaction the second day but after trying lots of different meds and chewing out a few nurses we got in touch with Emily's doctor.  Her doctor then prescribed her some steroids for her swollen face and body of hives (it was pretty rough).  Once the steroids kicked in we were back in recovery mode, but we were definitely a day or two behind.

On Tuesday a little after 1pm we left the hospital and drove home with Ady.  We had about 10 hours to ourselves until Emily's mother (Grandma Fox) came to help.  Since then it's been a lot of poopy diapers, learing to breastfeed, and fun outfits.  The sleep deprivation and learning curve has led to a few frustrating moments for Emily and I but we know it's all par for the course.  Overall everything is going great but Emily is very tired and still trying to fight off a large dose of crazy hormones and itchy hives while learning to take care of an infant.  I can't wait to see what we will learn tomorrow!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers.  If you would like to visit Baby A give Dan a call or text or send one of us a message on Facebook.  We hope to start having visitors as soon as tonight or tomorrow. We will take it slow but can't wait to start showing her off!


Grandma & Grandpa Fox



Grandma & Grandpa Stichter

You Want Pictures?

The Colts have won and life is slowing down a little (for now).  Emily is asleep in the hospital bed and has been recovering well.  I can't ask for a more beautiful wife or a more excellent mother for our children.  God has truly blessed us with baby Adylyn (ADD-a-lyn).  We have received an amazing Christmas gift and we are still praising God for His blessing. 

I keep hearing that the people want more pictures.  What a coincidence, I've taken a few (ok, maybe more than a few).  Here are some of my favorites.