May 2011

What a great month! Of course there have been some stressful moments of “what do we do now” and “why is she crying again,” but the majority of the month has gone well and most of that praise needs to go do Deb! I do what I can on the weekends, but there is a part of me that just imagines doing this routine each day while getting interrupted sleep and I don’t really know how Deb does it! I guess sneaking in a morning and afternoon nap doesn’t hurt! But all joking aside, the original thoughts was for me to take an additional week off in the month of May and it ended up being unnecessary, so I saved those vacation days for down the road, when visitors may not be as frequent and Nana (Deb’s Mom) may not be able to come for an entire week (as she did this month)! We were introduced to parenthood when we spent our 5-year anniversary a little different than we normally do. Typically, we enjoy a steak dinner from one of the several places here in town. This year, we had some leftovers and watched the NBA playoffs. It is an adjustment, but one we were excited to undertake. It is hard to believe it has been one month since she was born…as she seems to have been part of us for a long time. I’m sure the 9 month pregnancy does that to you.

Allison hanging out on the couch...
Deb and I were also blessed to have a nephew born on May 22nd. Pete and Laura welcomed their son, Jacob Robert Vandervaart, on that Sunday evening. As he was nearly 5 weeks early, he is spending some time in the NICU. From what I understand, he is doing great and will be leaving soon. I’ve copied their blog to this post as several people have asked about them recently (Laura was in the hospital for nearly 3 weeks due to pregnancy complications). And, they will post a lot more pictures than we will of Jake! Blog - http://www.vandervaartfamily.blogspot.com/

As Deb mentioned on a previous post, Nana came to visit the last full week of May and it was a great visit. I’m sure she enjoyed herself, but Deb really enjoyed not only having her mom around to enjoy this time in her life, but also to simply have someone to talk to during the day! They went shoe shopping for Allison, went to breakfast in Broad Ripple, did some shopping at Kohl’s and Babies R Us (big surprise!) and seemed to be out and about whenever they remembered to call me!

Deb has been able to get out of the house on a few occasions. She and Allison take morning walks on the Monon as long as it isn't raining and we go as a family at night as often as possible. Deb is back to working out at the gym which she has missed doing and was also able to go out for a "girls' night" and had a blast.

Things have started to sink in with my Dad not being here to enjoy the 2 newest grandchildren. The ironic thing I have thought about recently was that it felt like we were holding him together the last 3 years, but it really seems like he was the one keeping us together. Now, everyone is doing just fine, but it just seems like even in his toughest moments, he always had the right thing to say to all of us, and now his voice isn’t here when we sometimes need it.

Allison had her 1 month check up appointment and her pediatrician says "she is the perfect 1 month old"!! She now weighs 8lbs 8oz and is 22 inches long and finally fits into her newborn clothes. She received the 2nd shot in the Hep B vaccine series which was difficult to watch and next month starts the true series of immunizations which we hear is even worse!

A few more items from this month:

*Mom has decided she needed a fresh start at a new place, so she is selling our house on Rowin Road and moving to a condo. Safety, less maintenance, and no yard-work are all excellent reasons to move and we all support her. Nevertheless, having your childhood home sold is emotional.

*We enjoyed a cookout at the Frederick’s house over Memorial Day weekend, where we got a chance to see 2 of my fraternity brothers that I haven’t seen in years, Dave Crews and Nick Flesher (the Watkins and Miles were also there).

*Chris Wahman (my cousin) graduated from high school this month. I was able to attend the graduation and all 3 of us went to the open house over Memorial Day weekend.