Remember this...

Nolan, I wanted to take a minute and write about some things you are doing right now that put a smile on your parents' faces...


You love the sound of daddy's voice, and reward him with many smiles when you see him each morning and night. It warms his heart more than you will ever know...


You love your brother so much, and delight at his paying attention to you and giggling with you...


You are so in tune with your mommy's voice, and make her smile each day when you "talk" to her about your days. You often sound like you are saying "Hi" to us, and have also started to squeal with delight.


It is amazing to see you growing up so fast - already nearly 11 lbs. and you've grown 3 inches since birth- Wow! You are a very happy baby overall, as of late, and seem to be coming into your own. We found out at the doctor this week that your umbilical hernia will not heal on its own, so you will need surgery sometime in the near future (probably by the end of the year).


Taking after your brother again, it seems...:)

Summer fun

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we are working hard to stay busy. I have learned just how amazing Grayson is to be around when he's kept involved and away from too much TV. I love nothing more than the quiet of the house as we build a project, work on some "school" stuff, or dance to our favorite tunes.

One of the special things we did this week was to visit Uncle Rob at a nearby construction site. Grayson is obsessed with construction equipment, and has been reading up on all the equipment names and their jobs. On this day, Grayson got to watch dumptrucks, an excavator, and a crane as it dumped wet concrete into a foundation for a foot bridge. Needless to say, he was in awe of the equipment and the jobs of the crew! Thanks, Uncle Rob!

Uncle Rob teaching Grayson about rebar and the project...

In awe of all the action!

Also, Blaine has a great number of activities available for kids, and Grayson is in two of them. On Mon and Wed in the morning, Grayson goes to "Little School" with Mrs. Larkin for 1 1/2 hours. It is held in an actual kindergarten classroom, and his group of fellow 3-year-olds sing songs, play instruments, read books, and do activities together. He loves this group so far, and I really enjoy learning about what he has done each day. I will try to post a pic of his room in the future. The other activity we put him in is gymnastics. We have a great gym very close to our house, and they were offering a great tumbling/gymnastics class on Wed nights. It is a great class! We are seeing many ways to teach kids how to properly stretch, and are amazed at how many instructions Grayson can take in at one time. They work on balance beams, rings, handstands, cartwheels, jumping platforms, trampolines, and many other items- fun!

Learning to balance and stop when jumping.

Getting a feel for handstands...

Really now???

The other day, the boys and I were in the car for a quick jaunt to the nearby library. We were stopped at a light, and as I glanced to my right, I saw two men in a big black truck with a construction company logo looking my way. I suddenly realized that I hadn't looked at myself in the mirror since my shower that morning (at least I can say I did that much), and I began to wonder what they said to eachother about me, if anything at all. Were they looking at a sporty maroon car with woman inside, and expecting an attractive, natural, carefree woman? Or did they instead glimpse the dual-outfitted carseats, a mussed ponytail, and the lack of makeup and cringe? Hmmm...maybe I need to work on myself a bit more than I am. :)

Summertime...

I cannot believe how fast time is flying by with two kids! Summer is in full swing, and I am easing into my new role as a full-time mommy. To be honest, I wasn't completely looking forward to my "new job" as I really enjoy working full-time and having the ability to separate myself from my family. What I realized as I waited for daycare to end (Grayson will be going one time per week to keep up his relationships with his friends) is that my teaching skills were the key to a happy summer. I spent much time researching all the things we could do together, and set up some activities and plans. Now we're into our second week together, and I am really enjoying my time with my kids! Grayson is a joy to be around (most of the time), and I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend so much time together, especially considering that I wasn't able to do much with him during my pregnancy. It's a bit of a challenge to take care of both Nolan and Grayson's needs at the same time, but it is working!

Long overdue update...

Once again, I find myself apologizing for not updating my blog. I'm not sure if my former "readers" look for me anymore, but I promised myself to use this tool as a way to capture some memories for the future. Life is drastically different since my last post, so I need to fill in the blanks for my memory.

My pregnancy was trucking along quite well, and my school was in the thick of the spring. I was happier each day that went by an no complications occurred, though I began to understand why some people complained in the last trimester. I really found myself hanging out with nothing to do around 4 AM each day - there are some odd movies on cable at this time, let me tell you! Now, I find myself thinking of these quiet times with great envy as I am really sleep-deprived! April came in with a bang - my sister decided to give us a scare and be forced to have her little boy induced into the world in Minneapolis on April 6th due to a Pre-eclampsia scare. Dylan Paul arrived at 1:07 PM, 5 lbs. 2 oz. and 19 inches long. I started feeling a little edgy that day, as my body decided to have some pretty impressive contractions. I wasn't quite ready to go, though, and my medical folks decided that I should cut back on my work as I saw fit. We were heading into MCA testing season, though, so it was a tough time for me to be gone all that much.

I made it though the Math week with a few breaks, and began to feel a little better with rest. I decided to pack the hospital bags and keep my toes polished and legs shaven as much as possible, as I was nearing term.

Tuesday, the 20th of April...

MCA Reading test day 1 - a big day in my world, and I woke up with the most outrageous heartburn and stomach pain ever!! I called the doctor as I was concerned, but I got a groggy man at the end of his call shift of 24 hours who said not to worry. I didn't have much of an appetite that day, and tried to keep as quiet as possible at work. That afternoon, around 2 PM, I felt a little suspicious. Contractions again?? My coworkers became my guardians, and the counting and marking of contractions on a Post-It note began. I was pretty sceptical about this being "the time" for the baby to come, but I put all the stops in place, except for the fact that our hospital bags were in our bedroom at home. We counted, called the doctor, and it was decided at 4 PM that I should make the trek down to United for monitoring. Russ and I took care of Grayson, and fought the traffic to the hospital - I even managed to drive myself from Hugo to Life Time to ensure us driving in only one car! My contractions were growing in intensity, and we were curious to know what was coming for us.

While in the hospital, we chilled out in our room and watched the news, Wheel of Fortune, and American Idol in peace while watching the contractions as they continued pretty regularly, wondering if we were going to have a baby that evening. We called most of the fam, but held off on calling Bob and Joyce as they were at their first Twins game at Target Field. The nurses gave me a lovely dose of my favorite drug, Terbutaline, to see if my contractions would stop, but finally, around 9 PM (just as the last pitch of the Twins game was being thrown), it was decided that we were going to become parents again! We called Bob and Joyce, settled things for Grayson, and prepared for our kiddo's arrival in a pretty relaxed fashion. The atmosphere was almost party-like as we met our C-Section team, and Russ and I were pretty relaxed overall.

I really wished he could have held off till I was 37 weeks, so that we wouldn't ever hear the word "preemie", but our child didn't really want to listen to his mommy, even this early in the game. Nolan Robert Schmidt arrived at 10:31 PM - 5 lbs. 4 oz, and 19 inches long. It was an interesting delivery for me, as the anesthesia leaked into my chest muscles a bit and made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but my surgery team made it better. I was overwhelmed with emotion when he arrived, and a little worried at how quiet he seemed to be in his first few minutes of life (Russ watched the team bag him and help him start breathing normally), but Nolan perked up just as he should right afterward. He was beautiful! I didn't get to see him for long, and ended up spending all too much time in recovery, with a pretty decent bout of hemmorhaging that required some loopy drugs and surgery in the middle of the night. Russ wore a path between the nursery and my various recovery rooms, keeping updated on both of our conditions. I had to lie still for 4 hours, and couldn't hold Nolan till 8 AM the next day, but it worked.

I struggled at times for the next few days in the hospital, worried about bleeding and feeling rough with anemia and my c-section issues, but Nolan was doing well, we were excited that he'd finally arrived, and we had a great number of visitors! Russ worked hard that week to be with Nolan and me, at work, and with Grayson in the evening - he was an absolute trooper! Grayson was apprehensive of all of my tubes and meds when he first visited, and it was hard to keep him contained while he was in my room, but he was excited to be a big brother!

More later...