The arrival of our third

Everyone, our third baby has arrived, making us a family of five. Robin and I would like to introduce Reece William Kroening. He was born at 6:31am and is 21 3/4", 8lb 0oz. Mom and baby are both doing well. Reece has even had breakfast. Anyone trying our cell phones please note we don't have cell service in the room. I'll post more later about phone/visitor info.

9pm, about 15 hours old:

The baby is... coming

We were scheduled to arrive at the hospital for the baby's c-section at 7am this morning. However, this conversation happened at 1:50 am:

Robin: "Kyle, wake up."
Kyle: "Huh... Wha?"
Robin: "We have to go to the hospital. My water broke."

It took until our third child was set to be delivered for us to have this happen. So, since I've never been in that situation before and being really tired I asked, "So I hate to be a jerk but are you sure we can't sleep for another 5 hours?" Robin responded with a hearty laugh. So I knew she was still feeling alright but the laugh also told me that this was really happening. We both had time to shower, and then I found out Robin had already called her mom and sister, so we followed through with our plan to drop the boys off and have Nancy drop us off at the hospital, only it was 5 hours earlier than scheduled. It is 4:30am and we are waiting for everything to get set up so we can start the c-section. Stay tuned.

the final countdown

our family of four is just about five.  before the big day arrives, daddy has a race to run.  the Fetzer 20K has become an annual event for kyle and this year was no different.  except for maybe the weather.

what a gorgeous day for a run.  not that I would know.  I admire all of you who can get out the and pound the pavement. I'm fully convinced that you're either bitten by the running bug or you're not. I clearly have a great race bug repellant. kyle, on the other hand, has got this running thing down. his motto is "go fast or go home." clearly evidenced by this year's race results.  two years ago I tried hard to make it to the park before the time that kyle estimated he would run by...we didn't make it. last year we walked there with jen and baby callan in the crispy, cold weather.  this year, we drove.  I figured that at 39 weeks pregnant, I deserved it.

kyle came cruising by just a shade past his "scheduled" time. not his fastest race, but we still thought he did great!

lucky for the little guys, the race is just across the river from one of our favorite parks. so naturally we stopped to play. man I love these two.

there are just mere hours until our two sweet boys...

...become big brothers.

a little "pitchy"

here's a video Miles and i shot the other day playing baseball.  getting to drag out his green sports bucket to play in the house is one of his favorite things now.  that list includes getting to play football, which consists of a game of catch with his NERF ball.  this involves a couple of pretty hilarious touchdown dances that are triggered whenever he catches the ball.  video evidence will have to wait for a future entry. 

a few disclaimers about this video:
1) i did not teach Miles this Jeff Bagwell-type stance or his Frank Thomas-type positioning in the batter's box (all the way back and as far from the plate as possible), but i did teach him to tap the plate with the bat to square up.  he now insists i do it, too.
2) i've already apologized to "Curious George" for the lumps he took while playing catcher without a mask.
3) this particular night's game started as an elaborate ploy to get Miles to teach me to play his baseball bat like a musical instrument.
4) it was really hard to not start laughing.  i still laugh just as hard watching the video as i did when i first saw him play this "music".

when mom is away, (some of) the boys will play

while Robin, Brian, Blair, and Beth took Miles and Josiah sledding, Henry stayed home with dad.  Robin said that Henry was working on how to use the pinball machine but he perfected it while mom was away.  i figured this would keep people entertained until Robin's next update.

clearing the cobwebs

wow. it's been too long since I've been on the blog and posted ANYTHING. it's not that we haven't been busy, because we have. I think I just got out of the groove. after grandpa died, it seems like thanksgiving came plowing in and work has been nuts. but we're back and here is a glimpse into our november.

on my days at home with the boys, we fill our time with puzzles and playing, lunchtime and coloring, step-and-throw games and reading books. time seems to fly by and before we know it, it's dinnertime and daddy is coming through the back door.

there have been plenty of nights filled with pjs, basement lounging, baths, and snuggling. I definitely feed off of those moments. I'm somehow refueled by the craziness of prepping, serving, and cleaning up dinner for our little family. I sit in awe at how quickly henry is going from baby to toddler and how miles is transforming into a little boy right before our eyes.

kyle loves to trade in his shirt and tie for some comfy lounge pants so that he can get right down on the floor to play with his babies. listening to miles' giggles as kyle chases after him or hearing henry's little voice say "daddy!" as he signs it is proof enough that they love him right back. c'mon now, you know you're diggin' the tea party pic!

there is something sort of magical about bath time. sure, we have our fair share of tears, floaters, and wipe-outs, but they are overshadowed by the splashes and shrieks and the "watch this mommy!'s" I have to confess that I have a huge weakness for a freshly bathed baby. I love to snuggle in with them and feel their warm soft skin against my cheek and smell that yummy baby magic soap. henry's fuzzy flyaway hair tickling my nose is certainly an added bonus. mmmmm.

so yeah, we've been away too long and I promise many more posts. we have turkey day to catch up on yet and many-a-holiday photo to be taken. don't get me started on my love of all things christmas. speaking of...there is a twinkling tree in my living room with my name on it.

prognosis... Excellent

Just posting quickly to let everyone know that Miles made it through the pre-op wonderfully and he arrived in the OR at 8:54. His tonsils are already removed and they're working on his ears, with his bellybutton procedure to follow.

***EDIT 9:50am*** tubes have been inserted in his ears and his bellybutton is being fixed up.

***EDIT 1:20pm*** miles is resting somewhat comfortably in his ICU room.  we're hoping to be able to leave tomorrow but it will depend on his willingness and ability to drink enough liquids.

***EDIT 7:56pm*** miles went for a wagon ride around the ICU floor and is starting to feel better.  he still hasn't had a single thing to eat or drink but has started to smile and seems to be coming around a bit after a pretty rough day.

***EDIT 8:15am 7/20*** the plan is still for miles to leave the hospital today but he's still refusing to try and food or drink so we don't know for sure yet when our discharge time would be.

***EDIT 1:30pm 7/20*** miles seemed to snap out of his funk this morning around 10am and had just a little to eat and drank a small amount of water.  he's on the right path but we'll have to wait for word from the doctors to see when he'll get to go home.

***EDIT 5:50pm 7/20*** we have officially been moved to "the floor" - which means that miles made it out of the ICU, but not out of the hospital.  he's continuing to only sip on liquids and that makes for unhappy doctors. he is sweetly begging to come home I wanna go home, I wanna leave, I'm all done at the doctor, it's breaking our hearts.  hopefully he will start chugging some water and we will get our "go home" ticket soon!

***EDIT 8:00am 7/21*** right after we saw the doctor last night we got miles back to his room and he devoured a bunch of food and drank milk like a champ.  he woke up this morning and is doing MUCH better.  it's just a matter of seeing the doctor now to see when he can get his IV out and head home.

***EDIT 1:00pm 7/21*** miles has the green light to go home. he should be out of the hospital in a few hours.

***EDIT 10:00pm 7/21*** here is one last update to show miles back to his normal self, and to let everyone hear his "new" voice.  it might be the cutest thing i've ever heard. sorry for the terrible cell phone video quality but you can see the camcorder was not available at that moment.

happy father's day

I think it would be an understatement to say that kyle is a great daddy. I have been in awe since the day that miles was born at how naturally becoming a dad was to him. now that we have two boys, it has only gotten better. he can't wait for them to get up in the morning and makes all the time in the world to just sit and play with both of them. if kyle has left for work before miles wakes up, all I hear is "where's daddy?" and the way miles' face lights up when kyle walks in the door would melt anyone's heart. henry gives his daddy such a big gummy grin and loves to giggle at him when he makes funny noises. I know that kyle will never let a day go by when he doesn't tell the boys that he loves them and that he's proud of them. for that, I am certain they will grow up to be better human beings. what a gift. so here's to all the daddies out there. thank you for loving your little ones. you are important!

saturday in the park

last saturday we had nothing on our agenda. trust me when I say that THAT is a rarity! we decided to lay low in the morning. kyle whipped up a batch of chocolate chip waffles and we watched a little letter factory (a.k.a. "letter FATory - if you're a wee toddler). testing his mommy and daddy is at the top of miles' "to do list" and this morning was no exception...this is not allowed.

"I swing in henry's swing!"

despite a little mischief making, miles had no trouble keeping us entertained. here is what a roll of clear tape will do to a 23 month old.

gotta love cheap entertainment!

we interrupt this blogcast for a public service announcement:
poor tinker and tessie. the wide spread doggie toys have long given way to the endless array of baby/toddler toys. from the look on these faces...they are none too happy about the new home decor. please dig through the doggie-toy "graveyard" bin soon. thank you.
we now return to your regularly scheduled blogcasting.
mr. henry lounged around sans clothing while we got a few laughs out of watching miles. my wonderful friend kate borrowed us this beautiful moses basket. I'm sad that henry is just about too big for it. it's certainly come in handy!
after we managed to get everyone dressed, miles found a deck of cards and began to play his favorite game - matching (narrowly beating out another fave in our house...52 card pick up...always a crowd-pleaser).
the weather made it nearly impossible to stay inside all day and so we packed up a little picnic and headed on over to one of the parks right by our house.

henry-bug stayed snug and warm in the stroller...brr!

saying prayers
"thank you for our food. amen"

CHEERS!
miles loves to "do cheers" with anything and everything. sandwiches? why not!

good thing daddy came along to chase the little guy around

I'm convinced that springtime in minnesota is God's gift to us all for surviving the harsh winter weather. the flowering trees, green grass, and smell of lilacs is a little slice of heaven :)

a sure sign of a successful outing

the golden thirty

kyle joined the prestigious "30 + club" on friday! being that it was his golden birthday, we had to be sure it was done right. unfortunately, I was unable to arrange a day off for him, so we had to postpone our celebrating until after the work day was over. nana and papa graciously offered to babysit the boys so that we could go out to dinner and even squeeze in a drink or two in a real live grown-up bar...haven't done that in months!! all of our siblings (minus marc and jen) joined us at fiesta cafe for a yummy dinner.
I would like to personally thank the staff there for doing a smashing job of embarrassing kyle. the entire staff (or at least it seemed like the whole staff) came out singing feliz cumpleanos, slapped a big ol' sombrero on kyle's head, and smeared some whipped cream on his nose. it was glorious!
the birthday boy was spoiled with a whole variety of gift cards from everyone and miles & henry got daddy a shirt and a bag of 30 hershey kisses. I was unsure of how to properly mark this grand occasion in terms of some sort of fabulous gift. fear not. here is what I came up with:
and here is the look kyle gave me as he was trying to figure it out.
in case you are a little stumped too..."compute it! big mac + apple"...it's the iMac, silly! kyle's been salivating over this thing for months, scratch that, years. so I thought that he deserved an extra special gift in honor of his 30th birthday. I'm sure there will be a blog post dedicated to our new cyber machine as soon as it arrives. you know me though...ever the bargain hunter...we will be purchasing aforementioned iMac as soon as apple begins their back-to-school promotion. I'm all for a free iPod!

the remainder of the evening found us all bar-hopping *gasp* you read that right! we quickly discovered that we are a bit rusty, but had a good time despite our yawning at 9pm. I have to admit that one of us (might have been me) said "it's getting late. by the time we pick up the boys and get them to bed it will be after 11pm." wow, we're old. here are the rest of the pictures from our night out on the town. a special thank you to nana and papa for watching the boys. they obviously had a great time!

mmmm...brownies.

tuckered out