The Manthey Blog

Parent Teacher Conference

2011-11-09T20:07:00.002-05:00

I can't believe my baby boy is old enough that I just went to my first parent/teacher conference!!! I cried on the way home :) He is doing very well! He is such a great kid and I'm so glad he is doing well in school as well as home! He is already being much more social with the other kids - the thing he most needed to work on. He keeps telling me, "hey mom, soon i'll be 5." HAHA! NO! not soon! I'm not ready for that!

And here's a couple funny quotes from naomi...
"Oh my GOOSE-en!" (oh my goodness)
"Whoopies!!" (whoopsies)

Iron Up!!

2011-10-22T21:07:00.002-04:00

Ryans iron is up again!! Above 12 now, which is right in the middle of normal! He is going to finish the iron pills he has now and then not refill them! He is SO thrilled to not need another blood test (that we know of) for that! Thank you for all the prayers! Yay ryan jay!

Dumpster Diving

2011-10-05T10:40:00.001-04:00

When we were biking in Ocean City we saw 2 toddler beds in a dumpster. The one was just a cheap plastic one but the other one was this nice white cute one! So we pulled it out (bird poop and all) and came back for it. By that point the dumpster had been emptied but the bed we pulled out was still sitting there! We took it back, hosed it down, scrubbed it with a mr clean eraser took it home, used a couple sprays of white paint and now it's naomis free toddler bed!! :)

Funnies from the Kiddos!

2011-09-18T20:55:00.004-04:00

At the shore this year we each got some money from my grandparents. We passed it out after dinner and we're guessing Naomi has seen people put money in their back pockets so she tried to shove hers in her diaper! (immediately following this video we found out she had pooped!)

And a couple Ryan Jay funnies...
When Ryan was praying he thanked God that he has energy now! (so sweet and sad!)

Aunt Bonnie said to him "oh, Ryan look at yourself!"
he paused and said "Aunt Bonnie, I cannot look at myself."

whenever he gets excited lately he exclaims "oh that's a baloney sandwich!!"

and a cute pic of naomi in her princess gown!

Ryan Goes To Preschool!

2011-09-17T10:56:00.002-04:00

Yay Ryan! He's really growing up!!

The Simple Life

2011-08-29T20:06:00.002-04:00

Our electric is back on tonight after about 36 hours off, thanks to hurricane Irene. :) I find myself grateful for the electric but mourning the loss of "the simple life".

Yesterday morning we went to my parents and stuffed our fridge contents in their fridge (they have a big generator) while we were there michelle and Philip showed up! All of us out of power - we had a lovely cereal and fruit breakfast together.
This morning we used my parents house like a wash house - showers, baths, dishes! Thanks mom!

Last night we had dinner with my grandparents - they have chefs at the retirement center... And electric! It was a great impromptu family get together! They even let us charge our phones, check our email and wash dishes!!

My mom and i, In trying to figure out when to leave for dinner actually wrote notes to eachother via my dad who was dropping off a generator to keep our freezer going - thanks dad! And I mean real notes - not instant message, not email, not SMS, not facebook wall posts, not even on the phone, actual hand written communication - only thing we could do!

I had "extra" time during the day to focus on, play with and snuggle my babies. No cell phone distractions - no where we needed to go - nobody was even open!

Last two nights I had no Internet to surf, no emails to write, tv to watch - I sat and read a book by flashlight while snuggling my kitty! What a great and extremely relaxing time!

It reminded me that when I was younger I wanted to be Amish. Granted it was 60% for the hot young Amish neighbor boy down the street, but the other 40% was because simple is so relaxing and God and family focused. (don't worry tim he's not nearly as hot anymore now that he's married and has that full beard)

God I pray that you will help me to get out of the electronic world more often and remember the joys of "the simple life"!!!

GI Smile

2011-08-05T21:47:00.002-04:00

The kids both had checkups with the GI doctor today. Ryan is now 33 pounds and 39 inches tall. Naomi is 22 pounds and 33 inches tall. They are both doing VERY well and we even got several smiles from the normally unemotional GI doctor!! We will be trying to back off on naomis prilosec and see how that goes. In a month or so we will try for ryan as well!!

Very very exciting!! Who ever would have thought that the little scrawny non eating, non sleeping, puking, screaming mess of a baby, eventually adding immune, lactose and iron issues to the list... would be asking for more food (asking for food?!), gaining weight, running around, swimming, sleeping through the night (sleeping!! unbelievable!), full of energy, loving camp and sunday school(yes, we go to church again!!), headed to preschool in the fall and now maybe backing off of his reflux meds!! God is good!!!

Iron up!!!

2011-07-16T11:26:00.001-04:00

Ryans iron is up to 11.4!!! Just below normal! He doesn't have to get more bloodwork for 3 months!!!!!!

Ryan Update

2011-06-27T22:42:00.003-04:00

Ryan did VERY well with his blood draw on thursday! He was very brave and barely cried! All the practice really paid off! Thanks for that doctor kits Aunt Katie and Nana! And thanks for the berenstain bears doctor video grandmom! The results came back and his hemoglobin is up to 10!! This is great, but still low. The doctors are looking for it to go up more and still wondering why it was low in the first place. They are also still recommending a second opinion on the reflux, but reassured me that they would carefully review his previous care and tests/procedures so they wouldn't necessarily be doing additional procedures. In addition, she reviewed his history and testing and how often he is still currently complaining about his stomach (every day, several times) and thinks that maybe he also has a lactose intolerance. So we are to try NO dairy for 7 days. I know we tried forms of this before, when he was nursing and right when we switched him to milk. But hopefully this will be more definitive this time. I think that's all for now, thanks for reading and keep praying! :)

Ryan Update

2011-05-31T22:16:00.002-04:00

Ryan had a checkup today at the pedi. His weight was slightly down, which after a couple nights of puking wasn't terribly surprising) but unfortunately his iron was down as well. :( It was the "quick" test so we're upping the dosage and in 3 weeks getting quest bloodwork done. After the appointment I did a little research online and it looks like maybe the low iron is caused by the long term use of the prilosec. The pedi is also recommending that we get a second opinion, wondering if all of this is really related to the reflux or if there's something more going on. We are going to a CHOP facility and feel the doctor is very competent, but we will consider getting another opinion. So, please pray for healing for Ryan, patience, guidance, and trust in God for us, and God's glory in all. Thanks!

My little octogenarian!

2011-04-27T17:01:00.002-04:00

Ryan is such a little old man walking around in a 3 year old body. I probably won't explain it too well, but he's always worried about things, gets sick often, loves being at the retirement center... here's a few quotes that remind me he's really 80 and not 3...

taking a walk "watch out for cars everyone!" (repeated about every 10 seconds)

walking on a slanted sidewalk "oh dear, i'm afraid we might fall"

any time there's the slightest bit of wind "ooh the wind, it's too windy, i don't want to be out in the wind, it's too much"

playing on deck "oh my pants are wet, yuck, we should go inside"

with a cold (grandpops favorite)... "hey guys, we're just hanging out and sneezing together!"

every time we go to garden spot retirement village... "oh i am so glad we are here at garden spot!" ... definitely one of his favorite places to visit, although i think that's more to do with some of his favorite people being there!

at the grocery store after the lady in front checks out, they put her groceries in the cart in front and he can't see them "oh mommy, what about that lady's groceries? how will she get them?"

after shopping as we put the kids in the car before the merchandise "but i don't want the bags and the stroller to blow away!" (EVERY time!)

and the best one yet... at a birthday party, all the kids were playing in the yard and he's standing on deck looking at them worried saying "ooh,be careful guys!" he finally got down to check out a riding toy, looked at it, "oh i've never seen anything like this before, hmm!" then right back up on the deck lol

Health Update

2011-04-18T10:30:00.003-04:00

Recently we went back to the immunologist and she repeated bloodwork on ryan to see if his levels had changed, and they haven't, so probably the immune deficiency is a lifetime thing. but it is the most common and as they get older and hygiene gets better it's not as big a problem. apparently a lot of people have it and don't even know it. but the blood tests also showed that is iron is too low. They don't know the cause of it, probably more bloodwork to come. in the meantime we'll have to try and figure out how to get iron in him. the supplement is making him spit up and gag for 10 minutes. so that's not the way!

but both kids gained weight! we did have to up the prilosec for both of them but thank you Lord that the meds are covered by insurance and they help! We are very grateful for happy mostly healthy children who are eating well and sometimes sleep through the night!

in other news, naomi got an ear infection! our house looks like drugstore at dinner time passing out meds, kinda fun actually!... :)

GawGiddy

2011-04-16T20:46:00.003-04:00

This is naomi's favorite sound. Sometimes the whole family has "gawgiddy" conversations :)

Kid Storage

2011-04-03T23:36:00.002-04:00

We recently got a new bookcase for ryan and he helped us put it together! and a new shelf unit for naomis room. they really like them! it's easy to get to the toys and books!

Powder Room Redo...

2011-04-03T01:23:00.004-04:00

Just recently finished the powder room redo. A few years ago we did the wainscoting and the light and mirror and painted. I just did the floors and painted the cabinet and painted the countertops. Take a look! (ps - i took the pics before i caulked)

Befores:

Afters:

Kitchen Redo Pics!

2011-03-31T20:56:00.004-04:00

Not sure if I ever posted any pics of the kitchen redo so here they finally are!! (I think i was waiting for the hutch to be in place!) We did the work ourselves with the help of our wonderful families(thank you!)... tore down the wall, patched drywall, moved some vents and outlets, painted the cabinets, walls, did the floor, crown molding, made the island, new lights. We did have the countertops made though and just installed them. anyhow, i/we LOVE our kitchen, i think i tell tim that at least 3 times a week!! hope you all like it too, Have fun looking!

I tried to group them into before/afters...

My New Hutch!!!!!

2011-03-30T21:38:00.001-04:00

Some pics of my new corner hutch that we had made! I love it!! And not sure if I ever posted pics of the redone kitchen on here. I'll have to do that, but here's sort of a sneak peak :)

Goodbye Nutritionist!

2011-02-05T22:33:00.002-05:00

Ryan had a nutritionist appointment yesterday and she said we don't have to come back!!!! Ryan is 30 pounds now! Close to 20th percentile for weight and proportionally growing in height! I cried when we left, I can't believe how far he's come! He and I were both so different when we first starting going to her. He wouldn't eat or sleep and I was a stressed out pregnant exhausted caretaker afraid we'd have to hire someone to help us if he did receive the threatened feeding tube. Now he actually asks for food! We don't give him supplemental calories in his drinks anymore! He even sleeps! He does still have the reflux issue and we will continue to see the GI doc for that as well as the immunologist for his IGA deficiency but we are hopeful for both of those to get better as well! Oh how far God has brought us! thank you all for your prayers!

THE family

2011-01-02T20:35:00.003-05:00

Today we were privileged to portray the holy family in Olivets church service. And Ryan played a young john the baptist. I think he was the star actually!

GI update

2010-12-16T13:40:00.004-05:00

So since last time I posted we've been to the GI doc again and both naomi and ryan are looking really good!!!!!!! What a huge praise! they both got taller and gained weight. Ryan is actually on his own little curve now for weight gain! and the doctor talked about possibly in the spring backing off on the meds some and seeing what happens! i don't want to get my hopes up too much, but i actually never thought i'd hear him say that! and the last time we had the stomach bug ryan only took twice as long to get over it than the rest of us! which is considerably better than he's been doing, we are very glad for this! i feel like he is becoming "normal"! :) we're thinking about trying to go to church again in the spring. again, i don't want to get my hopes up but it's very hard not to! haha! so great news! thank you for your continued prayers!

Happy 60th Anniversary Hogelands!

2010-11-24T17:36:00.006-05:00

Happy Anniversary Mommom and Poppop! We all love you so much! You're a wonderful example to us all! We love you!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T21:41:00.005-04:00

Welcome to the world baby branford!

2010-11-01T21:34:00.004-04:00

welcome hannah! congratulations branfords!

Happy 1st Birthday Naomi Faith!

2010-10-10T23:51:00.003-04:00

Happy 1st birthday to my beautiful baby girl! We love you so much! You brighten our lives! I can't believe it's been a year!

Shore Fun!

2010-09-26T14:33:00.012-04:00

Thanks everyone for another great time at the shore this year! It was so nice to have so many people available to wake up with our kids in the middle of the night!

Ryan was terrified of the waves this year. He kept crying out "the waves are coming!!" Naomi on the other hand was not afraid of anything, but she hated sunblock... she'll thank me later. She LOVED the waves, couldn't get enough of them!

Here's pics galore, and it's only a sampling! But scroll all the way through cause there's really good ones at the bottom! :)

Knitting

2010-09-26T13:55:00.003-04:00

Mommom is teaching me to knit! Here is my first real project completed, a baby hat for the next baby girl born in the family...

Ryans Immunologist Report

2010-09-10T12:17:00.001-04:00

The immunologist called back today and told us that Ryan has an IgA deficiency. Of immune issues, this is the most common. He may or may not grow out of it. It causes him to easily catch illnesses and infections respiratory and GI related. There's no treatment, just basically means he'll catch everything and we need to keep him out of situations where he'll be exposed to things. This is what has and will continue to keep us from group situations, like preschool, church, playgroups, etc. We will keep up with the doctor every 6 months to see if anything has changed. It is the only issue that came up out of his testing, everything else looks good. This sounds like a not major issue, but confirms what we've been thinking, so we're not all crazy and this isn't all just "bad luck". So please pray that he will grow out of this and there will be no additional complications! He's a very social person and it's hard to not let him do social things with people his age!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2010-09-08T23:16:00.002-04:00

My Cute Kiddos

2010-09-03T09:14:00.002-04:00

Immunologist... and then some...

2010-08-31T21:37:00.003-04:00

We took ryan to the immunologist today because EVERY time we take him to church he gets sick. She ordered some bloodwork, which we went and got right away. Ryan was NOT happy, not surprisingly. but he was a trooper! the lady had to dig around to find his vein too :( poor kid. at the end she said i'm sorry bud and he stopped crying and said, oh, she's sorry, oh she's sorry. and that was the end of the crying!

so that was the only thing on the calendar but of course the stuff that really fills your day is the stuff that's not on the calendar...
we went to the bank, and funny ryan quote, we walked in and he says "ooooh, they don't have cake anymore!" LOL we went the day the branch opened, a few months ago and they had cake. they thought he was too cute so they gave him a water bottle.

we also got recruited to take 43 dozen ears of corn to the grocery store for our amish friends! never done that before, very fun! and tomorrow is sarahs 18th birthday!!! i had so much fun talking to her!

and then on the way back from king of prussia we stopped at unisys and saw my dad and all my old friends! i miss you brad, it was SO good to see you!!! we walked out on the cold floor, it's so strange how smells bring back memories, as soon as we walked in i was overcome with memories from another life! ryan and naomi had a great time sitting at poppi's desk!

GI Update

2010-08-22T08:48:00.001-04:00

We took the kids to the GI doc on friday. Naomi isn't ready to be off her meds, but that's ok we'll try again in a couple months. Ryan is doing well and the doctor isn't threatening a feeding tube right now! We're going to take him to an immunologist to see if there's anything we can do about him getting sick EVERY time we take him to church.

Barnstormers Game!

2010-08-21T23:02:00.004-04:00

Ryan had a great time at the barnstormers game last night. even though they lost 8-1. He did watch some of the game and was SO excited to be there. but he also hung out at the play area a lot, mostly the carousel! We had a great time hanging out with the downingtown and leola mantheys :)

Happy August!

2010-08-18T00:15:00.002-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. :( My perfectionism sets in and says if i can't do every post that i want to i shouldn't do it at all. so i'm going taking a new approach and if i miss something i'll try and catch up on it later but in the meantime i'll keep posting! so here's a cute pic of naomi! ryan and naomi and tim all had a fever/flu thing recently and naomi was the last to have it and is finally getting over it. today she had that big grin back on her face! i really missed it!

Scoped

2010-06-10T00:53:00.004-04:00

Naomi had her scope done today. She was a real trooper! Super mad when she woke up from the anesthesia but after that she was a little angel all day! Everything looked good and he took some biopsies to check for allergies and make sure it's just 'regular reflux'. this is very good news! thank you all for your prayers!

Ryan and Ella

2010-06-08T08:31:00.001-04:00

Naomi's Upper GI

2010-05-11T23:13:00.004-04:00

I'll have to play catch-up on my next post cause i missed a few things, but for now...

Today Naomi had her upper GI and everything looked like it was in the right place! yay! She did really well, just was angry that we held her on the table for all that time. She did drink some barium, enough for them to do the procedure :) She's much happier now at home with a full belly! Thanks for all the prayers!

Kiddos

2010-04-11T21:37:00.003-04:00

Naomi is 6 months old!!! I can't believe it! And Ryan has finally passed 25 pounds!! yay!!

Me and My Great Gram

2010-04-01T09:44:00.001-04:00

Ryan is VERY attached to his Great Gram, it's so cute!...

Katie and Andrews Wedding!!

2010-03-29T09:21:00.014-04:00

Last weekend was Katie and Andrews wedding!!! Or as Ryan calls it, "The Big wedding!" It was such a perfect day! The weather was fantastic and everything went so well! Ryan Jay was the ring bearer, Naomi was the flower girl and Tim was her flower daddy (she couldn't wiggle down the aisle on her own), and I was the matron of honor. So it was an all out family affair! We had a GREAT time! Congratulations and we love you Katie and Andrew! Here's a LOT of pics and there's more on facebook.

rehearsal, the dinner was at lock nairn (sp), it was great, thanks brian!

Katie was SO excited the whole day! and Ryan can't stop talking about the wedding, he thinks we're gonna do it again. Before the ceremony the organist rang the chimes and ryan yelled, "uh, did somebody ring the doorbell?" then halfway up the aisle he says "and people are smiling at you!"

Ryan J Quotes

2010-03-08T11:00:00.002-05:00

The poor kid has a sinus infection right now :( but he still has the funniest and cutest things to say...

"lets talk nana. we're hanging out and sneezing together."

a prayer from ryan...
"dear God thank for our food and for this wonderful milk. and for our wonderful kitchen.... in Jesus name amen."

pointing to naomi's cradle cap...
"naomi has cat food on her head."

worried because he didn't see great gram...
"great gram???"
mom - "i think she's in the bathroom ryan"
[scratching his head] "did she say anything?"

he calls buttonup shirts ghosts...
[lifting up a mans shirt, we didn't know him] "you wearin' a ghost!!"

Snow, snow, snow!

2010-02-13T16:53:00.007-05:00

It's SO neat to see all this snow!! It's what I hoped for every year as a kid! It's so deep, i love it!!

First snowfall Saturday a week ago...
That is a 50 yr old snow blower (no exaggeration!)

Second on Tuesday this week...

There's a car under here! (not our house)

More to come next week I hear!!

and here's a picture of my cutie baby!!

Ryan Quotes

2010-02-13T16:50:00.002-05:00

Here's a couple recent Ryan quotes that I found quite funny!

after peeing on the potty (yay big boy!)
"I'm so proud of you mommy and daddy!"

at the dinner table after poppi pointed something out
"Great observation Poppi!"

in the bathroom at nanas house
"(laughing) This is a ridiculous bathroom."

GI Update

2010-01-29T20:21:00.006-05:00

Ryan and Naomi both saw the GI specialist today. Naomi hopefully just has regular reflux. He upped her meds. She's gaining weight fine! Ryan unfortunately is down a few ounces from his last weight in october. The doctor wasn't too concerned, but definitely not happy, he didn't bring up the idea of a feeding tube so whew! We're going to talk to the nutritionist again about adding something more than the duocal to his diet. because of being so low weight his immune system is bad and he gets anything that he's exposed to. this would explain why he got two stomach bugs in the last month. so we're going to have to hold off on church nursery and group kid activities at least until cold/flu season is over.

after the appts we went to visit great gram and papa jay and we got to go in the pool!! this was naomi's first time in a pool! i'm including pictures below.

Josiah

2010-01-27T21:33:00.005-05:00

My friends Beth and Curt had a baby boy today around 12:30 via emergency c-section, she was 32 weeks. They named him Josiah, which means "Jehovah has healed". As expected though the baby had many health complications and was unable to survive outside the womb. This all came upon them in the last week after a routine prenatal visit. My heart aches and I do not know what to say. I cannot imagine what they are going through. Please pray with us for their family!!

You can see their story here...
http://seebessrun.blogspot.com

New Pics

2010-01-16T20:36:00.001-05:00

I added a December album to our picture website so if you're bored check it out!

http://jenbutjen.shutterfly.com

Farm Show

2010-01-11T21:53:00.004-05:00

We asked Ryan what his favorite thing there was...

1) "and the cow was getting a haircut"
2) "and there were wide speakers in the ceiling"

My Guitar

2009-12-31T18:01:00.003-05:00

Ryan got a real guitar this year from uncle andrew and aunt katie. Here's some video and pics of the first time he held it and also a video from tonight of him singing "big rock candy mountain". He loves to sing and sway and strum his guitar, it's so cute!!

Ryan J Plays Guitar @ Yahoo! Video

Snow!!

2009-12-23T12:40:00.004-05:00

we had a huge snowstorm over the weekend!! it was the biggest in many many years, it was so great!!

Note the snow is past the bottom rung of our fence. And Ryan is standing in these pictures.

Franklin Institute

2009-12-23T10:30:00.004-05:00

We went to the franklin institute with the Branfords, thanks guys! It was tons of fun and Ryan LOVED the heart.

Boys Weekend

2009-12-23T10:14:00.003-05:00

When i was away with naomi for the weekend christmas shopping, tim and ryan had a fun weekend together. They visited great gram and papa jay at garden spot, fixed the christmas tree lights, and made a gingerbread house!

Catching up

2009-12-23T09:45:00.002-05:00

It been a long couple days here for us. Ryan had a stomach bug the last couple days and Naomi has been on an eating/nonsleeping spree. Things are finally looking up and Ryan is back to his chatty self and Naomi is sleeping right now! Praise the Lord that Tim was home this week!!!

So here's a couple posts of recent things i've been meaning to post about.

Hair

2009-11-29T09:01:00.003-05:00

Naomi looks just like her Aunt Katie did at her age. So we had her "borrow" Aunt Katies hair to see what she'd look like :)

All dressed up and out to tea!

2009-11-06T23:36:00.005-05:00

We went out to tea today and the kids were so good! Ryan got his own little spread, he was so excited, it was adorable!

Allergist

2009-11-06T23:23:00.002-05:00

Ryan had his allergist appointment on thursday. He was very brave! They did all the pricks in one big jab, so it was over with quickly for the testing. Turns out he's allergic to..... NOTHING! So yay for that! Still no idea why the switch to 1% milk made such a huge difference.

World Series Game

2009-11-06T22:36:00.002-05:00

Yes they lost the game, and then the whole series, but this was a once in a lifetime experience and we had a great time!!

Pumpkin Carving With Nana

2009-11-06T22:04:00.001-05:00

Halloween Party...

2009-10-28T14:07:00.004-04:00

Kiddo Updates

2009-10-23T21:58:00.003-04:00

ryan had a GI appt today. i was so excited to talk to doc about how we switched from whole milk to 1% milk and it's made a big difference, he eats better, no runny nose anymore and no diaper rash. well, gi doc has no clue. he kept saying "i just don't know". he is sending us to an allergist. he did check for allergies before when he did the scope and didn't find anything. he also said definitely don't stop what you're doing cause it's obviously helping and ryan gained another pound and he was pleased with that!!

naomi has been having some fussy/rough times the last couple days. her spitup increased, she's fussier, she's not staying asleep very long during the day, eating little bits often throughout the day and she just cried out in her sleep which is the saddest thing! i was thinking it could be a growth spurt or i don't have enough milk or i should cut out something from my diet. but tonight i'm really thinking we should give some reflux meds a try for her as well, we'll see.

overall we are very very blessed and still feeling well rested and much better than we did at this point when ryan was an infant. thank you friends and family for all the meals, gifts, prayers and love!

Smiling

2009-10-16T23:33:00.003-04:00

we are all doing great here! ryan is being a good big brother. he's gentle with her and plays by himself when i need him to. naomi sleeps and eats! which is so foreign to us! she's a very content baby! Praise God for a healthy happy family! here is a pic of Naomi smiling in her sleep tonight...

Naomi Faith Manthey

2009-10-11T20:25:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the world Naomi!!

Fun at the pumpkin patch

2009-10-02T15:53:00.005-04:00

It was a little cold and Ryan J was a little whiny and tired, but it was fun!

Sometime soon

2009-09-26T20:35:00.002-04:00

The OB told us we're ok now so don't call until i'm really definitely in labor! Woohoo! The official due date is October 20, but I'm guessing/hoping we won't make it till then. So now we can tell Ryan to stop saying "Naomi stay in there!".

Ryan J Tells a Joke

2009-09-18T00:40:00.002-04:00

Tonight at dinner Ryan made up a joke. We were all sitting there and he said, "what's down there?" so we asked him back and he said "a ladybug?" we said really?? long pause... he said "NO! ha ha ha ha!" we laughed pretty hard, it was totally out of the blue! he repeated this about 20 times! here's a couple times i caught on video, at the end of the second video he sees the camera and says "smile you!"

My Shadow

2009-09-17T11:54:00.002-04:00

ps - i'm adding pictures daily to the september album in shutterfly
click on the link to the right "our online photo albums"

Happy Happy Happy ...

2009-09-08T15:53:00.006-04:00

This is a busy week every year we have 3 big days in a row... Katie's birthday then mom and dads anniversary then today, Ryans birthday!! And i think this year ryan managed to get gifts every one of those days, and then some!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY RYAN JAY!!!

Here's a LOT of pics, and this is just from the last couple days!

I love my Uncle Andrew

2009-09-08T15:43:00.003-04:00

Ryan LOVES to go to Uncle Andrews gigs. He can't keep his eyes off of him. He spends at least half the time standing directly in front of Andrew dancing and staring at him.

Curtains

2009-09-03T14:55:00.005-04:00

I finally made the curtains for our bedroom. I think I bought the fabric a year ago! I put a cover on our bed accent pillow too, probably could have done 3 more covers, I way overbought on that brown fabric, oh well, I only paid like 10-15 dollars total for all the fabric... the clearance section is great!!

Eww

2009-09-01T10:12:00.002-04:00

yes, that's ryans toothbrush. and he decided after he did that he'd brush his teeth some more.

Keller - Behringer Announcement

2009-08-16T14:48:00.002-04:00

From the daily local...

Allen and Karen Keller of Coatesville announce the engagement of their daughter, Katie Lynn, to Andrew Scott Behringer, son of Brian and Tracy Behringer of Coatesville.

Katie is a registered nurse in the neonatal ICU at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Andrew is a music teacher at Napoli School of Music in Ardmore and a singer/songwriter.

The wedding is planned for the first day of spring, March 20, 2010, at Olivet United Methodist Church, Coatesville, with a reception to follow at the Eden Resort in Lancaster.

Pictures Uploaded!

2009-08-13T21:42:00.002-04:00

I had been a huge slacker in uploading pictures and I finally just uploaded everything from October of 2008 through now! So if you're bored go on http://jenbutjen.shutterfly.com and take a look at pics!

(PS, there's kitchen pics in the last couple months too!)

Women and Babies Triage... Again!

2009-08-09T14:17:00.001-04:00

so here's what happened...

We went to the Victory "brewbq" where Andrew was playing yesterday. Well they said we could take the hayride to the field or walk. We chose walking because I'm crazy allergic to hay! Well they didn't tell us it was actually a 1 mile hike uphill to get there! And it was crazy hot. So of course contractions started on the walk/hike and didn't stop all afternoon. Tim panicked, as did Katie and Dad. Dad drove the car up there to bring us back. After dinner we went in to the hossy because ctx were still happening. The monitors at the hossy confirmed it and they gave me turbuteline right away which really calmed things down. They did an exam, fetal-fibroid-nectamy or something like that which tells you if you could go into labor in next 2 weeks. And they did u/s. U/S showed some change since last preterm scare (about month ago) but it stll wasn't too bad. Exam was fine, the FFN thing took about 3 hours to get results. (Once again, poor Tim sleeping in a really uncomfortable chair in a cold room!) But the results came back neg and so they sent me home (woohoo!) and told me to do bedrest sunday only. So unless my retarded uterus acts up again i don't have permanent bedrest (yet!)

Ryan J Quotes

2009-07-29T17:12:00.003-04:00

Ryan just cracks me up sometimes with the stuff he says. He is NONstop talking all day long! Here are a few quotes I can remember from recently...

"look at all these ___" (tractors, cows, push mowers, etc)

sitting at lunch the other day he folds his hands and bows his head...
"dear God, thank you for pizza, AMEN!"

i was writing out "Naomi" with his blocks and he turns to me and says...
"What does that spell?"

"i'll be right back" and "go ahead, i'll be right there"

anytime we see anyone amish he thinks it's our friends the Algyers and says...
"Algyers have a dump truck" (because one time they came to our house with a dump truck to get dirt)

When playing with his toys...
"That's ok" and "Have patience" and "Hold my hand" (as he holds the fisher price guys hand) and "kisses, i love you" between a cow and a chicken

if he doesn't know what the food is called...
"want some cook"

if we say what does L-O-V-E spell? he says...
"Love! I love you!"

he also repeats anything anyone says, sometimes days later. today he said...
"i like your countertop, jen" as he played with his horse barn. (random!)

Deck Addition

2009-07-07T00:36:00.004-04:00

Thought i'd post some pics of our deck addition now that it's basically done! It gets stained next year, so the darker part is what we already had, the lighter/not stained yet part is all the new stuff. it's SO nice!! tim did it all on his own! i'll try and remember to add another pic of after from the same angle as the before pic...

Before:

After:

ER visits for all

2009-06-29T10:34:00.002-04:00

Well within the last month we've made a trip to the ER for each of us! When we were at worlds end Ryan fell backwards off the picnic bench and hit his head on the concrete patio. We took him to the ER 45 minutes away to be safe, since he can't explain things to us and because the ER was so far away. We kept him awake on the way there, asking him to say stuff, it was so cute and sad! Anyhow, everything looked good, just a good bump and that's actually the fastest ER visit I've every heard of, about 45min total time there!

Then it was Tims turn. Last sunday he woke up around 5:15 in excruciating pain in his back, not really being able to move. We thought maybe it was a kidney stone so we went to the ER to check him out. They said too high for kidneys and took xrays of his back and it turns out he has a broken rib! We really have no idea how it happened and NO, i did not kick him in the back while he was sleeping! He's doing much better now after a few days of pain meds and things are healing, although my trip last night didn't help him at all...

Yesterday I was feeling crampy and contracting so we called and they said especially with my history of preterm labor last time that i had to come in and get checked. I was contracting consistently, they gave me a shot of turbuteline(sp) to stop the contractions, which worked (praise God!) and they did an u/s and exam. She looks good in there, cervix is still long, not considered preterm labor. May be a small UTI that sparked everything. But praise the Lord i'm not on bedrest!! although Tim has me pretty much on bedrest this week at least :) We got home about 2:30 am last night. poor tim had to sit/sleep in a chair there for 5+ hours and i'm sure that didn't feel good with his broken rib!

Thanks for all the prayers for all of us!!!!

Ryan J Plays Guitar and Sings

2009-06-25T01:04:00.003-04:00

In one of the videos you can hear him singing "It is well" I think it's so crazy that he knows to pluck the strings and not bang on the guitar! same thing with the piano, he uses his fingers, no banging, and he sings along :) andrew, do you love it??

Bitty Baby...

2009-06-03T21:43:00.001-04:00

Bitty baby is a GIRL!!!!! Shes measuring right on and looks great! Here are some pics...

Feed Me

2009-05-21T15:21:00.000-04:00

Well it looks like ryan j does not need a feeding tube, at least right now!! he shocked us all and gained just over a pound!!! his first weight gain since november! the last several days he's actually been eating willingly too! it's very very crazy to see him put food in his mouth on his own without me coaxing him to do it!! praise god!!! thank you for all the prayers!!

A Funny

2009-05-11T21:19:00.002-04:00

Note the tape pulled all over also.

Ryan J Sings Twinkle Twinkle

2009-05-07T21:28:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Nana!

2009-05-06T09:34:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Nanas birthday and we took her for lunch on the Strasburg Railroad. She's been wanting to take ryan there for a while. He had a blast with his Nana!

Life Happens...

2009-04-27T14:55:00.002-04:00

My wonderful brother in law nathanael, missionary and excellent writer, would have a lovely poem and a touching life lesson about God's love and forgiveness out of this. But ah, I the lowly engineer will just give you the facts...

When Tim and I were on our honeymoon we did a paint your own pottery one long rainy day. I made a large platter which i love because, well, it's cute, but mostly because of the memories of that unique time in our life which can never be replaced and neither can the platter!

skip to today... my sweet cute adorable little son decided to try his own version of the infamous tablecloth trick. his result was the following, and a mother that cried for about an hour straight...

My Heart Aches

2009-04-13T14:36:00.002-04:00

Phillies and NFL Films legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas died Monday. He was 73.

Phillies officials confirmed the death.

Kalas collapsed in the broadcast booth before Monday's game at the Washington Nationals, Phillies President David Montgomery told the AP.

Kalas was found by the Phillies director of broadcasting at about 12:30 p.m.

He was taken to a D.C. area hospital where he was announced dead.

Kalas was the voice of generations of Phillies fans.

He called Phillies games for nearly 40 years spanning the entire era of Veteran's Stadium and the opening of Citizen's Bank Park. He started announcing Phillies games in 1971 and announced his last game Sunday in Colorado.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 as the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award.

Kalas voiced more than just baseball games. He was known for his narrations for NFL Films. He also did NFL play-by-play on Westwood One.

His classic call "It's outta here" accompanied many great Phillies home runs including Mike Schmidt's 500th homer.

Kalas' close friend and fellow broadcaster Richie Ashburn also died while on the road covering the Phillies in 1997.

Kiddo Updates

2009-04-10T13:46:00.005-04:00

Went to the nutritionist with Ryan this week. He is still not gaining. He's 20 pounds 7 ounces and pretty much has been since late november. We see the GI doctor again in early may. The nutritionist said that most likely he will say it is now time for a feeding tube. At this point, we're SO tired of trying to get him to eat that we're pretty much ready for this now. It's looking like the best option at this point. That's not to say that this will be easy! :)

As for baby 2, we got the first trimester screening today and the u/s looks good. No indications of any defects. Here's some pics, baby was sucking it's thumb almost the whole time!

Be Careful What You Say...

2009-04-02T10:12:00.002-04:00

last night ryan was going to sleep over at nanas, so we told him this and he went over to his car seat and started saying things like... car ride, nana, ready, goes, coming nana! lol. Then nana says won't it be funny when he packs his own clothes, well sure enough as she said that he was walking into his room, opened the drawer, grabbed an outfit and came out saying ready!! coming!! what a character!!

Check It Out!

2009-03-30T11:11:00.003-04:00

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/03/30/business/srv0000005009605.txt

SORRY, LINK WASN'T WORKING, I FIXED IT NOW!

Big Brother!!

2009-03-25T21:56:00.001-04:00

Ryan Jay is gonna be a big brother! And here's some pics of our little bean :)

Ryan J Catching Up On Some Reading

2009-03-24T22:03:00.006-04:00

He grabbed this magazine after dinner and climbed up on the couch and started 'reading' it...

NO CF!!!

2009-03-23T10:03:00.000-04:00

RYAN DOES NOT HAVE CF!!! PRAISE GOD!!

The Day We All Sweated...

2009-03-20T18:01:00.003-04:00

Today was Ryans sweat test. Here's the long story of the day!

Getting There
We had planned to take the train and my mom graciously offered to drive us there. Well on the way there we found out that the bridge over the brandywine on the route we normally take is closed for construction as of this morning! So that along with the fact that Ryan puked on the way made us miss the train. So mom drove us back to our house and we jumped in the car, i sat in the back to help ryan with his puking. We also called the pedi and chop to make sure we should still go, they said this wouldn't affect the test and we might as well just do it since we're on our way. Well about the time ryan stopped puking riding in the back caught up with me and we had to pull over so i could toss my cookies. It was a long drive!!

CHOP
Once we got there we met up with my sister Katie who works in that same building. Praise God for her support, direction and explanations!!! We would have been so lost and anxious without her! We love you katie thank you so much! To do the test they put two electrodes on ryans arm and sent a current through his arm for 5 minutes to stimulate sweat. Repeat other arm. Ryan was VERY not pleased as you can see in the pics. After the stimulation they wrapped special paper on his arms to collect the sweat. He didn't like this so much either since he couldn't move his arms but dealt with it ok since we could leave that room and read books! Finally they take the test strips off and send them to the lab.

AfterMath
Katie took us down to a book drive they were having in the lower level and ryan got to pick out several books, to help make this trip a little less stressful! He promptly fell asleep once we got in the car. No more puking the rest of the day btw. Katie, Tim and I went and got food at boston market and katie very very nicely let us stay at her apt and crash until we felt good enough to make the drive home! Thank you katie again!! So now we wait, impatiently, to find out what God has for us. We will post as soon as we know.

A Note
You couldn't help but see and meet lots of other kids in the hospital (top childrens hospital - it was a great place!). I know that many of them are there for tests like ryan and others are there for surgery and even others have terminal illnesses. We only had a taste of what those families go through every day. Please pray for ALL the families at CHOP!

For those curious about Celiac Disease...

2009-03-16T16:04:00.002-04:00

Thanks Laurel! - And also to anyone else who has asked about celiac disease...

i am in the process of verifying that they did test for celiac disease, but we're almost positive that they did. When he had his sigmoidoscopy they did a biopsy and did testing and the pedi said that is the ultimate celiac test. I know they tested for other things as well, it wasn't exactly easy to watch my baby go through that testing and i didn't ask all the questions that i'm sure i should/could have about all the details of what went on. At the time i just wanted to see my baby get through the day and get meds to help him... and we were all quite sleep deprived! So i will verify with the specialists themselves when we go next time but so far the doctors all believe he has been tested by the GI specialist.

Testing For Ryan J

2009-03-15T21:25:00.002-04:00

Tim is good with words, so i'm just going to copy and paste his words...

We are asking for your prayers for Ryan. This week, he had a doctor's appointment and his weight is still about the same as it has been for the past several months. According to the doctor, low weight is a small issue, but the fact that he is not gaining is a bigger issue. We are taking Ryan to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia next Friday, 3/20 for a sweat test to determine whether he has Cystic Fibrosis. We will get the results the following Monday, 3/23. The doctor said he does not necessarily suspect CF, but it is the next thing they want to try to rule out as we try to find the root cause.

If you are like us and don't know much about CF, you can read about it at www.cff.org or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis. From what we have read, plus what we can tell from observing Ryan and looking at family history, it does not seem "likely" that he has it, but we are still stuck between hoping for the best but bracing for the worst.

Our prayer is that it will not be CF, that the doctors would be able to find out what is actually wrong, and that we would be able to trust the Lord no matter what the outcome.

Thanks for praying with us.

In Christ,
Tim and Jen

Flowers!!

2009-02-23T16:12:00.003-05:00

My friends Curt and Beth sent me flowers! Delivered to my house!!! I'm crying, this is SO sweet! I love you guys!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2009-02-23T07:21:00.002-05:00

I'm officially old!! 30?!?!? for real?!?! ahhhh!!!!

Ryan J plays the harmonica

2009-02-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ryan loves playing the harmonica and it's so cute!! Here's a couple videos...

Awww, Ryan Jay

2009-02-03T18:13:00.000-05:00

Poor little ryan has an ear infection! :(

Ryan J Updates

2009-01-15T23:04:00.003-05:00

All of Ryans bloodwork came back negative, praise the Lord!!

Ryan got some cute clothes from Thera for christmas and after I put them on him I couldn't help but do a photoshoot with my little prep!!

And also... ryan has started to whistle! crazy huh? i'm going to try and get it on video, but right now he won't do it on command :)

Weekly Fun...

2009-01-14T13:42:00.004-05:00

One of the highlights of every week is always getting to visit Mommom and Poppop in New Holland! As an added bonus there's an indoor pool and hot tub there, ryan absolutely loves the pool!

Hanging with Aunt Anna

2009-01-14T13:08:00.002-05:00

We got to hang out with Anna last night while she is on her winter break from college. We love you Anna, it was great to hang out with you! Here's some pics of Ryan (and Tim) trying out Annas glasses!

The Real Litter Critters...

2009-01-10T19:39:00.001-05:00

Remember the SNL skit about litter critters? ...

Watch more Saturday Night Live videos on AOL Video

Well on thursday when Ryan was at Nana's house he decided it might be fun to try something similar. He reached his hand through the kittens metal cage grabbed a clump of litter brought it out and stuffed it in his mouth!! EWW!!!!

Uh Oh...

2009-01-09T09:59:00.002-05:00