Adam Waves! 9 Months Old

Grandma taught Adam to wave today!!  He always has his hand turned toward himself as if he is picking up a cup :-)  but he gets the concept!

Adam Crawls!

Today, Adam figured out how to crawl!  Up to this point for the past month or so he has sat and rocked himself into a crawling position, but would only go one knee or two forward and then would stop and sit back up as if he was hesitating.  Today, he finally figured it out!  I was in the living room with him and I turned around for a second only to turn back around and see him 6-7 feet from where he had been sitting before.  I wasn't quite sure how he got over there until he got up and started crawling again!  I was amazed!!!  Take a look!!

Adam stood up in his crib at 8 months

Last night, Adam stood up in his crib for the first time.  Derek and I were laying in bed watching TV and we heard Adam start to stir on his monitor.  We were watching the video monitor to make sure he was doing okay, thinking that he might just go back to sleep on his own (which he usually does).  We were checking every 30 seconds or so.  When Derek picked it up to look at it, he immediately panicked when he realized that Adam was no longer in the screen for us to see.  He went rushing into Adam's room and found him standing up in his crib reaching for Derek to pick him up!  He gave Derek quite the scare, but was completely fine!  I think this will be a new change and hopefully we will be getting a smiley happy boy when we go in to get him now that he can stand and look around!

Adam rolls, sits, and stands - 8 months old

Today Adam figured out how to consistently roll from his back to his tummy then push himself backwards to a sitting position.  He has learned that from that point he can stand on the table by himself.  Quickly starting to become more adventurous and independent!!

Adam's Surgery - Finally Over

Today was Adam's surgery.  We were scheduled for 11:30AM which meant that he could not eat after 6AM.  I was really worried that he was going to cry all the way to the hospital since he couldn't eat, but I was totally wrong.  He was a happy smiley guy all the way up until they had to take him away from us into the operating room.  He looked so sad and confused as they walked away with him, and I definitely started crying the second he was gone.  After an incredibly long hour, Dr. Vandersteen came to tell us that everything had gone very well.  What a relief!  We were able to see him a little while later, and though he was upset and crying a lot at first, he ate and then calmed down quickly.

This whole day got me really thinking about how different life is on the patient side of things as opposed to the physician side of things.  I remember feeling similar to this when Derek had his hernia surgery.  I remember crying the second they told me Derek was okay because I was so stressed with everything being out of my control.  You put the people that you love the most in the world in the care of complete strangers and have to trust that they will take good care of them.  That is really hard for me to do.  So, I felt the same way today.  I prayed and prayed while he was in surgery that the people around him would do everything they could to take good care of my baby.  I really don't know what Derek and I would do without him!  Being a mom with a kid having surgery is tough.  I am glad it is over!!

After surgery, we were able to go home within an hour or two, and Adam was doing so great and being playful and happy even though we knew he was probably in some pain.  Poor little man! What a trooper!  He slept a little while this afternoon, but was happy and playful talking to his "dadda" and "titi" (Tracy) at night.  See for yourself.  Here are some pictures before and after surgery, as well as his talkative self tonight.

  

 

Adam 7 months - Changing Quickly!

Hard to believe Adam is already 7 months old.  I have a lot of blogging to do to catch up on his progress over the last several months as well as our changes as a family, but to start.... let me just talk about the changes in the last week!

Approximately 1 week ago (4/5/2013), Adam learned that he could stand up from a sitting position.  He now thinks it is the greatest thing every, since of course we praised him like crazy!  Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY9ejcdV-Po

So now he has spent the last week trying to stand up on everything when he is sitting, including his toys on the floor.  This usually means that he will stand up and then fall right over, look at me, and start crying!  I am sure he will soon learn how to maneuver this. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTDZ0H52Tag
Now, as of 2 days ago, he has learned he can scoot backwards on the floor.  He has not quite figured out how to crawl forwards yet, though he gets into crawling position.  If he is on a wood/hard surfaced floor, he will get on his tummy and push himself backwards with his hands while he laughs.  I have a feeling that we will have a crawler very soon!!  As soon as he figured oout how to sit from laying down and how to crawl, we will be in trouble!

Adam - 6 Months Old & Baptized 3/3/2013

Today was a big day for Adam!  He turned 6 months to start things off.  I can hardly believe that he is already 6 months old!  He is sitting up on his own, and occasionally falls to the side, but is really good at lifting himself back up to sitting position from backwards or forwards.  He is also rolling from his tummy to his back, though he does not love to be on his tummy in the first place, so he often just whines and waits for us to roll him onto his back.  He LOVES to bounce.  He has a Johnny jump up that we got from Russ and Krissy ( I guess it was once Amy's!), and he will spend an hour just jumping around and talking to himself. His legs will surely be very strong.  We have his Doctors appointment tomorrow, so we will see just how big he is getting!

As for the rest of today, we were blessed to have our families join us to celebrate Adam's baptism at St. Anne Church in Hamel, MN.  This is the same place that we were married at, and Father Belden was also able to baptize Adam, which was fabulous.  The ceremony was beautiful!  We were honored to have Tracy and Michael accept our invitation to be Adam's godparents.  We know they will be great role models for him as he grows, and he adores them both!   We were joined by our families, Grandma and Grandpa Schjenken, Jim & Maria Benson, The Claypool family, and Jason and Melissa.   We then went back to our house to celebrate, where Derek had smoked some pork on his smoker.  We visited, opened gifts for Adam, and shared many laughs with our family.  We had just an amazing day!  Adam was smiley and happy the entire time!  Hard to believe, since he barely had a 20 minute nap!  What a trooper!  Then, to follow it up, he had a bath from his aunts and then we went to the Wild game, and he continued to smile the entire time!!

Derek and I feel amazingly blessed to have such an incredibly fun and happy little boy, as well as supportive loving families that support us wholeheartedly in raising him to be a great man someday!  We are hopeful that I will be matching in Minnesota so that we will get to spend the next several years here with our families!  We should have more information next week!