Fast Forward

Why, hello there! It's been a while! We had quite the busy 2013, and our lack of blog posts shows it. Since I will never get around to writing more detailed posts about the second half of 2013, here's a fast forward post to catch us up.

In July we took our first road trip as a family of four to Iowa. It went remarkably well. We gave Jack our old digital camera to keep him busy during the drive, and he filled the entire memory card in less than 12 hours! We had a lot of pictures like this:

And this:

But our budding photographer ended up with a few good ones:

After celebrating the 4th of July in Iowa City, we continued our road trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where we celebrated the wedding of our good family friends Travis and Marie Olsen. Then we returned to Iowa City for another week to see as many friends and family members as we could.

I went back to work in August. As you can see, the kids were skeptical that we could figure out how to function as a family of four with two working parents:

But we managed, and we even made it up to the mountains for Lydia's first hike.

We also made it to several Rockies games.

And at some point in there, Lydia found her feet!

Before we knew it, it was football season again.

Jack joined a munchkin soccer league, which was great entertainment on our Saturday mornings.

We returned to Anderson Farms this year to pick out pumpkins on a beautiful fall day.

By November, we knew we were moving back to Iowa. The next six weeks were a whirlwind of getting the house ready to put on the market, Thanksgiving, finishing up our jobs, and packing! We were lucky enough to escape for a wonderful weekend in Keystone over Thanksgiving, and we got to enjoy many of our favorite Denver activities one more time before leaving in December. It was very bittersweet, but we are so happy to be home. We celebrated Christmas with both sets of grandparents, and the kids have enough toys to entertain them for years to come!

Now that 2014 has begun, we have settled into somewhat of a rhythm. Jeff started his new job in the outpatient orthopedics department at the University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics just before the end of 2013. He is enjoying the challenge of a different patient population, and he really loves being back at the university. The kids started day care a few weeks ago and are adapting really well. They have each had their tough days but nothing that we hadn't expected. We are living with my parents until we find a house, which we hope to do in the next month or two. Just in the past week we have seen more houses come on the market, and we are hopeful that we'll find a good fit soon. I have loved having the past two months off work. It has been a luxury to take this time to get us moved and settled as much as possible. But my time off is coming to an end . . . next week I will start my new job as associate counsel at the University of Northern Iowa. I will be working on campus for two days a week, working from home for another two days, and then have one day off a week. It is a fantastic opportunity to not only work for a great school but also stay in higher education.

It's been a crazy six months, and we are looking forward to a slow and boring 2014! Thanks for sticking with us on this long post. Here's to a healthy and happy new year!

Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated Father's Day with our first "hike" with two kids. We walked a mile-ish loop around Lake Evergreen, which is just west of Denver in the foothills. It was a beautiful day and a great park. Jack walked, ran, rode his bike, and rode in the double BOB, while Liddy rode in the stroller or in the carrier. Needless to say we made multiple stops for position changes! It was probably the slowest mile I've ever walked, but it was lovely. We left the park just as the clouds rolled in and made it to a restaurant just in time to watch the thunderstorm from inside. We finished the day watching golf, putting the kids to bed early, and having a drink while watching basketball.

 

 

 

In other news, Lydia is starting to smile a little bit and she tries to make some cooing sounds. She's still eating and sleeping well. Last night she slept 8 hours straight! Unfortunately we didn't go to bed when she did, but it's still a fantastic development.

We had a great conference with Jack's teachers last week. The plan is to move him up to preschool in late summer/early fall. Some of his friends have already moved up, but there isn't room for Jack yet. They also felt that giving him a few months to adjust to the new baby would be beneficial. His language and what I call his pre-reading skills are developing well. They said that he is a really good leader in the classroom, always helping other kids and the teachers. That fits with how he acts at home and makes us very proud parents! He's also shown an interest in music lately--singing and memorizing lots of songs and playing the piano on his own. The challenge now is to cultivate all of these interests without overdoing it!

We can't wait to get both of our kiddos back to Iowa to show them off and let them gets lots of loving from Grandmas and Grandpas! Hope to see many of you when we're back!

Eating, sleeping and other bodily functions

Happy June! We are settling into life as a family of 4, and everyone's doing pretty well. Lydia is eating, sleeping, pooping, and spitting up, which seems to be kind of boring to Jack, but it's exactly what she should be doing! She seems a little more alert with each awake period, and she seems to be more aware of her surroundings. She continues to sleep and eat well--up to about five or six hours between feedings at night.

 

Jack is still a stellar big brother. It is amazing to us how much he dotes on Lydia. When he comes in the door after being gone, he immediately looks for her and runs to her to tell he where he was and what he was doing. A few days ago he woke up in the early morning, noticed that she wasn't in her crib because I was feeding her in the other room, and cried out, "I need my baby! Where did my baby go?" We've been trying to give him as much attention as possible, especially when we had family here to help out. On Friday we took him miniature golfing, and we had a blast. He was quite a putter, even beating Jeff and I on a few holes!

 

 

 



 

 

We finished up our month of visitors with a weekend visit from the Flemings. Grandpa Randy and Scott and Connor visited for Memorial Day while Grandma Jane got to stay for a whole week! It was such a blessing to have the whole family together. This was the first time that both Connor and Jack were old enough to talk to each other and really play with each other. It was really precious to see them become good buds and share their toys.

 

 

 

 

 

With Grandma Jane leaving on Sunday, we're now on our own! So far, so good as of day 2. We are so grateful for such generous grandparents to give up their vacation time to do our laundry, cook us meals, change dirty diapers, entertain our kids, and let us go out for date nights. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Up next: a trip to Iowa next month. We can't wait for Lydia to meet all of her friends and family in the Midwest!



Jeff & Nike + 2!

We are now a family of 4! Lydia Jane Fleming made her debut at 1:17 a.m. last Wednesday, May 8. Our beautiful baby girl weighed in at 8 lbs, 12 ounces, is 19.5 inches tall, and has a very full head of hair. We are very proud parents, and Jack is an even prouder big brother.

Nike had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and she had an elevated blood pressure. Since she was just a day from her due date, the doctors decided to admit her and get labor started. After breaking her water, things got under way quickly, and we thought Lydia would be born before midnight. She had other plans, however, and turned out to be quite comfortable where she was--and a little too big to get out on her own. Just after midnight Nike had a c-section, and our daughter was here!

Grandma Janet landed a couple of hours after we got to the hospital--just in time to get Jack tucked in for bed. On Wednesday morning Jack got to meet his new little sister, and it was love at first sight! He was so happy and could not wait to hold her. He looked a little terrified at times but at the same time we could see how excited he was. She held onto his finger tight that first day and when she was too asleep later that day to do the same thing, he was pretty upset!

We came home from the hospital on Friday, and we've been doing well since. Lydia is eating and sleeping well--one of the perks to having a big baby, we think! Jack is getting lots of attention from Daddy and Grandma, and he hasn't skipped a beat. He's sharing his room with her, and we've found that it's very hard for him to settle down for bedtime or naptime if she's not sleeping in her crib at the same time.

We're trying to avoid second child syndrome where we don't take as many photos as we did with Jack, but I think we're already falling behind! We'll try to keep up and post pictures as often as we can. Until then, here are a few from her first week of life. Thank you to all of our family and friends for the kind words and well wishes you've sent our way!

She's almost here!

We're in the home stretch now . . . just over two weeks until Baby Girl Fleming's due date. We'll see if she waits that long to let us meet her or if she'll stay comfy in Nike's belly longer like Jack did. Either way, we'll just be happy to see her. We've included a few belly pics below. We've spent the last few weeks enjoying visits from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Janet, going on walks to the park to enjoy the warm weather (between snow storms), and last night making it to a Rockies game! Jack has been patiently waiting since last fall for baseball to start again, and we had a great time taking him to the game last night. He watched intently until about the 7th inning when he said he was cold and ready to go home. It was so fun to see him get so excited and ask questions. In the backyard, Jeff's been working with Jack on stepping first with his left foot before he throws, and when Jack first saw the players warming up, he said, "They're stepping with their feet first!" Jeff thinks he's ready to start fielding grounders now! We'll see . . . 

Anyway, wish us luck in the next two weeks, and we'll let you know when Little Miss Fleming arrives!

Jack's Baby-Moon

We decided several months ago that we should take a trip to LA before the baby came. Nike's brother James moved there last fall, and we figured it would be a great way to take a trip with Jack while he was still an only child. Then it worked out that the best weekend to go was Jack's birthday. We left Denver on Wednesday and got to our rental in Hermosa Beach just before sunset.

On Thursday morning we got up bright and early to head to Disneyland! Although there are two parks at Disneyland, we decided that one park would be plenty to keep us entertained for the day. And we were right. Jack was a trooper--it was his second day in a row with no nap, it was pretty sunny and hot, and we waited in some lines--and he never complained. We couldn't have asked for a better day! He met Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto, and then we saw Mickey and Minnie and the rest of the crew in the parade. A big thank you to Uncle Jimmy for coming with us. It was so fun to have him there, and it was also great to have one more person to keep Jack entertained. He even took Jack on his first ride (Dumbo) and his first roller coaster.

What better way to start Jack's birthday on Friday than with breakfast at a beachside cafe. It was rather chilly at first, but by the time we got breakfast, returned to our rental, and packed up for the beach, it was hot. We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather! This time of year in LA is usually in the high 60s or low 70s, and we got three days in a row that hit 80. When we booked the trip, we figured we would go on the beach to see the ocean, but we never expected that we would be able to just camp out there for the full day. Have I mentioned how wonderful it was?

Mickey Mouse pancakes!

On our second beach day, Jack had gone three days without a nap. We knew we would never get him to leave to go back to the rental to take a nap, so we struck a deal and he agreed to try to sleep on the beach blankets. It took about one minute of rubbing his back before he had completely passed out!

All in all, it was a great trip! We got to spend some great time together as a family, see the ocean, get some sunshine, and treat Jack to a very special third birthday!

Skiing!

On Saturday we took Jack skiing for the first time. He did great! We're very excited that we can now say that Jack was on skis before his third birthday. Even if he doesn't ski again until he's 20, he'll always be able to say he was skiing when he was 2! We took him to Winter Park where we could take him on the bunny hill without buying a pass or have to get on skis ourselves. We caught the only hour of sunshine Winter Park had on Saturday, so the weather was perfect. As you'll see from the videos below, he held onto Jeff quite a bit with the first few runs, but by the end, he did it by himself! He probably did 8 or 9 runs total, and he really seemed to like it. Jeff was a very proud papa (and I was a proud mama too, of course) and had a blast getting him on the mountain for the first time. Below are more videos than you probably need to see, but I couldn't pick which ones were my favorites so I included them all.