Friday February 17, 2012 — 8:50 AM
Dad is Mercy North Iowa hospital in Mason City with Atrial fibrillation/heart failure. On Wednesday he underwent electrical cardioversion to get the top of his heart in rhythm and this failed twice. He did stop breathing briefly. He is now resting and will undergo an angiogram this afternoon for look for any blockages. If they find any, they plan to go in right away to clear it out. I will update his status when I can. Thanks for the support.
Feb
17
Grandma and Grandpa Bernhardt stopped by last weekend for my birthday and played with the kids. Jake and Jill really enjoyed the weekend.
Feb
16
Jill is so close to walking. She wants to so bad that she is starting to be a little dare devil. She also likes to be carried like Superman and chases after Jake. Jill wants to be where Jake is play so much that we had to put up a temporary gate in the hallway so Jake could play without being interrupted by Jill every minute.
When we set her down, she does not stay put for long. We didn’t have the “potted plant” phase that long for her. She wants to go and do. She smiling and screeches when she sees one of the cats and then is off to try and get it. Usually this will happen when they are eating and not moving a lot. We have caught her almost reaching into the water dish a couple of times. She has not reached the cat food yet.
Jake even let her play with some of his Legos. I guess that is a good step for both of them. I can already see how much she looks up to him, both here at home and when they are at daycare. I almost think she learns more from him than us now. I am OK with that, because Jake is pretty awesome himself. So when she does start walking, we’ll be happy and Jake will have to learn to deal with a little less space. Now that would be a couple of posts themselves.
Feb
15
I recently had a birthday and Jake was excited for cake. He was really ready to celebrate. Jake also told me what I wanted for a present. Apparently I wanted a monster truck, Brutus to be exact. So Kathie went out and tried to find that truck, she could not but she found another that he had mentioned. She then “hid” it with Jake’s help. He then had to tell me that he had a secret. It was that I had a present and where it could be found, but I could not find it.
Last year he did something like this as well for Kathie’s birthday. Then it was a garbage truck. Since then, anytime he is playing with it, it Mommy’s garbage truck and the rest of his toys. Jake seems to think that anytime there is a birthday, that person should get a toy that he can play with. This could get interesting when Jill’s birthday comes. Good thing the birthdays are close.
Jake has really been showing off his imagination lately. Monster truck shows, construction workers, trains and army guys. Watching him grow and want to more has been great.
Feb
14
“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” – Henry Ward Beecher A
Happy Valentines day to my wife and kids. I’ll have a family post up later today.
Feb
13
Yes, I have been busy. I skipped the Saturday post for my birthday and this one is late, but I have been running. No injury or skipping workouts are allowed in this plan. I have been running at night during the week and during naptime on the weekends. I have a schedule to run that works out best so I don’t have distractions while running.
Over the weekend I saw some runners in the Lace Up Against Breast Cancer half marathon and felt the need to run. I can’t really explain it, I just felt that I needed to run. I was not ready for 13 miles, so 5 miles on a treadmill did the trick for now. On off nights, if I am not actively doing something or have my mind working, I feel twitchy and like I need to exercise. It is my off day, so I need to read or at the least do some upper body light work. Good thing I’ll only have one off night per week starting next week.
Last week, I started looking at new shoes as my current ones are starting to show the mileage. I looked at the big stores and the local running store, The Running Room. I found the best price and free shipping at Zappos.com. I ordered and a couple of days later, I had shoes. I was off on the size by ½ a size so now I am returning it. So far the service has been great. I know where I’ll be getting my shoes for a while.
Over the last two weeks I have been building a mileage base and will be picking up a little more this week. Next week speed and tempo runs are worked in as well. I am even eyeing another half marathon in July. More to come next week.
|
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Total |
|
5 |
Off |
5 |
Off |
4 |
5 |
4 |
23 |
Feb
10
This week Jake had a great imagination, and Jill helped Jake hug Tyler.
Feb
09
So after 3 years of blue, and monster trucks I now am seeing a lot of pink. It seems to be moving faster around the house as well. She is crawling everywhere and into places she should not be yet. She is also pulling up on a lot items and starting to cruise. Jake is having a hard time with this as well some of the moving and playing that she does.
She is still the child that smiles at everything and everyone. She has started to try and laugh and giggle, and talk more. It is still the baby babble, but it is starting to sound more like words, or so Kathie and I think. When she sees Kathie, Jill lights up and gets really excited. I can barely hold her sometimes.
She is getting more and more solid food, and now we just received word that she will be getting juice/crackers at daycare for snack. This could get interesting. We have given her puffs and crackers and she has certainly figured out the putting it in the mouth bit. The swallowing part is the hard part for her now. She has been getting stage 1 and stage 2 foods. She likes the fruits a little more, and is starting to warm up to veggies slowly.
She has three teeth now and number 4 is not that far behind. She is still happy, even with teething. Sometimes we wonder how she does it. We look forward to continuing to watch her grow up and help her as much as we can.
Feb
08
So my son has his best friend, our cat Tyler. Tyler is an 8 year old male orange tabby that does not like strangers and loud noises. He took some time to accept Jake as a baby. Now, he is willing to be tackled, squeezed, and hugged by Jake at about anytime. I think he is really looking for attention.
It started when Jake was just starting to pull up on stuff. Tyler would sit on a cat seat looking out a window and Jake would try and grab his tail. If Jake succeeded, Tyler would just whip his tail faster and still sit there. He also would hit Jake with it when Jake was not paying attention. We did not think Tyler would be that patient.
Now, Tyler has Jake who will hug him and rub his belly and Jill to deal with. When she sees either of the cats, she will squeal and crawl faster to get to them. Tyler will move slowly if he wants, or he’ll lie down and wait for her. This cat is a saint.
Jake talks to Tyler and calls him buddy. When Jake builds tents or forts, Tyler has to be there and sometimes be in the tent with him. Tyler just rolls with the punches. He also is OK with monster trucks, and other vehicles being driven on him by Jake. These two are quite the pair.
On the other hand, there is not the same relationship between Izzie and Jake. Izzie is smaller and faster than Tyler. She also likes to hide under Jake’s bed at night, and he is not a fan. It seems they like to torment each other, but not in a hurtful way. She will stay up high or away from Jake when he is in the room. Other than that, she is OK with the floor.
From what we have seen, Jake loves animals and loves going to the fairs and zoos to see them. This summer we are going to try and make it out to a farm and Jake can spend some quality time with more animals. That should be a great day, and would give him something to talk about for a long time.
Feb
07
These past couple of weeks, we have had some milestones come and go in our family. Someone got a new tooth, the other goes potty with out a step stool and has started writing his name. Every night I wonder what they did that day, and what I can do to help.
I know I can’t really help with teeth, but I can help Jill cruise and transfer from item to item. She has gotten so good at this, it is scary. Jake is taking greater interest in drawing, writing and spelling. He seems more like a sponge now than ever. I look at myself and wonder when I lost that “sponge” feeling. I still want to learn and explore, but I guess with age comes knowledge and responsibilities.
Between work, raising two awesome kids, exercise, and time to talk to my wife my day is filled up. I can try and learn more at night, even with structure it is hard to focus on this. I have to set aside some time and do it. I look at my son and daughter and am inspired to do and learn more.
So, I’ll be working towards a networking certification and running a half marathon. Both are similar I guess. There is a lot of preparation, training, the need for will, skill and determination to see it through. Then there are the “big” events in either the test or the race at the end. I have a training plan for the running and I have a start of a plan for the certification. Now to be a sponge and learn and grow, stick to a plan and do.
Next week, I’ll be posting about words and phrases around preschool children and what we have learned. Hint: We are still learning and probably always will be.
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