Cast is Off

Jackson got his cast off on Thursday, the picture is before it was taken off. It was much more traumatic than any of us were expecting. Thank God for Wayne the cast technician at Children's Hospital. Jack's leg was so stiff from being in the cast for 5 weeks that when the cast was off Jack was in sever pain and afraid to move. Wayne held Jack's leg (while Jack sobbed in pain) for 15 minutes while Jack adjusted to the freedom of movement. Then Wayne held Bryce (because he was crying) while I was preparing Jack to go home (who was also crying). What a great guy- and just when we needed to get through that day. I guess we had been expecting business as usual, but this was not the case.
The good news is Jack went back to school today (Monday) for the first time in 6 weeks. He had a great day and even did a little walking. He still prefers to crawl, and when he does walk he has a limp and is very unstable. Here is a short video of Jack enjoying a sunny day in Seattle. Jack is our little hero and is teaching us daily to focus on the positive and enjoy each day to the fullest!

Easter Day

We celebrated Easter Day with Marty's family. We had an egg hunt in the lobby at Bumpy's (Marty's Grandma) condo. It was the perfect place for Jack to crawl (because he still has his cast) and hunt for eggs. Uncle Ben got to do all the outdoor and up-high egg hunting. Ben was such a fast egg-hunter that all his pictures are a blur. We had 65 eggs for the 2 boys & fun for all!











Bumpy was thrilled that the egg hunt was at her place. Bryce was thrilled to be held so much!











Bryce enjoyed his first Easter. Well, mostly he enjoyed gumming all of the eggs.





In our attempted family picture, it turns out that 7 month old Bryce is more cooperative than 3 year old Jack, go figure!





Since Bryce can't eat candy yet Mom & Dad are enjoying his share (all part of the plan). Sees candy chocolate, jelly beans & marshmallow eggs yum!

Easter Bunny

We were in Bend, Oregon for Easter. The local market offered free pictures with the Easter Bunny. Bryce was studying the plastic face so it was difficult to get him to look at the camera. But here are a few highlights...

Birthday Part 2

While we were in Bend, Oregon, for a whirl-wind Easter weekend, we managed to squeeze in a birthday party for Julie & Marty. Marty's Grandma Bumpy hosted a great family party! The weather cooperated and all in all we had a great evening together.

















During dinner the 2 youngest Dillard's, Jack & Bryce, decided they were going to cry (oh it makes a mom so proud). Jack because of a stand-off and ultimately a refusal to eat, and Bryce because he felt he was being starved. However, by the time cake rolled around all Dillards, Starks, and doggies were in good spirits!

Laundry

Doing the Laundry has to be my least favorite chore around the house. But it isn't so bad when you have some help...

Happy Birthday Marty

For Martin's birthday we left the boys with a babysitter and had a nice dinner together. We enjoyed a picnic dinner of orzo, caprese salad, rosemary bread and a really delicious Syrah wine. Then the security guard at the sculpture garden came by to let us know that the park was closing. He discovered we had wine & informed us that alcohol was not allowed at the park. However, he said Marty could finish his (2nd) glass though, "considering it is your birthday." We were also fortunate that it was a nice evening and we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset!

7 Months Old

Bryce is 7 months old! He has been for a few days now. The most recent and most exciting development (for mommy) is that Bryce is finally sleeping through the night. It took us a while and we had to let him cry it out (2 nights), but now he sleeps from about 7:30pm-7am. He has been doing this for exactly three nights now, so let's hope it's the real thing.



Jack introduces Bryce to people we meet as, "This is my brother Bryce. He's a really chubby baby." He is chubby, and getting bigger every day. Bryce wears 12-18 month clothes. He does enjoy solids, but is actually kind of picky. He likes finger foods, and can feed himself. He likes Cheerios, bread, and whole wheat waffles (all broken up into tiny bite-sized bits). He doesn't like food that is too pureed. If the food is too smooth or bland, or too strong a vegetable flavor he will cry or wretch, and won't eat it. He loves milk, and chugs his bottles. It is sad for me that Bryce isn't nursing, but he is completely content with bottles. Bryce gets excited when he sees his bottle, and can hold it all by himself, however when it is empty he get so sad, and often cries.



Bryce is a very joyful baby. He smiles often, squeals with joy and loves to babble. He still loves to watch Jack and be near him. Bryce tries to grab toys from Jack and is very curious about what Jack is doing. The other day in the car the boys were both in the back seat, Jack was playing peak-a-boo with Bryce, and Bryce was laughing so loud. It was such a cute brother moment.

Here the boys are working on drawer Daddy was fixing:





The funniest thing is Bryce can crawl, but only backwards. The other day he backed himself into a corner in the basement, and today he scooted all the way back and under his crib (halfway). I am used to looking for hazards, but I never know where he'll go as crawling backward makes it easier to slip under or between things (no big baby head to get in the way) legs can get just about anywhere.



We love our sweet guy and are so blessed that we have had 7 months to get to know Bryce.

2 Weeks to go

Jack only has 2 more weeks left in his cast! Each day has gotten easier & Jack has gained more mobility. Nana came to help out. She really helped us through some of the hardest moments. Plus, she and Sarah were able to take the boys on a nice long walk each day. We never bought a double stroller, who could have imagined we would need one with a very mobile 3 year old, so outings would have been impossible with out Nana's help.



Another highlight was a short visit from Jack's Uncle Ben. The boys always have a great time together, but it was especially nice to see Jack have so much fun playing and watching the "Car's" movie with Uncle Ben.



Over the weekend we took a day trip to Vashion Island. It was a lot of fun. We stopped to see the semi-famous "Bike in Tree" & even got Jack sitting upright at the restaurant. The highlight was our stop at a small family farm. The friendly and curious goats visited us at the fence. There were also chickens and sheep roaming about.







Jack has been such a trooper & he has learned to do much with his giant cast, even figuring out how to ride his friends Klein's bike. Our friends & family have shown us so much love and support, even so we're really glad this is almost over!