Hospital Week, Part V
December 12th, a quick trip to Meijer produces this gem with a little photoshop magic…See this image larger.
Hugs. See this image larger.
Three of us making the “ah-buh-buh-buh-buh” noise. See this image larger.
December 13th, Nina knows that someday she gets to challenge Ian for position on the couch… for now she mostly gets Ian’s foot, although we’re trying to correct this. See this image larger.
Ian using his excellent imagination… take a parking ramp and an airplane and you’ve got a pretty awesome space shuttle! See this image larger.
December 15th, we’re eating at Panera and Nina has made some friends with the table behind her. See this image larger.
Where’d they go? See this image larger.
*Say, I’d like some of that yogurt.* See this image larger.
Video
Click here to see the kids at the restaurant — always good to pull out a gadget in the middle of dinner, I say. Wait, I just checked with somebody, not always good, turns out.
This may look like a threat, but it never left his hand, trust me. See this image larger.
Still December 11th, here’s some cute shots of Nina! 
…and Ian. 
*yawn!* 
*This television program is agreeable to my young and perky sensibilities.* 
*derp.* 
Daddy the lounge pillow. (She also managed to fill her diaper while sitting like this, almost as if she were using me as support.) 
*ruh?* 
She gets around very well these days. 
Mommy and Ian put the finishing touches on the tree… it’s an “actibity.” 
Either this takes enough focus to crease Ian’s brow, or he doesn’t like being touched by the needles, not sure which. 
December 8th, and now Nina’s got Nina’s hat on. 
I think it might be a bit big. 
This may appear to be Christmas, (and in fact I accidentally titled it as such…) but it is not. It is December 10th, and the kids are being shown a lit Christmas tree. Nina missed out on the lighting of the tree ceremony previously. This was a beautiful moment… Nina is looking up at her brother in wonder, and Ian is pointing at the tree. Wish I had a good picture instead of this still from a video. 
December 11th, watching the tube, and I assure you that the Backyardigans was nowhere near as suspenseful as it appears to be in this image. 
There may or may not have been some slight brotherly/sisterly hitting going on here. 
Hitting confirmed. 
Somehow we ended up with a half an orchard’s worth of apples in our garage, and the critters had started smelling them, so I invited Ian for a special father/son moment wherein we threw the apples down our hill. 
In this shot and the one above it, you can see the apple as a red dot well above Ian’s head. He’s still learning to throw a good pitch. 
And we kicked a couple too. 
Mommy took pictures, thank you Mommy! 
I woke up with something on my face that I did not understand. Later in the week I called Uncle Chris, and sent him a picture — he told me to call a doctor and get in as soon as I could — it was probably shingles. I did, and Chris was absolutely spot-on. It is amusing that this is a sort of reanimation of the Chicken Pox virus caused by stress. Amusing because that’s also all it caused was a bunch of stress: I had the kids with me at the doctor, yet he said it was a good idea to stay away from them. One of the two prescriptions was about 200 bucks. And the prospect that I could have given the kids Chicken Pox (Nina in particular) was frightening. So yeah, stress! (I owe Uncle Chris for helping me catch this issue with such expediency! The kids never did catch it from me, thanks to him!) After I got through the meds I was prescribed, my face broke out about the same as when I was a teenager, my scalp started more or less shedding, but is looking better yet still healing as I write this now. Excuse this long caption, I’m trying not to make this about me by dragging it into more entries than it already has appeared. 
Our friends Elena and Scott took the kids for me on one of the days of “Hospital Week” thanks to an urgent email from Mommy. This helped me scrape ahead on my deadlines. Elena baked cookies and here Ian prepares to enjoy one. She has some great pics of the kids, if I remember correctly. I’ll need to get ahold of those. 
Ian makes a fashion statement on December 6th, using Nina’s hat. 
Nina makes her own fashion statement with a Christmas outfit on December 7th. 
If you see Nina with any kind of hat or shoes on in a picture, it means the photographer has a light-speed finger on the camera shutter trigger, believe me. She’ll whip those things off faster than you can say “cheese!” 
Wondering where we were? It was Ian’s (Daycare’s) Christmas program! He was an angel on-stage, which was awesome… because otherwise, not so much. 
That’s Elena holding Nina, we owe her and Scott many thanks for watching the kids. 
Nina’s got her hat on again, but not for long I bet! Where’d those shoes go? Gone! 
Elena’s daughter Rowen goes to the same daycare as Ian, she’s a class older than the one he’s in, I think. 
Yup, he can be a stinker when he wants to be! 
I don’t know who the little blonde haired girl is, but I don’t think Ian does either. That reminds me, last time we were at Playworld, Ian “met his best friend” and didn’t want to leave because of him. He’d never met the kid before, so it was pretty funny. 
There’s my sweet kid! 
Here’s Nina having a great time. Check out those teeth on top! You might need to click the link to the right to see the image larger… 
Consider what he’s been through. Nina’s a trooper, but she’s known nothing but fight since she was born. Ian knew a paradise where he was the center of all attention – and has had to cope with having to share every aspect of his life. He’s been amazing. 
It helps that he has a pretty good sense of humor developing. 
A whirling galaxy of hair on Nina’s noggin. 
Yep, we were just talking about you, cutie! 
Nina gets the patented “George Washington” powdered-wig (or “Flying Nun”) look from an inverted diaper! 
*That was fun, Daddy!* 
Love these kids! 
*Ian… stop trying to scare your sister, please.* 
Ian pointed out that the little red symbol on this sign means “Do Not Enter.” I was so proud of him I made him pause for a photo. He smiled brightly and I said “Not this time… look angry and hold your hand out like ‘STOP!!!'” 
On the 29th of November, Nina used those adorable front teeth of hers to destroy a rice cracker. This image is a still taken from the video that I link to below. Grampa Dave saw this video and said he’d like a still image. Here ya go, sorry it doesn’t go bigger…
Same day, Ian sings us a song that he made up himself. 
This is probably from a long time ago, but here’s some artwork that Ian put together. 
The afternoon of the 28th, and Ian comes out to play! It is a little cold for basketball, even on our “deluxe covered court.” 
All that winter gear makes it a little hard to swing! 
But we manage! 
Weee! (This really is a standing swing… actually has two big footprints on the “seat” to prove it.) 
Ian and Mommy treck down into the woods… Might be Ian’s first, I can’t remember. 
Kaylee and Aunt Melanie join shortly thereafter, and they make their way over to the park for more adventure! 
Meanwhile a little bit of Grandma peek-a-boo is being enjoyed in the warmth of the house! 
That evening this tall young man put up our Christmas lights for us! 
Relaxing with Uncle D down in the office! 
We had that kid out there until dark, and Uncle Ben helped too! 
Pizza for dinner! 
Nina eats whatever is orange in that bowl that most of us would only have the courage to sniff if it had marshmallows, brown sugar and butter involved. 
I’ve looked around and even walked through the woods behind our house a couple of times, but it took Connor’s bravery to fully investigate. I knew there was a bit of a platform out there, but this looks like a real nice little treehouse, almost! Apparently the picnic table was included in the purchase price of the home! 
From out in the woods you can see the tarp on our roof. Even now it is still not repaired fully — even though part of the check has already cleared. I love contractors. 
Even further out, to the point where you’re no longer on our property, but still in the general area around it, and it turns out we have our own little neighborhood dunes with a shallow pond! 
Meanwhile, inside, Dora the Explorer entertains the ladies.
You’re watching too, Nina, don’t give me that look. 
Ian looks like he might prefer to watch some Diego. 
Nina’s getting really good at this kind of maneuver… 
