End of June

A lot of things happened all at once around the end of June and throughout July. I’m going to cover them lightly here, as I sort of dipped into that time period throughout other entries.

June 16th, Ian high-tails it away from home. I can’t tell who took this picture, it was probably Grandma Barb, based on the name of the image. See this image larger.

June 17th, and why does my three year old look like he’s 12? See this image larger.

June 23rd. Before Nina’s Baptism, Melissa and I had only looked at three houses. Afterwards we ended up looking at many, many more. Somewhere near 40 houses total. On June 23rd we took another look at 224 Arbor Drive… and this picture shows an exhausted Ian, who was with us at the time. See this image larger.

June 25th, and her top says it all! See this image larger.

Nina shows off her ability to stand, which is excellent! Still there were other milestones she hadn’t reached, including some head-holding-up issues. See this image larger.

On June 26th, Melissa, Ian, Nina and I took a break with the Schoenborns to see the Grand Rapids White Caps in action. See this image larger.

A great time was had by all! See this image larger.

June 28th, Ian enjoys kicking back. See this image larger.

Nina started physical therapy that same day. Melissa has never missed a physical therapy session and has been an awesome mommy through the many obstacles thrown our way. (No, that’s not Melissa in the picture.) I’ll skip the obvious “Nina really looks like she’s having a ball” caption. 😉 See this image larger.

Perhaps exhausted from physical therapy earlier in the day, I love the expression on Nina’s face here. She tends to hit extreme highs and lows — however THIS look, this appears to be mildly annoyed. See this image larger.

Ian tries to find the four-armed person who uses this hanger. See this image larger.

Quotable Ian, August Edition

After I left the playground equipment (space ship) to check on Nina in her stroller, and then came back to the “ship.” – “Daddy, don’t you go to outer space alone without me ever again.” (This was at the “red dinosaur” park, known to grown-ups as Millennium Park.)

“The snapper of the toes thing.” (Nail clippers.)

“I want spiky squares with white stuff on them.” (Frosted Mini Wheats.)

After Ian went to Kasey’s house (neighbor) –
Me – “Oh he had rescue guys, did he?”
Ian – “Yes he did, and trains.”
Me – “Do we need rescue guys.”
Ian – “No, we don’t have rescue guys.”
Me – “Yeah, I’m asking if we NEED rescue guys because we don’t have any.”
Ian – “No, we don’t need rescue guys because Kasey has rescue guys. If I want to play rescue guys I go (over) Kasey’s house.”
Me, beaming with pride – “That’s right, kiddo. You’re very smart.”

Funny exchange involving Ian, while he was on the potty –
Melissa – “It’s green. GREEN.”
Me – (pauses, trying to remember…) “Blue moon ice cream.”
Melissa – “oooh, right.”

Nina’s MRI and Nina’s Baptism, Part V(!)

Presently: I need to grab some of the text from the care page and bring it on over to the blog… but I’m pretty sure word has gotten around about Nina’s CT scan from last month. There was an anomaly that showed up in one of the views, and it was identified as just that — an anomaly. So last Friday (September 3rd) Nina braved the hospital for a few hours (with Melissa and I) while Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia watched Ian so that little girl could go through an MRI, which is like the CT scan, only more thorough and actually less dangerous. The anesthesia was the part that had us scared, but the anesthesiologist (spelled that right the first time, booyah!) said Nina did perfectly, with a reassuring smile. Today (September 7th) we got the results back from the MRI and the verdict is that no anomaly shows up in the MRI. This is reason enough to celebrate, but Melissa and I are going to be asking a lot of questions to make sure. We’re thrilled, and we’re prepared to dance a jig — but we’d like to read the report from the radiologist, just to be sure we can start the music. Regardless I’d like to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers… either this was never really something to worry about, or something miraculous happened; in Nina’s life there seems to be no shortage of those, or people who love her. Thank you.

Alright let’s start getting this blog caught up, shall we? What if I were to tell you that I have yet more pictures from Nina’s Baptism?

June 14th – Kaylee performs an interpretive dance about the current political and financial climate of the world. Ok so she was just trying on an outfit! See this image larger.

June 15th – By now the party’s starting to close down. A last-minute photo-op with cousins… not too bad, at least nobody’s cry– See this image larger.

–ing. Nevermind. See this image larger.

Oh wait, Nina’s almost smiling, we can do this, we can do this!!! Wait, no we can’t. Connor? Connor please wake up. Kaylee please stop singing… Ian… where’s Ian?!? And who is that orange guy?!? See this image larger.

And now good-bye hugs… the Kunzes hit the road for Ohio. See this image larger.

Nina smiles big in Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb’s arms! See this image larger.

And here’s a big smile for everybody… thank you so much for being a part of Nina’s Baptism, this is her way of saying “thank you.” See this image larger.

Nina’s Baptism, Part IV

Presently: I’m pretty sure we can count Nina’s first word this morning (8.28.10) as “Mama.” She’s getting very close to crawling as well — she sort of pins one arm under her body and scoots along on it, like a rail.

Meanwhile, back at Nina’s Baptism on June 13th, 2010… the after party has become the after-after party!

So much to celebrate! See this image larger.

Ian graduated to a new class, if you’re wondering what the little cake was for in the picture above… here he makes short work of it! Nice catch on the picture, Uncle Chris! See this image larger.

I can’t remember what happened, I think Nina started crying endlessly and I couldn’t figure out what to do — Mommy and some of the others were strolling around downtown Rockford… and I needed to make an emergency run to Meijer… Uncle Chris stepped in here for a bit, and did a fine job. See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia holds Nina while she “noms” her fingers! See this image larger.

Grampa Dave takes a turn with the Princess! See this image larger.

I know that means she’s tired but it sure looks like she’s saying “ENOUGH PICTURES!!!” See this image larger.

Four out of five isn’t bad for smile to people ratio! See this image larger.

Chapman guys over four feet tall, represent! See this image larger.

Nina’s saying *Grampa Ray is a-okay!* See this image larger.

Cousins-in-a-box! See this image larger.

I never do win the “who is looking at what camera” war! Ah well, almost everybody’s smiling! See this image larger.

Now I can’t even get the kids to look at any camera! What, the couch and the floor are more interesting? See this image larger.

The brothers gunna work it out! See this image larger.

Grandma Sue takes Nina for a stroll! See this image larger.

Alright Ian and Kaylee, that’s a long enough blog entry, why don’t you two take us out with a — SLAM! (giggle!) See this image larger.

Nina’s Baptism, Part III

The after party! Why hullo there! Grampa Dave, Grandma Marcia, Uncle Chris, and Great Grandma Betty hang out at table #2! See this image larger.

Grandpa Ray and Grandma Barb shared their 40th wedding anniversary with Nina’s Baptism… congratulations you two! See this image larger.

A gift for their anniversary! See this image larger.

Nina enjoys the celebration, donning her party hat! See this image larger.

I’d ask what you see here, but you’d say “two cute kids.” I see trouble with a capital T. 😉 See this image larger.

Baptized for approximately 90 minutes, and Nina’s pretty sure she can see God if she looks hard enough. And Mommy looks like an angel! See this image larger.

We were at Grill 111 for the celebration, and these characters enjoyed their lunch! See this image larger.

Grandma Sue helps Nina dance around, and the smiles were big and happy! See this image larger.

*Hey I see a penny!* *A penny? Where?!?* See this image larger.

Nina’s Baptism, Part II

June 13th, the big day! Kaylee shows off her outfit, lookin’ pretty! See this image larger.

Nina’s got her game face on! See this image larger.

Looks like the other kids are ready too! Smiles, everybody! See this image larger.

We get all the kids smiling so rarely, here’s a couple more versions of this shoot. See this image larger.

I should probably combine this shot with the one above… Nice job, though, kids! See this image larger.

At the church, and Nina gets baptized! See this image larger.

Love this shot, even though it isn’t very well taken. (I think I did this one.) Mommy’s happy! See this image larger.

Our awesome family! (Pretty much the perfect shot except for Ian’s belly poking out of his sweater… still, that’s what little boys are all about, and that’s probably my fault anyway.) See this image larger.

More shots coming soon!

Quotable Ian, Part II

“If you said my name was Buzz Lightyear then I wouldn’t like that very much. If you called me Ian I would like that very much.”

“Uncle Chris doesn’t have hair, he just has a head.”

“Ka-Blast-Off!” (Think “kablam” meets “blast-off.”)

“I want to be a pirate” Why? “‘Cause they go around in a ship in the water with pirates. I would go to school and take Owen and (names other students) and Miss. Carrie. (teacher) and we would go on a boat.” (I just liked hearing him tell this story because I could picture it in my head as he described it, the ship pulling up to the playground, a seesaw being used as a boarding plank for the kids to make their escape, all the while Ian stands at the bow with an eye patch, nodding in approval.)

“Now I lay my head down sleep, I pray my Lord head down sleep, have angels watch my head down sleep, and keep my head down sleep.” (This is his idea of a joke, and I admit I laughed at this… particularly as this followed Pastor Riley’s sermon a few days ago wherein he said that in prayer we should talk to God as if a trusted, best friend.)

Nina’s Baptism, Part I

So much has happened, but let’s go back to where we left off picture-wise and hopefully I can set the record straight some other time.

Once again, it was time to get a Chapman baby’s head good and wet and people came from miles and miles away to see the spectacle! Let me start by saying thank you to everybody for braving plane rides and car trips and colds and screaming kids to visit us, meet our little girl, and scruff the hair of our little boy! Also thank you all for your generosity!

The pictures here came from many different sources — I tried my best to keep it sort of chronological, but I’m going to give myself a break here and just say hey, if it is close, it is good enough. All this stuff happened in one happy weekend! Sound fair? Also, I got different pictures of different people on different days, please don’t be offended if you didn’t make day one – I promise you’re in Part II if you weren’t in Part I! Let’s say we start on June 12th, 2010.

Great Grandma Betty flew in from Florida and hugged Nina. She immediately thought the trip was well worth it! Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia are not pictured here, but arrived with Great Grandma Betty… sorry I missed you both with the camera on the 12th, but I got you the next day! 🙂 See this image larger.

Nina was in a bit of shell shock about the whole camera thing! See this image larger.

If Ian’s the only one looking at the camera, we probably bribed him with a treat, trust me! 😉 See this image larger.

Ooop, that wasn’t shell shock, that was the pre-nap sleepies! See this image larger.

Aunt Melanie, and Ian’s cousins arrived from Ohio and it was time for some kids to have some fun! See this image larger.

If you can’t tell, Ian truly missed his cousins since last visit! That’s Grandma Barb back there too, nicely directing traffic to keep collisions to a minimum! See this image larger.

And behold, it is Uncle Chris, also making the long journey up from Florida! See this image larger.

*hug* See this image larger.

Grampa Ray helped sort this mess out. See this image larger.

Water enthusiasts and conservationists Ian and Kaylee, cleaned up nice later in the evening to prepare for the morning of Nina’s baptism. See this image larger.

Grandma Sue also traveled north from Florida to see Nina’s big day! See this image larger.

She’s awful cute! See this image larger.

Finally, the star herself gets a good-night bath… See this image larger.

Next entry, the big day! (Funny to think that at this point Melissa and I had only looked at three houses… we would end up looking at over 35 more before coming right back to the first one we looked at with our realtor.

Presently: Kid Update

From our CarePage via Melissa:

The tests for Nina have been scheduled for this Thursday (July 22). We start off the day with another physical therapy appointment for her head/neck from 9-10 a.m. at Mary Free Bed. (Nina’s first physical therapy appointment was today and she did great!) We go immediately from Mary Free Bed over to Spectrum Health/Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital for a 10:30 a.m. sweat chloride test, checking for Cystic Fibrosis. I know the sweat collection takes at least 30 minutes, but not sure how long the entire appointment will last. Our final test on Thursday is the CT scan at 1 p.m. to confirm whether Nina needs surgery for her blocked nasal passage. I was asked to bring Nina tired and hungry to that appointment in hopes of feeding her on-site and having her fall asleep for the scan. Otherwise, they will have to sedate her. Please pray that everything aligns on Thursday so that she will fall asleep at just the right time! The scan itself is only suppose to take about 5 minutes. I’ve been told that results from both of these test will take approximately 3-5 days, but I’m not holding my breath. We’ve been through this waiting before, so we’ll just see.

I must say a public thank you to God for coordinating all these appointments. I had not mentioned Nina’s scheduled therapy times to the referral coordinator who scheduled these additional tests, and amazingly I don’t have any meetings on my calendar at work on Thursday. I’m sure God really had a hand in all this planning. Amazing!

Now an update on our other child–sweet 3-year old Ian. He has been having intestinal issues (i.e. loose bowel movements/diarrhea) off and on for a couple weeks now, so we decided it was time to take him into the doctor to find out what was going on. Daran took him yesterday (Monday, July 19) and found out that Ian has lost a pound since his last appointment on June 23. The doctor was concerned about the weight lost so prescribed Zantac to see if that would help calm any stomach acid he has and hopefully correct the diarrhea to get him back on track with weight gain. The doctor also told Daran that we have 10 days to “fix” the problem or Ian would be referred to a GI specialist for further testing. (When it rains, it pours!) Please pray that this issue resolves itself and that there is no underlying problem(s) causing this symptom. Please also pray that Ian is willing to take his medicine–he spit out the dose this morning.

Daran and I are hanging in there and keeping ourselves occupied. Thankfully we have just bought a new house and are moving at the end of next week (also in God’s plan I’m sure!). This “distraction” has helped to keep our minds off worrying 24/7. Please pray that God continues to coordinate all our schedules as perfectly as He has so far, and that he will give our family the peace, patience and perseverance to get through the next several weeks… especially as we wait on test results for Nina.

Blessings to each of you!

Presently: Chatterbox

Ian told Mommy a week ago that he had spotted “a Comerican flag.”

Ian has started referring to Mommy as “my Mommy.” It isn’t said in a way that sounds possessive, it is said in the same way that one might say “my love.”

Just now Ian handed me a card from a game “I have a letter for you! Two letters left… one for Connor and one for Kaylee…”

On Saturday (10th) Ian had his first real play-date at somebody else’s house. Elena and Scott were kind enough to take Ian into their home to play with their daughter Rowen, whom I think is about a year older than Ian. It also turned into his first sleepover. This probably sounds early for such a thing, but this was mostly Elena and Scott doing us a huge favor — Melissa and I needed time to pack. I woke up in the middle of the night and missed him greatly.

The next day (11th) Ian had his first movie theater experience. We saw Toy Story 3. I think he enjoyed the venue, but the movie had some pretty scary parts. Mostly Ian was upset with the overall plot, which was not going the way he wanted it to. Mommy took him outside into the lobby (this was a Father’s day present for me, so I got to stay) and Ian looked around at the brightly colored walls and lights. “It’s happy out here.”

Unfortunately Ian’s such a non-stop stream of words that I don’t catch all the fun stuff he’s been saying, or don’t remember.

Yesterday I told him that if Nina (very drowsy at that moment) happened to fall asleep, we’d be able to play a bit more. So he started singing “Twinkle Twinkle” to her.

Other fun stuff: “We’re going to blast off and go to otter space and go to Africaaa!!!! And go to our new house!”

There’s a Mr. Tire on Alpine that Ian referred to as Humpty Dumpty.

He claims that the mice in Hickory Dickory Dock were running up the clock to get away from a monster.

He named a rainbow colored bear that he owns “Savannah” after a girl at school.

Another moment ago Ian took his first serious unintentional roll down the steps here at 139 Highlander Dr. He’s fine, but the next house has much longer stairwells.

He’s definitely full-swing into the “Why?” phase.

“Mommy, Daddy, look! A big circle!!!” (said while we drove on the on-ramp to the highway… which is a big circle.)

In general his brilliance is just hilarious. Seems like every day I get a little shock from something he does or says. When he wants to do something that you don’t, it is funny how much of a battle of wits it is already turning into and he’s really not that old yet. I should probably get back into playing chess or something. 😉

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