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  1. Two Months with Two

    Friday, November 14, 2014


    We've made it two months with two kids! We'd heard it could be done and well, we survived. But not without a little help.



    Shawn went back to work when Avery was nearly four weeks old. The first day home alone with the two kiddos went great. Avery slept most of the time so I was able to focus a lot of attention on Sam. Throughout the first several days, several friends stopped by to visit and brought a snack or dinner. What a generous gift from our amazing network of friends!  I thought, maybe this won't be so stressful after all. But then Avery started to be much more needy - fussing and wanting to be held most of the morning. So that meant that Sam had to fend for himself. In other words, he spent a lot of time with his iPad. We're not against technology, but all morning is too much screen time in our opinion.

    So we started discussing enrolling him in a two-year-old program at a local Christian preschool. A friend also has her son enrolled at the school and had assured us that it was very low-tech. She likened it to preschool circa 1985! We just had to visit this "blast from the past" school! We were warmly greeted by the director and escorted to each of the four classrooms. It's a very small school, less than 50 kids, so all of the teachers know all of the students. The classrooms are cozy and well equipped with pretend play toys, rugs with letters and numbers, books and artwork. The two-year-olds have the majority of the time for free play, but also participate in circle time, art, music and outdoor play. They also go to the library for story time on Mondays and attend Chapel on Wednesdays. And they even work on potty training with the kids (thank goodness)! The staff is all very friendly, each has their teaching certificate and is required to have continuing education each year. All in all, we felt like this would be a very nurturing environment for Sam. He now attends three days a week for three hours each day. He loves it! And so do we. His teacher said that he was very talkative and the preschool director said that he fit right in with the other kids, acting as though he'd been in preschool forever. The only time he cries is when I come to pick him up!

    Sam was even invited to sing in church the Sunday following his first week. He hadn't had as much practice as the other kids, but that didn't stop him from hamming it up on stage. Like father, like son!



    Having a very busy two-year-old means that Avery gets out a lot and has from the start. Our first stop after leaving the hospital was at Scoops ice cream parlor, where we celebrated Sam's new job of being Big Brother! Later that week, we ventured back to Downtown Winter Garden with Aunt Kath. The weather was lovely and after a walk around, we decided to eat lunch at Harry and Larry's BBQ.

    Big Brother Sam eating "choc-wit" ice cream with Mommy and Mimi
    "I'll have the ribs please"
    Avery had her first home bath just one day shy of being one week old. The next day, we took her to Real Life Photography for her newborn photo shoot. The photographer, Sandy, was such a pro. Sam was...well, Sam. He made himself right at home and was checking everything out. He doesn't really like having his picture taken right now. He would rather be behind the camera pressing the button. But Sandy got some great shots of Avery and even captured a precious moment of Sam kissing Avery. We love how the shots turned out! You can see them all here.


    First Bath
    Soothing Avery after her bath
    Behind the scenes of Avery's newborn shoot
    Curious Sam
    Avery seems incredibly strong for such a tiny baby. She surprised us by holding her head up at just four days old! And she's growing like a weed, weighing in at 10 lbs 1 oz at just 6 weeks. She remains in the 50% percentile for both length and weight.

    First well visit with Dr. Susan Ryan

    4 Days Old
    Given that there is a lot more action in the house than when Sam was a newborn, Avery has lots of wakeful periods. She has big, gray blue eyes right now. She loves to be held and frequently demands it. So we wear her in the Ergobaby carrier, allowing us to snuggle and get things done at the same time. She often falls asleep quickly in the carrier and we can transfer her to her Rock n' Play where she does most of her sleeping right now. We also have a Snuggle Nest that is sort of like a tray with a small mattress in it that goes between our pillows in our bed for safe bed sharing. She sleeps part of the night in the Snuggle Nest when daddy is on duty.  Shawn loves being close to her, to be able to hear her breathing and provide a soothing touch when she needs it.

    Getting Avery to sleep was quite difficult for us at first. She would cry for hours at night seemingly in pain. She had a lot of gas that just couldn't seem to be cured with gas drops, which we had used successfully with Sam. So we switched her to a Dr. Brown's bottle, which is suppose to reduce gas and colic, for the nighttime milk that Shawn feeds her. And after some research, we started her on an L. Reuteri probiotic that has been known to reduce crying in colicky babies by 95%, and eventually began giving her Zantac for reflux. She has since seemed much more comfortable at night and settles more quickly back to sleep after her night feedings. She still grunts a lot in her sleep, but we're hoping that will stop as she gets older... or moves to her own room where we can't hear it! We've also introduced a bedtime routine now... change clothes and diaper, swaddle, say goodnights to friends and family, storybook and prayer. Then we listen to Celine Dion's Miracle album of lullabies until she drifts off to sleep.

    Sam loves his baby sister and continues to be very sweet and gentle with her. He still doesn't use her name often, instead preferring to simply call her "baby sister." I suppose that's a good step forward from wanting to call her "Bunny"! I showed Sam some of his baby photos the other day and when asked who the baby was, he said "It's baby sister." When I said, "No, that's baby Sam," he said, "No, it's baby sister." So he clearly thinks that they look a lot alike as babies. What do you think?

    Newborn Avery
    Newborn Sam




    Posted by Heather Kramer at 8:13 PM | 0 comments |

  2. Welcome to the family, Avery Anne!

    Saturday, October 18, 2014


    Avery Anne Kramer, 2.5 days old
    It was a Friday morning, September 5...

    After weeks of heartburn and other unmentionable, however typical, pregnancy woes, we were anxiously counting down to the arrival of Baby Girl. We had scheduled my second C-section with Dr. Logan for September 10, when I would be 39 weeks pregnant. But our little girl was all too ready and decided to make an early appearance.

    I woke up with stomach pains. I thought they were the "I've held my bladder too long" variety and thought nothing more of it. Shawn went off to work and I made plans to take Sam to the mall for a kiddie craft event with a friend and her toddler. But as the morning wore on, I decided I wasn't feeling up to it and I'd better stay close to home. The pains just wouldn't quit despite my attempts to rest, drink water, clean, cook, etc. I finally decided to start timing these pains as they would start and then distinctly end. However, I wasn't feeling the contractions radiate through my back and into my lower abdomen, as I had read they would if it was the "real deal." I had texted Shawn to be on alert, but not to rush home. But when they started to really take my breath away and were only 3-4 mins apart and lasting about 45 seconds, I thought I had better call in back up. 

    I had packed some things I knew I wanted to have with me, but we hadn't really packed for the hospital. And I certainly hadn't packed for labor! I was suppose to have a scheduled C-section! Shawn arrived home and started collecting things while I, between contractions, wrapped up some cooking that I'd been doing and packed up Sam to go to our neighbor Angela's house (She kept telling me "I'll take care of it! Just go!" HAHA). We hesitated to call in family members for help just yet, in case this was just false labor. 

    We arrived at the hospital sometime after 2 p.m. I remember stopping at the valet stand to work through a contraction. We got ourselves checked in and were sent to the triage desk. As I gripped the counter, the nurse asked me how far apart my contractions were. I waved two fingers in the air, as I breathed heavily, unable to speak during each contraction. Then she asked me if this was my first child. I continued to wave those same two fingers to indicate that this is my second child. They immediately took my vitals and found me a room since they could see that this baby could be on its way.

    I was a bit concerned that they would send me home in pain when the nurse said that she couldn't see my contractions on the monitor. She told me that there wasn't much progress being made and that they were going to try to give me fluids and medication to make the contractions stop. But after a couple of hours had passed, it turned out I had dilated to 3 cm and was completely effaced. The nurse then said, "looks like you're having this baby tonight!"

    The hospital had set a record of over 100 births in the previous 48 hours though and there was no sign of things slowing down for them. The nurse repeatedly asked me if I wanted to try to deliver vaginally, but I insisted on having a repeat C-section. After 12 hours of labor, the nurse anesthetist finally arrived in the triage room to give me an epidural. Sweet relief! I could finally talk, joke, even sit up in the bed! The doctor also came to visit me and said that they were working as quickly as they could to get me in to the OR, but there were several other patients ahead of me. Everyone was very kind and treated my case with urgency. Through all of this, we worried a little bit that our Girl would want to make her appearance before a spot in the OR became available.

    After the epidural.. and 12 hours of labor. Yikes!
    I was finally wheeled upstairs and things moved swiftly from there. Our little Girl was born at 9:26 p.m. weighing in a 8 lbs, 1 oz and measuring 20 inches long. She had a full head of dark hair and good pair of lungs that she used to announce her arrival. She had a bit of a cone head too since she had been engaged in the birth canal before the surgery.

    First photo of Avery Anne
    Meeting our precious girl for the very first time
    Nursing went off beautifully from the start. We did have some issues later with her being too sleepy to eat, which really concerned us since Sam had eaten every three hours on the dot. But we were reassured that it was normal; that she would eventually wake up from the trauma of birth and be hungry. Till then, we were encouraged to practice skin to skin to form a good bond. You don't have to ask us twice to snuggle a sweet, new babe!



    It wasn't until the day we were to be discharged from the hospital that we finally decided on her name. We had narrowed it down to Charlotte Noelle, Avery Anne and Sarah Paige. But as Shawn sat with her in recovery, he thought to himself that she just didn't look like a Charlotte. And I agreed. We finally announced on her second day of life that we were going to call her Avery Anne, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to make it official with the birth registry. We just weren't sure. Shawn finally took a dry erase marker and wrote her name on the marker board in our room. Somehow seeing it written on the wall helped make us feel more confident about our decision. We chose Avery because it means "wise" or "ruling with elf-like wisdom". We chose Anne for Shawn's mother, whose middle name is Ann (if you recall, Sam has my father's middle name, Preston). We also really love that it means "full of grace."


    Sam and my mother came to visit us the morning after Avery arrived. He was very hesitant with me, which we couldn't blame him for. I was in a big hospital bed and had several wires and tubes all over me. He took to his baby sister well though, proclaiming "that's so cuuuuuuute!" when he finally took her in. He might have also been warmed up with a Buzz Lightyear that Avery so thoughtfully picked out for her new big brother (*wink*). For about two weeks after she came home, Sam would wake in the morning and ask "where's the sister?" And even now, when friends or family come to visit, he asks them to look at his baby sister. He lovingly pats her on her head and will even give her head a little kiss too. It's just so sweet, and we are thrilled that he seems to love her as much as we do.
    Buzz Lightyear, to the rescue!

    Our family is complete! We are overjoyed!


    See more of the story of Avery's birth through photos by viewing the slideshow below.





    Posted by Heather Kramer at 3:23 PM | 0 comments |

  3. Sam Turns Two!

    Friday, April 18, 2014


    Deciding the theme for Sam's second birthday party started way back in October! Since he seemed to be equally in love with fire trucks and trains, we couldn't decide if he should dress as a firefighter or a train engineer for Halloween.  A lucky trip to Once Upon a Child yielded a nifty pair of railroad striped overalls just Sam's size, and just in time for trick-or-treating! It was destiny!  So with Halloween covered, we decided to go with the fire truck theme for his birthday.

    Cutie-pants railroad engineer at Halloween 2013

    As January rolled around, we set to planning the fire truck themed party. In other words...a Pinterest board was created. We pinned party staples including flame decorations, games, favors, cakes and more. How did anyone ever plan a party before Pinterest? And our friend, Jill, just happened to pass down a really awesome toddler firefighter costume a couple of weeks before Sam's party. Once again - destiny!

    The night before the party, we were hard at work pulling everything together. We could not have done it all without the help of our friend, Mary, who rolled the plasticware, hung streamers, got balloons, tied tags on favors, made the chili (of course there was chili!), and helped clean up! We've already reserved Mary for next year, in case any of you are thinking you can steal her. Because of her help, we were really able to enjoy our guests and the big moments of Sam's very special day.

    Sandwiches, snacks and chili for our guests
    Hand drawn flames in our new "fireplace"


    Speaking of big moments, the one thing that we really wanted to do for Sam was have a real fire truck appear at his party. We had found websites where you could hire a fire truck for parties, but what a disappointment it was when we learned that pretty much all of them in the Orlando area had gone out of business. To add "fuel to the fire" (pun intended), Sam had broken his leg a few weeks before his birthday so we really wanted to cheer him up by doing something extra special at his party. We HAD to have that fire truck. So Shawn started by calling all of the area fire stations. The receptionists were quick to tell him that their trucks did not appear at birthday parties. But Shawn continued to explain that he was looking for connections to a privately-owned fire truck. "You see, my son is turning two and he has a broken leg..." And the sympathy card was played over and over again.

    Finally, Shawn was able to get connected to a retired firefighter that had his own vintage Mac firetruck. This thing was PERFECT, as it looks a lot like Red from the movie Cars (also a favorite of Sam's). Sam was so excited when the truck arrived. He wanted to walk around it, get into the cab, turn the steering wheel, and climb all over it. The other children, and even the adults, were also very excited to see this classic machine. The owner was very kind and allowed everyone to explore every inch of his truck. He also enthusiastically answered all of their questions. As the cherry on top, he even took our little family on a spin around the block! We could have not have been more pleased!



    In the belly of the beast

    Toot Toot! Coming through!
    Oh, and there was cake with loads of frosting! The baker put red, yellow and white frosting in the same bag and piped the cupcakes with the mix. They looked like they were on fire! Very appropriate for this party. Sam preferred to eat only frosting this year and we can't blame him.  It was delicious!



    Overall, Sam's birthday was a giant success! We are 2-for-2 and looking forward to another great celebration next year. Any ideas for themes? My Pinning finger is itching!


    Posted by Heather Kramer at 11:08 PM | Labels: , , | 0 comments |

  4. A few weeks before Sam's second birthday, Heather and Sam were playing on the neighborhood playground together. Sam asked Heather to go down the slide with her, and Heather innocently agreed not knowing that this trip down the slide would result in Sam's first broken bone. Heather noticed at the end of the slide that his foot had gotten stuck up underneath him. He didn't cry very hard at all, but we knew something wasn't right when he refused to be put down and couldn't put any weight on his right foot.

    We took him to the urgent care pediatrician who said a fracture was very unlikely at his age. She recommended ibuprofen and some rest, but to see an orthopedic specialist within 24 hours if he was still  limping. When Sam still couldn't put any weight on his leg the next morning, we decided not to wait any longer. We made an appointment that morning at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children Center for Orthopedics. There we learned that Sam had a hairline fracture in his right tibia. Our hearts were heavy for him when we learned that he would have to wear a cast for three weeks and stay off of his leg completely for the first four days. "Plenty of snacks and TV", the doctor ordered and Sam wasn't complaining a bit.

    Baby's First Cast
    After a few days of lounging, we could tell that Sam was ready to get up and go. He cautiously started putting weight on the leg and when he realized it didn't hurt anymore, he was off and running. He got around really well in that full-leg, red cast. He walked at first and then quickly learned to limp/run. He drew sympathetic looks every where we went. And people were always very surprised to see how little the cast slowed him down.



    He had a great attitude about it the whole time. And when it was finally time to have the cast removed, he sat bravely while it was sawed off and promptly said "get down" when it was off. The staff had warned us that he might not want to walk on it for a couple of days, but he wanted to walk on it immediately.  His first few steps in the doctor's waiting room must have created a ticklish "pins and needles" sensation in his leg, because he giggled and looked up at Shawn saying, "it's sweepy, Daddy, it's sweepy"!  His sore knee and some numbness made it a bit difficult for him to get around at first, and he limped a little bit for a couple of weeks after the cast was removed, but now he's completely back to normal. Thank goodness!


    Posted by Heather Kramer at 11:06 PM | Labels: , | 0 comments |

  5. At the end of December, we made our annual trip to Indiana. Thankfully, it wasn't as cold as it was during our visit last year, but it was still pretty chilly for at least one person in this Florida family (ahem.... Heather).

    We wondered how Sam would do on the plane this year since he wasn't yet walking last year at this time. He's so much more active now and certainly doesn't like to sit still for very long. With a little help from our trusty friend, iPad, he did very well on the way up.

    Happy child, relieved parents.
    Our first night in town, Shawn's mom opened her home to us and cooked us a warm meal. There is nothing like Grandma Kramer's home cooking! Sam, of course, went right for her toy bin and the other kids were quick to follow. They all got along so well and shared nicely.

    Sharing cars with Grayson
    Eatin' good at Grandma's... and enjoying being the center of attention
    Holiday hugs from Lleyton
    We were so pleased that the family agreed to gather again at the Lighthouse Lodge in Monticello for a post Christmas, pre-New Year's celebration. We were very well taken care of again by our hosts, Mike and Bonnie, who opened their warm and inviting inn and filled our bellies with a delicious, homemade meal.

    The Lighthouse Lodge

    Our beautiful boy

    Aunt Tina, Lleyton, Aunt Kim and Kyle

    Aunt Shell, Uncle Butch and Uncle Rick

    Grandma Kramer, Mandy and Heather

    The Yahoos... and the lovely Debbie

    Ben and Lleyton

    Christian, and Arrick and Alex

    As goes the Kramer family tradition, we received Grandpa bags filled with peanuts, candy and something a little extra for the little ones. Uncle Butch made sure everyone in the family got one. And "the princess" even got a special treat (an orange!).  Thank you, Uncle Butch!

    A grandpa bag for Sam...
    And one for Lleyton...
    And one for the Princess.
    After filling our bellies with Bonnie's delicious home cooking, playing cards and catching up, we packed up and headed out to visit with Shawn's nephew, Bucky, and his family in Coatesville, IN. We had a great time playing with their two boys, who have an unlimited supply of Legos, Matchbox cars and Cars toys which made Sam's little head spin. They also have a huge backyard where we got to go exploring and Shawn practiced shooting BB Guns with the kids (Sam stayed inside with mommy during the shooting part).

    Winter Sam 
    Arrick, Sam (with Tow Mater) and Christian
    The guys 
    Ready. Aim. FIRE!
    Let's go hiking
    Our last stop on our trip was to visit Heather's Aunt Linda. If you recall, she is a house mom at the Butler University Kappa Kappa Gamma house. She welcomed us into her home and made us a wonderful dinner which we shared with Heather's cousins Bart, Cathy and Jordan. Sam loved climbing the big staircase and running around all of the rooms in the house. He even cruised by the large fireplace, pointed to it and said "Santa! Ho-ho-ho."

    Here one minute... 
    Gone the next.
    Aunt Linda and us with the Kappa Kappa Gamma bulldog
    Even though Heather usually complains about how cold she is, we usually leave saying how we need to plan longer visits. We love visiting with those that are so special to us and enjoying the great state of Indiana. Maybe we'll just need to add a summer visit to our calendar!

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 11:00 PM | Labels: | 0 comments |