Our Final Days of Summer

In Alaska, summers never seemed long enough.  It always seemed as if summer was ending before it even began!  Now that we're in WV, summers seem to drag on and on and on...  I was sure there was no end in sight to last years.  Several things attributed to this: being away from Nathan and being away from Nathan while pregnant!  I thought being pregnant during the summer in Alaska was bad.  As if trying to adjust to the heat wasn't bad enough, doing it at seven months pregnant was horrible!  Then there was the fact that Nathan was still living in Alaska, 4,000 miles away.  It was stressful not knowing when he would get orders out, if he was going to make it for Addi's arrival, where we were going to live, where we would find work...the list went on!  Eventually, everything worked out; Nathan was there to welcome his little girl into the world, he was offered a great job and finally got his orders that brought him back home to his family. 

Although this summer hasn't been as stressful, it has certainly felt just as long!  This one I'm chalking up to school.  I'm looking forward to getting the boys out of my hair for a while and having some "me" time.  Or more like "Addi" time.  We've never had school to look forward to in the past and now that we do it feels as if it will never get here.  When we first registered the boys to start, their scheduled seemed too good to be true; Mon-Thur, all day.  We get the call today that it was too good to be true!  Daniel will still go as scheduled, but Denton has been put on the waiting list for the Head Start program.  Instead, he will be enrolled into the Home Based Head Start Program.  I had never heard of this until today.  Although it's not what we had in mind, it doesn't sound bad and is definitely better then nothing.  A teacher will come to our home once a week for two hours and work with Denton to prepare him for Pre-K.  Included in this is what they call "Center Day" where Denton will meet with other kids his age participating in the same program. 

Everything will be starting soon so I only have a few short weeks to recover from Wednesday's surgery.  Nathan and mom will have their hands full with the kids!!  I've been strictly advised against lifting anything for the first three weeks, which I believe is going to be the hardest part.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this little "break", but not being able to hold Addi will be tough.  Guess it's a good thing she's such a daddy's little girl.  =)

We've been trying to get in as much time with the kids before Wednesday so we've been doing a little sight seeing around the area.  Found this awesome hiking trail not far from Nathan's shop.  I see a lot of picnics there next summer! 

Birthday Prep

It's hard to believe that our baby girl will be turning one this Saturday.  It's often said by parents, but they really do grow up too fast!  It may not seem like it at the time; during all the late night bottle feedings, diaper changes, teething and other fussy stages that have us ready to pull our hair out, but it's over before we know it.  During the late nights with her as a newborn we often said to each other that we can't wait until she sleeps through the night.  Now that she does, we find ourselves saying how we miss getting up with her at night and rocking her back to sleep.  We often take these little moments for granted not knowing just how much we'll miss them when they're over. 

I've always loved hosting and planning parties, especially the kids first birthdays.  Maybe it's because this it the first birthday party I've had to plan for a girl, but I have been so excited for Addi's that I've been planning it since she was six months old!  Nathan has usually helped in the past, but he has given me full control on this one.  I think it's mostly due to it being a girls party and knowing I plan on making it as girly as possible, he's stepping aside.  With the boys, however, he had to make sure I didn't cross the lines with the "cute" stuff.  He was always there to remind me I'm planning a party for his boys, not sissy's.  That's Nathan and one of the many reasons I love his stubborn attitude. 

Since I've had the past six months to plan for this party, I have come up with lots of ideas!  I take credit for the final look, but most of these ideas came from my many google searches.  I plan on having a food table and a sweets table, or candy buffet.  Here are a few of the things I have put together for the candy buffet:

Personalized Hershey Bars

Personalized Lollipops

Another sucker bouquet

Her party started off as a small family thing, but has turned into quite a large celebration.  It's her first though, so I love that it will be a big one!  We even have the Howe's, close family friends, driving up from Florida to be here.  They will be the only family to have been to each one of our children's first birthdays.  It means a lot that they're not only coming, but that I'll have Heidi to help put the party together and most importantly, CLEAN UP!  Just like old times Heidi!  I love you woman!!

Here are a few pictures during Addi's first year:

July 30, 2010 @ 0243
We Welcome Addison Marie Delimont
8lb 13.3oz   21in

Napping with Grams 2mo

First Halloween 3mo

First Thanksgiving 4mo



First Christmas 5mo

6mo

7mo

8mo

9mo

10mo

First 4th of July 11mo





The Hazards of Being a Toddler (and much more!)

It came as no surprise to most of us when Denton broke his elbow.  In fact, I'd say many of us were surprised it took him almost four years to accomplish this.  He might be a middle child, but he certainly doesn't hesitate to be the first at a lot of things.  Unfortunately, most of these things land us in the ER and one way or another include Daniel.  He was the first for stitches after losing a fight with Daniel and the first to break a bone after losing a bicycle race against Daniel.  In between these two, he was also rushed to the ER after Daniel pulled an 80lb T.V down on top of him, crushing his legs.  It seemed at times as if Daniel was thinking how great life was as an only child.  He's a trooper though!  He was ready to get back on the bike the next day.

After Denton's recent incident, we decided the family could use a little vacation so we decided on Richmond, Va.  This trip had it's fun and hilarious moments, but it was also a trip from hell!  For starters, Addi screamed during the entire five hour car ride.  When she's mad, she screams and I mean SCREAMS!  It was enjoyable.  The front entrance to our hotel should have been a red flag for us, but tired and now dealing with headaches given to us from Miss Addi, we overlooked the hazard.  Instead of sliding glass doors, they were revolving doors!  Should I say more?  Of course, Denton was unable to master the art of walking through these things.  He falls and his foot was drug under the door.  It took Nathan on one end pushing the door and I on the other to free his foot.  The door was relentless!  Foot or not, it was not going to stop rotating.  How we managed not bringing him home in a leg cast is a blessing. 

Tired and ready for bed we decide all the sightseeing could wait til morning; Addi had other plans.  She refused to sleep in the crib and does not like to be cuddled, rocked, or even held when she's tired.  So it took me walking her up and down the halls until midnight for her fall asleep; but not without a fight.  Scared to put her down, I slept with her in my arms until she woke at 4am angry that she couldn't roll onto her stomach.  The hall tricked failed this time so it was to the car we went.  I drove up and down the street until she fell asleep at 5am.  No way was I gonna move her!  I pulled into a deserted part of the parking lot, reclined my seat and napped with her until 7 all while the guys got a good nights rest.  Not according to Nathan though who complained of being up all night.  If that's the case, I'd like to know where he was between 10pm-7am.  Sure could have used the help!  

Our first stop was the zoo.  We were able to pet and feed the giraffes.  Addi hated it, Daniel was a little hesitant and Denton couldn't get close enough to them.  They also had a cage set up with birds that you could get in and feed.  Nathan took Addi in first and within seconds her head was covered with birds, which she also hated.  Nathan took Daniel on this ride around the zoo so I decided to take Denton and Addi to feed the goats and camels.  Addi is leaning over the stroller watching Denton and the goats and is oblivious to the camel that has come up behind her.  The camel leans over and attempts to steal a cup of water that was sitting in the stroller.  As it's trying to bring it back over the fence, ice water spills all over Addi.  Assuming I'm the culprit, she turns around to let me know she's unhappy when she comes nose to nose with the camel.  Then the screaming started.  I felt so sorry for her, but it was hard not to laugh right along with the 20 bystanders that witnessed it!

While in Richmond, we also took the kids to  Children's Museum and to the Planetarium.  I didn't think I'd ever get the kids out of the museum or Nathan out of the planetarium. 

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We officially have a walker on our hands.  She's been standing on her own and taking a few baby steps for about a month now, but now it's on!  She's all over the place.  Hard to believe she'll be one in just a few short weeks. 



Picking up the Slack..

Even with the best intentions, I have already started slacking when it comes to blogging.  Even with the friendly reminders I've been getting - thank you Stephanie and Meagan!  =)

We've done a lot and a lot of nothing since I was last on here.  Nathan sister and her family drove in from Kansas a couple weeks ago.  It was nice having all the cousins together, or at least most of the cousins.  It's crazy how much the boys look alike.  They could easily pass for brothers.  While out touring West Virginia, we even had a guy ask us if the older three were triplets. 

On Saturday Nathan and I both had a brother to get married!!  I wasn't sure my baby brother was the marrying type, but I guess all it took was finding the right one.  They were married in ND which is where Kelsey is from.  Nathan's brother, Cuyler, and his wife were married in Va on the beach!  We had the chance to meet her last night on their way back to KS.  We love them both and are happy to have them as part of the family!!   Just thought of this, but none of our siblings were married in the same state.  We have TN, WV, KS, AK, ND, and Va.  I guess we like to get around....

Addison's salmonella case has gotten more complicated.  Of the last two samples they tested, one came back negative and the other came back positive.  BUT, it was positive for a totally different strand of salmonella.  Of course, they've never seen this happen so they're gonna retest her.  In the mean time, they're "looking into it."  I can't tell you how many times we've heard this before! 

I'm sure a lot more has happened, but I'm drawing a blank on what to blog about now.  But I can't forgot to wish all the father's out there a Happy Father's Day!!  I've got a pretty good one out there and have inherited a few other good ones through marriage!  Then of course a special Happy Father's Day to Nathan.  I'm grateful for him and all he does everyday, but these days remind me to remind him that.  =)  Love him!!! 

Homemade Baby Food

I had my first go at attempting to make homemade baby food yesterday and was quite pleased at how much Addi enjoyed it!!  She strongly dislikes plain meats.  I haven't been brave enough to try these, but going by the smell I can't say I much blame her.  She does love all the mixed dinner meals, so I decided to puree some of her very first deer meat!  Deer roast actually, with a few potatoes and LOTS of carrots which are a favorite of hers.  Daddy was quite pleased as well that his little girl is a fan of deer meat.  The boys go crazy over it.  In fact, we often have to tell them we're eating deer in order to get them to eat.  They don't like plain old cow tacos, but they LOVE deer tacos.  Same goes for all else.

I'll have to start getting more creative with foods since I am close to giving up the battle with the bottle.  It's a struggle to get her to drink the so many "recommended" ounces of formula each day.  She's had her taste of real food and knows we have something better to offer when we try handing her a bottle.  Daniel gave up the bottle on his own at ten months.  I suppose Addi will be the same.  It sure beats Denton who threw a fit at 12 months when he was no longer given one.  But Denton never cared much for a binky, something Daniel not only LOVED but was rarely seen without.  Addi is a mix of both, who only takes one when she sleeps but is rarely seen with one during the day.


Two days before Nathan's sister, Diana, and her family come in for a visit.  We're excited to see them and play tourist as well.  I figure there will be  lot of things we do while they're here that Nathan has yet to see or do; probably myself as well.  I hadn't thought of taking them to the bridge until mom mentioned it today.  In my opinion, it's one of the must sees here!! 


Just learned today that Heidi will be here for Addison's first birthday!!!!  The Howe's will be the only people to have celebrated each of the kids 1st birthdays!  Just another reason to be excited for July!!!

Chicken Headache

For several weeks it seemed that our bad luck with chickens was finally over.  We began taking for granted getting up each morning to find that all our chickens were accounted for.  Last weekend, Nathan had put up a pool for the ducks and had brought down four of the remaining nine baby chickens from the garage.  All the animals seemed to be getting along and the dogs had finally seemed to get that they were unwanted on our property.  Nathan decided the chicks still in the garage were ready to join the others this weekend.  He gets down there to find that the first four chicks had managed to drown in the ducks "pond."  Nathan says it just goes to prove that all animals owned by us (dogs included) are idiots since these chickens were plenty big to stand up in the pool.  Maybe the bigger chickens held their heads under water?  Or the ducks were unwilling to share their pool?  Either way, our number in chickens keeps declining.  I'm not even sure where stand now.

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We haven't had the chance to plant a tree for a fifth wedding anniversary, but Nathan's sweet side did come out long enough to carve our names in a stump. 

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Addi now has two teeth and is crawling all over the place and has even started pulling up on things.  She loves following the boys around, especially to their room.  They quickly get annoyed with this as she's always trying to be right in the middle of things.  If they're playing trains, she wants to be right there playing with them.  The problem comes when she has to have the toy in their hands.  If they're playing with it, it clearly must be more fun than the one laying on the floor.

She also loves the bathroom, especially the bath.  She hears the water and she comes crawling.  Daniel was giving himself a bath the other night when he starts yelling that baby sissy was trying to see him naked, something he wasn't happy about.  She just has to be a part of everything that's going on in the house, preferably the center of what's going on.  She's becoming our little Diva!

 

This and That

As many already know, our first "batch" of baby chickens no longer walk among the living.  Sometime last week our neighbors dog, a good friend of Maddie's, found a weak spot in the fence.  Half of the chickens were found dead in the yard, the other half were MIA.  Out of what I believe use to be 16 chicks, we had a single survivor.  He was given many names after this event.  Nathan came up with Lucky and Husk since it was a husky that he stood by helplessly and watched as it took out his teammates one by one.  I went with Sur, short for survivor.  I wasn't as fond of these chickens since they were no longer in their cute chick stage, but my heart went out to this one.  Sadly, he is no longer with us either.  What happened to this one may forever be a mystery.  

The day after the first chicken attack Nathan was given 17 chickens that were no longer in their prime egg laying stages.  After gathering what we thought were all 17 of them into the coop, we realize we kept coming up one short when counting them.  One managed to escape and found a spot in the bushes to hide.  Turns out, he wasn't as hidden as he thought.  We got a call the following evening from our neighbors, the owners of the husky, asking if we happened to have chickens.  Whether or not he found it already dead or killed it herself, the husky brought this dead chicken home.  

Now we have ten new baby chicks.  Or at least we had ten.  Nathan is sure he bought ten and claims to have even counted ten of them when he put them in the garage, but now we count nine!  Sounds like strike three!  Is it common for people to have such bad luck with their chickens or is this the "Delimont Luck" I've heard so much about?  While Keeton is in town for the weekend, Nathan has decided to use the opportunity of having help in killing and cleaning most of the adult chickens that were given to us.  I can't help but think it was these chickens that killed our little survivor so I believe I might even help in picking these guys off.  Looks like we'll be having chicken for dinner tonight!!   

I don't have recent pictures, but our ducks have really grown!  We have finally given all but one a name.  Daniel and Denton's ducks are mostly black so Daniel decided to name his Blacky and Denton has gone with One.  Guess Denton has decided to keep it simple.  The way our luck goes with animals anyways, it probably won't be long before he has a Two and Three!  At least this way he is able to keep track of our failure rate.  =)  We have named Addi's duck Bella, mine Sami, and Nathan is calling his Stew because he plans on making duck stew with his.  I've tried duck in the past and didn't care for it so this will be one meal Nathan and I won't be sharing.  Guess I'll be having chicken that night...

Counting chickens hasn't been the only thing keeping us busy this week.  We took Addi to the doctor on Monday for what turned out to be an ear infection.  Our little lady was miserable for several days fighting a fever of 103.  We were told to watch Addison closely since she still has salmonella.  One of the bigger things to keep an eye on was her developing a temperature.  So of course we freaked out when she woke up was a temp of 102.7.  We hate her having an ear infection, but we're thankful there's something to link the fever to other than salmonella.  However, we're not totally convienced it's just from the ear infection.  Since the doctor couldn't rule out salmonella playing a role in it either, she has decided to look into getting Addison a referral to see an Infectious Disease Specialist.  Not sure when this will happen, but it will be nice to finally talk to someone who knows more about it.  For now, we are waiting to test her again and go from there depending on the results.  It sounds though like she may always be a carrier of salmonella.

Daniel is now suffering from allergies.  The poor kid can't open his eyes in the morning without a warm wet washcloth.  Nathan, who also has allergies, is all to familiar with this.  I've been one of the lucky ones and have never had these issues.  Better knock on wood...

Denny Benny seems to be the only healthy one of the bunch.  But because our kids are little dopers, he fakes a cough or a similar symptom of Daniel's when he sees everyone else getting medicine.  Even Addi gets excited when she sees the tylenol bottle. 

For now, all the excitement in the Delimont household has settled down a bit.  We're looking forward to Nathan's sister, Diana, and her family coming for a visit later in May.  Will be the first time for all the cousins to meet! 

Traditions and Spontaneity

We had a bad storm over the weekend and lost our power for about 15 hours as a result of it.  With three sick kids already, this made for a looooong night.  Addi was the first to wake up to a cold and completely dark room.  She was up and down the rest of the night.  Would have just put her in bed with us, but this child hates to cuddle; at least with us.  She has a blanky she can't sleep without.  She likes to cuddle up to it at night and fall asleep as she listens to her christian lullaby CD.  Rocking her is out of the question.  Won't even let us hold her bottles for her anymore.  Guess she has turned into little miss independent.

Now when the boys woke up, they woke up in a panic.  We were woken up by the boys, mostly Daniel, screaming for mommy.  He was terrified!  Crying so hard I never thought I'd calm him down.  Nathan and I dug through their toy boxes to find their Thomas and Percy flashlights.  We found them; big mistake!  These lights only stay on for about 15 seconds each time the botton is pushed.  Each and everytime the bottons are pushed, a loud train whistle blows.  It doesn't take anymore then three minutes to drive anyone insane.  So after some searching and banging around in the dark, we find and trade the boys their flashlights for their portable DVD player.  This kept them quiet the rest of the night, but now Addi is up again...

Despite all the chaos and lack of sleep, we had a fun morning without the TV or video games to keep us entertained.  At least almost no TV.  We had fun building a fort with the boys with blankets and chairs.  Once our fort was built, we all crawled in to watch Megamind.  Addi even joined us once she got up from her nap, but not before forcing Maddie out. 

On Sunday, mom drove down and went to church with us.  Afterwards, we went to the 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt in Princeton.  Turned out to be a waste of time.  They were out of parking places by the time we got there.  After finding and making our own parking place, the egg hunt for the boys age group was over.  It was hard to hear what they were saying over the loud speaker, but it sounded like there was to be another hunt for the younger kids in 30 minutes.  The flyer offered free lunch, so we decided to grab a hotdog while we waited.  After standing in line for about 30 minutes for a cold hotdog, we had missed this hunt as well.  We decided just to head home and have our own Easter egg hunt.  The boys came with Easter baskets ready to find Easter eggs and we weren't gonna disappoint them!  $40 and 40 plus Easter eggs later, we had us an Egg Hunt!!  Mom and I probably went a little overboard when buying the eggs and candy, especially since we still plan and have everything ready for our traditional egg hunt on Easter Sunday, but it was worth it. 

We also jumped the gun on coloring eggs this year.  Like every year, it's always a chaotic mess!!  Boys fighting over whose turn it is to use what color, Denton spilling the red dye all over the table and floor, daddy eating the eggs faster then we can color them, Daniel deciding he'd rather color his hands instead of the eggs, Addi crying because she can't have an egg...at least not without trying to shove the whole thing in her mouth.

It can be stressful, but Easter just isn't Easter without all our family traditions.  This is how memories are made!  Not only are traditions a great way to help build and store memories, but spontaneity is as well!  And pictures help us to remember these.  I have some great memories from my childhood and I want the kids to be able to say the same.  Kids need parents who takes time to be in the present to build memories for their future's past.

Baby Ducks

From baby chickens to ducks!

Nathan and I had talked about getting ducks once the pond was finished, but somehow ended up with six baby ducks while we still have nothing more than a hole in the ground.  He thought he was being sneaky about it, but he face tells all!

While at work one day, he drove into Princeton to pick up some chicken wire.  Afterwards, he had to take the GOV to Beckley for an estimate and said he would drop this off on he way.  I thought this was a bit weird since our house isn't exactly on his way, but rather out of his way.  But this is Nathan and I gave up a long time ago on trying to make sense out of a lot of things this man does.  :^)

In his attempt to quickly drop his stuff off and leave before I came out to see him, he was busted setting the heat lamp back up above the container he had made for the chicks.  I thought maybe he was planning on bringing the chickens back into the garage until he completely finished the chicken coop.  So I asked him what he was doing, in which he answers nothing.  He mouth said nothing, but he face said he was clearly guilty of something.  Knowing he couldn't get out of this one, he pulls a box of baby ducks from the truck.  Even if I wanted to be upset with this, it was impossible after seeing these cute little things.  And of course, he had an excuse for each one he bought...if he bought himself one it was only right for him to buy me one.  Now if mommy and daddy have a duck, then it's only fair that the kids each get their own duck.  I guess that still leaves an open excuse for the sixth one...

The chickens have really grown since we first bought them.  Definitely not as cute as they were before.  Maddie loves to messing with them.  She runs laps around the coop getting them all stirred up.  Millie would probably do the same if it wasn't such a long walk to the bottom of the hill!

Besides the fence, the chicken coop is finally finished.  Not that I doubted Nathan's skills, but I was impressed at how well it turned out.  He's a nice handyman to have around the house. :)

Just a few pictures of the kids:

We officially have a crawler on our hands!