2 Favorite Things!

 Cayle's 2 favorite things! How many times in your life can you say you rode your bike inside a tractor?

Interesting read...

An interesting article I happened upon today (link below).  Found it interesting to see the dad interviewed in the article stated the reasons he stayed home (as opposed to his wife) were not only because it made financial sense, but because he wanted to have such a huge involvement in raising his kids.  I'm thankful to have a husband who loves his kids and finds it truly gratifying to be home to teach them everything we want them to learn :) 

Could have been written about Nick and Natalie

Reality Check

Things had been going pretty smoothly with Baby Lindy and Cayle. Until last night...

This is what we wanted....

 This is what we got....

She fussed/cried from about 8pm till 5am. Girl's got a set of lungs! I rocked her in the rocking chair most of the night except for when she needed to feed. Then I slept and Natalie fed. She would sometimes sleep while I was rocking her, but would not let me put her in her bed. She finally went to bed at 5am this morning and slept till about noon with one feeding in between... and Cayle woke up at the same time (5am.) Cayle also woke up several times last night... It was a long night for both of us to say the least. Hoping for more sleep tonight!

Finally...

Getting around to getting our house back to normal for the first time since coming home from the hospital with Lindy. Grandma left yesterday morning, and we were unsure of how things were going to go with 2 kids and me having to work yesterday afternoon. Cayle took a 3 hour nap, and everything else went smoothly for Natalie. By the end of the day yesterday, we had gotten most of our laundry put away, and all of Lindy's clothes organized and hung in the closet. Whew! This morning I finished sub plans (with Natalie's help) and went out to school to make copies. All done with that. Off all next week to be at home with my family! (HATE SUB PLANS!!!!)

The rest of today, Natalie has been super busy getting things ready to send out for birth announcements, baptismal preparations, and Cayle's birthday party invites, as well as spending good portions of time feeding and rocking our hungry daughter! She had gained 5oz. by the time of her first check-up earlier this week! She's eating and pooping like a rock star!

We are still trying to get back into the swing of things with a new baby. So easy to forget what it's all like. Trying to get used to sleeping in 3 hour spurts, but getting the routine down pretty good. Lindy starts crying, I get up to get her, give her to mommy along with the boppy and a burp rag so she can nurse, fall back asleep for 15 minutes, wake up to change her diaper, swaddle her, rock her a bit, and put her back to sleep, then fall back to sleep for another 3 hours. This happens every 3 hours ish... :-) Thankfully she's a good eater and a good sleeper! Makes things much easier!

 Grandma with her 2 grand kids!

 Cayle got a new dump truck and a puzzle from Grandma before she left! He loves them both! He had a great time with grandma!

Feels good to get back into some sort of a routine again. Hopefully we are feeling comfortable with things by the time we have more visitors!

1st Race

Last night I had my first race. A short track race at the Eagle Fairgrounds. Cayle and Grandma came to cheer me on. Cayle had his Strider and rode with me a bit while I was warming up. It was so cool! Short track is a 20 minute dirt crit. As a spectator you can see the entire course. It makes it exciting to watch. The 20 minute time, makes it an extremely explosive event. Just a 20 minute hard as you can go effort. I was racing expert which in the short track format is a combination of expert and pro riders. I got a great start sitting in the top 4 for the first 3 laps. There was a short (20 feet) steep climb on each lap that eventually got the better of me, and I fell back a bit. A couple more guys passed me as I slowly ran out of gas. I finished 8th of 19 riders! Extremely pleased with this! The first 5 guys all race pro/elite class in the local series, so of the expert riders, I actually got 3rd! It was fun lining up with guys the like of Josiah and Jay Henry though, both local heroes!! Those guys were fast!

Expert Men
1 Josiah Middaugh
2 Jay Henry
3 Michael Friedberg
4 John Phillips
5 Jerry Oliver
6 Brian Baker
7 Tyler Eaton
8 Nicolas Brummer
9 Adam Plummer
10 Christian Kloser

Warm-ups

The warm-ups I provided for my students on the day they returned from spring break (Lindy was 1 week old).

Back at work

I've been back to work for 2 days now. It has been nice to have the mornings at home with my family. That being said, we have been super busy! We went from having no girl clothes, to having tons of girl clothes, with no where to put things. So we made a trip down to Target this morning to stock up on things (clothes hangers.) Thanks to great friends for a gift card to help with our purchases! On Monday, mom and I made a trip to Frisco to see Cayle's dermatologist. She say's things may be starting to look better... That's hopeful news at least. Would be nice to get the acne on his cheeks cleared up! Tomorrow Cayle has music class, but hopefully we can get the kids closet finished!

I have my first race tomorrow in Eagle. It's at 650, so mom and Cayle will probably come watch, but Natalie and Lindy won't make it. No clue how that will end up? I am racing Expert this year for the first time, and it's going to be fast! Racing for Yeti's Grind again, and looking forward to being with them for the 2nd year in a row and seeing the new kits sometime soon!

Getting in a Groove...

We arrived home from the hospital mid-afternoon on Friday.  After spending time with some visitors, we had dinner and attempted to get some sleep.  Attempt was the key word.  We had a laundry list of things to take care of before we could hop into bed: give Cayle some attention (huge priority!), get food, put away all the hospital gear, verify we were actually ready for Lindy's first night at home, etc.  
Cayle got to bed late, so we didn't get to start putting away the hospital stuff until late.  Once we felt we had everything settled, we tried to start some kind of routine with Lindy; meaning, trying to use her little bed we got her (a Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper), establish where we'd keep diapers and wipes to use overnight (since she's sleeping in our room to start), have things ready to nurse in the middle of the night (the Boppy, burp rags, etc). 

Lindy's night got off to a rough start.  We couldn't get her swaddled very good because of the bilirubin light blanket she had to wear.  So she never got settled in her sleeper.  Due to exhaustion (not sure what else to blame it on?), we took her downstairs to rock her.  She cried for a very long time (30 minutes straight would not be an exaggeration!).  Then, we finally figured out that the poor child was hungry...due to eat, oh, an hour or so ago???  Once she ate, she went to bed.  So we carried everything that we had brought downstairs with us back up to the bedroom.  Lindy slept well the rest of the night, only getting up for one more nursing before sun up.

The glowing lights were her bili lights

Saturday was a busy but fun day.  Lindy had a dr appt, where she was cleared from having to wear the bili blanket anymore...yay!  When we got home from her dr appt, Ronnie, Michelle, Ethan, and Lexi had arrived to spend the day with us.  It was a most uneventful day - Cayle and Ethan played outside in the sandbox, rode bikes, etc.  Lexi enjoyed spending time with Sophie.  Lindy was a good girl and mostly hung out with grandma.  At one point, we had all four kids down for a nap.  It was amazingly quiet for having 4 kids 3 years old or younger in the house!  Nick and Ronnie headed out to Costco and picked up some rib eyes to have for dinner.  All of us had dinner on the back porch (did I mention it was a gorgeous day?) before Ronnie and family headed back to Co Springs.  I headed for bed as soon as they left, so I honestly can't tell you what else happened that night :)  Nick and his mom did an awesome job taking care of both kids and getting them to bed.  Lindy had a much better night sleeping, which her mommy and daddy super-appreciated!

Cayle and Ethan giving knuckles before saying bye

Today Cayle was excited to go see "Jesus".  It's what we do on Sundays :)  Nick, Cathy, and Cayle headed off to church, while Lindy and I stayed home to rest.  The rest of the day was filled with lots of relaxing, Nick taking a bike ride, Cayle getting a much-needed nap, and me doing some organizational things (like sorting through the numerous boxes and bags of girl clothes we were given!).  Melinda, Mack, and Macy came over to visit late this afternoon.  Nick hung out with the boys outside, while Melinda and I chatted and chilled out with the baby girls.

Lindy and her friend Macy (who is 1 week older)

What's in store for us next?  Nick returns to work tomorrow :(  Since he only works part-time, he will be around in the mornings to help out with everything.  Cathy doesn't leave until Friday morning, so I won't be left on my own with the kids for a few days yet (whew!).  Nick will be taking next week off of school as his paternity leave.  Lindy has a check-up with her dr tomorrow to check her weight and her bilirubin levels again.

Goals?  Help Cayle feel secure and happy with the idea of having his new sister around.  He is exhibiting some behaviors we don't usually see from him, so we keep trying to remind ourselves he's just looking for some attention and love and is probably feeling pretty insecure about things right now.  With Lindy, we just want to make sure she is getting the food and sleep she needs.  It will take some time for us to get everything working like a well-oiled machine, but we'll eventually get there!   

Ronnie and Michelle came up from The Springs today to see baby Lindy. It was a perfect day! 75 and sunny. Don't have much time for writing, but will get more pics and details up sometime soon. Lots of fun!

Heading Home!

Long day, will update more later. But we made it home today! Little Lindy looked super cute in her outfit that I picked out for her. Good to be home!!!!

3rd day in Hospital in Pictures

Cayle came up and we got out for a couple hour bike ride! Covered at least a couple miles, and he could've handled more, but it was nap time...

Explaining to Grandma about the water and how you can't go down that hill, and how it's cold water...(not sure how he knows that for sure?)
We biked over to Yeti's (Daddy's racing team sponsor) and picked up a cookie to replace some of those calories he was burning! He loved it!
Discovering the wonders of nature that are experienced while mountain biking! He has started the last couple of days trying to pick up his feet and coast a bit more while trying to keep his balance. He is so awesome on this thing!
Found some Teutopolis Wooden Shoe fans in Vail Village! My high school's colors.
Cayle couldn't figure out why this deer was "taking a leak,(pee pee)" and was frozen in place. He stared at it about a minute the first time past, and then another minute or so on our way back past... (water was falling from the corner of the gutter)
Natalie and I attempted a few pics with baby Lindy!
Somehow I got Cayle in mommy's bed and Grandma put Lindy by him and he didn't resist! Pretty awesome pic! He actually doesn't look like he's hating it too much...

Lindy is doing great. She is on about 3-4 hour cycles of sleeping and eating. Which is great for us, allowing us to get more sleep. Smooth day in the hospital, and if we have a good night, we will be heading home tomorrow sometime. I think Cayle is missing us, but it has been so nice to spend so much time in the hospital getting into a routine and getting rested up! Gotta get to bed!

We have a girl!

By now you know that we had a baby. And by now you prolly know that baby is a girl!!!! We still can't believe it... not sure why. Just that neither of us expected it for some reason. That being said I think we are both growing more and more excited about it each day! The theme of today was PINK!
When we started today, the only thing we had that was PINK was the Vail baby hat that the hospital had given us, and a PINK bow and baby blanket that Alana and Jess brought last night. Yikes! We have a girl and no girly clothing! This could be an issue. I mean, I do want her to grow up and be a tomboy and all, but it may be nice for people to at least know that she is a girl while she is a baby!
Our First attempt at the Bow thing!

Thankfully our friends Amy and Tiffany came up to visit this morning and brought plenty of goodies! Amy brought a bag full of cute girly bows and Tiffany brought her most excellent photog. skills! Those along with a cutsie little outfit for Lindy! I am sure that there will be more PINK in the near future!

Aunt Lindsey sent a gift bag from the hospital gift room containing some candy bars to satisfy Natalie's sweet tooth, and a cute little PINK baby blankie.
Cayle and Grandma came to visit this afternoon after his naptime. He loves the idea of the "baby" but is still hesitant to get too close or to touch her. He is doing so good with being around her though and pointing out all the PINK baby things! He cleaned our hospital room for us while he was here, and then took me out to Qdoba with grandma for dinner! What a sweet little man!

Cayle took Grandma to library today, and to the park to play. This after taking her to the pool yesterday to swim. He has been riding his bike everyday, and eating like champ! (not sure if he is growing or something, but he has been eating more than his usual amounts!!!) He has music tomorrow then coming back up to see us!Lindy update: She has been doing great! Nursing is going really well, and pretty much all she does is eat, fuss, and sleep. She loves sleeping on Natalie and tonight fell asleep on me for the first time! Current routine is eat for 40 minutes, sleep 10, fuss 10, eat 10, sleep 10, fuss 10... you get the point, this goes on for about 3 hours ish, then she falls asleep for 4-5 hours! She sleeps so soundly, sometimes I check her breathing to make sure she still is. She is so perfect and will be such a great complement to her big brother Cayle! We are so lucky and blessed to have 2 healthy happy children!

We are thinking she looks like Cayle as a baby (pictured below)

Our Surprise

For a number of non-scientific reasons, Nick and I both believed we would have a boy. There was Tiffany's pencil test (http://pencilpregnancytest.com/) results, the similarities in this pregnancy and the last, the "feeling" we both had, the "low" position of the baby, etc.

We arrived at the hospital this morning at about 530 am, got checked in, and landed in the operating room at 727 am. Things were going very smoothly - even though we had been warned the scheduled c-sections never seem to start on time :)

I was feeling a little better about this c-section since I knew pretty much what to expect. So, when they started tugging on my belly, I knew the baby's arrival was pretty close. They let us know when the head was out, and then the shoulders, and then I heard, "it's a girl!" Wait, what? So I checked with Nick a few times..."did they say it's a girl?" And the anesthesiologist..."it's a girl?" Back at Nick, "go look and see if it's a girl." Again to the anesthesiologist, "so it's a girl?"


Turns out we weren't having a boy at all. She's a beautiful baby girl. We had very special names picked out for the baby(regardless of the gender), and so Nick and I were able to name the baby right away. For a girl, we selected Lindy Leighn Brummer. Lindy is short for Lindbergh, my grandpa Hammers. Leighn in my middle name. (Pronounced Lane, but spelled Leighn).

Lindy had a pretty good day, getting to meet her big brother Cayle and Grandma Brummer, taking lots of naps, doing a great job nursing, taking her first bath, and even making a few dirty diapers :)


Nick and I just keep saying to each other, "holy cow, we have a little girl!". It's not what we expected at all, but that's what makes her so special!

Checked in

Neither I nor Natalie slept very much last night. Couple hours maybe. Both pretty anxious and excited! About 230 am we were both awake, so we started playing Scrabble on the Ipad. 1 game of Scrabble turned into 3 games of Dice. Then it's 400am and time to get ready to go. Snow or rain pretty much the whole way to Vail made for a little slow going, but we made it and got checked in. Natalie is now sitting in her robe, watching some T.V. and being prepped for surgery. It's scheduled for 730. We have an hour and a half to mentally prepare I guess. Baby is on the monitor and everything is looking good. What a contrast to the last time we were in the hospital. This is very relaxed and kind matter of fact. Last time was a kind of controlled chaos...which is prolly what you get with any natural birth.

Crazy Weather!!!

Grandma is here

Grandma B flew in today to stay with Cayle and to help with the baby for the next 2 weeks. She flew in to the Eagle (Gypsum) airport! It works out so nicely that way. It takes us about 3-4 minutes to go pick her up. Cayle got to see her plane taxiing on the runway. He enjoyed that! When Cayle went to say Hi grandma presented him with a toy model Southwest plane. He didn't hardly put it down all day. He loves it! Especially making it fly around in the air while it makes noise. We got the grocery shopping done this morning, and then Natalie made some fantastic beer cheese soup! We had that with some bread from CostCo for lunch, then more soup and bread for dinner with rotisserie chicken. Other than my bike ride, we had a pretty relaxing day/evening sitting around staying warm since it's so cloudy and rainy and cold outside. One more day of that hopefully! Trying to get as much rest as we can...

Spring Break 2012!

Spring Break 2012 has begun and is sure to be a memorable one! We were finally able to get everything done before the baby arrives! Grandma comes in tomorrow for a couple of days with Cayle before we head to the hospital on Monday morning.

Weather has turned cold with a chance of some precipitation. We desperately need it! The good thing is that the weather is looking nice for the rest of the break, and all of next week! 60's getting back up to the low 70's and full of glorious sunshine! Should be great for the new baby, and hopefully a few bike rides late next week. First race (hopefully) is in less than 2 weeks, in Eagle! Short track style!

I have a feeling this weekend is going to go quickly... :-)

Baby Hunch

Natalie has this baby hunch going. Basically like a March Madness thing where you guess the physical characteristics of the baby. Will be interesting to see who wins. I will have some sort of prize for the winner. The pool will close on Sunday evening so if you want to register, you will have to do so soon. Click on the pink button below. The password is Vail. Then enter your choices. Scoring System (LOWEST score wins)
Gender	3 point(s) added for incorrect hunch
Weight	0.125 point(s) added for each ounce off
Length	0.25 point(s) added for each quarter-inch off
Hair	2 point(s) added for incorrect hunch
Eye	2 point(s) added for incorrect hunch
1st Letter	2 point(s) added for incorrect hunch

40 Hunches (The Due Date is 04/16/12) 55% think the baby will be a GIRL!

Last Appointment!

I went to see Dr. Kohn this afternoon for my 38 week appointment. Everything looks good! I told her I think the baby is about a 10 pounder, and she laughed at me. So I'm guessing she thinks I'm wrong! But it certainly feels like it could be!

A few more things to do before the baby arrives: Nat get a pedi, a few housecleaning items, get groceries, pick up Grandma Brummer from the airport on Saturday...

The plan (as we understand it right now!) is to be at the hospital by 530 am Monday, get hooked up to IVs and do some lab work, then have the surgery at 730 am. The most-pressing question I had for Dr. Kohn today? When do I have to stop eating and drinking (midnight the night before) and when can I eat again after the surgery? Oh, the important things in life...

Counting

the days... I am getting really excited to meet my new baby son/daughter! My mom will be here in a few days to spend some quality time with Cayle while we are at the hospital, and then to help out when we come home. I know it will be more work, but that doesn't really bother me much. I am just excited to find out if it's a boy or a girl. Also excited to see how Cayle reacts the first time he meets his brother or sister. Watching the baby in my wife's belly is the coolest/creepiest thing! It really looks like it is trying to escape! There's just no space, and you can see all the movements/punches/rolls, everything! It really is such a miracle that there is a baby in there. Hard to understand until you have experienced it for yourself. (Not Natalie's belly or our baby...)

4 more days...of work

This morning at 9 am, one of the secretaries said "This time next week you'll have a baby!" How right she is...yikes!

Now that today is over, only four more days of work left. I have a meeting Wednesday afternoon, so I'll be out of the building that day. Then I have meetings on Thursday and will be out of the building that day as well. So, basically I have to teach on Tuesday and Friday and then I'll be done :)

Happy Easter

What a nice day! The weather was gorgeous :)

We left for church a bit early since we knew it would be packed. But even though we were 15 minutes early, we still had to sit in the basement in the overflow seating. Nick and I have never seen that many people at church before! Cayle got lots of compliments on looking handsome in his new outfit!

After church, we headed to the grocery and got the week's groceries. Once we got home, we took some photos and then headed out back to hang out. Cayle rode his bike, we all had lunch, and just relaxed until it was Cayle's nap time. I fell asleep while Cayle napped, and Nick went out for a bike ride.



Significant Easter events: Macy Elizabeth Brandt was born this morning. I love the name and can't wait to meet her! Also, the Cubs recorded their first (and hopefully not last!) win of the 2012 baseball season!

Lots Going On!

Pretty busy social calendar this weekend!

Friday night we had some friends over to decorate eggs and have a little egg hunt for the boys. Tiffany made a really yummy peanut butter/yogurt/strawberry jelly dip with fruit. Melinda stuffed eggs for the boys, and even made them their own "name" egg. Zoe couldn't make it since she had a rough day and went to bed early, but her dad came over and found her egg for her :)

Cayle enjoying his work on his eggs

Busy egg-coloring table!

Carter chilling out during the egg hunt

Cayle showing off his goods

Then today we had a birthday party for Cayle to go to for Kennedie. The theme was bugs (lady). They also had a bounce house in the backyard. Up to this point, those things have terrified Cayle, but he actually enjoyed this on! Maybe he's over his fear!

making bubbles at the party

first trying out the slide

then venturing inside the bounce house

After the party, mommy and Cayle came home and took a nap while Nick went for a bike ride. Then it was time to get ready for date night!

Mary arrived to watch Cayle a little after 4. Nick and I headed up valley to get dinner/apps and go to a movie with some friends. It was a fun, relaxing time...probably our last night out alone in a very long while :)

Nick and I at dinner

off to the movie