Pleasant (Hocking) Valley Sunday

Whew. After the week we had today was greatly appreciated. Thursday the truck broke down on the way to work. I had to call and wake Susie and Rune to come grab me and bring me home so that I could log in to work and get some rush stuff done before 9:00 AM. After meeting the tow truck and getting to work I find out that the database that runs our entire business has corrupted and it's all hands trying to get things back up and running. I dropped out of the effort at midnight as I had to be back in at 7:00 AM. We finally got things going on Friday and started the cleanup. I worked on that Saturday... but really needed the day of rest today.

Grandma Fern and Mrs. Hayes came for a visit today... which Rune slept through on Daddy's chest. The kids played. Susie made a fantastic dinner which was devoured with much gusto. Family called. Friends called. Nice. All that is left is resetting the clocks and climbing into bed. -K

The Late Late Late Show

Working late tonight. Really late. Need to take a break so I thought I'd throw out a quick update. (insert wire service noises here)

Rune went to see her Pediatrician Dr Lori today. Rune's OK and is (wait for it!) 10 pounds 12 ounces! She's gaining about an ounce a day. The Doctor is waaaay impressed. She has also grown out of all of her newborn clothes. They are not long enough to stuff her into any more. I know they grow up quick but at this rate she'll be in Middle School by next year.

We have pictures of the children in their Halloween costumes. I'll post them later tonight in the Picasa album. They all are dressing as vegetables this year. Mack is going as a carrot, Jean as a sack of potatoes and Rune as a chili pepper. It's also the first time we have had something like a family theme for Halloween. Pretty cool. -K

Weekend Update

What a busy weekend! Mack had an over night birthday party he attended Friday... pick up was 1:30 PM Halloween Weekend on Court St. YIKES! The streets were already closed off and crowded with party people. We escaped unscathed.

Avie, Matt and Elizabeth were in from Colorado and dropped by so that we could meet the beautiful Ms. Elizabeth. Wow. She looks a lot like her Mom... and where she doesn't she looks like her Dad. We just hope we get to see them more often in the future. (hint. hint.)

Aunt Jen, Uncle Andy and Cousin Wiley dropped in from Upper Arlington so that Wiley could meet the new cousin. He seems to approve of Rune and had a great time playing with his older cousins and Dad in the backyard.

Rune also had her first real bath now that her belly button is fully healed. Calling it not a great success is an understatement. In fact that last sentence was a bit of an understatement. She didn't like it one little bit and let Mommy and I know from start to finish. The finish was pooping on Dad before he could get a diaper back on her. So much for the bath.

There are, of course, pictures! I've posted a bunch of new stuff in the Flickr and Picasa albums. -K

Postpartum Oooing And Awwwing

Susie went into the Doctor's today for her two week follow up after the birth. Rune and I went with her and it turned into one big staff Coo-fest. Dr Clark was beaming as he held her during Susie's exam... which he was doing. He ran off to get a camera and Dr Raimey got into the act. He did the delivery for us and is the nicest, most understated man you could ever hope to meet. After a picture of our proud family for the office wall we saw Lou and she gushed a bit over our new edition. I'm glad it's not just me that thinks she's beautiful!

All the action and excitement were a bit much for Rune and she had a cranky evening. But a couple of good feedings, three diaper changes and a long rock with Mommy seemed to set things right. Now it's my turn. 'Night all. -K

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

No monster trucks but plenty of other action this Sunday. Mack and Susie started painting his new room and got two coats of primer up on the wood wall. This was Mack's first time really painting and he found out that he likes painting and is pretty good at it. Practice will only make him better. Lucky for him that the wood siding above the brick needs repainted. What an opportunity!

Jean helped out with yard work and house cleaning after returning from her sleepover. I was on baby duty and got dinner together: roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and fresh baked apple pie. There were no complaints.

I posted a couple of new shots of Rune on Flickr as promised. Right now I think I'm going to go unwind by beating the pants off of the Lions in Madden. Have a great night! -K

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y ...

Saturday was quite a busy day. Mack, Jean and I went fishing in the morning. The fish weren't biting but the weather was beautiful and a liberal application of granola bars, beef jerky and lemonade took the edge off the disappointment at not catching anything. I have pictures on the Picasa site in the Fishing album.

Aunt Jen and Uncle Andy came down so that Aunt Jen could meet Rune. I didn't get any pictures and must plead stupidity. I had the camera with me, brought it inside and set it on a shelf straight across the room from them. Doh!

Mack spent most of the day playing with Graysen across the street. Jean attended his brother Garrett's birthday bash and then was off to Liz Huber's for an impromptu sleepover. I think that they both had pretty good days. -K

The Weekend Cometh

...and not a moment too soon. What a day. Change diapers. Feed kids. Feed animals. Work. Change diapers. Work. Change diapers. Feed kids. Feed animals. Change diapers. Blog. Collapse.

This weekend is looking pretty busy at this point. I'm taking Mack and Jean fishing in the morning then back home to do some yard work and pick back up on getting Mack's new bedroom put in order. This weekend it's painting and finishing out the closet. I'll try and squeeze in a bit of time for cuddling Rune. Four or five hours max... per day.

I have a few new pictures of Rune to post but am waiting until after our family fishing trip tomorrow so that I have some new Mack and Jean shots to add. I figure I might as well do it all at once and I'm beat right now anyway. -K

Clean Living

Rune had her first visit today with the family Pediatrician, Dr. Lori Rutter. She wasn't entirely thrilled with the experience and showed her independence by peeing on the exam table. My little girl!

Everything checked out just fine and we got one big surprise. Rune checked out of the hospital Saturday at 8 pounds 10 ounces... normal post birth weight loss. Today she tipped the scales at 9 pounds 6 ounces! They weighed her twice to make sure it wasn't a mistake. What a champ. The rest of the day was a rest day... for her not for Mom and Dad.

Some of you have asked when I was going to post new photos. Well, I've finally torn myself away from fawning over my daughter long enough to get some new stuff posted. Happy now!?! [just kidding]. [maybe]. Anyway, there are new photos of Rune with her new Boppie, Granny Nan and Grandma Fern on Flickr, a couple of pictures of Mack doing his best Uncle Andy impersonation and two shots of Susie's belly cast on Picasa. Hope you enjoy them... and now back to my daughter! -K

When Are We Getting To Californy Pa?

Tired. Bone, dog tired. The new parent (d)rag. There are many ways to describe our current state but we're just too tired to think of them all.

That being said mother and daughter are doing well. We have our days and nights switched a bit around but will start working on that this week. We took Rune in for a last set of tests yesterday and everything was fine. She has her first appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow. Just a few days old and she already has a full calendar!

O'Bleness has her picture posted on their new baby site. It's not my favorite of the ones they took, but here is a link so that you can see something new until I get more of ours posted. You can get to it by clicking the O'Bleness link in the picture links. -K

Home Again... For The First Time

We are home with the baby at last. She had to pass a whole battery of tests in order to graduate and we are so proud of her! Smart. Like her Mom.

Granny Nan, Uncle Andy, Brother Mack and Sister Jean met us in the drive way. Ernie and Buddy did the honors in the breezeway.

Well, enough prattling on! Back to my daughter before the new car smell wears off. -K

It's A Girl!

Rune Arvilla Frank was born 10/12/2007 at 3:09 AM. She weighed 8 lb 15 oz and measures 20 inches long. Mother and daughter are both doing fine. I've posted the first photos to the Flickr set and will post more once we get her (and us!) home. -K

On Our Way!

We're on our way to the hospital right now! -K

Into The Home Stretch

Another visit with our super-cool midwife Lou (who is expecting by the way... congratulations Lou & hubby!) We are scheduling an induction at Susie and my request. The offices were closed by the end of Susie's appointment today so we will have confirmation tomorrow on a date and time.

Naturally, this means that things have picked up steam. Susie is having contractions tonight. I figured Rune would want to do this on her own terms and the deadline might be the incentive she needs to take matters into her own small hands. I'm not holding my breath mind you, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Susie finished the piece she was working on and I have posted a few pictures of it to the Picasa site in the "Art" album. Check it out. -K

Pregnant Pause

We are, of course, still waiting for the baby. Susie has a Doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon and they have said that if she hasn't had the baby by then they will induce labor this week. So.... no baby yet but we will have her in our arms by this weekend.

In the mean time Susie has been working on a new paper piece she has titled "Waiting". She thinks she'll have it finished today so I will try and get a photo of it posted soon. -K

A swing and a....

...missed due date. Rats. -K

Baroness von Squirmsalot

The doctor visit was pretty fun today. More progress has been made and they put Susie on the monitor to check on Rune's movement. She, of course, took this as an opportunity to show off and appeared to be dancing... passed with flying colors. They gave Susie "homework" to do... sit and count baby movements at various times during the day. They want to see at least ten movements during the time period. Susie started tonight and quit about one quarter way into the time since Rune had already scored over 250%. We don't call her Baroness von Squirmsalot for nothing!

Dr. Clark and Lou, our midwife, got into a joking competition over who was going to get to deliver our little girl. It was pretty funny and Susie got a boost out of it. The good doctor also put a maximum time frame on things by saying that he won't let it go past next week. That's it for now, but tune in tomorrow. Same bat time. Same bat channel! -K

We're off to see the Wizard

Like Dorothy and the Scarecrow, Susie and I are off to another doctors appointment this afternoon. (Remember the appointment they were sure we weren't going to need? Yeah. That one.) I have to say that this is the hardest part of the pregnancy for me and reminds me a bit of the Army: "Hurry up and wait."

Anyway, I'll update this post later after we are back from the appointment. Oh... and I fixed the timestamp so that it is EST rather than PST. -K

Fickle or polite... you be the judge

Well. Still no appearance from Rune. We can't decide whether she is just being coy or if she feels it would be impolite to show up before her due date (Oct 3). What do you think? -K

Preview

While we're waiting to see Rune's sweet face for the first time I thought I'd put up pictures to show what she looks like right now. Check out the Flickr link for a couple of pictures of Susie's belly.

(...and, yes... I have been playing with the elements on the blog. There's a new, more attractive weather feed, NPR news feed, quotes and word of the day and a new badge at the bottom of the page that takes you back to the top without scrolling. Please! Stop me before I code again!) -K

A quick update and a quick fix

First off the item of greatest interest: Susie had a Doctor's appointment today and things are progressing. Rune isn't stalled... just taking her own sweet time about things. The Doc doesn't think that we are really going to need next Tuesday's appointment... to say we're excited is akin to saying that China has a pretty big wall.

The second thing is that it was brought to my attention that people who don't have Google accounts couldn't leave comments. Sorry about that! I have switched on anonymous posting (but please leave your name). Select the anonymous option under the comment. To foil the spammers you will be required to type in the word shown before the post will go through. I also added an email link to the posts in case you want to email a post to someone. I can't think of why you would but it's pretty neat so I did it anyway. -K

Comments

I thought I'd take a moment to promote the comments feature of the blog. You will notice a small underlined bit of text at the bottom of each post which has a number and the word "comments". It looks something like this: 0 comments

You can leave us a response by clicking on the text. A form will come up that you can fill out and submit to add your comment to the post. This is a great way of giving us feedback! Also, it lets us know who is actually using this blog to keep track of what is going on here at Team Clearview. -K

While we're waiting...

I thought that while we are waiting I would update you on what's going on with our children that are already here on the outside:

Mack has started his Sixth Grade year. Middle school next year? It seems too soon! He is once again in the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program. This year for Math, Reading and Poetry. None of you who know Mack will be surprised by the last one. He has always had the soul of a poet. He is also running for Student Council again this year having really enjoyed his term in Fifth Grade.

Jean has started Third Grade with a bit of trepidation. Things are a bit different in Third Grade but she is adjusting well. Art is, of course, her favorite class but she has been showing an increased interest in Math and is asking her mother to make up problems for her to solve. This is on top of her normal homework! She is also one of the highest level readers in her class.

If this sounds like bragging, well, I guess it is. Susie and I are really proud of both Mack and Jean. Rune is going to have big footsteps to follow. -K

Still (not) going!

Well. We were hoping for a Libra... and the baby is sure cooperating. I hope that cooperation continues once she joins us on this side! (cue the laughter from the parents in the crowd)

I added some elements to the bottom of the page. Two of note are the My Yahoo! and Bookmark badges. If you have a My Yahoo! account you can click on the badge at the bottom of the page and with a couple of clicks Team Clearview will be added to your My Yahoo! page. Updates will appear as if by magic. The Bookmark badge will bring up a page that will give you a quick way of adding a Team Clearview blog bookmark to your computer, del.icio.us account, Google bookmarks, etc. Pretty slick.

The other badges link to sites we like. We hope you enjoy them also. -K

The Waiting Game

While we are all waiting on baby Rune to choose her birthday I decided that it was time to put something in place that would let everyone get updates as quickly as possible while at the same time keeping the volume of phone calls low so that Susie (and soon Rune!) can get their rest. Thus a blog is born.

The name, of course, derives from our little family-unit having members with three different last names. An acronym didn't seem too exciting and hyphens were right out, so a few years ago we settled on the Team Clearview label. Anyway, the kids seemed to enjoy it and we didn't have to fight over billing.

While this blog will be somewhat baby heavy, at least for a while, I will post on other things going on in our lives. I'll post as time and circumstance allow... and as funny or significant events arise. So, welcome and enjoy! -K