Well, since my last post in November, life has gotten pretty hectic. Carlee and Cody stayed in our house until they purchased their new house in September, so we have to begin to get our house back in Bob and Linda mode. We also plan to remove the popcorn ceilings and paint the house. We are not going to put all of the furniture back in place until these projects are done. First off, Bob has to get his computer systems running properly so he can resume his trading. We have restored the master bedroom, complete with new bedding. Also, the kitchen/family area is pretty functional now, too. The rest is going to wait awhile. So the first week home was spent seeing the kids, unpacking the motor home and getting the bedroom and kitchen in reasonable shape.
On the evening of the 11th Mark called and said they were heading to the hospital - baby arriving a little early. We headed over and spent the night up with them. Jean really wanted a normal delivery, but circumstances dictated a C section around 8:30 the next morning. Caden James was born! It was very exciting as Carlee, Mark and I were in the delivery room. Loved seeing the newborn so soon. We were right by his isolet as they cleaned him up and checked him out. Jean was pretty out of it at that time, but Mark carried him over to show him to her. He is pretty small, 6 lb 10 oz, but 20" long. He had a little bit of breathing problems and some jaundice the first few days, but progressed just fine. Caden came home after 5 days in the hospital. Jean needed help, so I moved over to their house. The Drs wanted to make sure he was thriving so we went in to have the baby weighed several times. After a couple of weeks, he was gaining nicely and breastfeeding was going pretty well. Mark's mother came down for a couple of days to help so I could go to set up day for the Festival of Trees. We all made it to a nice Thanksgiving dinner at Carlees. Cody was not feeling well that afternoon and excused himself from the gang to go to bed early. Jean was beginning to feel better, about that time, then developed an infection in her incision with a fever that set her back. She had kind of a miserable week. Cody did not feel well for several days and ended up in the emergency room where they finally diagnosed a case of spinal meningitis - very scary, but fortunately not the worst kind. He spent 2 nights in the hospital and then came home to bed rest for awhile. With unfortunate situations in both daughters' homes, Bob and I were spread pretty thin helping. After about 5 difficult days, everyone finally began to get better!
Christmas preparations began very late for all of us! Everyone was feeling a little better by the second week in Dec and we managed to go on our annual family Christmas tree expedition. The tree farm where we went to cut, had closed just before we got there so we ended up with quite nice trees from the local Lowe's Hardware! We celebrated with a birthday dinner for Carlee. We had Christmas dinner at Jean and Marks with Ron, Sally, Wendina & Bryan; the Mann clan, and Marks folks and aunt. It was a fun day and quite interesting with 2 new family members, Kinsey and Caden, and Garrett and Parker, who were such fun to watch open presents. Garrett helped distribute presents and Parker was an amazing help with the family "dice" game. We had 3 holiday parties to go to including a 75th birthday for Charlie on New Years Eve.
We have noticed how much we love to see mountains in the distance. We really missed that on the East Coast and Midwest. However, it has been rather cold here and we remember warmer areas last year. We do miss the sun. It has come out some and we have ridden our bikes, but we would like more of that!
On the evening of the 11th Mark called and said they were heading to the hospital - baby arriving a little early. We headed over and spent the night up with them. Jean really wanted a normal delivery, but circumstances dictated a C section around 8:30 the next morning. Caden James was born! It was very exciting as Carlee, Mark and I were in the delivery room. Loved seeing the newborn so soon. We were right by his isolet as they cleaned him up and checked him out. Jean was pretty out of it at that time, but Mark carried him over to show him to her. He is pretty small, 6 lb 10 oz, but 20" long. He had a little bit of breathing problems and some jaundice the first few days, but progressed just fine. Caden came home after 5 days in the hospital. Jean needed help, so I moved over to their house. The Drs wanted to make sure he was thriving so we went in to have the baby weighed several times. After a couple of weeks, he was gaining nicely and breastfeeding was going pretty well. Mark's mother came down for a couple of days to help so I could go to set up day for the Festival of Trees. We all made it to a nice Thanksgiving dinner at Carlees. Cody was not feeling well that afternoon and excused himself from the gang to go to bed early. Jean was beginning to feel better, about that time, then developed an infection in her incision with a fever that set her back. She had kind of a miserable week. Cody did not feel well for several days and ended up in the emergency room where they finally diagnosed a case of spinal meningitis - very scary, but fortunately not the worst kind. He spent 2 nights in the hospital and then came home to bed rest for awhile. With unfortunate situations in both daughters' homes, Bob and I were spread pretty thin helping. After about 5 difficult days, everyone finally began to get better!
Christmas preparations began very late for all of us! Everyone was feeling a little better by the second week in Dec and we managed to go on our annual family Christmas tree expedition. The tree farm where we went to cut, had closed just before we got there so we ended up with quite nice trees from the local Lowe's Hardware! We celebrated with a birthday dinner for Carlee. We had Christmas dinner at Jean and Marks with Ron, Sally, Wendina & Bryan; the Mann clan, and Marks folks and aunt. It was a fun day and quite interesting with 2 new family members, Kinsey and Caden, and Garrett and Parker, who were such fun to watch open presents. Garrett helped distribute presents and Parker was an amazing help with the family "dice" game. We had 3 holiday parties to go to including a 75th birthday for Charlie on New Years Eve.
We have noticed how much we love to see mountains in the distance. We really missed that on the East Coast and Midwest. However, it has been rather cold here and we remember warmer areas last year. We do miss the sun. It has come out some and we have ridden our bikes, but we would like more of that!
posted by Bob and Linda at
8:15 PM
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