A terribly sad story. Prayers Please!

There is a blog called Nie Nie Dialogues, that i have been following for some time. As a blogger myself, I loved reading what came from her heart. She had a special way with truly enjoying the little things in life. She took pride in motherhood and continually made me think "I wish I thought of that, ok, well at least I can now 'borrow' that idea!" I found comfort in her life and faith in God, and the pure love their little family of 6 had for eacheother. Yes, she is only 27 years old, but a beautiful mother of 4! Hearing this news the other day when I checked in on her blog completely devistated me:

Stephanie (Nie Nie) and her husband Christian were in a plane crash on Saturday evening. From what they can tell, the plane crashed shortly after take-off in Eastern Arizona. The flight plan was to refuel, side-skirt a storm and head home. There were three people on board, Stephanie, Christian and his flight instructor. The flight instructor's condition was most severe following the crash. He passed away that evening. Christian was admitted with burns cover 30% of his body and a broken back. Stephanie entered with burns covering 80% of her body.

The doctors are focused on their burns right now, and they are still in critical condition. All other fractures and internal organs checked out to be fine. The burns are severe and will need surgeries, grafts and most of all, loads and loads of time. It is still very touch-and-go as it pertains to their survival and recovery . . . Stephanie being more critical than Christian.

As of September 25th, Stephanie continues to fight! Doctors have not updated her status of very critical condition. Although she is starting to react more to outside stimulus, she continues to be in a medically induced coma (and probably will be for months). Last week's skin graft surgery (using her own skin, if you will recall) was successful. Doctors wanted at least 30% to take (typically, the body does not accept the whole skin graft) and we were told that 50% took. Of course this means that she will have many surgeries in the future. In fact, she will have another skin graft (her own skin again) on Friday. Thus the life of a burn patient. There is a very long road ahead for the whole family. Not just emotional and physical, but also monetary. Their medical bills are already at $2 million and their insurance has a "lifetime maximum" of $1 million. It is estimated that Stephanie's expenses alone will be around $5 million.

I am so deeply saddened since hearing about this tragedy. My heart just breaks for this family. I haven’t stopped thinking or praying for them since I heard about them on the news. They are a very strong family of faith and love- for eachother and for God. Through Him they will get through this. But I still can’t help all of the thoughts racing through my head of my fears for this family. Along with the prayers of recovery (currently Stephanie has a 60%-80% recovery rate) I wonder will their four beautiful children even recognize their mother after this is all done? Will Stephanie ever feel beautiful again? I am just so very sad. Please take some time and read some of Nie Nie Dialogues. Through these journals you will also fall in love with this family, just as I have. Stephanie’s sister, Courtney has taken over her journal (along with 3 of their 4 children- the baby went to another sister) to keep everyone up to date on the status of the family. If you would like to read her own personal blog as well, please click here.

Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to help in any way, all information regarding how can be found here.


My heart is with you Nielson family!

Johnny Appleseed Festival at Mapleside Farms

Yesterday was a really great family day! We decided to go up to Mapleside Apple Farm because they were having their 35th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. These fall fest's are always such a great time here- lots of great food, vendors and music. Bonnie was also going to be coming up with the girls and Jill and Granny, so it would make it even more fun.

We got there first and made our way inside to check out the Apple House and all the yummy homemade goods. They were handing out Apple Cider Slushies (Yumm-o!) and also a taste of a relatively new Apple called Honey Crisp. They were sooooooo delicious. Keep your eyes out for these; they seriously were the best apple's I ever had. Aside form the apples, Jackson’s favorite part of the Apple House is definitely the huge buffalo head above the fireplace. We had to look at it and talk about it for forever! He has a stuffed buffalo that Grammy and Pop brought him home from South Dakota, so he recognized it right away. Although this one was MUCH bigger!

Next we decided to head on down to the festivities outside. After smelling all the yummy food it didn't take long to realize we were starving. So we headed over to the food tent for lunch and to listen to some music. The food was just excellent (not your normal "fair food") But then again, Mapleside has their own restaurant. Jackson got to try his very first corn on the cob. At first he didn't know what to do with it, but once he got his first taste he just wanted more and more! It was too darn cute. He eventually got really good at biting the corn off the cob, and was loving every bit of it.

After lunch Bonnie and their crew arrived so we headed over to the face-painting booth so Anna could get her's done. Boy was it beautiful! Her entire face was done in pink swirls, and adorned with a jewel and glitter. After she was done you could just see how beautiful she looked and felt. It was really sweet. Next it was on to the pony rides. Jackson just enjoyed running around and looking at everything free of a stroller so just the girls decided to ride. Sophie was just to cute- all her squeals and smiles! She loved it!

The rest of the day we wandered around looking at all the booths, getting some fun freebies (like Jackson's new shades?!) and enjoying the great music they had playing. It was really a wonderful day. After such a stressful past week with Jackson being sick and all- this was much needed. For all of us.

By 3:00 we were pretty tired after all the sun and people so we thought we would head home to relax. We thought all our excitement was done for the day until we were on our way home and North Royalton was having their Fall Fest. We spotted the whole tree lawn of the town square FULL of tractors. We absolutely had to stop for this one. If you didn't already know, our little Jackson ABSOLUTLY LOVES tractors. Every kind, big ones, little ones, you name it. We even had to get him a book on tractors so he could look at them all day long (which he does, believe it or not!). So seeing this many at one time and so many different ones up close, he was in heaven. He couldn't contain his excitement, running from one to the next with his little fists clenched like he does when super excited. This was by far the highlight of the day.

When we got home every inch of Jackson just shined with happiness. All he was doing was dancing (lots of "happy feet"), playing with his new balloon, kissing us, kissing the kitties, and talking about tractors nonstop. Our Happy Little Man is back to us- finally. It was a good, good day for all of us.

Jackson vs. Roseola

This was by far the hardest week I have ever had with Jackson. On Tuesday, from what seemed like out of nowhere, Jackson developed a pretty high fever and was extremely whiny and clingy. He didn't know what he wanted- wanted to be held, and then wanted nothing to do with you, hitting and screaming, then playing and kissing. He had really no appetite and hasn’t even wanted much of his bottles. It was a huge and pretty scary roller coaster. At first I thought that maybe he was just teething but he was just getting more and more demanding and angry which isn't like him at all. He is usually so loving and tender. But whatever was bothering him was affecting him so badly that he couldn't express it in words so he just got extremely frustrated.

On Thursday we had his 18 month Well Baby Check Up so I just figured I would bring him in there and ask Dr. Biglow about what in the heck could be wrong with him. Since he didn't have any other signs of illness, like coughing, sneezing, etc. she said that he probably just had a viral infection of some kind and to just keeping doing what we have been with keeping him comfortable and giving him his Motrin every 6 hours to keep his fever down. She said that he very well could have Roseola which is a viral infection that consists of a high fever lasting 3-5 days and then as soon as the fever breaks they develop a light pink rash that starts in their torso and then can spread to their arms, legs and face. It isn't itchy and shouldn't bother the child. The good news is that once the rash breaks out they will be better in just a day or two. We just had to wait it out and see what happens.

Well yesterday was a very testing day on how good of a mommy I really could be. Jackson hasn't been napping well, only about an hour a day when normally he sleeps 2-3 hours. He wakes up still tired, and completely angry and crying. There was nothing I could do to calm him down. On Thursday he did the same thing but I was able to take him outside and after an hour of crying he finally calmed down and we sat outside in our bare feet and ate O's and drank juice. But unfortunately yesterday was a rainy mess. No going outside for us. It took me 2 hours and lots of tears (I must admit in both of us) to finally calm him down. I know that I would need to try and keep it together because me getting upset would only make things worse on his end. I also know not to take it personally but after a week of crying, whining, restlessness and then bouts of rage in between it was hard to understand that it wasn't just me and that all of a sudden my child now hates me. But the thing is that as soon as he would finally calm down and the Motrin would kick in he was Mr. Love Bug again, hugging and kissing me. I am not one that recovers so quickly from frustration and tears, so we were both on one big huge emotional roller coaster!

Well thankfully this morning Jackson woke up seeming more himself. Scott let me sleep in so I could recover after such a difficult day and working that night (what an amazing husband!). Once I woke up though around 9:00, Jackson started getting cranky again. I couldn't help but wonder yet again "Is it me?!". But after having some calming quiet time with Daddy on the chair Scott noticed a rash that was beginning to develop all over Jackson tummy and back. After a little bit it started spreading to his face and neck. Well sure enough our Little Man does indeed have a case of Roseola. What a relief to finally know what in the heck is wrong with our sweet baby. The best news is that we are now in the final stages of the infection. The rash can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple days but he should be back to his silly self by hopefully Monday-- My sanity depends on it!

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend was a big one for all of us- especially Little Man. On Saturday we had Neil's cousin, Johnny's wedding. This was a big deal because all of our usual babysitters were going to be busy. My parents and Bonnie and Neil were all going to the same wedding and Sandy and Don were leaving for their vacation the day before. So we all were going to be very brave and all of the kids (Anna and Sophie and Jackson) were to be babysat by Tesa, Neil's 15-year-old cousin. Now, Tesa has watched Anna and Sophie many times, but it was going to be the first time for Little Man. We were only in Lakewood so if anything were to happen we could run over there ASAP, so we were feeling pretty good about the whole thing. And boy am I glad we did. Jackson was so good! He had a blast with Tesa and the girls. Since he is so comfortable with the Stenger's house and with both of the girls being there with him things went really well. I guess it was a little difficult getting the babies to bed, but we figured it would be that way. But Tesa handled it all very well, and when we all got home the babies were all happy and sound asleep in their beds like angels. It is such a good feeling knowing that we now have another babysitter if we needed one in a pinch.

On Sunday, after Jackson's nap, we met up with a few of the other Kanengeiser's out at Rick and Judy's house to go to the Geauga County Fair. What a blast this was! Unfortunately Judy wasn't able to join us due to a twisted knee, but Uncle Bob, Aunt Deb and even Sara who is was in town from Toledo University (!) , Grandma K, and Aunt Peggy (Judy's sister) along with Rick and our crew, we were a pretty good bunch! From what I learned, this fair is the longest running fair in the country! And boy, is it a lovely one! We all had a blast- Jackson especially. I knew he would enjoy the people watching and all the animals but I wouldn't have guessed he liked it this much! It was so cool seeing all these animals up close and being able to touch all the farm animals too. Little Man got such a kick out of touching the cows and goats. It was so cute! Plus we all shared Fair French fries with ketchup and malt vinegar- one of all our guilty favorites! Jackson’s new favorite thing lately by the way is ketchup. Yummy, does he gobble that stuff up!!!

Another pretty special thing for Jackson was he got to ride rides! OK, one ride. But he rode it three times! He was only old enough to ride the merry-go-round, but oh my goodness did he love it! I could have died just watching the look of joy and hearing the squeals from him! First he rode it with Daddy, and then we wandered around the fair a bit. When we came back to the merry-go-round he rode it one more time with me and then with Grandpa right after because he loved it so much he didn’t want to get off! We have wonderful pictures from it but they will be coming later because they are in print form. I need to upload them to the computer so check back soon! This really was a fantastic day!

On Monday, Labor Day, we all headed over to my parents house to celebrate my dad’s birthday. It was a perfect afternoon- the weather was beautiful, excellent company and great festiveness all around. It got pretty warm by late afternoon so my parents pulled out the sprinkler and we let the kids go crazy and play in the water. Usually Sophie and Anna are the daredevils, flying through the water and dipping their faces in it while Jackson stays off to the edges and just lets the mist hit him- but not today. Today he was super brave and ran right into the water, put his head and hands right in it, and just had tons of fun! I was so proud of him!

Over all it was a super busy weekend. But it was a really great one with lots of family time and lots of fun experiences.

Planes, trains and automobiles....

Jackson has all of a sudden gotten so big! Lately I have been in just such amazement at all of his accomplishments and changes. You can now hold a real conversation with him and he will talk to you back in real words. I love it! It is seriously so cool that he can now ask us questions and when we do so, he answers them back!

He also has taken to cleaning up- especially when what he has messed up is something he is not supposed to touch. It will all of a sudden get very quiet in the house. Hmmmm…I wonder what Jackson is getting into. All you have to do is walk within eyesight of him and he jumps up and in a flurry starts putting away whatever it is he has pulled apart (for example pulling out all of the diapers from the diaper basket, emptying his drawers, pulling apart the Kleenex box- yes, every single Kleenex was out of the box by the way…. etc.) It is pretty funny and very hard to not laugh at times. It is so darn cute. Although I can’t say the Kleenex box was too cute….

Another new "Big Boy" things as of lately- we have retired the highchair! Jackson now sits at the table like a big boy, in a brand new booster seat! He loves it! Jackson's spot at the table is the seat next to the window. It is so exciting here! Thank goodness we moved onto a pretty busy street because Jackson's love for cars, trucks and anything with wheels makes eating dinner very fun! He is so busy looking at the trucks, cars and always wishing for a tractor, he hardly notices when you sneak in a bite of food he wasn't always so interested in before :) Sneaky Mommy.... hahahaha. The other day we got to see a bulldozer drive on our street (they are doing construction up the road). Jackson just about fell out of his chair over enthusiasm! And then clear as day Jackson said "Momma Bulldozer!" Now it was my turn to just about fall out of my chair! I think he surprised himself with that word because he got his proud little grin he gets when he does something new and cool. It was very cute. Then today at breakfast we saw a woman get pulled over for speeding, turns out she had a suspended license so they had to call a tow truck- so we got to see a police car with flashing lights and a tow truck pull a car away. A very exciting breakfast to say the least. Jackson could hardly contain himself!

So definitely as of lately Jackson's new favorite things are tractors, cars, trucks and especially heavy machinery. He is such a boy. On walks we have to stop and look at everything. For a gift when Jackson was born we received a huge book called "My Big Truck Book. For Kids Who Love Trucks!" It has become the ultimate favorite. We have to look at this at least 20 times a day. Who would have known this mommy would become so knowledgeable on trucks and their names! But I can now tell you the difference between an "Excavator", a "Backhoe Loader", a "Telephone Line Repair Truck", "Combine Harvester" and oh, so much more! Lucky, lucky me! It will be very easy shopping for Christmas and birthdays this year for sure!

Here are a few new words Jackson has also started using regularly:
Shower
Pizza
Car
Gate
Up
Down
Please (not always when it is supposed to be used, but he has learn the word at least!)
Sha-poo (shampoo)
Spoon
kiss
bike
He also says Kitty now instead of itty

So that takes his total up to 93 words at 18 months old- not bad! Keep up the good work little man!

The Death and Rebirth of "Tag"

I did a very bad thing a few weeks ago.....

I was giving Jackson his bedtime bottle. He must have had a bit of an air bubble in his tummy because he ended up getting sick all over the two of us. No big deal, this has happened before. We just strip all down and throw everything in the washer to get nice and fresh again. So I did just like I always do. It was late so I just let it go while we went to bed and I figured I would throw it in the drier when we woke up. Well that next morning I went down to take care of everything and I looked in the drier and what did I see? Everything had turned orange- including Tag. Tag, if you didn't know is Jackson's precious baby blue blanket. You have seen it in millions of his pictures. He loooooves this thing. Love is probably an understatement. He carries it everywhere, he sleeps with it every night, it soothes him while having a bottle- basically it is his best friend next to Scott and me.

When I saw his special blanket I instantly broke into tears. I felt terrible! It turns out the shirt I was wearing that night had red dye that bled onto everything else. I instantly put stain remover on Tag, and put him back into the washer two more times to try and get the red dye out. But unfortunately it didn't work. All it did was turn Tag this horribly ugly shade of dirty flesh.

So onto a Tag hunt we were! First stop was Target. They had blue thermal Gerber blankets, but not the same light blue color of Tag. I picked one of them up just incase that was all I could find, hoping that the color wouldn't matter too much. I brought it home, washed it so it would smell like Tag- but Jackson isn't dumb. He didn't buy it for an instant that this dark blue blanket was his special Tag. Ok, next stop was Kmart. No Gerber blankets what so ever here. Oh boy, I was running out of options!

And then a light when on in my head- Baby's R Us!!! They just had to have it! So I gave them a call and the nice lady on the phone assured me they had a baby blue thermal Gerber brand blanket in stock in their store. The Messiah Chorus started playing in my head- Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!!! So in the car we went as fast as we could, just incase there was a huge rush of mom's running out to buy baby blue colored blankets! Over to the bedding department we ran and there on the bottom shelf, just waiting patiently for us, was a beautiful, brand new baby blue Gerber thermal blanket. As soon as Jackson saw it in the shopping cart he started calling "Tag, Tag!" Yay, I think this is going to work!

We came home; I put Jackson down for a nap and got to work on our new Tag. Now you see the reason we have named this blanket Tag is because the best part of it, according to Jackson, is the silky tag that he has rubbed down to almost nothing. I must admit I was getting a little nervous because the tag was indeed getting a bit ratty. What was I going to do if it got rubbed to nothing at all?! So while Jackson was sleeping I washed and dried the blanket and then cut the special old tag off of the now dirty flesh colored blanket and sewed it onto the new beautiful blanket. Now, Tag has not only the special old tag on it, but also a brand new one he can start breaking in. After it was finished I draped him over the arm of the chair in the living room waiting patiently for Jackson to wake up and see him. I crossed my fingers and held my breath that this new Tag would be as good as the old trusty blanket.

The moment Jackson waked into other room, the first thing he saw was Tag, went running for him and calling out "Tag, Tag, Tag!!" Just like finding a long lost friend. It worked!!!! Time for the Halleluiah chorus again! Tag has been reborn! Yayayyayayay!

I have now learned a very important lesson. Always, always, always separate reds from baby blues in the washing machine. No mater how many times you have washed something before, it could possibly run onto something very important.

Ok, I need to run. We have to go to Baby's R Us to get a back up baby blue thermal Blanket just incase ANYTHING happens to Tag again!

Where's Jackson's Belly? *updated with more words*

Jackson did the cutest thing a few weeks ago. I just about died from cuteness overload.....

Jackson was walking around the house eating Cherios and playing. When all of a sudden he didn't want them anymore and he threw his handful all over the floor. I said "Oh no Jackson. We don't throw food! Pick them up, put them in your belly." So he walks over to them, picks the Cherios up, pulls up his shirt and sticks them in his bellybutton. Just like I told him. Literally :) Too cute!

So the last time I posted a word list it was back in May. Since then the words are coming faster and more frequent. We have a new one almost every day. Here is an updated list (that I am sure I will have to add too as I think of more.)

Mama
Daddy (sometimes he will call Scott Dada, but not too often anymore)
Papa (this is my dad)
Mimi (this is my mom)
Bon Bon (Auntie Bonnie)
Anna
AhEee (I think this is Sophie. He says this when he sees a picture of her or sees her in person)
Pop (this is what he calls Don)
GiGi (this is what he calls Irene, Don's mom and also he used to call my grandmother this)
Isss (Memphis, our cat)
Ra Ra (Ringo, our other cat)
Pup (for Alex, Bonnie and Neil's dog. Everyone calls him this so Jackson picked this up instead of his real name)
Hop (this is Jackson's stuffed bunny)
Tag (this is Jackson's beloved blue blanket that you have seen in many of his pictures)
Cocoa (This is my old teddy bear that I had as a child. Jackson now plays with it.)
Pete (this is our next door neighbor. For some reason he picked up on his name and says it whenever he sees him or if we are outside by his house!)
Abby (Grammy and Pop's kitty)
Jesus

cheese
cracker
bottle
hata(hotdog)
peas
cracker
WaWa and as of lately he says Water too.
bite (as in "I want a bite")
bowboo (blueberry)
peach
Puff (these are airey snacks from Gerber's called Puff's)
cooka (cookie)

ball (definately Jackson's favorite word or thing!)
buh ball (football)
shoe
sock
sta (star)
tractor
pane (airplane)
aside (outside)
puter (computer- he just said this for the first time this morning!)
gol (golf. He has a set of golf clubs and balls, and knows what they are called)
block
keys
bah-oo (balloon)
cock (yes, we know what you are thinking... But this word means Clock!)

Poop and Pee Pee (he tells us when he has done both of these- especially Poop! Lucky us. Pretty soon we will have to get a potty chair for him to start looking at and getting used to!)
Pee Pee (this also means his little "boy part" He likes to point it out to us while changing his diaper or in the bathtub or when running around naked!)

itty (kitty)
bir (bird)
fish
bee
baah (he says this for both lamb and cow)
dee (deer)
E-I-E-I-O (he sings this when his Baby McDonald is on)
buffalo (Grammy and Pop brought him a stuffed buffalo home from their trip to South Dakota and he learned the word right away)
Pooh (Winnie the Pooh)

Tada!
All Gah! (all gone. This is Jackson's first two word sentence!)
All Dah! (all done)
Mah (More)
Bye Bye!
Hi!
Night Night
This/ Look at This/ What's This (uses these three a lot. Each distinctively sound different. Seems to know the difference)
Yes (When you ask him if he wants something he says "Yes Yes Yes!")
Ah-oh! (He says this when something falls, or he drops something, when a show is over and the credits are on, etc.)
caca (this means yucky. He learned this word from Auntie Bon Bon)

beads(the kids have these Mardi Gras beads they like to wear to play dress up)
baby
book
box
sha (show, as in a movie. We call his Baby Einstein movie's "shows")
puddle (puzzle)
Awww (this is what we call hugs in our house)
boo boo (this is all bruises, cuts, etc.)
teacha (teacher. He learned this word from the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The teacher page is his favorite- go figure!))
cork

too ha (toothbrush. This is one of his other new words. Yes we know this seems like a strange word to learn. But him and Sophie are obsessed with toothbrushes and brushing their teeth. I guess there are worse things!)

Blue (for Blue's Clue's, the TV show. It is Jackson's favorite and he will ask for it by name)

Blue Book (his Blue's Clue's book)

So, so far this is 82 words! You go little man, that is amazing! I want to say that this is all of them, but I am sure I am leaving something out! I will add more if I think of any. Also, if anyone else can think of any, be sure to let me know and I will add them too!