Drake and Madison Schackenberg recently had their second play date together.  At 4 months old, it was so much more entertaining than their first get-together at 2 months old.  They smiled, laughed, held hands, and touched each other’s faces for a good hour and a half!  It’s so fun to see how much they’re changing and developing, and how those changes made their interactions so much better this time around.  Now, they can actually stay awake for most of the time instead of being sleepy heads!  It’ll be awesome to see them continue to grow and change together.  They’re such fun, happy little ones!

Drake’s 4 month stats:  He is now 16 lbs. 8 oz. and 26 3/4 inches long.  Growing like a weed!

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Getting Drake into the world was not an easy thing–from conception to delivery.  One of my persistent prayers through it all was that God would give us a child who we could mold and raise up to love Him.  This weekend, Floyd & I formally accepted that challenge, by dedicating Drake to the Lord.  We both see this commitment as one of the most important things we will do in our lives:  to be strong role models as Christ followers and to teach Drake to do the same.  We read a letter we wrote to Drake about the qualities we hope he will have–namely to be a strong-willed and a dedicated follower, and to have an incredible heart so that others come to know Christ through him.  We chose 1 Corinthians 16: 13-14 as his life verse, which reads:  “Be on guard.  Stand firm in the faith.  Be courageous.  Be strong.  And do everything with love.”  Now it’s our job to help him live out those roles.  At times it will be trying and difficult, but we gladly accept the challenge to help our little guy live out his life for God.

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A former colleague and fellow mommy Sunny Layne turned me onto the ideas presented in “Best Baby on the Block,” and the material was also covered in the baby basics class Floyd & I took at the hospital.  And I have to say–the five “S” tips presented work pretty darn well when you’ve got a fussy baby on your hands! 

1) Lay them on their side

2) Swaddle

3)  Sway them back and forth

4) Suck on a pacifier

5) “Shush” in their ear

And now it turns out scientists have done their homework and find this stuff really DOES work!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/making-babys-shots-less-tearful/?ref=health

 

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I’ve gotten somewhat accustomed to being Drake-less during my work days.  It’s not always easy, but it’s such a rush of joy to pick him up and hold him when I walk in the door after a long day.  But sometimes it’s really tough.  Yesterday I worked a long shift, and when I got home Drake was asleep.  I did get to feed him once before bed, but our together time was mostly him sleeping.  I didn’t get to enjoy any “happy, bouncy baby” time.  Floyd came to know how much this pains me over the last few weeks when he was in the same boat.  To fulfill some additional requirements for his teaching license, he’s been taking a night class at Hawkeye Community College.  He’d go to work all day, class at night, and get home at 10 p.m.–when Drake was, yes, asleep.  We’re both immensely looking forward to summer when Drake and Floyd will be home together.  It will be such a great bonding time for the two of them, and we won’t have late nights at daycare to accomodate school and work schedules.  Summer will also bring lots of stroller rides and Drake’s first trips to the beach and pool!  We even have some adorable swim trunks, courtesy of “Nana & Papa Steavenson”, so he’s set for summer, too!

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Yesterday afternoon was just beautiful outside.  Floyd took Drake to watch a soccer game.  So when I came home to an empty house, I decided to get on my comfy clothes and go for a nice run.  I haven’t done that in about a year–after pregnancy, then winter!  It felt so good to just be outside and do something productive.  But then came my little self sabotage.  I had that nice workout, had a nice dinner, then ate a chocolate cupcake.  Why did I do that?!?  I even said to Floyd as I was eating it, “So much for that run I just went on!”  It’s been such a difficult battle to lose the last 10 or so pregnancy pounds I’m carrying around.  I guess a treat now and then is okay.  But right after a workout it just feels so sinful.  I think the key for me is making my workouts more frequent so a treat now and then isn’t so damaging.  Lesson learned–I hope!

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My sister-in-law Shannon wrote me the following question on Facebook this morning…

“So Vaughn and I were wondering how you plan your wardrobe since you’re on TV.  I think it would drive me crazy feeling like I wear same outfit twice…do you mix ‘n match a lot or just have an infinite amount of clothing?  lol! Yes these are things Vaughn and I talk about during our morning cup of Joe while watching the news…we’re lame but inquiring minds want to know!  ha ha! It actually came up because apparently Vaughn noticed a reporter on our local channel has worn the skirt she’s wearing today before, of course I made fun of him for noticing this.. lol…but in his defense it is kind of an unforgettable obnoxious skirt!”

So I’m letting the cat out of the bag!  At least my bag…Here are some of the secrets of THIS television lady’s closet!

No, Shannon, I do not own an infinite amount of clothing!  Though I dreamed as a little girl of having a closet much like Cher Horowitz, played by Alicia Silverstone, in Clueless…my own wardrobe has never come close to that!  I quickly discovered as a new broadcaster in my early 20s that you have to have a lot of “staples”.  I own about a half dozen black blazers in various cuts and styles, with different sleeve lengths.  I also have a few different styles of black skirts and black pants.  (in addition to some other pieces) This allows lots of “mixing and matching”–by simply throwing on any color tank top (of which I do own a drawer full) or blouse on top or even slipping a dress underneath a blazer.  I tend to favor solids on air–because too much of a crazy print will do two things:  first, distract the viewers watching us and second, makes it more obvious when you “recycle” your wardrobe!  (like that aforementioned obnoxious skirt).  Using solids also makes it easy to simply change up acccessories like big earrings or chunky necklaces that give the same outfit a whole different look than if you go simple with jewelry.  I’ve always felt worse for on-air men because changing up how a suit looks is a much bigger challenge!

Some higher profile TV personalities are also allotted a wardrobe budget.  I have never had that luxury! 

As for hair and makeup–a lot of people have the perception that there are loads of makeup artsits and hair stylists swirling around the newsroom getting us ready to go on air.  WRONG!!!  I don’t think it’s been that way for decades.  We all do our own hair and faces.  Many stations though, ours included, do have contracts or trade out agreements for beauty services with local salons.  So we get a portion or all the cost of our hair color and cuts covered.  (a very nice perk!) 

And yes, we’re often subject of crticism from you the viewer.  But keep in mind, we really are trying our best and we’re only human!  And on top of it all, us reporters are in the field most of the day so our hair and makeup sometimes looks crazy because the wind, rain and snow have whipped it around!  So forgive us for that.  

So now you know!  That’s how we get to look the way we do on the air.

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So yes… I know what I’m about to write about is gross!  Poop.

Drake had probably one of the worst blow outs he’s ever had this weekend.  Floyd was holding him and Drake was just grinning.  Then suddenly he knew it was time for a diaper change.  But when he started that process, it became clear that this was going to be QUITE A MESS!!

There was “ook” running down his legs and all the way up his back clear to his shoulders.  Removing his shirt proved a challenge to not spread the mess even further.  I was holding Drake’s hips as Floyd tried to peel the clothing off.  I used one wipe after another trying to clean out all the crevices that were just covered in ook.  As we were doing this Floyd and I were both just smiling and laughing.  You just can’t help it.  It’s so ridiculous and gross and you just can’t believe ALL THAT came from such a precious little baby!  Hah! 

Needless to say, a bath was in order even after all the wipe down because he was just so sticky.  He smiled sweetly the whole time, innocent and clueless about the mess I’m sure.  Oh the joys of parenthood!

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Not only are Floyd and I blessed to have wonderful relatives, we also have a great network of what I call “extended family”.  My mom & dad’s good friends, the Parkers and Cordsiemons, have always been  Aunt Linda & Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy & Uncle Larry to me.  In fact to this day, we spend part of Thanksgiving with Cindy & Larry and Christmas Day at Linda & Mike’s. 

My best friend Tanya has also become part of our extended family.  She’s often around for our family gatherings with her boyfriend, Shawn, and their son, Colton.  We love all of these people so much and would do anything for them!

This week, another member of my “extended family” sadly passed away.  Geneva, or “Grandma G” as we called her growing up, was my grandparents’ long-time housekeeper and dear friend to them.  She had a great smile and amazing laugh.  My mom still makes scrambled eggs just like she used to and of course they’re called, “Geneva eggs”.   Even though Grandma G called me “Kari” my entire life–at some point I quit correcting her because it just didn’t matter.  She was always so fun to be around–a no-nonsense kind of gal that we all adored.

My mom dug up this old photo of she and my brother Kyle washing windows together at my grandma’s house.  SO ADORABLE!  “G” will be missed by many.

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As a new mom, I’ve started to appreciate the importance of family traditions a bit more.  My mom has passed down several neat items that belonged to different people in our family.  When my parents came to visit a couple weeks ago, she brought an outfit that my brother Kyle wore as a baby.  I did a mini photo shoot with Drake wearing it and the pictures turned out awesome!  (See slideshow).  I posted all the pictures on Facebook and my Aunt Rhonda then sent me the three pictures below of my cousins Nick, Will and Sam wearing the same outfit when they were babies, too!  How awesome!

Another repeat outfit–Floyd’s grandma found his coming home outfit and his brother found a photo of Floyd wearing it.  We put Drake in the same outfit at Christmas time for a picture!            All this makes me hope that Drake will one day come to love family tradition, too, and pass these kinds of things along to his children one day.  It really is special to have these kinds of connections between family members through the generations.

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Tougher than working a holiday is the realization that you’re not with family & friends–made more difficult when you have a beautiful 4-month-old baby that everyone wants to see and you just can’t make the trip to be with them!  But nonetheless, Drake’s first Easter weekend was pretty good.  He was SO well behaved and slept through the night Saturday and Sunday—woo hoo!  It was different, but good to have just the three of us together. 

We spent the morning at the Waterloo Center for the Arts, where we had breakfast with the Easter bunny.

Then we went to church Saturday evening and had dinner out. 

It’s hard to believe that it was last Easter when we shared with our families that we were expecting a baby!  And now our little Drake is the light of our lives.  Next year, he’ll be running around looking for Easter eggs.  Hard to imagine!

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