The Deuel Family

New Web Site

2008-03-08T08:47:00.004-05:00

The Deuel's have a new web page. We want to know what you think about it. Do you like the blog or the new web page better? Give us your feedback!

Deuel Page

Mom and Son Dance

2008-02-29T10:25:00.006-05:00

Jen and Camden went to the dance on Friday. They go all dressed up for the big event. Camden told mom she was beautiful and the prettiest won at the dance. They went to eat at the Rio Grand (because Ryann and I go for our dance). Then they danced the night away. Actually, they did not dance at all. After watching the magician, eating cookies, and watching others dance, they went to Jody's for dessert. Here are some pictures:

Scott "Erbie" Erbes

2008-02-20T23:22:00.002-05:00

Scott “Erbie” Erbes, age 38, passed away very unexpectedly on Thursday, February 14, 2008, from injuries sustained in an accident. Raised in Reed City, Scott played football as a guard, baseball at third base, pitched and was a catcher. While attending Concordia College in River Forest, IL, he played baseball and football and then transferred to Grand Valley State University. Lisa and Scott met in Reed City where she was attending one of his sporting events. They fell in love and were married on August 21, 1993, at the Reed City United Methodist Church. Scott started working at Monarch Hydraulics in the Shipping and Receiving Department. Monarch was a good place for Scott to work because they allowed him to switch his schedule so he could coach both football and baseball where he was an assistant coach for nine years at Rockford High School. His schedule was very busy, but Scott was passionate about coaching. He always had time for his family, and he especially enjoyed coaching Alison and Grant, his children. He coached Rocket Football, and his children followed their Dad in his love of sports. Scott and Lisa’s life evolved around their family. They enjoyed going to sporting events including the Tigers & the Rampage. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Grace in 2006. Scott is survived by his wife, Lisa (Robinson), children, Alison, Grant, and Bailey; Parents Vernon and Laverne (Allen) Erbes of Reed City; Brother and Sisters, Michael and Cindy (Schooley) Erbes of Big Rapids, Luann (Erbes) and Todd Lumsden of Marne, and Diane (Erbes) and Bob Maynard of Big Rapids; Lisa’s family, Paul and Freda (Garvon) Robinson of Cedar Springs, Amy (Robinson) and Russell Yoder of San Diego, Al and Lorraine (Robinson) Marcus of Cedar Springs; and many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Interment in Courtland Township Cemetery.

Memorials: Those planning an expression of sympathy are asked to consider the Memorial Fund established for his children at 5/3rd Bank.

Daddy Daughter Dance

2008-02-10T18:36:00.000-05:00

Ryann and Dad went to the Daddy Daughter Dance for the 6th year in a row. We had a great time. We took pictures before the dance, went to Rio Grande for dinner, and then to the big dance. After dancing the night away, we went for dessert after the dance with friends Jenna and Jamie. Perkins had the best cookie, hot fudge desert ever. When we got home -- Ryann had Chloe and Allison over for a sleepover.

Hope's 2nd Birthday

2008-01-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that this little girl is already two? It seems like just the other day she was putting us through the scare of our life!

Hope had a great B-day. We just had us on her actual B-day because Ryann was sick. (She caught what the rest of us had the previous week). The rest of the family came over on Wednesday to celebrate.
You can watch this M OVIE to see all the pictures or you can look at these pictures:
This cake was made by Grandma Bogart

Merry Christmas

2007-12-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

The kids dressed up as elfs today. Check out the video. We think they are good dancers.

ELF VIDEO

Getting The Tree

2007-11-24T14:11:00.000-05:00

It is that time of year again when the Deuel family heads out with Aunt Jody's family to get the Christmas tree. We have a great time getting the tree, riding the wagon, drinking hot chocolate, eating marshmallows, and sometimes we even get to go sliding.

This year we went to Lendricks tree Farm. We picked out the tree really fast. Found just the right one for the new house. It was one of the best trees that we had gotten in a long time. When we got home ... the tree did not look like the one we picked in the field. Oh well, we still love it and it is OUR tree.

Check out some of the pics from the tree day or look at this video: Tree

Halloween

2007-11-21T20:48:00.000-05:00

We forgot the camera on Halloween night. We went to Dondit's house for the annual trick-or-treating. Saurs, Dondits, Grandpa and Grandma Bogart all came over. It was a cold and rainy night. The rain stopped after about 20 minutes but we were wet. Camden did not last long. After he got cold, Camden just wanted to trick-or-treat at the old house.

We got lots of candy, saw old neighbors, hung out with friends, and saw a rainbow! We had a great time. These are a few pictures that Mr. Dondit sent us that dad took with his camera.

Great Wolf Lodge

2007-11-05T21:41:00.000-05:00

We went to Great Wolf Lodge with the Saur Family, Dondit Family, and Stargardt Family. Last year we decided to join the Saurs after football season. This is a treat for the kids for putting up with dad being gone so much during football season. This year the other families joined us and we had a wonderful time. Check out some of the pics.

Pumpkin Hunting

2007-10-01T20:54:00.000-04:00

The Deuel Family was invited to go to the Country Basket to get pumpkins. We were invited by the Fikes, Andrews, and Coops (all new neighbors). We had a great time and decided this will be the place that we go every year. The kids loved the baby kittens, slide, hay maze, and all the fun. If you are looking for a place other than Klackle's, then this is the place for you. Check out the little video that we put together with the pictures from the outing.

PUMPKIN TIME

Sports Update

2007-09-16T18:10:00.000-04:00

One season ends and the next season starts. Camden had his final game on Saturday. He made a good improvement from the first game. The only thing he did not like about Flag Football is that kids pushed him. This made him upset.

Ryann starts her soccer games this Saturday. Her team is purple and I think we will call ourselves the Purple People Eaters.

Jen figured out that we do not have a Saturday off until Dec 22. So if you want to see us on a Saturday ... come to the field or basketball court.

First Day of School

2007-09-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

The kids started school this week. Wow are they getting old. Ryann is now in the 4th grade and Camden is in his second year of PPI. They both had a wonderful week and like their new teachers. Check out the pictures:

Flag Football

2007-08-26T08:31:00.000-04:00

Camden has started his career to stardom. He has had two games. They are very fun to watch. Check out this video. It last about 4 1/2 minutes. This is his second game.

Click on the title to view the video.

Camden's First Sleepover

2007-08-09T21:41:00.000-04:00

All summer long Camden has watched Ryann have friends sleep over or has watched Ryann leave to spend the night at a friend's house. He has often asked us when he could have a sleepover with a friend. Recently, he got his wish!

Camden was invited to spend the night with the Saur family. He loves spending time with Brendan and Gavin, so he was very excited. Even more exciting was the fact that he was going to be sleeping in a treehouse that Mr. Saur built.

After Camden had counted down the days for a week, Mr. Saur came to pick him up. The night was filled with playing at a playground, doing a little fishing, eating marshmallows around the bonfire and finally, falling asleep in the treehouse.

It was a great night!!! Unfortunately, there were a lot of mosquitoes that chose to sleep in the treehouse too. Camden always reacts to mosquito bites so by the time we picked him up the next day, he was quite a sight to see. Camden is looking forward to the next time he has a sleepover. He said he hopes that this one is inside where there are no mosquitoes.

Home Sweet Home

2007-07-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

We have made the first house payment and we still love the new house. Things in Rockford Meadow are as great, if not better than we expected. The kids have made great friends, had friends over for lunch and dinner, had sleepovers, and have made many memories already.

The house is starting to come together. We have done a few decorations in the house, but realized that we would have to wait to do everything. Camden's bedroom is transforming into a Detroit Tiger's room and Ryann's room has become the beach room. They both are very proud of their new rooms.

Here are a few pictures of Hope and Camden in the master bedroom:

Ryann win's writing contest

2007-05-30T21:09:00.000-04:00

Ryann wrote a winning essay for the Rockford Squire. Even though they thought Ryann was a boy, we are very proud of her. The essay was about her wonderful mom! A link is attached (found near the end of the link) along with a copy.

http://www.rockfordsquire.com/

Flexible mom is tops in essay
Ryann Deuel, age 8, wrote this creative essay telling why he thinks his mom is the best. Deuel's essay was chosen as winner for this year's Squire Mother's Day Essay Contest along with the following runner ups. We received so many wonderful essays about the great moms of Rockford that it was very difficult to choose.

When I close my eyes, I see my mom's hair, like a sea of chocolate, her brown eyes, like chocolate chips, and skin like the sand.

I know my mom likes... James Patterson. I know this because she reads them a lot.

I know my mom doesn't like... when my sister has a blow out in her diaper! I know this because she always says, "Hope!"

Mom you are very... flexible. I know this because when she was in the hospital for 21 days she was flexible at that time.

When I grow up I want to be... a teacher because my mom is. She will be proud of me because she is a teacher.

Most of all I want to tell you... I love you very much!! Thank you for being there for me!

OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Love you very much,

Ryann
Happy Mother's Day!!!!

We are Moving

2007-05-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

The Deuel Family is on the move. We are moving to a new house. It has been an exciting 12 years in our current house. We have many great memories that will stay with us. (three children and marriage to name a few)

The new house is a four bedroom, two story, walkout, and a 4 1/2 car stall garage. It is in a great neighborhood off of 10 mile. We move June 2. The phone number and e-mail will be the same. Stop by and see us!

Relay For Life

2007-05-21T19:20:00.000-04:00

What a year it was. The Relay raised over $400,000. The total for the 5 years is over 1.35 million. That is impressive. Thank you to all that have contributed.

Friends For Life raised over $40,000 this year. It was an incredible year for us as a team. Check out the articles in the Rockford Independent: http://www.rockfordindependent.com/pages/current-issue.htm

Changes at the Deuel House

2007-04-22T19:09:00.000-04:00

Camden finally talked mom into letting him shave his head. What do you think? Camden loves it. We think he looks a lot like his cousin Dalton. Camden thinks he looks like Dad and Uncle Brian.

Istock

2007-04-17T18:36:00.000-04:00

Most of you know that Brent has a new hobby and love in his life -- Photography. We are excited to announce that Hope will be featured in a national ad campaign. Three pictures were bought for a nice sum of money. The pictures will be exclusively used for the ad campaign for three years.

The add campaign is for a drug called Synagis. This is a drug that helps to prevent RSV in premature babies. This drug was used by Hope when she was young.

Check out Brent's portfolio at one of the two sites.

deuelpics.photoreflect.com

Ryann's Celebration

2007-04-15T20:08:00.000-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa Bogart, Great Grandma Bogart, Uncle Brian, Aunt Terri, and Kasi all came over to celebrate Ryann's Birthday. Jen made her famous ice cream cake for all of us to enjoy. (Yellow cake, chocolate ice cream, and fudge frosting)

Here are a few pictures of the celbration. You may notice one candle still burning!!!

Ryann's Birthday!!

2007-04-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Today Ryann turns 9. We are waiting for her official birth time (12:40). We went to Anna's House for breakfast this morning. The Birthday Girl decided to have macaronni and cheese and hot dogs. She has decided that tonight we will go to dinner at her favorite restaurant -- The Corner Bar.

When you turn 9, you become impatient. The Corner Bar had a 30 minute wait so Ryann wanted to switch to Arnies (The Old Mill). We were joined at dinner by the Dondit Family and Ryann's friend Jenna. After dinner, all the waitresses and patrons joined in to sing happy birthday. Ryann was a little embarassed!

When you turn 9 -- you become very sassy. She thinks today she is "the boss" because it is her Birthday. Brings back memories of when Mr. Banfield called her "Boss of me Fred".

Tomorrow is the celebration with family. More pictures then!

Spring Vacation

2007-04-07T17:33:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a wonderful time we had on Spring Break! We went down to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa Deuel. The only problem, they were in Michigan. We still had fun with Uncle Randy, Aunt Jody, Ashley, Abbey, Uncle Brian, and Aunt Terri.

We played at the beach and pool a lot. The weather was in the 80's and sunny, so we are very tan!

At night, we went to dinner a lot. Here are a few pictures from dinner:

Here is a picture of the family on the last night. Dad had to get some pictures in or it would not be vacation.

Coloring Easter Eggs

2007-04-05T19:53:00.000-04:00

Even though we were in Florida, we had to get ready for Easter. The kids colored Easter eggs on Thursday morning. They had a great time. Even cousins Ashley and Abbey joined in on the fun after they got up.

Cam's Birthday

2007-04-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Camden turned 4 in Florida on the 4th of April. This was his Golden Birthday. We had an eventful day. We started out by going to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. The only bad thing about the day was that a bird went to the bathroom on Cam. Luckily, Camden handled the incident quite well!

After the zoo, we came home and opened presents with everyone.
After presents we spent the day outside in the sun. It was so fun.
For dinner we went to Jimmy Iguanas with the entire family. The Dondit Family also joined us. After dinner we went to the pool and got to play in the water before going home for cake and ice cream.

Field Trip To The Pool

2007-03-22T19:11:00.000-04:00

Camden had a field trip to the pool with his class. Mom got to skip school for the day. Camden loves the water and has no fear. He was getting ready for spring break.

The Daddy-Daughter Dance

2007-02-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we celebrated a lot in our family. Friday, February 9 marked the day that Hope had officially been home with us for one year. We brought her home from the hospital on February 9, 2006 and have been blessed more and more each day with her presence in our family. On Saturday, February 10 we celebrated Brent's birthday. The kids and I are all so fortunate to have such an incredible husband and dad to share our lives with! Also on Brent's birthday, Ryann and Brent attended their 5th Daddy-Daughter Dance. As always, they had a ball!!! Their night started out with dinner at the Rio Grande. After dinner, they danced the night away in the high school cafeteria. After dancing, they went to Arnie's for dessert. Camden chose peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the "Cars" movie for our special night. Of course Hope can't have peanut butter until she is two, so she had to settle for just jelly.

Hope's 1 Year Appointment

2007-02-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

Hope recently went to see Dr. Henderson for her 1 year visit. Everything went very well! Hope continues to grow and thrive. She currently weighs 21 lbs. and 1 oz. Wow!!! It is hard to believe that one year ago she only weighed 4 lbs. and 11 oz. She is now 28 and a half inches long. As a result, she is a little above the 50th percentile for weight and a little below the 50th percentile for height. All in all, she is right where she needs to be! She continues to try new things in an attempt to keep up with her older brother and sister. Hope is able to take a few steps at a time, but then loses her balance and falls. I'm sure that very soon she will be running all over the place. Dr. Henderson thought that she was just perfect. We think so too!

Hope's Birthday Celebration

2007-01-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from Hope's Birthday. She got cake 2 times in one day. She was in heaven. Thank you to everyone for the gifts and cards.

Hope's Birthday Celebration

2007-01-20T21:53:00.000-05:00

Today we just had a family day. We did everything that Hope wanted to. As you can imagine, it was very relaxing. The older kids were more excited than Hope.

Hope's First Birthday

2007-01-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

What a year it has been! We put this collage together to help us remember what Hope had to battle in her first month on this earth! She truly was blessed by all your prayers and has turned into a wonderful and healthy baby girl! If you have continued to follow the blog, you know that she is very healthy and has no problems!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOPE!!!

Another First

2007-01-05T13:06:00.000-05:00

Hope decided to climb the steps between our basement and our entryway last night. I guess she doesn't realize that she is not quite a year old yet, or that she was born two months early and really shouldn't be achieving this feat yet. When she got to the top, she was all smiles and was extremely proud of herself. It looks like we might have a fearless little girl on our hands.

Thanks Camden for taking such great pictures!

Crazy Bounce

2007-01-05T12:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to Crazy Bounce in Holland with the Dondits and the Saurs. The kids (and the adults too) had a great time playing on all of the inflatables together. After playing, we all went to Ruby Tuesday and had a wonderful lunch filled with lots of laughs. It was a fun afternoon spent with good friends.

One Year Ago

2007-01-03T16:47:00.000-05:00

One year ago today, our lives forever changed. I was admitted into the hospital after having my water break in my 30th week of pregnancy. Needless to say, it was an extremely emotional day for our family. We definitely shed many tears that day as we worried about the precious baby that we weren't expecting until March. Our tears gave way to prayers and "hope" as we welcomed each new day that I was in the hospital and celebrated the additional time our unborn baby was being given to grow and thrive before birth.

During this time we were surrounded by countless individuals that loved us, supported us, encouraged us, cared for us and for Ryann and Camden. We will never be able to thank everyone enough for all that you did and for all that you meant and continue to mean to our family.

We were blessed with an incredible group of doctors and nurses that took care of everything we needed and put up with Brent's constant jokes about foot massages. Dr. Roberts came to see us each day, and we feel so honored that he delivered all three of our children, our greatest gifts. The nurses on 4 Center are amazing. We would not have felt as comfortable on January 3rd last year, or the days that followed, without them.

We could not have gotten through this time without our family members and friends who stepped in and took care of Ryann and Camden and anything else that we needed. We are so blessed to have the families and friends that we do!

My husband is such a wonderful person. He has always been my rock, and was even more so during that time last January and February. He filled the long days at the hospital with laughter and conversation and celebrated each day that passed right along with me. I couldn't ask for a better man to share my life with.

As I look at Hope today and watch her pulling herself up on everything, and as I watch her smile and listen to her giggle and "talk" to us, I know that it was all worth it. Our family of 5 is incredible, and we wouldn't want it any other way.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

We want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! May it be filled with many blessings, and much happiness, friendship and love! We look forward to a wonderful 2007!

A Wonderful Christmas Vacation

2007-01-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful Christmas vacation we have had so far! Our days and nights have been spent enjoying time with friends and family. We have also had plenty of time to just be together. We have built and played with many new Lego things, played lots of new games, had fun with Lincoln Logs and GeoTrax, and read several new books. Every minute of our time together has been treasured, and we look forward to spending the remainder of this week relaxing, playing, and enjoying each other!

Ryann's Christmas Concert

2007-01-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, December 7, Roguewood held its annual Christmas concert. The kids sounded wonderful and looked very nice. It is always fun to see all of the kids dressed up. They take this evening very seriously.

This year Ryann had a speaking part. She did a great job, and we were very proud of her! She had quite a fan club in the audience pulling for her. In addition to mom and dad, Camden and Hope, both sets of grandparents came to cheer her on and of course Uncle Brian wouldn't have missed it even though he had just gotten back from a business trip to Hungary less than two hours before the concert started. We are so fortunate to have such wonderful families to love, support and encourage our kids (and us too!).

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

2007-01-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

Our family absolutely loves Christmas. We love everything that goes along with this holiday, and we have established some traditions that the Christmas season wouldn't be complete without.

Each year we spend time hunting for the two most perfect Christmas trees we can find (one for upstairs and one for downstairs). We bundle up in our snow pants, boots, coats, hats and gloves and look near and far for the trees that we all agree on and that will look beautiful in our house. Also along on the yearly hunt is Brent's sister Jody and her family. Our kids love having their cousins Ashley and Abbey along for the fun. After finding our trees, we go out for a nice lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon decorating.

Another thing that our kids look forward to each year is making Christmas cookies with Grandma Bogart. They always come home covered in flour from head to toe, but with enormous smiles on their faces. They are so proud of their cookies and love to each choose a special one to leave out for Santa. Thanks Grandma for making this night so much fun for the kids!

A Great Family Saturday

2006-12-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

Today, we went out and finished our Christmas shopping for the kids. As usual, we got way too much, and they will be spoiled! We are very excited for them to open the gifts. Brent has to start his Christmas shopping now. He has the entire family to buy for.

This evening we went to the mall and had pictues with Santa. This is the Deuel tradition. After pictures, the kids play in the play area, and we go watch the skateboarders. The kids love doing this. On the way home we drive through a couple of neighborhoods to look at the lights.

Ryann has many questions about Santa that she is going to ask this year: how old are you, when is your birthday, and a few others. We are all waiting to see if he answers them.

Hope you and your family are having a great holiday season!

Growing Up

2006-12-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

Hope is now officially crawling! Needless to say, she thinks that she is "hot stuff". She is constantly clapping for herself and loves it when we clap for her as well. Because she is now crawling, Hope manages to get into everything. This doesn't always go over very well with her brother and sister. Hope's favorite things to grab are Ryann's books and bookmarks. I think Brent is a little worried that Hope will turn out like her mom and big sister. He likes to refer to us as "nerds" because we both love to read. So far Hope seems headed in that same direction. Hope is also starting to eat a lot of table foods. Her favorites include fruit (bananas and mandarin oranges), Cheerios, macaroni and cheese, and any kind of bread. After trying these different table foods, she really doesn't want too much to do with baby food. I guess she feels that she is too grown up to eat it. Our house is decorated for Christmas now, and so far Hope has done a great job leaving the Christmas tree and decorations alone. She does seem to like the bows on the presents and would really love to play with them if we would let her.

It is amazing to think that Hope is almost 11 months old. Our love for her grows more and more each day, and her presence in our lives always brings smiles to our faces.

More Pictures from Great Wolf Lodge

2006-11-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pictures of our trip with the Saurs to Great Wolf Lodge.

Great Wolf Lodge

2006-11-12T20:52:00.000-05:00

Last week we spent two days at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, Michigan with the Saur family. We all had a blast! There were only 8 families in the entire hotel, so we basically had the place to ourselves. We spent the majority of our time in the waterpark, but also spent time in the craft room and arcade. The kids completed a scavenger hunt and listened to a bedtime story performed by the animals. We had a "Wolf Den" room which meant that Ryann and Camden had their own special den (complete with bunk beds and a TV) within our room. They thought that was pretty neat. I would definitely recommend visiting Great Wolf Lodge if you haven't. November is a perfect time to go!

Hope's 9 Month Doctor's Appointments

2006-11-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

Hope's 9 month well-child checkup went great! (Camden might disagree as he received a surprise flu shot at her appointment.) Hope finally got a little taller. She is 27 and 1/2 inches long and is a little over 19 lbs. She is now in the 50th percentile for both height and weight as compared to other 9 month olds. Dr. Henderson said that she was "just perfect". Needless to say, we were very pleased.

In addition to her well-child checkup, Hope also had an appointment with her Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. She had to have a scope performed on her again, and she didn't like it one bit. The good news is that the scope looked great and she will not have to go to see the ENT any more.

Halloween

2006-11-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

The kids had a great time at Halloween this year. The Dondits, Saurs, and Grandpa and Grandma Bogart came over. Both of the older kids were baseball players this year and Hope was the standard first year pumpkin. They had a great time and brought home a lot of candy. We have two big bags left if anyone wants some.

We had a great time carving pumpkins. As usual, Ryann would not touch the pumpkin guts. Camden and Hope had no problem. Brent had another great creations this year -- he continued his love for the Detroit Tigers.

Pumpkin Run

2006-10-29T20:12:00.000-05:00

Ryann had her annual pumpkin run at school. She was very surprised to hear that this years run would be almost 2 miles long. Mom was the lucky one who got to run with her. Dad volunteered and was the man with the camera and at the finish line.

Ryann did an incredible job. She did a lot better than anyone would have expected. She enjoyed it, but we don't think a marathon runner is a future occupation.

First Haircut

2006-10-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

Hope went for her first haircut on Wednesday (Oct 25). As you can see by the pictres, she did a great job. We can not believe how different she looks after the haircut.

9 Months Old Already!

2006-10-20T19:12:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe that Hope is 9 months old today. As she reaches all of these steps and milestones we continue to celebrate her and all that she has become. She continues to do well and is really starting to become her own little person. Her smiles light up the room and her giggles are so fun to listen to. She loves her brother and sister immensely and always seems to know where they are. Hope has two teeth and is starting to use them to eat things like Cheerios and Puffs in addition to all of her fruits and veggies and cereal. She is beginning to do some moving around. She is not yet crawling, but she still seems to get to the things that she wants by rolling, scooting, or doing the crab walk on her back. We go to Hope's doctor on November 1st and then back to the ENT on November 9th. We are excited to hear what they have to say about our little girl.

A Pumpkin Party at the Nelsons

2006-10-20T18:52:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the kids were invited to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson's house for their annual pumpkin party. The kids had a ball! They ate lots of yummy treats, chose pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, went on a hayride and just had fun playing with all of the kids that were there. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson spoiled them, and they each received a Halloween bag filled with treats to take home. Ryann and Camden have both decided to be baseball players for Halloween this year, and Hope will carry on the tradition of being a pumpkin by wearing the same pumpkin costume that Ryann and Camden wore when they were babies. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Nelson for a great time!

We're Back!!!

2006-10-15T21:37:00.000-04:00

We're finally back in "blog world". I'm sorry that we have not updated in such a long time. I guess that after being home for almost 8 months, it was a little bit of a shock to my system to be back at work and as a result, updating the blog was kind of forgotten. We will definitely try to update more frequently (I think I've said this before. This time we'll try to follow through a little better.).

Things here in the Deuel household are going well. We are having a busy fall as Ryann is in the middle of her basketball season, and Brent is in the middle of his football season. Of course, we've also spent a lot of time at Rockford Ram games and watching the Detroit Tigers. It has been so much fun for Brent to see his loyalty to the Tigers finally pay off. He is enjoying all of the games that he is attending, and is anxiously anticipating going to the World Series next weekend.

Ryann is off to a great 3rd grade year. She is enjoying her teacher Mrs. Taylor and is experiencing the MEAP test for the first time. Camden has Mrs. Annette again this year and is really having fun being back in school. The highlight for him has been riding the bus from school to Barbie's house. He thinks he is such a big guy! Hope continues to thrive. She has made the transition to mom working pretty easily. She seems to really love being at Barbies and watching the kids play all around her. It is hard to believe that Hope will be 9 months old on Friday. Wow - how time flies!

Thanks for continuing to check on us. It means the world to us!

Summer Fun

2006-08-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

We continue to enjoy all that the summer has to offer. Ryann and Camden love to spend time riding their bikes or scooters or rollerblading. They also spend a majority of their time each day in the pool. Hope went swimming for the first time yesterday. She loved kicking her feet in the water and relaxing in the neat new float from the Larson family.

Hope's 6th Month Doctor's Appointment

2006-07-24T20:01:00.000-04:00

Hope had her 6th month doctor's appointment today (she turned 6 months last Thursday), and boy has she grown! She currently weighs 16 pounds 3 and a half ounces and is 25 inches long. That puts her in about the 50th percentile for weight and the 25th percentile for height as compared to other 6 month olds. Looking at Hope today, you would never know that she was 2 months early or less than 5 pounds at birth.

She is now eating oatmeal each day and has also tried peas once. She is working really hard at sitting up and loves to stand on her legs and show off her muscles. Hope is able to roll from her back to her front, but hasn't yet tried to roll from her front to her back. Her arm muscles aren't quite as strong as her leg muscles, so she needs to use them more in order to build up her arm strength. Hope has taken her first boat ride this summer and has also had her first taste of ice cream. Thanks for checking in on us! We hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!!!

Fun in the Water

2006-07-18T22:07:00.000-04:00

After learning to kneeboard on Sunday, Ryann and Camden decided that Monday would be a great day to try waterskiing. This time Grandpa Deuel had a camera ready for us to use. We hope you enjoy these pictures of our two oldest water lovers.

Another Great Day at the Lake

2006-07-16T22:40:00.000-04:00

We spent some time at Clifford Lake again this weekend. With temperatures in the 90 degree range, the water felt great! We played a lot of water volleyball, did a lot of swimming, and the Deuel kids experienced some "firsts". Camden and Ryann both learned to kneeboard this weekend and did a great job. They were both exhausted after their trips around the lake, but are both looking forward to the next time they go. Hope took her first ride on the pontoon and really enjoyed hanging out with her Aunt Jody during the ride. I wish we had pictures of these big events to show you, but Brent' s camera is in Africa on a hunting safari with his brother Brian and our nephew Kyle. Brent is definitely suffering camera withdrawal and is already planning on making up for lost time when he gets his camera back later this week. We hope that all of you had a great weekend!

4th of July Weekend

2006-07-11T15:27:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend at Clifford Lake with Brent's family. We always have a lot of fun at the lake, especially during 4th of July weekend. Our 5 days there were filled with hanging out in the sun, swimming in the lake, tubing, playing cards and other games, eating (way too much!), fishing (Ryann's most favorite thing to do at the lake!) hot tubbing (Camden's favorite lake activity), bonfires (with s'mores) and lots of fireworks (great firework display dad and Uncle Randy!)! We also participated in the annual pontoon parade. This year's theme was "Children's Books". Ryann came up with the idea to use Clifford the big red dog and create "Clifford and Friends Visit Clifford Lake". We ended up taking 3rd place in the competition, and we had a lot of fun working together to transform the pontoon into a children's book.

Ryann Goes to College

2006-07-11T14:56:00.000-04:00

Ryann had the chance to become a Michigan State Spartan for three days at the end of June. She attended "Grandparents University" with her Grandma Bogart. While at MSU, she experienced dorm life and attended several classes. Ryann lived in McDonnel Hall while on campus and loved it! She especially loved the cafeteria and having so many things to choose from at meal time. The desserts, chocolate milk and fountain pop were her favorites. The classes she attended were all science related. She learned how ice cream is made (she also got to make some on her own) and had a chance to milk a cow and put her hand in a cow's stomach (she passed on both of these opportunities and instead watched Grandma do them). One night they went to the MSU planetarium and learned a lot about the solar system. This was her favorite class. Ryann absolutely loved the entire experience of being a Spartan. It was fun to hear her talk about all that she did and all that she saw. Thanks Grandma Bogart for giving her such a great experience!!!

Hope's Visit With the Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist

2006-06-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

Last week Hope had her appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. The doctor did a scope through her nose and down into her airway. After the scope (which our little girl did not like one bit!) the doctor determined that Hope has an immature muscle in her larynx (There is a medical term for this, but I don't remember the exact term.). Because of this, she makes quite a rattling sound when she breathes. Apparently this issue should take care of itself. Hope just needs to keep maturing and getting bigger and stronger. Hope was also diagnosed with Acid Reflux and needs to have Zantac twice a day. Needless to say, we felt really good about how the appointment went and are thrilled to know that there is nothing serious going on with Hope. We have a follow-up appointment with the ENT doctor in August.

Last Day of School

2006-06-09T13:22:00.000-04:00

Let the summer begin!! We are done with school for the summer and the Deuel Family is ready. The big plan for the summer is to sell the house. If you know anyone that is looking .... let us know.

Camden is going to continue speech during the summer. He is scheduled for 1/2 hour per week. Even though the picture does not show it, he loved his teacher and is looking forward to next year. His big goals this summer are no diapers and no life jacket.

Ryann shed some tears on her last day of school. She truly loves school and it was hard for her to leave her friends and teacher. Dad forgot to put the memory card back in the camera so we do not have a picture of her and her teacher. Ryann's goals this summer are to ski (she does not know that yet), not be bored, and go to all of her camps (MSU, soccer, and basketball).

Stop by and use the pool. The more swimmers the better.

A Great Report From the Doctor

2006-05-31T13:40:00.000-04:00

Last week Hope went to see Dr. Henderson for her 4-month checkup. Things went really well! Dr. Henderson was thrilled to see how well she has grown. She weighs 12 and a half pounds and is 23 inches long. That puts her in the 25th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. Wow!!! What a big girl she is becoming. Hope does need to see an ear, nose and throat specialist on June 14th due to the fact that she is a very loud breather. Originally we thought this was due to congestion or to swollen sinuses, but when she was checked last week, her sinuses and lungs both looked good. Dr. Henderson thought that it might be something in between the two, such as the trachea. He mentioned that sometimes babies born as early as Hope was have some developmental issues with their tracheas. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. The best news of all from the appointment is that Hope has now been given the okay to go out and enjoy the world. This is something we have looking forward to for quite a while now. After being given the news, we took Hope to Clifford Lake for the long weekend to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Deuel and to meet Granny (Hope's great-grandma) for the first time. Hope also got to experience Meijers for the first time yesterday. Camden had fun telling her all about the different things to see in the store. Our family is looking forward to the beginning of summer vacation at the end of next week. It will be great to be home enjoying each other.

Relay For Life

2006-05-21T18:31:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! What a weekend! We spent our weekend (or at least most of it) at the Rockford Relay For Life. As a whole, the Relay raised over $315,000. That is an increase of $50,000 over last year's total. Our team, Friends for Life, raised a little over $32,000. Needless to say, it was a very successful Relay and a lot of money was raised to help in the fight against cancer. We are so proud of Brent for the incredible job he does as one of the two co-chairs of this event.

Hope turned 4 months old yesterday and celebrated with us at Relay. She was able to spend a few hours there on Friday and a few hours there on Saturday. What a blessing it was to be able to have her there with us and to walk around the track as a family of five.

Ryann also had a soccer game this weekend. Her team tied, but she scored a goal. She has scored a goal in each of her last four games. We are all pretty excited about the great season she is having.

Our entire family is counting down the days until we are all on summer vacation. Camden has 6 more school days left, Brent has 12 and Ryann has 13. We are definitely looking forward to a summer of family time, friends time, swimming time and warm, sunny weather!

Hope has her four month doctor's appointment on Tuesday. We can't wait to hear what he has to say. She really seems to have grown quite a bit. She has a double chin now and even some rolls on her legs.

Thanks for checking in on us!

Pictures of the Kids

2006-04-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

Here are some more recent pictures of Ryann, Camden and Hope.

The Latest Happenings in the Deuel Household

2006-04-19T18:22:00.000-04:00

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since our last update. I'm sorry that it has been so long, and we will definitely work on updating more often. I guess as they say, no news is good news.

We recently spent a quiet spring vacation here in Michigan. Although it was very hard to not be in the warm Florida sunshine enjoying the sun and sand with family and friends, it was nice to spend 10 days together as a family. Brent spent much of the week working on our house in order to get it ready to sell. It seems as if we have quickly outgrown our house with the addition of Hope to our family. Even though it will be hard to leave this house that we have called home for over 10 years, we are also excited about the possibility of a new beginning for the 5 of us. As of Sunday, April 16, the "For Sale by Owner" sign is now officially displayed in our yard.

On April 4th, Camden turned 3. We celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese with the Watters, Saur and Lewis families. Camden had a lot of fun eating pizza and playing games. Shannon Ouellette was kind enough to stay with Hope so that the rest of us could go celebrate with the Camden man. Camden continues to enjoy school, and we are already noticing some improvements in his speech.

On April 14th, Ryann turned 8. It is hard to believe that we have an 8-year-old daughter. Ryann celebrated her special day by taking 4 of her friends and Camden to a movie (The Shaggy Dog), McDonalds and Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. She had a lot of fun, and the day seemed to fly by. Ryann started soccer practice today. Brent and Larry Watters are coaching Ryann and Maddy's team again this spring. Ryann is really looking forward to the season and the fun times that it will bring.

Hope is now about 10 and a half pounds. She has a double chin and a few rolls on her legs. She will be three months old tomorrow. She is smiling up a storm and is starting to "talk" to us. The coos and sounds that she makes are music to our ears. Hope is such a joy to all of us, and we can't wait for all of you to meet her.

Thank you to all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. We feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful families and friends.

Hope's Doctor's Appointment

2006-03-24T20:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Hope went to see Dr. Henderson for her two month check-up. Everything went really well. She is now very close to the 9lb. mark, and will probably pass 9lbs. within the next couple of days. Based on her date of birth, she is in the 5th percentile for both height and weight. Dr. Henderson was very pleased with her progress, and said that he thought she looked great. Hope received four shots at her appointment. She didn't really care for the shots when they were being administered, but she seemed to recover from them quickly. She will go back to the doctor in May for a four month check-up. At that time Doctor Henderson said that if she continues to be doing as well as she is now, he would feel good about Hope being able to start going places and meeting new people. It will be such a blessing for our family to be able to go places as a family of five.

Camden has now been to school five times. He loves it! The first week everything revolved around Clifford and this past week it was Dr. Seuss. He is enjoying his teachers, time spent playing, music and time in his "gym". On Wednesday of next week he has his first field trip. He gets to go swimming at mom and dad's school. He can't wait. He definitely thinks he is a big kid now. He even has homework to do this weekend which he is excited about. I only hope that he will continue to be excited about homework when he is in middle school (probably not!).

Ryann is finally healthy. She missed four days of school last week because of the flu. Soccer season should be starting within a few weeks, and she is excited to be playing again. She continues to be the best big sister to Camden and Hope, and we continue to be very proud of her.

Camden Starts School

2006-03-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Over the last 3 months we have noticed Camden having some speech difficulties. He also was getting increasingly more upset when we did not understand what he was saying. Last week we took him to be tested. They determined that he did have some speech dificulties. They determined these dificulties to be easily overcome. With that said, he started ECSE today.

He loves going to school because he has a backpack, he will get homework, and he is just like his big sister. Camden thought playtime was the best thing at school and also remembered that a "girl" was naughty. He also enjoyed the "gym" (gross motor skills room) where he could swing, play with balls, and jump.

Check out these pics. Our little boy is off to school!

Update

2006-03-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hope should now be officially born. Her due date was yesterday, March 13. We originally had a c-section scheduled for last Friday, March 10. Today should have been our first complete day home as a family, but instead we have been a family of 5 for a little over 7 weeks and we wouldn't give up these 7 weeks for anything. Everyone continues to do well in our family. Today Hope got another RSV shot. The nurse came to our house to give her the shot. She was about 21" long and 8lbs. She is growing like a weed. Jen thinks that Hope should be sleeping through the night because she is so big. Because she was so big, the nurse had to use two vials of medicine ($800 per vial - thank goodness for insurance!!!). We hope you enjoy these new pictures of Hope that were taken today. Please check in tomorrow to see the big news regarding Camden.

New Pictures

2006-03-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

We think they are so cute ....

Hope Is 6 Weeks Old

2006-03-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

Two months ago, on January 3rd, this journey for our family began. In the two months since that day, our family has experienced a wide range of emotions: nervousness, fear, excitement, joy and a great deal of love. 6 weeks ago Hope came into this world and has changed our lives so much for the better. In these 6 weeks, Hope has come so far. She continues to grow bigger and stronger each day. She is starting to be more alert and is awake a greater amount of time during the day. She continues to eat well and is having success with both nursing and with her bottle feeds. We continue to be extremely cautious when it comes to visitors and germs. Hope has only been outside of our house 4 times (once when she came home from the hospital and the other 3 times for doctor's appointments). Our caution seems to be paying off. She continues to be healthy and does not have to go back to the doctor until March 20th. Ryann and Camden are in love with their little sister. They can't seem to walk by her without giving her a kiss or touching her or talking to her. This makes us as parents so proud and so glad that our family of 4 has now become a family of 5.

Hope is 1 Month Old Today!

2006-02-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that Hope has been a part of our family for one month. We can't imagine our family without her. She has definitely blessed us in so many ways. Hope has now been home with us for 12 days. In those 12 days she has continued to thrive. She is eating well and is up to 50 cc's per feeding. She is also developing a routine as far as sleep is concerned. She goes to bed at around 11:00pm each night and wakes up sometime around 3:00am to eat and then again around 7:00am. She is also awake more throughout the day. I think she enjoys watching her sister and brother as they play and act crazy. Hope goes to the doctor again tomorrow. Hopefully, we will have another good report! Thank you for continuing to think about our family. We really appreciate it!

6th Day at Home

2006-02-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

Hope had her doctor's appointment today. She is doing wonderful. Her weight is just under 6lbs 1oz. She has gained over 8oz since she has been home. She continues to gain strength every day. Hope is scheduled for another appointment next week. Even though she is doing great, the doctor continues to warn us to be very careful and cautious. He warns that germs are all around. If a baby is under two months and gets sick, the baby has to be admitted to the hospital because they are too young for medicine.

We often wonder if we are being too cautious. Then we remember how hard it was for our family and little girl to be at the hospital. We KNOW that we do not want to be back in the hospital.

Today Brent made a visit back to the NIM/NICU unit. We have some friends that are in the NIM unit. Their son, Cameron, took Hope's spot in the NIM when she left (the actual spot). We realize what a toll the hospital can take on you and a what friendly visit can do for your spirit. We also know another couple that is in the NICU. He has been e-mailing us with questions. It does feel good to be able to help and support these two families.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. We will update soon.

Hope's 3rd Day at Home

2006-02-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful Saturday for us! This is the first Saturday in 6 weeks that we didn't have to spend time at the hospital. What a joy it is to just be home spending time together - doing puzzles, playing games, reading books and cuddling Hope. We definitely couldn't ask for anything more. Hope continues to do great here at home. She is eating well, napping well and making her big brother and big sister (and mom and dad too!) fall even more in love with her. On Tuesday Hope has her first appointment with our pediatrician. It will be neat to see if she has continued to gain weight and to get Dr. Henderson's impression of her.

2nd Day at Home

2006-02-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

The second day was so great that we forgot to update the blog. How weird not to go to the hospital, for Jen to be able to go to Ryann's Valentine Party, to spend more than 1 hour as a family, and to be able to watch the Olympics as a family. These things we took for granted just 2 months ago ... now we live for them. Who could have asked for a better birthday gift.

Hope had a wonderful day! She ate and slept like she has been doing it since day 1. The kids are very proud of her and are enjoying every minute with her. They are a tremendous help when it comes to advice and taking care of her. Hope feeds every 3 hours so this schedule is a little hard. Brent has been doing the 1:00 & 4:00 am feedings since he had this time off. Jen is doing the 7:00 so Brent can sleep in. Starting Monday Jen will be the lady of the night.

This is a picture from when we left the hospital. The blanket is the same one that Brent went home in when he was born.

Hope's 21st Day / 1st Day at Home

2006-02-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

Hope has ended her stay at the hospital!!! She is now home and we have a complete family. What a great day for us. Hope came home on her 21st day -- just liker her mom. We all are glad to have Hope home. Camden has brought out a lot of things to show his little sister. Ryann is being a great sister also. Unfortunately, both kids are under the weather so they can not get very close to Hope. We have created a germ free room that the kids are not allowed in and this is the place that Hope sleeps.

We will continue to do a daily blog through the weekend. After the weekend, we will try to update weekly.

We want to thank everyone for their great support! Through this difficult time, friends and family have made this journey so much easier. We still wonder how we could have ever done this without the support.

Hope's 20th Day

2006-02-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

It was another good day for Hope! She had the chance to hang out with her dad all day due to the fact that mom stayed home with Ryann, who was not feeling well. Hope and her dad had a lot of fun spending such quality time together. She now weighs 5 pounds and 8 ounces, and continues to improve her eating. Each day she seems to have longer periods of being awake. Tonight she was moved to room 3 in NIM due to the number of babies as well as nursing staff.

Hope's 19th Day

2006-02-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

It has been another great day for Hope. She seems to be getting the hang of eating. She did a nice job all day today with her feedings. She nursed really well at one feeding, and took the remainder of her feedings today from a bottle. She continues to work on her pacing. She seems to either eat too quickly or eat at an extremely slow rate. She also has a tendency to be really worn out at some of her middle of the night feedings. This is when the decision is made for her to be tube fed. We are hoping that we can get through the night tonight without the need for any tube feedings!

Hope's 18th Day

2006-02-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

Today was the day of the big meeting with the doctor. They were very pleased with her progress. They said everything that you would want to see her doing or improving on is happening. The doctor does not have a time frame when she will be going home. As always, they tell us when Hope is ready she will go. Each child is different and only she can tell.

The doctor did talk about when we get home. He scared us with the talk of germs. Hope did not receive any of the antibodies from Jen to fight off infections and other germs. This happens late in the pregnancy. He told us that the ONLY person that Hope needs to survive at this time is her mom. We need to weigh the benefits verses the negatives for any other person that comes sees or has contact with her when she is at home. The doctor said we probably would feel terrible if Hope got sick and had to come back to NICU. This was an eye-opener to both of us.

Hope's 17th Day

2006-02-05T21:06:00.000-05:00

Another quality day for Hope. She continues to take bottles. She ate from the bottle the entire day (10:00 - 7:00) for us. The night time is when she struggles. With a preemie, you need to feed them every three hours. This does need to take place during the night also. (NO sleep for us when she comes home). I hope you enjoy the pictures and a few were added to the previous days also.

Hope's 16th Day

2006-02-04T23:09:00.000-05:00

Hope continued to work on her eating today. She was able to practice nursing once during the day and was also able to take a bottle at three different times. She is definitely getting better at eating, but it does continue to really tire Hope out. It takes her quite a while to get the 44cc's of her bottle down. At this time, the doctors are relying on Hope to provide cues as to her eating. If it is time for her to eat and she seems too tired or uninterested, the feeding will be given to her through a feeding tube.

Hope's 15th Day

2006-02-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

It was an incredible day for Hope! It started with her doctor deciding to remove her permanent feeding tube. He also decided that she no longer needed to have the oxygen level in her blood monitored. As a result, she is now rid of one tube and one wire. She is left with only two more wires (the ones that monitor her heart rate and her respiration rate) that she will keep until she comes home. It was also decided that she no longer needs to have her blood sugar level tested. This will save her a poke in her heel every 12 hours.

Hope is now getting 44cc's of milk once every 3 hours. She was able to take two of these feedings (about 40cc's) through a bottle today. This is a huge step for Hope. The remainder of the feedings were given to her through a gavage feeding tube (a larger tube inserted into her stomach for a time period just long enough for gravity to take the 44cc's from a syringe into her stomach). Hope also continues to gain weight. She is now up to 5 pounds and 4 ounces. It is so wonderful to see these improvements!

Tonight Ryann and Brent went to the Daddy-Daughter Dance. They went out to eat together, went to the dance and had a lot of fun, and ended their evening at the hospital visiting Hope so that she could also be included in this Daddy-Daugther Night.

Hope's 14th Day

2006-02-02T21:35:00.000-05:00

We started the morning with the usual call to the NIM. This morning we were told that Hope would only be allowed to eat twice a day from the bottle or from Jen. This was a disappointment for both of us. The doctors want to get Hope to the full feedings -- 44 ml in 30 minutes. They feel this is more important than her eating on her own.

Well Hope ate 7 ml on her first feeding (which is her best) after breast feeding. Then she set a new record of 10 ml when dad fed her at 7:00 pm. So what seemed like a setback in the morning, just once again reassured us that the doctors are so awesome at Butterworth.

Hope continues to gain weight. Her awake periods seem to get a little longer each day. She seems like a very happy and content baby. Tonight's nurse told me she was gorgeous (which I had to agree) and then said her laid back personality even made her cuter!

Hope's 13th Day

2006-02-01T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today, Hope gained some more weight. She is up to 5lb 3oz. She is getting so big. It is hard for us to realize the weight gain but others notice that have not seen her everyday. Her feedings continue to improve. She is getting her 44ml over 1.5 hours now. It seems so long ago when she was getting 1ml per hour. Everyone seems to be very pleased with her progress.

We have a conference with the doctor on Monday. The doctor meets with all parents after they have been in for 2 weeks. We don't know what they will tell us.

We are still overwhelmed with the continued support. We are closing in on one month on Friday. The last month has been a blur with many ups and downs. We often look at others in the NICU and wonder how they survive without the support that we have had! You look at the single moms, the low income families, and the people that live out of town and you realize how lucky you are.

Hope's 12th Day

2006-01-31T20:43:00.000-05:00

Hope is now 5 lbs. 1 oz!!! We definitely celebrate all of these little accomplishments. She is continuing to do well with her compressed feedings. Today she is being given 44 cc's over a 2 hour time span through her feeding tube. Then she goes an hour without being fed. The amount will be gradually increased and the time span will be gradually decreased. This will teach her to eat once every three hours. She continues to practice nursing as well as trying to suck from a bottle. Sometimes she seems to be getting the hang of it, and other times she seems to tire herself out quickly while trying. We know that with time, this eating thing will click with Hope and then there will be no stopping her. We just need to continue to be patient and enjoy all of the little strides that Hope is making along the way.

Hope's 11th Day

2006-01-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

There is really nothing new to report today. Hope continues to work on eating. This seems to be the one last hurdle that she needs to overcome before coming home. She maintained her weight today, no loss and no gain.

Hope's 10th Day

2006-01-29T08:33:00.000-05:00

Hope was moved to intermediate care this morning!!! This is a big move for Hope and another step closer to her coming home. She continues to gain a little bit of weight and is now having her feedings compressed. This means that they are giving her the same amount of milk, but over a shorter amount of time.

Brent goes back to work tomorrow. This is going to be hard since we have spent all day every day together for the past four weeks. I have an amazing husband and will miss him greatly while he is at school!

Hope's 9th Day

2006-01-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

Another day of excitement for Hope. It seems so long ago when we were wishing for boring days and no actions. Hope had her PICC line (IV) removed today. Unfortunately we did not get to see this because we were in the emergency room. A friend was visiting us today and she asked how Jen was doing. Jen said great but she had a terrible pain in her left calf. She thought it was a pulled muscle. A nurse overheard the conversation and said that Jen needed to call her OB. We made the call and they were worried about a possible blood clot. In the ER, they did an ultra sound of her leg to check for a blood clot. They found nothing and determined it to be a pulled muscle.

Hope was increased to 13.5 cc per hour of milk. They also want to breast feed her every 6 hours and bottle feed her. Hope seems to like the 11:00 feeding. She did a nice job of eating from Jen and then ate 7 cc from the bottle. The NNP said that one feeding would probably tire her out for most of the day. This is a big task for such a young girl.

Tonight Ryann and I spent some quality time with Hope. We gave her a bath, changed her clothes, weighed her (2120 grams), and read her some books. Oh what a great time!

Hope's 8th Day

2006-01-27T22:14:00.000-05:00

It was another wonderful day for Hope! She continues to make great strides. She gained a little bit of weight today and also had some bowel movements on her own today without the help of a suppository. This was a huge accomplishment for Hope. It means that her digestive system is starting to work the way that it is supposed to. Hope is now up to 12cc's of milk per hour. If she continues to tolerate her food well, there is a good chance that she will have her picc line (similar to an IV) removed soon. This would be a great thing! It would mean that Hope has one less tube connected to her. Hope got to try nursing a few times today as well as sucking from a bottle. She is definitely still learning, but she made a good attempt at both. Because she is now maintaining her body temperature, Hope was moved from her isolette to a bassinet today.

Ryann got to spend some quality time with Hope tonight. She got to help weigh her, change her diaper, and even got to hold her. I think we broke a NICU rule with this one, but it sure put a smile on Ryann's face.

We are looking forward to another good day tomorrow.

Hope's 7th day

2006-01-26T22:50:00.000-05:00

Today was a very positive one for our little bundle of joy. She is making improvements every day. They may seem small to others but they are such a huge step for us and Hope. She is eating 10 cc per hour of breast milk. When she is up to 13 cc per hour then they will stop the IV. If she can maintain this level of feeding, then they will remove the IV after 24 hours.

Hope is doing a wonderful job of maintaining her body temperature. Because she is doing so well, she is going to be moved to an open air bassinet. Another big step for Hope.

Many have asked how they can visit Hope. She loves visitors and sometimes will even open her eyes for you. Mom and dad are with Hope from around 10:00 until 3:00 PM every day. Then dad has been coming back around 7:30 - 8:30 PM. If you would like to visit, stop by. You can only visit when one of us is at the hospital. The NICU is located on 3 west.

Thank you for continued support during Hope's stay at NICU.

Hope's 6th Day

2006-01-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day for Hope! She is making progress and moving in the right direction. She is no longer under the light, as her bilerubin level has come down and her coloring looks so much better. The amount of food that she is receiving has also increased to 7ml's an hour. She is continuing to work on digesting her food and received another suppository today in order to help her have some bowel movements. Hope is also maintaining her temperature on her own. As a result, they are slowly decreasing the temperature in her isolette a degree at a time until it matches the room temperature. If Hope continues to maintain her temperature as they do this, she may be moved into an open bassinette or crib within a few days. The only setback today was the fact that Hope lost a little bit of weight.

We were encouraged today as we met with Hope's doctors because they were able to give us a glimpse of what things would look like for Hope in the near future. We continue to be impressed with the expertise of the doctors and nurses that are caring for Hope. It is hard when we have to leave the hospital each day, but we have every confidence that our daughter is in the best of hands.

Thank you to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. They are all appreciated!!!

Hope's 5th Day

2006-01-25T07:40:00.000-05:00

Hope had a good day today. She gained some weight today. She had to be given a suppository today to help with her stool. She continues to have some problems with this. She is still receiving 3ml per hour of food. They have not increased her foods because she is not digesting the food fast enough. The doctor told us not to worry because this is very normal for a preemie. She just is not ready for primetime! Her bilerubin count has gone down and they are happy with this.

Hope's 4th Day

2006-01-23T21:32:00.000-05:00

Jen was released from the hospital today. It was very hard to leave our beautiful daughter at the hospital when we came home. We have closed one chapter of our life and now move on to the next.

Hope is doing fine. She continues to struggle with her eating. They had hoped to increase her feedings 2cc every 12 hours. When we left tonight they did not know if Hope would be able to handle all this food. She is also under a light for jaundice. This is normal for most premature babies.

Hope's 3rd Day

2006-01-22T21:01:00.000-05:00

It was another exciting day for Hope! She had the chance to meet many new people and work on learning new things. Hope was very close to being moved to NIM today (intermediate care) due to the fact that she was doing so well and also because they admitted several babies today that were in need of intensive care. Unfortunately, it was later decided that they would keep Hope in intensive care for now. Hope had a slight setback today with her eating. She was no longer tolerating the tube feedings that she was getting every 3 hours. As a result, she now has a feeding tube that will stay in her stomach while giving her continuous drip feedings. The doctors have told us that sometimes it will seem as if we are going two steps forward and then one step backward. Other than the feeding issue, Hope continues to do well with everything else. We spend a lot of time throughout the day just holding her and loving her. It is the best feeling in the world.

Thanks to all of you who came to meet and see Hope today. One day when we tell her about this time, she will know just how loved she is. Hope met Uncle Jamie, Uncle Brad and Aunt Sheila today (cousins Alex, Dalton and Sydney also came today but were not able to meet Hope because they are under the age of 16). She also got to see both of her grandmas and grandpas and Aunt Jody, Ashley and Abbey again. Hope also had visits with the VanZees, Nelsons, Nezweks and Saurs.

We are looking forward to another great day for Hope tomorrow!

Our Beautiful Little Girl - Day 2 Continued

2006-01-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

What an amazing and beautiful girl Hope is! She continues to impress us with how well she is doing. She is now getting a tube feeding every 3 hours and seems to be tolerating them well. Hopefully this will result in continued growth for her and another step closer to bringing her home. She was blessed with many visitors today. Once again we cannot express how much everyone's love and support for our family means to us! Today Hope got to see her big brother and big sister again. Ryann even got to help the nurse listen to Hope's heart. Ryann thought this was pretty neat. Hope also got to see Grandpa Bogart, Uncle Bri-Bri and Aunt Terri again and got to meet Grandma Bogart for the first time (She was not able to see Hope yesterday due to a cold.). Hope also got to meet Uncle Randy and Aunt Sheryl (who the "Ann" of Hope Ann is named after) when they surprised us with a visit all the way from the Walled Lake area on the other side of the state. Thank you also to the Larsons, Durhams, Dondits, Ouellettes, Keefes and Nancy Roberts for your visits. It was great to get to show our beautiful girl off to all of you.

Hope's 2nd Day

2006-01-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

How great is it to be writing about Hope and not laying around the hospital. Hope is doing great! Last night they fed her. They are using a tube to feed her until her 34th week. This is normal as this will be one of the last things she can do. I think her weight today today is just under 4lbs 10 oz. This is very normal. All visitors are welcome. If we are not in the room we are in the NEO unit. People can visit and see hope.

Jen is also doing great. It looks like she will be going home on Monday. What a trooper she has been.

Hope's First Day

2006-01-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

What a great first day Hope had! She continues to do very well. She is still breathing on her own and has spent her day meeting many new people who have been anxiously awaiting her arrival. She tried sugar water today, received antibiotics and was monitored for her heart rate, oxygen level in her blood and her respiration level. All of these things looked good on the monitor. She got to spend a lot of time being held by her mom and dad, and this of course led to permanent smiles on mom and dad's faces. Ryann and Camden (after he got over the fact that the baby wasn't a boy as he was wishing) also enjoyed meeting Hope and are looking forward to the day that we can bring her home. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. They have meant so much to us, and we couldn't have gotten through this without them.

THE PICTURES

2006-01-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

This is what everyone has been waiting for! These are early ones and I have not taken more yet.

MORNING 18 (Fri)

2006-01-20T07:41:00.000-05:00

NOT another boring day! Jen called me at 2:30 am to tell me she was having contractions. She said they were 10 minutes or so apart. I took a shower and then left for the hospital. Not many people on the Beltline at this time. I was talking to Jen as I raced towards the hospital.

When I arrived at the hospital, she still was not at the delivery room so I went to see her. He contractions were actually 2 minutes apart and she was ready. We decided on a c-section. We had a baby girl named HOPE ANN. She was 4lb 11oz and 17.5 in long. Born at 4:28 AM

Hope is breathing on her own and seems to be doing great. Jen and I have both held her and are very proud parents. Before I post any pictures, the kids need to meet Hope.

EVENING 17 (Thurs)

2006-01-19T18:40:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. We had nothing out of the ordinary. Got to enjoy the sun in the windows and each others company. What more could you ask for?

The kids got their haircuts today so they could not come up and see mom. We did have a nice visit from Darrolyn and Uncle Jamie. We continue to move forward and hope that today is like yesterday.

MORNING 17

2006-01-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

Things were smooth last night. Everything was boring as usual. I think the doctors and nurses enjoy having Jen as a patient because she is so positive and easy going. As I type this message, the sun is shining through the window!

EVENING 16 (Wed)

2006-01-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Oh what a day it was. We were thrown another curve ball by the baby. Yes, the baby has turned! We had a routine ultrasound today to check on fluid levels and the cord flow. Those things looked great! Jen asked if the baby was still breech. To everyone's surprise -- the answer was no.

We had a nice day. We had visits from Michelle, the kids, both grandmas, the Dondits, the Watters, and Tracy and her mom.

We continue to appreciate all the notes, cards, e-mails, gifts, and thoughts that everyone is giving us. I have had more comments from people about the amount of support that we have received. It truly is amazing!

MORNING 16

2006-01-18T08:01:00.000-05:00

It seems so long ago when we started this blog for Jen and the baby. Everything continues to go great for both. Every blog is another 1/2 day closer to the finish line.

EVENING 15 (Tues)

2006-01-17T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ditto from 4425. Another wonderful day if you have to be in the hospital. I have noticed that our spirits are changed by how the weather is. Today we seemed tired and not as talkative and I look outside and notice gray, rain, wind, and cold. We sure would like to look out the 2 windows and see some sunshine.

We appreciated the visits from the Banfield family, Heather, the kids, and both grandparents. Ryann and Camden continue to be troopers during all this. I was thinking today on the way home what wonderful kids we have. I can't imagine how hard this would be if they were not so well behaved and easy going.

MORNING 15

2006-01-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

Things went as planned last night. Just like the previous 14 nights and days. Sorry the post is late. Rockford had a 2 hour delay because of ice. When you try to get yourself in a routine things like this throw a monkey wrench into your schedule.

I surprised Jen with a big burger from Friday's. This is a celebration of 2 weeks plus!