Battan kids and the Nebraska Grands

Just before they headed back to NE 9/27/09

Abby (5), Grandma Dorothy, Ben (4 days), Grandpa Glen, Nicholas (20 mo), Daniel (3)

Mojo

(Scooter & Mojo, 10-03-09)

So, I forgot to mention the funniest thing about bring home Ben. As with all of our kids, naming him was especially difficult. I was still liking William and Zachary, and not liking the B-B alliteration. But, unlike the other kids, as soon as I saw the little guy I thought - Ben. Then, within a minute of holding him, Nathan looked at me and said "Benjamin." We still fought it though. (Considering I wanted to name both Daniel and Nicholas "William" - I couldn't give it up too easily.)


Thursday night, James asked Daniel what we should name the baby. This was always a fun game, as Daniel always said "Harry!" (with gusto - an exclaimation, not a statement.) Apparently, Daniel didn't disappoint and responded with the usual "Harry!" Then he added, "Wait, not Harry. I've got it. MOJO! We should name him MOJO!"

And so, Ben has a nickname. Mojo Battan. It has a good ring...

H1N1

Name three things that you hope don't happen when you're bringing a newborn home from the hospital.

How about having the oldest sibling diagnosed with H1N1 flu? Yeah, that ranks up there. And yeah, that's what happened. Abby was sent home from school on Wednesday 9/23/09 with a 102.7 fever. We called the pediatrician from the hospital and they said if she had no other symptoms she wouldn't need to be seen. Wednesday night we opted to risk bringing her in meet the new baby- she just had to follow a few extra rules. She washed her hands and used the magic foam soap and only kissed baby's hat. I let her touch his feet too. She seemed OK, but said she was a bit cold and her eyes hurt. I think she was getting "ache-y."

Thursday she felt great in the morning, but Nathan kept her home as more of a precaution. She came to the hospital with daddy and followed her same hand washing and no-kissing on the face rules. She was doing great for most of the day, but started complaining about a sore throat. Then started feeling "hot." As we were in a hospital room, I used the in-room thermometer to take her temp and it was a low 100.2. Within an hour it spiked back to 102.6 and she was looking awful and saying her throat was really sore. So, off to the pediatrician they went. I was fully expecting strep. Not H1N1 flu. The peds office is not confirming cases of H1N1, but treating any flu-like symptoms as H1N1. As there is a newborn and new mommy in the family, they opted to treat her with Tamaflu. Poor kid - more missed school!

On Friday, she and daddy came back to the hospital, but wore masks as a precaution. Every time Abby had to wear her mask or do something she may find "embarrassing" Daddy did it too so she wouldn't feel self conscious. She has been a real trooper about the whole thing and was very careful about doing the right things to keep her new little brother safe and happy.

Benjamin James Battan has arrived!

Benjamin James Battan

Born on September 23, 2009 at 2:33 p.m.

Weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces

Measured 20.5 inches in length

Here he is, just a few minutes old.

The last night as "5"

Well, baby boy will arrive tomorrow sometime. OK, let me correct that. I am scheduled to be induced tomorrow, 9/23/09 at 7:30 a.m. This is of course, assuming that 1) Little bugger doesn't decide to play "beat the clock" and come on his own, 2) the hospital doesn't delay the induction time because they are too full (they apparently won't completely 'bump' me being scheduled that early) and 3) the induction moves at a decent pace and the kid comes before midnight. Yeesh. That last one has me concerned. I have heard that inductions take "extra" time. Considering that I'm being induced for a history of "fast labor," I'd hate to go the other direction and have this take all day!

The kids were pretty good tonight, all things considered. Abby had another accident (we're having some issues with #2 accidents. Yuck is all I can say about that). Nicholas threw a car at Abby's head. Daniel bonked me on the head with his head. And that was a good night :) Just think, tomorrow there will be 4!

What were we thinking?

Apple Day at the Farm

Brooklyn Park's Eidem homestead has several "special event days" and yesterday is what we call "Apple Day." There is an 1800's baseball game, fresh pressed apple cider (pressed in a manual, really old press), hay rides, and other fun little activities.

Here are some photos from the day.
Three little Battan kids sitting on a bench eating apples straight from the growers baskets. Nicholas LOVES apples - I think they qualify as his favorite fruit and one of his favorite words to say.

All of the kids want a turn on the rope swing, and you can't really swing unless you get a good push. So Nicholas helped Daniel out...

Nicholas is too little to swing alone, so Mommy helped (even with my "lack of a lap"). Daniel thought he would be a hero and help with the pushing. What's really funny is the next photo where Mommy smacked into Daniel because he didn't understand that the swing comes back with more force. No Battan kids were injured during this trip :)

I call this the leprechaun photo. Nathan sent Abby and Daniel into a little stand of treed and shrubs next to the farmhouse. They were so excited to find "a really gigantic mushroom" and made daddy go into the trees to take a picture of them with their find. The mushroom is that brown circle-thing between the two of them. But really - how cute are these smiles? And for once- I can tell that they are related - look at those chins and cheeks!

The kids also got a lesson in the identification of poison ivy. Daddy found some about 3 feet from where they found their mushroom. I don't know if the lesson sunk in, but they did manage to avoid getting covered in poison ivy.

Geode

I picked up a geode on my latest travels and thought the kids would like to smash and explore (OK, so Daddy smashed while the kids watched from a safe distance wearing safety glasses - THEN they got to explore!). We also happen to have 4 small geodes from previous trips. We broke the large one first, which was quite exciting - it was pretty. We also broke two of the small ones. Unfortunately, the small ones weren't as pretty as the big one, but they were still pretty cool.

Oh my heavens!

The boys have a "new" favorite game. It's called Catching Airplanes or Catching Clouds (depending on which boy is being launched into the air). (By the way, mommy calls this the Giving Mommy a Heart Attack game.) Nicholas especially likes doing this outside, as he can really catch some air, obviously. Inside, we have to watch for ceiling fans and lights and such. Much less exciting, but not much safer.