Andy & Jessica

Today we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection and Jude’s 6th birthday (2 days early).  PangCakes baked, decorated and donated the cake and the nonprofit Icing Smiles (which arranges dream cakes for kids with life threatening illnesses) arranged it.  Pang, the baker, delivered the cake the cake herself and she could barely get in the door since the boys were rushing her.  Jude was grabbing at the box.  Then she struggled to set up the cake since Jude was trying to confiscate the Lego decorations.  It was tough for Jude to wait to play with the Legos on the cake.  After lunch, we got ready for cake.  Andy didn’t think we should ruin the cake by putting in candles.  I didn’t think we could do a cake without candles.  Ultimately, I won and Jude rushed to blow out the candles because he was worried his toys would start on fire.  The cake tasted as good as it looked (4 layers of chocolate cake with 3 layers of chocolate buttercream frosting).

Jude was thrilled to earn his white tape on his white belt at karate last night. White on white is barely visible, but it really means something to him. It is supposed to signify that he knows the fundamentals of blocking. This time when they told him to step forward, he was not taken off guard.

As Jessica said on October 2nd, Jude is extremely allergic to cats. That means that we have to find a new home for our two cats. We love them, and will miss them greatly, but Jude’s health is more important.

If you, or someone you know, would like to open your home to two great cats, please contact us.

Elli

Elli is 14 years old, and a really sweet feline. Jessica got her in College, and has been a wonderful companion to our family for many years. She is in relatively good health, even for her age. The last time she saw a vet, we were told she will likely live until she’s about 20.

Elli is very quiet, laid back and often timid. She’s very self-sufficient, even by cat standards. She often minds herself, but will occasionally come looking for attention. Whether she’s looking for it or not, she loves all the attention she can get.

The only issues we ever have with Elli are that she does have a problem vomiting. With frequent grooming and the right kind of food, this is a minor issue, but something to be aware of. The biggest instigator of vomiting for her is stress. The worst time for her is when we are away from home for a while. Adjusting to a new home will likely be quite stressful for her, but as she gets comfortable with her new home and family the problem should subside.

Toffee

Toffee is seven years old. We got her in the summer of 2005 after we got married. We found that we had less time to spend giving Elli attention, so we got Toffee as a companion to Elli. The two cats are very good together.

Toffee is generally pretty lazy, but can also be very playful. She is very curious and inquisitive, and loves to explore. We would expect Toffee to adjust quickly to a new home and a new family, and think that her presence would greatly help Elli to adjust to her new life.

Toffee is a polydactyl cat, which means that she has extra toes. Most cats have 4 toes on each foot, Toffee has 6 on each of her front feet and 5 on each of her back feet.

Toffee is also a very healthy cat. She has no issues with vomiting like Elli does. We can’t recall ever seeing her vomit. Her biggest issue is her size, she is overweight, which makes self-grooming difficult for her. She needs to be periodically brushed to prevent the fur on her back from clumping up (it tends to clump in the same way a guy turns his hair into dreadlocks, from lack of care.) A quick brushing once or twice a week keeps everything nice.

Our biggest issue with Toffee is her curious personality. She likes to explore and sometimes gets herself into trouble. Occasionally she’ll knock something over, leaving a mess to clean up.

Both Elli and Toffee are declawed on all four paws, and are completely indoor cats. Toffee has an identity chip under her skin under the back of her neck, which was put in by the humain society before we got her.

We really love these cats, and want them to find a loving home. We’d really like to keep them together, especially since Toffee will do much to help Elli adjust to their new life.

UPDATE: They have both been to the vet and had their shots updated and have been looked over. The vet says they are both in good health.

A few weeks ago, a former co-worker joined us on a trip to the orchard. He is starting a new photography business, and asked if I would take my family someplace fun and let him tag along so that he could put together an album to go into his portfolio. He did an amazing job. The album is available here, and he also put together a video with some of the photos. You’ll want to check out both, as there are great photos that were added to each, but not the other.

Jude and Levi on an Excursion to the Orchard from Capture M.O.R. on Vimeo.

It was a very late night for us. Last night, as we were getting ready go to bed, Jessica decided to use the bathroom one last time before heading to bed, when she heard a pop, felt a kick, and started having a lot of fluid come out. She wasn’t sure at first if she had a lot of peeing going on, or if her water had broken. The baby wasn’t due for another week, and her scheduled C-Section wasn’t planned until Monday morning. After a few minutes it was pretty clear, the fluid kept coming, her water had broken.

It was a little bit of a scramble for us, even though Jessica had packed, and we were about as ready as we thought we would need to be, we had to get the car loaded, and make sure Jude was taken care of. I called the neighbors across the street and asked if Jude could come over for a little while, they were happy to have him. I also called my parents and let them know where he was, they would be coming down to get him and take him home for the night.

After getting Jude squared away, Jessica and I hopped in the car and headed to the hospital. It was 10:30, but the evening was just beginning.

Once we got there and got checked in, we sat in a prep room until after midnight, waiting for the operating room to open up, it was a busy night, with other C-sections going on.

Once we got in, everything moved pretty quickly. At 12:49am today, February 13th, 2010, Levi Alexander Olson made his appearance.

Levi came in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and 20 inches long. He and Jessica are doing quite well.

As some of you may know, Jessica is pregnant once again. As of today, she is 10 weeks. Because of the previous miscarriage, the doctors are watching her closely, and so she’s getting more ultrasounds than would normally be available. So far two, with another next Friday, and a forth at 20 weeks, when we will find out if this little one is a boy or a girl.

Jude has been very consistent when asked if he thinks it’s a boy or a girl. He always says “girl baby.” When asked why, he says “big hair.” Not sure why the big hair, but we think that because he seems to find more girls to play with than boys, he wants a little sister.

Jude’s cousin, Ivan, is a darling little critter. When Jude first visited him shortly after his birth, little Ivan was still quite jaundiced. Some people have been commenting about how dark Ivan is. He really isn’t that dark. It’s just that the pictures posted on our website don’t accurately reflect him anymore. We need to post new ones. Here is the link to Katie and Phil’s recent pictures of Ivan: http://www.flickr.com/photos/reindl/show/

Last Saturday was my cousin Nate’s wedding in Rochester. Nate was my favorite Proper cousin growing up. We were just 5 weeks apart in age. We had a really good time catching up with the Propers at the wedding. We stayed overnight at the hotel where the reception was held. Andy suggested that we sneak away from the reception for awhile to bring Jude swimming in the pool. Jude loves swimming in the bath tub with me, but the water is always nice and warm. I thought that Andy’s idea of bringing Jude swimming in the pool was a horrible idea and that Jude would hate it. But, I went along with it anyway. Jude ended up enjoying swimming in the kiddie pool, even though it was kind of cold. There was also a little waterslide that he seemed to enjoy going on. I guess Andy was right this time!

After Katie had her baby Tuesday morning, I was looking forward to the weekend maybe more than I had ever looked forward to a weekend in my life. I just couldn’t hardly wait to see Katie and my new nephew. The trip to Moorhead was a lot longer than normal. It normally takes us 3.5 hours. With little Jude, it took 4.5 hours. We had to stop to feed him, change him, and change my pants (after a particularly messy diaper explosion). Katie and I had fun setting up baby photo shoots. We got some cute pictures of Jude and Ivan (even some where Jude is holding Ivan). It seems that most of my quality time with Katie was spent on the couch in her bedroom while we were breastfeeding our babies. The weekend went by far too fast. We are hoping to go back in July and spend more time with them.