The No-Longer-Idaho Schreiners come to visit!

We are so incredibly thrilled that our amazing Idaho family has now moved closer to home, and we can see them more often!  My brother got a job with the border at Warroad, MN, and he and the family moved there about a month ago!  I still call them the "Idaho Schreiners" and am not sure when I will get used to a new name.  They already came down to visit, and we can't wait to get up there very soon. Katherine and Welsey are the most amazing children.  When they were here, they were so gentle and caring with Ben and William, and Ben couldn't have had a better time.  It is so clear how much Ben adores his older cousins, and I'm right there with him!

We love you guys so much, and are so happy you are closer!!!

We had such a blast all weekend.  We played outside, with an awesome game of baseball, went to the zoo (Wesley's FIRST zoo, and Katherine's 2nd time, but not since she was very little), went shopping :), went to some great restaurants, and just had a blast catching up, talking, laughing, and playing!  Thank you so much for coming to visit us.


Melanie had a soft spot for her godson, William.  We were so thankful that Matt and Melanie agreed to be William's godparents!  One lucky kid :)

We had such a blast playing baseball at the park.  Mom and Dad were with us, and the kids just went wild hitting the ball and running the bases (when Ben actually ran the bases... he decided it was more fun to chase the ball than run)

Ben LOVES his Uncle Matt.  They had so much fun together all weekend.  Ben's eyes just light up whenever Matt started talking to him.  It was so precious.

We quick took this picture because it looked like Matt's work pose when he was really 'getting things taken care of' ... too funny.

Both Katherine and Welsey were so gentle and caring with William.  It was so sweet.  Katherine just wanted to hold him and help all the time.

Making forts in Ben's room was another hit.  Below they were practicing different faces at me.  I took so many pictures, but here were a few.

and finally, THE ZOO!  It was so fun, because the Idaho Schreiners were very new to the zoo atmosphere.  I loved seeing both of them watch all the animals.  My favorite was the leopard (a few pictures below) as we were all CERTAIN one was eyeing up Katherine, and sauntering down towards her as if in hunting mode.  It was pretty cool.

They were all galloping around.  This was the best visual I could get.

Going to a 3D movie on the Serengeti.  It was Ben's first movie, and he loved it, although he didn't wear his glasses during it at all.  William slept the whole time..... and so did Dad :)

We still miss you guys, and hope we can see you way more often now!

At Griffin and Elli's lake!

We all had such a fun time at Uncle Steve, Aunt Jennifer, and Griffin and Elli's cabin on a late weekend of the summer.  Of course, as has happened to us a lot lately, we brought the rain with us!  But we still got some great lake time in, and some super fun cousin time.  We went to a fun restaurant on a lake for dinner, and there was live music outside where we were sitting.  I didn't get any pictures, but it was ADORABLE when Ben and Griffin got on the dance area, and just starting rocking out!  For like 20 minutes!  The musicians loved it, the diners loved it, and of course we loved it.  It was so much fun!

Thank you for having us!!!!

William in the hospital

Well, we had a very big scare a few weeks back, when William was 7 weeks old.  I was home with him that day, and so excited that he had slept through the night the night before.  I also was giving him bigger feeding at a time that day, and he slept most of the day, which I had attributed the larger feedings.   When Patrick got home, he though he was warm, so he took his temperature, and it was 101.1.   I was heading to the Gopher Football game with Dad, so Patrick took him in to Urgent Care while I went to the game.  You see, Benjamin has had temps his entire life, so we weren't too concerned.  Well, apparently when infants have temps over 100.4, they need to go to the ER immediately,  which we didn't know!  I left the game and met them there, and it had gone up to 101.7.  Newborns cannot keep an infection localized in one area, and it often spreads to other parts of the body, most dangerously, the spinal and brain fluid.  So they took a lot of blood from William, put in a catheter for a urine sample, and most frightening, did a spinal tap.  Then they admitted him for 2 nights to the hospital to monitor while giving him fluids and antibiotics through an IV.

They determined by the end of his stay that he did not have a bacterial infection (good!) but did have a viral infection of the entero virus, and it was in his spinal and brain fluid, so he did have viral meningitis.   As I understand it, viral meningitis is the worst of viral infections, but it is better than having any bacterial infection.  The long-term risks are low, but still there.  Thankfully, he was on the mend, eating great, and we were certain the virus was making its way out.  We monitored him for the next few weeks, and although he had diarrhea for a few weeks, he has been so much better.

Thank you to everyone for all your thoughts, prayers, and love!  It was pretty scary to have him in the hospital, and both Patrick and I are SO THANKFUL to my mom and dad, who took turns staying overnight with Ben while we both looked after William during the nights.  Thank you, Mom and Dad --- we love you, and Ben loved having you with him!!

Take a look at my sweet baby ... they gave him hospital pjs that worked with his IV, and they put a diaper over his IV so he couldn't put it in his mouth.  Little sweet guy.

Williams first boat ride!

William goes on his first boat ride! We got to go to Oma and Charlie's lake house, and take a ride.  Ben even got to fish a little!  It was so cute to put William in the little life jacket, and it didn't bother him all the much.  Our biggest challenge was trying to keep him out of the sun.  He was only 4 weeks old in these pictures.... :)