Wow. Time just keeps slipping right on by, and I just keep not posting anything here. *sighs* So here’s some things:

• Week before last, Ian and Leah’s Arizona Grandma (a.k.a. my mom) came to visit for a week. Ian greatly enjoyed having another Grandma around to run ragged, and Shawna got a bit of a break from having to deal with two little people on my first week back to work.
• Leah is growing well, having put on about 2 more pounds in the last couple of weeks. She hasn’t been officially measured since her 2-week doctor’s appointment, but we’re approximating with the bathroom scale. She’s definitely not malnourished.
• Her eyes have stayed blue, and in the sunlight, what little hair she has is almost red; definitely much more red than Ian’s was. She seems to possibly have an allergy to something in her environment, possibly one of Shawna’s bath products, as she’s been getting a rash on her face after being held. The pediatrician’s office wasn’t too worried about it, but we’ll check back with them at her 6 week appointment.
• Ian is definitely taking the idea being a 2-year-old to heart, including the “wanting to be independent and do things for himself but not being dexterous enough or physically able to do things”, the “random mood swings and tantrums for no particular reason”, and the “strong opinions about what type of diaper, what pajamas, or what shirt to wear today”. I’m sort of envisioning this as being what having a teenager is like, except a teenager you can’t necessarily pick up and carry into their bedroom with, “I’m sorry, but you are going to bed now, and you’re not wearing your galoshes to bed.” We’re all learning the art of picking our battles, though.
• On the other hand, Ian is also becoming much more interested in creative play, crayons and Play-doh, building towers, squirt bottles, and other such. He also likes to “help” with many of the everyday things around the house – some of which (taking out the trash, doing the laundry, scooping the litterboxes) he is actually helpful with, and others of which (loading the dishwasher, vacuuming, doing dishes, putting ice in the glasses for dinner) he is questionably helpful with, but is quite offended if he is not allowed to help.
• We’ve determined that going out to eat (formerly one of our favorite pastimes) is probably something which is best limited to special occasions when trying to do so with two little people. In general, though, this will probably be a good thing for our wallets and our waistlines.
• Other random milestones: Ian and Leah attended their first They Might Be Giants concert at the KC Jiggle Jam; Justin (and Ian and Grandma Sue) participated in the Urban Photo Safari; Leah turned one month old; Shawna had her first night out without the kids tonight, and everyone is still in one piece.

That will be all. I’ll try to get more pictures posted soon.

The problem with things going well is that it doesn’t provide much fodder for interesting things to share with the rest of the world. (And in some cases, you’re afraid to brag to the world about how well things are going, lest you tempt fate and things stop going so well.) All that said, things have been going very well. Leah has been eating well, growing well, sleeping relatively well, and in general being a good baby. Her weight check last Tuesday showed that she was already back above her birth weight by 3 ounces, which is excellent – the usual rule of thumb is that babies should be back to within one ounce of their birth weight by 2 weeks of age.

Ian has been doing well, he seems to be adjusting well to his little sister – I think having me home to provide him extra attention has probably helped to balance out the attention being lost to little sister. I started working half-days from home last Wednesday, and went back into the office for the first time today (still just half-days this week, though). Ian seems to finally be getting past his “going-to-sleep” issues, or at least doing a lot better job of doing so, and it seems Shawna actually had a good first afternoon with the two of them at home by herself today.

We had a very mellow weekend – went to a picnic in the park on Saturday sponsored by our financial advisors. Aside from being a bit windy and brisk it was a nice outing – Ian got to spend some quality time in the bouncy castle, and we got some free barbecue and out of the house for a bit. Otherwise, the weekend was just spent keeping the house in order, doing a bit of shopping, and lazing around the house. I can’t say that I’m exactly ready to go back to work full time; working from home, now that I have a reasonably private space to do it in, was kind of a nice thing – I think I’m going to start trying to do it on a slightly regular basis, assuming it doesn’t get too many people at work upset.

I also finally got my new camera, which I am thus far enjoying – I will leave you with a few photos to enjoy.

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We’ve been home from the hospital for 48+ hours now, and so far everything is going as well as can be expected – truth be told, better than I expected. Leah thus far is a much more laid-back baby than Ian was, pretty content with sleeping a lot, eating a lot, and occasionally waking up long enough to look at the world around her for an hour or two, and then drift off back to sleep. I’m sure this will change, but for the moment, it’s pretty pleasant.

The hospital gave us the go-ahead to go home about 2pm on Wednesday, after both of the doctors had checked out mom and baby, and with some help from Shawna’s parents, we hauled out all of the stuff, and drove on home. It was a warm and pleasant spring afternoon, so after getting home, we hung out in the back yard for a while, enjoying the sunlight and first few blooming things of springtime. (Which, unfortunately, seem to be dandelions and violets in the back yard.) Ian played on his slide and showered his new sister with kisses, and Leah lounged on Mama and Dad’s lap, content to soak up the sun. However, being springtime in Missouri and all that, after an hour or so, it clouded up as thunderstorms rolled in, so we headed inside to introduce Leah to her new world. (Unfortunately, this also coincided with me discovering that my almost-2-year-old digital camera had given up the ghost, so I missed out on some good photo opportunities, until I went and got Shawna’s camera instead.)

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Leah (and Mom) are doing well; Leah has spent much of the past 24 hours sleeping, but did wake up long enough to eat her first good meal around 11:30 this morning, and has eaten well a couple of times since, when we could wake her up enough to consider eating. Mom has been trying to spend much of the past 24 hours sleeping, but it seems that about the time she starts to drift off, someone comes in to poke, prod, or measure her, or visitors arrive, so sleep has not happened as much as she would have liked.

Grandma and Grandpa brought big brother Ian to visit yesterday afternoon, but Ian was very suspicious of the little thing in Mama’s arms. During today’s visit, Ian was more curious and less suspicious, however, and at least leaned over to examine her a couple of times while Grandma was holding her. Great-grandma Nave, Shawna’s cousin Cassie, and Shawna’s aunt Vicki also came to visit today; Leah slept through most of the visit, but Great-Grandma was happy to hold her while she slept. Otherwise, it’s been a very quiet day, I think we’re all looking forward to going home to sleep in our own beds tomorrow night. (At least at home there aren’t people jostling up and down the halls all night and calling the nurse to the next room every 20 minutes.)

Leah looks a lot like Ian did at 1 day old, but honestly, most babies do. Shawna’s and her mom claim that they’ve seen a dimple – I haven’t caught her smiling enough to tell yet. She has the same long, delicate fingers and toes as Ian, and her legs are long and skinny too, if she’ll actually stretch them out. She likes to stay bunched up in a little ball – I guess if you’ve been that way for 9 months, it just kind of becomes habit. I’ve taken many more pictures, which I’ll post once I get home and have a better network connection. For now, I’m going to try to get some sleep, though.

Please welcome to the world Miss Leah Claire Ferguson.

Born: April 21, 2008 at 12:22pm at North Kansas City Hospital
Weight: 7 lbs 8.8 oz
Height: 21 1/4 inches

Mama and baby are both resting happily after a speedy delivery.

Currently, the update is…there is no update. At the doctor’s office Friday, the doctor said it could be any time, but that time has yet to arrive. A mostly-relaxing weekend has passed, and nothing has changed; if nothing happens between now and 4 am Tuesday, we’ll be heading to the hospital in the wee-wee hours on Tuesday so induction (inducement? … the giving of the magic drugs) can occur.

In other notes, Ian and I planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, herbs, and flowers yesterday in our backyard planters and little garden area. I’m giving one more try at a garden in our backyard, and if the results are abysmal again this year, I’m calling it quits. (Note that I said nothing about the front yard – though odds are we’ll be looking at selling the place by gardening time next year.) I’ve moved the garden spot to yet a 3rd location, that gets … different sunlight. Our back yard has limited sun, and is partially overhung by a black walnut tree, neither of which is conducive to gardening. If I didn’t think it’d make the neighbors hate me, I’d just plant sweet corn in the front yard, which would be perfect for it. Ah, well.

Ian’s second birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and last week we finally got the prints back from his 2-year-old photo session at the Sears photo studio. Some of them came out really well, and some not-so-well, but he’s still a frighteningly cute little boy (and he knows it). One of my co-workers said he should be in Baby Gap ads. The rest of the photo set is in the gallery – if you want prints, and I haven’t already sent you some, let me know.

I set this site up almost 2 years ago, just before Ian (Monkey #1) was born. Unfortunately, I have an amazing inability to actually sit down in front of a computer and choose which of the 37 different things I want to do I should actually do, and thus I usually end up either surfing the web or doing something for work, when I should be paying this page attention. As a result, this blog (I still hate that “word”, but use it grudgingly) has gone un-populated … until now. On the cusp of the birth of Monkey #2, I think now is a good time to start actually putting some things out here for the friends and relatives that I spend far too little time communicating with via other means.

For those of you who don’t know, today is the official, doctor-sanctioned due date for Monkey #2, though, since these things are always an imprecise science, it’s looking like it probably won’t be today, and thus the waiting game continues. Fortunately, despite what Shawna claims are my best attempts otherwise, we’ve finally achieved some level of readiness, as we have a room ready, most of the rest of the house cleaned up, old toys dug out of storage, and at least a couple of bags of newborn diapers purchased. Of course, the world being what it is, there are a number of things throwing monkey wrenches in the “relax and wait” plan – Ian having an ear infection, me having some minor medical issues, and Shawna’s grandma being sick, but, well, life isn’t always convenient.

Anyhow, that said, watch this space – I’ll try to to update this page as soon as we have news, and keep reading as we make our way through this next life adventure.