More Lukas

Jesse and Lukas and their very first diaper change. Jess was a little nervous, but willing to make the attempt.

This was more involved than Jesse thought it would be. I can guarantee you that Amy, Sarah and I were NOT laughing at all. We could not have been more supportive!!

Finally, success. Jesse kept working his way around the changing table and is now concerned that when he tries this at home there will not be enough maneuvering room.

WOW! Now that we have finished with the diaper it's time to get dressed. This could be the real challenge.

Jesse was talking to Lukas throughout the whole process. At one point he told him," this is going to be a lesson in perseverance and we are in this together" and, "these sleeves are so small and my hands are so big".

OK, so now he was working up a sweat and needed to shed some clothes so he could continue.

I think Lukas knew how nervous his daddy was because throughout the whole process he laid there quietly, so as not to make it any more difficult. Once he was dressed they shared a little bonding moment.

People are saying I have my daddy's feet.. What do you think? (For those who have seen Jesse's feet.)

Time for a little reflection

Our little bundle...cute , adorable and precious!!

PROUD grandparents. We are so happy and proud of Jesse and Amy and, so in love with Lukas.

Look at these pictures .... Can you tell which one is Jesse and which one is Lukas?

Answer: The one on the right is Jesse and the left is Lukas.

Lukas Elliott Ward

Well. he has finally arrived. Lukas Elliott Ward born Jan. 29. 2009. He weighed 8lbs. 4oz. and is 20 1/2 inches. I was privileged to be a part in his birth, and both Jesse and especially Amy did a wonderful job. I will send these few shots so you can all be a part of this little wonder and will update you after I get some sleep.
The happy family

Aunt Sarah and Lukas

The VERY proud grandpa!
Much more soon
Love to all Mary

Waiting for Lukas

We are here at the hospital waiting for Lukas. So far everyone is doing well. We are hoping that they speed up and move along. We will keep you informed.

Bye for now!!!

Lovely sunny winter day

Today was a nice mostly sunny winter day, cold but tolerable, so we went for a drive. Wanted to take in some of nature's wonder. This is a shot straight down Coldwater river. Dave then took us to the buffalo ranch, and we were lucky some of them were out.

We then decided to drive to Fallasberg Park. We are driving along and we see a big bird fly along side the truck. We realized that it is an eagle. I grabbed the camera and Dave almost pushed me out of the truck. I stood there as he took off down the road with the door still hanging open, he was concerned about the traffic. I was able to get a few nice pictures and Dave came back around to pick me up. I crossed the road and stood near the rear door to take a couple other pictures. I took one step and my right leg sunk down into the snow....above the knee. I am now staring up at the bottom of the truck, and grabbing for the handle. Sarah is wondering why I am not just standing up, not realizing I have fallen in a hole!!!! I was finally able to pull my self up and Sarah was surprised how far down I had gone. Dave was just concerned that I might get snow on his seats.
Here is a nice picture of Sarah at the park

Drove to Ada and stopped at the covered bridge. It was very pretty.
After Ada we headed out to meet Jesse and Amy for dinner. We had Chipotle in hopes the spicy food would get things going. Now we just wait for the call. No matter how it goes we will all be happy to meet Lukas when he comes. I think Amy is ready!!!

All in all a great day

Waiting

Well. we are still waiting for news on Lukas. Amy's due date was the 22nd so it should be anytime now!!! We will let you all know as soon as something happens.

So, while we wait I thought I would share a few stories with you. First about the owls.....In the fall we had to clean out the nest box and that happened to be when Dave suffered his broken collarbone. Anyway, we had Jesse come over to lend a hand. I was not aware that Jesse is afraid of ladders and heights until Amy and I were watching from the house and she was concerned about how high he was going.....hehe ( sorry Jes)

Just a little higher

Well, a couple weeks ago I wanted to see what might be happening in the box so I had Dave plug in the camera and unfortunately there was NO picture. I have been digging through the snow in the woods looking for the connections so we can check them. We had tied the cable to a tree but, it must have fallen. No luck yet, so we must wait for a little warm weather( if that ever comes.) Anyways, today I was looking out the kitchen window and looked at the box, don't get excited, it was not the owl. At least I know that the owls were not in the nest, because the pest was sunning himself.
So that is our one technology issue. The other is the D*&$ DTV conversion thing. We have the box we need, but the antenna we have is not strong enough to get all the channels in. I can not get ABC one day and CBS the next. Now for the normal person this should not be a problem, but we all know I am not normal!!! So the other night we had to go to Sarah's house to watch LOST!!! Naughty Charlie tried to have dinner with us.
He finally relaxed and joined us for Lost.

Dave assures me that when the weather changes he will climb outside and fix the antenna situation!! Till then we shall endure....hehe.

Enough for now hopefully, we will have baby news soon.

BRRRRRRRR

BRRRR .....really is a understatement. It has been really cold here the last week. Yesterday it was and little warmer and the sun shined on and off , so I asked Dave to take me to the park by the river. Anyone for a swim?? The ice on the tree shows how high the water was just a few weeks ago, after the rain over Christmas.

This also shows where the water level was. I was surprised how much weight the tiny twigs could hold.
A Close up of the hanging ice.
The river with the snow and ice in the sun.
Still some color in the snow.
It was a nice day all around .
Stay warm!!!

COLD

So it has been reeaaallllly cold here the last couple of days. At night is has been below 0 and not much above most of the days. The deer in the woods behind the house were looking a little weary!!, and fuzzy!! This year we have not seen as many as usual, some winters we have seen as many as 21 but the most at one time this year has been 3.

My dear sweet son, called me last night and started the conversation with...."So are you ready to take a drive tonight??" Of course I thought that meant Lukas was on his way, and then he proceeded to laugh. And quite loudly if I say so myself, he was very pleased with himself. After reminding him of Peter and the wolf he apologized and promised not to do that again....we shall see if that is true.

So Dave picked up his new riding prescription glasses, what do you think. Sarah and I tried to be supportive!! Really we did...........

So other than the crappy weather not too much new going on. We will keep you all informed.
Love to all DandM

Jan.12

Hello again,

We went to K-zoo yesterday to visit Jesse and Amy. As you can see little Lukas is getting ready to see the world. Amy is doing well, and they are looking forward to meeting there little one, as are we!!!!

I Love this shot of Amy looking out the back door

Here is auntie Sarah playing with the blackberry. Dad and Jesse are trying to convince her she needs to change her service, for more fun on the phone.

Winter is still around and has a good grip on us. The spruce in the front yard are pretty heavy with snow and we are expecting temps well below 0 tomorrow. The reports say the wind chill should be 25 below with blizzard like conditions....more Michigan fun!

I am not a squirrel lover but I thought this was a cute shot. He seems to be saying...baby it's cold outside!!We had a great time with the family and wait for our little ones arrival. I hope the rodes to the hospital stay clear and as dry as be this time of year.

Love to all DandM

Background info

Hi,

I thought that I would give a little background on the owl photo for those of you that don't know it.

Three years ago my hubby heard some owls in our woods. He did some online research and built this owl box.

I never thought we would really get owls to use the box, but the first day he put it up they were checking it out. They came back in the spring to nest. We named them Hootie and the Blowfish. CUTE right?!

The first spring we had 2 babies and we were able to watch them from our kitchen window and the deck. The second summer we had 3 owlets ,Herbie, Furbie Kirby, and last year 2 more, Ike and Percy.

We have been able to follow them from egg to flight since last year when Dave installed a camera in the nestbox. As anyone who knows me can tell you this is a little bit of an addiction for those few months we have them around.

Last week Dave was down the driveway and came back to tell me the owl was in the woods. I grabbed the camera and headed out. Just as I got close he flew off into the woods and I was not able to get a shot. It is always good to know they are still around. We have some work before they nest in March as for some reason we have found the camera in the box is not working right. So we must get the ladder out.

Another Try!!

Hello All.
Ok, so I promise I will not bore you with little bits of nothing in the future, but I need to figure this thing out. How to bring in pictures and move things around. This morning we woke up to freezing rain and as you can see the truck had a nice coating.


Here in the woods we can't see the sunsets very well, but what we can see is sometimes very pretty. This was a few nights ago.

For Christmas I got Dave a nintendo DS with a game called Brain Age. It has a series of tests that then calculates how your brain is functioning. One of the tests is a drawing challenge.....

Ok, so I thought it was a timed challenge......Really I didn't think it was necessary to spend hours doing detailed drawings. As long as you can get the gist of the object!!!! If you are all honest your drawings would be closer to mine that Dave's!!??!! Believe it or not my brain is functioning at 38 right now....hehe, many of you may be thinking 5.

I hope you will all hang in with me through the learning process. You are my guinea pigs. This is where I will share pictures of little Lukas after his long awaited arrival. I can't wait to be grandma. It is also where I will continue the saga of Hootie and the Blowfish.

Take care

DandM