We are the mundane
Two weeks ago Steve’s 90 year old mother fell in the nursing home and broke her hip. Off to the hospital we were for surgery. Then, last Wednesday at 7:30 AMÂ Dawn called doubled over in pain. I went over to take care of the kids and after a mis-diagnosis at a clinic (sent home with pain-killers), Dawn went to the emergency room. By 11:00 PM she was having her appendix removed.
It’s been a crazy few weeks, but everyone is home and recuperating!
At 8:03 AM Saturday morning, Sept 5th, our third grandson, Ethan Thaddeus arrived! Arriving two weeks early he still weighed 7lb. 5 oz. and measured 19 1/2 in. long.  Andrea went completely natural, enduring a painful “corkscrew” delivery (his shoulder was stuck). He is adorable…Brian particularly loves Ethan’s sideburns that match his.Â
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Andrea’s due date is a little more than 3 weeks away. Here are a few pictures from their home and her shower held last week (that’s Rook, Shannon’s fiance carrying out some of the gifts). And of course, Blake & Reid.
Decided to keep the 60th a small celebration (unlike the 40th & 50th). Had dinner with some close friends last weekend. Note the beautiful orchid arrangement Dawn made (and small bouquets for each lady). Kenny, I do look much better when pictures are taken out of the sunshine, don’t I?
Dinner on my birthday was at Dawn’s. Reid was sick, so he went to bed early. Blake helped Mommy decorate…he especially loved the balloons and the Mickey Mouse cake.
Shannon put together a little book of “60 Things I’ve Learned from My Mom”. Some were pretty standard things a mother should teach a child i.e., “Patience”, “Work Ethic”, “Pride” etc. Some were things our mother taught us i.e., “Kill them with Kindness”, giving people the “Benefit of the Doubt” etc. Some things were applicable to just us i.e., “The Fall Family Lazy Gene – it does exist and I’ve taught her how to combat it”, “How much she loves Mickey Mouse cakes”, “How to pronounce things correctly – The ‘Mary’ test is a perfect example”, and of course “Family – Nothing matters more”.
It was a great birthday and would only have been better with all of you here. We got close on Christmas…we need to keep trying!
Reid (no middle name yet), was born about 6:30 this evening! 8lbs. 8oz., 21in. long. Both Mom and baby are fine. Dawn says he might be a red-head…the name kinda fits. Hope Charlotte doesn’t mind sharing her birthday!
Grandson #2, that is. Dawn has been in labor for 8 1/2 hours. We’re hoping Charlotte will have a cousin with whom to share her birthday (otherwise he will be a leap year baby)! I’ll keep all posted.
I had planned on posting pictures of Blake’s first birthday, but we’ll have to wait a little longer for that. I can’t find them! I thought they had been uploaded to our new computer, but they aren’t. Steve is in Hong Kong & India on business and has our camera with the disk, so…blah, blah, blah. Instead, I’ll post my favorite picture of Blake…he was all sweaty with his hair slicked back but he looks so cute. By the way, Larry, you’re probably the only family member who doesn’t know this, but Dawn is pregnant again. She’s due March 3rd with another boy. How about some Penn State memorabilia if the baby is born on your birthday, the 2nd? Chris’ family has bombarded Blake with University of Illinois stuff and Dawn really wants to get the competition going. Can you help?
What a great visit with Elliot and friends Joe and Adam! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time! They were very interested in learning the dynamics of the Fall family…and engaging themselves in every competition we could dream up (from the proper way to speak to pool and air hockey)! I’m so sorry we had to go away on Saturday. I understand Steve and I missed out on a great day in Chicago.
Gary – you should have a blast on Wednesday!
The White Sox World Series Trophy Tour was at work today. So I waited in line for about 10 – 15 minutes and they snapped a polaroid.
Here I am! Pretty cool except they move you out of there in about 5 seconds to get the next person in.
Their first intro as Mr & Mrs: