CAT | Birthday
We had fun celebrating Audrey’s first birthday with friends and family at our house. Kate did a great job planning the party and coordinating everything. She made some awesome cookies-on-a-stick and created some great decorations. She’s amazing!
We decorated the cake with marshmallow fondant to match the invitations and it turned out great! If you haven’t tried the marshmallow kind, I highly recommend it.
Decorations and Kate’s awesome cookies.
Sitting room only! Audrey’s bear cake, a tradition we’ve done with all 3 kids.
The big cake!
Trying the bear cake. Yum!
Birthday Girl
Total cake decimation! It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!
We celebrated Audrey’s birthday twice. We were planning a party for her later in the week but still wanted to celebrate on her actual birthday. Kate, with Grant and Norah’s help, made and decorated a cake.
Grant and Norah decorated the cake (with help from Mom)
Candles are fun!
Good to the last crumb!
My, how time flies. I can hardly believe that 5 years have passed since I became a dad. These have been some of the best years of my life. Every day is an adventure!
My prayer today:
Lord, I thank you for my children and for the blessing of being a father. Today, on Grant’s fifth birthday, I take a moment to thank you for the gift of Grant. Thank you for his safe delivery, infancy and toddlerhood. Thank you for protecting him during his preschool years. Thank you for drawing him to yourself and to me. Thank you for building strong and precious bonds between me and my son. Lord, continue to build and strengthen Grant’s relationship with You and with me. Keep him safe and healthy. Surround him with godly friends and role models. Amen
Grant, I love you more than I could ever explain in words. You are my son, my firstborn child, and an awesome big brother to your sisters. You are so special to me, more than you will ever know. Happy 5th birthday my boy!
We had a fun time celebrating Grant’s 5th birthday. Kate gave him the choice to either go out to dinner and make a cake at home or to have dinner at home and get a cake of his choice from a store. He chose to have his favorite dinner (cheeseburgers, sweet potatoes) at home and wanted a Costco cake (blank, so Mom could decorate it with a train theme). Kate did a great job decorating the cake.
His primary gift from us this year was an overnight trip to Saint Louis on Amtrak. We’d never ridden Amtrak before, so it was going to be an adventure!
Yes, you heard right. 30.
I could really care less. It’s just another birthday. Kate and the kids made it special though.
As I pulled into the driveway after work on my birthday, I saw that Kate and and kids had decorated the front porch and were excited as could be to have me see what they’d done. After reviewing their handiwork, we went out to dinner @ Red Robin. As we were seated at a giant table, I knew that something was up.
Kate had invited everyone from our Community Group to join us and several families were able to make it. We had fun and were kept busy by the rather large gang of toddlers and preschoolers we brought 
Much merriment was had by all.
After we returned home, we had a little dessert that Kate had made. Homemade pound cake with fresh berries and a special sauce. Yum.
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They say a good day starts with a a good night. How true! Today was a good day.
We had a fairly restful night, except for the considerate nurse that turned on the overhead lights at 1 in the morning Other than that intrusion, everyone got some much needed sleep.
We had a lazy morning. Kate finally got uncoupled from all of the machines and was able to take a shower which was great as she felt refreshed afterwards. She is doing well, able to get up an around a little bit (in our isolation chamber:) and is wearing her normal clothes instead of the fashionable hospital gown now.
I went out to Sycamore to pick up Grant at Grammy’s and take him to preschool. I thought that I left the hospital in plenty of time. Not so much. We made it just in time to get through the closing door. We may have been the last ones there, but we made and that’s what counts right?
When preschool was over, I picked Grant up and we went to the carwash to clean off mommy’s van. We(Grant) chose the do-it-yourself type and he had fun spraying the car with soap and rinsing it clean. Then we stopped by Wal-Mart to kill some time and get a small toy for Audrey before heading back to the hospital. He spent some quality time with Kate and Audrey before Norah and Grammy came to visit. Grant held Audrey for a little while, but he’s really not into playing with things that don’t move and aren’t trains!
We had some more visitors tonight and had a fun time catching up with old friends.
That’s all for now. Kate and Audrey are sleeping here. Hopefully Grant and Audrey are sleeping at home!
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She’s here!
Audrey Grace Petro
Born: 8:18 AM
Weight: 7lbs 12oz
Length: 20.5 inches
Our morning started at 4:00 when we got up in order to finish packing up and get to the hospital by 5:30. Kate’s C-Section was scheduled for 7:30 and they had lots to do before Audrey was plucked from her comfy living quarters.
When we arrived, we were taken to the room and the nice nurse starts in “now, I don’t want to really scare you but…”. Yeah, great way to start huh? Turns out that Kate has MRSA, a highly contagious bacterium. Kate’s dad had it when he was in the hospital and some people can carry it for years without any complications. There’s not a whole lot of risk to healthy people but to try and contain the bacterium, the hospital has policies that require “isolation.” This means that from the moment we arrived until the moment we leave, everyone who visits has to wear a gown and gloves. Fun huh?
It also means that Audrey has to be in isolation in the nursery. Whenever we take her to the nursery, we go to a separate room and don the gown/glove combo again.
Back to the story. After Kate was poked and prodded sufficiently, she was taken to the OR for her spinal and prep for surgery. After she was ready and the C-Section underway, I was brought back to join her. She did great and the delivery went smoothly. Audrey was cleaned up a bit and came to meet Mom! Kate got to meet her on the operating table before going to recover.
Then, while Kate was in recovery, I went to the nursery isolation room with Audrey and watched as she was measured, weighed, footprinted, and much more.
After Kate was situated, we went back to our room and Kate got to hold Audrey again.
We called Grant and Norah to tell them that “baby Audrey” had arrives. They’re pretty excited to meet her. They’ve been waiting a long time to see their new sister.
I’ll post more pictures and stuff later.
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Grant turned 4 in February. We had fun planning a train party at our house and going out to dinner at Red Robin (Grant’s choice) on his birthday. We had Amtrak plates and napkins, a train piñata, and even train candle holders! Yay Internet!!!
Do you think Costco could have cut the cake any more unevenly?
The seesaw was a big hit with all of the kids.
EXTREME seesaw with Uncle Ben 
At preschool, they make a cupcake with everyone’s thumbprint on it for the birthday person. Grant had fun for several weeks pointing out all of his classmates’ names. 
Grant thought that it was pretty cool to have the staff at Red Robin sing Happy Birthday! to him. He even got to meet the mascot, Red.
Blowing out the candles on his actual birthday. 
Grant thought that the train balloons were pretty awesome. In fact, the Amtrak balloon is still floating and tied to his chair at the kitchen table! 
In summary: birthday + house full of preschoolers and toddlers = FUN!
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