The Methodology of Chaos

4 more days...

2008-08-31T20:05:00.003-05:00

and I will no longer be wearing glasses!! I'm so excited... I got hooked up with an eye surgeon when I was in Ohio who does free Lasik surgeries for pastors but the waiting list was 18 months long. I had totally forgot about it until I received a call in June ready to schedule my surgery for september - and here we are! So we'll be driving down to Dayton, OH on wednesday and coming back friday night. here's to waking up with clear eyesight!

Some updates from this summer - Cindy took the boys camping with her mom & aunt judy - they seemed to really have a good time with lots of hanging out at the beach!

We've also been able to spend lots of time with family - Isaac & Jonah always love seeing their grandpas & grandmas! The boys spent a week with both grandparents while Cindy & I went to Nicaragua. When we got home it seemed that Isaac had learned to talk in complete sentences all the time!! he now mimics almost any sentence you speak around him... He's such a little boy these days!

I can't believe how much Isaac LOVES to be outside... he would play out in the backyard all day if you let him. The neighbor, Keagan, comes over all the time too to see if Isaac can play.

Isaac had one bummer of an experience this summer - he had to get his nose cauterized. it was pretty quick and relatively without incident. Isaac had to get put under anesthesia and it's always hard to come out of that. we went early in the morning and were home around 10am. So Isaac spent the rest of the morning watching cartoons on the couch while feeling crappy

Jonah had a great couple of doctor's appointments last week too. He's 25% in his measurements (except his head circumference which is always really big) and he's developing just like he should. he had a hearing test and the doctor was REALLY impressed with Jonah's hearing! so he's scoring great on all of his milestones! He's even taken up to 2 steps on his own!

Other than that, we've had a great summer. We spent lots of time at home with the family. We've also gone to the park a lot and even swimming a few times. and Isaac ALWAYS wants to come out to the garage and help his dad fix things. He loves using screwdrivers and hammers! He even helped do some landscaping in the backyard.

summer update - long overdue!

2008-06-21T08:28:00.005-05:00

well, this update is long overdue.... we've been keeping pretty busy as a family - as usual. But we've been loving the summertime... our first one NOT in a hospital for a few years. so here's what's going on with us

Scott:
I took a week of vacation right after our school-year programming was finished just to hang around the house and be with the family. I also redid our master bathroom as well. that's 3 bathrooms we remodeled since moving in last october! Everytime I wish I was smart enough to take before and after shots. but I'm not.

I'm loving the summer, it's a great change of pace and I'm getting lots of time to pray and plan about the future of Student Ministries at Fair Haven as well as getting lots of time to just be relational with people there without programs taking up my time.

We also did our part for the environment and our bank account and bought a scooter. I've had it for 5 or 6 weeks now and I drive it everyday everywhere I go. last month I paid $20 in gas to use it. it's also really fun to ride!

cindy has been busy as well. she stays home with the boys everyday and also has been cutting hair in her salon in the basement. So if you need a haircut, give her a call! She also decided to plant a garden this summer in our backyard.

this last week she went to Chicago with her friend, Emily while I stayed home with the boys

We are both planning on going to Nicaragua this summer with a few students from Fair Haven on a mission trip too.

As for the boys... everyday is a new adventure!

Isaac turned 2 on May 31. Two. wow. He's 2. crazy. in memory of his time in the NICU Isaac put on his newborn hat and held on to his preemie diaper to show the difference

We had his grandpa & grandma schoonveld over for dinner and presents and then the other grandparents the next day. Isaac got a great toy box to put in his room and hold his ever-growing arsenal of toys. he also got some outside toys

Not only do we love our new house - but Isaac loves it too! Everyday he whines to go outside and play in his sandbox or play with the neighbor kid, keegan

but more importantly, the all encompassing "WAGON!" is the most important aspect of his life... he LOVES the wagon... every time he goes outside he wants to go for a ride. Jonah loves it too. They love taking the wagon to the park to play on the slide

From Summer 2008

isaac is starting to talk in short sentences now... and he'll tell us stories that he remembers. We went to Isaac's 2-year doc appointment and the doctor looked "for birdies" in his ear and up his nose. 3 days later he started talking about "ladies!" for the ladies at the doc office. and then "birdies!" "Ears!" "Find it!" cindy says "Yes, the ladies looked in your ears for birdies." and then, "Birdies! Find it! Nose!" cindy says "Yes, the ladies looked for birdies in your nose" and then "Ladies! Tootle! Tickle!" .... yes, the ladies checked your tootle and it tickled!"

at his latest developmental appointment he rated 24-29 months at all of his abilities... so he's well caught up at this point developmentally. he does have to go to the hospital this monday for a small procedure on his nose b/c of all his random nosebleeds. Hopefully that will go well

Jonah turned 1 three weeks before isaac's birthday and then almost immediately started to pull himself up on everything! he's crawling all over the place and standing up on anything he can find! He continues to grow and develop at a great rate and he's doing all the things he should. These days he wants to be just like his brother.

these shots are from a random day of watching cartoons

We also spent some family time together at the Jamestown memorial day parade and had a cookout at Aunt Betty's afterwards

And last night we went to see Uncle Steve's truck at the Truck Show in Muskegon

wow... it's been a long time!

2008-04-26T10:22:00.005-05:00

sorry for the delay in posting... yikes! might as well start with a great picture

things have been really busy around here enjoying the outdoors! We are so excited to finally be able to have a summer where we have a home to call our own and NOT be in the hospital... it's been 4 years since that's been true!

so we've been doing some stuff around the house... we installed a firepit in our back yard and cleaned the yard all up in the back. We also cleaned out and organized our garage and installed some railings on the deck - that we use ALL THE TIME and Isaac & Jonah LOVE to play on.

we also picked up an old-school, rusty swing set for free on the side of the road. $50 worth of new swings and paint and Isaac loves it! and I replaced the door frame to our garage door.

inside we've been organizing our tubs and tubs and tubs of baby clothes to find some shorts and short sleeve shirts for the boys and cleaned out the junk in the basement... including our old washing machine. We finally got our new TV hung on the wall so I've been rocking out on ROCK BAND when I can.

We're contemplating the best way to redecorate the boys rooms... since we've never really done anything with them in our transient state. We're not sure what we want... but I think we may just wait until they get into the "big boy bed" stage to go all out and we may just paint for now. We really missed out on the "decorating the nursery" phase, which is sad for us... but we should be able to do it well for the next stage.

isaac can't stand NOT being outside as much as he can... often Cindy's dad will stop by after work to play with Isaac outside ("side! side! side" or "Walk! Walk! Walk!")

I think he's actually in the middle of saying "Shoes on!"

he gets sad when we don't let him go outside

Recently we went with Cindy's parents to go see the butterflies at fredrick meijer gardens, which was really fun. And cindy took the boys to the zoo with some friends.

We all went to see Grandpa's Rock show at rogers plaza and Grandpa got isaac is very own rock (around his neck)

Cindy took the boys to "Storytime" at the local library last week...Isaac made a pirate hat for the craft... it has the skull of a teddy bear on it.. is that okay?

we had some fun at Claire's birthday

Cindy and I also got some cheap stuff at garage sales this week, which was fun... Isaac loves playing with is $2 plastic kitchen and $ .25 plastic table!

We've also been spending some time walking down the street to the nearby park where Isaac gets to go on the playground equipment and go down the slide.

Jonah's been really active... rolling around everywhere he can and finally scooting a bit forward... on his way to crawling!

so life is pretty good around here... sad that it's cold today but really looking forward to this coming summer!!!

Like i said... we've been busy! So here's another crazy picture to end on... all of our pictures are at our picasaweb site... check the link in the side that says "pictures"

My favorite pictures on the internet ver. 2.6

2008-03-26T10:14:00.002-05:00

It's been pretty busy around the Pontier house... 2 weeks ago I spent the weekend with students in Traverse City - the home or Ryan Beld's much-balyhooed "second family" for GENESIS. The RCA's version of "convention"... but it was a pretty cool weekend - I got to hear a lot of Shane Claibourne... very cool.

Last week my Cousin, Angela Schipper, passed away unexpectedly in her sleep - so there's been a very sad cloud in our lives since. Angie was disabled from birth and has had many different issues since but was altogether healthy when she died... so its a very hard thing to understand for our family these days.

At the funeral, a lot of Angela's friends from the Harbor House (where she lives with other disabled adults) came to the service. It was a very cool experience to spend the service mourning with people who looked different, acted different, talked different. They don't necessarily stay quiet:) but we could all be in the same room and mourn the loss of someone special together. i thought this was a unique picture of what she was able to do in her life - bring together people despite disability to live, interact, smile & cry even though we are different.

here are some recent pictures

Isaac somehow figured out that lotion goes on his face

The boys Eating breakfast & watching "Mickey Mouse Club"...

...and also watching mommy in the kitchen

Cindy took the boys to an "Easter Egg" hunt last saturday.... basically it was a gym floor covered in easter eggs...not much of a hunt... but Isaac didn't seem to mind

some random pics

This is what I'm doing right now

Jonah taking a snooze on the floor

Jonah getting dressed

What Cindy is doing right now

Crazy Ghost Isaac

Around the House....

2008-03-14T11:33:00.002-05:00

new pictures.... Bathtime

Close-ups

Hanging out on the couch with daddy

and practicing some dental work

sunday afternoon napping

watching mommy baking cookies

Jonah fell asleep one afternoon while bouncing in his chair...and he snores... awesome

Hanging out in the kitchen

eating my snack at my table

JONAH SHOTS '08

2008-02-08T10:03:00.001-05:00

we feel bad b/c Isaac has all kinds of pictures of him and we're way too lazy to keep up with the same amount of pictures of Jonah. So here's a bunch of Jonah shots!

he's starting to sit up on his own now!

and he's one of the smiliest people I know!

This is one of my favorite shots b/c of his goofy smile!

From Jonah 2008

Cindy looks like she's recovering from a stroke in this shot

I have a banana!!

Bathtime!

Jonah hates his baths... Isaac loves them and tries to get in the tub anytime he can... but Jonah tends to yelp and get mad when he's in there

and this is what Isaac likes to do first thing in the morning

He likes to watch "tigger & pooh" and "Mickey Mouse Club"... but not sitting down... for some reason he likes to stand up and lean against the chairs...funny kid.

The One where Christmas happens...

2008-01-02T10:26:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from the Pontier family!!

Attempted Christmas Card #1

Attempted Christmas Card #2

Attempted Christmas Card #3

and 4

and 5

This year did not end up to be quite as busy as years past. Cindy's parents and brother came over for dinner on Christmas eve and that was a really nice evening full of lots of fun for Isaac - he's definitely getting the whole rip-the-paper-off technique down - he loves it.

Jonah & uncle Steve

Christmas day was spend going to the nursing home to visit my grandparents

and then we had a Christmas party with some of Cindy's extended family and finally back home to have my parents over for dinner.

so a busy couple of days but nothing like we have been used to in the past. We also went to a wedding for my friend, Juice (yes, we have a friend named Juice... and yes, I think it's his real name.) on friday night which was fun to see a lot of our friends.

I did work a few days in the holiday week - but no one else except for me and 2 other people were ever in the whole building... so not very productive.

I did give myself a job to make myself productive over the holiday weekend - turning our downstairs bathroom into a hair salon for Cindy to use. The bathroom is our 3rd and rarely gets used and was not quite finished. There was trim that needed to be added and caulked. So I took out the toilet & the vanity and added in the trim and painted the whole room. If I were smart I would take before/after pictures. but I'm not so i didn't. But now it's all done - and one of my best works, I think. Now we have to order the equipment and our salon will be up and running for all your hair-cutting needs!

what else happened over the holidays? hmmm... well, we didn't get pregnant - even though all of our friends are, again. my car died twice. my snowblower died. I played some Settlers of Catan & Civilization IV. so that's about that

other random shots
we're borrowing this chair from a friend... too bad it's for girls

Isaac's been hitting his face on the coffee table lately. can you see the bruising under his eye?

cindy's cousin has two large dolls that are "brothers" - both dressed the same but one with brown hair & brown eyes (like Isaac) and one with blond hair & blue eyes (like Jonah)

playing in the snow with dad

The One with all the videos...

2007-12-21T11:13:00.000-05:00

it sure has been forever since our last update! Sorry about that - it's been busy. I've definitely had a few weeks of lots of busy stuff at church but things over the holidays will calm down. Cindy and I have also joined a Torah study club at mars hill that meets on Monday nights - it's been really fun to do together.

The boys have been good - they've actually both been sleeping in to at least 8am everyday which is awesome for us... we're catching up on all that sleep we lost when Jonah came home! I remember staying up to 4am every night to feed Jonah at 12 & 3am and then sleeping till 10 while Cindy got up at 6am to feed Jonah & get Isaac up.... crazy!

Cindy & I have also been talking about what we would need to do to change part of our basement into a salon for her to do hair at home - we'll have to see what kind of tax return we get back first, I think:)

as for the kids, well, Isaac is really up and around now... running all over the house and getting into everything...

although sometimes it's just a lazy Sunday...

Jonah has also been growing really well too. His latest Doctor's appointment had him greater than 50 percentile for his growing measurements which is great! he's also learned a lot from isaac about making noise!

some Halloween videos that we finally put up.

and finally... for today's flashback we look back to Cindy & my anniversery in May where we celebrated 6 years of being married... right about that time we took a video of Isaac & of Jonah...

amazing how they've changed!

Thanksgiving pictures

2007-11-29T15:15:00.000-05:00

we had thanksgiving at our house & Isaac seemed to enjoy himself

he got himself in all kinds of trouble messing around under the table

and had a good time with his family

The one where Isaac walks...

2007-11-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

It's true... contrary to the following pictures, Isaac has been doing more than just sitting in his toy box

He's started to walk this week! On Monday He took 8 small, hesitant steps towards me & Tuesday he took 5 steps toward Cindy. Wednesday he did similar small groups of steps all day long... Very cool

Jonah has also reached a new milestone... he's eating some cereal now - my favorite part of these shots is actually Isaac in the background:

The one with all the leaves...

2007-11-05T14:12:00.000-05:00

This weekend we gave I & J some outdoor fun. We went with their grandpa & grandma to the park near their house to play in the leaves. Isaac decided he's not much of a fan of leaves, unfortunately. We also cooked hot dogs over the fire back at their house & he seemed to enjoy that.

I don't think they understand the concept of "time change" just yet... so Isaac has been getting up uber-early at this point... crazy kid.

So here are some pictures from the weekend

off to the park!

Isaac on the swings

From Isaac & Jonah...

not so thrilled about leaves...

but life doesn't get much better than playing with sticks!

I had my finger on the button waiting for a good shot of him & Isaac actually hit my finger with this stick and made me take the photo

the first picture of the 4 pontiers we've ever taken, I think

Jonah got cold & needed to hang out with mommy

FLASHBACK OF THE DAY:
Shots of Isaac from about a year ago

10/25/06

10/30/06

The one with all the Candy...

2007-11-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

it all feels so busy, but what is there of substance to actually tell? do you ever feel that way? that you are spending a lot of time, but not on anything worthwhile? I've been feeling that way lately. At work I feel like I spend way to much time in the office rather than building relationships with people, rather than in prayer, rather than going to the high school.

On the plus side, we've come to a good rhythm at home where I think our family gets to spend a good amount of time together - and for that we are very thankful, b/c that's way more important than my job. We have been busy over the past couple of weeks though.

I finally mowed my lawn for the first time ever... the lawnmower we bought with the house broke. for good. so I never got to mow the lawn with it. I'm not sure how i'm going to dispose of it though. I think I will just dismantle it a little bit every week and throw the parts in the trash until it's all gone.

so I had to get keys from my dad's house to get into my grandparents house to get keys for the pickup truck parked in their backyard. Then I could take the truck & get the lawnmower from my dad's & mow my lawn. Which I finally did. I had other things to pick up at my grandparents though, so it was a worthwhile trip. We still had our freezer over there full of Jonah's milk. I actually loaded & unloaded that thing into the truck by myself. Which makes me either a superhero or slightly stupid. Either way, Jonah gets his milk, I guess.

So I got to watch Isaac watch me to yard work outside all morning on Wednesday & watch me stain our deck. it was cool to watch him (and Jonah, with mom's help) watch me out our window - it was one of those little things that make me feel like we have a "home"

cindy & I were talking recently at how at "home" we are feeling. the house is wonderful - and it's amazing knowing that we are not just staying here until something else comes along. My job at Fair Haven feels like I've been doing it for years and that I'll be here for a long time. We haven't gotten to enjoy that feeling in two years. So it feels pretty good and stable for us right now. We're thankful for our kids to get some stability too!

Isaac is still refusing to walk. He can, he just doesn't want to. he's also refusing to let us feed himself sometimes. I think it's because he is wanting to do it himself more and more.

Jonah gave us his first giggle yesterday - I missed it but Cindy says it was great. He's rolling from his front to back now, smiling a lot & definitely interested in the world. They grow up so fast:)

We're in a pretty good rhythm at home now... Cindy & I are usually coming out of seperate bedrooms at the same time after putting each of them to bed... I don't know what we'd do if we had 3 kids & they outnumbered the parents! Jonah's sleeping pretty good now too - the last 2 nights have been 12 hours in a row!

Isaac went out trick or treating this week too. Cindy would stand him on the porch & ring the doorbell while he held on to his little bucket. At first people would hold their bowl of candy out & he wouldn't do anything. so they would drop some candy in his bucket. After a few houses Isaac would grab the candy out of his bucket and put it back in the bowl. And then he would start taking candy for himself out of the bowl, put it in his bucket and then pull it out & put it back in the bowl. He had a great time & Cindy & I get to eat his candy!

here are some recent pictures

The one with all the Costumes...

2007-10-21T18:25:00.000-05:00

Cindy had her friends jody & Liz come over to the house with their little boys this week. They were all pregnant at the same time and each of their kids are around a year old. It was so interesting to see how their personality's worked together. One of the boys was headstrong and active and going after everything, one was more of a momma's boy, and Isaac seemed to take it all in at first before he started in on playing. He and one of the boys took turns handing plastic animals to each other and putting them on each other's heads - very cute!

life around the house is still adjusting. we don't feel like we have much of a routine there yet - but we are so thankful for it. It's really nice to live down the street from church! it feels like we have way too many rooms and not enough stuff to put in it!

jeremy & angela came over this weekend and we all played Dance, Dance Revolution on the big screen together. I also borrowed the nintendo Wii from church and projected it on the wall - lots of active gaming that day for sure!

meanwhile everything keeps breaking for us - the washing machine broke... so I bought a new one from a garage sale. The lawnmower broke down & the TV is missing the color yellow for some reason. sigh... this is why we never had stuff... they always break!

even the bathtub drain wasn't working right so we had to improvise

Things at church are pretty good. I think we've settled into a rhythm and now we can start working on some kinks in the systems. I have a decent long-range idea about how we'll approach things so I don't change it all at once. On the other hand, it's hard to see some things that aren't going well & think, "well, that's next year's project" - but it's necessary.

I've been struck lately how much I've not been spending my time on things that matter. I'm using up a lot of time, but not spending it the best way I can - in the end it makes me feel like I'm never accomplishing anything worthwhile.

But, in the midst of all of that, our kids keep growing and doing more things. Jonah rolls from his front to back now & Isaac still is close to walking... I think he took 1 step this week!

Isaac went to Cam's birthday party this week... and dressed up as a puppy for it:

From Isaac & Jonah...

pretty stinkin' cute, I'd say

Isaac & cam first met before Cam was born... and while Isaac was still a month before his due date!

Isaac has been doing his best to help around the house lately, too

cindy's cousin brought over pumpkins for the boys for Halloween

and they tried to help carve them

Jonah didn't want to be left out of the costume party

and Jonah got a little sick of it too...

this one reminds me of how different Jonah looks from Isaac - in our family cindy has green eyes, I have hazel, Isaac has brown eyes, & jonah remains the blond-haired, blue-eyed kid. such a difference from his brother. Plus, his brother doesn't look like a pumpkin... he gets that from his dad

we're home!

2007-10-10T11:38:00.000-05:00

finally all moved in... now we just need a plumber & garage door repair man!

it feels great to be in our new house! yea!

come on down and see us sometime!

NEW HOUSE

2007-10-04T13:45:00.000-05:00

We closed on our house this morning... we now own lots of debt. We'll be packing this weekend and moving on Monday since we don't get possession until Sunday & I work all day....

so if you want to help on Monday, give us a call!

in the meantime, here's some pictures & videos!

Isaac spent a half hour watching his daddy mow the back yard. with one sock. Isaac, not his dad.

Isaac also likes to be by his little brother when he can

and play with his toys

Cindy has also been working at trying to help Isaac learn to walk

Other than walking... Isaac is also eating more and more like a big kid!

and Jonah's doing more too!

Isaac & Jonah

2007-09-11T08:03:00.000-05:00

Isaac has become more and more interested in his brother and often crawls over to see him with a big smile on his face. he also has a really good sense that he has to be careful and doesn't try to smack him around too much but he is pretty gentle... although sometimes he steals the pacifier right out of jonah's mouth

Isaac & his new past time.... standing up on rocking chairs

Isaac & Jonah playing together

Currently Playing:
Foiled
by Blue October

What did you do today?

2007-09-07T13:09:00.000-05:00

I did two things:

1. downloaded some music from itunes

2. Got an inspection on our new house... which turned out great!

here's a few shots of the new crib... This is from the street you can see the detached garage on the right

this is a crappy shot of my deck off the dining room and the backyard...I anticipate many a shenanigan as instigated by Isaac, Jonah and myself back here:

my new fridge that comes with the house

my new range/microwave that comes with the house... they just bought these appliances this year!

the "thing de resistance" - the 52" flat screen HD TV... "The Office" never looked so good....

also the appraisal dude came by today and now everything looks ready to close! I just have to sign our lives away now!

currently playing:
How Far We've Come
by Matchbox 20

Inspections today

2007-09-07T07:20:00.001-05:00

We have inspections on the new house today - so hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of it soon (along with the crazy big TV that's now coming with it!)

Cindy & I are doing a little bit of furniture shopping today for the new place - hopefully we'll find what we need, I'm sure she has a grand decorating scheme in mind already.

Life has felt so busy lately that we wonder if it will ever calm down - i don't think so. At least we aren't house shopping anymore! We are looking forward to moving into our "final resting place" as we are now calling it. This will be the 8th home in the last 6 years for us... that's one every 9 mos or so. i think we can even see some of the unsettling in our kids in some ways. I think about isaac's last 15 months. he was born early and spent the first 2 months in the hospital. Then he came home and two months later moved to Ohio. Then 6 months later his brother was born and his mom & dad's life got real crazy. Then two months later his brother came home and then two months after that we moved again... and now two months after moving we'll move again.

I know kids roll pretty well with stuff, but at a very basic level I know that affects him too. maybe that's why he's so big - he's been stress-eating. Oh wait, that's me.

NEW HOME

2007-09-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well, it seems to be true... we finally bought a house - after much saga & torment, it seems to have been quite an emotional roller coaster.

We first talked about buying the home we are in - My grandparents. It's a great size, just needs some updating. it's an awesome price for our budget - but it's not in the right location. So we dismissed it.

Then we saw one we liked and my friend & I went to take a look at it - awesome backyard, great deck, perfect location. the door was open so we walked in it for a while and thought this would be an awesome house! so we called our realtor at 8am Monday morning to find out that they just accepted an offer on it... bummer, so we lost house #1.

later we schedule a day to go look at houses with our realtor and we looked at about 6 of them... each one more disgusting than the previous one. Smokers in all of them, trash, pets, cat pee. Gross. the last one of the day was very clean and very nice but a bit too small. but we had considered it - but they already had an offer on the table - good-bye house #2.

So, distraught, thinking we'd never find a house that was 1. in the right location 2. that wasn't a totall disaster and 3. was in our price range. We found a lot of houses that could've been in 2 of the 3 categories but not all three.

we did drive by a "for sale by owner" on that day and left a message but we never followed up with it - we didn't know the price or # of bedrooms

So we started trying to see other houses that we found online and came across a few... and 2 of them had offers on them before we could even look at them.... seriously, 4 houses get offers before we could get a chance at buying them? I thought this was a buyers market?

Feeling very discouraged, we figured this must be God's way of telling us something. So we kept reconsidering our grandparents house. but we had two more houses we wanted to look at.

One was good, had lots of potential to be a good fit for us but needed a little bit of work - including 19 new windows. Okay, so more than a little bit of work. The 2nd one was perfect, way underpriced due to impending forclosure, 4 bedrooms - perfect. It needed paint and new carpet - but great - so we made an offer, they countered, and we countered back... and they sold it to someone else for more than what we countered for. I was really upset b/c I would've paid that price... but we were working with a bank & they could do whatever they wanted, I guess. Bye-bye House #5

I was very upset... feeling stupid for putting in too low an offer, feeling frustrated b/c this was the last chance, deciding what to do now - still not wanting to make the move on our current house b/c it's too far a way.... Cindy took the news much better - convinced that God had something better out there for us. But I just kept thinking that there are no more houses - except one.

I still had that number on my phone of the for sale by owner house I never followed up on. So out of pure frustration I just called it on the way home and listened to the message explaining the house.... clearly this was out of our price range. Vaulted ceilings, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, oversized garage, attic fan.... but it's for sale by owner... more room to negotiate with I guess, so I left a message anyway.

he called back and as we talked we realized that the owner was a deacon at my new church! We also realized that they just found the house they wanted to offer on and move into. We also realized that they were about 2 hours from calling a realtor to list it with them. later we found out that of all the 3 previous owners, each owner had been a member at our church - crazy

cindy & I went over that night to see it and fell in love - it had everything in it already that we wanted to do to other houses we've seen. A house we could raise our kids in for the next 10+ years. we talked about it and figured our very top of our budget and made the best offer we could - still about $5,000 lower than their lowest... but they took it!

So we got all the paperwork together, signed the contracts and now we are in the process to close on the house october 4th.
After all of that we feel so lucky, so blessed. God has continued to take care of us in ways we never even expected!

So we are almost done with all this craziness of transitioning - just have to close on our house and move in!
In the meantime, we are just about done seeing everyone we haven't seen yet, so our weeks are starting to calm down a little. here's some shots from recently:

2007-08-31T07:29:00.000-05:00

I think we bought a house today...

new teeth & new words

2007-08-20T07:59:00.000-05:00

These first weeks back in town have been really great for us - so full! in addition to stuff for work we been able to see LOTS of people we know & love - it's been a very cool time. though we are a bit tired now. We've also been looking at houses trying to see what we might be able to buy. Nothing final yet!

Jonah has been doing great - he's getting so big! I think he's close to 9 lbs now! he's been a pretty "needy" baby lately, just wanting to be held a lot. He's also been sleeping more at night and dropped a feeding between 9pm & 6am so we only get up with him just once in that time - which is so great for mom & dad!

Isaac has had a rough week - feeling very lethargic and cranky. Partly due to new teeth, partly due to lots of change & transition & lots of people. I think it's a bit overwhelming for the kid who rarely left the condo back in Ohio!

we did get his first word this weekend though.... MOO! that was pretty fun:)

Photo Update

2007-08-11T10:48:00.001-05:00

Okay - here is some long overdue pictures!!

First of all, moving home = good news for grandpa & Grandma!

Here's a shot of some of what we had to move to Michigan... a freezer full of hundreds of bottles of milk...

Jonah is Getting Big!

It has been fun to watch Isaac become more and more aware of his little brother. Sometimes he will pull up and cruise over to where Jonah is on the couch and smile & giggle at him while he tries to touch him. He acts like he wants to touch him but then pulls his hands away and looks at me smiling... like he's not sure if it's okay to touch him or not. but he loves to look at him in the crib or in the swing.

More pics of the little guy

From Jonah William

check out all his pics on this link

Jon & Joy came over and Isaac was excited to meet Kendra

One of the things Isaac loves about being at our new place is being able to look out the front door and see all the action on our street.

and of course... everything goes in his mouth!

From Isaac 1 year old

That's about it for the pictures! We come home from Willow Creek this afternoon and tomorrow is the big "introduction day" for our family at Fair Haven. I think we'll just take Isaac... Jonah doesn't need a hundred people breathing on him and touching his hands...

so far it's been a really good experience with this staff and I definitely feel like God has really fit us here. it feels very good after "wandering in the desert" a bit over the past few years.

The Windy City

2007-08-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

Cindy & I are in Chicago right now at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit with a group for our church at Fair Haven. So far the conference hasn't been that exciting but it's been an AWESOME time b/c Cindy & I get to hang out without any kids!! and we get to sleep all night long!!! woo-hoo!

i have some new pictures to update and hopefully I'll get a chance to do that this coming week!

The new job

2007-08-01T21:17:00.001-05:00

started the new job today - about 6 hours of orientation stuff... wow - my head is spinning & full - I think I supervise about a million people!

Cindy's cousin, Anne, took Isaac away for dinner tonight so Cindy & I could get caught up on our stuff around here - putting away baby clothes (we have a crapload of boy clothes!) and trying to get our finances in order - nothing ruins your carefully planned budgetting like moving to a new state & starting a new job! but I think we'll come out ahead on this move so that's a plus!

I think we've decided to not pursue a home mortgage for now & use this time to pay off some debt and get some savings going... which might mean we just hang out here for now.

Jon & Joy are bringing the kids over tomorrow for dinner - so that should be nice.... Cindy & I decided that it's okay for Jonah & Kendra to get married... then each of them will have a brother named Isaac and another brother named Isaac

2007-07-31T13:02:00.000-05:00

Well, we are pretty well moved in now & I start my new job tomorrow!

it all seemed to happen way too fast so hopefully we will do our best to dial down all the excitement in the next couple of days and let thing get a bit more calm in the house.

Jonah & Isaac seem to be doing pretty well - at least they aren't complaining too much! When we have some time, hopefully we'll get to post some recent pictures!

picture update

2007-07-22T00:34:00.000-05:00

WE'RE MOVING!

2007-07-20T16:28:00.000-05:00

The Pontier family is happy to announce our Family’s addition to the Great Lakes State next week! This makes us very happy.

Next week Saturday we’ll be arriving back in “the promised land” of Western Michigan... And if you think we are excited about it... You should talk to my sons’ grandparents!

Today I officially accepted a position as the director of student ministry at Fair Haven Ministries in Jenison, MI. I’m very excited about the team of people I’ll be working with and the potential for this ministry!

We could not be more thankful for the ways in which God has gone so far ahead of us in this process... Long before we ever knew this would happen He was laying groundwork!

Our departure here has been very encouraging and full of blessing and we’ve been able to see some of the positive effects of our time here on this community – which is more than I expected for being here such a short time. My official end date is July 31 but I’ll effectively be without responsibilities after next Wednesday. My official start date is Aug. 1 at FHM so even little details like gaps in health insurance seem to have been taken care of!

We’re excited to move back to the great white north and to escape Buckeye country with our lives, though barely!

We’ll be staying at our grandparents house (as it’s empty for the time being) for now until we can set up some more permanent housing that fits our needs so we aren't done with the moving just yet.

Hope to see you soon!

all quiet on the southwestern columbus front

2007-07-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

These days continue mostly normal - we are pretty tired every day - but we are making do.
I typically stay up late past 3am to feed Jonah at midnight and 3 and then I go to bed and sleep late. Cindy goes to bed early and gets up early to feed him at 6 & 9am and get Isaac up and at 'em.

Cindy's mom is down here right now to hang out with the boys - we just found out that in the last 10 weeks she's been here 6 times! I think someone likes here grandkids! I like it because she brings the advance newspaper with her... can't say why, but I love that crappy newspaper:)

Jonah is doing pretty good - still sleeping all the time. Well, except last night between 12-3am where he was awake and eating almost the whole time. Isaac is really moving around the condo now, climbing up on everything he can and walking around the furniture. He also loves the fact that our condo ass. has a pool! I've been having a bit of more time from the job to be home with the fam & that's cool. here's some videos

Isaac is a funny kid

Jonah is a little more low-key these days

Life at home

2007-07-08T10:56:00.001-05:00

Well, Jonah has been home for a week now... which feels both really long ago and just yesterday that he was in the hospital.

he's been doing great! we haven't been freaking out about his breathing or anything and he's been just eating, sleeping and pooping. On friday he had an eye doctor's appointment where he was still without any "retinopothy of prematurity" (go ahead and google that one if you are interested) - but that whole process, along with his bath early in the day really took it right out of him and he didn't eat much all day.

but he's back to eating now! and still sleeping most of the day. sometimes we feel bad that he doesn't get the same type of attention Isaac did from us when he came home - since we are chasing the 13 month old around as well... hopefully he'll still love us anyway!

Isaac's 5th and 6th teeth are coming in and he's still making all kinds of funny noises all day long. he's also down to just one bottle a day now and eating regular food. The doctor said to try and work off the bottle over the next few months, since we've got enough going on as it is:)

Our uncle Henry & aunt Jacque were in town visiting our cousins so they came over with Henry and Jen to see us for a bit this week:

his usual state of sleepiness

Isaac wants to be Justin Verlander when he grows up

THINGS WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT JONAH'S PARENTS SINCE HE'S BEEN HOME:

2007-07-02T11:40:00.001-05:00

1. Living WITHOUT roommates = awesome! We would set the alarm so we could get Isaac going and a bottle in his mouth BEFORE he was crying in the middle of the night to avoid waking up the roommates. Lots of freedom now for Jonah to be all he can be!

2. Jonah's eyes look like mine & Isaac's look like Cindy's... at least that's what we are saying now

3. 100% LESS scary the second preemie! We are trying to figure out what we spent all of our time worrying and fretting over Isaac when he came home. Jonah's great... he pretty much just sleeps in the pack-n-play, the bouncy seat, our arms, etc.

4. No Monitor = the best thing ever!!! no longer do we have to drag that thing by our toes into the bedroom to change him, or up the stairs to go to the kitchen... it's so great to have this kid free of everything!

5. Say good-bye to sleeping through the night! We barely knew thee...

6. Mixing bottles is much easier than mashing up bananas, meatloaf and other "big boy" foods

7. Jonah is SMALL!!! I mean, holy cow, he's SMALL!! He was .1 lbs smaller than Isaac - we can't believe he was that small!

8. Who's going to the hospital when, today? oh wait, NO ONE!

9. Jonah eats - A LOT - He downs 2 ounces in about 5 minutes all the time - Isaac was working on about an ounce and a half and it took about 20-30 minutes... sometimes Jonah even needs 3 ounces to top him off!

So that's what we have from the first 24 hours or so - here are some pictures:

All Swaddled up!

Please feed me - or I'll eat my own arm off!

I love you daddy

I'm Little!

daddy... what's wrong with your face?!

on the way home...

please don't let me grow up like this guy...

FINALLY

2007-07-01T15:17:00.001-05:00

Jonah is home!! and we are all taking a nap!

LOOKING FORWARD TO SUNDAY

2007-06-30T09:27:00.001-05:00

The last couple of days now - Jonah is scheduled to go home tomorrow afternoon!

Meanwhile Isaac's been gearing up for the arrival - ready to show Jonah how it's done. he's also been pushing some new teeth through as well. They grow up so fast. it seems like every week is a new adventure around here!

He's been pulling up on everything he can find. Every time I turn my back he's up on something new - he loves being on his feet! and now finally waking up and standing in his crib for the first time!

he's also become quite proud of himself getting into all kinds of places, playing under tables, etc.

Jonah has been pulling the same faces Isaac used to... the one we called "fish lips"

53 days

2007-06-29T10:49:00.001-05:00

So today Jonah is 53 days old and he'll be coming home tomorrow or Sunday!!!
Isaac was in the hospital for 59 days so Jonah, while starting out smaller, will be the more productive of the two:) He still hasn't hit 5lbs just yet, but is almost there!

Cindy & I are both so happy - and so freaking out... now the reality of two young boys hits... oh boy, how is this all going to go!?

I'll post some recent pictures soon!

in the meantime... this makes me laugh out loud everytime!

So far, So good!

2007-06-28T13:49:00.001-05:00

Everything seems to be remaining on track - Jonah is keeping his heart rate up and eating all of his food from a bottle! Looks like he's on pace to come home this weekend some time!

...are we ready for this?

the home stretch!

2007-06-26T17:57:00.001-05:00

Today is Jonah's 50th day in the hospital and we can see the end of the road. He is in the "intermediate" room - meaning he's one of the most stable babies there. His face is completely free today as he is now taking a bottle for every feeding. He's been doing great with it, but it sure tuckers him out. So he has no breathing assistance and no feeding tube for now... it's great... pretty soon we'll be talking about going home procedures - yeah!

Isaac is becoming more of a big boy every day... he is sharing my chicken dinner right now in fact and pulling himself up on all kinds of things!

such big boys doing big boy things!

Coming home soon?

2007-06-24T21:42:00.001-05:00

Jonah's been doing very well! he's getting bottle fed every other feeding time and through the tube on the off feedings. Soon they'll be moving him to giving him a bottle every time as much as he can take it.

So far he's been downing his whole bottle in about 10-15 minutes each time!

We also gave him his first tub bath yesterday which he did really well with! he seems to be eating well and holding his own temperature well - even after a bath! He did pretty much sleep through most of it though.

But afterwards, while Cindy was holding his little naked body to dry him and put some clothes on him... he totally pooped in her hand that was holding his bum...

and finally, Jonah is breathing completely on his own. They took his nasal cannula off about 30 hours ago and he's been on his own since then! He needs to have 5 straight days of no alarms before they send him home - he's had a couple since then but is doing very well!

Isaac has been enjoying his grandparents visiting us down here! and he even learned how to crawl up two steps on the stair case all by himself today!

and of course what's a visit from grandpa without some new toys....

and a good nap!

The Boys

2007-06-23T20:37:00.001-05:00

It seems that it may be possible for the boys to be mistaken for twins some day! here's some side-by-sides from each boy's stay in the hospital. Can you tell who is who?

Always learning

2007-06-20T20:53:00.000-05:00

Well, Isaac & Jonah are both learning some new tricks.

Isaac officially pulling himself up to his knees now on anything he can find that is somewhat low. Now he's also pulling himself up to his feet after getting to his knees. yesterday we watched him crawl over to the coffee table, reach up, pull to his knees and then his feet. he can't do much beyond that... but it's pretty cool and he LOVES it.

he's had a very crabby week but he's back to being happy and smily.

Isaac & daddy taking some pictures on Isaac's 2nd father's Day

Jonah is learning how to eat his food through a bottle. he's taken a full bottle a few times already this week and he usually manages between 25 & 35 ML of milk. they've changed his calorie mixture from 27 calories to 24 b/c he's gaining weight so fast. he's up to 4lbs and 12oz now!

I think the nurses are impressed with our lack of fear in feeding him, etc. We tend to jump right in and and do things ourselves whenever we can. Even though we weren't "supposed" to give him a bottle as early as we did... they usually just want the nurses to do it - but they have confidence in us, I guess.

i gave him a bath yesterday and fed him a bottle a bottle today. it has been fun to see him so big and to hold him more often. he's been wearing Isaac's old preemie clothes and I think he looks so much like his big brother... save his strawberry blonde hair!

I think Jonah looked so cute in this one... it made his legs look so little!

Here are the shots Cindy got from taking Isaac to see his brother!

Jonah trying to take a bottle on father's day

Other than that, Cindy and I are really, really tired from everything. I noticed today how often I have to say "Okay, well I need to go to _______" Work, the hospital, home so Cindy can go to the hospital. I rarely have time to be anywhere without thinking about how soon i need to be somewhere else.

Cindy's parents are coming down this weekend so I hope we'll be able to have a nice weekend!

A great father's day present

2007-06-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

What more could a dad ask for than for his son to take a big bottle all by himself! Jonah had over an ounce in his bottle last night that he sucked down without a problem! That's a great mark for him on his 40th day! so who knows where he'll go from there but he seems to be getting the hang of this "eating" thing!

Cindy convinced the nurses to let Isaac come up to the NICU on Wednesday so she could get some pictures with both the boys together for my fathers day present... it was pretty amazing! I'll post it when i can scan it in!

that's all for now... HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

40 Days

2007-06-16T10:34:00.001-05:00

Well we've hit the Forty day mark. Last year at Isaac's forty day mark we were celebrating the discontinuing of his CPAP, the move to an open crib and his first shot at a real bottle. This time around, Jonah has surpassed all his brother's marks: he's been in an open crib for most of this week, he's been off his CPAP for a good two weeks now and he had his first bottle experience a few days ago... and he sucked down 18 ML of milk on his first try!! I think Jonah might be the over-achiever of the family!

He's doing very well. he still gets fed by a tube that they pump his food in over 90 minutes but he tries a bottle once a day (always when I can't be there:( - he is also still on the nasal cannula but doing jsut fine. His oxygen saturation still drops whenever he eats, but he's been good about getting it back up on his own - we definitely see his improvement... And now he's just about 4 lbs 5 oz - what a hefty little boy!

He's been wearing some of Isaac's preemie clothes and we've been holding him as much as possible... The doctors, of course, won't tell us when he's coming home, but if I had to guess, I'd give it 3 weeks. But that's just me

Here's some recent Jonah photos:

Jonah wearing his brother's shirt and hat & looking at his brother's picture

Isaac has been a different story. He has been beside himself almost all day long for the past 4 or 5 days - very crabby and inconsolable. We are pretty sure it's because he's teething - or a reaction to some of his recent shots. We've also been working on changing his eating habits to get him off of his bottle and eating more table food and having regular meals. he's doing really well with it, but I always worry he doesn't get enough food. Plus he HATES his sippy cup - cannot stand it. Whenever you give it to him he gets mad and pushes it away or throws it on the ground. When you do finally get him to drink out of it, he does so with this really disgusted look on his face.

And to top it all off, this morning Cindy got him out of bed... covered in BLOOD! And of course he was perfectly happy to have blood all over his onesie, sheets, face and favorite bedtime toy. We could not figure out where it came from but think it was a bloody nose incident. crazy. He's also just crawling away everywhere, trying to work on pulling himself up past his knees. Oh, and he bit Cindy on the arm.

as for Cindy & I, it feels like we are faring a bit worse than the boys, we're just feeling very stressed and a little annoyed at life in general. There aren't many days where one of us doesn't snap at the other for something. Probably as a result of not being able to spend much time together. But we are doing the best we can and looking forward to a day when this is over and we can all be a family together for the first time.

thanks for checking in to our corner of the world, here's what's happening elsewhere...

Day 35 - A NEW CRIB

2007-06-12T21:04:00.001-05:00

It's True... Jonah is officially holding his own temperature!! so he's in an open crib for the past 24 hours and doing great... just one more step closer to coming home!!

Just before they switched him over, Cindy was changing his diaper... and projectile poop ALL OVER the inside of the incubator... "well I guess he's coming out for sure now!" was what the nurse said!

He's been off the cpap for a week and a half and on a low-flow nasal cannula. He's now over 4 pounds 1 ounce! Cindy changed his diaper tonight and he was farting all over her hand.

the next task for him (and the final task for all intents and purposes) is the learning how to eat. he hasn't even started that yet - but will in the next few days.

From our perspective (doing this once before) we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

to give you a reference:
Isaac was never on a ventilator, but was on the CPAP for 40 days - Jonah was on both for about 25 days.

Isaac was in an isolette for 40 days - Jonah for 34
isaac started working on his bottle at 40 days and Jonah will start soon.

here's some shots of the lad in his new digs:

and a video for you:

Back to Ohio

2007-06-11T19:34:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been a weekend without blogging (sorry Dawn!) but hopefully I was able to see you for a bit this weekend. It sure was a packed weekend! never a down hour and I saw so many people - I felt like everyone got about 20 minutes of me, so at least I got to see lots of people.

I made sure I was at Ben & Stacie Post's wedding on Sunday where I could see hundreds of people i haven't talked to in a while. It was really fun to see them get married and a beautiful day for it. If ever there was a guy who could really enjoy his own wedding, it's Ben Post!

In the meantime, Jonah has been off the CPAP for over a week now, so I figure that means he's off it for good - which is way ahead of Isaac's schedule. and He was officially 4 pounds and 1/2 an ounce this morning!

he's also wearing a shirt tonight AND.... he's out of his isolette and into his first open crib!!!!!!

All-in-all it was a great trip to Michigan but I'm really glad to be back with my family!

From Isaac's First...

Good Eye!

2007-06-09T19:11:00.001-05:00

Well, Jonah turned 1 month old yesterday! what a crazy month.... he's about 3 lbs. 12 oz. now and putting up about an ounce every day so that's really good. He had his first eye exam a few days ago and everything seemed normal. he'll be getting an exam every few weeks or so while he's in the hospital.

Cindy's been frustrated with having me gone - Everything is more difficult without two of us and trying to schedule babysitters, packing Isaac up, taking him to a babysitter, trying to make it work around his naps, etc... so i'm sure she'll be eager for me to return after the wedding.

i've been having a great time connecting with everyone in Michigan, very fun to see folks!

that's all for now

JONAH

2007-06-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

Well it took Jonah about 3 weeks to put on 1/2 pound... and less than a week to get the next 1/2 pound! Today he's tipping the scales at a heft 3 lbs 8 oz. So he's progressing well since they've beefed up his calories.

He's getting a new medicine for reflux problems that migh be causing him to drop his oxygen saturation when he eats. he's been doing well with his feeding tube - they have about 28 ML going through it every 3 hours over the course of 60 minutes.

He's been finding more time to open his eyes and be alert lately - which is cool.. he has such a small face! (hopefully I'll get a picture up soon!)

Since we had a reason for isaac's name, I suppose we better talk about our reasons for Jonah's name.

First, the middle name, William. It's Cindy's Dad's name - and we really like him! I tried for another "David ____" But she said "oh no, this one we get to name after MY dad!" we flirted with it as his first name, calling him "Billy" for a while - but I was against it.

I think we ended up with Jonah for a couple of reasons.
1. Jonah was as unexpected as they come... Isaac was only 4 months old or so and we were only a couple months into our move to Ohio. The last thing on our list was the desire to have another baby. But lo and behold... there he was... on his way!

One thing we really struggled with was why God was calling us to this. Why here? Why now? We're tired! In fact it was going to take most of the pregnancy to accept the fact that this was really happening. It was really, really hard to accept and even harder to "enjoy" the pregnancy with so many questions and conflicting emotions.

in the midst of the whole thing, I frequently remembered a conversation we had with some very wise friends early last year as we were trying to decide to move to Israel or not. One thing they said regarding where we are called was, "no matter what, you can be very sure of the calling God has on you to be parents. He has certainly called you to this and that should be your starting point."

In the midst of questioning why God would call us to parent this baby it reminds us of Jonah's issues with God calling him to Nineveh in the Bible. By naming him "Jonah" I hope we never forget what we are called to - and not to run away from it. God has called us to be the parents of Isaac AND Jonah. Yes they are close. yes, they like to stay in the hospital. yes, they have problems. yes, they will be difficult at times in the future. But we never want to forget the specific calling that God has place on us, and only us.

Secondly, "Jonah" means "dove" in Hebrew. You can see a lot of examples in the Bible of doves - and often it represents God's actual presence (think Genesis 1 & Jesus' baptism). In naming him "dove" we hope that he will be someone who brings God's presence wherever he is - even in the NICU. That wherever Jonah is, God would show up and be present. it also reminds us that God IS with us and present in our family. It gives us something to think about wherever we are with Jonah, at the hospital, little league, school... how are we bringing the presence of God to the people we interact with?

So that's the story behind his naming.... plus we really liked "J" names... definitely couldn't do "jacob" and Isaac... and cindy didn't like "Jack" or "James" or "Jeroboam"

Time to fatten up!

2007-06-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

Well, this coming tuesday will be 1 month for Jonah... crazy how time flies! he's still at about 3lbs 3oz... he's having a hard time getting the weight thing to happen so they are adding even more extra calories for him to help him get fat (like his dad).

the really good news is that he's been off his CPAP for 27 hours now! they aren't planning on putting it back on unless he needs it. There is a good chance that after a couple of days he'll tire out and need to go back on... but we are hoping that he does really well without it. The shorter the time on CPAP, the better.

That's about it from here - it's been a super busy week so we're all a bit tired but thankful for our family!

A Big Giant Update for little (and big) boys

2007-05-31T20:47:00.000-05:00

So today was the big day... Isaac turned 1!! it was this day last year where we drove to the hospital and I said "do you mean we're having this baby TODAY?!" it was a year ago today that Isaac showed up and totally rocked our world. A year ago this morning we were just getting started with Isaac. We're so happy to see how great of a kid he is and how we've been able to travel our crazy road together!

Cindy's mom & aunt came down yesterday and brought all kinds of cash & prizes from friends & family for the birthday.
Isaac started the day off early around 6:30 and was ready for bed again by 8:30... but no before we opened his presents together!!

He got lots of fun toys... and now he has WAY more stuff than he needs:) Jonah also got a couple of presents... including a brand new pack & play!

But before he could open many presents, he had to deal with the sad realities and responsibilities that come with turning one... I guess it's not ALL smiles & giggles:

But presents makes life all better!

my favorite toy!

I hope I don't drive it into a pool like my daddy!

I love presents!!!

Opening my cards & giving a little whistle!

Mom & Dad gave me a fishy for my birthday!

I named him "Happy"!

I like books for my birthday

can I open more, dad?

Check out more of his birthday pictures at the picture page link.

After the present-opening and a short nap we took him for a birthday drive to the doctor to get some shots!! the doctor measures him at 26.5 lbs and 30 inches long. His head circumference is in the 92% and his weight was 90% and his length was 60% for is actual age... they are no longer correcting him b/c he's such a horse. Developmentally he's still a 9-10 month old - which is to be expected - so he's just big and slow... but at least he's happy about it! He handled his shots very well and we took him home for another bottle and a VERY long nap

While Isaac napped I went to work for a little while and Cindy & I both went to see Jonah in the hospital. Everything seems to be coming along the same - they are doing a CPAP during the night and a nasal cannula during the day to try and wean him off the CPAP. he's still having the alarms, but it might be a while until he grows out of it. He's getting some neosure extra calorie powder to help him put on weight. Other than that, it's pretty much the same story for the past few days.

He's looking so much better than he was even a few days ago when he had the IV in his head:

And here he was earlier this week

So then Cindy & I came home from the hospital to have dinner with Isaac and celebrate with some birthday cake! These pictures seem so "standard first birthday" us... but for some reason, being able to have a real sense of "normal" to his first birthday, having something like other normal kids and families get to do, feels really, really good to us right now. it kind of reminds us we're still normal!

I'm 1... can't you see the hat!?

I like cake

I like cake in my ear

I like cake on mommy!

No sooner did we clean up the cake than we took off to have a party with our Home Group friends from church. Just a group of people who get together for Bible Study and to hang out... so we threw a birthday party for him & got even MORE presents! It was great!

seriously? MORE presents?

Isaac loving his "happy birthday song"

I think the tags are my favorite toys!

Playing with my new toys:

What a full and great day (with lots of pictures)... we were even hoping to take him to the pool today but never got around to it... there's always tomorrow!

WHAT'S YOUR SCORE?

2007-05-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

How stressful is your life? At first I thought we'd break the following Holmes and Rahe Stress scale - but we only scored 550!

In the past 12 months, which of the following major life event s have taken place in your
life?

-Make a check mark next to each event that you have experienced this year
- When you are done, add up the points for each event.
- Calculate your score at the end.

Event Stress Scores

__ Death of Spouse 100
__ Divorce 73
__ Marital Separation 65
__ Jail Term 63
__ Death of close family member 63
__ Personal injury or illness 53
__ Marriage 50
__ Fired from work 47
__ Marital reconciliation 45
__ Retirement 45
__ Change in family member's health 44
__ Pregnancy 40
__ Sex difficulties 39
__ Addition to family 39
__ Business readjustment 39
__ Change in financial status 38
__ Death of close friend 37
__ Change to a different line of work 36
__ Change in number of marital arguments 35
__ Mortgage or loan over $10,000 31
__ Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
__ Change in work responsibilities 29
__ Trouble with inlaws 29
__ Outstanding personal achievement 28
__ Spouse begins or stops work 26
__ Starting or finishing school 26
__ Change in living conditions 25
__ Revision of personal habits 24
__ Trouble with boss 23
__ Change in work hours, conditions 20
__ Change in residence 20
__ Change in schools 20
__ Change in recreational habits 19
__ Change in church activities 19
__ Change in social activities 18
__ Mortgage or loan under $10,000 17
__ Change in sleeping habits 16
__ Change in number of family gatherings 15
__ Change in eating habits 15
__ Vacation 13
__ Christmas season 12
__ Minor violation of the law 11

CALCULATE Your total score:___________

This scale shows the kind of life pressure that you are facing. Depending on your coping
skills or the lack thereof, this scale can predict the likelihood that you will that you will
fall victim to a stress related illness. The illness could be mildfrequent tension
headaches, acid indigestion, loss of sleep to more serious problems like ulcers, migraines,
lower back pain, etc..

SCORE SCALE:
0 - 149 Low susceptibility to stressrelated illness
150 - 299 Medium susceptibility to stressrelated illness
300 and over High susceptibility to stress related illness

LET'S GO PISTONS! & FLEA MARKET MONTGOMERY!

2007-05-29T21:32:00.000-05:00

thanks to DVR I can get my NBA conference finals fix anytime I want. I tried out this new sho "on the lot" also - b/c I fancy myself quite the filmmaker... or something - and realized tonight that it sucks. great concept but watching it is like nails on a chalkboard. I recommend you avoid it.

Jonah had quite a busy weekend. They thought he had a staph infection when the took out his picc line so they put him antibiotics. But he didn't so they took him off. he also didn't tolerate the milk fortifier so they stopped his feedings and gave him an IV. and then they put him back on feedings. and he also came off his CPAP... and then went back on again. Now he's doing a 6 hours CPAP/6 hours Nasal Cannula rotation b/c his nose is starting to get bruised really bad from it.

Due to the nature of "kids-in-the-hospital"... any change, even good change, brings certain amount of stress for us. So it's been a very stressful week for us. We're frustrated with always splitting our time but we at least have found time for each of us to be at the hospital everyday and still spend some time together.

While I was holding him tonight his eyes were wide open and looking all around... he's a very cute little kid!

Isaac turns 1 on Thursday and we can hardly believe it... what a crazy year.

and just so you know... any time you call my phone... I took the audio track off of the following and made it my ringtone... I suggest you do the same so you may bask in it's glory at anytime... it IS just like a mini mall... hey hey!

Happy Mommy

2007-05-29T20:11:00.000-05:00

I'm proud to report that Jonah weighs 3lbs 0oz today! He has taken a long time to get to three pounds. His IV will probably get pulled tomorrow. Yay! Hopefully things keep going well for a while now.

Jonah's new IV

2007-05-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Okay - so Jonah had a big day yesterday. They noticed his belly was a little distended early yesterday morning and it could be one (or more) of three things:
1) could be his CPAP getting air into his system
2) it could be an intolerance to the milk fortifier they started giving him. Isaac had a similar intolerance
3) a staph infection. When they removed his PICC line they did a culture and it it had some staph - so they took a blood culture to see if Jonah has an infection. we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get the results back from that.

In the meantime they gave him a new IV.... in the head... which sucks. But they are giving him some antibiotics and his nutrition through the IV. Cindy had a really hard time with it all yesterday - especially since we go in alternating shifts instead of together. When I went last night they took the IV out of his head and put it in his leg. so now it looks much better.

So a bit of a rough go of it yesterday - he's still about 2 lbs 13 ounces right now and that's about it.

Here are some shots of the little guy from yesterday

our perspective of Jonah in his Incubator

a closer shot of Jonah's apartment... you can see his name tag in there and a picture of his brother too.

back on the CPAP and with a new IV

and a bit of his big brother getting ready for his FIRST BIRTHDAY next thursday by eating up some graham crackers and cheerios and opening presents from his grandma & grandpa

Belly Problems

2007-05-25T11:18:00.000-05:00

They stopped Jonah's feeding today all together - his belly is measuring pretty big (a problem he hasn't had yet). It could be lots of things. His CPAP getting air into his belly, the fortifier they are adding to the milk could be giving him problems, or an infection. So back to an IV for him where they'll give him his nutrition through that and some antibiotics. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Familiar Territory

2007-05-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Jonah moved back to his CPAP last night. the little guy needs to develop a little more lung endurance before he can make it longer on the cannula. It seems like such a little thing, the back and forth action of his progress. it's amazing how each little change affects your stress level. Nothing is wrong, but something is ˆdifferentˆand whatever is different cause stress... so crazy.

After a long day of watching isaac & working I finally got to the hospital at 9 last night and he was doing well. Just sleeping away on his CPAP so he's not complaining too much.

Whistle while you blog

2007-05-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a video of Isaac & his new talent - whistling... you'll have to ignore Cindy in the background giving someone a "Jonah update" over the phone...

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and of course, crawling in his non-coordinated way...

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Cindy went to the hospital this morning & held Jonah - he's still about the same but having more Apnea & Bradycardia episodes - usually around feeding time. They are going to try and feed him more slowly & check his caffeine dosage to try and even things out for him before they consider putting him back on the CPAP.

I have to work until about 9 or so and then I'm going to the hospital after that.

Jonah relaxing

From Jonah William

Not much bigger than my shoe...

From Jonah William

TUESDAY

2007-05-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

Jonah has been off of his CPAP for about 36 hours now and seems to be going very well. he's on a high-flow nasal cannula on about 30% oxygen and has been keeping his Apnea episodes (where he forgets to breathe) and his Bradycardia episode (where he forgets to make his heart beat) to a minimum which is great. His feeding is as high as it can get for his current weight (which is climbing very slowly toward 3 lbs) right now. So Jonah is doing as well as he can for the moment. We've been able to hold him a bunch and he loves it. He still wiggles around alot but doesn't cry too much.

Cindy's parents left today and we are on our own again - we both spent most of the afternoon moping around the condo, unsure of anything worthwhile to do, say or think. Some days the stress of situations like this just weighs very heavily on you and makes you good for not a whole lot.

Isaac has been getting is C legs... by that I mean his "crawling" legs... he's all over the place now and it's really fun to watch him discover his mobility!

thanks for all your prayers & support!

Here's a great blog on why the HEROES finale was a fat dissappointment... for those of you who care about such things [Jon]

http://thetvaddict.com/2007/05/22/why-i-hated-last-nights-heroes-finale/

NEW PICTURES

2007-05-20T19:52:00.000-05:00

Some new pictures of Jonah

Jonah's House

A video of Jonah in his CPAP:

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Jonah got a good little sponge bath... here he is getting his head cleaned off & dried... notice how UTTERLY BLONDE this kid is - he looks a bit like "gunther" from "Friends"

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Isaac's Home!

2007-05-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

and we're pretty sure we can't part with the boy ever again!! He's been so great to have home again and has even started fits of psuedo-crawling... he's moving somehow, but I can't claim it's "crawling" so much as inching his body along the floor like a sea creature might on the ocean floor!

He's happy to be in his own bed and with his mommy & daddy again!

Jonah remains pretty stable. His feedings continue to go up and he's still tolerating them well. He gets a sponge bath today from us - Cindy is always scared for the bathtime b/c she's worried he'll get so cold. and he will get cold - but hopefully it will be okay.

Still on the CPAP - will be for a while. Same story, different kid.

other than that - everything else in our life feels like a chore to put any energy or effort into besides our boys - must mean we're firmly entrenched in "crisis" mode or something...

We did the math of our transitional lifestyle this weekend & found that in the past 2.5 years
7 Jobs
5 homes in 2 states
2 babies, 2 hospitals, 2 extended hospital stays

that's a lot going on! We're very interested in obtaining some stability - if you see any on freecycle or in the bargain corner please let us know, we can't afford much but we'll take what we can!

But we are eating, we are paying our bills, we are wearing clothes & our kids are awesome and doing great - praise God!

Also, Isaac whistles now - inadvertently by breathing in and out of his mouth really fast... but he's doing it more often so I think he's actually trying!

I love my birthday present from great-grandma Nieuwstraten!!

I'm glad I'm home... with all my own toys!

Life in Ohio...

2007-05-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure I don't have any new pictures - mostly because he looks pretty much the same. and his condition is pretty much the same too.

his breathing is okay - not great - but where it's expected to be. He's still on the CPAP and seems to be doing just fine with low pressure on that. His feeding is going great! He's moved up to 11 ML today every three hours and he seems to be tolerating it just great for now - what a hungry little boy!

As is common with early kids, they did a head ultrasound to check for the possibility of bleeding between the two hemispheres of his brain. We felt pretty lucky that Isaac had none b/c it is common. and we're doubly lucky that Jonah has none as well!! so that's great! It gives us room to worry less about crazy birth defects, etc. and focus on worry about him growing & breathing.

His heart problem seems to have cleared up with the medication as well. So far so good! Little Jonah is just about the squirmiest thing ever... yesterday when the nurse came by he had scooted himself all the way out of his little "nest" and had his head right up against the side of the isolette! He's always twitchy & likes to "break out" of whatever snuggled up position he's put it!

Cindy & I are excited to welcome Isaac home tonight for a few days - we miss him a ton. We're also both pretty exhausted - I'm having a real tough time making any headway at all at work for sure. but last night we got to celebrate our 6 year Anniversery (which is today) by going out for dinner to the hospital cafeteria and then going to downtown to se Cirque Du Soliel's "Corteo" which was AWESOME!! We had great seats and such a fantastic time - it was so fun!

In other news... gas is like $3.20/gallon now and I think Rosie O'Donnel is leaving "The View"

That's all from the land of the Pontier family!

The Epic CPAP battle continues...

2007-05-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

Jonah came off of his CPAP yesterday and went to a high-flow nasal cannula.... and then went back on the cpap today. He was having to many alarms of apnea where his little brain forgets to breath. But he's been on the CPAP today and doing reall well. He's also been doing awesome with his 3 ml of milk every 3 hours that they bumped him up to 5 ml ever 3 hours - way to go! he's been out quite a bit in the past few days so we can hold him!

Jonah looks different from his brother... he has blond hair!

he loves sleeping like his dad does - with his feet hanging out of the bed!

Dad & Mom holding Jonah:

We think he looks like an old man!

From Jonah William...

---------------------------
Finally - some videos

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CINDY'S BIG DAY... for too many reasons...

2007-05-13T15:50:00.000-05:00

So today was Cindy's first Mother's day to enjoy with her two boys.... and she spent too much of it in the emergency room. She went to the hospital today to visit Jonah - feeling crappy to start and when she got there she was shaky and sweating. So the nurses sent her down to the ER and they got her rested and took some blood, etc. Turns out she has a Urinary Tract Infection. I'm not sure if that's keeping her with the crazy, itchy rash she's had for a week or not - but they gave her some Antibiotics and I hope that will clear it up.

in the midst of this I decided to help cindy see that isaac should probably go home with his grandparents. Since she has come home from the hospital she really hasn't been able to rest well with having people in the house and she really needed some down time to focus on getting well and seeing Jonah. Also it solves lots of logistical problems of finding rides for Cindy to the hospital, finding sitters for isaac, finding time to pick Cindy up from the hospital and only getting to go to the Hospital myself after isaac goes to bed.

We're really sad that Isaac can't stay here but we'll see him next weekend. Honestly, can this get any more crazy? probably.

Jonah got his very own CPAP and it's going well for him. his settings are down to 24% oxygen with a pressure of 4. That info will mean nothing to you if you don't know anything about CPAPs:) He has a mask to go over his whole nose instead of nasal prongs so it looks much more comfy than the one his big brother had

he also got his first milk today! he's getting 3 MLs every three hours - so far so good!

Cindy saved a piece of his picc line yesterday - it's so tiny! Her reasoning was "when they get big - Jonah might say 'how come you kept Isaac's picc line and not mine!!' and might feel bad." My thought: I just think it's pretty ridiculous that Jonah COULD say that in the first place!!

some comparison pics!!

Striking a pose!
Isaac

Jonah

CPAP and eye mask
Isaac:

Jonah:

Relaxing in the Isolette:
Isaac:

Jonah:

Little Guy
Isaac:

Jonah:

Hands:
Isaac & Mommy:

Jonah & Daddy:

Feet
Isaac:

Jonah:

FAMILY UPDATE

2007-05-13T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, the Pontier family feels huge! last year at this time we had no kids and now we have two! Hopefully I'll get some pictures up after our visit today but here's the play-by-play for now

Scott: Now officially the only member of the family who has not been hospitalized in the last year.... but might need to be institutionalized soon instead! I'm pretty exhausted from trying to figure out how to manage everything. I tend to be a guy who lives in the future (not literally, like that asian kid in "heroes") and plans everything out so that most things are expected when I get to them. it keeps me sane to think days and weeks ahead and make sure my ducks are in a row. when it comes to this though... the world is inverted. By necessity I have to live in the "right now" and roll with whatever happens. I need to adjust on the fly and I'll waste time if I spend it too much in the future - b/c it just changes so much from day to day. Stress for me for sure - but so far we're coping:)

Cindy: Her body is healing but it will take a while - she's feeling pretty bummed out about lots of things right now, including feeling isolated from people in her community that she loves. But she loves jonah a lot and Isaac - and it's hard to love both of the boys and not be able to do anything for EITHER of them right now.

Isaac: Pretty clueless. But lots of attention from grandparents right now - so he's happy. plus he gets to pee his pants whenever he wants - so not a bad deal

Jonah: he had a big day yesterday: he got his 2nd blood transfusion of the week and a picc line put into his heart so they don't have to keep poking him with IVs. he also came off his ventilator last night and put on a CPAP which is great news for him but is a little scary for us b/c of the CPAP battles we had with Isaac which we remember too well. But he remains strong and seems a bit more fiesty than Isaac so I'm sure he'll do just fine.

as a family, we are about to say good-bye to both our parents which I know will leave us feeling somewhat lonely. It's definitely hard to be away from home for this. We're just glad that God has prepared us in the ways he has to handle this.

Happy mother's day to all and I'll post some more pictures later tonight probably.

HEART MURMURS & INDICIN

2007-05-12T06:47:00.000-05:00

Cindy & i went to see Jonah last night for a little while. We watched his nurse change his IVs and she even let me listen to his heart murmur... which he still has but he's still getting his medicine... his final dose will be in about 10 minutes from now. After that they'll do another echo on his heart (soon I hope) and if it's still not closed they'll give him another round of medication (Indicin, I believe). they also put him back under his lights last night.

We notice that Jonah is much more "twitchy" than Isaac was. He's just a fidgetty little guy. he's weight was down to 2 lbs 4 oz yesterday as well and he's a little less than 15 inches (isaac was 3 lb 2 oz and 15.5 inches when he was born). Jonah also looks a little like a featherless bird with his skinny little legs and arms!

the grandpas will be here today to join the grandmas... we're excited to have them all here!

Jonah is not too happy about the whole situation...

such a little boy..

So if you look at the tip of your forefinger from the first knuckle to the tip... that's how wide Jonah's foot is

and also about how big his hand is too...

always wiggling to a new position

Isaac was concerned when he heard about his new brother

"will he grow up to be big and fat like me?"

"I'm happy that Jonah's my brother!"

and some video (the blue light is from his phototherapy light... sorry)

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CLICK ON THE PIC LINK FOR MORE SHOTS OF JONAH!

SPLITTING TIME BETWEEN THE BOYS!

2007-05-11T13:50:00.000-05:00

Cindy & I came home this afternoon. she's doing well but will be unable to drive, lift or do much of anything for the next couple of weeks. So we'll still be setting up some child care for Isaac and rides to the hospital for Cindy. complicated stuff!

Jonah is doing well. They don't hear his heart murmur any more but they are continuing to give him all of his meds for his heart. after 48 hours of giving him heart medicine then they'll be able to start giving him milk - 1 ML at a time, I'm sure! and then they'll try getting him off of that ventilator again.

We're pretty tired from all the people we've been seeing - mostly hospital staff. Honestly there were at least a dozen of them that stop by to talk to us about breastfeeding, social working, health insurance stuff, hospital bills, etc. etc. so we're glad to be home!

After this coming week Isaac will go back to MI since Cindy still won't be able to care for him... and then after that we might be able to jump into a normal rhythm of one of us with Jonah & one of us with Isaac every day.

That's all for now - thanks for praying!

No one wants to see PDA..

2007-05-10T18:34:00.000-05:00

One of the thoughts behind Jonah going back on the ventilator was a heart murmor he has indicating Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA). Basically in the uterus the baby gets it's oxygen through the placenta (obviously it doesn't breathe air) - the ductus arteriosus allows the blood to bypass the lungs and go to the placenta because of this. Once born, this little bypass closes and moves the blood to the lungs.

A cardiologist looked at him today and found it's still open (thus the murmor). So blood is exchanging between the two sides of the heart in the wrong way and not getting enough of the right blood to the lungs so he can't breathe strongly. Thus the return to the ventilator. He's on a room air mix of O2 and low ventilator settings - he's doing a lot of work on his own but needs to get his heart fixed up (with some drugs) in order to do it better on it's own.

We get to go home tomorrow afternoon. Now begins the split between Isaac at home & Jonah at the hospital. We're lucky to have these two boys... too bad they're not in the same place!

some pics of Jonah today: His head is rounder than Isaac's!

Short-lived snipp

2007-05-10T07:38:00.000-05:00

back to the Ventilator this morning... which is kind of sad for us but it's the best for him. Jonah was just working too hard at his breathing. He at least might be able to get another dose of cerfanctin this is something they give kids to help keep their lungs from sticking together when he breaths. If they stick together they can't keep them all the way open long enough to expell all the CO2 and then can't enough oxygen in his lungs. So that should help him in the long run.

Cindy will be able to go home on Saturday. She's doing well but has a while to heal fully from the C-Section. They had to cut the incision on her unterus vertically instead of horizontally in order to help the little guy get out. That means any future births have to be delievered by C-section. If I were a betting man I'd say we won't have to worry about "the next one"....

That's what I know for this morning!

On the SNIPP...

2007-05-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

**edit: sNIPP Stands for Synchronised Nasal Non-Invansive Positive Pressure - CPAP stands for Constant Positive Airway Pressure**

Jonah came off the Ventilator today! He's moving toward the CPAP but for now he's on the SNIPP... which is new to us... it's a transistion from the vent to the CPAP... it does not actually breath FOR him like the vent does. But it does provide a bit of forced air when he does breathe... it's supposed to help him learn how to breath on his own so the CPAP works better for him. When you're this young, you're not so good on the "knowing how to breathe on your own" thing so this helps.

he has a neo bar that goes from cheek to cheek and over his upper lip with a stem straight out from his face... they use this to tape his tubes to... it's pretty cool b/c it doesn't tape it to his face or pull on his nose, etc... pretty cool.

The Unit is much smaller than Devos Childrens' hospital in GR. There are 18 beds instead of about 100. Which means they don't have the same kind of routines, etc. But they have newer equipment and the nurses are very good. We've had good interactions with them. It's also nice for things to be smaller - everything is pretty much in the same place. Our room is around the corner and we don't have to walk far before finding the things we need. So we're happy with it so far.

Isaac is on his way home and hopefully we'll go home on Friday. Cindy is still in pain but definitely getting better. assuming work cooperates (which I think it will) we'll be able to split our time between Jonah & Isaac well.

here's a shot or two... click on the "pictures" link for more or on either of the pictures for some more shots

From Jonah William...

best shot yet

2007-05-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

By the way.. the "sepia" tone setting was necessary because Jonah is under his "bili lights" to help keep off Jaundice... with all the bruising he'll be on the lights for a while yet. The light is like neon blue... not good for picture taking!

Photos of Jonah

2007-05-08T09:28:00.000-05:00

Still doing good... he's really bruised from his ordeal but he's doing okay. here's some early photos

JONAH WILLIAM PONTIER 5/8/07

2007-05-08T03:27:00.001-05:00

Not to be outdone by his big brother... Jonah William Pontier graced us with his tiny presence tonight just 342 days after Isaac was born. There are any number of things that can be claimed as “remarkable” about the whole situation, not the least of which being that we have two baby boys!!!

Earlier this evening after finishing up our weekly ritual of watching “Heroes” we cleaned up a bit and headed off to bed around 10:30pm We were reading and talking and not long later Cindy began to mention feeling “uncomfortable” in the uterus area... And about an hour and a half later Jonah was born.

Most of you know we were sent home on bed rest last Friday after briefly going into labor last Monday. That was stopped and everything looked okay at our doctor’s appointment today. Cindy went from feeling fine to uncomfortable to uncomfortable at regular intervals to medium discomfort at regular intervals to great pain every 5 minutes in the course of about 30 minutes. When things started coming close together I packed a bag and got ready to go to the hospital. We called the doc on the way there (knowing they would just tell us to go anyway) and by the time we got into the building Cindy was screaming with pain.

Once the got her up in her bed I went down to move the car and came back up only to find Cindy already under anesthesia undergoing an emergency C-section. Apparently Cindy was fully dilated and little Jonah was identified as “breech” to start and then was noticed that the little guy was trying to exit arm and leg first. Not a smart idea. So they put Cindy under right away and began taking the 2 1/2 lb. boy out. Unfortunately I had to stay in the hallway the whole time, so both Cindy and I “missed” the birth.

I walked with him to the special care nursery and watched as they hooked him up to his ventilator, put leads on him and started his IV’s. Save the ventilator, all of it way too familiar of a sight. But his sats are good – his respiratory rate is good – and his heart rate is good. And he looks beautiful. He’s doing well but has a long road ahead... All the way to his due date of July 26th...

Cindy will be recovering for a while and is still eager to meet her new boy:)

At least Jonah has one thing on his big brother: Isaac was 28 weeks & 2 days along when he was born – Jonah was 28 weeks & 4 days. But both came 3 months early. And quickly! I have a feeling this is only the beginning of the trouble these two will get in together!

We are tired. And scared. And joyful. And confused. And probably so not ready for another summer in the NICU – with 1 infant already.

Thanks for being in our lives – we obviously wish this was much closer to so many of our friends & family but we know God has been faithful and will continue to be!

I guess I’ll start warming up the blog... http://pontier4.blogspot.com

Scott

Bring on the Bed rest!

2007-05-04T09:02:00.000-05:00

We are home again - and thankful for our little condo that's much nicer than a hospital room!!! Cindy is on the couch taking her resting very seriously - hopefully things will be smooth sailing from this point on!

some shots from the past week

Cindy feeding Isaac at the hospital before he goes home to MI

Isaac: "Since you spent 2 months sitting in the hospital with me, I'll sit in the hospital with you, mommy! when can I gavage feed you?"

Isaac was glad Ann could stay with him while we were at the hospital...

... and also confused

COMING HOME..

2007-05-03T16:38:00.000-05:00

We are coming home tomorrow! so great since we are bored in our little room:)

Now comes weeks & months (hopefully) of bedrest! whoo-hoo!!! That should be fine, but now we'll just need to figure out to care for our little 11 month old! so if you want to come over and hang out for a while, let us know:)

Wednesday

2007-05-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

So far, still good. We're still hanging out at the hospital but not hooked up to anything - Just resting.

Tomorrow will mark the 28-week mark. The same point when we had Isaac last May. This one is due July 26th (Isaac was Aug. 20th, I think) and is 12 weeks early now. But we are keeping things calm so far. We are getting some test and will find out on friday - if it's negative we know she won't be delievering in the next couple of weeks. so if it comes up negative, we will probably be able to go home on bedrest. Otherwise we'll probably stay at the hospital.

Isaac just went home with Cindy's mom, which is really sad for both of us. We're really not sure when he'll be back or what that will look like when he comes back.

sigh - back to the world of the "unknown" for a while. We're really sad we're not in MI this time around, but it's going well so far.

NO BABY YET...

2007-05-01T07:38:00.000-05:00

So cindy is in bed at the hospital. They are giving her a couple of steroid shots to help the baby's lungs develop. so that's good. Cindy will be in the hospital the rest of the week at this point. Still not sure on delivery estimates for the little guy, but pretty much could be just about any time. But contractions have slowed down and we are in no real immediate worry of anything.

that's what I know for now!

CUT SHORT

2007-04-30T17:26:00.000-05:00

my visit to MI cut short. cindy is in the hospital with contractions & dialtations, etc... still don't know what will happen. at the very least she's on strict bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy (how ever long that will be) either at home or at the hospital. doc says to expect her to be at the hospital for a few days yet.

Double Stroller Days

2007-04-24T06:57:00.000-05:00

Just one more small change... we are using a different photo site (http://picasaweb.google.com/pontier4) - the link to the right has been changed to reflect it. Here's why: with shutterfly, I have to upload each individual pic. With Google, all I do is open up my iphoto program where I've stored and cataloged all my picutres - select an album, click "export" and boom - on the web, just like that! so that's the new photo site

The weather in Ohio has been pretty fantastic and warm - very nice! We've been a bit cranky though... Cindy is getting close to the 28 week mark with the new baby and getting bigger each day - which is cool, but cumbersome for her!

We've been really wanting this stroller recently - the whole "double stroller" thing feels so uncool - we finally found one that could be cool... except it's pretty expensive

so if you see one laying along the side of the road, just grab it for us!

Also Isaac has been growing... lots of hair it seems like... we tried to capture the craziness of his mop one day - but the pictures don't do it justice.

From Isaac 10-12 M...

He looks a little drunk in that one!

So we just put a hat on him!

He's been getting so big... it's hard to imagine him as a little baby anymore!

His favorite toy... remote controls!

We gave him an old one that is "his" and he loves playing with it!

Over all he's been very happy lately - he laughs so much it's easy to see why he's an "Isaac" and LOVES making noise... he grunts & squeals & screams & laughs and babbles away...

check out the album for some more of his latest pictures!

Isaac 10-12 Months

until next time!