My Cup of Joe

It has been a whirlwind the past ten months. I can say with certainty that having two little ones and a teenager is crazy! Who does this? All kidding aside it is a lot of fun. My favorite parts are when the little ones light up when Tori walks in the room and when the house is filled with laughter by the three of them chasing each other around.

But This is all about Joe. He is definitely showing signs of “being all boy.” He has the wing span that rivals Michael Phelps! He is mobile and stops at nothing for the chance to steal his sisters object-du-jour or to throw her to the ground by pulling on her locks! All at the tender age of ten months? What do we have in store? For as tough as he physically is he is even more sensitive emotionally. The slightest loud noise, friendly stranger or bad joke sends him in a tail spin! As of late he also is in need of some serious sleep training!

All things considered he is adorable. Victoria being a boy-crazed expert on all things male and cute believes he will melt the hearts of many unknowing girls! I would have to agree.

With some “firsts” behind us like two front bottom teeth that happened early June, crawling that came shortly after, wielding a sippy cup one-handed and the be-bopping dance moves we are looking forward to the next stage of free-standing, walking, no bottles and going to sleep when his sister does!

Our cup runeth over with Joe!

It’s Been Awhile!

It has been too long since I last wrote! I can’t believe we have actually had another baby since then! Actually lots has happened and that is what has brought me back. I am looking for a fun way to keep track of all the crazy and amazing things that go on in the Zisser family. Sarah is, as she would say, “tuuu” and Joseph is nine and half months. Sarah has been a chatterbox for the past couple of months and has said some really funny stuff that I don’t want to lose and I know if I don’t write it down I will forget!

Joe-fish
When visiting Amma (Jeff’s mother) recently Sarah repeated Amma saying Joseph by saying “oh Joe-fish!”

Amma do it!
The same visit to Amma’s yielded the funniest story yet! Uncle Greg (aka Giggi) was visiting and was offering to help Sarah with something. Sarah said “Amma do-it”. Greg, bring Greg gently mocked Sarah “Amma do it, Amma do it”. Sarah replied with all the disgust a two-year old could muster – “no talk Giggi, no talk!” Uncle Greg of course is still laughing at the pure inherited wit of his miniature.

Oh Toodels!
Sarah has become obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Part of the gang’s adventures are to use their “Mouska-tools” to help solve the problems. It has become a regular occurrence to randomly shout out “oh Toodels” in our house (of course that includes cupping your hand to your mouth when you do it). One episode there must have been a shovel as a mouska-tool since Sarah regularly says “a sssshovel would worrk!” This of course makes us all roll on the floor laughing!

Two Minutes!
This weekend I took Victoria (14) and her cousin Emily (12) to a movie. I yelled up the stairs “15 minutes girls and the bus is leaving.” Sarah then marched up the stairs busted through the bathroom door and yelled “two minutes sissy – two minutes!” Needless to say she was very proud of herself for taking control of the situation and keeping the girls on track!

Whew!

Time flies when having fun! Sarah just turned 5 months… pictures to follow!

Around the Town in Two Weeks!

From the moment we got home with Sarah it has been non-stop, but not with the things that you would normally associate with bringing home a baby. It’s true our sleep patterns have changed a little bit, we do way more laundry and are constantly making coo-ing noises but what has been crazy is the number of condo showings we have had! With every showing it means two things 1. we have to clean the house back into “showing condition” and 2. we have to vacant for an hour. Neither of these are easy with a newborn! The three of us have always been good at messing up a clean house but adding Sarah to the mix makes us now professionals at it.  For the sake of looking back at the past weeks I have wrote up a little timeline of the events of the past few weeks! Whew!

May 1  
Beginning of Vacation, Aunt Jessie & Mike out of town at a wedding. Grandpa Zisser and Uncle Greg out of     town at opening weekend of fishing – no baby please, they requested.
May 5  
Grandma LaBrosse stayed with us
May 7 
Doctor’s Appointment in the morning, 2 cm dialated, took Castor Oil in  the afternoon! Don’t ask!
May 8   
Grandma leaves – no baby, Aunt Jessie and Mike out of town at a wedding, along with Grandma and Grandpa    LaBrosse – they all hope no baby today!
May 10 
Mother’s Day, took long walk to Michaels Frozen Custard,    worked on crib in evening, leg cramping began
May 11 
1-9 am  timed contractions at home
5-6 am Called grandparents and Aunt Jessie to let them know we  may be in labor!
9 am went to hospital triage was admitted at 4.5 cm 50% effaced
9:30 all call went out Aunt Jessie picked up soon to be big sister Victoria at school and brought to hospital
2:20 10 cm dilated 100% effaced ready for baby Zisser’s arrival!
3:38 Sarah Ann Zisser born. 9 pounds 4 ounces, 20 inches. Delivered by Dr Amanda Swenson and Dr Sanner along with delivery nurse Nikki (who coincidently went to high school with your Dad!) , Dad cut cord
3:40 + Visitors to welcome Sarah into the world: Big Sister Victoria, Grandma and Grandpa LaBrosse, Grandma and Grandpa Zisser, Aunt Megan, Uncle Greg, Aunt Jessie and Mike, later on… Cousin Chris Shepro-Stein along with her husband Kurt Stein and daughter Irie. Longtime friend Kim Loker also came for a visit.
May 12
7 am Aunt Jessie drops Victoria off back at hospital for a long day of tests, forms, hospital pictures etc. Looking forward to going home later today.
6 pm Left hospital at 9 pounds. Arrived at home! Yeah!
May 13 
8 pm Aunt Jessie and Mike cook us a spaghetti dinner – yum!
May 14 
9:00 am Doctor’s appointment for weight check. Weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces. 7% weight loss! Uh Oh!
10-1 Shopping, lunch. First time out in the big wide world!
1:00 pm Condo showing.
7:00 pm Condo showing
7-8 pm Dinner with Grandpa Zisser and Megan
May 15 
2:45 pm Doctor’s appointment for weight check. Weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces. Yeah! Heading in the right track!
4:00 Picked up Victoria in Oregon and headed to Janesville due to the condo showings!
5:15 Condo Showing
May 16 
11:00 Condo Showing
May 17 
10-11 Condo Showing
11-12 Condo Showing
12-4:30 Grandma LaBrosse, Aunt Tammy, Cousins Emily and John come for a visit!
May 18
1 Week Old! Happy Birthday!
10:45 Doctor’s appointment for a weight check – 8 pounds 12 ounces. Not up but not down!
May 19 
7:15 Victoria’s orchestra concert in Oregon
May 20 
5-7 TASC baby shower
5:15 Condo Showing
May 21  
Pack and leave for Lake Redstone for the holiday weekend!
May 25  
2 Weeks Old! Happy Birthday!
May 26 
11:00 Doctor’s appointment. Weight Check …TBD

Welcome Home Sarah!

We are proud to announce the arrival of Sarah Ann to our family! She was born on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM, weighing in at 9 pounds 4 ounces, stretching 20 inches in length.  Click here for more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffz/sets/72157618021328751/

Sarah’s First Day Home

40 Weeks and Still Counting!

We hit 40 weeks on Friday May 8th and still no baby! We are all very anxious for the arrival of Baby Zisser. We have some very rational and logical explanations for the delay in delivery.

1. It’s a boy and like most boys we know, they never really want to leave “home” when they have it so good!

2. Because it’s a Taurus it is innately stubborn and it showing us who is running the show.

3. It is taking after his father (and sometimes its mother) and making it known that being late is a gift not a curse.

4. It is looking to break the all-time record of biggest baby ever born.

Whatever the reason we hope that the baby will bless us soon with its arrival. Until then we are finishing up the crib and getting last minute items taken care of so we can enjoy every minute with our bundle of joy!

40 Weeks

Additional Cradle Pictures!

My mom forwarded the pictures I mentioned – they are so great!

Outside? Was this the orginal "Play Pen"?

Cricket the cat, checking in on Jessie in the Cradle

37 Weeks and Counting!

A Labor of Love

Jeff has taken on a very important and sizable task of refinishing of our family’s 80 year old cradle. We learned more of the tale of this passed on treasure last weekend while visiting my parents. It is the cradle that was given to my grandparents by family friends in the early 1940′s since all of their children had out grown it, putting its origin in the late 20′s! Since the cradle’s use with my Aunt Sally, Aunt Dee, my dad, my Uncle Ralph and Uncle Tommy the cradle has been used by my sister Jessica and by Victoria.

My mom mentioned she has a picture of my dad in the craddle and I know there are one of Jessie as well that I will try to find and post. Here are ones of Victoria and the progress of the refinishing!

Victoria in cradle

Step 1 - Get it to Madison - Thank You Routan!

Step 2 - Get it "dipped and stripped" - Thank You Mr. Stripper in Janesville

Step 3 - Let the sanding begin, no thanks to power tools!

A few more steps to go with re-gluing and clamping but progress for sure!

What a Belly!

With the birth being literally any day now – the pressure is on to “get everything” all set. An impossible task but am thankful for anything we get accomplished in these final days is one less thing we will have to worry about when our baby arrives! I believe that this is the offical “nesting” stage that I have been practicing for the last nine months.

With the turning of 37 weeks, I truly believe that I can see my belly growing larger every day! We have begun our weekly visits to the doctor’s office she believes everything is on target and we should not be worried that I will be giving birth to a 20 pounder! What a relief! But on second thought how great would that be to not have any weight to lose after…

37 Weeks

Pregnancy: 30 Weeks through 35

Ladies and Gentleman – Your Guesses Please!

10 weeks and counting. Now is time to have some fun with our family and friends impress us with their intuition! We have set up an online baby pool. We are thinking of what prizes to offer the top guesses – perhaps the ability to babysit baby Zisser for the weekend should be first place? We’ll get back to you with those details a little later. Click here to enter your guess!

30 Weeks

Preparing for Baby

We have so much to prepare yet but we know that when the time comes it will all get done. We have been reading up on baby care – Jeff found this perfect book that proves that babies do come with a manual!

The Baby Owner’s Manual, written like an electronic gadget manual uses words such “your model” or “the user”. Our favorite is Chapter 4 – Programming Sleep Mode – we will be sure to have that memorized before long!  

First Major Baby Purchase

On the way home from my parents we stopped by the Lullaby Shop in DePere. We were window shopping for cribs and changing tables when the shiny strollers and car seats caught our eye. We were looking at the coveted Phil and Ted’s loaded strollers when the helpful and knowledgeable salesperson-Dave came over to explain all the ins and outs of child restraint gear! Dave spent over an hour with us, answering our questions and filling us with confidence that we could navigate the rough waters of baby gear. Here are the fruits of our labor for the day – that is once Jeff finished putting it together.  We even tested out to see what carrying around a 25 pound baby would feel like - good thing we have to work up to that!

 

Assembly by Jeff

Victoria and “the baby”

25 Pounds and Counting

Chicco Travel System