Kiefer's 3rd birthday

It is hard to believe that our little boy is now 3 years old! The week before his birthday, we headed to the West Harwich/Dennisport area of Cape Cod with Oma and Opa (Roel's parents). They usually come to visit during his birthday and he has been having a great time playing with them. Oma likes to take him out on his bike and Opa likes to share an orange with Kiefer. The weather was quite beautiful on the Cape for late May, so we spent a good amount of time at the beach playing and finding sea shells.

For Kiefer's birthday, Papa and Opa decorated the house with streamers and he was thrilled when he saw them the morning of this birthday. He asked, "For my birthday?" Throughout the day, he opened presents which Oma and Opa doled out. Kiefer was at home for the week because his daycare provider was on a well-deserved vacation. It was over 90 F on his birthday, so when I got home from work, I ran around with Kiefer in the sprinkler and when Papa got home from work, we gave him ice cream cake and he opened the last of his presents. He was thrilled with all the Cars items and the piggy bank and was ecstatic to get his very own camera. He opened it and said, "A camera. For me!"  Kiefer always wants to take a picture with our camera when we have it out so we thought we would get him his own. He picked it up very quickly and has been happily snapping away. You can check out some of his photos on Picasa in an album called "The World According to Kiefer - Photos by a 3 year-old."

At 11:20 pm the night of Kiefer's b-day, we all awoke to a terrible storm. The thunder and lightening were right overhead and the rain and wind were ferocious. Our power went out and though initially scared by all the noise of the storm, Kiefer was very happy to walk around with a flashlight. We saw that a power line had come done up the street from our house and it was arcing--lighting up the whole neighborhood. The fire department came quickly and thankfully, the downed wire landed on a lawn, well away from houses. The lawn was scorched and black when we saw it the next day. After an hour, things had calmed down and we went back to bed. There was still no power in the morning and to our dismay, it appeared that the power would not be restored for days. Two trees had fallen from the woods into our yard...narrowly missing some newly planted perennials. We all went to bed around 9:00 pm when it got dark the next couple of nights (reading by candlelight doesn't really work) and  power was restored by noon on Saturday... 60 hours after the storm.

It has been two and half months since Kiefer's surgery and he is doing great! He was on blood pressure medication for two weeks. After a visit to the pediatric cardiologist in Springfield, he went down to a half dose for a week and finally went off of it. His blood pressure looked good even without the medication. Kiefer had a follow up appointment with the cardiologist in April and the doctor said that everything looked really good. It was rather difficult for the tech to do the ultrasound because Kiefer really didn't want it done and cried, but he eventually calmed down enough that they could get the pictures they needed. He was just fine with the doctor listening with the stethoscope to his heart and his pulse in his arms and legs. Kiefer has a little doctor's kit and he often practices taking our blood pressure or listening to our hearts. He will see the cardiologist again for a check up in a couple of weeks.

This Easter photo of Kiefer (left) was selected by Children's Hospital Boston as "Photo of the Week!"

The weekend before Easter, we took Kiefer to Diemand Farm in nearby Wendell for an Easter Egg hunt. It was quite chilly that day and there were a lot of kids, but Kiefer had a great time meeting the Easter bunny, looking at the baby goats, bunnies and chicks, "driving" the tractor, and finding Easter eggs. After a morning at the farm, we headed to eastern Massachusetts to Bennie's 1st birthday party. Kiefer had great fun running around with his friends Vivi and Catherine.

Kiefer talks about and to the baby in my belly. He gives my belly kisses and he tells me the baby is going to be "so cute!" I hope he is as nice to her when she actually gets here. I am 36 weeks pregnant right now and I'm really starting to slow down. It's been unseasonably hot, which is not good for a big pregnant lady! Work is air-conditioned and we did install the air-conditioners at home already so it is somewhat bearable.

A couple of my favorite recent Kiefer-isms:

I said to Kiefer, "I love you so much!" To which Kiefer responded, "I love YOU so much!" Then I said, "You're so cute!" He said, "You're so big." - April 11, 2010

I told Kiefer that he had to brush his teeth so he wouldn't have dragon breath. The next day, after brushing his teeth, he said, "I don't have dragon teeth!" -May 15, 2010