181/365 - Doctor's box "thing"

This picture is of a "thing" (not sure what it's called) that is inside the employee's entrance where I work. It's very old. It has the names of doctors on the long button type things. The doctors are supposed to push their name button as they walk in the door. The name lights up and lets the telephone operator know that they are in the hospital. When I first started working here, some of the doctors still used it. Now, no one uses it. Some of the doctors have retired, and some have passed away. The telephone operator says the remaining doctors don't want to use it. But, the "thing" is still there. Some day, someone will take it out during some kind of remodeling. As you probably know, I like old things, so I decided that I needed a picture of it. For posterity.

P.S. Some time this winter (2010) didn't Engineering come and take the "thing" out. They filled up the hole in the wall, plastered over it. They still haven't papered that spot, so it just sits there; a big plaster square. I sure am glad I took that picture!

180/365 - Watching moths

Izzy loves to watch moths outside the back door!

179/365 - Mason and Daddy and Uncle Toby's softball game

Mason went to see his Daddy and Uncle Toby play softball for the first time today.

178/365 - Strawberry supper

While driving home from my scrapbook store in Vermont, we happened to see a sign on the Grange in Grafton that said "Strawberry Supper Tonight, 5-7". Those Vermonters sure know how to put on a great supper; ham, beans, potato salad, carrots, cucumbers, bread and strawberry shortcake.

177/365 - Izzy and the printer

Tonight I was working at the computer and using the printer. Izzy was such a pain. She loves to attack the printer and I have to really watch her. She is just waiting for it to go again....

176/365 - Paul's new chair

I think Paul looks pretty comfortable in his new chair, don't you?

175/365 - Our old family room couch

Tonight Toby and Mark came over to take our old family room couch out of our living room (where it has been while buying our new family room furniture). The couch is going to live now in Marley's play room. Yeah, both rooms are back to normal now!

P.S. I just found out that they couldn't get the couch into the playroom (it was too big to make the corner from the stairway to the hallway), so now it is sitting in their back yard waiting for a bulk pick-up. That makes me sad!

174/365 - Marley's last day of second grade!

Today was Marley's last day of school; in September she will be in third grade. I can't believe it. We didn't get a picture of her at her school, so tonight when we went to visit Mason I took a picture of her in their back yard. I couldn't resist posting a picture of her holding Mason too!

173/365 - A Noble bird

Today at work someone noticed that a bird was at the window right behind where I sit. I think it was a goldfinch. He stayed there for about an hour or more. He kept pecking the window with his beak and chirping. It was the cutest thing. He would fly away to the tree right behind him but then come right back to the window. We kept telling him that he really didn't want to come in, but he would peck and chirp and flutter his wings like he wanted to get in. He sure entertained us for awhile!

Happy Father's Day

Today was Mark's first Father's Day, and even though I didn't get a picture of him with Mason, I did get some cute pictures of the baby. Janelle's father, Joe, and her sister, Amy, came for dinner along with Kris, Toby, and Marley. Big Baba came after his car meet. It is so much fun to have a baby in the house again!

172/365 - Mark's first Father's Day

Today was Mark's first Father's Day. Would you believe that I took no pictures of Mark with Mason! My plan was to take a picture with Fred, Paul, Mark and Mason, four generations, but, it never happened. I did get a picture of the two grandpas though, Paul and Joe. Happy Father's Day!

171/365 - Scrapbook Crop

Today was the scrapbook crop at my friend Janice's house. I started Baby Mason's scrapbook. Janice outdid herself with her menu today. For "brunch" she made a quiche, a broccoli souffle, fresh cut up fruit, and blueberry muffins. It was wonderful. Her husband Alan cooked out for us for dinner. Thanks, Janice (and Alan) for a great day!

170/365 - Sunny's cat door

Cats are so darn independent. I wanted to take a picture of Marley's cat, Sunny, tonight. I wanted to get a picture of him by his cat door, but he kept moving so this picture is kind of blurry, but it's the best of the bunch.

169/365 - Grandma and Mason

Tonight we went to Mark and Janelle's. I was having baby Mason withdrawal. I was so lucky; after his feeding I held him while he was awake. He just laid there looking at me, making funny newborn faces, very content.

168/365 - Chocolate Day

Marley's class at school has been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To go along with this they had "Chocolate Day". Everyone brought in some type of chocolate and they made these cute little costumes. The hat is a hershey's kiss, and she is wearing a chocolate chip cookie. Too cute.

167/365 - A painful toe

On Sunday night one of Paul's toes started hurting. By Monday it was killing him. He could hardly walk on it so he went to the doctor's. Doctor said it was infected, put him on antibiotics and told him to soak it. So Monday and Tuesday he spent soaking his foot. Izzy was fascinated with his foot in the water and kept him company quite a bit. As of tonight it is somewhat better, not as painful. Hopefully, the worst is over.

166/365 - Izzy and the portacrib

This picture is cheating a bit because I actually took it on Sunday, but it is just so cute that I needed to share it. On Sunday before everyone came I set up Marley's old portacrib. I put on clean sheets, and a little blanket on the changing part of it. A little while later I came upon this scene. I think Izzy thought I set it up just for her. She was lounging on the changing table and then had a bath and then jumped into the crib part. Needless to say everything had to be changed and a towel put over the sheet. I guess I better get used to it or hire a cat trainer!

P.S. The tan couch in my living room in temporary. It is going to Kris and Toby's for Marley's play room eventually (when they get the boxes cleared out enough to have room for it)

Baby Mason's First Visit To Grandma's

Today was Mason's first visit to Grandma's. I was so excited when they said they wanted to come for Sunday dinner. Janelle's mother and sister, along with Kristen, Toby, and Marley also came. Big Baba had a car meet to go to, but he stopped in for dessert.

We couldn't wait to get our hands on him.



A lot of time was spent feeding and changing, and writing down when he did his "business". With breast fed babies you have to document this. This is the only way you have of knowing that he is getting nutrition!





He slept through all of it. Actually, he basically slept the whole afternoon and evening. I found out later that that did not make for sleeping through the night very well. :(


I was able to get some family photos.





The day ended with us playing one of Marley's favorite games, Apples to Apples.


Fun day!

165/365 - Mason's first visit to Grandma's

Today was Mason's first visit to Grandma's. He is 6 days old. This is when they first got here. Everyone was so excited. More info and pictures on Debbie's Blog.

164/365 - More furniture shopping!

Yikes! Why is furniture shopping so hard? Our new furniture was delivered last Tuesday and by Wednesday we realized how easily it scratched. After some Internet research (which I wish we had done beforehand) we realized that one of the complaints of this particular type of leather is that it scratches so easily and that the scratches really stand out. So....today after work we headed back to Bob's. We have a week to change our mind and this picture is of Paul sitting in what probably will be his new chair. I am much too tired this week for this, and by the look on Paul's face, so is he!!

163/365 - Cousins

Cousins, Mason and Marley. She has been waiting a long time for him to come!

162/365 - Mason's first bath

Mason's first bath was a joint effort of Janelle, Mark and I. I was so thrilled to have been there for it. He was really good while getting his hair washed, but not too thrilled to get the rest of himself washed. So sweet! After his bath I was able to hold him while he napped for about an hour. Lucky grandma.

161/365 - Tired boys!

First day home. Tired boys.

160/365 - Mason's circumcision (Yikes!)

Poor little Mason had his circumcision today. The nurse was teaching us how to take care of it. Mark was having a hard time watching. He said he could relate too well!!

Newborn cry

A newborn cry is very distinctive, something you never forget the sound of. This is Mark and Mason, day 2

159/365 - Meeting Mason Joseph Radtke

Mason Joseph Radtke - 6 pounds, 10 ounces - 20 inches - born at 9:08 AM.

The pictures are self-explanatory.

(Again - this is posted by Paul - Debbie will be back in action shortly. I couldn't pick one picture - so you got three)

P.S. Mason was born on his due date.

Waiting for and meeting Mason Joseph Radtke

Wow! What a wild couple of days. Sunday we were going to have a cookout at Kristen and Toby's. I had planned on taking what would probably be my last picture of Janelle pregnant since she was due on Monday. Mark called about 3 o'clock that afternoon to say that he wasn't sure if they were coming because Janelle was somewhat uncomfortable. She had been having contractions since about 11 o'clock in the morning. They decided they would give it a try though since they were both hungry. Poor Janelle, even though she was having contractions, she still posed for a picture for me.

After dinner we sat in the living room timing contractions all afternoon and evening.

By about 9 o'clock she was really becoming uncomfortable. The contractions had been about 5 minutes apart since they started but now they were much stronger. She called her nurse midwife who told her to come to the hospital and they would check her out. Kristen and I were so excited and knew we could never just go to bed that night, so we asked if we could come with them to the hospital. I think they were happy to oblige us. It was a long night, but at 9:08 the next morning it was all worth it. We actually heard him crying (quite loudly I might add) outside their room before we knew he was there. Labor, delivery, and recovery are all in one room now. After a little while we (Kristen, me, Stacia and Amy (Janelle's mother and sister arrived at the hospital about 5:00 a.m.) were allowed in the room. What an unbelievable experience, words don't do it justice. I loved him before I even saw him.

158/365 - Waiting

Waiting.

(This is posted by Paul on Tuesday - Debbie is sleeping - she missed a whole night's sleep.)