The book has finally arrived!

It’s always exciting to get your hands on a new book, but when it’s one you’ve put energy into creating yourself it’s that much more thrilling. Hope and I have been waiting patiently for the last week and so we were quite excited to finally get our hands on the book I created capturing memories from her first year in kindergarten. I thought I’d share a sneak peak of some of the book that I had so much fun creating.

The book is 140 pages and for the third time I used blurb.com to publish the book. I love the quality of blurb books - because it really looks just like a book you’d purchase in a bookstore. The cover was created using one of Hope’s illustrations she made this year with her and her friends from school. Her handwriting was also used in the title of the book “Our First Year at Riverdale Elementary”. I was quite excited to hear that Blurb now prints directly on hard cover books - which is what I ordered.

In designing this book, I approached the first half of the book as a scrapbook. I collected images taken by Hope’s teacher, photos I had taken myself, and drawings created by the students to incorporate into the book. So though some may consider this to be like a “yearbook” - it’s far from the typical year book. My goal was to make a memorable keepsake that Hope, her classmates and Hope’s teacher would cherish for years to come.

Here’s the first spread in the book which is the “dedication” page which includes not only my dedication and a few photos but Hope also created a special drawing for her teacher:

One of my favorite pages in the book is the second spread which has more photos as well as the letter written by Hope’s teacher to the students.

I feel quite fortunate to have had the opportunity this year to have visited Hope’s class on a few occasions to capture some of these memorable moments. Two of my absolute favorite classes were music and art - I definitely think some of the images help capture the fun I observed.

One of the things that I felt was most important when designing this book was that I focused on giving all of Hope’s classmates equal focus within the book. I devoted two pages to each of her classmates. One page held a large image along side the student’s name which they wrote themselves. On the other page there were several images of the student as well as drawings the students made of the school and the student with their teacher.

The last half of the book I featured hundreds of photos taken by both Hope’s teacher and myself. I realized how unrealistic it was to create a “scrapbook” with the nearly 1000+ images I had so this was the next best way to still ensure we had a way to keep those special moments tucked into this book. Some of my absolute favorite images I devoted an entire page to each image.

If you’re interested in seeing the first 15 pages of the book you can preview it online or of course you can always purchase your own copy through blurb.com. If you’re interested in seeing a few more images of the book - you can check out the ones I’ve posted in my flickr account. Hope you all enjoy!

Goodbye Kindergarten

So we’re into the first week in June and I’m just wondering who could tell me where the time has gone? As Hope just finished Kindergarten this past week, I was reminded of Hope’s first day of school. I’ve been amazed with how much she has learned this year. She’s grown by leaps and bounds and seems to have enjoyed every moment of her first year in school.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PARADE
On the last day of school, Hope’s school holds a parade for Memorial day. I thought you all might be interested in seeing Hope in this video performing with some of her kindergarten classmates. It’s not the best view - but I was battling hundreds of parents for a good view. :o)

And Hope came home from school the last day proclaiming she was “famous” after having been featured for a split second on the WESH news about her school’s parade. Of course I couldn’t resist recording it to share. She’s in the video towards the end just after the large stars & stripe hat and just before the bagpipes.

GETTING USE TO THE SUMMER BREAK
Of course, Hope had a blast in Kindergarten. She loved it and looked forward to going to school every day. She had fun learning, spending time with her friends and of course she admired her teacher. So on the last day of school she clearly started preparing for the summer break so that it was somewhat like kindergarten. She created her own mailbox like they had in class. She expressed an interest in keeping a journal so she uses her mailbox to put her journal entries in a safe place that we can find easily. I must admit I truly admired seeing her create her own behavior chart that is virtually identical to what they had in class.

Now she proudly lets us know she wants to be in the “green” all day (in other words being good).

Of course we’ll be finding ways to keep Hope busy this summer. We’ve already signed her up for gymnastics, swim lessons as well as art classes at Crealde. We’re also expecting family to visit for a bit this summer so we imagine she’s going to have a fun summer break before she starts first grade.

A KINDERGARTEN KEEPSAKE (aka “the book”)
Most of you have heard, but in case you haven’t, I recently finished a book to commemorate Hope’s experiences in kindergarten. This book which will certainly be something we cherish for many years to come. I was fortunate to have the cooperation of her teacher and Hope and her classmates during times I was able to visit some of this year’s kindergarten events. The book ended up being 140 pages and before I’ve even received the printed copy of the book their staff has featured the book as a “staff pick”. It features various events throughout the year and highlights many moments with Hope and her classmates. If you’re interested you can get your hands on your own copy of the the book or download a 15 page preview. I’ll be sure to share a better sneak peak of the book once I get my printed copy this week. If you’re interested in seeing a few of the kindergarten photos I’ve posted in flickr you can check them out online.

So we’re proud, yet a bit sad, to finally part with her days as a Kindergartner. Goodbye Kindergarten – you’ve definitely left us with some amazing memories!

My velociraptor

This past month I was humored to hear Jaylen’s crying compared to a velociraptor. He’s started to become much more vocal and and expressive, which includes his cries. So the next time you watch Jurassic Park you may just think you’re hearing my baby dinosaur crying. Here’s a little video I took of him yesterday (January 24, 2008):

Though he’s got a shrieking cry, I must admit it’s all worth it when we get to experience his true personality shining through. Jaylen is quite an active little baby and can often be found these days smiling and cooing nearly as much as he cries. He really loves to hold conversations with Hope these days. Here’s another video I took yesterday of Jaylen & Hope:

A few more videos

I’ve been meaning to post some more videos from the last two months – so here they are! Enjoy!

Bugz - ladybug dance (Nov 15, 2007)
Hope was a little lady bug in her first school performance “Bugz”. Check out a few seconds of her performance.

Bugz - Picnic Song (Nov 15, 2007)
It was adorable watching Hope amongst the other kindergarteners singing during this picnic song. She’s near the center of this video.

Hope’s school mission (Nov 17, 2007)
The month after Hope started kindergarten I was amazed to hear her say her school mission because of all the new words I wasn’t use to her saying. Now she recites it constantly at home!

Hope behind the camera again (Dec 1, 2007)
Hope is becoming quite the comedian these days. You should enjoy her humor in this one.

Meet Hope’s two dogs (Dec 1, 2007)
Hope has fun taking a video of Bella and Cinderella, all while acting goofy of course!

Jaylen laughs & coos (Jan 11, 200
Finally we have it on video! This is adorable watching how Jaylen reacted with Jason today.

Jaylen talks with Hope (Jan 11, 200
And of course he loves to talk to Hope too!

I’ve also been posting pictures regularly in flickr in case you all haven’t noticed. :o)

Starting the photobooth tradition

We’re starting a new tradition. As of this month we’re going to take the kids to the photobooth on the monthly anniversary of their birthdays. We’re going to take this time to not only have fun but to look back at the photos taken monthly to see just how much the kids grow over the months and years. On their birthdays I’ll montage the photos for the year for each of them so we can all see just how much they’ve grown over the year!

With how much technology has changed over the years with digital photography you might ask why waste the time, right? Well, I certainly love starting traditions that give the kids something fun to look forward to. I remember growing up how much fun the photbooths were. I figure it’ll let them have a little fun, act silly, and just capture some cute moments that they’ll remember.

Though I use to love photobooths, I have begun to wonder myself who really pays to use those photobooths that you find in the malls, etc. – especially now that most people own digital cameras. And though I’d love to take credit for this idea, apparently others started it long before I did. In fact, in flickr there are groups for photobooth photos. How fun!

So keep an eye out in flickr for new photobooth photos every month.

An Angel Among Us

I suppose I’ve had a few people accuse me of being a sentimental person. This past week I was reminded that it’s now been fifteen years since Jason’s mother passed away. It’s amazing how important of a role this one person who I never knew has played in my life. I’ve been told how much Hope reminds others of Jason’s mother when she was about the same age. Though I’ve seen most of the family photos, it wasn’t until today that I sat and physically compared photos of her and Hope. I’ll let you be the judge:

The photo of Hope (on the left) was taken today and Jason’s mother (on the right) is close to the same age. Now I must admit I’ve always felt blessed having Hope. Not only was she our first child, but she was also the first granddaughter on Jason’s side of the family. His mother had hoped for a girl and ended up with four boys – so we can’t help but think that she helped bless us with our little angel. And I say angel because that what she is, but after seeing these photos I truly believe there are angels among us.

2007 Christmas cards

I thought I’d let Hope do the honor of presenting the Kern family’s 2007 Christmas cards…

Last year we had a lot of fun making our own Christmas cards so we decided to take another stab at making new ones this year. Of course it’s fun to get Hope involved in creative projects and she certainly played a big part in this year’s cards. We decided to do just one version this year, though this year’s cards were actually MORE work than last years. The cards include a snowman made of buttons. Hope drew the snowman’s hat and arms, and insisted on making sure she drew an orange carrot nose on every snowman.

Now I must admit, though the snowmen are pretty darn cute, I especially love the back of the cards. Every card has Hope’s signature along with an illustration she created of herself.

We finished all 50 cards today. They’re in the mail, finally. Now as you might imagine, we’re a bit tired of buttons. Together Hope and I glued 150 buttons and scored and trimmed all 50 cards. Not to mention each card includes a letter to update everyone on this past year as well as some pretty nifty pictures of the kids.

Hopefully you receive your card in the mail before Christmas. If you don’t receive one this year be sure to send us your address. We’re taking orders now for next year’s cards! :o) Errr….I mean that way we can make sure to add you to our list for next year.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! 

Six

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve updated everyone, but understandably we’ve been quite busy. My how time flies! This past week we’ve had a lot to celebrate – Hope’s 6th birthday and Jaylen is now 6 weeks old. It’s amazing how much life has changed these last few months!

Hope is certainly enjoying being a big sister. She runs to help with Jaylen just about everytime he cries. He’s the first thing she thinks of when she wakes up and when she gets home from school. I couldn’t help but laugh today when she told me she had a headache from all Jaylen’s crying. I was curious how she’d handle all the crying that comes those first few weeks and joked with her one day when he was quite fussy - asking if perhaps we should take him back or trade him in. She responded, “no way Mommy, he’s my baby brother”. There’s no doubt that she’s proud to be a big sister.

Hope’s also still enjoying school. She talks about school constantly throughout the day. She’s learning to read and I’m quite impressed with how well she’s picking up new words. Over a week ago she even performed in a play at school with all the other kindergarteners called “Bugs”. She was a cute little lady bug. It was adorable seeing how much she enjoyed singing and performing with the other little kids.

Jaylen has grown beyond belief in these last six weeks. When he was four weeks old he was the same weight and height (10 1/2 lbs and 22 inches) as Hope at 2 months old. In fact, he’s quickly grown out of most of his newborn clothes. He’s beginning to get a lot more expressive, making little noises, grunts, and smiles. Though we miss him being itty bitty - we’re anxious to watch him as he grows through all the cute stages to come.

Sharing a few videos

We thought we’d share a few videos with you all. It’s been cute watching Hope and Jaylen the first ten days since he was born. Hopefully this helps those of you who live further away and aren’t able to see the two of them that often.

Hope Introduces Jaylen Nathaniel (October 14, 2007)

Hope spells Jaylen’s name (October 14, 2007)
Hope spells Jaylen’s name for those of you who still aren’t sure how to spell it.

Jaylen’s hair (October 14, 2007)
This one’s for you Mom…I couldn’t resist. I know this should bring back memories of me when I was little “petting” a baby’s hair.

Who’s doing all the hard work… (Oct 14, 2007)
Jason was sure to capture the first time I was on the computer after having the baby - you’ve got to love his humor!

A chronic case of the hiccups (October 17, 2007)
While Jaylen was in the hospital last week we captured this cute video of him hiccuping.

Hope feeding Jaylen (October 18, 2007)
Hope feeds Jaylen his first bottle.

Jaylen in his swing - take 1 (October 21, 2007)
These three videos Hope took of Jaylen in his swing are hilarious.

Jaylen in his swing - take 2 (October 21, 2007)

Jaylen in his swing - take 3 (October 21, 2007)

Hope’s the boogie man (October 21, 2007)
Hope is so silly in this video - so for all of you who think she’s a quiet little kiddo this should show you just how silly she can be.

A blessing in disguise

I never would have imagined I’d spend five days of the last week since having Jaylen in the hospital. In fact, the first two nights home with the little guy went really well and we presumed he was doing just fine, that is until we went in to the routine doctor’s visit. Originally we thought the pediatrician might have been a little too cautious by sending us to the ER with Jaylen to do labwork for jaundice, turning a dusky color when crying (also referred to as cyanosis) and having a heartrate that was slightly lower than normal – but after all we’ve been through and now learning how serious things could have gotten we are so thankful that things were caught this early on.

It’s definitely been a tough few days. We’ve sat by Jaylen’s side at the hospital and watched him under go blood work, catheters, an EKG, xrays and ultrasounds (of his heart, kidneys, and bladder), a spinal tap and a VCUG procedure of his kidneys and bladder. Initially they had concerns about his heart, kidneys and bladder. Just the thought of anything being seriously wrong with him was especially difficult for us to accept. Luckily the tests Jaylen underwent showed that everything was normal and functioning properly. As you might imagine it was so difficult seeing him in pain as he was poked and proded these last couple of days, but fortunately all of these procedures were done as a precaution due the initial concern of cyanosis. However, his labwork did come back positive for a urinary tract infection. We were told that in newborns infections can be very serious and should not be taken lightly because something like a urinary tract infection can easily spread to other areas fast in newborns. So we had to sit and wait for 48 hours as more labwork and procedures were completed to rule out any other infections or abnormalities internally. Thankfully all of the tests came back normal and Jaylen just needs to be given antibiotics for the next week.

What was the hardest for us was that we never even felt as though anything was wrong with Jaylen – so to take a trip to the ER and have umpteen procedures done on him when we originally thought he just needed labwork completed was a shock for us. But looking back now we certainly understand and appreciate the thoroughness of the pediatrician’s desire to prove everything is okay with Jaylen. So I guess this stressful time has been what some of you have been telling me – a blessing in disguise. It undoubtedly has helped me appreciate how fortunate we are. Though this was a tough time for us we found ourselves especially lucky after seeing just how serious some of the situations other families are dealing with at the hospital with their sick children.

After a long 2 1/2 days, we’re finally home now and finding a way to settle back into a routine at home. As I sit here and reflect on these last few days – I have to admit that there’s no doubt just how blessed we are. We’ve decided to share some of the pictures we’ve taken these last few days in the hospital with everyone (visit our pictures in flickr to see the photos). As you can see from the photos, this experience has only strengthened the love we have for Jaylen.

Thanks to all of you who have expressed concern, shown support, or have went out of your way to help us this last week. And yes, we realize there are still many of you who may be finding all this out for the first time as you read this. Just know it was tough for us to repeat telling this entire experience with everyone. We also didn’t want to alarm everyone before we knew more details and results of tests. Thankfully this entire ordeal has had a happy ending and we can now move on with raising this little guy.