She did it!!!!

Callie rolled over!!!!!!! Yesterday morning she rolled over from back to front and Scott and I scared her with our cheers of excitement. The past couple of days she has been doing a great job of rolling from her back to her side, but was having trouble going all the way over. Yesterday she finally figured it out and did it again later in the evening. Now all we have to work on is rolling from front to back. I think this might be a little harder for her to do, but I'm sure she will figure it out soon.

Adjusting to Japan

Well, we have been here a little over one week and it is going great. Callie and I are both adjusting well and I think we are both over our jet lag, which is amazing. Callie has been sleeping through the night again for the past five nights. Let me tell you, it was definately an adjustment to getting up in the middle of the night again since she has been sleeping at least 10 hours a night since she was 2 months old (sorry, I had to brag). I think that she knew that Scott was going on a road trip because the first night he was gone she slept great, which meant a full night's sleep for me too :)

We have been keeping busy going to the grocery stores, there are three within walking distance, and visiting with the other baseball wives and kiddos that live here in the apartments. There is a little boy (well, he's bigger than Callie) that is one week younger than Callie and they have had a great time meeting eachother. We haven't had an official playdate yet, but I'm sure they will have a blast once we do.

Callie also inherited some great toys from another baseball family. She now has an Exersaucer and a Jumper and she has so much fun in both of them. She doesn't quite jump in the Jupmer yet, but just kind of bounces. We are also getting lots of exercise and stroller time in since you walk every where. The other day we did a 5K walk with two of the other wives. And let me tell you, it was not leisurly. For those of you that are familiar with my exercise habits, it was definately a challenge, but it was fun. We will probably do it quite a bit.

what is this thing?

loving the jumper!

before our 5K walk in her "pimp" sweater :)

Oh, and Callie has also finally started eating rice cereal. I'm pretty sure she likes it. More than anything I think that she likes being able to eat with the spoon. I have some video of her first bites, I just have to download it to the computer. And she is getting even closer to rolling over. She can go from her back to her side all on her own now. She just needs to get that final push to roll all the way over. I tried to video her last night, but it's like she knows the camera is on and refuses to do anything :)

first bites!

Scott also pitched again last night. He threw 6 innings and gave up 6 runs and got the loss. He gave up the runs in just two innings and the other four were great. He also struck out the first batter of the game again, for the fourth time in a row! It was neat to be able to watch him on TV and hear the Japanese announcers. I'm not quite sure if Callie realized it was her Daddy, but I'm pretty sure she was cheering him on!

pictures

with Great Grandma Schuenske

trying to get my Coke at the Detroit airport

Callie is ready to release her baloon in the 7th inning

We made the papers!

Callie is famous :)

I have some great pictures from the last couple of days, but just have to figure out how to download them to Scott's computer. Hopefully I will figure it out soon :)

Also, check out the new Japanese baseball link to the right. It has team standings and box scores from the games. There is also a blog under the blog tab called Tiger Tales which is about Scott's team, the Hanshin Tigers.

First baseball game

Scott pitched last night so Callie and I attended our first Japanese baseball game. It was so much fun, but of course, quite the adventure . . .

We don't have a car here so the easiest was to get to the field is to use mass transportation. Japan has a great train system and not only did we attend our first game yesterday, but Callie also had her first train ride.

I went to the game with one of the other American players' wife and their two boys. Callie fell asleep in her stroller right before we left so missed most of the excitement of the train ride. I'm actually surprsied that she slept through the whole trip, it was pretty bumpy, and at one point we had to carry the stroller down two flights of stairs because there was no elevator. But we made it to the game and that was the important part. We may just take a taxi next time :)

The game was great. We arrived a little late so I missed Scott's first inning, but that was okay, there was still lots to see. Our seats are about 3 rows from home plate so we have a great view. Once we settled into the seats Callie woke up and I'm sure was surprised to see where she was. She had a blast looking at everything. The games are really loud and there is constant cheering, but Callie didn't seem to mind. I think her favorite part was the 7th inning stretch. Instead of singing "Take Me Out to The Ballgame" all the fans blow up these huge baloons with wistles on the end. They sing a song and then let the baloons go. It is the craziest thing. The stadium seats about 50,000 people, so imagine almost that many baloons flying through the air at the same time. I thought it would scare Callie, but she was having a blast watching all the different baloons fly throught the air.

Scott pitched great again. He even struck out the first batter of the game, again! He threw six innings; 3 hits, no runs and 7 strikeouts and he got the win. He was also named Hero of the Game. This is something they do in Japan after every home game. Callie and I had already gone down to the family room so we got to see it on TV. It's a pretty big honor and they interviewed Scott on the field after the game in front of all the fans.

All in all it was a great game experience and I can wait to go to our next one.

Japan flight

Callie is such a great little traveler! She really impressed me, once again. Our day started very early with a 9am flight to Detroit. Callie fell asleep as the plane was taxing for take-off and woke up about ten minutes before we started our decent, so that flight was great!

We had about a three hour layover in Detroit so we planned to meet with my Grandma and Aunt on my Mom's side, since they live about 30 min. from the airport. Well, much to my surprise there were a few more people there when I got to the meeting place; two more aunts and three cousins!! It was so good to see everyone and I'm so happy that they all got to spend some time with Callie, especially my Grandma. Callie was a little tired, but had smiles for everyone and was talking up a storm, it was great. She let my Grandma hold her long enough to take some pictures and then she started calling (crying) for me :)

We made it back through security to find out that our flight was 30 minutes late. Once we got on the plane and taxied out to the runnway they discovered a problem and we had to go back to the gate. Everything was fixed and we finally took off, only two hours behind schedule!!

Once again, Callie was great. I have a feeling she is going to be a terrible teenager, because so far she is such a great baby :)

She entertained the flight attendants and her fellow passengers with lots of talking and laughing and even slept for about nine hours once it was bed time. It was great that she slept that long on the plane, because it meant that I got to sleep too, but it was not so great once we got to the apartment and it was already 9pm. Lets just say that the first night was pretty bad. But hopefully she is getting used to the time change. I think one more day and she could be back on schedule. Luckily there is a bed in her room, which is where I slept last night :)

Dr.'s appointments

Hearing Test:
Callie had a follow up hearing test at Cook Children's hospital last week. It was quite an interesting test since she had to be asleep. They suggest holding off on feeding until it is time to do the test so the child can fall asleep after eating in the exam room. The test was supposed to take about 1hr. I was a little scared since Callie usually only naps for about 45 min, but she did great. She had to wait an hour longer than normal to eat, and she was glad to guzzle down the bottle and fell asleep very soon after. She stayed asleep long enough to complete the test and passed with great results!!

Pediatrician:
Callie had her 6 month well baby check (a couple of weeks early) last week also. She weighed 13lbs 12oz and was in the 10-25% for her age. She was 25 3/4 inches long which puts her at the 50%, and her head circumfrance was 16 7/8 inches, which puts her at the 75%! She definately has the Kohn head :)

Her doctor was very impressed with her growth and said it looks like she is doing great! Once Callie gets adjusted to the time in Japan we are going to start on solids. I can't wait for the messy rice cereal, it should be fun.

Hematologist:
Callie's appointment on Thursday was great, her count was 69,000!! She is holding her own and we are so excited. Her doctor said we can wait 3 months before we have to get her platelets checked again (unless she has any bleeding or gets a cold). So we were very excited about that. Hopefully we will only have to get her checked once while we are in Japan.

All the nurses and front office staff were so excited to see Callie. It had been a month since her last visit. She had smiles all around for everyone and really enjoyed the attention :)

Japan

We are finally here!!! After a two hour delay in Detroit we finally made it. It is now 2am on Tuesday morning and Callie is wide awake because of the 14 hour time difference. Scott is pitching tomorrow so I am still on baby duty. Hopefully she figures it out soon. If anyone has any tips please let me know :) I will post more later about the rest of our trip and Callie's dr.'s appointments from last week.

Scott's 2nd start

Scott had his second start of the season yesterday and did great again.  He threw 7 innings, giving up just one run and only 5 hits.  He also struck out the first batter of the game again!  He said his arm feels great.  I think he is definitely getting back into the role of a starting pitcher.  This was his first game in the home stadium and it said it was crazy.  The home fans really love their team and cheer really loud.  He said almost all of the fans have little baseball bat things that they bang together to make lots of noise.  It should be interesting to see how Callie reacts to all the noise when we get there.  Scott has a start the day after we arrive in Japan.

Callie has been doing well also.  She is continuing to so me her attitude :)  The last couple of days she has refused to nap and at her 5:30pm feed decides she barely wants to eat.  I thought I had a five month old baby, not a two year old :)  It has been a little bit of a struggle for me, but it helps to know that in five days we will be with Daddy and I will have someone to help.

Wednesday and Thursday we have appointments with her PT, the Hematologist and her 6 month well baby check.  So we will be busy the last couple of days before we leave.  Hopefully I can get all the packing done :)

I'm in for it . . .

Callie threw her first temper tantrum last night!!  Who knew at five months old that she could already have an attitude!  I was showing her a picture of herself and she reached out to hold the photo.  I let her grab it and she was having a great time waving it around.  Only problem was I was afraid the corner of the photo would poke her in the eye or she would get a paper cut or something.  So I took it away.  You would have thought the world had ended.  She definitely let me know she wanted the picture back.  So it looks like Callie will not be afraid to challenge Mommy and Daddy :)

Callie has also had some great improvements in her physical development.  Although she hasn't rolled over yet she is getting closer every day.  We spend a lot of time playing on her side and she is tolerating tummy time much more now.  She has also been grabbing for everything.  When I was rinsing her off during her bath tonight with the sink faucet, she was even trying to grab at the water :)  She can now hold a couple of toys and shake them.  She grabs the toy between her index and middle finger and has a pretty good grasp.  She also loves to hold her pacifier and throw it on the ground :)

Callie has also been sitting on her own!  She started doing it while she was in my lap and the last couple of days she had done really well while sitting on the floor.  Tonight she sat all by herself for at least a minute!  She continues to amaze us and her physical therapist, who was very impressed by her on Tuesday.  Ozzie was also pretty excited when the PT came over.  Usually he goes next door but this time he stayed home.  I gave him a toy to keep him occupied and this is what happened . . .

Inspirational article

Here is a great news article that I found online:

Disability doesn't limit lover of life

A friend of a friend knows this guy, David Morris, who he says I should do a story on. He has some physical disabilities, I am told, but they don't hold him back at all; he's a regular guy who is an inspiration to everyone he meets.

So we set up an interview at the offices of Omni Brokerage, the investment real estate firm in the south end of the valley where Morris works. I arrive first, wondering exactly what disabilities we're talking about here, and then Morris walks in and it's obvious. He has short arms. His hands hang at chest level, about where your elbow should be.

"I have TAR syndrome. I was born with it," Morris explains, anticipating my obvious first question as we shake hands. "TAR stands for a very complicated medical term." (Thrombocytopenia with absent radius, to be exact, an extremely rare genetic condition with an incidence of just 0.42 per 100,000 live births. To get it is like hitting the Powerball lottery, only in reverse.)

TAR doesn't just mean you go through life without forearms; it also condemns you to a low blood platelet count, meaning bleeding is hard to control and interior varicose veins can be a problem. And in Morris' case it also means you are born without kneecaps, so your legs are slightly twisted and you run with a slight list

If you or I woke up tomorrow with TAR, we'd pull up the covers and refuse to get out of bed.

Not Morris. He's taking a break from his duties as an accounting specialist at Omni for our interview. Then it's back to the books. And after work, there's no telling what he might do. Maybe play a rousing game of soccer, or hop on his bicycle with the specially equipped extra long handlebars for a ride through the woods, or do a little backpacking, or some noncontact kickboxing, or tackle a ropes course, or go skydiving.

Morris has done all of the above in his first 33 years, along with a whole bunch of other things a lot of people with regular-length arms and the normal allotment of platelets have not.

Not bad for a guy who can't tie his own shoes.

"I can put my socks on. I've figured that one out," he says. "But tying my shoes — I can't quite stretch that far."

As he says this, he casts a sly look down at his shoes. They have shoelaces, which are tied, but they are also slip-ons, which means he can take the shoes on and off without touching the laces.

Morris smiles. There's more than one way to keep your shoes tied.

This is clearly a man happy in his own arms. In his view, life has not shortchanged him. "I've never really thought anything was different about me," he says. "I'm sure it helped that I was born this way, that I thought this was normal. My parents (Paul and Sherry) always had the attitude of 'Do whatever.' I have a sister eight years older who also has TAR (her name is Kristy, she's married and lives in Georgia). She's amazing. She does everything. We just learned how to fall better."

This isn't to say Morris hasn't seen more than his share of the inside of hospital rooms and had more than his share of blood transfusions. But it's also to say that he's an Eagle Scout, a high school and college graduate (Timpview High School and Brigham Young University), an avid recreationalist, an expert trumpet player and a full-on lover of life.

"I like to think that where there's a will, there's a way," he says. "I used to say you could be anything you wanted to be, but I don't say that any more because there are always going to be limitations. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut."

He lets that statement hang in the air before adding, "You've got to be willing to adapt. And definitely do not feel sorry for yourself. Challenges are opportunities, not obstacles."

Morris says all of this without a touch of self-pity and, to be honest, only because a journalist is firing questions at him at point-blank range.

He'd rather talk about BYU sports or about the big event coming up in his life in two weeks — his marriage to Katrina Kenison.

"She's amazing," he says. "I can't believe how lucky I am."

As our interview ends, he adds, without being asked and as a kind of postscript, "You know, I don't get teased. I can only remember once when I got made fun of, and that was in junior high. I never feel like anyone's staring."

Staring, I find myself wondering after an hour with this guy, at what?

Scott update

Scott pitched in his first game in Japan yesterday. He threw six innings and got the win!! He only gave up two runs and struck out the first batter he faced with three pitches. It has been a long time since he has started a game and thrown this many pitches. His body was a little sore, but he felt great during the game. Let's hope he has many more wins to come!!