Another Weekend in Fergus

We spent another March weekend in Fergus Falls as we headed up to see our new God-daughter, Anna Mathiesen, baptised; we feel very blessed to have been given such an honor! It such a great experience to watch a child baptised! A few funny things happened this weekend that we don't have pictures for, but I had to let everybody know about.

1 - My cousin Amy went with us to Fleet Farm on Saturday. She told me about my dopey brother standing in front of the exit door waiting for it to open (silly, Kyle!)., but that's not the story. Upon leaving the store, Amy says, "Kaare I saw some boxers in their for you that said 'I'm Frickin' Lucky.'" Michelle starts to laugh and says, "no, they said 'I'm FEELING Lucky.'" It was very funny.

2 - My cousin Katie and Michelle made a fantastic dinner on Saturday night; but it was almost not meant to be. You see, Katie did something I've never seen before . . . she successfully burned butter and nearly smoked the house out. Very funny! But the end result was a heavenly cheeseburger soup . . . mmmmmmmm!

3 - At the baptism on Sunday morning, we were sitting in the second row right by the middle isle. Baptism was held at the traditional service which meant the choir was there. And standing right next to us was the choir director waving his arms as choir directors do. Well, Quin just stared at him for about a minute, then stood up on Michelle's lap, looked forward and raised his arms up just like the director. It was very cute and very funny!

4 - Finally, after the choir and Anna's baptism, Quin had enough of church. So he and I went out into the hallways to wander around and hopefully fall asleep (him, not me). Bethel has a huge wall devoted to the LB World Missions. There on the wall is the picture of my sister Kris' family, the Larsens. I pointed to Kris on the picture and said to Quin, "who's that." He got a big grin on his face and tried to pull the picture off the wall. Rather than let him destroy Bethel's missionary wall, I grabbed him a new picture and Quin proceeded to play with the picture. Or as Michelle put it, "he's playing with his cousins at church."

Anyway, that was some of the highlights of our weekend. I wish I had a camera for all of them, but they were great! Thanks to the Hosch clan for letting us crash with them again (two weekends in the same month!). It's been awesome spending time with you guys. And to Tim, Jenny, Ellie & Anna; thank you for asking us to be Anna's godparents. We will pray for her always and love her sometimes - just kidding, all the time!!! You are great friends (more like family) to us - we love you all.

The New & Improved Bellybutton

Here it is! Almost fully healed! Pretty flat - well, at least a vast improvement.

Fort Car Seat

On our second car drive to Fergus in 2 weeks, Quin decided he wanted to build a fort with his car seat and blanket.

The Belly: Before & After + Recovery stuff

These first two shots are from the night before surgery. First, you get to see just how far that hernia would stick out. Kaare's term has always been that it's like an aardvark snout.

And when Quin's pushing or straining, it would get this big around.
Quin's belly is hidden behind this bandage, but you can plainly see there is a significant buldge missing. The doc's stuff the entire thing back in his belly and stitched it up. Pretty cool!
In recovery, Quin was pretty tired out and took a while to recover from the anesthesia. So the majority of the next few pics are of our sleeping little-boy.Mommy makes a good bed.
Dad sleeps for a few minutes too.

The hospital staff said not to give Quin any formula or solid food until he could keep some pedialite down. Well, two attempts at the hospital resulted in major barfage that soaked blankets and Mommy's shirt. But, he was able to keep some down so we finally got to go home. In the picture below you can see Quin drinking his juice with no hands and Michelle being very prepared for more barfing by having a blanket on her lap.

Look what I found in the laundry!

Surgery Update

Just wanted to let everybody know that Quin's surgery went extremely well yesterday and that he came out with six-pack abs - haha! I guess that's not entirely true, but it did fell really different holding him without feeling that huge bulge coming from his belly. His surgery lasted just over 45 minutes with no complications. His time in the recovery area was a bit longer than planned, but that's because he really didn't want to wake up from a nap. So, we got to the hospital at 7am and went home after 1pm. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow so you can see the difference - well, sort of see the difference because Quin has a huge bandage on his stomach right now so you can see much.

Anyway, we just wanted to thank everybody for their prayers. We truly felt them as there was an overwhelming sense of peace as we handed Quin off to the hospital staff for surgery. God is good.

May I Take Your Order?

The three of us are visiting The Hosch's in Fergus Falls this weekend. As I type this, my cousin Amy & I are watching the movie Constantine while everybody else in the house is asleep. Normally I would wait until we got home to do this, but I had to put these up. This McDonald's outfit is from a McDonald's Drive-thru playset that my cousin Ben had when he was a kid. Michelle, Katie & Amy decided that Quin needed to wear it. He just has one question for you . . . would you like a hot apple pie with your order?

Some Catching-up

It's been a while since we've had a fun post of pictures. So, here's a collection of some of the stuff that's been going on around the Funhouse lately.

Quin got these neat PJs from Taiwan that reminded Michelle & I of the Karate Kid. So, Michelle took a dishtowel made by Quin's Great-Aunt Karen and wrapped it around his head. Watch out, Cobra Kai!!!

He hasn't yet mastered the Crane Kick but he's working on it.

For some reason, Quin LOVES to play with and in the laundry basket. Here's some of his adventures.

And finally, the little booger is walking around furniture now. Much to his parents dislike, his main source of walking is the living room coffee table (pointy corners and glass!). But it doesn't deter him. We're taking wagers on when he'll be walking on his own especially after he stood on his own at Grandma & Grandpa K's house last night.

Can you see Quin's new front teeth?

Under the Knife!

Well, it's been decided, set-up and scheduled; Quin will have his herniated belly-button surgically repaired. We met with our surgeon yesterday to check Quin's belly to see if it has gotten better, worse or stayed the same. While his belly-button hole has not grown, it has not closed either. But his skin continues to stretch out more and more.

Quin is set up for surgery on March 18th at 8:30am. If you wouldn't mind, please keep our family, and especially Quin, in your prayers over the next few weeks. The surgeon said it's a very simple and common surgery, so it should go off without a hitch. My grandpa used to say that doctors were God's tools here on Earth, I tend to agree. So hopefully God's tool will take away the alien head that has not yet burst from Quin's stomach - haha!!! Thanks for your support during this time.

-Kaare, Michelle & Quin