Bathtime Video

Here's a little picture and bathtime video of Mitchell on V-day. He still loves his baths....until I get him out. I don't like stepping out of my hot shower either, so I can sypathize with him!

Mitchell even performs his own stunts in this video. He's a "Jackie Chan" in training.

P.S. The length and frequency of Mitchell's baths are inversely related to my hot showers :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Mitchell is seven weeks old today! We're looking forward to Daddy getting home early enough to have dinner with us tonight (Jacob's been working a ton lately - gotta love busy season). He said he'd try to be home by 8pm. I said "That's not early!" Wow -it's strange out my point of view has changed in a year. Last year at this time, we made dinner reservations at 9pm. :) Of course, last year at this time, I didn't have a newborn waking me up at 3:15am to eat and then wanting to play for two hours! Kind of funny that for some reason, when I was pregnant, my body naturally woke up at 4am every morning. I guess my body was preparing itself for 4am play sessions!!

Mommy & Mitchell

Here is a picture of Mitchell and I before my first big night out! One of my girlfriends celebrated her 30th birthday with a pubcrawl. I joined for the first two bars and even had one beer at each. It was nice to be out....but after two hours I was ready to return to my boys at home! Of course they were both sound asleep when I got home - I think I missed them more than they missed me! :)

Chunky Monkey

Look at our little chunky monkey at bathtime!!! We used to take baths every three days, but now that Mitchell has become a spit-up king (I like to call him Dairy King), we're now bathing daily. He has so much fun kicking around in the water! I can't wait to take him swimming!

Six Weeks Old

Mitchell is SIX weeks old today! I can't believe how fast it goes! I finally got a video of him showing off his newest and most endearing (oh, and only!) trick - his smile. It melts my heart :) He seems to be the happiest in the morning, unlike his daddy!
He is also LOVING bath time. Everytime I splash the water up on him, he opens his mouth to try to catch some! Before anyone reports me to social services for allowing my child to drink dirty bath water, I should tell you that I don't splash it up quite high enough for him to actually catch it....that doesn't keep him from trying though. I'll try to get a video of that this weekend when Jacob's here. I have to keep my hands on him at all times in his little tub - squirmy and slippery are a dangerous combination.
It was 70 degrees out on Monday, so we took advantage of the weather and Tex and I took Mitchell on his first walk outdoors. He seemed to really like it and was fast asleep by the time we reached Pflumm. Tex was in doggy heaven too - it's been too long since the poor guy was taken on a walk. I, on the other hand, was probably the worse off of the three of us...it was quite a struggle to man the stroller and the dog at the same time. We might have to talk Jacob into joining us next time. From the looks of things outside (we have 3 inches of snow on the ground right now), it'll be a while until our next outdoor walking adventure. :(

Mitchell's First Superbowl

Today was Mitchell's first super bowl...and Jacob thought what better way to introduce him to the sport than carrying him like a football. I know that his size as a baby is not necessarily indicitive of his size as a full grown adult, but if he stays in the 90% percentile, he may become more familiar with the sport! Look at his chubby little arms and legs!!!!

Getting Big!

Here are some pictures of Mitchell that I took this morning. As you can see, his eyes are still blue - I read somewhere that they usually turn by 6 months, so it'll be interesting to see if they change. You can tell how big he's getting! HIs baby acne is in full force too. :( Hopefully it'll go away soon, and NOT return when he's a teenager! :)

We have a new favorite pasttime! There are some kareoke songs on one of the on-demand Time Warner channels (Oxygen channel, for those of you that want to check it out!) So he sits on my lap and I sing to him. I am pretty good at some of them and AWFUL at others (has anyone tried to kareoke "The Dance" by Garth Brooks..it's HARD!). Mitchell doesn't seem to be too judgemental though. He just stares at me - probably thinking, how did I end up with a nutcase mom like her! :)

Too Stubborn to Smile

I tried to get a video of Mitchell smiling, but this is the best I could get for now. He turned a month old today!!! I have a feeling the smiles will continue to get more and more sincere in the coming weeks, so hopefully I'll have a better video to share soon. Happy 1 month birthday, Mitchell!

1 month pediatrician appt

We had our one month pediatrician appointment today! I knew Mitchell was growing bigger and bigger every day....but this only confirmed it. He has gained almost 4 pounds. He was 7 lbs, 10 oz at birth and today weighed in at 11 lbs, 6 oz! He was 20.5 inches long at birth vs. 23 inches long today! Both his weight and height are in the 90% percentile. Whoa!

Four Weeks Old

Mitchell is 4 weeks old today! Hard to believe it's gone this fast! He is changing each and every day, becoming a little more aware and reacting to his surroundings. Just yesterday, I noticed that he finally SAW his mobile and watched the little bears as I moved them around (see video). He is getting closer and closer to smiling...but nothing yet. We have our month check-up at the pediatrician tomorrow, so I will be curious to hear how big he's grown. Some doctors refer to the first 12 weeks of life as the "fourth" trimester - so I like to think that we're a third through the fourth trimester. Unfortuntely that means I'm also a third of the way through my maternity leave :(

Little Glow-worm

I like to refer to Mitchell as "my little glow-worm". Jacob thought I was nuts (not soley for that reason!) until I showed him how much he really does look like my old gloworm toy. I'll have to take another picture a time when Mitchell's big blue eyes are open...which is more and more these days. Do you see any resemblence? Ha :)

Mitchell is 3 weeks old today!

 
Here is a little video clip of him (you have to hit play twice). Time flies! We are doing a little better at getting settled into a routine, but are still struggling with our daytime naps. He is sleeping really well for us at night though. He gets up every 3 hours to eat, but goes right back to sleep afterwards.
The doctor says he is still a bit more susceptible to germs, so he has yet to leave the house since coming home from the hospital except for one trip to the pediatrician. Give us a few more weeks and we'll introduce him to the world outside of our doors. Remember the movie "The Truman Show" - well our house has become the Mitchell show :)

Precious Boy

He may have you fooled here, but he doesn't ALWAYS look quite this precious :) He is growing BIGGER every single day! He is eating a ton...at this rate, I think I'm going to be able to teach him to count by counting his chins. Just kidding! Look how long his fingers are? He got those from his momma. My dad thinks they'll enable him to palm a basketball. I didn't want to burst my dad's dreams for his only grandson, but they might also make him a pretty mean piano player. Guess we'll just have to wait and see :)

Aunt Kelli visits!

Aunt Kelli visited her first nephew over the weekend! Mitchell welcomed her by showing off his "automatic sprinkler" for her first diaper change. Although it took us a bit to get it all cleaned up, she was pretty impressed by his shot! He made it all the way to Tex's bed! Tex wasn't quite so impressed :)

Grandma meets Mitchell

Grandma and Grandpa Bays made their way to KC to welcome their first grandchild. David and Jacob have kept busy working on finishing the basement, while my mom has spent the majority of her time spoiling Mitchell. I'm not complaining :) Each morning she meets me at my bedroom door for the "pass-off" so that I can head back to bed for a few hours. We're both going to be in for a rude awakening when they leave!

Yet another bathtime picture!

I am a little obsessed with bathtime pictures, but he just looks the cuddliest when he's freshly bathed and wrapped up in his warm towel. Here's proof :)

Pediatrician Update

This is my recent favorite picture of Mitchell. He had his check-up appointment with the pediatrician this morning and now weighs 8 pounds, 10 ounces, which is exactly one pound over his birth weight. She was impressed that he was able to gain that much weight in only 12 days! He is healthy as can be...except that we have to be extra careful not to expose his little lungs to germs/flu/etc. She recommended that we keep him indoors and away from potential germs for the next 6 weeks. It's going to be a long six weeks for us at home...well worth it if he doesn't end up with anymore problems though!

First Bath at Home

Mitchell got his first at home bath in our kitchen sink on January 5th. He liked the experience 100% better than his hospital bath! In fact, he barely even cried at all. Hopefully they will continue to get better and better. He won't fit in the kitchen sink much longer, so I just had to snap a picture of him :)

Gran and Pops meet Mitchell

Jacob's mom (Karen) and step-dad (Rick) made the trip up from Tulsa to see their first grandson! Mitchell barely left Karen's arms - as you can see, he was quite content with that :)

We're finally home!!!!!!!!

We brought Mitchell home from the hospital on Thursday January 3, 2008 - exactly one week after his birthday. I can't tell you how nice it is to finally be home. You can tell that the whole experience tuckered the little guy out. His Aunt Katy made some sugar cookies with his name on them as a homecoming gift. Only problem with them is that they are too cute to eat!!!

Mitchell's First Bath

Here is a picture taken after Mitchell's first bath! He did NOT enjoy the bath very much, but definitely liked being wrapped in a cuddly towel afterwards. He's getting more and more used to his skin being exposed - at first he HATED it and would bawl at every single diaper change. Maybe he'll start liking baths better too....he's due for another one today, so we'll see :)

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!! This has been our most unique New Year's celebration yet! :) Hard to believe that one year ago, we were partying at Martini corner...now look at us! We spent New Year's Eve in the hospital and toasted in 2008 with sparkling grape juice! We couldn't have been happier to ring in the new year with our new little guy. Martini corner doesn't hold a candle to him :)

Here's to 2008! The best is yet to be.....

Snoozing

We try to catch as much shut eye as possible when Mitchell is sleeping. He's pretty good about sleeping contently in his cradle in our hospital room most of the time, but sometimes he gets fussy and just wants to cuddle. Jacob and I don't mind that too much :)

Growing Stronger!

Although he is still technically a NICU patient, he's doing so well that they're allowing him to board in our hospital room with us rather than in the NICU. We are loving it! We're getting to spend LOTS more time with him. Click on the play button under the box below to see a little video. If it doesn't work the first time, try hitting play again.

Welcoming the newest Folks

Jacob's dad (David) and stepmom (Diane) had planned to come visit Mitchell about a week after my due date...however because he was a week late, they actually arrived on his birthday! Jacob's siblings - Skyler, Connor and Katy - also visited, but none of them were able to spend as much time with Mitchell as they had hoped since we spent their whole visit in the hospital. :( We'll be visiting them in Maine for the 4th of July - hard to believe Mitchell will be 6 months old by then! Think that's too early to start training him to water ski on their lake? :)

Daddy's Little Buddy

Here is a video of Jacob and Mitchell. He is definitely his dad's buddy. I have come to expect little smirks from Jacob in the instances where I have trouble calming Mitchell down and he quiets right away when I finally give in and pass him over to Jacob. The opposite is definitely true sometimes too though, but I try not to return the smirk :) We are getting to know him more and more everyday.

(Taken 12/29/07 at 11AM - 37 hours old)

My first cuddle with Mitchell

The above picture of Mitchell and I was taken the first time I really got to hold him (except the extremely short stint right after delivery.) I know we are biased, but Jacob and I think he is so damn cute!!!


Below is a video of Mitchell - taken 9:30am the morning of 12/28. He was about 12 hours old. This was really the first time we got to hang out with him because he struggled a bit on the way out and ended up with some fluid in his lungs, so they wisked him away to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit right after delivery. We did get to go up and see him around 2am on 12/28, but I was so exhausted that I didn't get much out of the visit. Although NICU sounds serious, the main reason he's in there is because they have him on a 7 day course of antibiotics, so that means that we don't get to bring him home until they are done (which should be Thursday). If it weren't for the antibiotics we'd be headed home b/c he is doing REALLY well. Jacob and I are staying in the hospital with him, so it'll a week long hospital stay, which is much longer than we anticipated, but you can't always plan these things!

After much anticipation, he's finally here!

Mitchell Ryan Folks was born on Thursday, December 27 at 9:57pm. He is 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. His first name is obviously my maiden name, but spelled what most people would consider to be the "correct" way. We tossed around the idea of spelling it Michel....but I just couldn't subject the little guy to being called Michael?, Mikehl?, Michelle?, Mickel?, etc...

We're are all doing well!

A picture of the little guy is attached-- we think he's a keeper :)

Last Pregnancy Picture

This picture was taken right before heading to the hospital - the snowy evening of December 26th, 2007. We dropped Tex off at my Dad's and our car got stuck in his driveway! We were worried that we might not make it to the hospital at all! Jacob made fun of me because my first reaction was to get out of the car and push it from behind. He said "Mandi, we're on our way to the hospital to have a baby. You're not going to push a car out of snow drift!" After a little manuevering on Jacob's part, we finally made it out of the driveway and to the hospital. Come to find out...maybe I could've used some practice pushing afterall :)

40 Weeks

Another picture of me at 40 weeks. Measuring normal...right along where I should be. He's moving all over the place now too. Not just cute little kicks now and then....it's like waves of arms and legs. Such a weird, but cool feeling. I really think I'm going to miss not being pregnant, as weird as that sounds. I never really thought I'd say that. I think it's just so neat to grow a human inside you...gives my life more of a "purpose". Corny, I know! I guess my purpose will be defined as taking care of the little guy once he's here though.

Almost there!

Well here we are at about 40 weeks - we made it!!! Hopefully I won't look like this much longer, we're expecting his arrival any day now. It's kind of ironic that we wrapped my tummy up in a bow in the picture because that might be one of my biggest complaints about being pregnany...cutesy maternity clothes!!! It seems like every single maternity shirt has a bow somewhere on it...do designers think pregnant women need to be wrapped up like dang presents for 9 months? : )

Thanksgiving 2007

Here is a picture of the Apollo "kids" and significant others at Thanksgiving. It's about time we have a new generation of "kids" since obvioulsy we're all a little old to be in that category anymore :) Kelli & Mark, and Mom & David made the trip down from Wisconsin. Uncle Logan & Aunt Teresa and Jessica & Matt made the trip up from Fredonia. Monica & Corey drove across town from Prairie Village. Erica came up from Wichita. We had a great time eating and laughing and catching up with one another. Exactly what Thanksgiving family gatherings are intended for! :)

(Pregnancy tracker - 37 weeks or a little over 8 months)

36 Weeks...and counting!

Yet another picture of my growing belly at 36 weeks - or 8 months along. Only one month left! We're hoping this belly has a little Christmas present inside...but we'll just have to see if he chooses to come in time. Still feeling great - just biding the time 'til the little guy arrives.

Our Couple's Shower

We had a couple's shower at Jill's on November 3rd. It was a great gathering of current and old work friends, and Jacob's parents made the trip from Tulsa up for the event too (and to help us celebrate Jacob's birthday too, which was the day before!) They all pooled $ together bought us some of our bigger items, including our stroller! I couldn't believe it. We SERIOUSLY are barely going to have to buy anything. I can't believe how much people have spoiled us. It makes me feel bad b/c I know that we could've afforded to buy a lot more than we ended up having to. I still have a big gift card to use, and I don't even know what to use it on!!!! I'm sure the list of things we'll need after he's here will keep growing, so we'll probably just save it. The generousity of our friends and family has totally amazed me! We are so lucky!

Dad's Re-Birthday

My dad had an emergency triple bypass! He has been experiencing heart pains for MONTHS, maybe even years now, but the doctor's have always attributed it to heartburn related to his digestive tract. He finally went to see a cardiologist and was scheduled for a procedure the very next day (Thursday, October 25) where they pump a colored dye into his heart to test the severity the blockage. Good news is that they found the source of his heart pains...bad news is that he had an emergency triple bypass. Two of his arteries were 80% blocked and a third was 99% blocked! The doctor said it was a wonder that he hadn't had a heart attack yet! The entire ordeal was a little unexpected and scary, but couldn't have had a better outcome. After five days in the hospital, he was released to come home and is well on his way to a full recovery. He feels like he has a new lease on life. The best news is that he hasn't smoked since the day he went into the surgery....which is a bad habit he's had for over 40 years! I guess he's taking this new lease on life seriously :)





His health is so much better following the surgery than it was before.  The below picture was taken 2 months before the surgery and now that I look back at the picture, I think he looks sickly :(.  We now refer to this scary surgery day as his "Re-Birthday" he feels born again!  His better health allows him to do so many things that he could never do before!  We are so thankful for the successful surgery!

Jacob's 1st Half Marathon

Jacob completed the Kansas City Half Marathon in October! Here is a picture of him (in the orange) chugging towards the finish line....actually it looks more like he's floating! :) If you were to ask him, he'd claim that he trained to be able to run 13 miles in a little over 2 hours...however I would disagree! He somehow managed this magnificent feat with barely any training at all! He amazed me! He was literally barely even sweating at the finish line. Unbelievable! I think I solidly gained all of the weight that he lost :)

2nd Wedding Anniversary

This is a picture of me on our 2nd wedding anniversary - September 24, 2007. I'm about 27 weeks pregnant or 6 months. I'm finally starting to get a belly, but am still kind of in that "is she just gaining weight or is she really pregnant" stage. Yeah, it's wonderful (that has a hint of sarcasm). I started to feel him move around right around 20 weeks, which is the weirdest, coolest feeling! I can almost set a clock by the times of day when he's the most active 6:30am, 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:30pm. Doctors says all is well...just counting down the remaining months now!

Vancouver

Over labor day weekend, Jacob and I took a trip to Vancouver. What a beautiful city!!!! We really enjoyed the long weekend spent wondering the town and enjoying the scenery. We even rented a tandem bike for one of the days and rode around the city & large local park. We ate lots of seafood! It was one of the more relaxing, fun vacations we've had for a while.

(Pregnancy tracker 24 weeks or 5 1/2 months)

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We just found out today that we're having a BOY and couldn't be more excited! You know what they say....now we only have to be worried about one boy in town rather than if we had a girl, we'd have to be worried about ALL of the boys in town! Ha - just kidding!

Philadelphia for the Fourth

We took a trip to Philadelphia for 4th of July to visit Jacob's brother's family for the holiday weekend. This is a picture of us taken in front of the Liberty Bell. The rest of Jacob's family made the trip too....so it was quite a house full! We had a great time catching up with everyone and seeing some of the sites of the town!

(Pregnancy tracker - 16 weeks or 3 1/2 months)

Jacob had to pretend to be Rocky and climb the historic staircase!

Grand Canyon Hiking

In May 2007, we took a trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with Brent & Emily Beller and Matt & Michelle Hoppe. We stayed at The Palms in Las Vegas for 2 nights, 1 night in a hotel at the top of the Grand Canyon and camped inside the canyon for one night. We returned to Vegas for one night and stayed at MGM Grand.

We also got to share the exciting news that we were expecting our first baby. Yes, Mandi hiked the Grand Canyon 10 weeks pregnant...and was probably one of the only sober people in Vegas! :)

We hiked the Bright Angel trail 10 miles down to the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon. Our campsite was 5 miles down into the Canyon.

The long hike called for a trip to In-N-Out Burger :)

Kelli graduated!!!!

Jacob, I and my dad and even a few of our other family members travelled to Minneapolis to attend her graduation from the University of Minnesota in May. My mom and David threw her a big graduation bonfire party at their house in Prescott. There were tons of people there to help her celebrate. We're so proud of her! She may not have taken the most direct or traditional route, but she's got a degree none the less. Let the job hunt begin! (Here is a picture of Kel and her boyfriend, Mark.)

BIG Announcement!

The Folks family is expanding...and so is my waistline :) This picture was taken the day we found out that we're expecting a baby this winter. We're both excited and a little nervous... We're still going back and forth on whether we will find out the sex in July or not. We'll probably cave :) I hope this doesn't jinx me, but so far I've been feeling great. No big side-effects yet...but I'm sure they're soon to appear.

Royal's Opening Day

We hosted our annual Royal's Opening Day party again this year.  We invited 65 of our closest friends from work :)  It is an annual tradition and one that everyone very much so looks forward to!  My dad offered to drive a group of us to the stadium in his RV.  The keg came along for the ride too and made for some interesting times....fun memories for sure!

Sunny Cali

Jacob and I planned a "post-busy season" trip to California in late spring. We spent a few days in San Diego and then drove up the coast to L.A. Although we enjoyed our visit to Hollywood, I think we liked San Diego better than L.A. Jacob convinced me that no trip to San Diego is complete without a trip to Tiajuana. I'm thinking we could've done without that experience....but none the less it was an experience!!! While standing in line to get back into the States, we saw them let a group of mexicans out of jail that had previously been arrested for trying to sneak across the border. They were returning all of their belongings, including their shoelaces and belts. Overall the trip was a great way to unwind, relax and reconnect after a few months spent apart. We had a great time!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe it's already 2007! We rung in the new year with about 30 friends at the Martini corner party. It was a blast. The only downfall with it being January is that busy season officially kicks off. It'll be a busy couple of months, but we've got a vacation scheduled for mid-March.

Mandi the Professional

I had to have my professional picture taken at work for Ernst & Young to use for client proposals, etc.  Wow - sometimes my own maturity surprises me!  I still feel like such a kid, but I guess we're all grown up now! :)