New Baby Montgomery - 9/26/2008

On 4:50 a.m. on September 26, Jack and I got a telephone call. I just knew that it must be something to do with our new grandson coming. Sure enough, it was our son Chad calling to see if I could come over to keep Bronson, they needed to go the hospital. Man, did I jump up and get moving!! I made record time getting to their house. Jack had to take care of Brandy before he could get over to their house. But he moved pretty fast (even with his boot on). One reason we were so surprised at this call was she was not due until October 26. So I was very worried about our little one being a month early.

At 11:35 a.m., Nicolo (Nico) Joseph Montgomery was born. He weighed 6 pounds and 1 ounce; he was 18 1/2 inches long. He has lots of dark hair. He looks so much like his big brother.

We did have a little scare right after he was born - he came out screaming but stopped so they rush him to the nursery and put him on oxygen and in a warming bed. But he was checked out from top to bottom and everything seems to be fine. They kept him for about 3 hours and then brought him back to the room. So we didn't get to see him or hold him until then. He is beautiful, of course!! They are going to keep him an extra day and keep him on monitors when he is in the nursery. But so far everything is doing just fine. But of course with him being a premie, we will have to keep a close eye on him and make sure he continues good health.

Here are a few pictures Jack took when we first saw him:

Mama with Nico:

Daddy with Nico:

Please keep Nico in your prayers. Thanks.

Beautiful Fall Weather

We definitely have had beautiful fall weather here in the Midwest. It has been in the low 80s and cool 50/60s at night. This morning was the first day we had had rain for over a week or so. The rain didn't last long - only until around 9:00 a.m. and then the sun has come out. We have really enjoyed our screened-in room this fall.

Jack is doing pretty good with his foot. He got his stitches out last Wednesday. Actually, the pain has been minimal; his foot is still swelling and he sure doesn't like having the boot on all the time. He is off the crutches, which is good, but it is very slow moving with one of these boots. He didn't change boots, he still has the walking cast; but he is getting better on getting around in it. One good thing the doctor told him, he only has to keep the boot on another 3 weeks from this Friday. That is a little better than the original time.

We have had a pretty quiet week. Just the routine type activities. Volunteered at the hospital with a fundraiser. We sold fall mums and were we ever busy -- we sold 280 mums in about 6 hours. It is a great fundraiser for our auxiliary and we always have people to contribute for a great cause. Played bunko last night with my girlfriend's group. I just substitute when they need one. It is a fun game, but I wouldn't want to do it every month.

Tonight we are going to Zack's football game. Last Saturday we went, and it was their first real game. He was so excited and they won; 42 - 0. Tonight's game will be much closer as the team they are playing is a tough team.

Have a great week!

Hurricane Ike is gone - sunshine again!!

Oh boy, have we had the rain!! We had about 7 inches in two days all from the hurricanes coming to the Midwest. Yesterday it was so nice to get up to sunshine. We are having wonderful cool mornings and now sunny afternoons. We will soak all this in over the next week or so.

Jack is improving with his from his surgery. He has had minimal pain from it but it is just a real pain trying to get around with his walking cast. Taking a shower with a plastic bag over the cast is not the easiest thing to do either... but tomorrow will be better as he gets the stitches out, the bandages off and then gets a more mobile type walking boot. This boot can be removed to shower, etc.

We have had a pretty quiet week so not much to report. Emma spend the night with us Saturday night. Today is our oldest son's birthday - he is 41; oh my, does that make us feel old!! Happy Birthday, Craig!!

Yesterday we had Bronson for the afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures we took with Jack's new camera (Nikon D-80). The bear in the picture with Bronson is one we bought while we spend the winter in Texas from some friends, Fred & Joan, from South Dakota.

Notice our dog, Brandy, had to be in the picture too. She is a little jealous of Bronson on Popo's lap!!

Family Get Together; Birthday Celebration; & Jack's Foot

We have had rains again in the Midwest. One day last week we got 3 inches of rain in about 4 hours. August was a dry month but so far September is making up for it. With all the hurricanes coming to shore, next week we will probably have rain every day.

Last Thursday, my brother, T. C., and his wife, Sandy, came to Kansas City (they live at Stoutland, MO) and spend a few days. It was great to have them up here. T. C. is not too excited about coming into the "city" - he is a country boy. Friday night, we had our sons and families; my sister and her son & grandson; all over here for a mini-family reunion. I fixed dinner for everybody and we had a great time. Not very often do we all get together - usually it is just around the holidays.

Sunday evening we took our oldest son, Craig, and his family out to dinner to celebrate his 41st birthday. His birthday isn't until the 16th but we decided that since Jack was going to have his foot surgery this week, we had better do it early. Lavon, we did remember the camera. Here are a few:

Zack, Shannon, Emma, Craig and me.

Craig & Emma (for the Quail Run Friends - they are ones that visited with us last winter)

Today was Jack's foot surgery. He was to have his bone spur removed. His surgery went well. Believe it or not the doctor was even 30 minutes ahead of schedule. He was in surgery around one hour and the doctor said things went well. The spur was a little larger than we believed at first but it was all removed. The doctor said it had some scar tissue around it which is why it had gotten larger this last year. We were home by 3:00 p.m. Jack has a beautiful, black walking cast boot which he will wear for one week. Then we go back next Wednesday to have the stitches removed and they will put on a different type boot. He will wear this boot for another 5 weeks. So he won't be running any races for a few weeks. So far he has had just a couple of pain pills so hopefully the pain won't be too bad.

Gustav reaches the Midwest

Gustav has reached the Midwest. We woke up this morning with rain and cool temperatures. It is to reach 64 today and tomorrow - cool fall weather. We did need some rain and so far it has been a slow, easy rain. Southern Missouri is forecast to get 6 - 8 inches of rain the next couple days. Sounds like there are a number of hurricanes coming out of the Caribbean the next week or so. Hopefully they will not be to0 severe to the Gulf and Eastern Coasts.

Jack and I went camping out to Smithville Lake over the holiday weekend. This is a nice, small lake North of Kansas City. It is only about 15 miles from our house so it is very convenient for us.

Normally we don't go out camping over holiday weekends but decided we better go since Jack is scheduled for his foot surgery a week from today and he probably won't be up to camping for the next month or so.

The campground was completely full for the weekend but we lucked out and had a very nice family next to us. They had three children - 13, 11 and 4 ages - all boys. The man worked for the government, USDA, so we had that in common and enjoyed visiting with them all weekend. The 4-year old was a hoot. He would come over and help Jack with playing the Yard Golf game.

The weather was great all weekend. Temperatures were in the 80s but had a good breeze and a good shade tree.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The campground:

We took this picture on Tuesday morning and as you see we pretty well had the campground to ourselves.

Jack trying to play Yard Golf:

Here I am making all the rings!! Not really. I blamed it on the sun going down and not enough light.

Here is Brandy watching what was going on:

Here is another sunset. We had some really nice ones.

We had a couple nights with the camp fire:

Overall, we had a great time.