Happy Holidays!

During the past week we have been preparing for the Holidays and enjoying time with friends and family. Last Week, Samantha celebrated another first, first school Holiday Concert. She was very excited and I knew she was ready. She’s been singing her songs for weeks. When we arrived, she was very shy around her classmates. Something I am definitely not use to. Overall, it was a success. The kids were adorable and it was nice to know other parents were doing the same thing as me, taking lots of pictures and being proud!

Here she is singing with all the kids in her class. As you can see, she is the tallest!

Here is Sam with one of her best girlfriends, Lia!

Santa also paid a visit to the concert!

Here is Sam singing her favorite Holiday Song!









She really thinks she is missing a tooth in the front so the song is appropriate. Wait til she really does lose her two front teeth!

On Saturday, we had an annual Holiday Celebration with friends and family at the Johnsons. Here are a couple cute pics of Auntie Cheri, Jadyn and Kyle too!

And a couple cute pictures of Sam and her Dad!

Sunday marked the first night of Hanukah. Here are Sam, Jadyn and Bruce lighting the candles!

From our family to yours, Happy Hanukah and Merry Christmas!

Happy 5th Birthday Samantha!

We celebrated Samantha’s 5th Birthday on December 5th! Per Samantha’s request, she headed off to school to celebrate and treat her class to cupcakes! Since Dad had to work, Mom and Sam were on our own that evening. Before opening presents, she enjoyed her favorite dinner, a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Mom sang a solo “Happy Birthday” before we cut into the cake. Being at home the last couple months, mom has turned on the oven on several occasions (no jokes necessary).

Like with the other ventures, the cake was a success. But as you can see from the picture, I made the mistake of covering the cake. When I uncovered it, some of the frosting and words came off so the cake looks worse than it tasted. Samantha insisted on a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. She started eating her cake and loved it. As soon as she realized that the bottom of the cake was white (from the flour), she decided she didn’t like it and refused to eat anymore, regardless of the fact that she like it up until that moment. Oh well, better luck next year. Baking tips on how to prevent this in the future is appreciated!

The next day, we had a small celebration at Chuck E. Cheese with Ethan, Kyle, Kobe, McKenna and Jadyn.

The kids had a great time while the moms (and Nancy too), got our fair share of birth control!

In other news, we celebrated Kobe’s 4th Birthday a few weeks ago. Here he is enjoying the new “Iron Man” action figure we gave him for his birthday.

As always the kids had a great time!

After sleeping through most of the party, Jadyn enjoyed a nice rest on Mickey's sister in law Kris’ shoulder while he looked around at all the chaos!

McKenna enjoyed the party too. Here she is with Auntie Cheri. She is already 6 months old. I can hardly believe it!

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. I usually cook, but had decided not to cook this year thinking I wouldn’t be up to the task. After enjoying dinner out, we headed to Matt and Cheri’s to have dessert and play games. Jadyn slept through dinner, but managed to wake up and enjoy some time with the family.

Pop pop (Grandpa Johnson) finally got to meet Jadyn too!

Devin enjoyed his first vertical Thanksgiving, he is on the run these days!

The kids were very energetic after dinner. Here is a calm moment with Auntie Cheri and Kyle!

And Auntie Amanda and Jadyn!

We actually managed to get all the Johnson/Berman kids together for a picture too!

With the holidays fast approaching, I took another attempt of capturing the perfect picture for the holiday card. Samantha did a lot of reassuring, as she knows mom likes to take lots of pictures. We had lots of pictures that looked like this.

Here is one of the better pictures!

After I got a shot of the two of them, I decided to try to get a solo shot of Jadyn. He was very cooperative. He fell asleep in this position for about 20 minutes.

You’ll have to wait til you get your card to see my favorites! I’d love to know who is reading this blog. If you are, please post a comment or e-mail us to let us know at docward@sbcglobal.net

Adjusting and Visiting!

We have spent the last couple weeks adjusting to our new routine and enjoying visits. Jadyn has been a good baby. He’s a good sleeper, but has only repeated his sleeping through the night a couple more times. He lost his umbilical cord on Monday and has healed nicely from his circumcision. He is now starting to have more alert times in the morning and in the evening, but continues to eat, sleep and poop his way through the day. He has also started to look at us more intensely and follow us with his eyes more often. I have to admit that you forget what it is like to be a parent to an infant. They do so little in the beginning. It is nice, but it really is just what I said, the “beginning.” It will change, Bruce and I have decided to enjoy it while it lasts!



Uncle Alan visited from Florida to not only spoil his niece, but to meet his new nephew.

He spent the week reading books, working on puzzles and learning the joys of noisy toys and toddler tantrums.

He even made it though an afternoon with an additional two toddlers when Ethan and Kyle came over to meet their new cousin.

Ethan and Kyle took a liking to him.

He actually left with his hair attached, but we may have added a grey or two.

Not a bad deal because you see what kids did to Bruce’s hair
Cousin Devin even spent a morning with us and seemed some what confused with the whole baby thing.

Samantha is adjusting nicely to being a big sister. For the most part, she seems to understand that Jadyn requires more help than she does and has taken to caring for her dolls in a new way. She still loves to hold him and especially likes it when Jadyn comes in her room tuck her into bed at night. She likes to remind us that she gets to do things differently than Jadyn because she is a big girl and he is just a baby. Bruce and I have been working on trying to keep some kind of schedule with Samantha so she continues to go to school three times a week and enjoy her big girl time (riding her bike, going on errands with Dad and her favorite Happy Meal treat). For the most part, the routine has worked and has made the adjustment more manageable.

Here are a few pics of the happy siblings!

Jadyn and I had a chance to go visit friends from Mommy’s work for the first time while Samantha and Daddy made ta dah (AKA sushi) one of Samantha’s favorite treats. It was no surprise that everyone loved him and couldn’t believe how small he was.

Jadyn took a great liking to Miss Susan as she had the best treat of all, a bottle!

Here is Jadyn with Miss Beth and Miss Barbara.

All in all, we continue to adjust and will begin preparing for the Holidays and a big day in the Berman household, Samantha’s 5th Birthday! Stay tuned for more fun!

Welcome Jadyn Thomas Berman!

The Berman Family was blessed with the early and healthy arrival of Jadyn Thomas Berman. He arrived in our hearts and in our lives on Wednesday, October 29th at 12:29 p.m. As any parent would say, he is absolutely perfect. Coming into the world a healthy 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 19 ¼ inches long. If the numbers sound familiar, they are. He was the exact same weight as Samantha and just ½ inch shorter.

The story of his arrival started on Tuesday. Bruce and I both had the day off so Bruce could have the remainder of his root canal and crown fitting. After Bruce finished at the dentist, I made a quick run to the polls to early vote (thank god) then we spent the afternoon at the pumpkin farm with Samantha. It was a windy and sunny afternoon at Kuipers Pumpkin Farm, but we managed to pet the animals, play and walk around for awhile before picking out the perfect pumpkins to carve (unfortunately, we never did carve them). That evening, Bruce headed off to Bowling while Samantha and I enjoyed a relaxing evening at home. Throughout the day, I was experiencing the same discomforts I had been experiencing for the past couple weeks. A little heartburn, a sore back, but felt pretty good as long as I was walking around and somewhat mobile. As the day wore on, I started to feel a little different and realized that I had lost my mucous plug, but I continued to not be alarmed because this sign basically meant I was having a baby in the next couple weeks (which of course I already knew). Needless to say, I still wasn’t alarmed.

I woke up Wednesday morning after finally getting a decent nights sleep. I felt good, but still a little different than I had in the days past; however, I still felt good enough to continue my daily routine. After a couple extra trips to the bathroom that morning, I woke Bruce to say goodbye and tell him about how I was feeling. I took some extra precaution then headed off to work. About half way through my drive, I had a weird feeling followed by an unexpected gush…I thought my water might have broken or was going to. After making a quick stop on my way to work, I headed directly into the bathroom where my feeling was confirmed, my water had broken.

It was 8:30 a.m. and I needed to get the ball rolling. I immediately called upstairs to talk to Nancy before I called the Doctor. I knew that if I needed to go to the hospital, She’d be willing to help me out. I called the doctors office and they immediately told me to get to the hospital so they could begin monitoring me and get me into surgery. I called Bruce and let him know what was happening and instructed him to bring my things from home. He says he wasn’t nervous, but he told me he’d meet me at “Elmhurst” hospital (not “Edwards”) as soon as he could. By 9:30 I was being admitted to the hospital and on the monitors in the labor and delivery unit. As if experiencing Deja Vu, Nancy spun around in the doctor’s chair while I answered a million questions from the admitting nurse. Bruce finally arrived about 9:45. My contractions were now apparent on the monitor, but felt mild and manageable. After a quick good bye and good luck from Nancy, Dr. Frangella paid a visit and stated that they had one c-section that was in process and that I would be taken into surgery within an hour or two. Things moved very quickly at that point. I was in surgery by 11:30 and after two attempts at a spinal block, Bruce joined me at 12:20 for the arrival of Jadyn Thomas. Everything was very smooth and orchestrated, something very different from the day of Samantha’s arrival. By 3:00, I was settled into my room and resting comfortably with the two most important men in my life.

After spending the day at School, Uncle Glen surprised Samantha by picking her up. Bruce left around 5:00 to bring Samantha to the hospital to meet her new Baby Brother. Bruce said she was very excited and surprised to hear of Jadyn’s arrival. When she came into the hospital room, she lit up with excitement and immediately welcomed Jadyn and said how much she loved him. It was a precious moment.

On Thursday, the photographer visited us in the hospital. Her name was Amy and she was from Bella Baby Photography. After taking the pictures, she was taking down some information about us when we realized that knew each other. She is our neighbor Brian’s sister. Included in this posting are a couple of her pictures and she has offered to take more pictures again for us in the future. An offer we will definitely take her up on.

We had several hospital visitors!




By Friday (Halloween), I was anxious to get home and see Samantha dressed up in her Doctor’s costume. Appropriate costume don’t you think? I was feeling good, but not sleeping because of the traffic flow from the Nursing staff. My night nurse mentioned that my doctor might release me and I was pleasantly surprised when the doctor agreed when he visited me that morning. By noon, Bruce and I were packed and on our way home. Once we arrived at home, Bruce and I spent the afternoon getting the remainder of the house ready for Jadyn (better late than never). For the most part, everything was done, but their were a few little things that needed to be finished to make life a little easier.

Bruce left to surprise Samantha at school with an early pick up and news that Mom and Jadyn had arrived at home. Just as with the hospital, Samantha was extremely excited to see us and even more excited to have us home. The first thing she said was that she missed us and loved us. Within a short time, Cousin Devin and Auntie Amanda arrived to join Bruce and Samantha for Trick or Treating! Devin was an adorable giraffe!

It was apparent that the week’s activities had exhausted us all. The remainder of the weekend was spent settling in. I rested most of time while Bruce waited on me hand and foot and kept Samantha occupied. Samantha has already proven to be a good big sister. She loves to hold Jadyn and wants to help all the time. She seems to be adapting well and recognizes that Jadyn cannot do the same things as she can. On Sunday, she spent time at the park riding her bike with dad. When she got home, she immediately wanted to wake Jadyn up to hold him. She likes giving him kisses and rubbing his head. She even likes to help with diaper changes and loved to help with his first at home bath.

Speaking of the first “at home” bath, Bruce proved that he was a seasoned parent on this one. He set up everything for the bath and explained how the nurse bathed Jadyn following his birth. Compared to Samantha’s first awkward bath, Jadyn was bathed like a king. Bruce took the reigns and showed his smooth moves while I sat back and took pictures. The bath was flawless success. Jadyn was so exhausted that he passed out, and I do mean out. He slept through the night (9:00 until 7:00). Bruce and I almost went into shock. He thought he slept through a feeding or two. I, of course, woke up 4-5 times to check on him and make sure he was breathing.

Monday marked our first outing. After dropping Samantha off at school, Bruce and I headed to the doctor so Jadyn could have his first office visit with Dr. Rusthoven and I could have my first post op visit with the Obstetrician. Like a true champ, Jadyn soaked his clothes just before we left the house, simply to remind us who was really in charge. Dr. Rusthoven was impressed with Jadyn’s progress. He weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, which is within normal limits for newborns. We head back to the doctor on Friday for a weigh in and to schedule our 1 month visit. So far so good.

During the course of the last 15 years, I have had plenty of opportunities to recognize how amazing Bruce is as a partner and father. I am extremely thankful to have a man like Bruce in my life. This moment in time has been just another one of those moments when I realize how lucky I really am. Bruce has always embraced being a father and the birth of Jadyn has been yet another opportunity for Bruce to show how much his family means to him. He has been a great support to me and can’t do enough to show his love and support to Samantha, Jadyn and myself. He has proven to be the glue that holds us together and I will forever be grateful for his love and support.

A Special thank you to all of our family and friends who have continued to show us us support over the course of the last several months. We couldn’t take this leap in life without your help. Until next posting…