Mische Family Blog

Elliott is 1

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:49:00-0400

Elliott is 1! He's crawling like a champ and is generally very destructive. He's gotten his hand caught in a mouse trap, a hanger stuck in his mouth, and has taken a header off the bed. We had a fun birthday party for him at a bowling alley. Sure, the bowling part was mostly for the adults, but he had fun too. I made him a bowling cake with banana cake and cream cheese frosting. He loved it and ate a piece as big as the adults. Enjoy!

An instant classic

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:33:00-0400

We went to visit with Santa yesterday. I think the picture says is all. Merry Christmas!

This couldn't wait

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:53:00-0400

We have a lot of pictures to post from many weekend activites, but this couldn't wait. Click the download link at the bottom of the post. The file is huge but it's worth every second.

Click Here To Download

Elliott is 6 months old

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:29:00-0400

Time flies when you're having fun. We must be having way too much fun, because time seems to be moving at warp speed. Elliott is 6 months old already. We are way too tired to put together the same kind of photo slideshow we did for Stella, but look out for some videos that we have been meaning to post. Stella is hilarious. She speaks in full sentences and is now carrying on conversations that actually make sense. She's like our own personal play by play announcer. Nothing gets by her - and she likes to call everything out. Elliott thinks Stella is hilarious too. Dinner is an interesting event these days. She spends most of her time trying to make him laugh, and he obliges. We have only a few pictures to post, take a look. I've been battling bronchitis for 3 weeks and I think I'm finally done with it, just in time for Nathan to get sick.

July 1, 2008

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:36:00-0400

Elliott is 4 1/2 months old now. Stella is 21 months. They both have an incredible amount of talent. Elliott has already rolled over from front to back. Stella can now count to 10. Every time they do something new I think about how I should be posting about it. Now that Elliott's reflux seems to be under control, we're hoping life becomes slightly less crazy. We can always hope... Here are some pictures.

Happy Three Months

Thu, 15 May 2008 23:17:00-0400

I need to get better about posting, so much happens every day. We're having a ton of fun and finally getting some sleep! Here are some pictures. Sadly, I had to go back to work and send the little guy to day care. He seems to be doing fine though. He's all grown up already.

Catching up

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:25:00-0400

Elliott is now 7 weeks old, and we haven't posted any new pictures! Well, it's been interesting... Immediately after my epidural I got a headache. I didn't notice it much while in labor (I was more focused on the fact that the pain medication was nonexistent after being stuck 4 times), but as soon as I sat up to be moved to recovery it became horrific. After debating with the anesthsiologists about whether or not I really had a spinal headache, I went home. Two days later I was in the ER getting my unbareable spinal headache fixed. I came home a new woman. That night Nathan became violently ill, we think it was food poisoning. Week 1 was eventful - par for the new course. Stella then went on to be sick from week 2 until last week. She's been on 2 courses of antibiotics and recently had a virus. Last weekend we had a plumbing issue that caused water to come pouring through our kitchen ceiling, followed by a gash in our tire and the discovery of an expired car inspection sticker. Just last night I developed some kind of stomach virus and have been confined to bed. I'm feeling better already. Excuses, excuses, this should make up for some lost time. Stella is a fantastic big sister. She is very maternal, rocking Elliott when he is crying, helping to burp him, and offering him pacifier even when he doesn't want it. Elliott is a very good little boy. He only cries when he's got a burp in him or is over tired. He's gotten nice and chunky over the past few weeks and we feel confident he won't be taking orders from Stella for too long.

Welcome Elliott

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:18:00-0400

The way pregnancy #2 was going, I was fairly sure that I was not going to ever go into labor naturally, and would therefore have to be induced at some point during week 41. So, when I went to my appointment on Thursday (Valentine's Day), I was ready to pick a date the following week to schedule the birth of baby. I had made plans to go out to lunch with my mom, and needed to pick up V Day gifts for both Nathan and Stella. I headed to the doctor for my 11:15 appointment. I happened to be having a contraction when the doctor was checking the baby%u219s heart beat, and the doctor didn't like how low it was. We waited a few minutes to see if I would have another, and sure enough, the heart beat would get lower than the doctor liked. The doctor made a few phone calls and sent me to labor and delivery, I wasn't allowed to stop along the way for anything. The doctor at the hospital determined that I was in labor, but didn't realize it yet (read - I was in no pain...). Things were slow, and given the baby's heart rate, they thought it would be best to give me some pitocin to get things moving more quickly. It didn't take too long for the contractions to get painful and I decided it was time for the epidural. Hahnemann is a teaching hospital, so there are always 25 different people helping you or observing, or experimenting. The anesthesiologist made his was into the room, and left me with the resident. She stuck me 4 times, but each time I could feel that something wasn't right. Finally, another doctor came in, stuck me once and was right in. I instantaneously got a headache, but didn't care much since the pain medication was taking effect quickly. Labor was progressing slowly. The doctor came in to break my water and insert a monitor to keep better track of the baby's heart beat. While this really helped to get things moving with Stella, I seemed to be getting nowhere fast. By 8 pm I noticed that I was starting to feel the contractions again. I asked the nurse to call the anesthesiologist, but she said they were backed up and it would be a few minutes. By 8:30 I was in so much pain that I was in tears with each contraction. The doctors finally made their way into the room. What started out as a slow afternoon turned into a very busy evening. there were 7 other people in labor. It was too late for the anesthesiologist to do anything, though they tried, and it was time for me to push. This was not the birth I had hoped for. But, pain can act as a motivator. I started pushing at 9 pm. Four pushes and 10 minutes later, baby boy was out. We had his name picked out from when Stella was born: Elliott Sebastian Mische. We just liked Elliott, there is no real meaning behind why we chose it. Sebastian is my dad's name, we thought it would be nice for him to have a little guy named after him since there is a shortage of them in our family. Elliott weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 21 inches long, which is just a bit smaller than Stella. Here are some pictures of Elliott's birthday. More details on the ordeal after delivery and the first time Stella met her baby brother to come later.

Stella is a Big Sister!

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:18:00-0400

Last night at 9:10 PM Barbara gave birth to a healthy, 8 pound, 2 ounce, baby boy. Mom and Elliott are doing fine and Stella can't wait for them to get home so she can meet her new baby brother!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:05:00-0400

Happy Mardi Gras everybody! Thanks to Uncle JJ and Amanda Stella got to try her fist piece of King Cake last night. While she was still making up her mind with this first bite, she ended up eating 3 pieces so I think it's safe to say she liked it!

Stella deserves more pictures

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:11:00-0400

We honestly haven't taken a whole lot of pictures lately, but it's not Stella's fault. She definitely deserves to be photographed. Here are a few from Christmas and early January.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:23:00-0400

The turkey is in the oven and we are getting ready for a day of feasting with the family. This will be Stella's first Thanksgiving where she will get to eat Barbara's delicious turkey. This year she brined the turkey, it smells fantastic! This morning we went out to see Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You can see some pictures here. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Back From Australia

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:22:00-0400

Last Sunday we got back from our trip to Australia. The trip was a bit short but it was pretty amazing none the less. Our trip began on Saturday Nov 3rd when Stella and I flew from Philly to LA to meet Barbara. (Barbara was in Las Vegas celebrating her 30th with friends, so Stella and I just met her out in Los Angeles.) I was a little worried about making the 5 1/2 hour flight alone with Stella, but I really had nothing to worry about, Stella did great. After a 4 hour layover we were all on to the 14 1/2 hour flight to Sydney. Again Stella was a champ.

Sydney

Due to crossing the International Date Line we got in to Sydney a little before lunch on Monday, basically loosing all of Sunday to our flight. We checked into our hotel which was located in the older part of Sydney know as The Rocks, right near Circular Quay and the famous Sydney Opera House. After taking much needed showers we went to lunch with one of Barbara's co-workers where I, being the less pregnant, more adventurous eater had BBQ Emu pizza. (It was delicious.) Next we took a quick taxi ride over the Sydney Harbor Bridge and saw a bit of North Sydney. After that we decided to take a walk to see some of the sights near out hotel. We ended up walking through Circular Quay and over to the Opera House where we got to see the famous building up close. To end the day we had Chinese food at Circular Quay. Tuesday morning Barbara had to work so Stella and I took a walk over to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Stella got a chance to run around a bit before it started to rain and we made our way back to the hotel. For lunch we met back up with Barbara and went down to Chinatown to eat at a restaurant named BBQ King where we had some excellent BBQ pork. Chinatown was only about a mile or so South of our hotel so we decided to walk back and see some of the sights along the way. We stopped in the QVB a shopping center located in a pretty amazing old building next the Sydney Town Hall. Tuesday also happened to be the day of the Melbourne Cup, a huge horse race in Australia. Even though we were in Sydney, the day of the Melbourne Cup is a national holiday so we saw plenty of people celebrating - lots women in hats and gowns and men in suits gathered at bars and pubs (called hotels in Australia) to watch the race... Barbara had to work some more that afternoon so Stella and I ended up walking around The Rocks. We stopped at a bakery and tried an asparagus and chicken pie, which looked a little like a chicken pot pie, but it was a bit too spicy for Stella and it was raining again so I decided to head back up to the room. Barbara was able to bring us some food from her meeting so we ended up just relaxing for the rest of the evening, which was a good thing because I think we were still getting rid of our jet lag. Barbara had to work all day Wednesday so Stella and I were on our own to explore Sydney. We started the out by taking a taxi out to the Kings Cross section of Sydney to meet some friends of mine for breakfast. After breakfast the line at the taxi rank (designated taxi pick up areas marked by a sign) was pretty long so my friends told me how to get back to Circular Quay (our hotel) by subway. The Sydney subways were kind of different in that they were more like underground, double-decker, commuter trains, but they were clean (as was all of Sydney), inexpensive, and convenient and Stella and I had no problems getting back to our part of town. The subway let us out at Town Hall which happened to be near a Woolworth's, an Australian grocery store chain, so Stella and I stopped off to replenish our supply of Cheerios. This is where I discovered two things. First they don't have pennies in Australia so totals get rounded up to the nearest 5 cents. Second, while close, Cheerios are not the same in Australia as the US and they are not nearly as popular. After the trip to the grocery store we stopped off at the hotel then went to the zoo. Sydney's zoo is across the harbor from the CBD so we got to take a 10 minute ferry ride which was pretty cool. The zoo was very nice, with spectacular views of downtown Sydney, and we ended up spending most of the day there. After the zoo it was back to Circular Quay via ferry. Stella and I then got dinner at a pizza restaurant near our hotel. By Thursday Barbara was done with work and ready see a little more of Sydney. Unfortunately it was pouring rain so we ended up having breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then took a cab over the aquarium. The aquarium was nice, but we had to get ready to fly to Melbourne that afternoon so we didn't spend a whole lot of time there. By the time we left the aquarium the rain had let up so we walked back to the hotel and got ready to go.

Melbourne

We got into Melbourne on Thursday afternoon. Again our hotel was in a great location just half a block outside of the CBD, right near the Queen Victoria Market. On the recommendation of some nurses Barbara had met from Melbourne we walked over to Lygon Street to get some Italian food for dinner. There had to be close to 30 Italian restaurants on this street but we picked one that Barbara had read about in one of our books and it turned out to be pretty good. We then walked back to the hotel and called it a night. On Friday we had booked a day tour to the Great Ocean Road. We saw some amazing scenery including some beautiful beaches and pretty impressive rock formations. We stopped in the coastal town of Appollo Bay for lunch where I tried the fish and chips which are actually made from shark. It was pretty good but I think I prefer the more traditional Cod. The tour took up the entire day but was well worth it. On Saturday we decided to explore Melbourne a little. To start the day we had breakfast a little cafe before going to the Queen Victoria Market. The market was similar to the French Market in New Orleans only it was about 10 times bigger. We walked around for a few minutes, bought Stella some blueberries, then decided to hop on the free city circle tram to see some of the sights. Well, it turned out the tram was going to be out of service for about an hour so we decided to get on the free tourist shuttle instead. (I have to say, between the free tourist shuttle and the free city circle tram Melbourne was a great city to get around in as a tourist.) We took the bus over to the Royal Botanic Gardens where there were having some sort of art fair. Stella got a chance to run around the children's garden and ended up with her first scrapped knee! She was having so much fun though she didn't even notice. We walked around the gardens for a few more minutes then hopped back on the bus to Federation Square and Flinders Street Station. After lunch at a cafe in Fed Square we decided to take a river cruise on the Yarra river, which flows through Melbourne. After the cruise we took the city circle tram (which was now running again) back to our hotel. It was now just about dinner time so we decided to walk to the Greek precinct for dinner. There I had some of the best lamb I think I have ever had in a lamb kabob. Sunday morning we had pancakes at a restaurant near our hotel and then were off to the airport. Apparently the WWE Raw (professional wrestling) had an event in Melbourne that week and all the wrestlers were on our flight back to the US. I guess I have never seen any of those guys in person, but they are huge. We probably saw about 10 of them and a few of them, including Triple H and Umaga stopped to talk to Stella, saying how cute she was. It was pretty funny... So that was our trip. Stella is officially a world traveller! You can see some pictures here.

We're off to see the Wizard!

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:15:00-0400

No, Stella was not Dorothy for Halloween, she was an octopus. We went out trick or treating on our block. Don't know if she understood what was going on, but she sure did enjoy walking around outside with all the other kids. But, tonight we are preparing for our big trip to Oz. I leave for Vegas tomorrow morning, Nathan is flying solo with Stella to LA, where we'll meet on Saturday night. We then take the 14 and a half hour flight to Sydney. We'll be gone a week. Stella's passport is packed and she's ready to go - let's hope we are.

Libby's Birthday Party

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:15:00-0400

Stella's friend Libby turns one on next week so to celebrate she had a Halloween party this weekend. Stella went as an octopus. Here are some pictures of Stella in her costume.