Ben

New Baby Boy!

Benjamin Jack was born March 14th! He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and measured 21 in. This news should have been posted two months ago, but we've been so busy we're just now getting around to it. Although he had a rough start breathing right after he came, Ben bounced back quickly and came home with Mom the day after his birth. He has been our chunkiest baby, our best nighttime sleeper, and a great eater. His older siblings think he is pretty cool and they all love to "help" with Baby Benjamin in their own way. Ben is now 9 weeks old. He stays awake more to smile and coo at us. We love having another little one in our home and feel very blessed to have Benjamin Jack in our family!

The Boy's Birthday

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to us!

Christmas Card 2007

Christmas 2007

Update

Under my standard MO I have neglected this site for quite some time. As always a lot has transpired. Angie wrote an update for our extended family newsletter detailing some of the events. Here it is...

Our October started out very rainy and cold, which made Ange mad because her favorite Oregon season is autumn—usually sunny 65-degree days and weeks of colorful leaves. She was afraid that we were skipping right to the yucky dark wet winter days we get here. Thankfully, the weather cleared up in time for us to join Anna’s preschool class for a field trip to the pumpkin farm and go on lots of "crunchy walks" with the kids.

We’ve also spent a lot of time working on outdoor projects like fixing the back fence and cutting down an unsightly tree in the front yard. Scott almost had too much fun wielding the chainsaw, running the wood chipper, and making fun of Ange for how long it took her to drive a nail into the new fence boards. The Dudes loved "teaching" Mom how pound nails using their plastic hammers (we still can’t trust them around each other with real ones). Anna was content to color at her picnic table and get everyone apple snacks" when they needed a break. Mom had a great time keeping everyone away from sharp motorized tools.

Our other interesting piece of news is that we will definitely be going active duty with the AF after residency. We’ve spent the last few weeks agonizing over the list of 27+ bases with open radiology positions available—bases all over the globe from Korea and Germany to Alaska and DC. We have to rank at least 20 bases. Hopefully all the work was not for nothing.

Finally, our Halloween at the ward trunk or treat was lots of fun. Anna went as a princess (of course), Seth asked to be a "manpire." Jake stubbornly refused to cooperate with any costume until he discovered he could get candy out of it, at which point he tolerated a cowboy hat. Mom and Dad dug out Scott’s old fatigues and went as army guys.

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I would also note that I have had a couple other things transpire. First, my car was stolen from the parking lot at work. The thief was kind enough to run it into a pole on the way out of the paking lot and cause a lot of damage. The police found it three days later when no one seemed to be moving the car they were leaving the parking tickets on. I probably should not have reported it stolen since the repair costs and towing fees were more than the car was worth.

We also discovered that the baby we are expecting next year will be a boy. We are name hunting if anyone has suggestions.

Christmas Card 2006

The Bleazard Family '06

Post-vacation Blues

Most will attest that the worst part of a good vacation is returning home and trying to resume the routine. I have felt that way this week. Last Saturday we returned from our trip to Silver Lake, Michigan. I must admit, I had never thought of Michigan as a vacation destination, but there are great reasons to go. Lake Michigan is tepid, the waves are small enough and the shoreline drops off slowly making it a great place for young kids to play all day long.

In addition to playing on the beach we enjoyed jumping the sand dunes and trolling around in the boat that grandpa rented. The kids now seem to think that we should run to the local ice cream place every night and play all day until our bodies just fall dead tired on the floor. I think they liked it.

We learned some lessons about traveling with the whole brood. The airlines actually meet at off holiday times to make sure that flying is as inconvenient as possible. That is where they decide that families with small children should be scattered about the plane to insure the flight is as unpleasant as possible to as many passengers as feasible. They also contemplate how they can lose your luggage and crowd you onto a plane to sit at the Jetway with the doors closed and the air conditioning off for an hour while they figure out that nobody loaded the luggage. Though we swore when we got home we would not fly until the boys are older, it was still worth seeing them enjoy playing with their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We'd go again in a heartbeat.