Wares Wherever

On Sunday, August 15th, I began having contractions around 3:00 pm. By 10:30 pm, they became more regular so we headed to the hospital. We were admitted by 11:00 pm and I had my epidural by 12:30 am So there we were, at Providence Hospital, ready to welcome our son into the world. Twelve hours later, at 11:30 am, I began to push.

Oswald William Ware was born on Monday August 16th (on his due date) at 12:28 pm. He was 9 pounds, 4 ounces and 21 inches long.

Please check out Flickr for more photos.

Other recent photos of Rohm…

As some of you know, some time around August 16th, Rohm will become a big sister. It will be quite the event since she is also having a baby, at the hospitals (that’s not a typo, that’s actually how she says it) just like mom but not like dad because boys don’t have babies. So, as you can tell we’ve been discussing the logistics of baby #2. We are all very excited! I’m starting to enjoy some of the excitement since I’m out of the first trimester and feeling much, much better. Opposed to my pregnancy with Rohm, I’ve had every ailment that comes along with pregnancy and then some. It was quite the adjustment. We find out next Friday, April 2nd, if it’s a boy or girl. I think we’re both in agreement that we don’t care either way as long as the baby is healthy. According to Rohm, we’re both having girl babies, so we’ll see.

Here are two pregnancy pictures. The first one is from when I am pregnant with Rohm at 19 weeks. The second one is from this pregnancy at 18 weeks.

Here are some of Rohm’s latest developments:
Recently, I’ve been telling Rohm about how baby wipes cost a lot of money and she can only have one wipe (otherwise we would go through an entire box in 4 hours, Rohm uses them to clean the house). So here’s her logic. She uses one and when she throws it away she tells me, “I get a wipe Mom, only one, OK, Mom?” So I try to explain to her that she already had one and when she gets another one it makes two, one plus one is two. Her logic does not go this far yet. So that is an everyday battle. Well the other day, Adam was getting Rohm out a straw and she wanted two. Adam, unaware of our conversations, says, “Only one straw, they cost a lot.” and Rohm says, “Of money.”

With this concept in mind, I’ve been explaining to Rohm that Dad goes to work every morning so he can make money to buy us things like food and wipes and straws. So one day I’m sitting in Rohm’s room and she’s leaving and as she is shutting the door, she says, “Bye Mom, I’m going to work to get some money and… food and…cake.” I like the way she thinks, I wish I got paid in cake and that’s not the pregnant woman inside of me talking, I’d really like to get paid in cake.

The other night we tell Rohm it’s time to go to bed. Trying to avoid it she says, “No go to bed, I hang with Mom and Dad, not go to bed.” Of course she got to stay up for 5 more minutes, how do you deny a two-year old who uses the word hang?

The other day I’m leaving for the gym and she says, “Don’t go to the gym, Mom. Stay here and talk” and trust me, I considered it. By the way, Rohm loves to talk.

Adam is making Rohm lunch and he turns on some music and Rohm says, “You gonna rock out, Dad?” He asks her where she heard that and she says, “Mom rocks out.” And he thinks to himself, ‘Of course she does.’

Other tidbits:
She can identify colors correctly
Can count to 2
Can identify the letters R & O
Favorite color: Pink
New Words: Awesome! & seasick (this is the result of a boat trip she took while vacationing in Florida)

Well hopefully this keeps the crowds pleased for awhile because who knows when I’ll get a chance to blog again, I’m having a hard time keeping up with things these days! There are a few new pictures on flickr so check them out if you’d like!

XOXO,
The Ware Family

Last summer Adam predicted that we would take a trip to the ER before the end of the year. Well, he was off by 24 days. Last Sunday, after we loaned our only car (with the car seat) to Uncle To, Rohm fell off the couch and gashed her head open on a table. I frantically called Uncle To and then Jo hoping that one of them would answer. Meanwhile, Adam places Rohm on the kitchen counter and stops the bleeding. Through her tears she cries out “Jelly Beans.” Apparently when you’re 2 and you cut your forehead open, it’s really important to eat jelly beans. They kept her from crying so we got out the bowl of jellybeans and slowly started feeding them to her hoping they wouldn’t run out anytime soon.

Eventually, Jo calls us back and we inform her that she will have to drive Adam, Rohm, & me to the ER in her truck. So, we illegally pile into the cab of Jo’s truck and head off the hospital. This was the highlight of Rohm’s evening. Riding in Jo’s truck without a car seat leaves quite an impression on a 2 year old with a gigantic hole above her eye.

Sticking with the jellybean plan, we got more candy out of the machines in the waiting room and let Rohm carry on with her sugar high. It was, by far, the best distraction ever! Eventually, we make it to the back and wait forever. Finally, someone actually figures out that we’re there and need help. Nurse Mike comes in and explains to us what’s going to happen. They’re going to put a topical anesthetic on the wound and then they’ll wrap her up in a papoose and stitch her up. So I explain to Rohm that the nurse and doctor are going to fix her like when mom fixes things when they break.

Rohm did great. Nurse Mike wrapped her head up and then gave her a bubble gum sucker. After a while, the doctor and Nurse Barry come in with the papoose (a board with big flaps that Velcro over the child so they can’t squirm). I take one look at the papoose and think there is no way Rohm is going to get into that thing. Sure enough Nurse Barry tells her we’re going to wrap her up like a burrito and she climbs right in and starts to wrap herself up saying, “be a burrito” over and over until she is actually wrapped up like a burrito. So, I was completely wrong. Then Nurse Barry, mom, and dad pin Rohm down while Doctor Sands puts three stitches in Rohm’s forehead. She cried a little bit (and mom did too) but she was did a great job. I was a little shocked since I’m pretty sure I took the whole thing worse than she did! And Adam did a pretty good job keeping his cool the whole time too! When nurse Mike came in to discharge us, Rohm turns to him and yells “Fixed it!!” and then we got to go home And hopefully it will be a long, long time before we have to do that again!

Here’s a video of Rohm telling us about what happened:

   

If this doesn’t summarize our trip to Chicago then I don’t know what does.  Rohm absolutely loved the snow, especially when she figured out she could eat it.  Well Christmas came and went and, of course, it feels like we didn’t have enough time with everyone but hopefully we’ll be back again soon!

We arrived back in Portland on New’s Eve, just in time to watch the Ducks lose the Rose Bowl and to sleep for three days straight before gearing up for 2010!

Rohm has developed a new taste for Play-doh which is a nice surprise since we’ve been playing with it for months without this problem.  But if you ask her what the rule is, she clears states, “No eating Play-doh.”  And when you ask her if she is going to eat it she says, No.  But for some reason she feels compelled to eat it anyway.  She even tells you, “Gross.”  I’m thinking maybe the snow-eating had something to do with this, but I can’t figure it out.  To each his own, right?

Rohm also figured out that after she says ‘Mom’ about three times and I don’t respond (because I’m busy concentrating on something else, of course) she’ll call out ‘Gina’ instead because she knows this gets my attention right away.

And finally, while lying in her crib at night Rohm will yell, ‘Love you Daddy!!! Love you!!!’ over and over because she knows she’s being so cute that he won’t be able to resist her.  And she’s completely right, I can see his heart melt every single time

Anyways, I put up a few pictures from the trip on flickr, so if you feel inclined, check them out!

We would like to wish everyone lots of love and laughter for 2010!

Howdy Everyone!

Of course, I promised myself that I would post new pictures and videos by the time I sent out the Christmas cards and I’m running a little behind on all of it.  I have no idea where the time goes!  Don’t worry; the laundry, dusting, vacuuming, and grocery shopping aren’t getting done either.  I’m fully neglecting everything.  Tis the Season, right?

I just wanted to take a moment to catch up with some moments from 2009.

Rohm’s Likes:

Putting things in bags
Carrying those bags around
Putting rocks in buckets
Pushing strollers and carts at the store (although she can’t see where she’s going)
Spitting water out of her mouth onto the floor from her highchair (not one of my favorites)
Pouring water from one cup to another
Snowmen
Trains
Airplanes
Imitating absolutely everything mom and dad do

Rohm’s Dislikes:

Sitting on Santa’s lap, until he gives her a peppermint sucker, then it’s all good
When Frosty leaves at the end of the story (cries real tears)
Jack Frost (from the Frosty video, Dad taught her he was mean)
Oh when you try to do anything for her

Last Sunday, the Ware family went up to Larch Mountain.  Our plan was to jog up the closed street until we reached the snow so we could build a snowman.  In theory, it was a beautiful plan.  As we started to jog, I’m sure it was less than 5 minutes before I was convinced my lungs were bleeding, a combination of asthma and the altitude (It had nothing to do with the fact that I’m used to jogging on a treadmill in a cozy gym in front of the TV).  Adam was pushing a 32+ pound baby in a jogger, I have no idea how he was doing it.  So we walked/jogged for about two miles and didn’t quite reach the snow.  As we decided to stop where we were and build a miniature snowman out of the snow piled in the ditch on the side of the road, it started to pour down rain.

So, soaking wet, we definitely jogged the two miles back to the car, without stopping, which was fabulous since it was downhill the entire way!  I could have used some wipers for me face though!  And throughout all of this we managed not to get shot since the only other person out there in the forest with us was a gunman who was engaging in an illegal target practice, we love the back country!

Happy Holidays to You and Yours!!

Love,

Adam, Gina, Rohm, Bea Bea, and the Kitties too!

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are some pics of Rohm trick-or-treating at SwellPath (one from the Staver’s party last weekend also!). More to come.

So it’s been a really, really long time since we last posted and I’m not even sure where to start.  Well I guess I could start with the fact that we haven’t moved since the last time we posted, which, at this point in time, is pretty significant.  I guess I could mention that Jo & To (pronounced toe) & Apple & Nadah (Nesta) & the tee-tee’s (kitties) have moved. Here. To Portland.  And we couldn’t be more excited, especially Rohm and Bea.

Bea has finally found her long lost best friend, Apple.  But it’s pretty difficult to decide who loves Apple more, Bea or Rohm.   For both of them it was love at first sight, without a doubt.  Bea finally found a companion that has the exact same amount of endless energy that she has (the humans love this too!).  And for Rohm, well, for Rohm it was a lot more.  She finally found something that was the same as Bea (not a cat but not as big as a ‘real’ dog and made all of the same funny noises).  She also figured out why Mom and Dad spent the entire summer trying to get her to say ‘Apple’ (which is ALL she said for a while after she finally met Apple).  And she also found something else that she could boss around as much as she does Bea.  Now Rohm is in charge of TWO things.  “In charge” includes telling them, ‘No Bark!’ and herding them into different places and then shutting the door on them and then telling them ‘Bye.’  So they all pretty much entertain themselves, which makes our job much easier!

So needless to say, Rohm is talking a bunch now.  For the most part, we understand what she’s saying but there are definitely moments when we have to ask her ‘what?’ five times before she either gives up or we pretend to know what she’s saying when we actually haven’t got the faintest idea.  At that point you just shake your head up and down and say, “Uh-huh. Yup.  That’s right.”  And I must say that it’s not from the lack of trying.  Every night this summer, Rohm would lie in bed for 2 HOURS and practice her words; over and over and over before she would fall asleep.  APPLE APPLE APPLE.  NADAH NADAH NADAH.  JO JO JO. TOE TOE TOE.  And then she mixes it up a little too, Apple Nadah Jo Toe.  Jo Apple Toe Nadah.  It’s been pretty entertaining to say the least.

Well I could go on forever but I figure I’ll spare you.  It’s hard to believe that October 9th 2007 was Rohm’s due date and here we are 2 years later.  I never really thought about how that little baby was going to grow into such an amazing little person so quickly!!  It’s been a wonderful two years and Adam and I couldn’t ask for anything more!

Btw, Adam and I are doing well.  Adam’s still working away at SwellPath and things are going really well.  I actually started an in-home daycare and I watch two other kids; a 4-month-old baby boy named Jack and another 2-year-old girl named Veda.  It’s been an absolute blast being with Rohm every day and also having other kids for her to interact with.

So I guess I’ll keep at that for now, but I’ll be back sooner rather than later next time!!  Make sure to check out the new pictures on flickr too!

We hope all is well and hope to see you all soon!

XOXOXO

Adam, Gina, & Rohm

Hey everyone.  Can’t believe it’s been so long since we posted; thought it was a good time for an update on all of us.  Seems like it was a million years ago that we were posting the pictures of Gina pregnant with Rohm on Mothers Day 2007.  This will be our third Mothers Day with Rohm (counting the one when she was in Gina’s belly).  Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers out there; we have more respect and gratitude for all you than we ever have had before.  Here are the updates on everyone.

Rohm (the only one you really want an update on) is an amazing little person.  She is really independent and can entertain herself without needing our constant attention.  This is very nice because it allows us to do things like update the family blog while she is up and about.  She is also incredibly well-behaved, which is obviously testament to Gina’s methodology.  Rohm will constantly cleanup after herself, follow instructions and requests, and generally just act well.

Rohm is constantly learning how to do new things right now; rake the lawn, turn on the tv, turn door knobs, take socket protectors out of the sockets, set the table to feed Bea imaginary food, etc.  She watches us and repeats.  Right now she is puting her baby doll in a car seat that is in our living room – buckles and straps and all.

Gina is doing very well.  Things are popping at Popina’s so that is keeping her busy out of our home.  In the home Gina runs the show so Rohm can be happy and Dad can focus more of his time on SwellPath.

Speaking of SwellPath, it is thriving, and keeping me incredibly busy.  Check out our updated site if you have a chance, SwellPath.com.  That really is all I’ve been up to besides the time I spend with Rohm, Gina, and Bea.

Oh, did I forget an update on Bea?  Bea is doing quite well – filling out nicely thanks to Rohm’s generousity at meal time.  Bea is looking forward to the annual Pug Crawl, which happens next weekend.  We still haven’t decided on a costume for this year, but we’ll make sure we get some photos.

Here are a couple of new videos, Gina claims to be planning to upload more, but don’t hold your breath.  Remember, we’re always uploading photos and videos to our Flickr account: We’re always available on Skype for a video call, for those of you that have figured it out.  Rohm got to meet her great-grandparents, Great-Gommy and Great-Papa, last month via a Skype call with Aunt Cathy.  It was really fun, and Rohm hammed it up for them.  Happy Mothers Day everyone, lots of love from the Northwest.

Doing Yard Work

Cooking It Up

Today was the Polar Plunge and Team SwellPath made quite a splash (yes, I recognize that’s a horrible pun).  I was totally outdone by my business partner in the costume category.  But I didn’t care when I hit the 40-degreee water.  It was way colder than I expected, and way colder than any winter surf-session I’ve ever had.  Next year I might wear a wetsuit and disguise it with some kind of costume.  Those of you that wanted to be sure I “paid” for your donations with pain, can be assured that I definitely did.

We raised about $900 between the two of us, and we’re going to boost that up to $1000 with our own donation.  Big, big, big thanks to everyone that donated.  The entire event raised about $120k for Special Olympics Oregon, so it was great to put forth a big chunk of that.  As promised, I am providing pictures below.

In other news, life is moving along out here in PDX.  Rohm is quite a toddler now.  She does a lot of signing, and a fair amount of talking.  Some of it we understand, and some we don’t.  She isn’t putting multiple words together or anything like that, but she is a lot more chatty.  She physically is about 8 months ahead of most kids her age in size, and she is pretty active.  Up and down on tables, chairs, stairs, and everything else in the house.

Gina is staying busy managing Poppina’s and taking care of Rohm, Bea, the house, cats, and everything but the garbage pretty much.  Poppina’s seems to be a weird anomoly in the current economic climate; business is strong despite the fact that they’re selling swimsuits in Portland in the winter in a recesscion.  Go figure.

Business is going well for SwellPath also.  We moved into our first office space in a cool 100-year-old building in the heart of the Pearl.  We’ve signed some pretty big clients, and we’re starting to bring on a small staff to help us the work.  We’re “cautiously optimistic” about things, but pleased with the results so far.

Hope everyone is doing well around the world.  We are hoping that we can get back on a regular schedule of making visits back to Chicago and everywhere else now that things are starting to get a little more stable for us.  So hopefully we’ll get a chance to see most of you all this summer, or at least by year-end.  As promised, here are the pics from the Plunge.  Take care everyone.

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope that everyone had a great holiday season and that 2009 is off to a great start for everyone.  We had an awesome Christmas, despite the “Arctic Blast” that hit Oregon, the media blast that accompanied it, and the delays it caused with gifts arriving from everyone.  Rohm had a much better time than her first Christmas, except the Santa visit of course.  Anyway, there are plenty of new photos and videos up on Flickr.

In other news, I’m jumping into the Columbia River on February 21st to support Special Olympics Oregon.  If you can spare a few bucks for a charitable cause, click here to make a pledge.  I’m trying to raise $500, so every little bit helps.