Splishin' and a Splashin'

So we finally ventured out to the Apartment Complex Swimming Pool last night. At 7 p.m. it was only 98, so we thought it would be ok for a few minutes! Ellie loved it! She's a pool rat/lifeguard in the making! She loves splashing in the water and when her daddy throws her up in the air!

From June 2009

From June 2009

Ben's liking Lockheed so far! However, some of his co-workers said he had a doughnut violation by just being hired, so he had to bring doughnuts to work this morning. Yesterday we made some of Grandpa Weber's famous doughnuts. I'm eager to hear his co-worker's comments. I have a feeling Ben might make a lot of friends today :) AND...it's been SO fun making stuff with my graduation present from Ben - a Kitchen Aid Mixer! It's sweet! Well, stuff is unpacked for the most part, but not quite to picture taking level. I'll work on that. Today my goal is to call all the wonderful people/companies with our change of address, catch up on bills (yuck) and get the office organized. We'll see how that goes with a little 10 month helper with sticky fingers!

The Texas Update: (a little tardy, I know)

From June 2009

T - Teeth! Yep, Ellie's cutting two more teeth. Not the two directly in the front, but the two on the outsides. She's gonna look silly! Oh well, silly, but still adorable!

From June 2009

E - eating - well, we've tried some rice cereal again because honestly we took a break with the cereal since we were moving/living in a hotel for a while. So now we're back on track and I think she's regressed! So back at square one. Also, the little turd - I've been trying to not heat up the cereal and she wouldn't eat it. So this morning, I did heat it up and she ate it. It does align with what I started her on, so we'll see how that progresses. Oh, she's also gotten really good at communicating! She cries when she's hungry and even when she has a dirty diaper now! She definitely now knows how to vocalize I'm hurt. Those darn teeth coming in are not nice sometimes! I really do cherish that she does communicate now - she didn't used to do that and remember her distinctively being content with not eating! So yeah, for hungry Ellie!

From May 2009

X - as if this isn't the hardest letter to start something with! So we'll go with talking about Ben's job at Lockheed; it kinda looks like a K so we'll go with the K in Lockheed. He's now officially on his first day of "real work." He said he's got a lot of things to read today. Monday and Tuesday were both orientation days where he got to learn all about the company and fill out paperwork. He also ate lunch with his supervisor, and supervisor's boss, and said they are nice. There are about 30 people in his department and out of those around 5 are new hires. Interesting fact he mentioned that Lockheed employs about 140,000 people world wide and about 100,000 of them will be retiring within the next 10 years (baby boomers). So we'll see how that plays out for the Gramkows. He's also really going to like the 9/80 schedule. He's actually off this friday! Wahoo! He'll also have next Friday off for the 4th of July. He's also thinking about getting a rec membership - they have a rec facility at the Lockheed plant he's working at now. He also mentioned how that might help with beating the traffic. It's a joy to see Ben come home. Ellie's face just lights up and then it's almost like a pondering "hey, where have you been all day?" look too.

From May 2009

A - Apartmento. So far we're still working on unpacking, which is why there are no pictures posted yet. It's huge (around 1300 square feet), but we managed to fill it up quite nicely! I at least have my kitchen unpacked so I can cook meals. So far they haven't been too extravagant, but oh well. I'm also noticing how Ellie is becoming so much more active! She loves my attention, doesn't take very long naps, therefore the unpacking is taking WAY longer than it needs too. Oh well, I've just had to set short goals, room by room. Our closets (yes, we have closets with doors) are chuck full too - we really need to "go through" everything, but I'm so torn because I just want it put away! Once we get unpacked then I'll start to venture out more. So far we've went to get mail, fax some things for Ben, and the two days I've ventured out the police have been here. NOT COOL. Not sure why. Kinda weird being a bystander. At Jardine I would have just walked right up to see what the problem was. They had a "crime scene" van though. Yeah, we don't have those at Jardine.

From June 2009

**This was at the hotel pool; Ellie's first time swimming** S - Sunday we did go to a church, Trinty Chapel, invited by Jeff and Nikki who are the only people we knew moving to Fort Worth because of another friend. Jeff is also the real estate agent who helped us find our apartment. They had us over for supper on Friday and we had a great time! We look forward to having them and their kiddos over once we get unpacked. Nikki is also a stay-at-home mom and so we're definitely going to get together for some outings. I hear the Fort Worth Zoo is amazing. Haven't made it to the pool yet, but then again it has been like 300 degrees out lately! Yesterday and today they (meaning the news) said it was "unhealthy" to go outside because of pollution. NOT COOL. S for sounds - we hear planes ALL the time going over the apartment complex. Gotta love living next to Lockheed and the Air Force base. Well, we have our insurance, bank, working on getting the cars registered (whoa, that's a process!) and now my quest is to find Ellie a pediatrician. I've got some recommendations and now I just have to go meet some! We have been very blessed that Ellie has been healthy in this transition. Ellie's also been laughing quite a bit! It's hilarious. Hopefully I'll get a video posted on here! Blessings from Texas, Team Gramkow

Texas Adventure: Day 2: Worst Way to Meet Your Neighbors

Today we discovered the world's worst way to meet your neighbors. We were getting ready to head back to the hotel from our apartment. (Our household goods still have not arrived.) I had the keys, but Mandy was going to drive. So after I finished putting Ellie in the back seat I tossed the keys into the front seat for Mandy. Apparently the keys hit the console in just the right way to press the lock button. Then I shut door and went to go throw some trash away in the dumpster. Meanwhile Mandy finished loading some bags into the back and shut the back door to get into the driver's seat only to find that the door was locked. She checked all the doors to no avail. I kept trying to think of some way around the truth, but we had just locked Ellie in the car. I knew a locksmith would take far too long so I called 911. They transferred my call to the fire department and they were on their way as soon as I told them what had happened and where we were. This left Mandy and I standing outside the rental car staring in at our daughter sitting quietly in her car seat. Ellie definitely cried during part of the ordeal but she also spent some time playing and staring our at her worried parents. Thankfully we were parked under a carport and the sun was sinking for the evening, so the car was not too hot. One of our neighbors was at his car, heard the commotion, and asked if we were okay. He suggested that we break a window and offered to get a metal bar out of his work truck. I was not very eager to break the window but thankfully I could hear sirens by the time he returned with the metal bar. I could tell that the sirens were approaching so I asked him if he knew the code to let the firemen in the front gate. (Mandy and I have remotes, but they were both locked in the car.) He offered me his keys and I ran off to the front gate just in time to meet the fire truck and open the gate. They had special equipment for entering vehicles similar to what a locksmith would have. They pried open a small gap in the door just wide enough to slip a rod through to press the unlock button inside the door. As soon as we heard the click from the doors unlocking we opened the door and took Ellie out of the car. The firemen were all very friendly and we were very thankful that the fire truck arrived so quickly. Ellie was probably in the car for about five minutes. A couple more neighbors came over once the fire truck arrived. I suppose their intentions were good, but it turned out that they could provide no additional assistance to the firemen. We are so thankful to God for continuing to watch over Ellie. He keeps reminding us that there are countless things beyond our control but not beyond His. We are also thankful for the willingness of a complete stranger to hand me over his keys so I could let the fire truck in the front gate. Nevertheless I still say this was not a very good way to meet our neighbors. Maybe next time we'll just start with a wave a friendly smile.

Texas Adventure: Day 1: Moving Day

Well, yesterday was EXHAUSTING for all three of us! We are so glad we got to see a lot of people before we left Manhattan. It still hasn't really hit me yet, but I think Ellie is a good distraction...I've just been anxious and worried for her traveling needs. Typical mom feeling huh? So our flight left at around 11:40 am and Ellie did take a bottle on the plane while we were taking off. The flight was only 1 hour and 9 minutes out of Kansas City, and over and over...Ben and I said this was definitely the right option for Ellie! She was a good girl most of the time! Played, jabbered and then did fall asleep. One of the ladies next to us said, "you have such a good baby!"...so I'm guessing she did do good!

We got our rental car (a nissian moreno) and headed from DFW to Fort Worth (OUR NEW HOME, crazy!) It was 2:40 in the afternoon and we found ourselves in some heavy traffic. Stop, start, 10 mph, 50 mph. How annoying. Well, we'll just have to get used to it! Luckily we had some Wendy's fast food to enjoy while we were stuck in traffic. We did see there were two accidents, so that was the cause for the back up. We went straight to the apartment complex where we'll be living and got the 64 lb. cooler of Ellie milk right into the freezer (who knew you can actually check Ellie milk!) right away. Seriously then we unloaded the car and pretty much threw things on the living room floor and all three of us crashed and just laid on our floor (yes, that's right all three of us actually did fit!) and did nothing. It was wonderful! Then we went to Wal-mart to get some essentials (should have brought a roll of toilet paper in our carry on luggage!) Ellie fell alseep on her first long trip in Walmart. Not sure if that was any indication of how long we were actually in there. I think it was a long day for her! We got back and unpacked our stuff in the apartment - what we had. At about 9 pm we loaded up our overnight back to stay in a hotel. Poor Ellie. I'm not sure if she was just overtired, or what, but she ate about half a bottle and then just started crying uncontrollably! She was crying so hard she did the whole crying where it sounds like hiccups from her belly! Not sure if it was bad milk or what. She did puke too, but wondered if that was because she was crying so hard. (Leesh, if you're reading this - it was exactly like when you were watching her last week) Finally got her to sleep and she's taken two bottles since then. Poor girl. Please pray for Ellie's health. We haven't found a pediatrician down here yet, clearly, and really hope we don't have to use one in the near future. We're currently still at the hotel, but getting ready to head back to our apartment...we do have a long to do list! Rumor has it one of our cars have arrived, so we'll see. Haven't gotten a call yet though.

All in all, Ben and I are pretty happy. We're happy about this next step in our lives. We know it's scary being here just by ourselves, but we're really grateful we have each other! We might make a venture to the pool today. We'll see - it was 100 degrees yesterday though! Oh, and we've also seen some other kiddos around the apartment complex, and Ben did make visual contact with one of our across the hall neighbors - a couple and they said "hi." :)

and miss all of you!!!! Will include some pictures later! Team Gramkow

P.S. Please pray for our friends, Jason and Sherri Durst (they are really good friends of Wendy and Greg). Sherri is in the hospital and 26 weeks pregnant with Baby Girl. Baby girl also has an abnormality called an omphalocele. That means that some of the abdominal organs are growing in a sac on the outside of the body. PLEASE PRAY!!

So Long...Fair Well...

Hello all of you in the Manhattan area, This week has come oh...too quickly...so many of you we'd love to see before we leave Manhattan for our big move to Texas! Ellie would like to meet you all and show off how she can sit up on her own now! She's full of smiles and jabber these days too! If any of you are around, please stop by this Friday, June 12 anytime from 5 to 7 pm at the Jardine Apartment Complex - Frith Community Center here in Manhattan! Look for the Tower....Frith is just south of it! We'll have some yummy ice cream and toppings to share! Hope to see you! Love, Team Gramkow - Ben, Mandy and Ellie Ellie's Blog: http://elliegramkow.blogspot.com ***************************** I know it's been so long since I've blogged...we're in the middle of moving! Finished 2 weeks up in Iowa, found an apt in Texas, working my last week at Jardine, movers come tomorrow, Ellie to many appts - 6 mo. follow up eye exam (good report); 6 mo. follow up cardiologist (PDA still open, but minimal - so good report); 9 month check up today and she weighs 15 lbs 9 oz; was 26 and 3/4 in long; 42 cm head circumference; we've started rice cereal, sitting up on our own and even rolling over a couple more times... ok, better get to bed, but enjoy a few pictures!

From May 2009