ConnellyTracks

Reid the Future Mountaineer

2011-03-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

Reid, part engineer, part Pele!

2011-03-01T19:20:00.001-07:00

Reid and Dad at the Creek - Winter Version!

2011-01-13T12:51:00.001-07:00

Welcome Brynn Elah Mae!

2010-10-30T20:29:00.002-06:00

Playin in the Creek w/Reid

2010-10-19T06:49:00.002-06:00

Its a long one... Following Reid at the CountyFair!

2010-08-23T21:00:00.002-06:00

Its been awhile... Reid's got new tricks

2010-08-23T19:52:00.003-06:00

Reid and Dad TRY to communicate

2010-02-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Reid at play Late February

2010-02-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

First steps

2010-02-24T07:26:00.001-07:00

Reid works with the blocks

2010-02-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

Getting smarter....

Reid loves to play "throw"

2010-02-03T21:49:00.003-07:00

Nope.. not catch... THROW. It's my(Ryan) job to fetch. (Note: Reid went to the doctor today for that cough mid video, he's on antibiotic and antihistamine again)

Reid the reckless Dump Truck Driver

2010-01-11T07:24:00.001-07:00

Reids First Christmas

2010-01-11T07:22:00.002-07:00

Reid says, "Thank you to all my family who sent and delivered the best boxes and colorful paper I have ever had. Oh, the presents inside were nice too. I love you all!"

Reid goes DOWN by himself!

2010-01-10T18:33:00.005-07:00

Note: This was December 19th. Reid did not yet know how to go down stairs, unless you count diving forwards and tumbling. This video is the second time he climbed up a ladder and the first time he backed down on his own! (He was 11 months old and couldn't walk without help at the time of this video)

"Playing" in the snow.

2009-12-11T07:32:00.002-07:00

Now that its above zero degrees(!) Reid and dad get to play outside.

What to do for exercise when its -15 degrees outside

2009-12-07T19:26:00.002-07:00

Sorry for the messed up transitions. No time to figure that out today.

Reid the musician...

2009-11-30T12:12:00.003-07:00

Thanks Dailey's for the first opportunity to pound on the piano keys!

Reid is MOBILE!

2009-10-08T20:11:00.000-06:00

Time to baby proof for REAL.

Reid and Xena get along well....Even sharing toys!

2009-10-08T20:08:00.001-06:00

Xena will miss the cows.

2009-10-08T20:07:00.001-06:00

A short video of reid on the floor

2009-09-10T16:05:00.000-06:00

Nothing too thrilling here, but Reid spends a lot of time playing on the floor. Since this video his reverse speed has picked up considerably. Still no forward and still gets angry at his inability to go where he wants to.

Month 8!

2009-09-10T11:46:00.006-06:00

The little man is growing...

He has developed reverse gear, but that only backs you into frustrating corners!

No teeth yet, but he is eating "solid" foods. Although if they have any chunky texture he does not like it.

No surprise, but he loves the cell phone and thinks he should start twittering as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he cannot spell.

Huckleberries!

2009-08-24T20:28:00.002-06:00

Reid enjoyed sitting in the tall grass while we picked (and ate) huckleberries. Yummy!

Reid 6 months old

2009-07-11T15:33:00.004-06:00

Reid just turned 6 months old and is a healthy 16 pounds 15 oz baby.

He loves to explore the world; looking at people, dogs, books, cars, if there is anything to examine he is staring at it. He can now sit up unsupported for a few minutes without falling over.

He enjoys babbling and reaching for toys and books. Even though we read to him often, he enjoys hitting the book with his hands and even chews on the book itself. Reid has rolled over front to back but has only done it once. We loved spending 10 days with Great Grandma Dick and Grandma Janssen! What fun adventures we had in Montana!

Gates of the Mountains, Helena MT

2009-07-11T15:02:00.002-06:00

Reid with Grandma Janssen.

We took a boat tour on the Madison River.

We loved having both Great Grandma and Grandma on the tour with us. Matt & Bella joined us too.

Shakespeare in the Park

2009-07-11T14:51:00.002-06:00

Cuddle time with Daddy while waiting for Shakespeare in the Park.

Reid's first trip to Yellowstone National Park

2009-07-11T14:30:00.003-06:00

Belgrade SK8 Church

2009-05-10T17:22:00.002-06:00

Ryan spoke and skated at SK8 Church on Friday eve. On Sunday morning he was sore from head to toe.... Not from the speaking.

Still 4th month highlights...

2009-05-10T17:15:00.008-06:00

Great Grandpa & Grandma Janssen

Finger Muncher!

Grandpa & Grandma Janssen

Reid's First time in a Pool

Great Grandpa Roy and ALL the Great Grandkids

Reid's 4th Month was BUSY

2009-05-10T17:06:00.007-06:00

GreatGrandAunt Berta and Reid

Reid and Cousin Jaron

Reid and Bentley

Reid's First Airplane Ride. (He did GREAT)

Isn't he adorable?

More coming....

Reid's Happiness

2009-03-18T06:56:00.002-06:00

Its been fun to see Reid begin expressing his happiness... In ADDITION to his hunger, pain, frustration, and tiredness.

Reid and Grandma June

2009-03-10T19:41:00.003-06:00

Cute aye?

Finally a SMILE caught on camera

2009-03-09T21:44:00.002-06:00

Guess what Mom and Dad did while Grandma June was here...

2009-03-09T18:44:00.002-06:00

Which cousin does this boy look like?

2009-03-09T18:40:00.001-06:00

So.. you make the call...

or...

Bath time today.

2009-02-15T22:02:00.001-07:00

He does pretty well with the bath, but we're not sure what he is looking at...Hiccups too!

Reid's first nap in the CRIB!

2009-02-15T21:08:00.001-07:00

Little Boy... Big Bed.

Reading With Dad.

2009-02-15T21:07:00.001-07:00

Dad must read for seminary. Dad must also spend quality time with son...

Reading can often turn into napping.. No matter what the title of the book!

Tummy Time

2009-02-15T21:03:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while its time to crash out on your tummy....

Bath time

2009-02-09T14:54:00.004-07:00

Reid is four weeks old already. He is growing up so fast. Thus far, he has enjoyed bath time, although he has given us some funny looks (but no tears!)

The Moby

2009-02-01T19:07:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite places to hold Reid is in the Moby Wrap. I love being hands free and living life with Reid. To name only a few, we have walked to the lodge, caught sun rays standing outside on the deck while chatting on the phone and have completed almost a dozen loads of laundry (the cloth diapers keeps the washer spinning every 2-3 days).
Thank you Sara & Matt for teaching us how to use the Moby.

Old Cone head picture

2009-02-01T16:23:00.001-07:00

Nobody ever saw this Cone head photo...

All gone now!

Singing himself to sleep

2009-01-18T21:53:00.002-07:00

Sometimes when Reid is drifting off to a complete sleep he is a bit "Squeaky." Turn the volume up and listen. Nana (Debbie) is holding him in this video.

Like a potted plant...

2009-01-17T13:08:00.002-07:00

We don't get a lot of sunshine due to our location on the North Aspect of Chestnut Mountain, but there are a few spots that manage to get past the trees and in our windows. So that's where we sit...

The Birth Journey... If you missed this via email here's the full story

2009-01-17T10:34:00.002-07:00

10 PM Thursday, Jan 8.
Ok..
I finally got this email distribution list put together.

A recap…. Mindy has developed "preeclampsia."
(Google it) Baby and mom are ok, but the condition requires
labor to be induced. Mindy was given the first induction drug
at 2:30 PM. Contractions started to occur around 4:00 PM.
It's now 10:00 pm and the contractions are strong and regular.
Last dilation check was 2cm. Next check will be at 2:30 AM.
Since this is an induced labor in response to preeclampsia she is on
Magnesium Sulfate which gives her fluctuating chills and sweats.
Overall she is doing well, but uncomfortable being stuck in bed (also
a Preeclampsia requirement).

..................

5:56 AM Friday, Jan 9

Its 5:30 am and we just met with the Doc. Mindy's still at 2

cm and contractions have slowed down so the next stage has been
initiated. Pitocin will work to strengthen and lengthen the
contractions. Hopefully this will get the dilation moving
along. It means some more discomfort, but that's the road
to a baby! Mindy and Ryan both got a few naps in overnight so
we'll try to catch a few more restful moments before the contractions
increase. If anyone has a suggestion for a "superhero"
name, Mindy needs one for when she puts on her "going to the
bathroom hooded cape." Getting out of bed to go pee is the
highlight of the labor process thus far.

Thanks for your prayers.

..............

10:54 AM Friday, Jan 9

Its 10:30 AM Friday. The

Doc just came in and manually broke the bag of waters. Mindy is
still only 2cm dilated and Baby is still at -2 station. We've
got a ways to go. Pitocin is up to 16mL per hour. We want
more dilation! Thanks everyone.

..............

2:17 PM Friday, Jan 9

OK… water is broken, pitocin is up to 24mL/hour, contractions

are strong but more than 5 minutes apart and a bit random. We
need contractions that are at least 2.5 minutes apart, a baby that is
lowering into the birth canal, and dilation! Thanks for your
prayers!

........

6:14 PM Friday, Jan 9

OK.. we've made progress. 3cm dilated and baby at -1

engaged. Still lots of work to do, but the Doc says we'll keep
trying. Pitocin was stopped for a half hour and then
restarted. We're 28 hours into the process, but not technically
in an "ACTIVE" labor pattern. We need the
contractions to hit a consistent 2-3 minutes apart. Mom and
Baby are hanging in there but fatigue is beginning to set in.
Mindy needs some sleep and a hamburger. Unfortunately, eating a
hamburger is still a few days out.

......

9:32 PM Friday, Jan 9

Well after 30 hours of pain killer free labor, super woman decided

she needed some medical intervention to get rest. Mindy is
"epiduraled" and getting ready to go to SLEEP!! I get
to sleep too!! Labor is still progressing slowly and we hope to
make the final jump to greater dilation and steady/consistent
contractions. Till later… Good night!

......

4:09 AM Saturday, Jan 10

After a nice sleep from 10:00 PM to about 2 AM sleeping beauty

final woke up from his nap in the corner to help Mindy and the Nurses
move around Mindy's "heavy" and uncooperative legs.
The epidural has successfully relieved a lot of contraction pain and
Mindy got to rest, but she is not going to get uninterrupted sleep
till she is off the tubes and wires.

It's now 3:47 AM and the doctor just left after a report of 9 cm
dilation!!! They turned on the super high tech baby bed and its
blinking "Admit Baby." We'd love to oblige, but that
is at least an hour or four away. Mindy is smiling and feeling
pretty positive, but a bit nervous about her strength to push.
We're 38 hours into this labor process and MAYBE nearing the end.
One thing you could pray for, in addition to the usual final stage
delivery stuff, is to see Mindy pee some more. She got 3000cc's
of retained liquids over the last couple days and it would be good to
unload some of that fluid.

ok… updates may be a bit delayed once the delivery begins.

Thanks so much for your prayer support.

.......

5:15 AM Saturday, Jan 10

Hey

everyone… we're gonna start pushing in a few minutes!

.......

9:49 AM Saturday, Jan 10

Hey all! We have a son! After 41 hours at the hospital

(7 hours of cervadil induced contractions, 32 hours of pitocin aided
contractions, and 2 hours of pushing) Mindy delivered our baby boy!
She was a super hero and he was a trooper. Oh, he is… Reid
Eran Dawson Connelly. He weighs 7 lbs 15 oz and measures 20 3/4
inches long.

Everybody is healthy considering the long process and the extra

drugs to keep Mindy safe. Mindy ate her first non-liquid food
(two slices of toast) and Reid is getting some intravenous food to
raise his blood sugar and flush the Magnesium Sulfate.
Eventually when he wakes up a bit more he will get to breast feed.

We'll be here in the hospital for at least two days. One to

wean Mindy off the Magnesium and watch for seizures, and another to
get everybody strong enough for going home. Mindy and Baby
MIGHT get to host visitors on Sunday afternoon. Please call
Ryan on Sunday to see what's up. We may be home by Sunday night
or Monday. Ok… that's it for now.

THANK YOU ALL for your prayers and support. We are blessed

immeasurably.

......

9:28 AM Sunday, Jan 11

Everybody is healthy! We've been moved to postpartum and

will be here for at least a day. I'll get more info out this
afternoon!

......

5:15 PM Sunday, Jan 11

Aunt Sara does SUCH a good job. see below…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyjanssens/sets/72157612408955649/

....

10:57 PM Tuesday, Jan 13

Hi all.

We're back in the Hospital. We were discharged Monday afternoon
and spent our first night at home, but on Tuesday afternoon we took
Reid for his first Doctors appointment. He is a healthy baby EXCEPT
for his Jaundice levels which came back too high. He was
immediately admitted to the nursery for UV light treatments and
supplemental feeding.

The goal is to get him to pee and poop out the red blood cells

camping out in his skin. The condition is treatable and was
caught early so we expect no complications, but we are hanging out in
a hospital room for at least one more day. You could pray for a
couple things on our behalf: (NOTE: thank you ALL for so much
support, we are certainly feeling the effect of diligent prayer
warriors) First, that the "billy reuben" (sp) levels
in Reid's blood stream would drop below 15 by tomorrow. Second,
that Mindy's "milk would come in" and she would be able to
fill his belly with Momma Milk. Thank You!

We'll let you know when we're back home!

.......

7:06 PM Thursday, Jan 15

I am thrilled to report the arrival of Reid and Mindy at home!
Wednesday was quite a whirlwind. Reid had spent the night in
and out of the "Billy Tank" (I now know that it
is spelled bilirubin) eating breastmilk mechanically pumped by Mindy
and fed via finger and syringe. His levels were improving so I
headed home to get random things done. I returned home to
discover that Xena had eaten a whole chicken carcass out of the
garbage can!

Yikes.. a quick call to the Vet and they said bring her in to the

Doggie Hospital for induction of vomiting. With Lee's
help I forced Hydrogen peroxide and salt down her throat to get the
job done at home. "Ol' Iron Gut Xena" laughed at us
and spit the foam back in my face with out any vomiting. Off to
the Vet hospital. Now everybody in the family but Ryan was
admitted to the hospital! I left her there for professional
vomit induction.

Phew… to make a long story short… Xena pucked up the chicken,

Reid turned in a nice low bili score, and we all got to go home by 8
PM. Overnight Mindy's milk has "let down" and she is
filling Redi's belly with EASE. Now our hardest challenge is
keeping Reid awake long enough to eat enough food. As you can
see in the attached picture, Reid spent his afternoon nap tanning
next to the window.

We'll head back to the hospital tomorrow for another bili test and

another meeting with Reid's Doc. Unfortunately for Reid, it
looks like he will not be able to delay his circumcision any
longer. The hospital adventures are HOPEFULLY coming to
an end. Thanks all for your caring support and understanding
patience.

This is the last mass email, but if you'd like to keep up with the

Connelly Family advenutre tune in to our blog at
www.connellytracks.blogspot.com

After Dinner I'll post up a bunch of picutres… Thanks again.

We can't wait for you all to meet Reid… maybe after he's a bit more
biologically robust.

;-) Blessings,

Ryan, Mindy, & Reid

Nana on duty!

2009-01-16T17:38:00.001-07:00

Debbie has been and continues to be a HUGE help as we adjust to life with an infant. The third pair of helpful hands is awesome!

Introducing Reid Connelly

2009-01-15T19:48:00.005-07:00

The First Photo

The First Bath

His First Hat

The First Car Ride

Inducing Labor!

2009-01-08T19:56:00.002-07:00

Hey Everyone... the hospital is blocking facebook so here's a labor induction update. Mindy is 2 cm dilated (that's progress) and contracting regularly. She is feeling flushed but rates teh contractions at a 4 on the pain scale. Not too bad...

Mountain Train

2008-01-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

I see a train almost everyday. Usually it's when I'm driving to or from work. I love the sound of the train.... the whistles, the rumbling tracks, the gentle hum. I don't even mind waiting for it to pass (yes, i still count the box cars from time to time!). We saw this train while we were geocaching. With the alpenglow on the mountains, it doesn't get much better!

Geocaching with friends

2008-01-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

In January, we enjoyed spending our saturday afternoons geocaching with friends. One weekend, we completed a multi-site geocache with Lisa & Justin. It started at the Bozeman pond and at each site, we had to find various landmarks (for example, how many bouncing animals are in the park) and then insert that number into a math problem. The answers gave us the coordinates for our next site. Finally, we found the treasure at the ninth site and, it was just in time, since strong winds and snow started coming our direction.

Another weekend, we introduced our friends, Mike & Kate to the world of geocaching. Mike was really excited to use his new GPS and after downloading a few local cache's we were well on our way to finding hidden treasures. This was our personal best for finding tons of geocache coins and bugs. We picked up a few and will send them to another location soon.

It is amazing that we have the opportunity to play in such a beautiful place. We wish we could be skiing in deep powder, but until the snow starts to fly, geocaching is quickly becoming the next best thing. I don't think it will ever replace skiing but it's sure fun.

Back country skiing in the dark

2008-01-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

On Christmas day, we had the strange opportunity to be completely alone. No family, no events at Lions Ridge, and no work. After calling our family and wishing them a Merry Christmas, we decided to go on a back country ski adventure. The weather was perfect (mid 20's), the sky was blue and it had recently snowed approximately 24 inches in the past few days. Perfect conditions, however it was also perfect for avalanches. After a long skin up to the ridge, we enjoyed a picture perfect sunset looking at the Bridger Mtn's, Tobacco Mtn's, Hyalite Mtn's and Spanish Peak Mtn's. Red, pink, orange, purple were a few of the colors that we saw. It was beautiful. At dusk, we started our approach down the mountain taking avalanche precautions. Although we had fresh powder, the snow was unstable and we had to carefully work our way through the trees. Skiing through the trees in the dark with unstable snow was not the best experience but it was a learning adventure. We learned that we should always ski in the light, take plenty of snacks and keep a good sense of humor along the way. We would have taken photos, but we forgot the camera. This photo isn't from our Christmas day adventure but it does capture a glimpse of what we experienced....at least when it was light outside.

Backcountry skiing in Idaho

2007-12-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Christmas is just around the corner! Instead of buying each other gifts, we decided to take a mini-vacation! We started this tradition last year but we didn't travel anywhere (we stayed home and enjoyed our little cabin in the woods.) This year, however, we ventured to the Teton Mountains near Driggs, Idaho. We spent a few days back country skiing and playing in the snow. This was our first time skiing for the winter and the powder was deep, fluffy and fun.

Mindy is getting used to skiing in the back country! Ryan still encourages her to overcome the fear of "Snow suffocation" and to be aggressive.

Ryan is looking good tele style. I think he's having fun in the powder.

Overall we had a great trip and just touched the surface of the back country potential outside of Driggs. We'll be back.

Birthday Adventure

2007-09-30T19:58:00.000-06:00

What more could a girl want for her birthday?! An off roading drive among scenic snowcapped mountain views with my man, our landcruiser & the dog . Throw in a Geocache adventure in the mix and it made a perfect birthday adventure.

This was our first time heading north out of Jackson creek road onto National Forest land. We had no clue where we would come out, but we ended up in Livingston. From now on that route is Ryan's preferred "trip to Livingston."

The Curious Creatures of the San Juans

2007-08-30T21:23:00.001-06:00

These guys are cautious but curious. At many of the small rock outcroppings we would meet up with 10-30 Seals. Most would slide off the rocks and approach to about 30 feet then pop up to watch us paddle around. Sadly, we missed out on seeing the big dog of San Juan wildlife... no Orcas. Oh well, maybe next time?

San Juan Sea Kayaking

2007-08-30T21:15:00.000-06:00

Sweet weather! Perfect housing! A borrowed kayak! Wildlife and beautiful scenery. Honestly this quick hit vacation was awesome in every way. Tons of thanks to the Sturdivants (housing), the Carpenters (Kayak and gear), and the Dawsons (home base and car usage.) Without you guys this trip would still be just a dream.

Man, Dog, and Cruiser Conquer the Rocks.

2007-07-28T18:24:00.000-06:00

The cruiser has officially pulled out of the garage with POWER STEERING! Woo Hoo! Thanks to the photo bug Sara Janssen (Available for YOUR Portrait Photo needs!), we have recorded the first trip of man, dog, and cruiser on the rocks in our front yard. Mindy is still concerned that the wheels may fall off at any moment. ;-)

Music on Main

2007-07-28T18:17:00.000-06:00

Every Thursday through July and August Bozeman hosts various bands for a free concert on a downtown side street. It's a VERY popular event and seems to get bigger every year. It might have something to do with the crazy growth happening out here. The crowd always has lots of familiar faces, even if you don't know their names. I guess that's a great way to make a growing town feel small.

Hiking Pine Creek Lake

2007-07-07T18:33:00.000-06:00

We hiked 5 miles up (and up and up) to Pine Creek Lake, climbing approx 3000 feet. The trailhead is located in Paradise Valley south of Livingston MT. Krista (WI) and Joe & Danielle (MN) joined us for the adventure.

There were lots of wild flowers, including glacier lilies, lupine, columbine, forget-me-nots, indian paintbrush and (most importantly) shooting stars!

Our advice: Leave early to hike up in the cool weather, bring lots of snacks and bring out of state friends!

Hitchikers in MT can be persistent.

2007-06-29T21:25:00.000-06:00

We enjoy it when people visit us in Montana. However, recently we had an unwelcome guest who even tried to hitch hike with us! He's a bit shy, but look to the left of the radiator and right of the engine.

Xena was very excited to meet this young gentleman, he on the other hand was not interested. Even after a thorough soaking with the garden hose, Ryan could not convince our friend that a better home could be found elsewhere.

Thankfully overnight he vacated Ryan's engine compartment and has not returned.... yet.

BTW that's a Marmot for you who are wilderness challenged.

Welcome!

2007-06-29T20:57:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Connelly Tracks. We're glad to have you following us. We'll try not to lose ya!