Ben and Rachel Berndt

Grace Playing Tonight on her Bike

It was such an awesome night out, so Grace and I went out to goof around in the street on her bike. I have been going out with her whenever it’s been nice out and teaching her how to move the pedals with her feet. She’s actually getting pretty good at it and even knows how to go backwards now too. At one point she got going really fast and took a turn a little too fast. I was amazed when she was able to pull out of it and avoid wiping out. Here are some shots of her tonight.

Posted by admin at Sunday ~ May 05, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

Hannah Update . . .

Good news with Hannah. Everything came back great and the new medicine they gave her on Tuesday is working like a charm. We are so relieved that she is okay and are grateful for the great doctors that helped us out with her. Hannah is so bubbly now, you can tell she is feeling better now.

~Ben

Posted by admin at Sunday ~ May 05, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

Update:

Today Rachel, Hannah and I went down to talk with the Doctor at the UofM about Hannah. They did some tests and are going to be getting back to us in 2 days. They put a lot of our worries at ease and both Rachel and I felt much better after leaving. So now we wait to see the results on thursday/friday.

~Ben

Posted by admin at Tuesday ~ May 05, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

Prayers Welcomed.

Hello everyone,

Our little Hannah could use a lot of prayers right now. As some of you may know, she’s been having issues with constipation for 2 months now (and she’s only 3 months old…) After trying several less- invasive approaches to relieve her constipation, her doctor decided to do a rectal exam and x ray yesterday. Both of those turned out okay, but that leads to the bad news- she is going to see a general surgeon at the U of M’s pediatric specialties clinic next Tuesday. They will preform a rectal suction biopsy to make sure her nerve cells are working properly. Those cells help pass stool through from the intestine to the rectum, and out the body. If the cells are not working, she will undergo a procedure to remove that portion of the track and reconnect it. Depending on the length of the section of track, she may need a colostomy bag for a while. We will know more after the results from next Tuesday’s biopsy come back.

If you could pray for the following things, we’d really appreciate it.: that God would watch over Hannah an her doctor’s through this whole process, for Ben and me to have peace of mind and clarity as we deal with each step of the process, and for every other family who is going through tough medical situations with children. It can be really overwhelming to deal with something like this when we are already sleep deprived (from kids not sleeping through the night) and side-tracked by work… Ben and I are so grateful to have you as our friend.

May God bless you and your families with good health. Now, do me a favor and go hug your kids each one is a precious gift from God.
–

Posted by admin at Friday ~ May 05, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

Grace is two years old today. . .well at 2:11am she will be

It is just past midnight and Gracie is fast asleep looking forward to her birthday party with a bunch of her friends. Should make for a fun day and I’m looking forward to getting some fun shots of her eating her Cake. I’ll be sure to get some online later.

~Ben

Posted by admin at Friday ~ April 04, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

Great Way to Start the Day.

It’s been such a long winter that I nearly forgot what it felt like to bike the 20 miles to work. Yesterday’s huge warm up cleared all the ice and snow from the paths, so my ride in was pretty easy going. There even was a few street sweepers out clearing off all bike lanes. I was a little worried about flatting out on the way in since there is usually a lot of junk on the roads in the spring. Since it was my first time out for the year, I took it a little easier then I normally would and I averaged 19.2mph over the course of the trip in. Total time was 72 minutes because of having to stop frequently once I get into the downtown area and then wait for the lights to change.

Highlights of the ride in:

Wildlife: I saw a total of 13 deer, 1 fox, and countless ducks, gulls and other birds.
Sunrise over the Mississippi river just as I was crossing the Coon Rapids River Dam
Fog nestled into marshes along the Mississippi river. The sun was just burning off the fog, but I was riding along side the entire area for about 4 miles and it was stuffing to see the sun bursting through it all.

I can’t wait for my ride home tonight.

-Ben

Posted by admin at Tuesday ~ March 03, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

That was a fast 3.5 weeks

I wanted to throw our birth announcement up on here so everyone could check out a couple quick shots I took of her. When Grace was a newborn, she almost enjoyed being in her nothings and having her picture taken (sounds creepy I know). Hannah on the other hand likes to be fully clothes, then wrapped in a blanket and usually held. So it has made taking photos of her a challenge to say the least. I am going to keep working on it and hopefully I’ll get that one money shot that I really enjoy.

Posted by admin at Tuesday ~ February 02, 2009 | No Comments

Category: General

First night together. . .

Last night went pretty well for the three of us. The lack of sleep really hit both of us last night and it was a strain at times to be awake. Rachel didn’t get a lot of sleep and I struggled to get comfortable on the hospital couch. But I expected this since I distinctly remember this happening last time with Grace. All said and done, we got enough rest to feel good this morning. Rachel got a big breakfast and that really perked her up. Hannah has been doing great with breast feeding and had no problem latching on from the start. It’s amazing how instinctual things like that are with newborns.

The plan today is to pretty much relax and rest for the most part. Rachel decided to stay one more night at the hospital and then discharge in the morning. That way she can get help from the staff tonight and get fully recharged. I am going to be going back and forth between here and home today. Grace has been hanging out with family and friends for the last day and half, so some time with her will be good. Tonight I plan at staying at home and do some final touches at home for when Rachel and Hannah come home tomorrow.

If you feel like stopping by to visit with us, give Rachel or myself a call today and we can communicate when works best. I will be staying home all week to help out as best I can and we’d welcome some visits then too. You can find our contact info in the “contact us” section of our webpage.

~Ben

Posted by admin at Sunday ~ February 02, 2009 | No Comments

Category: Family

Photos!!!!

here are a few quick photos from this afternoon. She has so much hair compared to Grace (who was nearly bald for her first year of life). I am so excited right now and I can’t wait to bring her home tomorrow. I have a ton of photos, but I’m only going to post a handful right now. I’ll have a full gallery setup in the next few days.

~Ben