Dotzour Family.com

Sept. 13: I haven’t posted in a couple weeks because I’ve been really sad.  Our friends Heather and Michael were expecting a baby boy in late August.  To our extraordinary sadness, they found during a routine check-up on September 1 that their baby had no heartbeat.  Heather delivered baby Allan Fredrick’s body on Saturday, September 2.  He was seven pounds, 1/2 ounce and was 20 and 1/2 inches long.

Heather and Michael’s family gathered close to them and helped them through their life-altering first week.  On Friday, September 8, my brother Michael, our friend Anne, and I drove out to share Heather and Michael’s grief.  I ended up staying through Tuesday.  My mom headed out to Ann Arbor today.

Allan was a beautiful baby.  He had a perfect little face with a half-moon chin, big hands and feet, and soft brown hair.  I only wish we could have known him more.  I feel so lucky that he touched my life, and he will always hold a place in my heart.  I hope that by reading this, you may feel closer to Allan and remember him.

And think of Heather and Michael.  They have far too much grief to bear.

Aug. 18: You may have noted over the last week or two that our website has been down.
The server upon which it lived has reached the end of its life, and I am in the process of moving to a new hosting service.  Ben, our terrific brother-in-law, has hosted our website for the last year and a half.  In the next month or two, he’ll be trying to retrieve the data from our website off the now-defunct server.  In the meantime, I’ll start a new site from scratch.

Aug. 18: Dad and I waved goodbye to Joe as he and Mom and Michael pulled out of the drive way and drove down Dennis Drive and they began the long trip to Maine.  Joe is off to Bowdoin College this fall, and we are all so very excited for him.  Makes me think back a lot to what it was like to leave for college.  There are so many unknowns.  So much excitement and terror and glee and fear.

After leaving his stuff in his room, Joe will head off for a pre-orientation frosh trip to Acadia National Park for a four day hiking trip.  Bryan and I are hoping to head out to visit and to do some camping of our own on the Maine coastline sometime soon.   Photos I snapped the day of Joe’s departure are in the gallery.

Aug. 14:
We just got back from the Babler family’s annual trip to Jack’s house on the Wisconsin River.  I kept remembering back to last year when Andrew was so very little (and rather unhappy that month).  He’s such a different kid now.  And such a marvel!  We did all the regular activities…played games, ate loads of yummy food, floated down the river, and sat outside and watched the stars come out.  Andrew stayed out of the river again this year, but maybe in another year or two we’ll think of bringing him along in a canoe.  It was a fun trip…commemorating Joe’s last weekend in Wisconsin before he heads out to Maine for college this fall.

And we were all so much more light-of-heart because of Mom’s continued excellent health.  Photos of our weekend are in the gallery.

Aug. 12: I just spent a really fun few days up north near Three Lakes, Wisconsin with my friends the Riccios.  Back in high school, I traveled up north with Debbie, Liza, and Julia for happy summer times.  Our group has grown, and I haven’t been up to Whispering Pines in about eight years.  I drove up north solo (sans husband or baby!) on Wednesday and had to leave on Friday, but during our trip together, we read, played Mille Borne, canasta, and euchre, took walks, and played in the lake.  I missed my sweet boys, but it was so nice to get away for a bit.  Bryan was just wonderful to take on single-parenthood for a few days while I played in the woods.  Photos of my time are in the gallery.