Here are a few photos of the kids as they grew up... We lived on West 7th Street in Cedar Falls during this time. In fact, I lived on West 7th Street from the time we bought the house before Diane was born until Vern and I divorced in 1974, about 12 years total.
This is one of the first pictures of Diane. As mentioned earlier, I don't have the baby pictures of my first three kids, so I will post photos that are taken from slides. I don't think we had a regular camera back then, and just took slides which can be a disadvantage if you no longer have a slide projector. But, Diane got these converted into photos for me, so I at least can remember how they looked as babies.
Diane had very soft, fine, strawberry blonde hair, and it was sort of like a little cap of very soft fringe standing out around her head. Somehow that gives her a bit of a 'shocked' appearance...
This photo was in our kitchen, and those 'fruit' plates above her on the wall were some I made in a 'ceramic' class. I did a lot of crafty things along the way...just my artsy nature pushing itself out! Diane looks like a happy baby here, but she was very colicky for the first three months, and I was sort of beside myself about what to do with her. With Doug just 21 months old when she was born, it was almost more than I could handle. She started out crying at 10 p.m. within a week after she was born. The crying was frantic, and she would double up in pain. At the time, I had no idea that she had a milk allergy, and neither did our doctor. I tried to breast feed her for about 3 months, but she was so fussy and I was getting so little sleep that finally I had to quit and started giving her a bottle. Well, that did not work out well either. She got very constipated, and the doctor advised me to put strained prunes and molasses into the formula I was making. I did that, but nothing really helped. Similac had just come onto the market for babies, so the doctor suggested that I try that. Well, she spit up the first feeding and then was angry and hungry. So, long story short, for the first six months I was nearly a basket case with her. Doug would wake up at 7 a.m., and I had to get up to take care of him. I could put him down for a nap at 1 p.m., and then Diane would wake up at 2 p.m. (she was sleeping good hours, but all at the wrong time of day!) I would feed Diane at 2, and she would start crying (sort of screaming...very hard to deal with, but even though the doctor told me to just put her down and close the door, and let her cry, I couldn't do it. So, I simply held her all afternoon, sometimes in the rocking chair, and sometimes while I was standing in the kitchen making dinner. Doug would get up from his nap around 3 p.m., and he was such a good little boy that he would play with his toy cars and not be any trouble. He would go to bed around 8 p.m., and then at least I only had one child to deal with. At the end of her colicky period, when she was at least 3 months old, and probably more than that, as I think it sort of gradually subsided, she was wailing from 2 p.m. until 2 a.m. At that point, I was getting about five hours of sleep every night, and I was nearly a mad woman. We were on a very tight budget so I didn't have any relief. Even my neighbor friend, who did take care of Diane for 45 minutes one afternoon so I could go get groceries, said she couldn't take it. So, that was then end of that.
In spite of all of that (and time does heal...and the mind lets go of stressful times...), Diane was my little sweetheart. I was so thrilled to have a little girl! Lots of cute little outfits to sew and knit... and doll clothes, etc. Just my 'cup of tea!'
And...here are the two reasons why I was content with my life...absolutely darling kids! (I see that little red dot on Doug's forehead...it was from his bout with chicken pox...but he didn't get too many 'dots' and I don't recall that he was very sick.) Aren't they cute?
Another view of the same cute kids... wish I had spent more time giving them hugs...they are too big now for a lot of hugs...
Books were pretty important to us when the kids were little. I am a big proponent of giving kids a whole lot of books, and encouraging reading at every opportunity. Such a great way to start a child off in the world!
What a cutie! I absolutely loved it when she smiled...after all those days and nights of awful unhappy crying! Diane was a very petite little girl, as you can see here. It must be a summer photo because of her short-sleeves, and she was a late fall baby, so she must be about 8 months old in this shot.
And, here am I holding my little doll. We must have been going to church or just back. I rarely wore dresses except for church. I made this outfit...I was so glad I learned to sew, as I saved a ton of money making clothes!
See those bushes on either side of the porch? Before Diane was born (I was big and quite pregnant...), Vern had borrowed the neighbor's electric hedge trimmers, and I didn't think he was doing a good enough job trimming them (living with an artist can be a pain in the backside...picky, picky, picky!) Anyway, I told him I wanted to do the trimming, and I was busy at it when Doug woke up from his nap. Vern went inside to get him, and brought him out on the porch to 'see what Mommy is doing.' Well, when they came out, I took my left hand off of the handle at the bottom of the trimmer, but did not shut it off. Carelessly, I went to grab that handle again, with the thing still running!, and instead grabbed the moving blades! Needless to say, I sawed my thumb pretty badly. Vern grabbed a towel, and we got into our car and drove around the corner to Sartori Hospital emergency room. Luckily it was the middle of the afternoon, and my doctor was actually at the hospital doing rounds. He met us, and I was taken to the surgery where he sewed up the cut. It took 4 stitches, and the injury damaged my tendons in that thumb, which are still a bit numb, all these years later. But, the worst part of it was the lecture I got from Dr. Bremner...a really nice man, and a caring one! He told me that if I were going to cut off a finger, any one of them would be better than my thumb! You can pick up things with your thumb and the palm of your hand, if all of your other fingers were gone, but it is very hard to pick up things without a thumb (think 'opposable thumbs!') Our thumbs are the difference between us and many animals, and make it so we can perform so many tasks with those thumbs. So, after I got my stitches, and we went home to finally eat our dinner and relax, I had earned a very good lesson. Turn the damned tools off before you stop paying attention to them!
Now, here's a cute shot! I can't remember where we got the fur muff and hat, but I was always up for hand-me-downs, and garage sale bargains. The coat is cute too, but I don't have a clue about it. Those little details just get lost in the tangles of one's brain when there are too darned many things to remember over all this time!
My cute kids! (A bit of a pout on Diane's face... she's probably tired of holding still for pictures!)
Well, this one's good! What a great smile! (Oh my goodness...I really hate that old nylon frieze fabric! But, we didn't spend money on furniture back then...)
...And, here are my two cute kids on that ugly couch! No wonder I enjoyed being a 'stay-at-home' mom!
And, here's Doug on the 'bad' couch. Might as well get it over at the first...
Doug is 'reading,' but I think the book he has in his hands is a paperback book of poetry...not something he would choose on his own, I'm thinking.... Mom must have told him to hold the book. (And, it looks like it is upside down, since that's the book's front cover facing the camera...) Still...ever see a sweeter child? I got them all...every one of them!
Can you tell about her mood? Well, I sure can! Sometimes full of smiles, and other times...well, watch out! (But, still cute, anyway...)
Doug is using his little toy shovel on all of that deep, heavy snow! But, he's trying, for sure! In the background you can see the addition that was going on Sartori Hospital back then...
I think that's all for today. To be continued...
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