The Dalton Dispatch

My sweeties

2012-01-21T01:48:00.001-08:00

They are at the age that they love playing together and it melts my heart when I sit and watch them. So happy they are mine :)

Taking a break

2012-01-18T19:05:00.001-08:00

They need me

And so does he

So after 20 years of working, I am officially a stay at home mom.
I am looking forward to it!

The Castle

2012-01-15T16:55:00.001-08:00

This year we have decided to take advantage of all the "free" activities we can. Lowe's have awesome workshops for kids on Saturdays. They had a series around Christmas to build a train. I have to say that has been my favorite until this past Saturday. G built a castle! How cool is that!

Daddy & G got to spend some quality time while Sissy and I hung out. It was a win for all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Boring to bling !

2012-01-11T18:22:00.001-08:00

I have always been a bargain shopper. This gift comes from liking nice things and being on a limited income. Even now that we have two incomes, there are certain things that I struggle with paying full price.

When I found we were having another baby and it was a girl, my first response was she needs new furniture. White furniture, but again couldn’t justify buying another set when the set we had from G was so nice.

I majorly shopped for deals for decorating her room. The one thing I did splurge on was her artwork, I came across this person when I was pregnant with G and knew if I ever had a girl I would purchase some of her pictures. www.serenabowman.com . I found her bedding & curtains off CL and my best buddy from Cali added some boutique finishes to them, but one thing was missing. Well I found it!!

Thanks to a gift card from Grandma Barba, Sylvie now has bling in her room! Along with adorable. Its super cute the whole time Daddy was hanging it she had to help and every time I get her out of bed she smiles and says Light Light. I think it was well worth the cost and of course it was on sale !

The old light.

The new light.

Santa Picture success & fail

2011-12-07T19:10:00.001-08:00

Anxiously Awaiting

2011-12-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

Ok so I feel like a kid this year when it comes to Christmas. I am so excited. I count the days everyday. No I am not ready and yes I know the closer it gets the more hectic it will become, but I am still excited.

Just thought I would let you guys know.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

Things I am thankful for...

Health and Happiness
Solid Marriage
Beautiful, healthy children
Church I love
Family that I adore
Great friendships
Part time job that allows me to be a full time mom.
My home

Thank you God, for the blessings in my life.

Super proud of my little guy!

2011-11-20T19:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.lukesworld.me/2011/11/climbing-with-gideon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LukesWorld+%28Luke%27s+World%29&m=1

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Recycled Christmas part 2

2011-11-18T11:22:00.001-08:00

Part two-

Doing Shopping this way is not always easy and trust me I have learned that you have to weigh in your time & gas to even know if it's worth the deal.

But sometimes a little work and determination pays off. I love Pottery Barn stuff especially their kids stuff. I have received their catalogs for years even before I had kids. About 5 years ago they came out with a stainless steel kitchen that mirrored the Viking set. It sold for over a $1000 and was a limited edition. I found one on Cl earlier this year and they wanted 500.00 for it with a ton of accessories. So I thought if I bought it I could sell the accessories and only end up paying half that. Wrong. The set ended up getting in a bidding war and went for over a thousand dollars.

About two months after that I found the pink kidkraft set with a Pottery Barn dishwasher for 140.00. So we stowed it away for Christmas.

A couple months passed and we went to my sisters and G loved playing with their set so I told Josh that we should really start looking for a more gender neutral set.

So about a month later I found another set. She had just posted the listing but had included no pictures so I called her and she said that she would send pictures and that I we could pick it up that night. I about died when I saw the pictures and it was the limited edition for 300.00 plus dishes!

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So then we decided to sell the pink set we ended up getting 275.00 for the pb pink dishwasher alone and 100.00 for the sink set. Needless to say we paid less than 75.00 for this set !! It took some work, but I guarantee it would be worth all of it Christmas morning when they see it. FYI- the refrigerator & oven both have a light in them, dishwasher makes a running sound and stove burners light up! Yes I have been playing
with it :-)

Recycled Christmas

2011-11-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Our children have been blessed to have many people in their lives that love them. We both come from big families and have lots of "adoptive" grandparents and Aunts/Uncles, with this being said they have been given lots of things, add having dual income parents, and a mom that loves bargains and the goodwill and garage sales... do I need to say more.

So they want for very little.

This year I wanted to keep Christmas on a budget, a tight budget, this is so simple to do when you are creative and plan ahead. I have a mental list of things we wanted to get them so I have been doing a ton of shopping on CL. I am happy to say that with the exception of a couple things that you cant find recycled, it have been a success. It has taken some work, Josh didnt necessary want to drive to Belleville after work to pick up some things, but when it saves you money my motto is you drive.

Needless to say I am super excited about Christmas. I cannot wait to see the looks on both of their faces.

We have several close friends having major health issues so the more we can save, the more we can help :-) One thing I have been reminded of lately is that life is really short and I never want to take things for granted.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:57:00.001-07:00

"I liked trick or treating. It makes me super super super happy. It was very cool. I liked saying trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat. You get to say Trick or treat, Happy Halloween, Thank youuu!" -Gideon

Our Strawberry Fairy

Our Spooooky Ghost!

Happy Halloween!

We love fall!

2011-10-22T09:48:00.001-07:00

We have been busy but wanted to post some recent pictures.

-So it didn't turn out like the picture, but it was so much fun making.

Tonight while daddy was gaming we has a dinner party! It was a great night.

Today G woke up early from his nap I thought it was a great time to make the pumpkin cake while sissy was sleeping, while I was getting everything ready he disappeared apparently he wasn't quite ready!

Grandma got new chairs! Perfect!

Cooling down

2011-09-16T21:18:00.001-07:00

At last the hot summer heat wave broke this week, and we have taken full advantage of it. On Wednesday I turned the air conditioning over to heater. Nothing says fall like the smell of the dust and spider webs burning off of the heater.
On Thursday we built a fire in the fireplace. Sylvie was very interested in that, but I'm glad to say her instincts are functional. She came up close with me sitting there, and as she climbed up on the hearth to get closer, she felt the heat and backed right off.
On Friday, we were going to hit the balloon glow, but changed our minds due to weather, then changed plans again and decided to have dinner at Red Lobster, then buy marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers, and head home to use our fire pit. What a perfect night for it.
Then on Saturday we went to the balloon race, and had a great day. We saw the parachuters, and had a front row spot for our blanket. Gideon and Sylvie loved the balloons. I'll post some pictures later.

It's been a great week, and while our lives might be crazy busy, we wouldn't want it any other way.

Happy Birthday Sylvie!!!

2011-09-02T13:41:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe an entire year has gone by, but today you are one year old!!! You've been walking everywhere without help for two weeks now, which also means Mommy has been putting you in some very cute dresses (crawling in dresses is hard work). You are a very happy baby, and you are quick to cheer up even if things aren't going your way. You have four teeth now, all on the bottom, and you love French toast, pancakes, little mandarin orange slices, red or white pasta, hot dogs, peas, carrots, rice, corn, and whipped yogurt. You don't like broccoli much. You sleep most nights almost all of the way through, except for a half-bottle occasionally around 4AM. You love animals, sometimes even climbing up on our giant black cat, Cole, using his fur. He is a very good cat and just says mrrrooowwwlll until someone saves him. You love to play in water, although you don't like bath time lately, but I think that's just from getting water in your eyes a couple of times. You love bath time if Gideon is there too. You splash him a lot. You giggle when you eat something you like, just a little. You've started really played with dolls and your dollhouse, and some pink race cars too. You're stacking foam blocks, nesting toys, and pointing at things you want. You really like playing your little pink piano, the xylophone, and the drums, so I'm thinking you'll be musically inclined. You've also started grabbing dishtowels and carrying them around like security blankets, which is pretty cute. You say mama, dada, and baba, and sometimes you've even said Gideon, and recently, you started saying meow and pointing at Cole. Daddy carries you all over the place still, just because. You love to snuggle up to us, and climb in our laps when you want to take a break, just leaning back against us.

With all of these things you do, you still find time to be so cute that you make everyone smile when they see you, and to melt our hearts all day long. So Happy Birthday Sylvie, we love you so much, and if you want that car when you turn sixteen, keep being Daddy's Girl and I'll see what I can do.

My First Year

2011-08-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

My First Year

I entered the world on the 2nd of September
One week early, 8 pounds 3 ounces, a day my parents will always remember.

Those first few months I didn't do much at all
My parents were told, “Enjoy this time while she is small.”

Once I discovered I could scoot around by my own might,
It’s been non-stop action morning ‘till night.

At 10 months, my first tooth finally broke through,
And it did not put me in a good mood.

In June, I took off crawling across the floor,
With in a few weeks I was pulling up and finally off all fours.

The first time I tried putting one foot in front of the other,
I was 10 1/2 months old, and I walked to my mother.

I practiced walking all day and into the night,
And by August I had at last got it right!

“Mom-mom”, “Daddy”, "Barba" "Pa" & “Gid” are words I now can say,
But “Mom-mom” is what you will hear most of the day.

As you can see I’ve had a busy year
Hard to believe my 1st birthday is already here.

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby girl.

2011-08-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

So I know this post is early, but I wanted to be able to do it when I had time before your weekend events started.

To My Sweet Silverbell -

You turn one in 3 days and I cannot explain the joy you have brought to my/our lives. When I first found out you were a girl, I had every emotion go through me, I was scared, nervous, excited and worried. I had experience raising boys and had felt like I had succeeded, but a girl, what was I going to do a with a girl.

And then you arrived. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I fell in love. You were my "pretty girl". This past year you have melted my heart in ways I could not even imagine. Your sweetness makes my heart grow everyday and your cuteness makes me smile. I cannot imagine my life without you. You make our family perfect.

I have so many hopes and dreams for you and I look forward to sharing every moment of them with you.

Happy Birthday!
Love,
Mommy

My pretty girl and handsome boy!

2011-08-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a our friend Matthew for the wonderful pictures of our children. He truly captured their sweetness and cuteness.

Little steps!

2011-07-24T19:23:00.001-07:00

She took two steps this week!! And has been progressing every day, I think we are going to have a walker by her first birthday.

I fall more in love with my family every day, if that is possible.

YouTube Video

Playground

2011-07-09T20:28:00.001-07:00

So it's 10PM and I'm exhausted. Tammy went to bed an hour ago. It's been a very long but excellent day, thanks to a great offer of a playground from a good friend, and the help of three other good friends. I woke up at 6AM with Sylvie, and then at 8:30 headed out to begin the day. I got the Trailblazer from Terry's house, drove back here, rented a trailer, and up we went to St. Peters, to get our playground. Mike C, Tim O, and Terry W all showed up to help take it apart, bring it here and put it back together. Tammy also brought Gideon along to supervise. After 3 hours we had it in several big pieces, loaded on the trailer and a truck, and tied down tightly. Meanwhile Tammy headed on home after grabbing us lunch, and got both kids in bed for naps.

We got the whole thing back together after another 2 and a half hours of working in the full sun, then I returned the trailer. When I got home Tammy woke Gideon up, and he and Sylvie came outside to play. He was very surprised to discover the playground was totally set up while he was napping, and we proceeded to have a neighborhood test drive of our new playground.

Then Tammy grilled up some dinner, and we sat outside eating and relaxing for a while before bath and bedtime. Now everyone is asleep but me, and exhausted though I am, I just wanted to say that when you kids read this in 10 years, I hope it is with fond memories of days playing on the playground we put together today.

Love, Daddy.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T15:44:00.001-07:00

We had a crazy, fun weekend!
Hope you did too!

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Money well spent

2011-06-30T20:32:00.001-07:00

G is 100% boy, now that we can go out side it's all about monster trucks and tonka tractors, etc. May I insert Daddy is thrilled! One of the main things he has been wanting was Grave Digger, one of the biggest baddest, monster trucks.

He was so excited when Dandy & GranDawn sent him a gift card for his birthday so he was able to go buy the small one.

Yesterday we spent the day with Barba going to garage sales, the first one we went to was the win of the year. We found a motorized Grave Digger! I saw it upon driving up but parked where he couldn't see it and had Mom stay in the car with Gid, while I checked it out.

The seller didn't have a price on it which usually means they want too much for it, when I asked him he said make an offer. I hate making offers and so told him to name me a fair price. I about hugged him when he said $30.

As you can see by the pictures it was a win! Sylvie likes it as much as Gid does!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy!

2011-06-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

When it comes to being a dad, Josh scores everytime. He plays with Gideon and Sylvie has melted his heart and has became quite the daddy's girl the past week.

Thank you Josh for being a wonderful father. Here are some of my favorite Daddy's pictures.

She is mobile!!

2011-06-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

Sylvie had a big day, we had her 9 month check up today and happy to say she is doing great. She had to get her shots today, she wasnt able to get them at 6 months because she was sick and has been ever time we tried to reschedule.

She thought she would celebrate tonight by taking a few steps... could some one please stop time!

I have a wonderful husband!

2011-06-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

We just recently sold our dining room set and bought a new one off of Craigslist. It was a pretty sweet deal, we got a new set and a hutch for about 100.00 more than what we sold our old set for. Our old set was great but too big for the room and not really my style. I love our new one, the only bad thing was that the chairs need to be recovered, well thanks to my wonderful husband 6 of them are done (the other two are still at my friends house). Dont they look great!.

I will post more pictures when I finish decorating the room.

Busy Weekend

2011-06-07T17:35:00.001-07:00

We had a busy birthday weekend, it started off Thursday going over to Nanna & Joe's (Josh's godparents) to celebrate G's bday, Friday was spent getting everything ready for the party and Saturday was his party and Saturday evening we let Gideon have his friend Alex over to play with all his new toys.... So by the time Sunday arrived I was exhausted unlike Daddy and Gid.

So we decided to take a lazy day and check out the pool close to our house. It was a win! Both kids came home totally exhausted from playing, Sylvie even crashed at the pool.

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Something tells me we will be spending our Sunday afternoon there :-)

Happy Birthday! Gideon

2011-06-06T18:42:00.001-07:00

3 years ago today you made Mommy & Daddy a family. You have been the highlight of our lives, not a day goes by that you don't make us smile or cause our hearts to fall more in love with you. Mommy loved you to the moon and back!

Daddy loves you to the sun and front ( according to you )

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Just Between Friends

2011-05-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

So I participated in the JBF Sale this past weekend and I can say I was pretty impressed. I tagged about 100 things to take and ended up selling 30 and made about $90 after they took their portion and fees. I was a little hesitant thinking it wouldn't be worth my time, but then realized that you only have to tag it once and can actually participate in any sale they have. I think I am hooked, getting old clothes out of the house and making money at it. As Gideon would say "SCORE"

Friends!

2011-05-22T13:39:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a great day to play outside, even better when your friend joins you!

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First tooth for Sylvie!

2011-05-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

Just a note that Sylvie's first tooth just broke through this morning!

SITTING, STANDING & STAIRS - all in one day!

2011-05-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

So Baby Girl is on the move. In one day she sat up by herself, pulled up to stand by the couch and climbed two stairs unassisted. Each time I walked out of the room and came back and found her doing one of these. She had one busy day!

Underroos!!

2011-05-03T07:45:00.001-07:00

Gideon is house broken or should I say potty trained! Thanks to the iPad or as G says the big phone. Josh used the bribing factor to get Gid's attention, he could only play on the big phone if he had a no accident day and I am happy to say it worked!!

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She is 8 months old!

2011-05-03T07:39:00.001-07:00

Sylvie turned 8 months yesterday! She has mastered crawling, says momma & daddy, eats out of a spoon, loves finger snacks and has no teeth :-)

She is a total sweetie !

Happy 8 months, Pretty Girl!

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Easter

2011-04-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

So we had an excellent Easter here. First we got up and brought the kids downstairs to see their Easter baskets. Tammy says the Easter Bunny used to hide her baskets somewhere in her house, but he always snuck mine into my room and left it by the bed. I guess we will see what tradition the bunny settles on eventually, but for now, he left them downstairs by the fireplace.

The kids were both very excited about the candy:

Sylvie enjoyed chewing on it, even though she didn't really get it opened...

They also got some bunny ears :)

Then we all got dressed up for church.

I think the best picture was this one, even though I'm only in it as a reflection:

Here's a good one of me with Sylvia:

And a great one of her with Tammy:

Since it has been raining for a week, they decided to have the church Easter egg hunt indoors, so here are some pictures of that constrained chaos:

Gideon managed to find 8 eggs this year, which is pretty good as there were 12 other kids hunting in that classroom!
Then we went to lunch with Tammy's parents' church, which reserves the Bascom House pavilion at the Shaw Nature Reserve's Wildflower garden each year. It was beautiful, despite the rain, and Gideon and I made several forays out into the garden with our umbrellas (his has Spiderman). We went out and hid in the gazebo several times. Also, Papa helped a little girl get strawberries all over her clothes. She apparently likes them. Tammy says, "more like craves them."

After that, we went to see Great Grandma Diekmann, who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. She is doing very well, and plans to have the other knee replaced after this heals up. Sylvie really likes her.

After that, we came home, had some naps, and chilled out for the rest of the evening. Here are some bonus shots from last weekend's egg hunt:

(above, left to right: Gracie, Gideon, Claire, Levi, Alex, Hunter, Tyler, Alyce, Luke)
(below, left to right: Isaac, Levi, Sylvie, Alyce, Gideon, Hunter, Claire, Alex, Tyler)

The hunt lasted about 3 minutes, and everyone had a great time.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Checking on little sister.

2011-04-26T19:47:00.001-07:00

G is usually the first one awake and so the other day I was being lazy and delaying getting out of bed and ask him to "go check on little sister" usually he come right back and says she's awake, but when he didn't return I decided to go check on them. I walked into find he had climbed into her bed by himself and was laying there playing with her. Super cute moment.

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A perfect potty day!

2011-04-23T20:09:00.001-07:00

So just a few notes on a major day for G... His first whole day of using only the potty and wearing underwear with no accidents! I will say the Big Phone (iPad) has just half-paid for itself in diaper savings, because we only let him color and read books on it if he went #2 on the potty. This proved to be a powerful motivator, as he really loves reading the animated books on here.
Anyway, I just thought we'd record this momentous date, now we just have to stick with it and hopefully he'll stay accident free long enough for another train ride :)

Easter Playdate

2011-04-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

So we try once a week to get together with one of G's friends. I have been horrible with initiating this lately with our group of friends, so I thought I would make up for it by having an Easter party. We invite all his friends over for the morning. I can say that it was so much fun. Last year G was to young to understand the whole Easter egg hunt thing, but this year he mastered it. It could be that he was scoping out the eggs as J was hiding them. He was super sweet and even shared with the girl next door who didn't get very many. I always know he had a good time when the next day he asked to have another party. :-)

Yes I love being a mom!

Thankful

2011-04-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful for the way my life end up. I don't know what I ever did to deserve so many wonderful things. I have been so blessed. I never knew life could be so great with a wonderful husband and two adorable children, even if they do keep me awake at night :-)

Time Flies

2011-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

So it is almost Easter and it seems like just yesterday I was preparing for our little girl to arrive. I don't know if it is having kids or if it is just life, but lately it seems like time is just flying by.

Things are going well here for us, we have settled into a routine with having two kids. G is growing like a weed. He loves being outside and has gotten to spend several days lately outside playing. I can say that is one huge advantage to our neighborhood is that I don't have to plan a lot of play dates, I just have to open the garage and it seems like out of no where someone comes over to play. I love this, my parents always built in new subdivisions and it seemed like there was never any one our age. That is not a problem on this street. The last kids count was 32 under 16.

Baby girl is now mobile. Good and bad, cute that she now will follow G from room to room, but bad that she can put all of his toys in her mouth. Looks like it will be a childproofing weekend for us soon. She has become my little buddy. She went on my last girls night shopping and I can say she was quite the little trooper. She stayed in her stroller for over 2 hours without really complaining at all, as long as she had an occasional glimpse of me she was quite content.

We are finishing up the last couple projects on the house and happy to say we will be done for the year! At least until I can think of another one :-)

We still haven't decided what to do for vacation with J's job being so busy it looks like it could be late summer. The beach is calling my name very loudly lately.

Well I think that catches everyone up to date.

I will be posting pictures soon from G's Easter play date and J's bday. Just havent had time to download them yet.

Good Night world!

Look what is growing in my garden!

2011-04-15T13:09:00.001-07:00

-She is now crawling! Looks like we will be childproofing this weekend.

Latest addition to our family!

2011-04-13T21:15:00.001-07:00

We have a new niece! Welcome to our world baby Leah Grace, we can't wait to meet you. If I could drive to Texas tonight I would.

Congrats to Bob, Carrie & Chloe!!

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Mall trip

2011-04-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

So I decided to venture out to the mall today by myself with both kids. We arrived early just so we could spend sometime in the play area, I would say it was a success!

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G loved walking the plank!

Lunch date today!

2011-04-10T20:01:00.001-07:00

Dont be jealous girls, check out the cutie that I had lunch today with all by myself.

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Popping in.

2011-04-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

One thing I loved about college was that people just popped in, you didnt care how you looked, how you were dressed, or how your place looked. It was college and everyone had bad hair days and awful rooms.

I am starting to feel that way about our neighborhood and I am loving it. Josh has been gaming every other Friday night so I have just been low keying it at home with the kids and I am happy to say that I have had company every night. I love that they feel like they can knock on the door at 9:00 at night and come in and talk or if we have the door opens they come over just to hang out. I told Josh it is so nice just having people you have so much in common with living so close.

I dont think I will ever move.... ok maybe when the kids are married and we buy that beach house... maybe then.

Transformed room

2011-04-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

There are only a couple of things I would change about our home and one of them is our laundry room. I am sure to most this isn't a big deal, but I dreaded even opening the door, but thanks to my great husband I now have place to hang clothes, work area and even extra storage! Winner to me.

Thanks to my wonderful husband, the room has been transformed!
All in one night even with company popping in.

Thank you babe!!

Street repairs

2011-03-31T08:01:00.001-07:00

They are replacing parts of the street right in front of our house. It's been backhoes and dumptrucks and bobcats all morning. You couldn't pry that boy away from the window with a crowbar.

Entertainment

2011-03-31T06:32:00.001-07:00

This morning a little boy & girl has been glued to the window watching the tractors repair our street.

Now if I could just sneak off for a nap :-)

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Cute quote

2011-03-30T21:04:00.001-07:00

Every time we drive by the hospital G mentions that is where we got baby sister. Sunday while on our way to meet some friends he mentioned it again and daddy's response was should we stop and get another sister and G's response was, no one is enough.

Why do I have a feeling we saw a glimpse of their teenage years.

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2011-03-24T13:18:00.001-07:00

Life is wonderful. Dream home, two beautiful children and a wonderful husband. I wish for 50 or more years of this!

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Location:Happy Anniversary !

6 months old!

2011-03-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

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Melts our heart more every day, just like her big brother.

Goodnight prayers

2011-03-21T19:20:00.001-07:00

As a child I remember my parents always saying our prayers at night. I wanted to carry on that tradition with our children but wasn't fond of the tradition children's prayer "if I should die". So I decided to write my own prayer for G & S. So here is the Dalton children's prayer.

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
Be with Mommy & Daddy
Gideon & Sylvie
Pa & Barba
Granddawn & Dandy
Be with cousins and friends
Aunts & Uncles too
And keep us safe all
The night through.
Amen

It melts my heart, now that he says it all by himself.

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Project House 1.2

2011-03-20T05:54:00.001-07:00

We had a extremely productive Friday & Saturday.

Friday night while J was gaming I decided to go ahead and start the project, with the help of a little boy I managed to get all the old flooring in the dining and entry way pulled up so J was able to get started as soon as he woke up.

Well it took him a day! But our dining room and entry way are done and they look wonderful.

Here are the before & after pictures...

Before-

-After

Project House

2011-03-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

When we closed on the house, we were in an extreme hurry to move into the house, after sleeping on the floor for 6 months who wouldnt be :-), but in the rush we put some project off. We are back in full "Project House" mode. We have three major projects that we want done before Memorial Day. New flooring in our entry way, dining room, kitchen(Thank you Lowe's for putting in on sale!!!), new banister and my laundry room. We are hosting 3 parties in May/June so hopefully we will get everything done. I will post before and after projects. I am so glad I married a "handy" man that can do all these, the only problem is that his job has recently been pretty demanding with training and conversions so hopefully we will be able to get everything done.

My new resolution is quality vs quantity, so I have been working on decluttering and getting stuff out of J's way and getting ready for a yard sale. I have been listing some stuff on Craigslist to get rid of things now vs. later.

Stay tuned for the pictures and updates.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2011-03-14T20:37:00.001-07:00

So we headed downtown with some friends to watch the parade this weekend and had a great time. Sylvie and I camped out early to save our spot while everyone else played in the City Gardens.

This was G's first parade and he was super cute. He was front and center with one of his friends watching and commenting on each float. The cutest thing was every time they would throw beads at our group and he wouldn't catch them he would turn and say " Now I will never get one " and as you can imagine we heard this several times. :-)

-Here is my favorite picture! G went crazy at the store when I showed him the shirt that matched his for daddy, his exact quote was "daddy needs that"

Dancing in the streets!

My best baby purchase! Besides my video monitor :-)

One day we will get a family photo that everyone is looking!

Love my baby girl!

Shutterfly Stock

2011-03-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

I am thinking I need to buy stock in Shutterfly.

My latest projects ...

Dalton Quotes -

So G has been our little entertainer lately. He talks non-stop and is always causing us to smile in some way or another. I have decided to start writing down in a notebook all the cute/sweet/funny/not-so-funny things in a book. I am planning on doing the same thing for S. I am thinking I am going to put it in a shutterfly book.

Paintings & Pictures

I have saved all of G's pictures/paintings/artwork from daycare/church/home projects and have started scanning them to put them into a shutterfly book. I am having problems with the ones that are done in cotton balls and toothpaste :-) but I love seeing the progress he has made in just a year.

Seasons
I have in the past created books for occasions and this year I have decided to do seasons. We are starting to get a rather large collection of these books so I am hoping this will help condense some of the books.

I have been looking at some of the other on-line programs that are now competing with Shutterfly, but I have to be honest I am still a happy customer with them.

Stop time

2011-02-24T15:51:00.001-08:00

So the past couple of days have been exhausting with both of them being sick, I think on average I have gotten maybe 4-5 hours of sleep a night...maybe

So I am sitting for the first time today thinking how tired I am and I look over to see this

-And suddenly I want to stop time.

Sleep is so overrated!

Our little girl

2011-02-15T20:32:00.001-08:00

She's made a lot of progress since Christmas. We all got hit by the Flu right after Christmas and Tammy and I were coughing so much that we kept waking the baby, so we moved her to her big crib. She still likes sneaking into our bed from time to time though...

She managed to totally overcome the thumbsucking vs pacifier debate, by doing both at the same time:

Also she's been joining us at the dinner table, but apparently our conversation isn't always stimulating enough to keep her awake:

Also she's started sitting up fairly well on her own. G always insists that we have her sit by him on his couch so he can hold her.

Oh, and tonight she noticed Mommy's ring... And decided she wanted it... :)

That's all of the news I have for you tonight, but stay tuned for more soon.

-Josh

Ants in the Pants

2011-01-27T18:44:00.001-08:00

Sweet victory celebration!

YouTube Video

Christmas

2011-01-12T12:52:00.001-08:00

Christmas was wonderful this year, busy, but wonderful. All my siblings where together for the first time in about 3 years. So you can imagine how crazy my parents house was with 10 adults and 11 grandkids. G played non-stop, it was a day that I just didn't want to end. We did manage to get a family picture with all of us in.

The bad news is that we have been sick since the Monday after Christmas. For some reason since Sylvie I have been unable to get over things as quick as I have in the past. J is thinking it could be all the overtime, weather, lack of sleep having two under 3 and so on... I am beginning to think so too. Hopefully I will get better soon, getting sorta tired of being in the house. I feel better one day and then we go out and bam sick again... so if you arent hearing from us, this is why. :-)

Happy New Year to all our friends! We are looking forward to the year and all the excitement it brings.

She is 4 months old!!

2011-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

Baby S is 4 months old today!! I cant believe how fast time has flown by, she is now able to roll over and has slept in her own room the past two nights. This is something that I really wasn't ready for, but we keep waking her up at night coughing so I thought it would be best for her to get a good night sleep in her own bed. She is a little doll and has melted our hearts in more ways than I can even imagine. I am loving the stage she is at now, when you hold her she nuzzles into your neck and just lays there. She is starting to become a daddy's girl the past couple of weeks, I have been having to work a lot of overtime and have been sick so Daddy has been taken on a lot of the nightly feedings. It so cute every time he walks into the room she will coo at him until he looks at her and then she is happy.

We are one blessed family and I thank God everyday for it!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T20:11:00.001-08:00

I have had a perfect series of four Christmases. Tammy's battle for the Power Wheels Jeep paid off by starting our Christmas off big. G had tons of fun with all of his cousins on both sides. Baby S was held by everyone and was a perfect doll. The family time was excellent. The Food was great throughout, and the gifts were awesome.
I hope everyone else had as wonderful of a holiday season as I have had this year.

2010-12-24T21:42:00.001-08:00

So G has been pining for a helicopter, with a button to spin the rotor, for Christmas. Tammy took him to see Santa and he told him he wanted the helicopter. Then when it was time to go he said no, i don't have my helicopter yet! Santa wisely said, "I'll bring it to your house!" G replied, "Oh, and then you can play trains with me!"
So Tammy installed the iPhone Talking Santa app. Tonight when we told G that Santa was coming tonight, he got her phone, launched the Talking Santa app, and told it the following, like he was on the phone with Santa:
"You have my hel'copter? With the button? Okay! See you later!"

Suffice to say, Santa has the helicopter.

Christmas traditions

2010-12-20T20:54:00.001-08:00

Some things are special just because...

One of my favorite Christmas memories is putting the lights on a tree my grandma made. She made two of these, one sat on her kitchen table every Christmas and the other she made for a friend of my mom's who loved the tree.

Last year this friend gave me the tree, i had forgotten that she even had it! She had saved it for 30 years for when i had a child.

So this year G took on my tradition and decorated the tree, I have to admit that it actually made me cry. My grandma was such a special person to me and thanks to a special friend I have a piece of my past.

-

What a great day!

2010-12-17T18:09:00.001-08:00

Since G isn't in school right now, I thought it would be fun to host a Christmas party at our house with all of his friends. The list went from having 5 to having 10. We had so much fun, the kids played so well together and I even got some quality time with my friends.

We painted trains, played in the fake snow and ate yummy food.

I am exhausted tonight, but feel extremely blessed to have such great friends and hopefully their children and ours will be as great of friends as we are!

-

blah blah blah

2010-12-14T20:38:00.001-08:00

So lately I have felt very grown up, I don't know if it's having two kids or if I am just getting older "gasp".

We have been super busy lately, between being sick, I am back to work, holiday events, introducing baby girl to the world and so forth. I have noticed that as selfish as it sounds that by the time the weekend arrives that I really just want to spend time with just my family. So if you don't hear from us as much don't take it personal we are just busy being parents and loving every moment of it!

-

Santa

2010-12-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I have become somewhat of a homebody since having baby girl, for one it takes a lot more time to get both of them ready and out the door and another is that G is not a fond of carts... need I say more.

Well I decided that I was going to be brave and do Santa pictures by myself. Our appointment was at 10:40 and I started getting ready around 8 and good thing I did. G's apparently has grown about two inches since I bought his Christmas outfit so after trying on three different outfits I was finally pleased with his outfit. He on the other hand was not. Baby girl was easy it only took me changing her outfit twice.

The whole way there I kept pumping up Santa. I told G that he was so lucky that he was going to be able to see Santa and that we had a very special visit planned. The moment we walked in he was all smiles, he walked straight up to him and jumped on his lap. We managed to get several really good pictures. One thing I forgot to mention is that the past month every time we have been in the store and G has wanted something we have told him that we would tell Santa and that he would maybe get it for him at Christmas...back to the pictures. Once we where done with the pictures I told G that it was time to tell Santa goodbye and to get down off his lap and his response was he hasn't given me my helicopter yet. Santa being the great Santa he was responded that he was going to bring it to our house on Christmas. G's response was "Yes, you can play choo choos with me"... I love being a mom.

So much to blog, but so little time

2010-11-30T15:41:00.000-08:00

The past couple months have flown by so quickly and I am very aware that my blogging has slowed down. Life has been busy, but wonderful. Sylvie is growing so fast, smiles constantly and is so loved by her big brother. I was unsure and nervous about how he would adjust and he has done wonderfully especially for only being two.

We spent Thanksgiving at home this year due to us all being sick, didn't want to risk getting Dandy & GranDawn sick and truthfully didn't have the energy to make the trip. I will blog more later about the day. It turned out to be a really special day for us.

We our in full force getting ready for Christmas. Josh and I are like two kids when it comes to shopping for Gid and Sylvie, I think we truthfully are a little out of control :-) The benefits of having two incomes and only two kids. Going tomorrow to do Santa pictures which I am sure will be interesting.

Just wanted to take a moment and post some updated pictures.

She is a keeper!

2010-11-08T18:59:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't you agree!
-

Shutterfly - My hobby

2010-11-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

So I have to say that a lot of my friends are extremely talented. One of my best friends from Cali can sing like an angel and has started painting, I have to admit she is totally awesome at it. I have another friend that can sew anything, a friend that can crochet, another friend that makes gorgeous cakes, and the list goes on... I on the other hand am not artsy. I have tried - taken classes and so on. I was whining, I mean talking to J the other night about this and he said that my talent is Shutterfly. I started laughing and my reply was that it doesnt take talent to use Shutterfly, just determination to set aside the time. I have to admit I love all their products from their birth announcements http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements to how easy it is to upload pictures to http://www.shutterfly.com/upload-pictures/. I am excited this year to start working on our Christmas cards that will of course come from them. I counted and I have done over 50 photobooks. 34 are just of our family.

Tonight I was spending some time with G and I grabbed one of the books to have him look at it with me and his response was No- Mommy I want the train one. This being one of the books I did for him this summer of our trip to the Museum of Transportation. This melted my heart that he remembered that book.

I always considered it an addiction, not a hobby, but I think I have changed my mind. My favorite memory growing up was looking through all the photo albums my grandma had and I hope some day that my grandchildren will enjoy looking through these as much as I enjoyed making them.

Fall festivities

2010-10-04T08:48:00.001-07:00

So we went apple picking Saturday, at the Eckert's Millstadt Family Fun Farm, with Tammy's parents and some of G's cousins. We had a great time and saw several friends unexpectedly. We started the day off right at IHoP with the new cinni-stax for us, a giant chocolate chip whipped cream smily pancake for G, and S had some milk and slept through breakfast :).

There were horse rides which G rode 3 times: (see cousin A on the horse behind him)

Plus G and I rode a camel! I kept thinking of the bit in the Seuss book Go Dog Go with the seven hump wump that belongs to Mr. Gump. Pictures of this will have to be added from the real camera.
Then we rode the carnival rides with the cousins, who screamed mightily inside the spinning apple ride (like the teacups, but enclosed). We had it spinning faster than anyone else riding. Honestly I was slowing them down to make sure everyone's lunch stayed down :)
Then we rode the swings, and the airplane swings, and drove the plywood tractor model (big win).

Then we went and picked some apples, while family friends Kay and Charles watched (spoiled probably) baby S.
Tammy has the good pics of that so look back later for them.

Sunday we started the day off right with homemade cinnamon apple swirls, that Tammy and G made with some apples from Saturday! Then went to the pumpkin patch and had even more fall fun with Cara, Eric, and Davin.

Naturally we rode a horse right away :)

Then Davin took G on the four wheeler barrel train, followed by a hay ride for all of us!

Here's a great picture of my beautiful wife with Baby S too. Check out that awesome hat Amanda made for her!

Anyway, we had a great time taking our kids out to enjoy the Fall weather and hang out with family and friends! Look for some extra pictures here once we get those pics off the real cameras :)

-Josh

Two weeks

2010-09-23T21:02:00.001-07:00

Well it's been two weeks now since the arrival of our little girl, and things have settled into a routine now. Our friends and family have been a tremendous help, mostly by bringing dinner. Everyone has also been great about helping us keep G aware that he is still important and making sure he gets plenty of attention. I will also give a special thank you to Tammy's parents, for watching Gideon when we were in the hospital, and to her mom, who has been over to help out most days since I've gone back to work.

The baby has a wonderful temperament. She's very calm most of the time, unless she's hungry or being changed. On that topic, I'd like to state that we can't seem to change her without her peeing while we're doing so. Everyone always says to watch out for boys peeing on you when you are changing them, but with G he went mid-change maybe 3 or 4 times. S has peed about 3/4 of the times we change her. I suppose the warning then may really be that boys can hit you with it... :)
Anyway, we've found our basic sleeping routine now, which is the same routine we used when we had G, which is basically that I take watch until about 1am and she has 1 to 6. I suspect this will vary over time with my part increasing, but since she is nursing, that middle shift still requires Tammy's involvement.
Tammy is looking great and up and about quite a bit. Her main limitation now is for lifting things. I think we're doing really well with all of the changes this time. It certainly helps to have some idea of what to expect, and experience to guide how we handle it.
Since I expect this blog will someday become a book that both kids will read, I'll add some advice here: when you do have children, share the load. It can be very tough waking up in the night and doing your turn at feeding/burping/changing/rocking,and you may think, maybe if I let them cry, my partner will get up and do it... Never do this. If you are very exhausted or sick, ask for a night off, or swap shifts. Maybe offer to watch them so the other can nap during the next day or something. Just be sure you plan it out. Sleep loss is a heavy hitter, and if one of you falls too far behind on it, you both will suffer frustration, anxiety, and irritation.
So, we're doing well, getting as much sleep as we can. Now here are some pictures of our first weeks as a family of four.

Just as she arrived:

We got this of G being a big brother at the hospital:

Here's Daddy's favorite pic of her at the hospital:

Here's Mommy ready to go home:

A little face she made:

And here's my happy family all cuddled together:

Anyway, I'd say we're off to a great start.

Here at last

2010-09-06T09:17:00.001-07:00

Meet Sylvia Barbara Dalton born September 2. She weighed 8lbs 3oz and is 20 inches long.

Almost time....

2010-09-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

We are right at the 12 hour mark before baby Sylvie graces us with her presence. I decided to spend as much time with G today as possible and to finish up a couple of last minute things and at this point everything is almost done. I decided to go ahead and work tonight to keep busy and hoping that would help time fly and truthfully it has.

Thank you everyone for all the calls and text messages, I feel extremely loved and it has helped calm my nerves.

We have been talking about baby Sylvie for the past couple of months with G and I think yesterday he had enough of the talk, when we got up in the morning he said "lets go to the hospital and get Sylvie" I think someone else is ready to see this girl too.

So as of tomorrow we will be a family of four.

I like how that sounds.

Loving two...

2010-08-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

So I have to admit the closer I get to having baby girl, the more my heart sorta melts a little. I am so excited to be adding to our family, I cannot even express the excitement to see her and hold her, to have two little ones in our life. It melts my heart every time I walk down our hall way and I look into G's and baby girls room. I feel so blessed.

but

there is a protective part of me with G that I know this little one is going to need lots of attention and will have more "needs" at first than he does now. He's had my undivided attention for two years and I am nervous how is going to handle sharing Daddy and I. The past two weeks the very thought of him being away from me while I am at the hospital brings tears to my eyes. Yes, he is staying with Pa and G-barba, but I am protective and as much as I like the break, I like being able to roll over and check on him on the monitor anytime during the night I want. I love that the past three weeks when he wakes up he calls for me... I love we take naps together and he hugs me anytime I ask... and I don't want anything to change our relationship.

I found this poem and I thought it was so appropriate.

So to my special little boy this is for you....

Loving Two

I walk along holding your 2-year-old hand, basking in the glow of our magical relationship. Suddenly I feel a kick from within, as if to remind me that our time alone is limited. And I wonder: how could I ever love another child as I love you?

Then she is born, and I watch you. I watch the pain you feel at having to share me as you've never shared me before.

I hear you telling me in your own way, Please love only me. And I hear myself telling you in mine, I cant, knowing, in fact, that I never can again.

You cry. I cry with you. I almost see our new baby as an intruder on the precious relationship we once shared. A relationship we can never quite have again.

But then, barely noticing, I find myself attached to that new being, and feeling almost guilty. I'm afraid to let you see me enjoying her as though I am betraying you.

But then I notice your resentment change, first to curiosity, then to protectiveness, finally to genuine affection.

More days pass, and we are settling into a new routine. The memory of days with just the two of us is fading fast.

But something else is replacing those wonderful times we shared, just we two. There are new times only now, we are three. I watch the love between you grow, the way you look at each other, touch each other.

I watch how she adores you as I have for so long. I see how excited you are by each of her new accomplishments. And I begin to realize that I haven't taken something from you, Ive given something to you. I notice that I am no longer afraid to share my love openly with both of you. I find that my love for each of you is as different as you are, but equally strong. And my question is finally answered, to my amazement. Yes, I can love another child as much as I love you only differently.

And although I realize that you may have to share my time, I now know you'll never share my love. There is enough of that for both of you .you each have your own supply.

I love you-both. And I thank you both for blessing my life.

Author Unknown

Ready!

2010-08-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

Your name has been chosen.
Bassinet is set up in our room.
Daddy, Mommy, Gideon and your bags are packed.
House is semi-cleaned.
We are super excited to get to hold & see you.
Having contractions for 2 weeks solid isn't a whole lot of fun.

Baby Girl -
When you are ready so are we :-)

80 Years!

2010-08-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my Grandma D's 80th birthday on Sunday. Yes in the heat and yes outdoors. I always knew I was from a big family, but this was reaffirmed this weekend when I was taking pictures. One thing that my dad's family does not have in common with my mom's is that they dont take very many pictures. My other Grandma wouldn't leave the house with out her camera being in her pocketbook(purse). So I was determined to take lots of pictures on Sunday. This was a great plan until I got started and realized this wasnt going to be an easy task. I wanted to make my grandma a scrapbook with all her kids, grandkids, great-grandkids and great-great grandkids.... about half way into the project I was regretting my decision but I was determined to see it through, heat and all.

Trying to get families or groups are not always easy when she has 6 kids, 19 grandkids, over 31 great-grandkids and 2 great-great grandchildren. I would say about 80% of the family was there, not counting 8 of her siblings.

Here are some of the groups....I told you I was from a large family :-)

Tonka trucks

2010-08-19T20:19:00.001-07:00

Well my brother bestowed his Tonka trucks on me with the condition that when I had a little boy he gets to play with them. I unboxed them today, and G found them and went crazy for them. Here's the video. Oh, and G says thanks Uncle Brad :)

YouTube Video

A bit of art for the baby

2010-08-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

When we decided on the baby's room theme, I was planning to paint letters to match it, like, Eiffel Tower on the A, that sort of thing. Then Tammy mentioned wanting some children around the world stuff to hang in there, and I said, "Well I can do that." It became much more involved of a project than originally planned. First I made sketches of the children:

Then painted some precut wooden people popsicle sticks:

Then did some woodcutting to make the hats and hair:

Then I decided to cut my own front piece to be the Earth, and used my Dremel to round the edges off:

Then I painted the Earth:

Then put it all together and we have the complete result (drumroll please):

Look closely to see our family on top of the world... :)

I'm still debating whether to paint her name on it, or make it a clock (it does have 24 people so a clock would work well). Still, this has turned out far more impressive than I had originally imagined, and I hope she will treasure it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Terrible Thursday = Terrific Thursday

2010-08-06T07:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday started off on a bad note, Gideon woke up in a bad mood, we where late getting out the door due to a diaper explosion and then when we got his school he had a total meltdown. He is usually really good about going to preschool, yesterday was not the case, tears ran like the Mississippi. Great way to start the day. I head to work and the day did not get better. Sitting in a chair for 8 hours when you are 8 months pregnant is not fun. I usually try getting up and walking around ever hour or two (per doctor's orders) but that didnt even seem to help. My computer locked up about 4 times which is so much fun to sit and have to restart all your programs. So by the time 5:00 came I was out the door still in a bad mood.

Then I walked into preschool to pick up G and there is nothing that can make you smile more than to have your little boy run up to you and say "I had fun with my friends", my mood started going uphill. He is talking non-stop now which I love so on the way home he talked about how he played outside in the sprinklers and he played with playdo.... when we got home Josh was already home grilling steaks(I love a man that knows when to step up without being asked). It ended up being the perfect night, weather wise. Josh and Gideon played in the pool and I sat out soaking my feet enjoying my family. We headed in about 8:30 and G went to bed without any problems and I am happy to say that I was in bed by 10. I love days that start out bad end up being great!

Getting excited...

2010-07-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

So we are getting closer to baby girl's arrival date. I am scheduled for the c-section for Sept. 1, but my doctor and I both feel that I will probably go earlier. Baby Girl is super active, she moves all the time which is such an amazing feeling. I have been having contractions for the past couple two weeks, but nothing has been consistent. I told J the other night as G was sitting on my lap that their is no greater feeling than holding one child and feeling another one move inside of you.

I have been working on her room this week, thanks to several friends this little girl is going to be one well clothed little girl. The clothes keep coming and I have to admit they are all adorable. I told J that I am going to have my own little doll. I always thought that you received less gifts for the second child vs the first, in this case, I don't think its going to be true. You can tell with a lot of my friends that their hasn't been a little girl on the scene for several years.

J and I are super curious to see what she is going to look like, I am so excited to just hold her.

Sing-along G

2010-07-19T21:25:00.001-07:00

So for months now G has been making nighttime song requests, mommy's song (wheels on the bus), choo choo song, daddy's song, stars (twinkle twinkle), etc. But this past week he started singing along with us. So now as we sing him to sleep he hums and throws in a word or two that he has picked out of the songs we sing. It's exceedingly cute.

Of course that sort of cuteness makes it even harder to get up and leave the room before he goes to sleep... Especially with him saying, "Daddy sit," every time. I know it is good to teach him how to fall asleep on his own, but I think it may be tougher on the parents for all of the guilt you feel while doing so.

I am blessed....

2010-07-19T14:24:00.001-07:00

I have a wonderful husband,
an adorable child, a little bundle that will
grace us with her presence soon.
I live in my dream home,
I like my job,
We have great friends,
a wonderful family, immediate and adopted.

I never want to take for granted the life I have.

I feel very blessed.

Big Ted

2010-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

So I still have my two teddy bears from my childhood, Big Ted and Little Ted, and since we had G they've been in his room. The other week we changed out some furniture and Big Ted moved to our dresser during the rearranging. Today, G was extra fussy at nap time so Tammy put him in our bed with her. She was downstairs when he woke up crying. When he calmed down enough to use words he wouldn't move off the bed and kept saying, "Bad bear get me!" and pointing at Big Ted. I'm a bit crushed, as that bear had to be next to me every night for me to go to sleep when I was a child. I blame Toy Story 3 with the evil bear for this... Now I have to convince G that this one is a good bear...

Baby Girl Update

2010-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Everything is going great with Baby Girl, we had an ultrasound this week to see how things where progressing. Everything looked great, she weighs 3.5 lbs and is in the 45% for weight. I am feeling great, a little tired but doing ok. I still haven't gained any weight, which I am happy to say and I tested negative for gestational diabetes!!

It was great getting to see her move around and we could see she has hair! It was standing straight up around her head. Super cute. One of the reasons that we are having such a hard time deciding the name is that we like one name if she is a red head and another if she has dark hair. According to my father-in-law, J was born with a head full of hair. I told him that I was hoping Baby Girl would have her daddy's hair and he said they are hoping for a red head. I can say I am super curious to see what she is going to look like since G turned out so blonde.

I am at 32 weeks now and so have been working to get everything done and at the same time spend extra time with G. I can honestly say the thought of leaving him for 5 days is going to be pretty emotional for me. The longest he has been away is overnight and that isnt easy. My doctor said that he thinks I will go early at around 37 weeks. Which makes me a little nervous considering how close that it is.

My prayer is a happy, healthy baby and a smooth delivery.

Family Reunion - 2010

2010-07-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

We just got home from the family reunion! and had a wonderful time. Here is my favorite picture. Started having some contractions the last night we where there, but luckily they stopped after an hour.

Restless

2010-06-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

So the past two weeks it seems like I have had a lot on my mind, the day before Father's Day I learned that a friend of mine had committed suicide. He was 38 years old and had 3 adorable children. We had worked together for about 5 years at two different places, I hadn't really talked with him the past year or so, but at one time would of considered him a really close friend.

It has weighed on my mind lately. I have been blessed in life with tons of friends. Some have been/will be lifelong friends and others have only been for a season. Looking back if I would of told this person that in 5 years you are going to end your life, he would of laughed in my face and called me crazy. I wonder what changed that you would feel so hopeless and think this is the only way to solve "life's problems".

I feel extremely blessed in my life, I am married to a wonderful person, I have an adorable little boy, a little girl on the way, great family and my list goes on...but there have been times in my past that I struggled with life, but never was ending it an option. I believe in the "after life" and I also believe that the decisions we make here we will be accountable there.

I have struggled with this, I know I don't know the whole situation and I am sure I never will.

YouTube Choo Choos

2010-06-29T07:48:00.001-07:00

YouTube on the TV has been an excellent tool for teaching G about various animals, music, muppets, construction vehicles, light sabers, swordfighting, and various other things, but one thing on there is his favorite thing to watch. Steam engine trains. Any time those are on, he will work his way up to sit on my lap and we can spend or thirty minutes just watching choo choos. Really he would watch more than that given the option. Anyway, it's one of those moments when your child is snuggled up against you and you think, "this is a moment I will think back on and smile about someday."

-Josh

Room in progress!

2010-06-25T20:30:00.001-07:00

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So we have been working on the room and making great progress, here are the pictures so far. I can say that the best is yet to come. J has several projects in the works! Will post pictures when he is done.

Relapse...

2010-06-22T16:45:00.001-07:00

So we moved G into his own bed when we got back from Cali. We thought it was perfect timing since he had slept in a big boy bed for 10 days. Today while working on Baby's room, some one had a relapse!! Thank goodness it was only for a short time.

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My new toy!

2010-06-20T08:01:00.001-07:00

Anyone that knows me knows when it comes to baby gear there are 2 things I am super picky about and that is baby shoes and my stroller.

While in California and after doing much research I fell in love with the Phil & Ted stroller,( www.philandted.com ) it was the only one that I found that could be a single or double. The only problem with it was the price didn't match our budget even off Ebay. I started watching craigslist, and in 3 months only one was listed and sold an hour after it was listed. I finally decided to post a " wanted" ad, much to my suprise someone responded a month later!!! It is in brand new condition! And a price we could afford!! The couple we bought it from was great, we ended up hanging out at their house a while and teasingly I asked her if she was selling anything else like pedipeds and much to my suprise she was!! We bought baby ------ 2 adorable pairs!!

I call this a successful night!!

Go craigslist !

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G loves his new ride!!

Biker boy

2010-06-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

We've been working on bike riding since spring and now G has pretty much mastered it. We bought him this bike last summer because it had rocket ships on it, then it stayed in storage the whole time. It has seen some very heavy use this year though. Check out the video.

YouTube Video

Here's a picture too:

-J

FB Quotes worth mentioning...

2010-06-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

So I have to admit I am somewhat of a FB junkie, I have an iphone so it give me constant access which is good and bad. I love it, our life is busy and this is one way that I can keep in touch with people quickly..it takes less than 2 minutes to say "Hey I hope you are having a great day" or "Happy Birthday, friend". The thing I have noticed is that people tend to post quotes, I love quotes and every now and then certain ones stick out to me more than others. My favorite quote of all times is "The sturdy oak is nothing but an acorn that held its ground". This week there where two that stuck out to me...

"God always answers, just sometimes the answer is no" and "In the kingdom of God, attitudes matter just as much as actions".

Go Daddy!!

2010-06-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Daddy is finishing up Baby Girl's room tonight! And then we are going to start doing the decorating painting, we will post pictures soon. So excited to get this part started since he has come up with some really cute ideas!!
I am so glad I have a creative husband .

I think she is going to love her room.

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28 weeks tomorrow...

2010-06-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

So believe it or not time is flying with this pregnancy, the closer I get the more nervous I get. Yes, I am wishing my life away. I am not a good pregnant person, I worry over everything, some of this I think is due to going into preterm labor with G. I remember when I hit the 35 mark with G how relieved I was just knowing he would be ok outside of me...and of course being stubborn decided to wait and have to have a c-section.

This is our last pregnancy, so I do want to treasure every moment. Baby Girl is so active, I love feeling her move inside of me. She is a huge fan of big brother, it's super cute at night when I am putting him to sleep and he is talking to me that she goes crazy kicking and moving around. I think they will end up being the best of friends and the worst of enemies all in the same day.

This pregnancy is so different than it was with G. I don't know if it is because I am more aware of things or if it truly is different. We are going to start painting her room this week and happy to say that after ordering 3 different bedding sets, that one finally came in that was not on back order. My goal is to have her room done by the time we go to the reunion. We are pretty prepared for her, especially with clothes thanks to several friends!! and I have been stock piling diapers for a while. We still need to get some of the basics, but figure we have time for this.

So in less than 85 days we will be holding Baby ------ in our arms.

Kisses

2010-06-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing is sweeter than a little boy running into the room while you are working and when you ask him what he needs he says "Give my momma kisses."

Life is good.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little boy

2010-06-06T14:08:00.001-07:00

Two years ago a little boy came into my life and melted my heart in ways I couldn't even imagine. I didn't know that you could love someone so much or so deeply. He really is the apple of my eye. Happy Birthday, my sweet little boy.

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Honored

2010-05-30T14:34:00.001-07:00

I feel very honored to have had two great men in my life that fought for our freedom, you would call them soldiers, but I called them Grandpa!! I wish I could hug them and tell them "Thank You"

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100 DAYS TO GO!!

2010-05-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Before our little girl arrives!!! Daddy is going on the way home to pick up the paint samples for her room and part of her bedding arrived today. Our goal is to have her room done by the end of June. Here is a picture of her bedding and the artwork we have ordered!! Can't wait to see it all put together. We are still trying to decide on a name.....

While Daddy is away...

2010-05-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

J headed is off to New Orleans this weekend with the boys so G and I decided to take full advantage of not having any time constraints. Friday we headed to the mall and spent over an hour there riding the carousel and playing in the play area. Today we went to breakfast and then to the Fenton Firehouse Open House!! It was a winner, G played with tons of cool things and even got to practice putting out fires. Hopefully he won't try this at home!! They gave all the kids free bike helmets. G picked the Spiderman one, super cool!

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Super G

2010-05-18T09:38:00.001-07:00

Aunt Carey made G a cape when we where in Cali. It's super cute and I couldn't help but blog about it! Watch out Rocket Man has arrived!!

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My baby

2010-05-17T10:10:00.001-07:00

Last night Baby Girl was extremely active. G was sitting on the couch next to me so I put his hand on my belly to see what his reaction would be, he just sat there and said "my baby" something tells me we are going to have one protective big brother!

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