Changing the Restrictions

Hi everyone!

So, as most of you know, Josh is in the police academy right now because he got hired as a police officer here in Wisconsin. After learning some crazy stuff about child predators, he has informed me that my blog needs to become restricted only to those people we know. I haven't done this in the past because I know I like to snoop on people's blogs who I don't even know that well and I feel like others can do the same to me, but I guess this is the safe thing to do. I will be doing this in about 2 weeks so if you look at my blog ever please post a comment to this update and I will make it so you can continue. I just need to plug in people's specific usernames or e-mails I guess. Even if I don't know you super well that's fine, I just want to confirm that you are in fact a bored mom or housewife such as myself and not a crazy internet pedafile looking at pictures of my kids. Kay? Thanks! On that happy note, have a great day!

Back from Idaho!

Hi everyone!

We were so lucky to have just seen most of you Idaho folks this past week so you probably will remember firsthand some of these moments in the pictures! We had tons of fun picking huckleberries (three times), riding horses, and floating the river - okay I lied I didn't have fun floating the river the second time because it was 45 degrees and raining. But the first time was fun! Now we are home and getting settled in again. Josh will be starting his new job on Monday so we're enjoying the last lazy days of summer. Caleb is huge - as most of you know. I think about 20 pounds according to the scale with me holding him. Gabe is a ball of energy and can be very naughty but also very sweet (when he wants to be). Check back often, we may have house news soon or we may not, depending on the offer we just put in and if the bank gets a response to us soon!

Too busy having fun!

Hi again! It's been a while. I jusify not keeping a journal by saying, "At least I write highlights on my blog!" and lately I've even been slacking at that! It's pretty time consuming keeping a two-year-old and a two-month-old clean, fed, and happy. We've been filling every spare minute lately it seems like. Thispast weekend we went on a family getaway to Madison, WI and stayed at a Holiday Inn with indoor waterpark. Gabe LOVED it and got mad if we tried to go down the big slide with him. Then on Saturday we went to the zoo and the beach that's right next to it and spent more time at the waterpark at night. We came back Sunday afternoon. Our adventure for this upcoming weekend is the Packer family night. We are going to Green Bay to watch the team play eachother and there's some family games I guess too. Josh is pretty excited.

Caleb is getting ginormous. He's not even 2 months old officially and I had to put a 6 month sleeper on the past two nights. I had to re-go through all the stored clothes and get out bigger sizes again! He weighs over 15 pounds! Gabe is still beating on him while he can. His "kisses" are pretty smothering sometimes. Gabe is being a terrible two lately. Everything is, "Mine!" or "I do it!" (Is this the building their independence stage?) He does have his cute moments though. My sister-in-law and neice were in town from Montana yesterday and we all went to the waterpark by my house and Gabe was having so much fun going down the slides and jumping in for me to catch him. He kept telling me to move further back and finally I just let him go under. To my surprise he bobbled back up and paddled to the side! I guess it's good training.

Well I'll post some pics now. Hopefully we will see all you Idaho folks soon. We are planning a trip sometime late August I think. Take care!

Can you tell who's who?

Fourth of July

Hi everyone!
This fourth of July weekend was the first one Josh has had off in about four years (APX Alarm always sells on holidays) so he was so excited to do some fun summer activities. We packed in so much stuff that I was exhausted by Sunday. Here's the summary:

Thursday night: as soon as Josh got home at 4:30 we got everything packed up and went camping on my grandma's farm. Josh and Gabe slept outside in a tent while Caleb and I slept inside. :) It was a bit chilly for a newborn and I did not want to nurse 3 times that night in a tent with a flashlight. But Gabe loved it and didn't wake up once during the night. Then he cried when Josh took the tent down.

Friday afternoon: we got home and repacked for the beach. We went to a Lake Michigan beach which feels like the ocean because it's so huge. (However, it was pretty chilly to swim in.)

Friday night: Fireworks show in our local town on the lakeside.

Saturday: Some home improvements leftover from the flood and swimming at the waterpark that's 3 blocks from my house that night.

Sunday: Church/sleep.

It was such a fun weekend. This morning Josh was like, "I wish it wasn't Monday again!" I just want to emphasize how nice it is that Josh isn't selling this summer. Not that it wasn't fun at times. But he is home so much more now and the holidays off (4th of july and memorial day) are awesome.

Caleb is good. He's weighing a little over 11 pounds these days! Clothes that were too big a week ago are now to small. I can't believe how fast it goes.

Hope you're all doing well. We're kind of planning a drive to Idaho - with 2 kids, shoot me now- at the end of August. See you soon!

Flooding

I forgot! Yes, we did get flooded here. But it could've been worse. We were in the basement because of tordano warnings and then the rain just kept coming and suddenly it was getting the basement floor wet! So I was holding Caleb and Gabe on the steps while Josh and my mom were plugging the drains with old spray paint cans and vacuuming out the water! It was not fun. It was pretty scary actually. When it was all over we had to rip out most of the basement carpeting and throw out a lot of water damaged stuff but our side of town got it the least. Other homes had to be bulldozed so we consider ourselves lucky!

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Still adusting...

So I know it's been a little while. It turns out life with a newborn and a two-year-old is pretty busy! It could be worse though. So far Caleb's been a really good baby - much easier than Gabe. But that's not saying much! Any kid without an oxygen tank, reflux, and a heart monitor would be easier. Plus Gabe's overall temperment was pretty demanding. Caleb's pretty relaxed. He eats only every 3-4 hours (Gabe was 1.5, plus pumping/bottles/burping forever) and he hardly ever cries. He had his 2 week doctor's check up yesterday and the doctor told me he's gaining weight at an above average rate. ("Is this bad?" I asked.) He said it's fine and that my milk must have a high fat content. I said, "Good, better on him than me!" So he now weighs 8 lbs 12 oz after being at his low of 7 lbs 5 oz about 3 days after he was born. He is starting to be awake more and so far his eyes look dark blue. I'm curious to see if they stay blue like Gabe's or not.

Gabe is also doing well. He just cracks me up sometimes. (Then other times I want to beat him of course!) But we go for walks every day and he has this big wheel type bike that he always rides and he's like a little daredevil on it. There's this one road where he zooms ahead like he's going to hit the median then at the last minute he'll turn his wheels and hook it into the space next to the curb that wraps around the median and zoom all the way around and across the road up the ramp onto the sidewalk. (Luckily this is on a quiet cul-de-sac by my house.) He also makes me laugh so hard when the Jonas brothers are on the Disney channel because he has a toy guitar that he jams along with and dances and jumps like they do. He's pretty rockin!
We'll see if he ends up playing football like his dad or being in musicals like his mom. (I'm sure Josh would love that!)

Well, those are our updates. Also, we close on our house Monday and are looking forward to having money! Yay! We're probably just going to be boring and pay off Gabe's dumb RSV shot bill from when he was six months old and got a $4500 shot! (Isn't that like, the average cost of having a normal child - total?!) And then pay off our car and start saving for our next "first home". Not very exciting stuff but it'll be nice to be debt free right? Josh is still plugging away at his online classes. Right now he has a geology and a Media Technology. He actually really likes the geology one. It has a lot of stuff about Yellowstone and Arches national park I guess. I am doing well too - just a little tired. Hope you all are doing well!

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