Summer Fun

I thought that once I quit my job to be a stay home mom I might find more time to do things like update the blog on a more frequent basis. It has been just over two months since I stopped working and I haven't been bored for a single minute. It's been a busy summer, but we are having fun and I'm loving being able to stay home with Josh. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer.

Josh has had a good time swimming in his pool on the deck in the back yard. He's tried to get Sydney to join him, but she's not so much a fan of the water. Despite his fear of dogs, Jordan had a good time swimming with Josh and was surprisingly at ease with Sydney. They were entertained for quite a while just sitting in the pool and playing with the dog.

After they got out of the pool they were a little chilled so they bundled up together.

I found that sending Josh to Jumping Jacks for a few hours is a great way to exhaust him. He had such a great time going down all the slides and keeps asking to go back.

This is the tallest slide there, and Josh being the fearless little kid that he is wanted to go down it. Since he's so small and it is such a big slide, I sent Gary up with him. They got to the top and before Gary had a chance to turn around and sit down, Josh had already gone down the slide. We spent a couple days at Zermatt in Midway. It was a fun thing to do as a family before Andrea and Jordan moved to Pennsylvania. The boys had a good time making their own game with the checkers while the others played chess behind them. We also spent a lot of time in the pool while we were there. Josh loves to swim. We got to have a test run at having a baby around the house. We got to watch my cousin's baby a couple time and Josh really enjoyed having a baby around. He was such a cute little helper. It got us all excited for our baby to come. I'm at 30 weeks now. The pregnancy has gone really well. I'm really starting to feel huge as the belly gets bigger and bigger and I'm starting to lose a lot of energy, but thankfully we haven't had any complications yet! For the 4th of July we headed to Richfield for the weekend. The kids had a good time on the slip-n-slide. Everyone at the parade, ready to catch candy. Josh, Jordan, and Kristy riding the four wheeler. Josh absolutely loves the four wheeler. He knows where my dad keeps the keys and will go get them out and ask for rides. If he disappears we can usually find him in the garage getting a helmet out and sitting on the four wheeler.

Newest Addition

We have a new addition to our family! This is our new puppy Sydney. Her mom is a pure bred golden retriever and her dad is a black lab. She was the only puppy in the litter to get her mom's coloring but she has a lot of the lab in her personality. She is three months old and is very full of energy.

We got Josh a puppy for his birthday, but didn't pick her up until a couple weeks ago. The lady we got her from was kind enough to hold her for us while we were waiting for our vinyl fence to be installed. Thankfully Josh is just as full of energy as his new puppy so they can wear each other out. At first he was a little nervous around her since she can get really hyper and is about the same size he is. She thinks he's a puppy too and likes to nibble and jump on him and he wasn't too appreciative. We've been teaching her and Josh how to deal with each other so they have a lot of fun together for the most part. He really enjoys having a puppy.

Josh wasn't too thrilled about picking up a new passenger!

I'm In Trouble!!!

I went in for my 20 week ultra sound Thursday and we found out we're having another boy!!! I don't know yet what I'm going to do with three of them, but it will be lots of fun. We're excited. Everything looked good on the ultra sound and nothing came up that we need to be concerned about!

Celebrations

Josh turned 3 the day after Easter, so we had a good time celebrating Easter and then his birthday!

I decided we should decorate eggs more often. Josh got to tell Gary and I what colors to turn the eggs in order to avoid a staining mess. Then when the eggs dried he got to decorate them with the stickers that came in the kit. He sat at the kitchen table until he had found a place for every single tiny sticker that came with the kit. It entertained him for quite a while.

He was really excited to see what the Easter Bunny left him, and go on his Easter egg hunts.

Josh was really excited about his rocket ship cake. I let him pick a cake I could make out of a book a few days before his birthday and then he wouldn't stop asking for his rocket ship cake. I wasn't entirely sure how I should decorate it, so I let him do it and he had a good time.

I took the day off work to spend with him. Gary had to work and go to school, so we decided to have a picnic outside Flowserve. We let Josh open presents and feed the ducks. I loved his face in this picture trying to open presents.

He was very excited about his new train tracks.

Playing with his new bubble toys with his cousin Kaitlyn. Grammy Debbie, Grampy Mark, and aunt Kimi spoiled him rotten and got him this John Deere truck for his birthday. He has been having a good time with it, but isn't so great at steering yet. Thanks Grammy, Grampy, and aunt Kimi!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Saturday Grammy Debbie, Grampy Mark, and Aunt Kimi flew in for a quick visit for Grammy's birthday! It was a lot of fun to see them. Thanks for coming!Josh got to surprise Grammy with the news that he is going to be a big brother. I'm at 12 weeks right now, due the end of September. We went to Disney on Ice and Josh got a Flounder hat. I've had a hard time convincing him to remove it before going to bed.

Relaxing after a busy day. I haven't posted much lately, partially because it's been too cold to do much, and partially because I haven't felt like doing much! Josh has had a good time playing in the snow this winter but we are excited that it is starting to warm up!

He likes to help his dad shovel the snow. He has his very own shovel.

Time to Update

I've been told again it is time to update the blog! Josh and I have been sick so I haven't been very motivated. A couple weeks ago when I picked him up from the baby sitter's he ran up to me saying, "Mommy, mommy my neck hurts and I am sick." Then he cried and cried and cried. That's not like him, so I got him into the doctor that night. He had a sore throat and while we were waiting for the strep test results we realized that Josh couldn't turn his head side to side very well and couldn't go up and down hardly at all. We ended up having his neck x-rayed and everything looked ok, so then they did blood tests and those came back ok. We're not sure what happened but a couple days later his neck was back to normal. Then he ended up with a cough/cold which he was kind enough to share with me. Now we're both finally feeling better and hoping Gary doesn't get it!

Josh is getting smarter by the day. He knows where the treats are, and one day decided to get his stool out and help himself. So I put the treats on a higher shelf. He managed to get them while I was out of the room and I wasn't sure how at first. Then I caught him. He used the stool to get on top of the garbage can and then he could reach much higher. Another one of his latest accomplishments is that he has discovered that he can open the fridge/freezer all by himself. He is quite pleased with himself for this. I was in my bedroom getting dressed one morning when he came wandering in with some Dibbs saying, "Daddy got me a treat!" He took the lid off and started shoveling them in his mouth. 6:00 in the morning is a little early for treats but it was funny enough to earn him a few. I've had to rearrange things so he'll stop getting the ice cream and Popsicles out of the freezer.

Josh sporting his adorable new jacket Grammy Debbie gave him for Christmas. Josh and his new bed tent. I haven't convinced him to let me put it on his bed yet, but he really likes to hide. He has a balloon he puts inside his tent every night before he goes to sleep and also during naps. I guess that's where his balloon sleeps. Shooting some hoops with cousin Jordan. They are such cute pals. Early one morning Josh came into my bedroom and announced that he was going to Jordan's. I told him goodbye and he left my bedroom. A few minutes later he came back and told me he couldn't find Jordan's house. Jordan says stuff similar to this to Kristy. When I give Josh a snack he often sets some aside and says it is for Jordan. When he's playing by himself with his toys he also tells me which ones are for Jordan to play with.

Watching cartoons together.

Christmas Chaos

This is the gingerbread man Josh decorated at a family Christmas party. When I saw what he was doing I came to the conclusion that Josh most definitely did not get any of my DNA! He is all Gary. Josh insisted on using all the same types of candy. He would not use M&M's or gum drops or anything else and he wouldn't mix up colors either. That is sooo like his dad!

I really don't know what happened to the entire month of December. It was a blur and we kept really busy. It was a struggle to get Christmas shopping done with my two year old helper. My first weekend that I finally had time to go Christmas shopping the month was already almost half over. Best Buy happened to be the second store Josh and I went to, and he threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen him perform. I quickly got what I was looking for but carried him out of the store crying and we ended up spending quite a bit of time in the parking lot before I could get him under control enough to drive him home and put him down for a nap. As soon as he woke up and was fed I tried again thinking a full tummy and a nap we'd be good to go. We walked into Walmart, and it was completely packed with people. I had to search for several minutes before I could even find a cart and of course as soon as I found one Josh said he needed to go potty. Reluctantly abandoning the cart I worked so hard to get, I marched him to the restroom. He wouldn't go because the toilet automatically flushes with every move he makes and it scares him. Of course he ended up having an accident (luckily he was still in his pull up from nap time) and he was so upset about it we immediately had to go home. Things like this seem to be happening with more frequency and I can say without a doubt that Josh is most definitely in the terrible two's!! I thought I'd do a quick post while I have a few extra minutes at work because I don't know when I'm going to have time to post Christmas pictures. I am in the process of painting our front room and it has turned into a much bigger process than I anticipated. After pulling off wallpaper on one of the walls I could see that the wallpaper was put up when the house was built, and nothing has been done to that wall since then. I could not believe that the house is almost 35 years old and I am the first one to change that wall!! I'm so excited I don't have to look at the 70's wallpaper anymore! We ended up having to texture and prime that wall before we could paint. After preparing that wall, patching holes, sanding, and pulling down molding I called the paint store so they'd have my paint ready when I got there and they were closed for New Year's. After all that work I couldn't do anything for two days because the store I needed to get the paint at was closed! We should be able to finish the painting by the end of the week but for two weeks I've had a love seat in my kitchen and a lazy boy at the end of the hall way. My house is torn apart and it is a mess. I can't wait to finish so I can start cleaning and putting things back together!! In the next few weeks we hope to get new molding and a ceiling fan up and then I think I've had enough home improvement projects to last me at least until Spring!