The Heit of Life

Bringing Home Baby

2012-02-10T19:27:00.000-06:00

Our sweet baby boy arrived at 6:30 PM on January 26th, 2012. Hank Michael weighed 9 pounds, 13 oz and was 20.7 inches long. From the moment we met, he has been the sweetest, most cuddly and most handsome little baby I've ever known. Although, I guess I am a bit partial. :-)

Big sister, Josie, smiled and laughed when she met her baby brother for the first time. For the past 9 months, I was wondering what their meeting would be like. And it was sweeter and more special than I could have imagined. Especially since she was in denial that we were in fact having a baby brother up until the day he arrived. I would say, "Josie, we're going to hold our baby brother soon." Josie would look up from whatever she was doing, smile and calmly reply, "No Mama, we're not." Either that girl was playing it cool or really, she had no idea what was about to happen.

But whatever the case, they are off to a good start. She adores him. And despite the extreme loudness in Josie's voice (she knows only one volume of speech) and my fear of her always waking Hank up, her voice actually seems to relax him.

And thanks to our generous families, we came home to a refrigerator full of food and a delicious meal warming in the oven. What a great homecoming!

The first two weeks at home have been very special. For me, things are different with the second baby. I think it's because I'm more relaxed and I know that these "newborn days" will only last a short while. Also, I'm learning a lot about the differences between boys and girls. I've learned that it's ok to say "penis" (especially when talking to the doctor) because that's what it is actually called. Right? I'm just not used to saying that word out loud so much. At his doctor's appointment, I kept calling it his "little thingy" and finally realized how silly that sounded. So I made a point to just....say...it. And speaking of penises, I've learned that it needs to point down when changing his diaper, otherwise when he pees, he'll soak his entire outfit and leave his diaper completely dry. So much to learn with all of this boy business!!! I'm such an amateur! Anyway, many more lessons to be learned I'm sure. Many more pictures and stories to come.

The Good Life

2012-01-11T21:20:00.000-06:00

This post is for me. Well actually, it's dedicated to Wrigley. But it's going to make ME happy.

I wanted to post something about our sweet Wrigs. My first instinct was to write about how much he is missed, how 7 years was too short and how I long to have him meet me at the front door when I get home.

But no. I'm not going to do that. A friend gave me a card that said, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." And that's exactly what I'm going to do. God blessed our family with a sweet little Cavalier for a season of our life. And for that, I'm very grateful.

I stumbled upon these pictures tonight. They make me happy and they make me smile. So, here's to the good life.

Ok so maybe the good life doesn't necessarily mean dressing up in costume, but you know what I mean. :-)

She's TWO!!

2011-12-05T14:03:00.004-06:00

Or rather, she's been two since October 15th. Although nearly two months later, I realized I would be amiss if I didn't post about Josie's second birthday party. She had too much fun not to document it. Picking the theme was easy. Since she has been particularly obsessed with "Snow White", or as she calls it, "Heigh-ho" (and she's really more obsessed with the dwarfs vs the princess), there was really no question. It just had to be a Snow White theme.

Aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas and cousins made up this party. All 30+ of us. Josie was definitely in her element. Not because it was "her party", but because she was absolutely beside herself that all of these people were in her home at the same time. Talk about overload for this little one. As each new family member arrived, Josie provided a greeting at the door, which included a look of pure shock and excitement, while yelling their name at the top of her lungs, followed by a "come in!!!". She's quite the little hostess.

The same little dwarf dolls my sisters and I played with when we were little made an appearance at this party.

Josie's princess cousins

When I look back at these pictures, my favorite part is seeing Josie (and all the other little ones) become progressively sweaty as the party wore on. That's definitely a sign of a well-thrown party, don't you think?

And since I'm taking time to document her party, I want to throw in a few developmental things at this point in time:

Although her vocabulary is growing so fast, Josie continues to speak her own language, one that I assume only she can understand, but something tells me that other two-year-olds (or even stuffed animals) might know it as well
Josie does not know her colors, she adamantly describes everything she sees as purple, blue or sometimes pink
Josie can jump and it's the cutest thing in the world to watch her gain about a half inch of air between her feet and the ground, while proudly proclaiming, "I jumping!"
She loves jewelry -- necklaces, bracelets, headbands, you name it, she'll be wearing at least 5 of them on each wrist and ankle
She loves cooking us dinner in the pretend kitchen, although sometimes she likes to it on the couch and have us make her pretend dinner
There's nothing greater than an overflowing bathroom sink -- apparently it's the best time ever
She never meets a stranger
Josie loves, loves, loves her family -- seeing any member of her extended family on a particular day is the best thing ever -- even better than a treat (and if you know this girl at all, you KNOW how she loves her treats).

So there. That's where we are today. I've always heard that I will never remember the little things unless I write them down. So that's what I've done today. :-)

My teenage daughter

2011-11-22T19:38:00.000-06:00

We've been having a lot of fun working on Josie's "big girl room" lately as we prepare for baby brother to arrive in January. Throughout this time, I mindlessly thought we were getting a room ready for our little 2 year old. But apparently we were preparing a new room for our teenage daughter. I'm not kidding. The first thing she did when entering her new room, after climbing up on the bed, was make a pretend phone call to who knows who. She wouldn't tell us. Probably her secret boyfriend. She spent FOREVER chatting on the phone, see picture below. She would lay on her tummy, then roll over, then act like whoever she was talking to said something completely outrageous and then say something in a language only she can understand and then repeat the whole cycle. PS. How cute is Josie trying to climb up on her big bed? So cute. Not graceful in the least. But so determined. A little grunting, lots of heavy breathing and then a great big smile and an occasional, "I did it!" once she arrives on top.

So anyway, what inside that little 2 year old body told her to do that?!?! Is it just innate for a little girl to act so grown up sometimes? I don't like it! She did something else recently. She loves going into her new room and closing the door. I am usually close behind, making sure that she's not getting into something she shouldn't be. I usually knock and this is my favorite part, she opens the door and acts both surprised and excited to see me. She then will say "Hi Mommy! Come on in, come on in!" I love that. My heart completely melts. She's so happy to see me. I couldn't feel more loved. Well, an alternate scenario happened the other day. I followed her down the hall and after she closed the door, I waited a bit and then knocked. A few moments later, she opened the door. She was completely adorned in every play bracelet, necklace, headband and bow that she owns. She sort of looked like a punk rocker. Then she put her hand on her hip, made an annoyed face and said, "WHAT?!?!" Gasp. Did she really just say that to me? Really? What happened to my sweet, little girl? This little one seems to be growing up fast. Too fast. For that, I just might put her back in the crib. At least until she turns 13. :-)

B is for Boy

2011-09-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, Todd and I cut into the most amazingly-colored, vibrantly-blue cake one could imagine to reveal that Josie is going to have a baby brother. In other words -- we're having a BOY!! On a side note, this moment kind of reminded me of our wedding; however, in this experience, Todd was relieved he wasn't in charge of opening the champaign, because if you attended our wedding, you remember how that went down.

It was a long 48 hours we waited from our ultra sound Friday morning when the tech turned off the TV where we were watching our baby dance around in my belly and then write our baby's gender on a piece of paper. She turned off the TV in case we accidentaly "saw something". :-) I took the sealed envelope to a bakery and asked them to make the inside of our cake either pink or blue, based off what was written in the envelope. And make no mistake, we had a backup envelope we kept for ourselves in case we got the "newby" at the bakery who doesn't know how to appropriately dye cake batter! My fear was that we would cut into the cake only to find the inside to be some weird shade of purple or green.

Two days later, the day we were going to celebrate my birthday with both of our families, we finally found out! Again, those were the longest 48 hours EVER! I love these pictures and I'm laughing at myself at how utterly excited I look. Sometimes laughing really hard sort of distorts our faces (as seen in these pictures). It's true, but I love it. I think this is a good time to throw out my disclaimer: for completely different reasons, I know most confidently that we would have been this overjoyed with a either a girl or a boy. We really, really would have.

Of course, Josie has no idea. Or at least I don't think she does. Just when I thought she was actually getting the fact that we were going to have a baby (because she kisses and points to my belly all the time), she went up to Todd and asked to see his baby. Which of course was his belly button. And then she in turn showed him her baby, aka her belly button. So although she really wasn't celebrating the idea of having a baby brother that day, she completely celebrated the idea of getting a blue ballon.

And of course, another highlight of the day was having endless amount of time playing in the sprinkler while wearing her "good clothes". What are good clothes for an almost two-year-old? Exactly, they don't exist.

All in all, a really, really, really good day. :-)

Josie has a surprise...

2011-08-02T14:33:00.001-05:00

...she's gonna be a big sister. We're expecting baby Heits #2 (technically #3 if you count big brother Wrigley) around January 25, 2012. In honor of becoming a big sister, we had to do a photo shoot. I am utterly amazed that we captured a picture of Josie sitting still and smiling. I am very impressed with us. We snagged this picture after taking a "break" from our initial photo shoot.

And as any parent of a 20-something-month-old would tell you, snapping a quick, simple picture is never quick nor simple. Imagine pregnant me, impatient yet enthusiasticTodd, a million degree heat and a daughter who wants to do anything but sit still, let alone smile. Here are some of the outakes from our initial attempt. It was our, not kidding, 45-minute voyage into the backyard to take a picture for the scrapbook. We took about a hundred of these "blank stare" pictures. Despite our singing, my dancing and Todd's sound effects, Josie would not crack a smile or even change facial expressions. On a side note, she'd be really good at concentration. I don't think she even blinked once.

She insisted upon standing on the brick that line our tree in the backyard. And since balance isn't one of our strengths, she did fall a couple of times. Into the soft padding of our ground covering. Safe, but dirty. And we're wearing white pants. Oh heavens.

We decided to give her candy to bring on a smile. But we forgot to factor in that she had to eat the candy, which of course led to yet again, anything BUT a smile.

We decided to move the party inside, too sweaty for mom and dad, and then Josie just flat out got hyper. Which of course, did not aid in producing a sweet pose with a sweet smile.

So hyper that she completely...wore...herself...out. Of course, she wasn't the only one who was ready at the end of this adventure for at least a two hour nap or maybe even a drink. And since I can't drink while pregnant, I'll settled for a nice piece of chocolate cake. I earned it. :-)

The Fourth

2011-07-16T15:50:00.001-05:00

Although nearly two weeks ago, I certainly did not want to bypass posting pictures from the fourth of July. Celebrating our freedom, devouring red, white and blue-themed desserts and withstanding the thick, sticky Kansas heat waiting in Corporate Woods for the fireworks to start...two and half hours after Josie's bedtime, by the way. How could you NOT love the fourth of July? I really do mean that. I've always loved the fourth.

Originally we were going to bypass fireworks because the thought of keeping Josie up HOURS past her bedtime (knowing she would maintain perfect timing as our 6:00 alarm clock) was crazy. But I was kind of curious to see how she would do and deep down, I LOVE fireworks, so it really didn't take much to change my mind. Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better night. Josie kept herself busy playing with cousin Emri, adorning herself with stickers and crayola markers up and down her arms and on her white top (on daddy's watch of course, kidding. apparently that happened when no one was watching her!) and having various not so healthy snacks. Not afraid whatsoever of the fireworks (although that shouldn't have surprised me, she was the toddler at the pool who just walked right off the ledge and into the water during our first pool trip this summer). All in all, she was probably more fascinated by the moon than anything else. I mean, she's never seen it in person, so I really don't blame her. I thought the world was going to end when the moon slid below the horizon. Good thing the fireworks really picked up shortly afterwards; I really don't know how long I could have explained that the moon went "night night" and have it be OK with Josie. So there. A beautiful night with our sweet little girl. Celebrating our country's independence and freedom. Although belated, Happy Fourth of July!

Josie-isms

2011-05-16T19:02:00.000-05:00

First of all, is there any question why it sometimes takes me one entire afternoon (or one entire week) to put one load of laundry away or in this example, add some spring clothes to my closet from storage? I mean, when you have this little marvelous distraction popping up with smiles and multiple requests to hold my hand and walk around the house (that's her new thing), how could one EVER get stuff done around the house? Especially when she smiles and signs "more" while saying "PEASE!". I don't know if she really knows what either "more" or "please" mean, but if she ever wants something, that is her go-to combination.

At a year-and-a-half, I wanted to document some of Josie's "isms", if you will. I'm obsessed with what she says (or maybe the better word is fasciated). I relish in every sound, utterance, incorrect pronunciation and phrase. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Josie thinks birthday cake is called "happy". We've been celebrating a lot of birthdays lately. When Josie sees a cake (or even paper plates, which I find kind of interesting), she spastically begins saying "happy" followed by "bite" over and over and over again. Of course that means, "Mommy, I have finished all of my vegetables, can I please have a piece of birthday cake?" If the request for a "happy" or "bite" are ignored or declined, she refers to her go-to expression of signing more while saying "PEASE!"

2. Josie loves watching Snow White. She calls it "Heigh-ho" (I learned the correct spelling of heigh-ho during a desperate search to find clips from the movie on You Tube). There have been many an early morning where I go into Josie's room to get her out of the crib and through the frazzled hair covering her face, sleepy eyes and morning voice, she utters "heigh-ho?"

3. Josie uses Mommy and Daddy interchangably. I'm not sure if she'll ever get Todd and I straight. :-)

4. Josie's favorite word is "no" and she often likes to swat at the air when she says it. She says it especially to people she doesn't know very well, primarily when they are giving her a compliment or just trying to be friendly. Is that normal?

5. If you ask Josie how old she is, she'll hold up one finger and in the cutest little voice, say "two". Except it really doesn't sound like "two", it sounds like "tewwwww". But I guess the point really isn't that she says "tewww" for "two", but rather, she should be saying "ONE"!!

Ok. Those are some of my favorite Josie-isms and I just wanted to document them. As a speech pathologist, I always find myself correcting her. Embarassingly enough, we sometimes have little mini therapy sessions. But you know, I have a feeling that when she starts calling the movie Snow White by the real title or when when she asks for a piece of cake at a birthday party or tell us the exact age that she is, I'm probably going to be sad because I'll miss the little 18-month-old and her sweet little Josie-isms.

Then and Now

2011-04-26T20:41:00.001-05:00

April 15, 2011. Josie turned 18 months. Just around that time, I noticed our tulips in the backyard were starting to bloom. I love those tulips because they're beautiful and I love thinking about my mom and sister secretly planting them while I was at work several years ago. As I noticed the flowers, I recalled taking Josie's picture on April 15th the year before. The day she turned 6 months old. She had just started sitting up by herself and I remember being very excited to place her next to the flowers to commemorate this milestone and her half birthday. So this year, in honor of that memory, we took Josie's picture by the tulips. It's hard to see, but she's holding two tiny decorative eggs. That was the only way we got her to sit still, if only for a moment. And yes, she's not wearing shoes. I guess I'm that kind of mother. :-)

After taking this picture, I decided to pull up the one we took this time last year. I had no idea I was about to open the flood gates. I saw this little schmunchkin (sound it out if the word doesn't look familiar, it's very easy to say and fits the description perfectly) looking back at me on the computer and I started crying. Hard. I started crying very hard just at the sight of this little bear. My little bear. She's so little. And even though I wouldn't trade the Josie I have today (the chatter, the running, the laughing, the hyper-wrestle-mania munchkin), I started thinking about just how much I miss this little 6 month old. I didn't realize you could miss someone right in front of you. But you can. I'm sure I'll feel this way every year for the rest of her life.

My little baby.

Miss Josie

2011-03-27T12:22:00.015-05:00

Ladybug Cabbage Patch, little dolly (who continues to remain nameless, except for well, the title "little dolly") and baby Caroline are ready for school. Teacher, Miss Josie, is opening up today's lesson with a storybook. Ladybug Cabbage Patch raises her hand and says, "Teacher, we can't see the pictures when you hold the book like that on your lap." Miss Josie says something very adamant in a language that only she (and I'm assuming only other one-year-olds can understand) and continues on with the lesson.

Spring Has Sprung

2011-03-20T16:42:00.000-05:00

March 3rd marked the 7th birthday of my oldest nephew, Miles and 3 days later, marked the day I met Todd. I love spring because it holds the memory of my first nephew, our first family grandbaby, the precious little boy that was about to change our whole world AND it holds the memory of meeting the man that would soon become my best friend, husband and the sweetest daddy I've ever known (outside of course, my own).

My parents and I flew into KC from Georgia just hours before Miles was born. What a perfect day. And then, a few days later, Todd and I had a brief chance meeting at my sister's house when he dropped a gift off for baby Miles. PS. What single man does that? He definitely wasn't hard to fall in love with. So here's my Todd, seven years later.

Ha! Not a soldier, but after seeing Todd dressed up for Miles' "army party", I could go for that. :-)

Walker sisters, daddeo (the real soldier!), Luke, Josie and Emri. Kerri, where is your army hat?

Have you ever seen a cooler cake? Me neither. Oh wait, yes I have. At Miles' first birthday party, and the then his second birthday party and then....Rachel, the standards of your birthday parties are hard to live up to. Good thing I don't even try. :-)

Lots of cousins. Lots of love. Lots of sweet little kisses and cheeks to squeeze. Lots of chaos and lots of no one really looking at the camera or acknowledging that we're trying to take a picture here, people!!

Ahh...finally, a group of people willing to say CHEESE!!!!! Well, except for my dad. He's always serious in pictures, that's what we love about him (unless someone happens to be passing gas, then of course, we get a huge grin from him). HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY, MILES!!

Be Mine

2011-02-22T18:26:00.000-06:00

Our sweet little Valentine.

I was lucky enough to share my Valentine with someone this year. I have loved having Todd as my Valentine for the past 5 years, however this year, he wasn't mine only. I had the privilege to share him with our sweet little Josie bear. I love the thought of Josie being able to experience the kind of selfless, unconditional love that my husband has to offer. Cheesy, but true. (And on a side note, yes, this wasn't Josie's first Valentine's Day, but last year was sort of a whirlwind and I'm sure I didn't sit back and think about how special it was to share Todd with her. So I'm thinking and writing about it this year. Better late than never). Back to our little Valentine. I am right now feeling so blessed that Josie gets to grow up with a man in her life who will love her probably more than she could ever imagine. Or at least until she has a little baby. Josie gets to grow up experiencing unconditional love from a daddy who adores her and that's what we celebrated on Valentine's Day. Unconditional love. And in this family, our goal is to make sure that there is always more than enough to go around.

Easy as 1, 2, 3

2011-02-08T15:52:00.000-06:00

Josie loves waking up in the morning and heading straight to the office. Her little office, that is. In the front room. With a beautiful view of our front yard covered in snow. I love when she's busy. I love to watch how her mind works. I love that she acts like this is something of real importance. Like she has a deadline to meet. I imagine her saying, "Sorry mom, wish I could play dolls, but the boss is asking for this report by mid-morning, so I have to get busy."

But first things first. The purpose of this post was to highlight her new skill of climbing up onto the chair all by herself. It's as easy as 1, 2...well, something like that. It might be easier to just show you. So, with her serious face and all, she climbs up onto her chair in order to prepare for her work. It's easy as...ah, here we go, big push...

...a little more oomph...

...almost there...

...got it!

Of course, we've learned that if we try to help Josie climb up the chair, we've seriously ruined not only the moment, but apparently her whole life. Or at least, that's the type of cry we get from her. So we just back off and watch from a distance. And don't worry, my "spotter" hands are ready in an instant to catch a falling baby. So what if I'm protective? This is new for both of us. :-) So anyway, that's how it's done! Then of course, we climb back down (taking nearly as much time as we did to climb up in the first place), just to perform a mini-cheer "hooray!" and then start the process all over again.

It's Official...

2011-01-24T10:55:00.000-06:00

...we're taking our first steps. Just a few days shy of her 15 month birthday, which I'll have you know, is the AVERAGE age little ones start walking. At least that's what our pediatrician says. So there. :-) We're not behind. But even if we were, that's ok. I'll relish every little new move this girl makes.

While crawling is still the prefered method of quick and easy transporation, Josie is so very proud of herself whenever she walks. She starts laughing so hard, that she starts to lose her balance. And then she plops back onto the floor. I love the process of Josie learning to walk. I love the process of Josie learning to do anything. I just watch in amazement and no matter the outcome, weather she falls or just keeps going, I always say "Yay, you did it!" and we both laugh and clap our hands together. I LOVE THESE MOMENTS.

Snow Day!

2011-01-10T17:35:00.000-06:00

Waking up to four plus inches of snow this morning meant staying in jammies all day, drinking hot chocolate, reading books by the fire (we really didn't do that, but wouldn't that have been perfect?), making a fort and taking Josie outside for her first official snow day. If today had been a work day, waking up to this much snow would have led to completely different activities with different emotions along with it. But since today was my Tuesday off, I relished in every moment of snuggling up with our little bear.

After a day of staying warm, we bundled up and headed outside when daddy came home. Josie LOVED the snow.

No really, she did love the snow, but obviously not in this picture. I just love taking pictures of Josie in a moment of pure expression. Is that wrong? :-) As I mentioned, she did love the snow, we just had to find the right activity. And thanks to our neighbors next door, we found the perfect one.

PS. Those same neighbors snuck over and shoveled our driveway at some point during the afternoon. Can you believe it?!?! That is love. Now it's our turn to think of something we can do for someone else. I love the idea of paying it forward. Not just in response to something we've gained or received, but the idea of an ongoing frame of mind that we need to be doing things for other people. For no reason at all. With no expectations. Only because we're called to love other people. Today was a good reminder of that. To pay it forward. To love even in the littliest of things.

My Favorite Things

2011-01-03T18:52:00.000-06:00

Top 10 Countdown of Christmas 2010:

10. Bundling Josie up so tightly that she could barely sit up...like that kid from "A Christmas Story" -- but cuter.

9. Reading Christmas books with Josie (to say reading books is her favorite is an understatement) and 8. Seeing Josie in Christmas jammies. Especially when they are just a bit too tight.

7. Event night with the family. I love that my mom likes to give "events" for Christmas. This year, a white limo picked us up (6. kid free of course -- that's a gift in and of itself!) and took us down to the plaza for a movie and an evening of all you can eat Brazillian meat at Fogo de Chao. Seriously, I'm still full and it was a month ago.

5. Seeing Josie with Santa. I halfway feel bad saying this, but it was quite hilarious. Josie LOST it. Out of control. So upset. I should have expected it, but I was taken by surprise. Oh little one. It was cute, funny and yet a little frustrating all at the same time. Maybe next year.

4. Watching Josie with her cousins. Miles, Max, Luke, Emri, Ava and Claire. She's one lucky girl. 3. I love Christmas because it's guaranteed time with family. I love Chrismtas because of the tradition, the concept of the God of the universe arriving to earth as a tiny baby (which meant even more to me once I took care of an infant myself), and as I mentioned, I love Christmas because it's guaranteed time with family. Easter is amazing and we would have no hope if it weren't for the cross...but there's just something about Christmas. When it all got started. I digress, back to the countdown. COUSINS!!

2. I love that Josie's favorite gift was a box of brightly colored socks all lined up in a row. She loved it. Absolutely loved it. Would have played with them all day. Take them out, one at a time. Put them back in, one at a time...on and on...

1. And of one of my favorite things of Christmas...while daddy played guitar and we sang Christmas carols, Josie took stage right with the bells. In her mouth. Shaking her head every once in awhile, but keeping beat nonetheless. Love that little girl.

Finally allowed to celebrate!

2010-12-05T11:09:00.001-06:00

Now that we are in the month of December, my family and I are able to come out of the closet and officially start celebrating Christmas! It's not much of a secret that Todd and I love Christmas. It's not a secret because we basically put our Christmas tree up the begining of November and well...I've been known to make it into a "Valentine's" tree in February, a "Clover" tree in March and an "Easter Egg" tree a month later. Call me what you will, but I heart Christmas.

My disclaimer for having the tree up for so long is that the tree is a small, decorative type of tree (in a pot, nonetheless!) -- not one you hang actual ornaments on. So there. Anyway...the weekend of Thanksgiving (after our family gave thanks, ate delicious food and then threw all of that food up (sorry for the gross description) because we ended up with the stomach flu...well, not only us, but our entire extended families)...anyway, after the Thanksgiving of 2010, which we will never forget, Todd and I started feeling much better and took Josie to St. Michael's down the street to get our Christmas tree from the Boy Scouts.

Josie loved seeing the trees, loved wearing her big puffy jacket and furry hood, but most of all loved the little 12 year old boy that helped us find our tree. Her first crush. She was so in awe of him. It might have just loved the tiger hat he was wearing, but whatever the case, she just smiled at him the entire time and then cried HARD when we had to say good-bye. Of course, a few raisins and goldfish in the car made the entire world right again.

If only all problems could be solved with raisins and goldfish...

Brush 'em, Brush 'em, Brush 'em

2010-11-20T10:04:00.000-06:00

The title for this post is taken from a scene in Grease. Anybody?

Ok, ever since Josie got about a million teeth within one week (seriously) we've been trying to teach good, healthy oral hygiene habbits. If there is one obsession I can pass onto my daughter, let it be the compulsion of having clean teeth! Oh how I love to brush and floss...it takes me to a happy place. But I digress, that shall be another post (and likely a boring one at that, so really, nevermind). Anyway, my point is that we've been starting to brush our teeth during bath time. Well, sort of...

Halloween? Been there, done that.

2010-11-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

This was last year. Josie's FIRST Halloween at 2 weeks old. What a little snuggle bug. I just can't believe she was ever that tiny. The thought of her asleep on my chest seems like a million years ago.

Fast forward to this year, Josie's SECOND Halloween. Here's our little ladybug and she's one year old. Mama dressed as a bumble bee, as you can see below (of course, staying with the insect theme) and dad was dressed as...well he's uh, professor/slash/grad assistant/slash/something else...to be honest, if you were to ask him today, he still wouldn't really be able to put his finger on what he was dressed up as. I love you, Todd.

Even honorary Auntie Kate stayed in the costume theme...at least in terms of things that fly. She was Tinkerbell.

Josie and her Gigi. Watch out though, little one. The flower on her lapel actually sprays water. Seriously. I learned that the hard way.

We loved, loved, loved taking Josie trick-or-treating. We went to a few houses. Yes, it felt rather odd letting Josie reach into the candy dish when we knew far and well that we would be eating the candy ourselves later. That's why you have kids, right? To eat their candy? She's wondering where her giant Hershey bar went...in Mama's tummy, little one.

She's ONE!!

2010-10-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

I have a sweet, darling little one year old. I can't believe it. Josie turned one October 15th and we had so much fun celebrating. Kind of like how I've always wanted to celebrate MY birthday for an entire week (it's true), I wanted to celebrate Josie's birthday throughout the ENTIRE month of October. Just to prove that's true, come over to our house. Almost two weeks later, we still have some party decorations up.

I've learned several lessons (millions, really) throughout my single year as a parent so far. One of them being...no future child of mine will ever receive shots on their birthday. Where was my brain the day we scheduled this appointment? Who knows. Although she's never had an adverse reaction to her shots in the past, her 12 month shots (including her vaccination) really knocked her flat on her rear end. So, on her very first offical birthday, she was a glossy-eyed, clingy (which of course I didn't mind that one; I love when she snuggles me), super hot to the touch, not wanting to eat a thing, little bug. Ladybug, that is. Lesson learned.

So here are a few highlights from her actual birthday (the day before the party). We had lunch at Ingrediant with the grandmas, Kerri and Emri. My mom brought mini cupcakes, which Josie devoured. That's my girl. :-)

Please, please, please note the tiny, little gold ring on Josie's pinkie finger. Not only was this a precious gift from my mom because it was MY ring when I was a baby, but I love that Josie is wearing this ring on her pinkie. I just feel like she should have on tons of make-up, a fur coat and be saying something like "daaawwwling" (and at the same time, trying to get me to buy some of her black market gold jewelry). What a fancy little chubby finger! :-)

Birthday Eve

2010-10-14T21:39:00.000-05:00

On the eve of Josie's first birthday, I'm thinking back to this night last year. After writing an eviction notice (Josie was 6 days overdue and was finally going to be evicted from her warm, snuggly home in my belly) on our dry erase board, Todd and spent our last evening together as couple without kids. I knew we were going to meet Josie (although at the time, we were still deciding between Jane Elizabeth and Josie Lynn) the next day and I could barely get myself to fall asleep that night. It was like Christmas Eve. The BEST Christmas Eve I've ever had. :-)

So this is us the next morning...

And 12 short hours after arriving to the hospital, our sweet little Josie made her debut to the world.

Nothing changes your world like having a baby.

On this day last year, I knew my life would never be the same. But at the same time, I really had no idea what I was about to experience. I had no idea that I'd love, worry, obsess over, snuggle, want to pinch and squeeze, sometimes get frustrated with and adore more than I do this little girl. I'm in love.

Happy Eleven Months!

2010-10-10T09:45:00.001-05:00

It's less than a week before Josie's birthday and I realize I haven't posted eleventh month pictures. Better a few weeks late than never. I'm realizing that's sort of how things go when you have a little one to take care of. :-)

Josie's first taste of cake. Just a little lick. Funny how a little lick turned into frosting smashed all over her cute chubby little cheeks. Her first real cake on her birthday this weekend should be interesting. I bet she'll eat the whole thing! Josie's sweet tooth has already begun. Greens beans? No way. Carrots? Never. Whole grains? Yeah right. But frosting? Oh yeah, baby, bring it on!

Look at Me

2010-09-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

I may not be walking yet, or crawling for that matter (hey, we all do things in our own time), but I'm sort of a pro when it comes to standing all by myself. Just make sure you put me up against the wall because I like that little extra support. I'm almost tall enough to start putting my height on my Josie Measuring Stick. Maybe next month when I turn one, I'll be tall enough. :-)

Bath Time Baby

2010-08-31T13:39:00.001-05:00

Although Todd is the musician of the family, I've taken it upon myself to write a song for bath time. I sing it when bath time doesn't seem like Josie's idea of a good time. You know, to keep her entertained. The song is entitled, "Bath Time Baby" and the words go a little something like this. Try to keep up because the lyrics are a bit tricky.

"Bath time baby. How I love my baby. Bath time baby. Yeah!"

The "yeah" at the end should be dramatic and I would definitely recommend using jazz hands, if not, at least spirit fingers during that part.

The song is simple and if performed correctly (and at least 175 times in a row), you should have quite a happy and content little bather on your hands. See above. It works like a charm. :-)

Happy 10 Month Birthday!

2010-08-23T16:34:00.001-05:00

10 months?!?! Unbelievable. Happy 10 month birthday, sweet little Josie. I just wanted to share a few thoughts. I think I'm feeling sentimental because we have only one more mini-celebration before the big one arrives in October. I love how you bury your head in my shoulder when you want to play or when you're shy. I love how you crack yourself up, even when you are so sleepy, by touching my face or waving your arms. I love how excited you get when I pick you up. I love when you snuggle up to me and your daddy. I love how you are so happy all of the time. And...I love how you keep me on my toes, especially when I think I've got you all figured out. :-)

My Summer Vacation by Josie Heitshusen

2010-08-16T14:02:00.000-05:00

My mom and dad took me to Colorado this summer. It was my first trip to the mountains and the longest road trip I've ever been on. I was pretty awesome in the car on the way there, but I was sure to make up for the good behavior by waking up throughout the night demanding food once we got there. Hee hee.

I loved riding the gondola up the mountain in Vail, although I'm pretty sure it terrified my mom. So what? There's a lightning storm and the gondola cart is rocking a little bit more than necessary, big deal.

I loved riding bikes with mom and dad, although I pretended to hate it once we were nearly 5 miles from the house. I started screaming and acting like I was hungry or tired, but really it was super cool. I love to get a rise out of my parents.

I loved watching the burrow races. I guess they have a 30 mile race where you have to run the whole distance with a donkey. It sounds kind of weird, but the donkeys looked like they were having fun. My favorite part were the cheerios I got to eat while waiting for the winners to cross the finish line.

I loved being with the my cousins. Miles is a good reader, but seriously, I have that book memorized and can really read it by myself, thank you.

I loved hiking on dad's back.

I loved riding in the burley.

And I really loved watching mom pan for gold with Miles and Max, although she became a little obsessive and we had to practically drag her away from the gold panning station.

What a super fun trip that I'll never forget. And those are all the things I loved about my summer vacation in Colorado.

J is for Josie

2010-07-20T15:27:00.000-05:00

Nine Months, Baby

2010-07-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Happy nine month birthday to me!! At nine months, we have Josie charting at the 30th percentile in height (what?), 70th percentile in weight (that's more like it) and 85th percentile in head size (that's right..big brain, baby). I always knew Josie was a bit more advanced in terms of cognition. :-)

"I just can't believe I'm nine months already. It just seems like yesterday I was sitting here as a two-month old, all slunched in the corner. And here I am, all grown up..."

Cupcake A La Mode at Towncenter hit the spot with their delicious flavor of the month...keylime pie. I sort of have a keylime obsession.

Almost got it. Josie is going to be amazing at the sit-and-reach. Todd and I competed with the sit-and-reach a few years ago. Todd scored in the superior range and I barely made it into the poor range. Should I really be admitting that?

I mean, seriously, look at those fine motor skills.

First time we let Josie get a tiny taste of her cupcake. She's diggin the new flavor.

And yes, as she attempted to take a bigger finger swipe, I of course took the cupcake away and like any good mom on a birthday, forced her to take more pictures. So yes, that's why Josie appears to be crying and is not looking at the camera. She's still staring at the forbidden cupcake. Josie, just wait until your first real birthday and then you can have all the cake you want!

Fine, I'll wear the hat

2010-07-10T20:52:00.001-05:00

My First Parade

2010-07-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

We took Josie to her first parade this weekend.

I wasn't sure how much attention she would pay to the parade, but the sights and sounds quickly got her attention.

This is her excited face. Imagine hearing some "oohhs" and "ahhhs", as well as a few very lady-like grunts. :-) That's what we do when we're really excited.

I was probably the one who was the most excited when the clown stopped by us. Josie was probably just trying to figure out what in the world was going on.

After applying gobs (literally gobs) of sunscreen, walking 5 blocks from the car, distracting Josie with nearly 100 peach puffs, force feeding her before we left so that she wasn't too hungry during the event and timing her nap just perfectly in the morning so she was well rested, we had a fabulous time at the parade. Babies...take...a...lot...of...work. :-)

New Ride

2010-07-03T08:03:00.001-05:00

Would you like to see a picture of me in my new car?

And by "new", we mean the car our sweet neighbors gave us after their little ones grew out of it. Josie literally just woke up before we went for our first ride in her little car. I love her sleepy face. If the camera were any closer, you could probably see little, adorable crusties on her face from hard core sleep the night before. And by "hard core", I mean until a little before six AM. We love our mornings!

Happy 8 Months!

2010-07-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

The Boppy

2010-06-29T20:18:00.000-05:00

Good to know we're getting plenty of use out of our Boppy. I was tempted to write "72 months" on an index card and place it beside him on the pillow. You know, so he doesn't feel left out b/c that's the kind of picture I'd take of Josie. He jumped up before I could contemplate this decision any further. Oh Wrigs...

Guess who is...

2010-06-18T09:24:00.000-05:00

bigger than Pooh is? That's right, me.

My dad likes to put me on the middle of the bed and place Pooh right in front of me. That's pretty much the start of our wrestling match. Pooh used to take me down every time, but guess who's getting bigger and stronger? I think there's a new heavy-weight champ in town. :-)

Mustang Sally

2010-06-08T15:49:00.000-05:00

On the eve of my mom's 60th birthday, we left a note on her car inviting her to a "Girl's Night Out" and the following day, we picked her up in this...

Haha, no, this wasn't our gift to her. We rented this mustang convertible in honor of her birthday. And it happens to be the car she learned drive in, let's do the math here, hm...45 years ago.

We drove it around KC that night and then it was hers the following day to drive wherever she wanted. Although rain had been in the forecast, we ended up with two of the most beautiful days, which made for perfect convertible weather.

We went to Avenue's Bistro for dinner (delicious! highly recommend the lobster ravioli.) and then onto Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We were definitely the most popular girls on the road that night, or at least that's what I like to think. We just might have been those "weird dancing girls in the convertible" to most people we passed by. :-)

The Index Card

2010-06-03T12:12:00.001-05:00

There was plenty of strategery involved with our 7 month old crib pics. Notice how the index card is placed ever so slightly BEHIND Josie, rather than next to or in front of her, as seen during previous crib pictures. I basically hung from the crib in order to avoid her from seeing it. My previous 25 attempts were unsuccessful as you can see below.

Apparently Josie has a taste for index cards and would much rather eat her birthday card rather than pose like a sweet little angel next to it. At 7 months we're doing lots of fun things like swimming, playing peek-a-boo, clapping our hands and.....well, eating index cards. We even played tug of war at one point.

And if I ever tried to take the card from her, well, you can see what happened.

Am I a horrible mother for posting a picture of my sweet little punkin crying?

What?

Guess What?

2010-05-15T13:51:00.000-05:00

I'm 7 months old today. That's right, I'm kind of a big deal. Today, I'm going to celebrate my cousin, Luke's, very first birthday. And then tomorrow, I'm having my own 7-month celebration with mom, dad, Wrigs and a yummy cupcake. :-)

Dedication

2010-05-10T10:17:00.000-05:00

Josie was dedicated during a service at our church this past Saturday. I can't think of a more touching and special way to start the weekend of my first Mother's Day.

Josie does not even have her head bowed during the prayer - how embarassing! :-) PS. I just now noticed that she's missing her left shoe. Hm...

All of Josie's cousins came to celebrate this special day. Cousin Luke (in the green!) was also dedicated that day. A two for one special!

The verse on the picture says, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you his peace."

This picture was snapped a millisecond before Josie's little hand scooped up a heap of icing from that delicious lemon raspberry cake.

Josie and Luke opened a few little gifts to commemorate this special day. You haven't seen cute until you've read a children's Bible -- so adorable.

Josie was very thankful for her little treasures, but sometimes, she gets a little more excited about just having a present with a bright big bow in front of her. It's the little things.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2010-05-03T10:15:00.001-05:00

We went to Austin this weekend for the absolutely gorgeous wedding of one of my very favorite and best friends, Caroline. The wedding was outside at an art gallery, which was located right on the lake. Have you seen a more gorgeous bride?

Here are the young parents on their very first trip without their little girl. Todd and I left Josie with my parents in KC with a few tears (all from me, none from Josie). But Todd did a nice job of distracting me with an idea to get a latte from Starbucks, which immediately put a smile on my face. Apparently I'm as easy to distract as Josie is when I offer her a new toy in replace of my cell phone.

And of course, mom and dad couldn't come home without bringing Josie a little something from Texas. I mean, have you seen anything cuter than a denim purse with a little horsie inside? It's even more adorable when you squeeze the horse and hear him gallop and neigh, which is way better than my impression when we sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm". She's already holding her purse like a real shopper. Mama taught her well. :-)

Happy 1/2 Birthday!!

2010-04-18T15:29:00.001-05:00

Our itty bitty little baby is growing up. Six months old, I can hardly believe it.

First time sitting up by herself for one of these party pictures. I'm in awe as I snap her picture. Josie on the other hand, acts like she's been sitting up like this her entire life. "What's the big deal?" she says.

"Here mom, look! It says I'm 6 months old today. Do you want me to hold it up so you can see it better?"

Getting bigger by the moment, but not quite as tall as the tulips in our backyard.

Mmm...chocolate cupcake with sprinkles. Delicious. Good thing Josie doesn't know what she's missing. Otherwise, we would have had to split that four ways. Not fun.

Four ways because Todd's dad celebrated Josie's 1/2 birthday with us. Thanks for being at our party, Papa John!

I heart cereal; sweet potato, not so much

2010-04-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

Josie was so excited, as was I, for her second round of food tasting. Cereal was a big hit, now on to bigger and better things...like sweet potato!

I'm thinking, "We've got this in the bag! She's gonna love it. She's gonna do so great!"

Hmmm...not so much.

No really...not so much.

Dear Josie, I didn't mean to torture you with apparently disgusting flavors, like sweet potato. Don't worry your little heart, I'll try something better next time. Maybe decadent squash or savory green beans?

Easter and the Tongue

2010-04-10T15:05:00.001-05:00

A bizarre title for a post, I know. But here are a few pictures to show why I labeled this entry as "Easter and the Tongue"...

Josie is going through what I think is an adorable stage of sticking out her tongue all the time. I love how the tip of her tongue elevates so perfectly. It's helping with our "l" sounds...something only a speech pathologist would say. :-)

Finally! Two shots where Josie is NOT sticking out her tongue. One with cousin Luke. I love his little hand on her shoulder.

One examining our first Easter basket every so intently.

And one where she is off in her own world, just thinking about how cute she is in her little Easter dress...

I heart cereal

2010-04-03T09:27:00.001-05:00

So, Josie had her first bowl of cereal a few weeks ago. And come to find out, cereal for babies is very a thin and runny, almost oatmeal like substance VS you know, your typical Lucky Charms or Todd's favorite, Fruity Pebbles. Fruity Pebbles? Really? Anyway, cereal for babies...Josie loved every drop!

Well, at first she didn't love it.

But very quickly got the hang of it. After taking a spoonful, she could barely open her mouth fast enough for the next bite. She's daddy's little girl. :-) And of course, Todd and I took turns feeding her because we BOTH love doing everything when it comes to this little stinker.

And below, this is the face she had after I had given her the last bite. That is, this is the face she had before she KNEW it was her last bite. Once I said "all done!" (I swear she knows what this means already), then the smile QUICKLY turned into a terribly annoyed cry. Which then lasted until I refilled her cereal bowl. This girl's gotta eat!

Happy 5 Months!

2010-03-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Josie's 5th month birthday this week with a delicious chocolate cupcake with sprinkles. See below. I love Josie's fascination with the candle. I kind of keep forgetting that she can reach out and grab things, which is exactly what Josie did right before this picture was snapped. If Todd had been thinking quickly, he could have taken a few pictures of Josie basically grabbing the flame, me pulling the plate back at lightning speed and then attempting to balance the cupcake so it didn't fall to the ground while holding Josie and her wobbling body upright in the other arm. I am a mother of many talents.

As Todd and I danced around her room, making ridiculous faces and noises in an effort to make her smile, I imagine these thoughts were running through our child's mind during her photo shoot this month...

"What in the world is this strange thing?...Look at me, I can almost hold it with two hands..."

"Whoa, slippery little sucker..."

"Phew, got it back..."

"Fine, I'll hold it steady so you can take a picture. Oh wait, I'm going to sneeze..."

"Looks pretty tasty...don't mind if I do..."

And finally, with this final shot (65 pictures later, that is), Todd and I say, "We got one!" and cheer with delight. All the while, Josie is laughing as she thinks, "Those crazy people behind the camera don't know it yet, but they have quite a messy diaper to change after all this commotion is through...

Ready for Summer

2010-03-14T20:01:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the upcoming WARMER months ahead and Josie's first road trip to Indiana where we are likely to stay at a hotel with a pool (yeah!), I bought Josie her first swimsuit. And as any girl will tell you, a fashion show is a must after new purchases.

You have to love baby swimsuits. The chubbier, the better! If only rolls were this adorable on adults. :-)

We're very excited for the weather to get warmer -- there's a whole new world of sunshine out there for us to explore. Josie has no idea what's in store for her...sandboxes, kiddy pools, parks - can't wait!

Bye Bye Burrito

2010-02-26T11:04:00.000-06:00

We're saying good-bye to the swaddle, the baby burrito, the sleeping sushi (I just made that one up), or whatever else you want to call it. Josie will no longer sleep like a tiny torpedo. Apparently I could go on and on with nicknames for the concept of wrapping her up tightly in a blanket when she sleeps. And cracking myself up in the process of posting while Josie watches Baby Einstein. She's growing up. I put her in a sleep sack for her nap the other day, which made her look and seem so much more like a toddler instead of a baby. If you've made this type of transition, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I was a bit sad to see her so grown up as she was sleeping in her crib. I might as well have been dropping her off at the college dorm. Which got me thinking about that dreaded day. I wonder if Josie will let me home school her instead of going off to college...

Our Big Girl

2010-02-15T21:18:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Josie's 4 month birthday today. But before the party started, we had to visit the pediatrican for her well baby appointment. She's clocking in at the 75th percentile, weighing 15 pounds and reaching nearly 25 inches long. Our girl is growing...

So the party began once daddy got home from work. I love Josie's expression in this picture. She's saying, "You got a cupcake? For little ole me?

But the real party took place later that night in her nursery...

We danced to Lady Gaga, now that I know who she is. Todd and I are so out of touch with pop culture. Anyway, Josie was so darn cute as we danced around her nursery. I nearly forgot how she was a stinker last night and had us up every 15 minutes between the hours of ten and six. :-)

Be Mine

2010-02-14T16:30:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
~Josie

Cousins

2010-02-05T15:36:00.001-06:00

Cousin Claire was born almost four weeks before Josie. Their due dates were about two weeks a part, but Claire came a week early and Josie took her sweet time and came a week late. This first picture was taken of the girls in December and the second one is from January.

I imagine the girls always hugging each other in pictures as they get older because of course, they will be the best of friends (along with Emri, Ava, Luke, Max and Miles!). But for now, we will have to settle for pictures where gravity is in charge of these girls either leaning away from each other or, like the picture below, falling into each other. Everybody loves a picture of a smiling baby, but...you have to appreciate the "serious" looks too!

Rock Chalk!

2010-01-30T16:42:00.001-06:00

Josie's all decked out in her KU gear for the game tonight.

Also, I think it's her first time in jeans. What a night of "firsts"! Something only a first time mom would think of and even type in a blog. There, I'm calling myself out. :-)

I can hear Josie cooing in the other room while she's supposed to be taking a snooze before our party tonight. The intonation of her voice sounds an awful lot like the Rock Chalk Chant...she'll be our good-luck token tonight against K-State!

Coming clean

2010-01-27T20:00:00.000-06:00

I'll be honest, I don't love being away from Josie on the days that I work. However, I DO love coming home to her. I love bombarding her with kisses, snuggles, hugs and everything else. And so does daddy. We especially love bath time.

I mean, when you have this chubby baby bouncing around in a bath tub, how could you NOT love bath time?

Although a few tears are occasionally shed between the tub and the changing table, it doesn't take long for the smiles to come back as Josie gets lotioned-up and changed into comfy jammies.

Daddy does a good job of bringing those smiles back.

And before too long, we're getting sleepier and sleepier before we head off into dream land (or so we hope...Todd's putting her to bed right now, so let's keep our fingers crossed!).

Our 3 Month Old

2010-01-17T19:24:00.001-06:00

Our little one turned 3 months old on January 15th. I know it won't be too long before her little tummy fills up this boppie and she won't even fit in it anymore. I love how she's just reclining in her crib as if she doesn't have a care in the world...but let's face it, she doesn't have a care in the world. Oh, to be a baby! Being the mommy of this baby isn't half bad. I'll take that. :-)

We're so excited to celebrate her birthday each month, but at the same time, Todd and I are excited to have an excuse to bring home a fancy dessert. And by fancy, I mean, CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!! We brought home a delicious peanut butter chocoately thing and now that Josie is fast asleep for the night (knock on wood), Todd and I will have ourselves a delicious treat. Happy birthday to our sweet little girl! I think she thinks that if she concentrates hard enough, she can blow this candle out without even exhaling...

Hello to 2010!

2010-01-04T18:15:00.000-06:00

Josie was quite the party animal at our New Year's Eve party this year.

Luke, Max, Josie and Miles...

We rang in the New Year with the Walkers, Heitshusens, McKennas, Ashleys and Stevens this year. Lots of laughing, eating, game playing and did I mention eating?

I don't know if I should be embarassed by this, but this is the first New Year's Eve in awhile where I didn't sneak a cat nap in between the hours of seven and midnight. I know, I'm quite the party animal. Oddly enough, the year I have a newborn is the year I stay awake until midnight. Maybe Josie has prepared me to require little sleep. No, I didn't think so either.

Miles and Ava were PUMPED to be up with everyone, especially since it was their first time EVER staying up past midnight!!!

Now onto making a list of New Year's resolutions...any suggestions??

Baby it's cold outside

2009-12-31T12:11:00.001-06:00

We had such a great Christmas -- getting snowed in at Gigi and Papa Tom's and then driving into Lawrence for Christmas #2 with Mimi and Papa John. With 2010 just around the corner and nearly 6 inches of snow on the ground, Josie wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Don't forget to stay warm and bundle up!!

My Christmas List

2009-12-22T11:28:00.001-06:00

"I'd like a barbie, my little pony, rainbow bright, the barbie dream house, play dough, some make-up..." These are the things I overheard Josie talking about during her first visit to Santa's lap.

We took Josie to a Christmas party last weekend at the Ashley's. The annual Christmas party is centered around kiddos with crafts, songs and of course, a surprise visit from Santa Clause. Here's to Josie's first Christmas!

Guess Who's 2 Months Old?!?

2009-12-20T13:52:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy 2 month birthday dear Josie, happy birthday to you!

We celebrated Josie's 2 month birthday on December 15th by taking the traditional "watch me grow" picture in her crib - she's getting so big!

We also celebrated by having dinner at our favorite, Dean and Deluca, and bringing home another gourmet cupcake. This month daddy picked Red Velvet and it was amazingly delicious. Just thinking about it now makes me want to pack her up in the car and drive back for another one. And if I want to do all that work, you know it's worth it!

And of course, a birthday celebration or any celebration for that matter, wouldn't be complete without a larger than life bow. I wonder how long she'll let me put these in her hair...

Choppin' down our tree

2009-12-12T13:43:00.000-06:00

We went to Bishop Tree Farm last Saturday to pick out and cut down our Christmas tree. After searching the farm (literally to the far corners of the farm!), we found our tree. Isn't she a beauty? I felt the heavens part and heard the angels sing when we spotted her.

This picture was taken to document the darling ruffles on Josie's Christmas outfit. I mean, there are few things more darling than ruffles on a baby's bottom.

Our first family trip to the tree farm. There was a family of 7 sipping on hot chocolate in the cottage when we arrived back from cutting down our tree. I chatted with the mom briefly and she told me how their family has taken a picture in front of this fireplace every year for the past 10 years. Of course I teared up, because everything makes me emotional, and after the family set off to pick out their 11th Bishop Farm tree, we snapped this picture.

I wanted to highlight my stud husband for chopping down our tree in reportedly record time. He's so cute.

And of course, Todd couldn't leave the tree farm without playing some type of war game by himself, using the measuring rod as his weapon.

Of course, we planned this trip as something special to do with our growing family and as always, Josie loved it so much that she slept right through it. :-)

I'm Stuffed

2009-12-02T19:19:00.000-06:00

Looks like someone had just a bit too much turkey this Thanksgiving...

So cute

2009-11-22T20:55:00.000-06:00

I mean, have you ever seen anything so cute??

Happy Birthday!!

2009-11-17T20:52:00.000-06:00

Happy 1-month birthday to you, happy 1-month birthday to you, happy 1-month birthday dear Josie, happy 1-month birthday to you!

We celebrated Josie's 1-month birthday on November 15th. Can hardly believe she's now a month old! Our little girl is growing up! And yes, that is our Christmas tree up in the background because we are "those kind of people". :-)

Not gonna lie, the Dean and Deluca raspberry chocolate truffle cupcake was to die for!

And of course, no celebration is complete without a larger than her head flower. :-)

Scrub a Dub

2009-11-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

Josie hated us during her first bath. She hated us just a tiny bit less during her second bath and she only moderately disliked us during her third bath. But tonight, following her fourth bath, Josie actually seemed to enjoy soaking in the warm, soapy water. No tears! Well, until the end when we took her out. But overall, turns out that Mommy and Daddy are starting to get the hang of this bath time thing!

Buh-bye!

2009-11-10T19:25:00.001-06:00

On the eve of her 4-week birthday, we are saying good-bye to Josie's newborn clothes. I can't believe it, our little one is getting so big! So...good-bye to the teeny tiny onsies that are just a smidgen bigger than a barbie doll and hello to size 0-3 month-old!! I didn't think I could grow attached to her ity bity clothes, but I have. If anyone knows me at all, you know I'm a saver...so of course each of these tiny newborn clothes are going to be preserved and kept forever!! :-)

Big Brother

2009-11-08T13:31:00.000-06:00

Big brother Wrigley was very excited to sport his "big brother" bandana, creatively designed by Auntie Rachel. Wrigley has been a big help around the house since we brought Josie home. He's become a master of changing diapers and wrapping Josie up in the swaddle. He even gets up for midnight feedings. He is also the perfect guard dog. He's staying close to Josie in this picture in case her binkie falls out. He is always ready to put it back in before she starts crying. I don't know what Todd and I would do as first time parents without the extra help of big brother Wrigley.

Mini-Milestones

2009-11-05T18:38:00.001-06:00

Josie's 3 week birthday marked two mini-milestones for us at the Heitshusen household: Josie took a binkie for the first time AND Todd gave her her first bottle. I have never felt so much freedom! So because of this...

And this...

I got to do this...

This...

And this...

If you're curious, I'm reading Twilight in these pictures (the fourth book in the saga). But in all honesty, I was so excited that she was quiet taking her binkie AND I was very excited to get a break from feeding, that I was really too hyper to read. I read about three pages and was done. I guess it's the thought that counts!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T19:09:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to have Josie dress up for Halloween; however, they don't make too many Halloween costumes to fit a two-week old. Oh well, there's always next year!

Josie loved Halloween so much, she slept right through it! :-)

What's up doc?

2009-10-27T18:43:00.000-05:00

So just two days after being home from the hospital, we had to visit the pediatrician for a weigh-in. Josie was a bit jaundice when we left the hospital and the doctors just wanted to make sure she was gaining weight. Which she was, yay! Todd did a nice job of keeping her warm and quiet as we waited for the nurse.

Unfortunately they also had to draw blood to make sure her bilirubin level was going down. The tech was right when he said it was most likely going to hurt me more than it hurt her.

The tech was actually very sweet and gentle with Josie.

She was such a champ. Not a tear or even a peep. I'm so proud of my little girl. Nothing to worry about because she basically slept through the whole thing. She's so brave!

Grandparents and cousins

2009-10-26T20:18:00.001-05:00

Grandparents and cousins welcomed Josie, Todd and I home last Saturday. It was really fun showing Josie her new room, which is where we took these pictures with the grandparents. I think Josie was really impressed with her closet. I mean, what girl wouldn't be impressed with a closet FULL of clothes, shoes and hairbows? :-)

My parents are in the above picture and Todd's parents are in the picture below.

Josie got to meet her cousin, Luke, who is only 5 months older. Unfortunately, Luke's older brothers, Miles and Max had a little cold that weekend and could only say hi as I held Josie on the other side of the front door. They both had tears in their eyes as they waved to their new baby cousin. It was very sweet and heart breaking at that same time. Max, who is two, asked his mom the next day if they could "Go see Josie and open door." Again, so sweet.

Josie did get to meet her girl cousins that night. Emri, baby Claire and Ava. I love how the older girls are trying to quite the babies. And if I'm being completely honest, it was during the time we took this picture that I accidentally called my three day old daughter Sophie instead of Josie. I really have no explaination for that. You can see how I made that mistake. They kind of rhyme, right?

Josie also got to meet Todd's grandma, her great grandma, that night. It was so great to see our families that night when we came home from the hospital. And just think, there are SO MANY more family members and friends who have yet to meet her!

Homecoming

2009-10-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

After two short nights at the hospital (with complimentary diaper changes and food service, which was hard to say good-bye to!), we were ready to go home. But of course, not after Josie's new aunts and uncle had the chance to meet her.

Aunt Rachel and Aunt Kerri

Aunt Holly

And Uncle Scottie

Here we are getting ready to leave the hospital - we were just a bit nervous. I couldn't help but think, were they REALLY letting us take her home?? We had to go through more of a background check when we bought our new car!

Our family was waiting for us at the house when we got home - with a hot meal and groceries filling the fridge and cabinets. Again, our families have taken VERY good care of us! Josie couldn't wait to make a fashion statement with her new hat. At first she thought it was a bit much for her first trip home, but I convinced her that it went really well with her polka dot sweater. :-)

She's Here!!!

2009-10-18T18:16:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, October 15th, we welcomed a new little addition to our family. Josie Lynn arrived at 6:24 PM. She weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 19 inches long. What a big girl! I may be a little partial, but I think she is perfect. :-)

After a somewhat traumatic first bath (so I heard from Todd who got to see it first hand - I guess Josie wasn't a big fan of getting clean at the moment), she got to relax under the warmer in the nursery with a very stylish knit beanie, compliments of Shawnee Mission Medical Center.

We stayed in the hospital Thursday and Friday and then once cleared by the doctors, we got to go home on Saturday afternoon. Mom and Josie are doing really well. Todd was the greatest labor coach a woman could ask for. He helped to make the day run really smoothly. Also, our family was a huge support. We were so lucky to have friends and family visit at the hospital - thank you!! It was so fun to introduce Josie to everyone and I can't wait for her to continue to meet our friends and family now that she is settling into her new home.

More pictures and updates to come!!!

It's All Coming Together

2009-09-27T11:54:00.000-05:00

I love that everyone keeps asking me to post nursery pictures. Now that we finally have most of our things together (including the glider which just arrived this weekend, finally!!), I thought this would be the perfect time to post.

Below is the chest of drawers my sisters and I used when we were little. My mom helped me paint it and pick out new hardware. This has to be one of my favorite things about our little girl's room. I love that she's using the same furniture I used when I was little. And please note our darling little wicker rocker. Todd's mom, Laura, bought that and painted it for us. It's so precious. Our little rabbit is keeping it warm until our little one can sit in by herself. Also, I love that since we're having a girl, I can use words like "darling" and "precious" to describe her stuff. :-)

These are my shoes from when I was little. I don't know if it's the hormones near the end of pregnancy or what, but each of these pictures are making me tear up as I blog. Everything is so sentimental these days. Even commercials for life insurance, it's just crazy. I always have tissues near by.

And last but not least, another belly picture for my out of town friends and family. We're less than two weeks away from our due date. Our hospital bag is packed, the room is ready...now we're just waiting for her! :-)

Good-bye Twenties!!

2009-09-19T20:04:00.000-05:00

Todd and I celebrated our 30th birthdays last weekend in Lawrence. Mine was this past Wednesday and Todd's is October 6th. Since we're due October 9th, we decided to go ahead and celebrate his early, in case we get distracted by the arrival of our little one later on.

Our cakes were pretty adorable. I love Todd in his Wrestle Mania costume (wearing underware OUTSIDE of his tights, I might add) and then there's me in my sweet little recital costume. Picture cakes are the best.

And here I am on my actual birthday before heading off to work. My parents snuck over the night before to send me a Happy 30th Birthday message. Sidewalk chalk is so under-rated. I LOVED waking up to a fun message in my driveway. What could be better than that?

Good-bye twenties! You were very fun, but honestly, I don't think I'll miss you. My 30th year is about to hold a ton of new and wonderful memories for me. Starting with our new little one joining us sometime over the next few weeks. I just can't wait!

Getting Bigger!

2009-07-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

Here are some belly pictures. We'll start off at 16 weeks when I apparently had the energy to blow dry my hair (of course, AFTER the first trimester was over). I look back at that innocent smile as I was just starting off in the pregnancy. I thought I was big back then. :-)

No longer blow drying my hair, it's the natural look for me at 20 weeks. This was when we found out we were having a little girl!

Here I am at 24 weeks. Getting bigger, of course. :-)

And finally, here I am at 28 weeks (this was just last week). I laugh when I compare this picture to the first one. I like getting bigger because I know she's growing! And no, if you see me out and about, I'm not "about to go at any moment", like many strangers seem to think. Pregnant woman get big, ok??? I still have 11 more weeks of growing, for crying out loud! :-)

It's all worth it because I have this precious little girl growing inside of me!

The Nursery

2009-07-15T20:43:00.000-05:00

So we've been working on the nursery lately. And by working, I mean painting! Lots of painting. I got a little fiesty with Todd and ended up painting his side. It was really punishment for making fun of me. We won't go into why he was making fun of me. No one really needs to know about my paint in the outlet mishap. :-)

Once we got the walls painted, we turned toward our mural. Watch it grow...

Growing...

Ta da!

We still have a ways to go with getting this room ready for our little girl this October. We'll keep posting our progress!

Baby Luke!

2009-07-04T14:18:00.001-05:00

On May 23rd, we had another little miracle added to our family - Luke Christopher McKenna. And to make a long story short, he really was a miracle. Luke wasn't due for another 3 weeks. That particular day, Rachel realized she hadn't felt Luke move all morning. She called the doctor thinking she'd tell her to just take it easy and call back in 24 hours if she didn't feel anything. Instead the doctor asked her to go to the hospital. A few short hours later, the doctors decided to deliver. God was really watching out for Luke that day because after he was born, the doctors realized the umbilical cord was wrapped around his little neck FOUR times, which is something the doctors said they had never seen. He was born at just the perfect time!

After almost a week in the NICU, multiple tests and time for Luke to wake up from the whirlwind of his birth, he finally got to go home. He's healthy, growing and adjusting to his new world. Here's big brother Max who is really gentle with his baby brother. :-)

The first time I got to see and hold my new nephew - nearly a week after he was born! They only let parents and grandparents into the NICU at the hospital.

.
Todd was one of the heroes of the day. He watched Miles and Max at our house while everyone else was up at the hospital waiting for baby Luke to arrive. Here's a picture of Miles finding out that his baby brother was born that afternoon. What a proud big brother.

And because Rachel and Josh missed our "Finding Out" party while they were in the hospital, Todd and I made a special visit to Shawnee Mission Medical before our party to let them in on our baby girl secret before anybody else.

Our Finding Out Party!

2009-07-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

It's about time I posted a new blog entry! I know it's been forever. I have many back-log entries to add, but I thought I'd first start with our "Finding Out Party", which is when we announced to our families the sex of our baby after keeping it a secret for nearly two weeks!!! It was very fun to go to Party City to pick out LOTS of fun pink decorations.

Of course we kept that we were having a girl a surprise until everyone arrived. We asked everyone to wear blue or pink based off what they thought we were having. Since I thought we were having a boy from the very beginning, I of course wore blue and since Todd guessed girl from early on, he obviously wore pink!

Our little nieces and nephews - Max, Emri, Miles and Ava - and Wrigley, who is wearing a blue lei because he also thought we were having a boy. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking because he wants a little brother to play with. :-)

Part of the pink decorations were fun flamingo straws. There were so many fun pink decorations to choose from - I love the whole girl theme. :-)

Between our parents, looks like there were an even number of boy and girl guesses. But lo and behold, the pinks win! Todd, mom and dad - nice guessing!!!

We're having a.....

2009-05-29T18:18:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday marked 20 weeks in my pregnancy. Halfway there, unbelievable! 20 weeks is kind of a big deal because you can finally find out the sex of your baby. Which we did! We had the sonographer write it down and place it in an envelope for us to open up later.

Todd had a great idea to go to Loose Park (where he proposed almost 2 years ago, ahhh...so sentimental!) to open the envelope. Oh the suspense began to build as we opened up our little secret...

I was literally in shock when we pulled out the little picture that read GIRL!!! I had tears of surprise, excitement and joy start pouring down my cheeks.

If you couldn't tell from the pictures already, I wore blue that night because I really thought we were having a boy. Here are my reasons: 1. the Chinese lunar calendar said we were having a boy 2. I had two VERY distinct dreams that we HAD a little boy and 3. the sonographer said the baby was really hyper moving all around in my tummy and he/she had long legs. All of which meant we were having a boy because boys have long legs and because my husband is hyper and so it must be a boy. :-) Oh well, I was wrong. That's ok because it was a win-win situation. When in your life do you get such an amazing surprise where BOTH outcomes are wonderful???

All Things Pink

2009-05-17T15:06:00.000-05:00

Since my sister Rachel is having her third little boy in June (most likely any day now, really), Kerri and I wanted to throw her a special party. So in lieu of a traditional baby shower, we decided to throw an "All Things Pink" party since Rachel is about to be out-numbered 4:1 in the boy girl ratio at home.

We asked guests to leave all the boy stuff at home (or in the stores!) because all they needed was a pink outfit and their game face because we were playing PINK POKER!! Yes, bringing back the grad school days of pink poker. :-)

We had a fun night of pink boas, pink drinks, pink food and of course pink poker, which I must admit at this point that I did NOT win a single round. Or maybe I might of and just folded early because let's be honest, I like to play this particular game because it's pink and I honestly know very little about it. I'm sure if anyone who actually knew how to play poker was watching us, they'd get a big kick out of our "interpretation" of how to play.

Hopefully this was enough pink to last Rachel for the next few years!!! :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T20:21:00.001-05:00

We had such a fun and memorable weekend celebrating with our moms. My mom gave a Mother's Day gift to my sisters and me, although I'm not technically a mom yet. :-) She took us to get manicures on Saturday afternoon. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a morning.

And later on Sunday, we enjoyed a delicious strawberry shortcake made by my darling sister, Kerri.

Mommy of three boys (or will be in just a few short weeks!), mommy of one darling little girl, mommy-to-be (yay!) and mommy of the three of us. :-)

This Mother's Day was also very special because my sister-in-law, Holly, and her husband, Mike, announced the sex of their baby. It's a girl!! It was really cute how they told us. Ava, Holly and Mike came into the living room wearing pink. Ava ran in with pink balloons as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" played in the background.

My preggo partner, Holly, who is due just 12 days before me!

After the fun announcement, we had a great afternoon of celebrating our moms AND looking forward to another little girl! Hmm...wonder what we'll have?? We'll know in two more weeks!

The Heitshusen and Ashley women - Happy Mother's day ladies!!

The Heitshusen Family is Growing!!

2009-05-01T17:31:00.000-05:00

On October 9th, or around that time, we're expecting our first little one and we couldn't be more excited. We went for our 16 week appointment last week. We heard a strong heartbeat and got to watch little baby Heitshusen dance around in my tummy. I'm not actually feeling any baby movement yet, which was surprising to the sonographer because he or she was moving all about! Since people were asking for pictures of my growing belly, here ya go.

I don't think that picture does the growth of my belly justice because I feel and look (in person), bigger than that picture above. Todd took this picture and as you can tell, it's a birds-eye-view of my tummy. I told you it's growing! I thought this picture showed off my belly better than the traditional profile view. This is what I wake up to every morning. I keep using the words "tummy" and "belly" because they sound more delicate than "getting fat" or being "thick around the middle". It's all in the wording. :-)

We're excited to find out the sex of the baby at our next appointment at the end of May (after serious consideration of NOT finding out). I've had two very detailed boy dreams so far (among many bizarre pregnancy dreams), but we'll see!!! Stay posted for new updates on baby Heits!

We're excited to announce...

2009-04-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow Day in March

2009-04-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, when we were supposed to wake up to the biggest snow storm in history, this is what outside looked like. I must say, a little disappointing. Especially for Wrigley because he loves the snow. He might love the snow more than Todd and I love Cadburry Creme Eggs, which is saying a lot. Needless to say, Wrigley had nothing to do, but sit by this bush in our backyard.

However, just a few short hours later, the weather started to turn a little colder...

And the next time we let Wrigley out, this is what our backyard looked like. Although he looks bored, Wrigley is absolutely pumped about the snow. :-)

Wrigley would have ran around outside ALL afternoon if we let him. I like Todd's action shot.

Wrigley ran around and around until finally he found his ball in the snow.

You really can't beat snow days. Especially when it happens on a Saturday and you really have nothing to do but snuggle up on the couch, drink hot chocolate and watch movies all day with a warm fire in the fireplace. I must admit, I especially liked our Christmas tree in the background. Yes! We still have a Christmas tree up, please don't judge us. But it's a smaller tree and more of a decorative tree. Right now, I'm calling it our Easter Tree because I've placed darling little egg ornaments on it, so there. It's ok, right? Whatever the case, snow days are amazing but I DO NOT want another one until next December. Seriously.

It's a Boy!

2009-02-08T16:12:00.000-06:00

No, not us. :-) My sister Rachel found out the sex of their third little baby on her birthday, and kept it a surprise until her party the following night. We decided to guess whether they were having a boy or a girl by wearing either blue or pink. I couldn't decide, so I wore both colors.

After Rachel opened her presents, she gave us the best gift of the night. On Rachel's cue, Miles opened his button-up shirt to reveal a painted t-shirt that said, "It's a Boy!"

Three little McKenna boys! To say we were filled with joy is an understatement. We can hardly wait until June. The only other thing I can imagine that would have been as nearly as exciting, is the news of a little girl. :-)

Christmas Highlights

2009-01-06T19:34:00.000-06:00

Todd and I were very lucky this year because we had the chance to celebrate Christmas TWICE! Hello? Why didn't we get married sooner? Two Christmases and Two Christmas Eves, you really can't beat that. Here are some highlights between the Walker and Heitshusen Christmas celebrations. Here's a sleepy Ava and an even sleepier Rebekah on Christmas morning.

A sea of presents greeted us Christmas morning at the Heitshusen's. I pretended to be surprised and in awe of what Santa brought, even though I helped set the gifts out the night before. It's always fun to pretend. So this is what being an adult is like, huh?

I'm sad the holidays are over, but on the bright side, Wrigley is relieved I no longer have an excuse to dress him up. This was a Christmas present from Grandma Walker.

Emri, Miles and Max on our second Christmas morning. Adorable.

The little kiddies weren't the only ones to receive CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!! Red tops for the girls...

And white tops for the boys. Yes, this is what we do. :-)

Christmas Eve at the Heitshusens. Todd and Scottie with Ava. Can you tell Ava was bribed with a cookie to take the picture? It was a sugar cookie in the shape of a tree with green frosting, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. That reminds me, New Year's resolution, eat healthier!

Todd's mom made a delicious and beautiful spread for Christmas Eve dinner. She surprised everyone with childhood Christmas pictures of us on the table. Everyone at dinner that night had a picture from a past Christmas decorating the table. What a fun surprise! Todd as a little boy was my favorite. I just want to squeeze those cheeks!

Last but not least, I'll leave you with yet another torturous costume I made Wrigley wear over the holidays. Although he looks timid and shy in this picture, he surely will be brave enough to lead Santa's sleigh next year. I just have to find reigndeer antlers in a size small.

Laura's debut on the blog

2008-12-16T18:44:00.000-06:00

We celebrated a birthday party in Lawrence with Todd's family this weekend. December is the perfect month for Todd's mom, Laura, to have her birthday. It is most fitting because she loves Christmas, especially decorating the house with her Santa collection AND she loves cold weather, including the snow. So here is the Heitshusen/Ashley gang: John, Scott, Mike, Todd, Holly, Laura, Ava and myself. We asked Mike to stand closer to Todd, you know, to make the picture more even...but he refused.

Todd's Gram made a DELICIOUS Italian dinner. Spaghetti, home-made sauce (or some would say smooth sauce), meatballs and Italian sausage. Amazing, simply amazing. Not pictured is the ceasar salad, which I had the heavy responsibility for bringing. I went out on a ledge with the ceasar idea because I really wanted to showcase my cooking skills. :-)

Seated around the dinner table is Todd's Gram, the Heitshusens, Ashleys and Pattersons (Todd's aunt and uncle). Hmmm, but where are Todd and Ava?

There he is! Todd can hardly EVER refuse the self-portrait. Although I am not exactly sure what he is doing with his right hand...

And here is Ava! Ava was actually standing against the wall during the "family at the dinner table" picture. And then Todd tracked her down in the kitchen later on for this adorable pic.

Laura, your wish is granted - your debut on the blog! I hope you are excited to have a post devoted to you!! :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2008-12-08T19:08:00.000-06:00

This past Saturday we went to St. Micheal's Church and bought our very first real Christmas tree from the Boy Scouts. We had our own little boy scout to show us around the lot. And because it was our first time, he explained the difference between the firs, the spruces and everything else. He was so adorable, I can't recall a single thing he said about the trees. Even though I cannot recall the difference between a fir and a spruce, I can tell you this -- those Christmas trees were not PLANTED at the church, although the they were propped up against the post...it can REALLY be deceiving.

A Christmas tree lot can be kind of intimidating if you've never been before. Or at least as the person who needs to make important decisions about buying the tree...like a tree taller than 7 feet would not fit in our living room, stuff like that. It didn't take long before we set our eyes on this beauty. In just a few moments, the little boy scout had this guy sitting on top of the hefty ole civic. And yes, Todd was a little embarassed to be taking home the tree on the roof of our "off-roading", "sturdy", "mans-man", silver civic.

My husband is so strong. He carried the Christmas tree into our house all by himself. :-)

It's a little trickier than you would think to get the tree to stand up tall. I have a great amount of appreciation for my parents and all the years they did this. I just remember being impatient as I was DYING to adorn the tree with lights and hand-crafted ornaments from when I was two. Isn't it crazy how you see things different as an adult?

Although not too terribly exciting at this point, stay tuned for the tree trimming!!! We're ready for the lights, garland and ornaments. Tis the season!

I'm Stuffed

2008-12-01T20:14:00.001-06:00

Our first Thanksgiving together. Todd and I took the backseat in the 4-runner as my cousin, Liz, took shotgun and my dad sat at the wheel. We hit the road last Wednesday around twelve and nine short hours later, we arrived in Indianapolis. Todd's first Thanksgiving with my extended family. Todd's first experience with Buckeyes (that is, fresh from my Aunt Anita's freezer), first experience with a CRAZY house-full of relatives (which we love!) and his first experience with...

...my grandma's noodles, which are infamous. To say they are amazing, mouth-watering and delicious are understatements. Needless to say, I love them and this year, Todd did too. He loved them THIRDS-worth. Not just seconds, but thirds. We were all impressed. So our Thankgiving holiday consisted of a little of this......

A whole lot of this....

And of course, we had to leave the couch and the buffet line at some point...therefore, a little of this...

Such a fun Thanksgiving with all the Indiana folks. Lots of games, laughing, movies, conversations and yummy, yummy, yummy food. Todd and I made a pact on our way home: we're never eating again.

That Time of Year

2008-11-21T18:06:00.000-06:00

I could try and pretend that I'm a person who has rules about Christmas. I could pretend that I don't listen to Christmas music on the radio until after Thanksgiving. I could pretend that I am against the fun and seriously exciting holiday decorations at Hobby Lobby, Michael's and every other craft store. I could also pretend that our family room doesn't already look like this.

The Christmas tree is subtle in this picture. But nonetheless, it's up! Again, I could also pretend that it hasn't been up for three weeks already. But that would be a lie. I love Christmas. I love everything that has to do with the holiday. I have to start celebrating before Thanksgiving, because if I wait, I just don't get my fill.

I can't wait for more decorations to go up. And believe you me, they will. Maybe I'm just excited because it's our first Christmas together since we've been married. But whatever the case, I can't wait until I can come out of the closet (less than a week away!) and officially start celebrating the most wonderful time of the year. By the way, don't let Wrigley's demon-like eyes or grim expression lead you astray, he's the most excited of us all. :-)

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-12T18:43:00.001-06:00

We had a Halloween celebration at my mom's house. Here are some of the women of the family including Rachel the witch, Aunt Nee-nee the bumble bee, me the rocker w/the incredible awkward hand pose, Liz the other witch, Emri as Tinker Bell, Mama with her apron and funky tights and Kerri with her super cool spider web shirt. Max and Miles are below.

A true Halloween celebration would not be complete without Ghoul's Brew.....

I think Wrigley really liked being a cowboy for Halloween. He enjoyed the opportunity to ride a pretend horse, and sing old Western songs in front of the campfire late at night. No wait, I have that all backwards. He hated it. He hated me, Todd and the entire world when he was in this costume. And while I'm not one for cruelty to animals, I loved every minute of Wrigley in this little get-up.

This is a goofy picture, but the only one we apparently took together that night. As a side note, this is the same arm-band I wore when I was three for a dance recital. If you look closely, you can tell it's scrunched a bit...apparently my arm is bigger as a 29 year old. :-)

All you really need for a great costume: fake glow in the dark finger nails, false eye lashes and a big fake spider on your forehead.

Happy Birthday Todd and Ava!

2008-11-02T16:34:00.001-06:00

We celebrated Todd's 29th birthday at the beginning of October and Ava's second birthday at the end of the month. Here's Ava at her birthday party. Adorable.

Todd and I gave Ava a little stuffed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel; this little guy is Wrigley's identicle twin. We gave her a little dog bed so she could put "Wrigley" to sleep at night. Again, adorable.

This is us celebrating Todd's birthday with an everything but the kitchen sink ice cream cake - oreo crust, chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter ice cream layers. In addition, there were peanut butter chips, loads of caramel throughout and topped with Todd's favorite and I still don't get the fascination with this candy, Rieces Pieces. I love how Ava's trying to grab for the cake in this picture.

Like uncle, like niece....that's all I have to say. :-)

Here is Todd with one of his favorite b-day presents, candy. For future reference, Todd will always be a happy boy if given Mike 'n Ikes, Swedish Fish or as before mentioned, Rieces Pieces.

Todd, only one more year until we're 30. For crying out loud! Ava honey, don't worry, you still have 28 more wonderful years of youth. :-)

Welcome home!

2008-10-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

We arrived home in KC from Jamaica a little after midnight on June 15th. The honeymoon was over, but at least we had a few more days to settle in before we had to go back to work. Todd carried me over the threshold of our new home. As we opened the garage door into the kitchen, this is what we found...
Two of my greatest friends, Caroline and Katie, decorated our kitchen with streamers and balloons to welcome us home and congratulate us on the wedding.

Today, nearly five months later, we still have the sign posted on our refridgerator. :-) And here's my new hubby in front of our newly purchased posted dry erase board. My mama wrote that one, "Let the living begin"...and so it shall...