Thinking of you....

Just a short little blog today. Just wanted to let my friend Julie know that we are thinking of her. She happens to be having surgery today to remove her gallbladder. Darn gallbladders always giving people trouble. Anyhoo, we hope that you are feeling okay and that you have a speedy recovery. (Picture: Leanne, Anne and Julie).

More pics

Okay, so here are a bunch of random pictures to catch everyone up to speed with my blog. From this point on I will try to post the actual pics with the appropriate blog.

I have had many requests from people who have not yet seen my nursery to post some pictures so here goes. Here is Joshua's crib from Land of Nod. I love, love, love it and I think that he is starting to love it too. Note Bruiser looking very depressed in the lower left corner.

Here is obviously a shelf in his room, but the important things are what is on the shelf. The bear is from Oma (Jeff's mom), the Josh sign is from my dad that he made out of wood at work with a laser thing (it's kind of a tradition, he made them for all of us when we were kids, now his grandkids are getting them) and last but not least some of Josh's first pics from ultrasounds.
This is Noah's ark above Joshua's crib. Story: Jeff would not let me paint the room due to our house being a rainbow of colors when we moved in. He wanted to keep everything neutral for selling reasons and we had repainted the entire house already when we moved in. So, my sister-in-law Tara found these great rub on decals that actually look like someone painted them. So that is what I used around his room to liven it up.

Here is another cute decal on one of Josh's walls. I had to have it because as you all know Giraffes are my favorite animal.

Here is the changing station area. We visit this quite frequently throughout our day.

This is a big open spot in the room that we use as the tummy time play area. Note: Josh is doing his exercises right now on the mat.

This is the reading, feeding and rocking corner of the room. The rocker was handed down to me from my cousin Laura and she used it with her two kids, so it's kind of special. Really nice rocker, in great shape, very comfy. We use it all the time. Thanks Laura!!!!

Okay, as promised in my first day to work blog, here is a pic of Josh in his alligator pjs. Doesn't he look so frickin' cute? Do you see why it was so hard for me to leave him?

Okay, here is another shot of the pjs. But do you notice how Josh is not on his sleep positioner? It's so funny, at bedtime I place him where he should be at the top and when I find him later he is always barely at the bottom if he's on it at all. One am Jeff found him completely off and sideways from the positioner.

Just a really cute sleeping shot that I had to post.

These next few pics are from his first walk outside as mentioned in the earlier blog.

Here we are before we headed out for our walk around the neighborhood. Note: I just got my hair cut short again. It looks good in the pic because it's still the do from the salon. I have since taken over and it hasn't looked the same. Bummer, always happens. I am just not good with hair.

On our walk.

Daddy playing with Josh when he got home from work.

Josh loves holding his chubby little hands together. What a sweetie pie!!!

What a face!!!

This picture of Josh is from when we sang ACDC together, as mentioned in an earlier blog. What a cutie patootie!!!

This is my cousin John's little girl, Jocelyn. Easter was the first time that Josh and Jocelyn met. Jocelyn is three weeks younger than Josh.

Here is our niece Luzzy posing for the camera at Easter.

Here is our nephew Frankie at my parents house for Easter dinner. He loved Luzzy's toy
so much that he barely let her play with it.

Here is Uncle Alan with cousin Alex feeding Josh at brunch. Thanks Uncle Alan!

Here is Joshua with the Easter Bunny.

Catching up on some pics to post. Enjoy!!!!

Okay, well here are a few pics from Joshua's first Easter. We had a great day filled with eating, spending time with family and more eating. This pic is of Joshua and all of Jeff's nephews (from left to right Alex (top), Nick (bottom), Zack (on the bunny) and Jake. Ella was kind of afraid of the bunny, so she did not want to be in the picture.

Okay, I am having some technical difficulties with downloading pics. I don't know what is wrong, but I will have to try again later. I also downloaded a little video of Joshua, I don't know if that works either. Sorry, I am not so super technically savvy and this blogging/uploading picture thing is somewhat new to me. I'll get back to you with more pics.

First day back at work and a few other firsts...

Well, today is Sunday April 6th. Not only is it my niece's birthday (Happy Birthday Luzzy), but it is my first day back to work from maternity leave :(. It is kind of nice to be back, but I just keep thinking about what is going on at home. (The reason for the present tense is because I am actually at work right now writing this, lots of free time today). When I left this morning I didn't cry, but I did, I admit, get a little teary eyed. Josh just looked so darn cute in his alligator pj's when I had to leave him. But Jeff is being so good and has text messaged me with updates on diaper changes and feedings, God love him. He knows that I am neurotic about leaving the baby for the first time, and he is being a good sport about dealing with my neurotica (my own invented word, isn't it fun?). The good thing is that I don't have to work again until Thursday when my mom will be watching him. Thanks mom!
Along with it being my first day back, there are a few other firsts to talk about.......Josh slept through the night last night (from 8:30PM-6:00AM), that was a nice first. I still didn't get much sleep though because I kept checking on him to make sure that he was breathing.
Also the past couple of days we have been dealing with Josh's first cold. Poor guy. He has been so stuffy and absolutely hates the blue bulb syringe. I used to be terrified about using the bulb syringe, but I have actually become quite good at it lately. Unfortunately, there is really nothing that I can do for him, but to keep suctioning him and use the humidifier in his room.
And another first was yesterday (Saturday) I took Josh out for his first walk around the neighborhood because it was in the 60's. I think he enjoyed it. I took Bruiser along and I know that he enjoyed it because he got to sniff the whole neighborhood (kind of annoying to have to keep stopping, and Bruiser kind of kept pulling the stroller a bit, but oh well he has to get out too so we will learn to adjust). I took some pics of the walk and I will try to post them when I get home. I haven't done pics on a blog yet, hopefully it's not too hard to figure out.

My very first time blogging

Hi Everyone-


Well this is my very first entry to my very first blog. I am very excited about starting this as a way to keep all friends and family near and far informed as to what's going on in our family (thanks to my friend Erica who kick started the idea in my head). Lately there seems to be a lot going on.


I, just this morning accepted a job offer for a weekend position at Lake Forest Hospital, which is only 15min away from home. That is a very huge perk with taking this position, along with only having to work 24hrs a week and the pay. The only not so great thing about the job is that it is a med/surg/oncology floor, not any areas of nursing that I want to be doing for too long. AND it is paper charting. Some of you may not think this is a big deal, but I currently work with one of the easiest electronic systems and going to paper makes me cringe. I really like my current telemetry (cardiac) job at Evanston and would still like to pursue either ICU or Labor and delivery, but right now this is what is best for the family.


Also, we are still kind of in limbo with Jeff's new job opportunities. He has interviewed for a District Manager position both in Dayton, OH and Asheville, NC. He is also pursuing one in Denver, CO but has only phone interviewed for that one. I am actually kind of hoping that if he is going to be getting one of these new positions, that he gets the one in Dayton. It is by far the closest to home (priority no. 1) and seems like a nice place to live and raise kids. He should be finding out about Dayton by the end of this month. Keep your fingers crossed!


You might be asking why I am getting a new job if Jeff might be moving us? Well, according to Jeff we must plan to not count on anything until an offer is put on the table. (We all know how he has gotten jerked around in the past with job offers). So all of this job stuff, both his and mine, and the fact that my maternity leave has reached its end has been clogging my head for the past couple of weeks. But on to better and cuter things.......


Joshua!!!!!!! We have a lot of nicknames for the little guy, but sweet pea, little bubba and bubba spuds seem to come out most often. He is such a doll. He is the best and cutest baby, if I do say so myself. So easy going and never really even cries. He only gets up once in the night (around 3 or 3:30) for a diaper change and bottle and then goes right back to sleep until around 7am. We are pretty much already in both daytime and bedtime routines and he's doing pretty well. At his 2 month appt he weighed in at 13.3lbs and 24inches. It is just amazing how much he has already learned and accomplished in 2 1/2 months of life. As far as milestones, head control is a biggy. He does his tummy time and does pretty well, but when he gets pooped he gets pooped. His little head hits the blanket and he can't lift it up anymore. He then hits the point of frustration, poor little guy. Josh has also found his voice. He loves to talk with you, very interactive little guy. It was so funny, the other day Josh and I were dancing around the house to the ipod music and ACDC Shook me all night came on. I was singing the words to Josh and all of a sudden he started chiming in with his squeals and coos. It was adorable. He is my little miracle!!!