What's not to love...

When I fell in love with Brett I didn't think I could possibly love anymore than I was. We are about to have our 2nd anniversary and I cant' help but think I am more in love with him today than I was almost 2 years ago on our wedding day. And then we had Josiah and my heart expanded even more. How can someone love two guys so incredibly much? Seriously, what's not to love about these two?


Josiah was running around (and by running I mean crawling) refusing to put clothes on so off he went in his diaper and I couldn't help but pull out the camera. Just thought I would share some moments today when he stole my heart even more.

Home Camping

We experience a bit of "home" camping this week. Thursday (1/21) we woke up to a cold house with no power. And although this was exciting for me at first the excitement quickly wore off. We were able to get an old (60 years old) generator from our landlord who had an extra one. This was such a huge blessing.

our generator

Unfortunately it took me a few days to see it as that (a blessing). The generator being so old and not having been used in the last 10 years had some problems staying on. During the day this wasn't as much of a problem because we (by "we" I mean Brett) could just run out and get it starting again. At night was a whole new issue. My dear husband would set his alarm for every 2 hours to go and turn it back on. The generator also sucked up fuel. Brett figured out that it probably cost us about 70 dollars a day to run the generator. And with not having power we were unable to get fuel easily. The Lord provided though and we always had enough. We had our furnace, fridge, and freezer hooked up the the generator which meant that it was pretty crucial for us to have it running. Having it turn off every few hours is what really started to get to me and also the reason I began to not see it as a blessing. Like I said, it took me a few days before I could really grasp the blessing that it was to have heat even if it did go in and out.

Pulling out our camping gear we were able to keep food in our bellies. I cooked a lot of homemade soups with whatever I had around the house. They were simple, warm, and easy to reheat on our camp stove which was essential.

browning hamburger for soup on our camp stove

Since we could only hook up the furnace and fridge/freezer we needed to have a way to cook which is where the camping gear came in really handy. We own two small backpacking stoves but last fall when we took our trip to Glacier Brett and I were doing our first "car" camping so we decided to get a bigger camp stove which looking back now we are so thankful we did. I have to admit it was kind of nice cooking on a camp stove with my Pampered Chef pans instead of our camping ones.

Brett and his best friend Luke always talk about the "winter of 97" which was apparently a terrible winter with a huge storm. Naomi (Luke's wife) and I always joke about how they refer to the "winter of 97" all the time so now we laugh about how we will talk about the "power outage of 2010".

Yesterday afternoon we got our power back on (thank you to all the men and women who were working through tough conditions to get our power back on). In total we were out of power for 6 1/2 straight days. I wore thin at times and had to apologize to my husband on more than one occasion. I broke down to tears, smelled like gas (from the generator) and wore the same clothes over and over again but...I survived. We kept relatively warm, had food in our bellies, and were able to spend extra time together (which involved games of Settler of Catan).

Here are a few pictures from our week:

bath by candle light

playing settlers by candle light

We all got stir crazy

We had our fun times as well

what our south window normally looks like
you can see our only neighbors house

we had a storm come through when the power was out
you can't see our neighbors house anymore

10 months old & new baby

Our little man is now 10 months old today!

Here's what's new:

*20.0 lbs
*30.5 inch. long
*Officially is just taking a bottle now (I finished nursing around 9 1/2 months - he did really good with the transition, myself on the other hand...not so good)
*Got his first ear infection (the poor little guy was so miserable)
*Now has 8 teeth (and still working on more)
*Is crawling! There were many days I thought this would never come and now our little guy is mobile and I have to say I am loving it!
*Continues to love reading time.
*Loves interaction with other babies/kids
*Insists on "playing" guitar with me when I play (so cute)
*Lights up when he hears music (this makes Grandma Huber very proud)
*Started eating chicken (around 9 months)
*Gets upset if he doesn't get his own spoon during meal times

now that he is crawling I am finding puke and spit everywhere

p.s. I'm really into black and white right now, hence all the b&w photos. enjoy!

Yesterday I had the privileged of stopping at the hospital to see some good friends Courtney and Josh and their new little bundle of joy. I also had the privilege of snapping a few pictures for them. We are still waiting on a name but here are some pictures.

8.1 lbs & 21.5 inch long

kind of weird picture but I love how it shows how big daddy's hands are compared to his face

The new family!

Bathroom Time...

As most of you know we live out in the country and by this I mean way out in the country. Yes, we do have a small little town about 10 miles from us where I often go to get milk and a few other necessities. Shopping in this small town is very expensive so we only do it if we have to. You are probably thinking, "10 miles out that's not all that far." But, in my defense we are 85.6 miles from the nearest Walmart and Target and to me that seems to be "way out in the country". Side note: I do love living out here it just makes for some interesting memories at times.

Now onto the story of bathroom time...

Yesterday, as Josiah woke up I got out of bed and began to get ready for our day in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is the town that the closest Walmart and Target exist in. At 8:45am I had the van packed and Josiah in his car seat and was ready to get on the road. It is always very important for me to get on the road at this time (or close to) because this is about the time Josiah takes his morning nap and when I go to Aberdeen for the day I plan our driving time around the time that Josiah is napping. This means I leave during his morning nap and return during his afternoon nap. At times this makes for a very rushed in and out of each store I need to get to which also makes it not a lot of fun but I get by.

Anyway, back to 8:45am. I climbed in the drivers seat ready to take off and realized I hadn't used my last bathroom trip yet, so I unbuckled my seat belt and ran back in the house to use the bathroom and then got back in the the van and on the road we were. What most people don't understand is that this bathroom time before I leave is my last chance to use the bathroom until I return to our house many hours later. Why? Let me tell you. Not all bathrooms are family friendly. None of this stuff ever occurred to me before having a child but now it becomes a frustration of every trip. The difficulty with the bathrooms is that Josiah is no longer in his infant car seat but is also not able to stand by himself. This would be easy to fix my bathroom struggles if I either had someone else with me or if they had the changing tables in the bathroom stall. Unfortunately for me I usually have neither. So, how does one undo their belt, unbutton, unzip, and pull their pants down all while holding a baby in a small little enclosed space? It gets even harder too when you have already started or finished your shopping in one store and now have all of your purchases with you, which in my case is a full cart load every time since it is such a drive to get to these stores. There have been a few times I have had to do all of this while holding Josiah because of a bathroom emergency that I just couldn't wait another 1 1/2 to use our bathroom at home. Yesterday as we left Aberdeen at 2:00pm sharp (perfect timing for his afternoon nap) I had to use the bathroom but thought I could try and hold it until I made it back home. Just to clear things up right away I did make it home to the bathroom but as we pulled into the drive way I unbuckled my seat belt, parked the van and proceeded to run into the house leaving Josiah and everything else while I used the bathroom.

I'm not sure but I feel like this can't be good for my bladder to be doing this all the time and to be honest since having Josiah my bladder is weaker than ever which makes for a lot of interesting trips to Aberdeen. Any idea's on how to solve this bathroom time problem?

This blog usually ends up being all about Josiah which in some ways makes sense since I spend all waking hours with him day in and day out (and I know that's really what people want to hear about) but in all honesty there are many days I want to share something deeper that is going on within my heart. I've been thinking about this a lot lately (why I don't share the deeper thoughts of my heart) and I've come to realize it's for a couple of reasons.

Reason number 1: It's risky being so vulnerable.

Reason number 2: I'm not sure who all reads this.

Reason number 3: I'm afraid of offending someone.

It's occurred to me that I could change my settings to who I allow to read this blog and that would take care of "reason number 2", but I'm just not sure yet I want to do that. I once was told by a wise woman to not let myself be easily offended and I've always really tried to take that to heart but then I realized that just because I have tried to do that does not mean that others do the same. Which leaves "reason number 3" still a reason to hold on to. As for "reason number 1" I just hold on to that because that is my human nature. Whether or not it is actually valid reason is debatable.

"1 Peter 5:9 says, "Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings".

I feel like I use to be a more open person. I really wanted to be someone who wore their heart on their sleeve for all to see. It made me feel empowered in some odd way to do that. I think I felt that it was allowing God to shape and use me in more ways. It made me feel like I wasn't allowing the devil to control the "hard" things in my life. I've also realized through out the years that by wearing my heart on my sleeve I have been able to connect in ways I probably couldn't have otherwise with people who are hurting or rejoicing in the same way.

So as I ponder on the things I of my heart that I want to wear on my sleeve I hope that I can gain back the courage to do so. In the mean time I ask that you have patience with me.

Simple Things

I love to cuddle, just ask my husband! Since I love to cuddle so much I thought that having a baby would be perfect for my addiction to cuddling. I mean what could be better than sitting on a couch cuddling with your baby? The cuddle stage did not last long enough for me. Josiah is just not a cuddle-bug like I would like him to be except when he is sleepy. Since my cuddle time is few and far between with him I get really excited when it happens and today was no different. I picked Josiah up off the floor to give him a little squeeze and he put his head on my shoulder and just rested there. It melted my heart. He blessed me with a few min. of just cuddling with me. I just love those simple things he can do for me to brighten up my day.

Tell me it's just a phase...

Josiah use to be such a content little baby. Really from day 1 people always told us how content he was, we agreed and felt very blessed to have such a content little guy. In the last month...especially the last two weeks our content little baby is no more. I can't figure out what to do. As soon as I put him on the floor, within a min. he is crying. When I pick him up he is content for a min and then is trying to squirm right out of my arms. This creates an endless cycle of up and down all day long. I'm thinking a huge reason he is so unhappy all the time is because he just wants to get up and go. Two days ago he took his first "steps" crawling and has only done it a few times since. I got really excited when he did it thinking it would solve this problem of being so fussy all the time but it only seemed to make it worse. I don't know if it's because he got a taste of what moving around is all about or what? I love him to death but sometimes he just makes me want to pull my hair out! What do you do with a 9 1/2 month old who can't be pleased all of a sudden? I take that back, he can be pleased as long as there is another little baby or kid around but lets be honest the only way to solve that is to have another baby and ummm, I think I will wait on that for a little while longer. Someone tell me this is just a phase and that it will pass. I can't seem to get anything done around the house unless it is his nap time but then all I want to do is curl up and take a nap myself.

Which brings me to the other odd thing that I'm hoping is just a phase as well. Ever since teething started around 6 months Josiah just can't seem to let us sleep through the night. He started sleeping through the night around 2 1/2 months and did all the way up until teething started. Don't get me wrong we are still getting full nights of sleep here and there but it seems like about half the week we are and the other half we aren't. About a couple of weeks ago he started getting up a couple of hours after he was down for the night...hmmm...don't know how to explain this one. He will go back to bed as soon as we go up there, give him his pacifier or rub his belly but still...why? Am I doing something wrong? Tell me this is a phase as well and will soon pass. I'm open to any suggestions!

Christmas is over already...

I can't believe how fast Christmas has come and gone. It seems like we were just in Minnesota for thanksgiving and now it's already a few days into the new year! We spent the holidays with a lot of family from both sides. Brett's sister, brother-in-law and twin girls came out a few days before Christmas and we spent most of our time over at my in-laws place. I love it over there! It was a great few days of games, hanging out, eating, chatting, and of course playing with the twins and Josiah. Josiah absolutely loves interaction with other kids...his face lights up and he giggles. It almost makes me think we should have another baby so he has a constant playmate but then again I can still vividly remember the pain and discomfort I had being pregnant and delivering him so maybe we will hold off on that and he can just enjoy the time he gets with his cousins.

Cousins: Evelyn, Anna, & Josiah

My brother Andy and his wife Amber braved the weather and came out the day after Christmas with their just turned 1 year old son, Rylan. They were here for a whole week! I can sum up their time here very easily...Wii, Settlers of Catan, 5 Crowns, a few movies, and lots of play time with Rylan and Josiah. I was excited to have Rylan here to entertain Josiah a little but Rylan could care less about him. If only Josiah could crawl I'm sure he would have been tagging behind Rylan all week. My mom also came out for a few days during the week Andy and Amber were here.

Andy (my brother) playing with Rylan and Josiah

Being around all of our family was wonderful and I loved it but the highlight over the holiday was getting to go on a date with my husband! Dates with my husband are few ever since we moved out to South Dakota so when my brother and his wife told us they wanted to watch Josiah for a night while we went on a date I was beyond excited! We drove the 80 miles to Aberdeen, looked at furniture (we are saving up for new living room furniture), went to Walmart (had to return something) and then went to the movie Blindside! The movie was great and the company was amazing! Thanks Andy and Amber for letting us have some alone time!

Just to top off the blog update here are a few more pictures...

He loves to have his mouth open what can I say!

Doing push ups!