I found the one my heart loves -Song of Songs 3:4

he leaves us no choice...

2011-09-17T16:04:00.002-05:00

If I were to time myself I would guess it would take me 15 seconds or so to climb out of my bed. Josiah on the other hand can do it in 3 seconds flat and that is out of a bed with rails (his crib). Not only can the little wild child climb out of his crib but he can climb into it too...both VERY FAST!

Well, it seems as though he leaves us no choice, we have to move him into a big boy bed. I have been dreading this day for a long time as I so much enjoyed the fact that when Josiah was in his crib he was "stuck" there. Through the many tantrums and time-outs we go through in a day I have taken to a deep liking of this place with four see-through walls we call a crib. It gives me a chance to regain my composure and for a few short min. pretend like I don't hear yelling. Also, since Josiah likes to get up with the roosters (and for all of you who like to make fun at the fact that we live on a farm, no we don't have any roosters), I loved that he couldn't get out of bed until we got him out at a somewhat reasonable hour. Don't get me wrong, I love the boy to pieces but just like any other stay-at-home mother out there I need a break every now and then.

So as one last resort, I will ask all parents out there to give me their last bit of advice for this transition. Wed. will be the day we move him into his big boy bed as we will be on a family vacation starting tomorrow.

what we're up against

2011-08-10T21:42:00.003-05:00

These, along with a new study bible are what came in the mail today. I ordered them a week ago and it seemed like an eternity to get here. As you can see by the titles, this is what we're up against in our house. To say it's draining would be putting it lightly. As I write this our little strong-willed boy is upstairs screaming, fighting going to bed (it's 9:50pm and he goes to bed at 8:00pm). So, if you think about it we would sure appreciate your prayers.

Transitioning to a toddler bed

2011-08-03T13:42:00.003-05:00

We are getting close to thinking we need to move Josiah to a toddler bed. He has always been a good napper and really good about going down for bed at night time until the last few weeks or so. He is really starting to fight both nap time and bed time and we can't figure out why. He is clearly tired, we can tell that much, but why he won't go to sleep we can't figure out.

So I guess my question is two-fold. Is this the right time to switch him to a toddler bed? And how do we go about doing it?

All you mothers, fathers, babysitters out there if you could share in your tips for transitioning from a crib to a toddler bed I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

The Labor Story

2011-06-28T15:04:00.006-05:00

I know some people have been anxiously awaiting to hear my side of the labor/birthing story and though it was already 2 weeks ago I'm finally getting around to writing it up. It was a pretty exciting labor that I know will be quite the story to share with our little girl when she is older. If only I was better at sharing stories this probably would have been written 2 weeks ago (or maybe not, since I'm a bit more busy these days). I will warn you that this will probably get pretty long and for some reason blogger is not allowing me to post pictures so if you want to see pictures check out my facebook page.

I woke up Tuesday morning excited because Tuesday's are play-date days and I look forward to them every week. Just like any other typical morning I got Josiah dressed for the day while I stayed in my PJ's right up until we needed to head out the door. I would love to blame this on being pregnant and though being pregnant did not help I must admit that I stay in my comfortable pajama pants even when I'm not pregnant because hey, they're comfortable!

Anyway, Josiah and I headed out the door and enjoyed a quieter than normal play-date with one toddler and 5 month old twins (the other mom's and kiddos couldn't make it). I debated putting Josiah down for a nap and hanging out for the afternoon with my dear friend but opted out, feeling the need to take a nap myself. Once we got home I put Josiah down for a nap and headed to the couch myself to nap. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who can just fall asleep when I close my eyes so I decided I would snuggle in to a good chick flick...the Bachelorette which aired the night before. Shortly after I got the show up and playing on the computer and began to snuggle in (about 1:00pm) I felt my first contraction. I was certain that I wasn't going to have this baby early since Josiah was two days late. At this point it was still another 4 days until my due date so when I felt my first contraction I was trying to figure out what was going on. After I felt a few more I thought that maybe this could be the beginning of my labor but not wanting to get my hopes up I decided not to call Brett and wait it out a bit more to make sure. I began timing them and with them about 15 min. apart I decided I had plenty of time before we would need to leave for the hospital. During this time it began to downpour really hard and after my contractions started getting a little closer together I called Brett. When he answered I asked him where he was, assuming he was over at the farm a few miles away. He told me he was in Selby at a meeting and so not knowing how to tell him I told him very non-nonchalantly that I was in labor but that he didn't need to come home because I still had a lot of time. He told me he would be coming home because he was done with his meeting anyway.

Fast forward to when Brett arrived at home.

It was still raining but not near as hard anymore. Brett was home and Josiah was now awake from his nap. I still didn't feel like we needed to leave anytime soon so I was just kind of hanging out getting a few things together in between contractions. Brett was standing in the kitchen getting something to drink, looking out the window when he says that I need to come look at this. I was thinking the dog was doing something stupid but then as I looked out the window we see water coming up to the barn and heading towards our house. I was shocked and suggested that maybe we should move the van so it wasn't in the line of fire for the water. Before we even had a chance to talk about whether or not we should move the van the water was already up to it and rising quickly. At that point, Brett opened the door from the kitchen to the entryway and we could hear the water coming in. Wanting to see it for myself I walked into the entry way and saw the water pouring in through the door and the walls. Standing there I started another contraction and once it was done I began to panic a bit. There was no way we were going to be able to open the front door with all that water and when I looked out the living room window and saw the water rising now on the truck and flooding over the road I really began to panic.

At this point Brett is getting his waiters on and hauling anything of value out of our basement where the water was building up. I kept myself busy with getting our hospital stuff together and playing with Josiah who thought it was fun to see all the water out the windows. The next thing I knew we had about 10 people outside our house ready to help where ever they could. Of course everyone knew I was in labor at this point...this made me a bit self conscious as I didn't want a bunch of people seeing me going through contractions. I laid low inside the house as Brett went out the window to talk to people and would continually come back to the window to see how I was doing and how far apart my contractions were. I got all of Josiah's stuff together and handed him and his things out the window to Brett who gave him over to the Perman's (we consider them honorary Grandparents) who would be watching him while we were at the hospital.

To anyone who has ever gone into labor you know that during labor you are feeling a lot of pressure down below which can cause you to need to use the bathroom frequently. Because of the flooding happening our toilet had been overflowing with water and had filled the bathroom floor leaving us with no bathroom to use. I had informed Brett of this problem in which he responded with, "just go in the sink". Yeah like it's that easy to climb up onto a counter and go into a sink when you are pregnant and in labor, not to mention disgusting. His other option which still did not excite me but was much more manageable was to use a bucket (don't worry everyone the bucket is in the trash now).

As time went on and contractions were getting closer, Brett and I talked and decided that we probably had enough time to wait until the water would go down enough that I could get out the front door. Though Brett and Josiah had gone out the window I was quite sure that I wasn't going to be able to fit out the window even if I tried. Brett assures me that I could have gone out a different window but I am thankful that I didn't have to try.

Around 6:45pm I was able to walk out the front door (wearing my rain boots) and made my way to our pickup. We made our way over to farm to drop off the dog with my father-in-law and clean out the tires on the pickup so it wouldn't shake so much from all the water and mud that had built up from the flooding. Around 7:00pm we were on our way for the hour drive to the hospital. This is where everything really went quick. Upon arriving I signed a few papers and then was brought into the delivery room where I was given the most beautiful hospital gown (can you sense the sarcasm). The nurse checked me around 9:00pm to see how far dilated I was. She seemed a bit shocked to realize I was at a 6 at this point. About a half our later my midwife came and checked me only to find out I was now at a 9. Upon remembering that I only pushed for 10 min. with Josiah she told me she better go get her scrubs on. Now, with Josiah I was stuck at a 9 for a long time and I never felt the urge to push, my doctor suggested that I try pushing to see if it would help things along. Needless to say we were shocked when he came 10 minutes later. This time around though things were a bit different. There was no way around it, I felt the urge to push this time and 9 minutes later she was born. I couldn't believe how fast everything had gone. Before I knew it I was holding our beautiful baby girl (who looked identical to her brother when he was born) and getting stitched up. Don't get me wrong, pushing her out was not an easy task and of course extremely painful. It may have only been 9 minutes but it felt like hours of the worse pain imaginable.

This delivery went so well, I really could not have asked for it to go any better. My midwife was amazing and made the whole experience perfect. Now, two weeks later though I have been going through some pretty up and down emotions my body physically is feeling great. With Josiah at this point I could still hardly sit down without feeling the pain but this time I hardly feel like I just had a baby (except for all the extra baby weight).

I shaved off 6 hours from my delivery with Josiah to my delivery with Brynn and Brett tells me that we can't wait around with our next one, especially since we have an hour drive to our hospital.

2011-06-16T09:29:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone. We finally had our new baby Brynnly Rae Huber. She was born June 14, at about 10:30 PM. She was 6 lb 6 oz and 20.5 inches long. Both Tanna and Brynnly are doing well and we are preparing to head home to our recently flooded house. Before we left for the hospital, we had a flash flood at our house from the 3+" of rain that fell in an hour. The water was 18 inches up the front door. Tanna started having contractions at about 1:00, the rain started at about 1:30, I got home at 4:30, the water started rising at about 5:00, it was up on the door by 5:10. We were able to open the door at about 6:30, and we were on the way to the hospital at 6:45. We arrived at the hospital at about 8:00 and the baby was born 2 1/2 hours later. It was crazy couple of hours, but everyone is doing well and most of the water is out of the basement thanks to some help from Tim and Clint. We will be heading home in couple of hours and start adjusting to the new normal. Tanna has lots of pictures that she we will put up soon. If you can't wait for picts, stop in and say hi.

Nesting

2011-06-11T12:25:00.003-05:00

Today marks 39 weeks prego for me and as you would know it Brett has been finding much humor in my (what he says) "constant nesting". This may or may not be true :) I feel as though I have to get everything deep cleaned before this little girl comes and I then don't have the chance or the energy to do it. Well along with all of this "constant nesting" I turned the guest room into a nursery/guest room and redecorated Josiah's room. I had plans of painting both rooms but only got the nursery/guest room done. This is also the only bedroom in the house that has had any paint put on the walls! This girl is pretty lucky.

For some reason it is not allowing me to upload pictures. If you want to see pictures of the rooms check them out on facebook under the "spring 2011" album or just come and visit us :)

38.5 Weeks

2011-06-08T21:52:00.003-05:00

Today marks the day of being 1.5 weeks away from being completely full term. Although I have mixed emotions of our little girl arriving in what could be any day now, mostly I am just excited to have her join our family and to not be pregnant anymore.

On another note (still pregnancy related) I had my weekly check-up today and my midwife told me that she has to be at a conference (5.5 hours away) on the 20th (she will be leaving the 19th). I am due on the 18th and if there is any indication from my first pregnancy of when I will actually go into labor I will be in labor when she is gone (I was two days late with Josiah). All this to say I am really sad about this and really praying that I will go into labor either before or after the dates my midwife is gone. I know it really shouldn't be a big deal because either way our little girl will be born but after spending the last 9 months with my doctor I don't want some stranger there instead. At my appointment today I was told that if I really wanted to she could strip my membranes and hope that I go into labor within 24 hours (she wasn't saying that I have to do this just giving me another option as she realizes the importance of having your doctor there). I don't know what to do about that? I really, really, really want her to be there to deliver our baby girl because I have really loved having her as a midwife but I just don't know what to do.

I'm beginning to ramble now and am probably not making sense because I am tired and ready for bed but I just needed to vent for a moment. I would appreciate any and all prayers that I would deliver this baby when my midwife is here.

touch: my love language?

2011-05-27T18:32:00.002-05:00

I've always thought that touch was one of my love languages and though I still do I'm beginning to rethink it as the last few days I have felt overly touched by a certain 2 year old. Don't get me wrong, I love the boy and I love when he wants to come and snuggle next to me but after hours upon hours of pulling on my arm anytime I sit down and the constant running and jumping into me, I've begun to feel that my touch quota has been far over reached. Anyone else ever feel this way? Although, I must admit I would love it if my husband came home early tonight and decided he wanted to give me a good foot rub (on my hugely swollen feet and ankles).

Washing Clothes

2011-05-26T16:22:00.003-05:00

So today I went to throw a rug (of which I dropped a gallon of milk on yesterday) in the wash. Usually the first thing I do when I am about to do a load of laundry is set the settings and turn the water on, today was no different. After I cranked the knob to extra small and turned on the water I opened the washer only to find a large load of Brett's work jeans. Hmmmm...I don't remember putting those in there? Realizing that my dear husband was throwing me a little hint that he needed his jeans washed I changed the settings for a large load and now he will come home to clean work jeans. There really is nothing further to add to this story except that I found it to be a bit funny. He still makes me laugh :)

A few updates...

2011-04-25T14:22:00.006-05:00

This will probably get a bit lengthy so I will bold letter the topics in case you are only interested in reading specific things. Topics: Farming, Josiah and Pregnancy.

Farming:

On April 12th (2 weeks ago) I made the first tractor lunch of the season for Brett. It was a bitter-sweet moment as I knew it meant we were getting in the field to plant the crop but knew that it was also going to mean hardly seeing my husband. Now let 2 weeks go by and I just made his second tractor lunch of the season. Yep, that's right we had two weeks in between our first day of planting until our second day of planting. Due to a lot of snow and rain we are finally just getting back into it (although we have a forecast of rain this week). We were blessed to be able to get into the first the first time as no one else was planting yet and we were able to get 300 acres done. Brett has already informed me that when we start planting again (which is today) that I can plan on him not being home including through the night as we are late getting our crops into the field this year. This makes me sad but I also know that this is what has to be done.

Josiah:

Josiah and Daddy waiting in the room before he got tubes

Two weeks ago Josiah got tubes put in his ears. He had been struggling with a chronic ear infection and was on his fourth round of treatments to try and get it to go away. We were thankful to be referred to specialist where we were told he should get tubes put in his ears. The specialist told us that with the amount of fluid that had been in Josiah's ears (probably most his life) it was decreasing his hearing by 30%. He said basically it's like having those squishy ear plugs in your ears all the time. Since Josiah is doing speech therapy we were excited (yet sad) to hear that news in hopes that it would help with his speech. Getting tubes went great, no problems at all. We were warned before he left with the doctor to get the tubes that he would wake up screaming and would most likely be screaming off and on for awhile after as he would be confused about where he was and have a bit of discomfort in his ears. We were expecting the worst since we have quite the screamer on our hands in the first place but were thankful that his screaming did not last long and was way better then we thought it would be. He was back to his normal self within an hour.

As for his speech...
I was half way expecting him to just come out of the procedure and be talking sentences to us (I know, very unrealistic) and as the next few days went on I was thinking that maybe his lack of hearing had nothing to do with his speech as I didn't notice a change in his vocabulary. Now 2 weeks later I am thrilled to see all the words he is picking up in just a matter of weeks! Of course what I am most thrilled about is that he is now saying Mama and Mommy (more like Mom-EEE). Brett is a bit jealous as he is saying mama and papa but still not daddy. He has learned the names of his favorite characters on Veggies Tales (Larry & Bob)...Larry being his favorite. Seriously, if we are watching Veggie Tales and Larry is not on right away he gets pretty upset. There is also a movie where Larry gets taken away by a bad guy and Josiah begins to scream at the tv and gets really upset until we reassure him that Larry will be ok. Some other words he has picked up in the last weeks: Rhino (his favorite stuffed animal), ball, movie, more, please, thank you, bye (before he would just say See-ya, now he does both), "it's ok", Pooh (as in Winnie the Pooh), baby, cow (and Moo when we ask him what the cow says) and again. I think there are more but that's all I can think of right now. As you can see his vocabulary is picking up and we are so excited.

Playing outside in our driveway that is a huge puddle most of spring

Loves: He loves to play in puddles (typical boy), enjoys wearing his new rain boots of which is was not a fan of at first, loves to wear his jacket around the house which is hilarious to us since he hated putting on a jacket most of winter, loves to eat and drink/ask for juice, loves Veggie Tales, loves to hold hands (unless we actually want him to so we can cross the road or something), loves going to the farm (Papa's) and knows exactly which roads will take him there and which ones will not, loves tractors, four-wheelers, and the gator, loves to swing, loves to read books and loves to be outside. Loves to have us sing to him and says "again" every time we finish a song.

Hates: Hates getting his diaper changed unless he has his blankie or rhino, hates sharing and really lets you know it, recently he does not like having water put on his head unless he does it himself (never had a problem with this before), also recently screams for about 5 seconds when we put him down to bed or a nap (another thing he did not use to do), hates being seat belted in the pick-up but is completely ok with it in the van, hates when daddy leaves in the morning.

Not sure that this is a hate for him but he now has started getting up crying usually once during the night. This started about two weeks ago and we can't figure out why. He has always been such a good sleeper. Some night we go into his room and rub his back or hold him for a min and then he goes right back to bed and other nights we just leave him and let him cry it out for a little while. I can't figure out for the life of me why he is doing this but I hope it ends soon.

(I apologize for the poor quality pictures of Josiah as they were from my phone)

Pregnancy:

This pregnancy has been different in a lot of ways yet similar in the fact that I still really dislike being pregnant, I had morning sickness (though a lot longer this time around), I have bad acid reflux, and my ankles are swollen. The main difference is how huge I am getting so much quicker this time around. Seriously, this is not a joke...I'm huge. I am 32 weeks pregnant and feel like I did (comfort wise and in size) when I was ready to give birth to Josiah. This is the first prego picture I have taken thus far for this pregnancy simply because I feel so unattractive, but to give you a comparison here you go.

34 Weeks prego with Josiah

32 Weeks prego with baby girl

Side by side shot.

I even tried to wear the same outfit to show the difference. Let me remind you that the most recent picture is two weeks earlier in the pregnancy (I didn't have a 32 week picture from Josiah). I'm large and in charge this time around. I am constantly worrying about having a baby that is really big. Josiah was 8.1lbs and I don't think my body can handle birthing a baby larger then that.

I've also been entirely into "nesting". I blame it on the fact that I didn't get to next when I was pregnant with Josiah because we were moving a month after he was born from Illinois to South Dakota. This time though I am in full force, for nesting that is. Brett laughs at me a lot about this but has been very sympathetic and supportive in me doing it though this is probably because he is afraid of the ever waving roller coaster of emotions that I am. Last week I painted what will be the nursery and bought another gallon of paint to paint Josiah's room since he never had a properly decorated room. Besides our living room these are the only other rooms in the house that don't have white walls and I'm not sad to see them go.

Unwelcomed Visitors...

2011-03-29T09:02:00.002-05:00

We love to have visitors at our house but these last two were very much un-welcomed.

The first being an ear infection in our little man. Josiah is on his fourth antibiotic trying to kick this un-welcomed visitor out. We are seeing a specialist on Thursday where we will be discussing him getting tubes in his ears.

The second being kidney stones. Yuck! I woke up yesterday around 5 am in the worst pain I had ever experienced (it felt like giving birth). I had no idea what was going on inside my body I just knew that I was in terrible pain. We dropped Josiah off at Grandma Garnet's and Brett took me to the hospital where we stayed for the better part of a day getting an IV and and pain killers put into me to try and flush out the stone. Today, I am feeling like new!

Though we would welcome anyone through our doors with open arms I think we will be shutting these past two out.

Josiah Turns 2!

2011-03-17T20:38:00.005-05:00

Well I can't believe it but our little man is turning 2 tomorrow (March 18th)! Here are his stats, some of his favorites, and some things he really hates.

-Weighing in at 29lbs
-Loves to have books read to him. Specifically, "Winnie the Pooh A to Z", "Frosty the Snowman", "Gator Cleans House", "I was so Mad", "Peter Cottontail", and "Five Little Monkey's"...just to name a few.
-Hates getting washed up after a meal.
-Loves the idea of coloring but doesn't like to actually color.
-#1 favorite thing in his two year old world...Veggie Tales! He also feels the need to carry around his Veggie Tales cases.-Loves to "help" with the laundry
-Loves when mommy or daddy have to go potty...not sure why but he is fascinated with this.
-Loves to hold hands while we pray.
-Loves to climb up the stairs, sit, throw a toy down, laugh, and then slide down as fast as he can to get it just so he can do it all over again.-Hates to clap and does not like it when we try and get him to do it.
-Brush his teeth. This is more of a favorite "idea" he doesn't actually like the actual process of it.
-He is a ball of energy and 100% boy.
-He gets wild and crazy the minute Daddy gets home.
-Loves to play with his train set.
-Josiah continues to have speech therapy once a month. His favorite/most used words: juice, no, yeah, okay, done, help and up.
-Loves Ring Around the Rosie
-This is what he does with his arms when he is excited...
-Hates getting his diaper changed...it's always a battle.
-Loves being pushed on his tractor-Climbs onto everything resulting in a lot of bumps and bruises.
-Is obsessed with his blankie and rhino. He has a specific corner on his blankie that gets chewed on. Thankfully we have two of these blankies so that one can always be in the wash. He also chews on his rhino's nose which has now completely lost all of its stuffing.-Loves to sit on the bathroom counter (he could probably do this all day if we let him).
-Hates to get his hair cut. I'm serious when I say HATES. We gave him a trim tonight actually and he was screaming at that top of his lungs while Brett had to pin him down and I had to attempt to cut it. Let's just say his hair cut does not look very good :)
-Loves to play in the pantry.
-Loves the water...specifically baths (but not at other peoples houses). We set up the pool in our kitchen the other day in hopes that winter would be done soon.-Still is very shy around others but is becoming more and more open to others all the time.
-And of course he loves to capture the hearts of his Mommy and Daddy with his smiles.
I know there are a million more things I could write but for the sake of those of you reading this that are not grandparents I will stop here. Thanks for hanging in there this long!

Happy Birthday to our dear little man, we love you!

3rd Anniversary!

2011-02-16T09:35:00.006-06:00

Today I celebrate 3 of the best years of my life with the man whom I fall more in love with everyday. Though Brett had to leave early this morning for a farming conference 3 hours away for which I was a bit sad, he did leave me with a kiss and a special note on the bathroom mirror and now I look forward to his return later tonight! In a few weeks we plan on spending a weekend away to celebrate...is it here yet?

I wanted to post a few picture of our wedding day but they are on another hard drive so unless I decide to not be so lazy and hook it up to our computer I will just leave you with a few recent pictures from a wedding we were at in Arizona back in November. I must admit, my husband was the best looking best man I've ever seen!

I love you babe! I love knowing I get to spend the rest of my life with you. You are perfect in every way for me! And the flowers were the perfect ending to the day!

Boy or Girl?

2011-02-10T15:17:00.002-06:00

For all of you who were awaiting the results of our ultrasound today...

...you must wait longer. Not because I don't want to share the news because I would gladly do so if I knew myself. The ultrasound tech told us she thought it was a girl at first and was going to give us a 60/40 chance of it being a girl but then later told us that she wasn't even sure about that and really she could only give us a 50/50 chance. I was a bit bummed but very thankful that we have a healthy growing baby which is most important. My doctor told us at my apt. that if I want to at my next apt. in 4 weeks I can try and see if the ultrasound tech is busy or not and if not I can probably have them check quick just to see if they can tell the gender. Our little one was just a bit too busy in there and would not quick moving so here is to hoping we can still find out so I can have a bit of a chance to get things in case we have a girl.

Tomorrow...

2011-02-09T08:32:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to mention that tomorrow we get to find out the gender of our little one and I am more then a little excited. Brett is confident it is a boy and I'm sticking with it is a girl so I guess tomorrow we will find out who was right. We placed a bet awhile back about this but last night as we were getting ready to close our eyes for bed neither of us could remember what the bet was...hmmm we better come up with something quick :)

Doesn't get much better than this...

2011-02-04T12:47:00.002-06:00

...56 Fresh Oranges from Cali! Yep, that's right! As the UPS man pulled into our yard I was thinking, hmmm what could he be delivering? As is accustomed out here in nowheresville all UPS or postal service people come right into the house and drop it off in your entry way...no knock, no nothing. I'm come to really enjoy it because if I am busy I don't have to stop what I am doing to get the door or if we are gone we know our packages will still come and be safe inside our house. Anyway, back to the FRESH oranges from Cali. Brett's uncle and aunt live out in California and while they were here in town just after Christmas for Brett's mom's funeral I got to talking with them about their "heavenly oranges" that I was privileged to try last year around this time when they had sent them to Brett's grandma and grandpa. After much discussion about the beautiful fruit of California and realizing that they had their own orange tree in their back yard I was needless to say a bit jealous as I could look out the window and see the nasty winter we were experiencing outside presently. So as the UPS man drove up today and placed our package in our entry way I went out a few min. later to see what it was. I knew I hadn't ordered anything and I didn't think Brett had (or at least that I knew of). When I looked at the box and say "duraflame fire logs" and Brett's name on the package I thought what on earth could this be? Since I could throw out the obvious conclusion that it was not really fire logs due to the fact that we don't have a fireplace and began to rip open the box because I just had to know what was inside. As I opened it and saw 4 crates, 12 oranges (56 oranges) and realizing that they are from Brett's uncle and aunt I began to smile. And well let's just put it this way, I haven't stopped smiling yet. I just finished my first orange and as soon as I finish typing this I will get another! Words can not express how good these oranges are. Nothing like what we can buy here in the store. Ahhhh, a bit of heaven right in our home!

Wetting the Bed

2011-01-12T16:24:00.003-06:00

Just to start off with, despite the title of this post it is not myself or Brett who was the one wetting the bed but rather Josiah...the one who still wears diapers.

If any of you have seen my recent facebook status you will notice that we are having issues in our household of Josiah keeping his clothes on. Every time I turn around for a min. I find him with his pants and his diaper off. Of course then I try and get him redressed only for him to throw a fit that are putting clothes back on (Maybe we should move him to a nudest colony) and to find him only minutes later without his clothes again.

Anyway, as the story goes...

After a long nap on Josiah's part I enter his room to find him standing in his crib looking cute as can be holding his blankie and rhino (his two favorite things).

Getting a bit closer to his crib to get him out of it I then noticed this...

And this...

And then this...

Yep, he once again took of his pants and diaper. This time though he left a mark to prove it. A big wet mark!

So alas, I will ask again...

Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I would just potty train him now if I could be he is nowhere near being ready. (of course as I just finish writing this last line ready post this blog I look over and Josiah's naked...again...I better go...

Christmas Card

2010-12-22T14:58:00.003-06:00

As Christmas is just a few days away and I am yet to receive our Christmas cards in the mail so that we can begin to address and send them out I thought I would just post our Christmas card on here for all to see and wait in eager expectation until it arrives and is placed on your fridge :)

Speech

2010-12-18T14:25:00.004-06:00

Though sometimes I feel as though the days are never ending I still can't believe that our little man is 21 months old. Before we know it he will be turning 2 and then 18. But let's not get ahead of ourselves right?

With some very difficult things going on in our lives right now that seem to be constantly filling my brain I will try and keep my thoughts as organized as I can...

Before Josiah's 18 month check-up I was worrying a lot about his speech or lack-there-of but at his 18 month check up all was well. His speech had picked up a bit and he was saying the allotted amount of words that they wanted him to be saying. He was at the lower end of the spectrum but was still progressing so we felt comfortable and good with where he was at. Over the past few months it seemed that the words he was saying, he wasn't anymore. Brett and I talked and prayed a lot about what we should do and we had decided we would wait and give him a few more months to see what happens. That was our plan until about two weeks ago when his screaming skyrocketed. We went through about 3 days of it and decided that enough was enough. I called our Birth to 3 Area Connections and they came and did an evaluation. Of course just as we knew he was way behind in his speech. She then referred him to the county where they would do an evaluation on him as well. They came this last Thursday and will come again on Tuesday and then from there we will have a speech therapist come to our house.

Parenting has been THE hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life! It seems that one worry follows the next. Josiah's lack of speech has not only been frustrating for him but also really hard on Brett and I. I'm not sure that Brett has the exact same thoughts as I do but I really do struggle with feeling like I haven't been a good mom. That maybe his delay in speech is my fault. Not only are we feeling the strain of this speech issue but it seems to have made us short with each other and mostly a very short amount of patience for our son. This breaks my heart and I pray that the Lord can give me the patience I need each day to get through this.

We look forward to his speech therapy and are praying for quick results.

And just a quick look at what happens in our house if you don't hear any noise from your 21 month old...

I went into the living room to see what he was doing and I saw him playing and thought, "oh good, everything is fine". Then I looked at his face and thought, "what is all over his face?"

I took a few more steps into the kitchen to try and figure out what he had been into and sure enough he had taken the old coffee filter out of the garbage, apparently thought he would try it and I'm sure quickly realized that it doesn't taste good so why not just rip the bag apart and make a huge mess!

"The Well"

2010-12-11T11:12:00.002-06:00

A few days ago I went into town to drop something off at the post office. As I was getting Josiah out of the van a man walked by, we said our hello's and both proceeded with what we were doing. I got Josiah out of the van and walked to the door of the post office where I notice the guy was waiting to open the door for me. I thought, "gosh, what a nice man". He was standing inside and opened the door, I said thanks and proceeded to walk in when he stopped me and said...

Man: "you're the well"
Me: thinking what the heck is he talking about? "No, my last name is Huber"
Man: "No, I mean 'The Well'. " as he points to a poster on the wall
Me: feeling pretty dumb at this point "oh yeah, 'The Well'...yep that's me"

We continue to have a conversation about the poster and how he will be coming to Cafe Church (what the poster was advertising). I was excited to hear he was coming but than thought this guy must think I am an idiot if I don't even know that I am part of the group called "The Well".

I laughed about it later and told Brett the story and we both laughed again. Here's the poster...
About a year ago, Brett and I and a few of our close friends started a worship hour called "The Well" on Sunday evenings once a month held in Mobridge, SD which is a far bigger city than where we all live. Inspired by what most of us knew as "Vespers" from our college days we felt the need for an intimate hour of worship with the Lord which is something unheard of out here. After a lot of planning and seeking direction from the Lord we were able to start it up and have had a lot of positive feedback. The idea is to get all the surrounding community churches together for a time of corporate worship where we put aside our denominational backgrounds and just come and worship the Lord. We have incorporated a speaker/devotional into the hour where we have a new speaker each time and then a time for just silent prayer. It's been an amazing experience being able to be a part of this ministry and if any of you reading this live in the area we encourage you to come out and worship with us through song the last Sunday of every month at the Event Center in Mobridge.

Since becoming "The Well" we've had a few opportunities to use our gifts in other churches as we have been invited. The poster was from a nearby church that puts on a "Cafe Church" every few months and invited a band to come do background music during the cafe part of it and then lead the group in a time of worship after. Brett and I think this is just such a neat ministry that this church does and we were honored to be asked to be a part of it.

Time to let the cat out of the bag...

2010-11-03T20:34:00.004-05:00

This is Josiah's new shirt...

Three weeks ago I took the test...and...we're prego! Yep, that's right Josiah is going to be a big brother. At this point I am only a little over 7 weeks along so it's still early but as of the last week I am already beginning to remember some of the many reasons I did not like being pregnant. As nausea and extreme tiredness are setting in I'm beginning to think this is going to be a long haul to June.

After a night at the ER last night and an overnight stay at the hospital we were able to see our newest addition to our family. And because I know I probably can't just leave it at that I will share the story of my ER visit for those of you who want to know. If not than just end your reading here. :)

ER story...

...It all started about a half hour after I put Josiah down to bed last night. Brett was still out harvesting and so besides Josiah asleep up in his crib I was home alone. Because we were having Brett's uncle over for the night I thought I should tidy the house up a bit. As I was walking around the house cleaning up toys and crumbs all over the floor I began to feel some stomach pains. They grew in their intensity pretty quickly. It got to the point where I could hardly walk because I was in so much pain. My first thought was to go into the bathroom and try and go hoping it would help some of the pain. As I was sitting there my hearing started to fade and I broke into a sweat. Because I have had this happen many other times I knew that it meant I was maybe going to faint. I leaned back against the back of the toilet and that was the last I remember until I woke up on the floor with extreme pain on face and head and some blood on the floor next to me. I wasn't quite sure where I was so I just stayed their until I started to realize that I knew I was going to need some help. I had the phone in the bathroom with me because I was going to bring it up stairs since it was the phone that goes in our bedroom but because it wasn't the main phone none of our preset number were in it. Being so out of it the only number I could remember was my husbands so I called...and called...and called. No answer. I then clicked the last call that was made to our house and called it. Long story short it was our good friends house just a few miles from us. As my friend stayed on the phone with me while her husband drove them over to our house they came and helped clean me up a bit while getting a hold of my husband. Brett was at our house shortly after and since we knew I was pregnant and had a bloody lip and a cut on my nose from the fall Brett decided to take me in to the ER. On the 50 mile trip to the ER I began having stomach pains again and once again passed out only to awake to Brett saying my name and me having no idea where I was.

Ok so long story short they ran a bunch of tests, had a MRI and CT scan, some blood work, hooked up to an IV, and had a ultra sound to make sure the baby was ok. Since I had passed out a couple of times they decided I should stay over night. I was given the ok to leave in the morning and thanks to some other good friends who took Josiah for the morning and afternoon I was able to get the nasty hospital smell off of me with a shower and then a long 3.5 hour nap that was much needed. Now I'm home! Feeling a bit tired and left with a big lip, cut on the nose, and a few bruises but so thankful for great friends who take care of us and for a God who keeps protection over us.

I'll leave it at that.

Little Man

2010-10-24T22:07:00.002-05:00

I can't help but wonder where my baby boy has gone. When I look at him I think he looks like such a "little man" now. Still so cute and those cheeks are still to die for but I just can't believe how quickly he has "grown" up. Here is a recent picture from the other day where I think he looks rather big boyish.

Just because...

2010-10-14T15:35:00.004-05:00

Not a whole lot has happened lately that seems worthy of a blog post but I did get some pictures of Josiah when we were playing outside on this beautiful fall morning. I will leave it at that. Enjoy.

Just because this was too funny not to post. Josiah wearing a bra...he loves to carry this around.

These last photos are from a few weeks ago when Josiah and I were waiting for Brett so we could ride with him in the combine (Josiah's favorite thing) during soybean harvest.

CustomInk.com

2010-10-07T14:32:00.005-05:00

When we decided to do the Gumbo Gopher 5K we knew we had to have t-shirts. Getting another t-shirt is what makes me want to do more 5K's. I came across a company called CustomInk.com, where their logo is, "You think it. We ink it." Having never ordered or made t-shirts through a company before I really had no idea what I was doing but they were wonderful to work with. Also, knowing that we were ordering over $1,000 in t-shirts I wanted to make sure they were going to be good ones. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of them. They are soft and worn-in, which I love.

Anyway, the week after the race I received an e-mail from customink.com saying they heard that our t-shirts were ordered for a charity event and wanted to know which charity we were making a donation to. I responded and told them that all the proceeds ($3,971.33) were going to OCRF which is Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. They then responded back to me and said that they would like to make a $50 donation in our name. This makes our total $4,021.33! I was shocked. They told me that they like to make a small donation to each charity event that they hear of. So not only was this company wonderful to work with but this went above and beyond my expectations of a t-shirt company.

Then, today I received another e-mail from customink which told me that our photo (I had submitted a photo from the race with our customink t-shirts on) won the "Ink of the Week" contest which means we were given $100 in store credit for our next purchase through the company. Really, do it get any better than that? I think not. Looks like we already have $100 for our 5K for next year then!

Just thought I would fill everyone in on an amazing company to go through if you ever need t-shirts. CustomInk.com is the place to go.

Gumbo Gopher 5K

2010-09-21T20:20:00.006-05:00

On Saturday we hosted the first Lowry Gumbo Gopher 5K. Earlier in the week I had ran the course with my friend Courtney who had been doing the couch to 5K training with me. We decided we wanted to "try it out" and see if we could make it. It felt great for both of us and I felt this sense of pride that I had accomplished my first 5K a few days earlier than the actual race.

Saturday morning arrived bright and early with an alarm at 6am so Brett and I could get the last min. stuff ready for the race. What we thought was going to be 15 people when we first started planning the 5K turned out to be near 150 people in the small town of Lowry with the population of 11. I think it's safe to say that Lowry was a booming town on Saturday morning. All the proceeds from the race are going to support Ovarian Cancer Research in honor of my mother-in-law who is battling ovarian cancer. We are proud to say that we raised almost $4500 which does not include the 1200 we spent on purchasing the t-shirts that each runner/walker/biker would receive. I'm still in a bit of shock when I think of how much money was raised from a race that we thought would have 15 people.

Sonja (my mother-in-law) was unable to make it to the event due to being in the hospital but Brett and I took our computer and all the pictures from the day and brought them to the hospital to show her later that night.

Not only did I never think we would have so many people register to race and so much money raised but I also never thought in my life I would do any sort of running race. I know to many of you a 5K is nothing but after 11 weeks of training for this I'm proud to say that I have now accomplished a bit over a 3 mile run and I didn't die doing it. I am going to continue to run and hopefully find some more 5K's the be involved in to help keep me motivated.

Thanks to everyone who supported me in this challenge and to everyone who helped make the Gumbo Gopher 5K a reality. I also want to thank everyone who participated here in Lowry and those who participated from their own location (Illinois, Oregon, and other cities in South Dakota).

We hauled people to the starting line in horse trailers.

How a SD race starts...with a shot gun!

Bikers leading the way.

The leaders for the runners. 3 Huber boys. Austin (white shirt) won first place, Clint (green shirt) got second, and the good-looking guy in the gray (my hubby) got 3rd! Way to go Huber's!

Finish line! I was sure glad to see this!

Running for our wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandma!

(pictures taken by William, Amber, and Naomi)

First Hair Cut

2010-08-18T12:48:00.005-05:00

That's right, Josiah is today officially 17 months old and just yesterday received his first hair cut. He wasn't all that thrilled about it but wasn't screaming either. The idea was to just give him a trim to even out his hair a bit but we realized that wasn't going to work right away so we decided to just buzz it. I was hoping to get a picture while in the midst of the hair cut but since Brett had to hold him on his lap and I had to do the cutting there was no one to take a picture. Although, we did snap a few after his cut while he was not enjoying the moment. It was probably a good thing that we had to do it all so quickly (due to an upset boy who wouldn't hold still) because otherwise I think I would have got a little teary eyed. After we were done and put him in the bath I sat there and just thought where has my little baby gone? He looks so different. Still so cute, but different. It's amazing what a little hair cut can do.

My boys. Quick break from the clippers to snap a picture.

By the end this is what we got...one not happy little boy.

Finished results...his first buzz cut.

Today at lunch. 17 months old!

We also, just got back from a weekend with friends at a cabin in Spearfish Canyon. It was fun to get away for a weekend and be with friends from home, but away from home. Make sense? I was also amazed by Spearfish Canyon. I would have thought I was in another state besides South Dakota by the beauty of it all (not that South Dakota isn't beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty than I am used to). There were trees everywhere as we winded our way up the curvy canyon roads. One of my favorite places to be is in the mountains and this made me feel like I was there. We didn't get a lot of pictures but I'll post the few that I have.

On the ride there. This is what he looks like when he hears Veggie Tales.

My good looking guys again!

Josiah climbs on everything...literally.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders.

Josiah wasn't too happy at this moment so we couldn't get him to look at the camera.

Week 7

2010-08-09T14:49:00.003-05:00

I know it's been a long time coming since my last post and though it has been awhile this one is still going to be short and sweet as Josiah and I will be hopefully heading to the pool this afternoon.

I'm on Week 7 of my Couch to 5K training! That's about 6 weeks longer than I have ever done any sort of running for exercise before. Although I am on week 7 of training I am actually only on week 5 of the training schedule. My friend, Courtney (whom I am doing this with) had some bad problems with her knees and had to take some time off of the training. I thought it wouldn't hurt to repeat the week so I stayed one week back. Then last week (week 5) I missed my last two runs because I didn't make enough time. I had been busy last week with photo shoots and as the story goes I just didn't fit running into the schedule. When I went for my run today I decide to stay on week 5 since I had missed some days. Although I am sad I am behind I'm happy because Courtney and I are now back to running the same week!

Couch to 5K has been incredible for me. This is the only thing that has kept me from burning myself out and quitting.

One last thing...

Finding a 5K near us around the time we are wanting has been incredibly hard so today I finally made the leap and made a facebook event for the Lowry Gumbo Gopher 5K that will take place on Sept. 18th! The best part about it (aside from the fact that I will actually be running 3.1 miles consecutively) is we are making t-shirts!!! I designed the shirts and now am just waiting for people to get their registration forms in! In honor of my mother-in-law who is battling ovarian cancer we are going to send all proceeds from this event to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. I'm excited that I am doing something healthy and that in some small way I can help my mother-in-law and all others who are fighting the same battle.

This may or may not be the actual color of the shirt.
Those who register get a chance to vote on a color they would like.

Family Trip to Ely, MN

2010-07-19T09:59:00.005-05:00

Late Saturday night we arrived back home from a week long stay in Ely, MN with Brett's side of the immediate family. After a week with family, taking in the view of God's creation, meeting up with good friends, and everything else in between I wasn't quite ready to pack up and leave on Saturday morning. Josiah was able to spend some good quality time with his twin cousins who are 6 months older and his aunt and uncles along with time with Grandma and Grandpa. There were 13 of us total in a 4 bedroom 1 bathroom cabin on the beautiful Clear Lake in Ely, MN and although that may sound chaotic and maybe might have been for some but I enjoyed every minute of it. I love Ely, MN, I love fishing, I love all the beautiful trees that Minnesota has to offer, and I love my in-laws which to me equals a wonderful week up in the woods.

On our way up to Ely we stayed at my brothers which is close to a half way point for us which really helped to break up the trip a little bit and we also were able to enjoy time with my brother, sister-in-law and their son (4 months older than Josiah). I had found out the week before we left that my Grandmother (on my dad's side, whom I was named after) was not doing well and they didn't think she would have much longer to live. My Grandparents only live about an hour from my brother so we were able to stop in and see her late a night when we arrived. It's hard to see someone in so much pain and not completely all there but I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to visit with her and see a couple of my uncles that I haven't seen in nearly 10 years. We found out while up in Ely that she passed away. I think I still haven't completely processed that she is gone. We didn't find out that she passed away until a few days later and it was late in the evening the night before the funeral so we were unable to make it which part of me is thankful for. I like my last memories of my Grandma to be ones of her holding my hand at her bedside.

I feel as though I have stopped abruptly but I don't have any other words at the moment. I will end with pictures from our trip. If you haven't even been I would encourage you to take a trip up to Ely and experience the beauty God has given that place.

Brett and Josiah getting ready to swim.

Brett, Josiah, Dan, and Anna swimming in the lake.

Tim & Sonja (my father and mother-in-law)

Brett's "normal" let me take a picture of you face

Spending time in Ely with my good friend Becky

Brett fishing.

Fishing while the sun is setting.

Dan and Brett fishing.

Enjoying the sunset

The love of my life.

Heidi and Anna

Dan and Evelyn

The whole gang