A few updates...

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...

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!

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!

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?

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...

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...

...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!