looking back and heading out

tomorrow morning we leave for a week at disney world. yikes!

pray for our sanity
pray that it's not too hot
pray that we don't lose any kids
pray that ryan thinks it's fun to wait in long lines for rides in the 90 degree heat

ha ha, well we've lived through it once. and we will again. plus we'll return with lots of fun memories & pictures :)

just for fun i'm posting some pictures of our last trip.
(sorry sarah, i know this is one big tease!!)

drew & ben
olivia & garrett


yum yum! the kids want "swirly popsicles" as soon as we get there :)

cheer up alex :)

ahh, the fun of strollers on the monorail or shuttle bus at night with tired kids...
note to self/kids: this is the happiest place on earth :)

(double click to see how huge ryan was!!)

ok, this last picture wasn't from disney. it was taken a few days before we went. i just think it's funny how huge ryan (2 months) is in this picture, especially given my current perspective on babies :)

i'm fat AND my mom has me in a pumpkin hat. yeish!

ok, i'm off to finish packing...
stop back next week to see if we survived :)

"livin' the dream"

i have no idea how olivia came upon this phrase, but here's what it means to her...

"mom, i'm livin' the dream playing playdough!!!"


"hey look! i'm livin' the dream blowing bubbles!!"

this next one is my personal favorite. just a little background first... olivia & garrett sit in the 3rd seat of the suburban. olivia can buckle herself in. garrett can only do his top buckle so olivia does the bottom for him since i refuse to venture into the 3rd seat area.

(it's a pit. scraps of paper, old french fries, fruit snack wrappers, etc. just another reason i NEED the dyson root. but i digress...)

anyways, olivia gets sick of doing his bottom buckle because he kind of can do it himself, he's just lazy. so here's what she said the other day...

"ahhhhh! i can't stand doing his bottom buckle. he's just sitting here livin' the dream with his hands behind his head. it's so not fair!!! garrett, i'm not doing your buckle anymore!!!!"

his response... in true garrett fashion, he totally ignored her and looked out the window :)

so here's to livin' the dream whatever it might look like it.

if ryan could talk...

...here's what he'd say.

"hey stacy, love what you've done with the walls!"

"we're the modern family. me and my 2 dads!"

this post is a tad belated...but thanks for a fun night, barnetts.
we miss you guys!!!

litte miss josie

it's been a while since i've written a whole post about josie. so here goes...

at 4 months, we can finally say that josie sleeps through the night. (and that sentence guarantees me that she'll be up every 2 hours tonight!) she gets 1 bottle a day at around 10-11pm and then she sleeps till 5-6am. after that she nurses every 3hours-ish and usually sleeps most of the time in between feedings. unless, of course, we are in the car. that in case she's awake and mad :)

at 4 months, josie has become a "regular" at the hospital. today we were waiting to get her follow-up chest x-ray taken. one of the blood draw lab people walked past, saw us, came back and told me how big josie is looking. that's when you know your kid is a "regular" at the hospital.

at 4 months, josie has lots of nicknames. at some point during the day you'll hear her being called: josie posie
posie
pos
jo
jo jo
little sister
joseph (garrett thinks he's pretty funny when he uses this one)

at 4 months, josie is too big for her preemie clothes. she's moved up to the newborn size and occasionally wears some of the cute 0-3m clothes that line her drawers. they are big, but not huge. she hasn't been weighed in a few weeks, but i think she's pretty close to 7lbs.

at 4 months, josie still gets the "ohh, how old is your newborn" question. or the "is she a newborn?" sometimes i say she's 4 months and sometimes i just let them think she's a newborn.

at 4 months, josie loves her sling, her papasan chair, her swing...and most importantly, her pacifier :)

and finally... at 4 months, josie wishes her mom would update this blog header. what girl wants a picture of a feeding tube taped to her face? and she also wants her mom to update her shutterfly pictures. well...a girl can dream :) someday...

1000 words

this picture just cracks me up. ryan has his "excited yet devious" look on his face. an expression we see quite often these days. and josie looks more than a tad petrified at the prospect of growing up with ryan has her big brother :)

and when 1 kid gets to hold josie...everyone gets a chance...


ok, in all fairness to ryan, josie has that petrified look all the time :)

from a kid who's failed several hearing tests...

garrett: i want to see PAM PU PANDA.

me: garrett, it's KUNG FU PANDA.

garrett: noooooo mom. it's PAM PU PANDA. say PAM.

me: PAM

garrett: say PU

me: PU

garrett: PANDA

me: PANDA

garrett: good job. you got it!!

the wedding weeekend

this past weekend we went back to minnesota to celebrate matt & stacy's wedding. we had so much fun catching up with old friends. here are a few pictures...

the rehearsal dinner at the elholtz's house
(there was a beautiful rainbow out over the water that the camera couldn't get)

congrats matt & stacy!!!

tornado warning = fun in the yacht club basement

the boys (and girls) of summer

before & after

here are a few pictures from a recent soccer game. i've had a little fun trying my hand at photoshop. it's amazing at what you do to a picture. i know that i'm only scratching the surface of what a "professional" could do.

well i'm no pioneer woman, but have a look...

now if only i could photoshop the actual grass at my house...

where to begin...

wow. it's been a while since i've written anything. well things here have been busy.
to sum it up....we've been at the doctor lots in the last few weeks.

our trips went a little something like this...
*failed hearing tests - olivia (her 3rd failure) & garrett (his 2nd failure)
*ear infection - garrett
*respiratory infection - ryan
*eye check up - josie ( she passed!)
*chest congestion - josie
*more chest congestion - josie
*more & more chest congestion - josie

the bright side of all these appointments is that we've gotten to weigh josie quite a bit. as of yesterday she's up to a whopping 6lbs 6oz :)

in the next few days josie should be seeing a pediatric pulmonologist to make sure her lungs haven't suffered from her congestion. yesterday, her chest x-ray showed some fluid on her right lung, so it's just a precaution. then olivia & garrett are off to an pediatric ent to see if they really can't hear. the solution could be tubes, allergy meds, etc. we shall see...

but it hasn't been all stethoscopes and antibiotics. we've had plenty of summer fun.
i have plenty of fun pictures to post... stay tuned.