Annual Walsh/Thuente Camping weekend...

This past weekend was the second annual Walsh/Thuente camping weekend. My siblings and our families (I can say that now because we have Josh!) get together with my Dad's sister's kids and their families. We grew up camping with their family and eventually our parents bought lake lots up north right next to eachother. Last year we decided we needed to start camping again. We had such a great time that we are going to make it an annual event. So this past weekend was the second annual trip and we found an awesome campground.

The planning was similar to last year. A ton of emails going back and forth between the 12 of us. Inevitably my brother Joe and my cousin Greg would get annoyed with the mass emails and just wait until someone called them to tell them what they were responsible for bringing. Jim and I put together a spreadsheet with what each and every person was assigned to bring, when people were expecting to arrive, what meals were going to be made and by whom. It was a bit ridiculous... but wouldn't be an event with the Kirkwoods without a spreadsheet!

The campground was wonderful. We were off in the Wilderness sites which allowed us to be as loud as we wanted to be. There was definitely a hike to the bathrooms but they did have running water and showers. Next year we are thinking about renting a porta-potty so we can have something close by to use... the woods looked pretty bad with T.P. everywhere from us squatting.

We had another keg this year and had absolutely no problem polishing it off by early Saturday evening. We played Tippy Cup, layed out by the pool, the boys played some basketball, and had some awesome food! It was a great time.

Josh did very well. He was pretty happy for the most part. And he slept so well... I think he likes the cooler weather! And yes - we got matching T-shirts - and they found a little red one and had that one printed just for Josh. It was hilarious!

A run down of the photos... obviously the first one is the group photo complete with keg and Hilo. Next is Joshua sporting this years shirt and a color coordinating sweatband thanks to my cousin Greg. It was hilarious - and he didn't mind wearing it for most of the morning. Then we have Josh and my brother Joe. I think he might be getting used to being an Uncle! Then Josh's godparents - Shannon and Steve. And finally - the parents to be - my cousin Pat and his wife Sarah. Pat insists that you need to talk to babies like they are adults - not use baby talk. So this picture captures his "adult" conversation with Josh.

Special shout out to my sister Shannon - Happy Birthday to you! She is a quarter of a century! We love you!

Rainy weekend = lots of cuddling...

So the weather has been MUCH cooler the last few days. I always look forward to the changing season - as it means pulling out clothes that haven't been worn in a while. Like sweatshirts! This weekend Jim went to a bachelor party for his buddy Mark. He left Friday night after we went to a friends going away party. So it was just Josh, Hilo, and I all weekend. Friday night we got home from the party around 10 pm and I had put Josh down and gotten into bed myself by 10:30... I woke up at 5:30 am to being extremely uncomfortable... yes - I had just slept for 7 continuous hours.... I debated on waking Josh up to see if he was hungry, but decided even if he was - I was way too full and would end up making him mad... so I pumped. 13 oz! yeah, that is why it hurt.

I went back to bed and got in at least another half hour before Josh woke up. He was definitely hungry. I fed him from a bottle and then he sat up and played with me for maybe another half hour. By 7 he was tired and so I put him back down in his crib. I layed back down... and then woke up to Josh crying - it was now 10:30 am!!!! I think we were both a bit tired.

Saturday we hung out with Mandy and her two little ones. That night we watched some TV and again went to bed early. This morning we went to Church. It was interesting being there without Jim. I carried him into church and opted not to bring in the carseat... and it ended up being a good idea. He was very content sitting on my lap and looking around at everyone and everything. He has definitely grown... he is babbling more and more and on a couple occasions, decided to yell - thankfully it was when everyone was singing so it was only noticed by those right around us. In a few weeks he will be baptised. I am looking forward to that. He will be much older than most of the babies we see getting baptised, but I think that might be better. Maybe he will be more alert... Who knows. :)

So this weekend I again attempted to get some video together and to post it on the blog. I can't even get it onto the computer. UGH! I even pulled out the instructions... Jim has been able to get it onto the computer finally. But I think our computer is lacking enough space to do the editing.

Well - have a good week everyone... Can you believe August is almost over???

Getting SO big!

So - I have been wanting to upload new pictures of Josh... and our internet hasn't been working since last Thursday. I have been going crazy! But now we are back in business. So here we go... The first picture might be my favorite now. He is getting closer and closer to a giggle. I can't WAIT for him to start laughing. Right now it is a silent grin... Still darn cute if you ask me.

Other news... he rolls from his back to his side. He is not a fan of this new manuever however. He will be perfectly content on his back, kicking and swatting at the toys above. Then roll over and just start SCREAMING until you help him roll back onto his back. So funny!

He is still getting up at least once during the night to eat. And sometimes it is more. We are getting better at trying other things before going right to a feeding. We have found that he hates to be wet. So that is the first thing we check and almost always he will fall right back to sleep as soon as the clean diaper is on him. Maybe this means potty training will be easy... yeah right!

He LOVES the jumparoo. I knew he would though because all he did was push off of my ribs when he was in my belly... it was inevitable that he would have strong little legs and constantly want to stand.

Josh has very good head control and we can hold him up by his upper thighs now... he gets SO excited when we do this. He is sitting up pretty well with some help from mom. And tummy time is still not a favorite. He is getting better though. Now he can lift up his head and look at toys out in front of him. A huge improvement from before.

This past weekend we had our friends Ryan and Anne come to visit. They spent the night with us on Thursday and we had a great time at happy hour and then softball. Friday they went to Ryan 's parents. That same day Jim's parents came to town. Grandma and Grandpa Kirkwood were SO excited to see Josh. Saturday Jim and I went to a party in the afternoon and then came back to have dinner with his parents. They volunteered to continue watching Josh while Jim and I had a night out. I literally bolted upstairs and got a cute shirt on and a skirt. I even put on perfume. Jim came upstairs just as I sprayed on the perfume and goes - oh it is going to be one of those nights. He quickly changed and we were off to meet our friends Kristen and Tyler for dinner. It was so much fun. We headed out on the town for drinks after this and made it to a few bars and out on the dance floor. We even ran into two different friends who were having their bachelor and bachelorette parties. Ryan and Anne met up with us at the last bar and of course joined us fo the late night food run to Sal's pizzeria. It was a great night out. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for coming to town!

This week has been pretty crazy busy. I am very busy at work and so is Jim. Hours have been long at work and so Josh has been at daycare longer than I would like each day. I am hoping next week will be different.

What is new....

Well we are still adjusting to our work/daycare life. It has been a very busy week and a half already. Adjusting has been way harder than I thought it would be. I miss him definitely, but functioning at work and then spending time with him is very hard to do on the 5-6 hours of sleep. I am trying to get to bed earlier and earlier... but it never seems to happen. There is always something to do.

Pumping at work has been really easy so far. I have an office right now and so I can just shut my door and everyone leaves me alone. I can actually go through email too... so that is nice. I am moving though next week to the main building. There I will be in a cube so I won't be able to pump at my desk. The room they have for us to use is about a 15 minute walk... so it is going to take way more out of my day that it currently does. Hmm.... not going to be so easy!

Josh is adjusting pretty well to daycare. The first week he wasn't eating more than 1-2 ounces at a feeding. I knew that wasn't normal. Finally Jim suggested this weekend that we try the size 2 flow nipples. And he sucked down 4.5 ounces... good job Dad! So this week he is easily eating 3.5 - 5 ounces at a feeding. I need to start pumping more! ha ha!

He is sleeping very well there and adjusting to life at home too. We have him down to getting up once at night now... It is fantastic! Except for last night when he decided to eat every 2 hours. Ah well. We do miss seeing him in the morning. He is SO happy and smiley in the morning. In the evenings he is pretty tired so he is only awake for about an hour or so... So that is hard and makes us miss him that much more!

What else... Happy belated birthday Jack (my little bro). He is the big 16 now! Good luck on your drivers test today... I know you will ace it because you are a better driver than me!

Tonight our friends Ryan and Anne come into town... very very excited to see them and for them to meet Josh. Then tomorrow Jim's parents come to town for the weekend. It will be so nice to have them in town. Not sure what the plans will be... but I am sure we will find something to do! :)

I also am posting a link to Josh's professional 3 month picks. Well there is only one on the website. It is the first one in the infant slideshow. Super cute. I wish he were smiling in it, but nonetheless he is still cute and GETTING SO BIG!!!

http://www.holdrenphoto.com/imagevue.swf

So far so good!

So we have made it to 3 consecutive days of work for me and daycare for Josh. We are both doing pretty well so far. I definitely miss him but haven't cried when dropping him off yet. It has been nice though because he is super happy in the morning. If he were crying - I would be too.

I am also sending out prayers to everyone in MN right now. I have heard that my immediate family is all safe, however can't get a hold of anyone anymore with the 651 or 612 area code. That 35W bridge is such a common route... I pray that you are all safe and sound. The next week will no doubt be full of unanswered questions...