Lance Update

 

 

So Lance was rescued by the Carolina Poodle Rescue (after he bit Josh in the face, not bad, but bad, yeah know?). Anyway, the gentleman who picked Lance up has 2 poodles already. He is only staying there temporarily, while waiting for transport to South Carolina.

So it looks like he has made friends, and is happy playing with the other poodles. I miss him terribly, but I am happy to see him happy. Now I just hope he goes to a happy, loving family.

Giant Ear!

 

Holy Cow! In the time span of one shopping trip to Meijer's - Josh's one ear grew, and grew, and grew. His poor ear was hot to the touch. After inspection, I couldnt' find an insect bite. So, off to the doctor's office. He was saying it hurt, and he was itching it. The doctor also looked for an insect bite, and couldn't find one. So it was diagnossed as a skin infection.

It's interesting what can happen in the span of 45 minutes!

The Kiddie Olympics!

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I HATE Nemo!

It's a very rainy day here, so I decided to have a "movie day" for Josh. The Disney channel was playing Finding Nemo, so I thought "perfect, one he hasn't really seen."

At first he was kinda bored with the movie. He would walk away and play and do his own thing, which was fine with me, seems like the perfect movie. One that keeps his attention every once in a while, but that he's not so engrossed in that he doesn't play. I thought this would be one we watched again.

That is, until the end. For those of you who don't know the story of Nemo, he gets taken away from his dad, and the whole movie is about his dad finding him. At the end, after his dad finds him, Dory (the other main fish in the movie) gets trapped in a very large fisherman's net, and Nemo decides to save her. So Dory and Nemo are on top of this very large pile of fish in the net, and the top of the net makes it out of the water. Nemo and Dory start flappin' around, and Nemo's dad (who is still in the water) is convincing the fish to swim down to escape from the net.

This scene made Josh start to cry - and cry hard. He was saying "nemo gone mommy! nemo gone!" over and over again. He was terrified. In the, Nemo is fine and reunited with his daddy. But Josh was too busy crying to see that part. So I had to rewind the movie and show him that Nemo was with his daddy. I thought that would calm him down. It did, but he was still very upset.

This all happened right before nap time. I took him back to his room, and was sitting in his chair with him about to read him a story, and he started to get upset again and say "nemo gone mommy." I promised him that Nemo was with his daddy, and they were both ok. That seemed to settle him down, but he passed out while I was reading his book to him. I think the whole situation exhausted him.

So, no one get him a fish that looks like Nemo. No Nemo movies, coloring books, or stuffed animals.

And lord knows, I hope none of our fish die anytime soon!

"Awww So Cute"

As many of you know, this is one of Josh's new phrases. He will grab Tiggy (his blanket) and say "Aww Tiggy so cute." It kills me. Well, he did something today that made me say "awww so cute."

I was watching Erin (Paula's little girl) today while Paula was off at an appointment. Erin was sitting by herself and playing with blocks. We have the Elmo medical kit, and the medical case is just a plastic Elmo head, but it looks kinda like a briefcase. Well, Josh grabs the Elmo briefcase, goes over to Erin, kisses her on her check, and says "Bye Erin. See you later. Going work" and then walks to the garage door. So you can only imagine what he sees every morning when Ben goes to work. But Ben doesn't carry a briefcase, he carries a laptop backpack.

All in all, it took me by surprise and made me laugh. It's amazing to watch the imagination.

A Very Useful Mom

 

 

 

Time for a change of pace. I felt the need to finally get Josh's crib out of his room, and I had finished sprucing up the train table that we got used from someone. After some elbow grease, and chalkboard paint for the table top, it looks good and was ready to put in his room. Josh was SO excited. He's never really had his toys in his room, and we were worried he wouldn't go to sleep. Luckily, he seemed to believe that the trains were sleeping for the night. I also added his toy bins to his room. All in an attempt to remove some of the clutter from our family room. We'll see how it goes.

Obituary

 

Susan Elizabeth Vieweg

 

I hate to put this on my blog, but as this is about our life, this seems to be a big enough event to publish, no matter how sad. My mother passed away this morning after a hard battle with breast cancer. She was a strong and brave woman, and I will miss her terribly.
Thanks to everyone who have kept her in your thoughts and prayers. I have appreciated all of the support.

Sad Update

As most of you know, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in late December. Well, it looks like the long, hard battle is coming to an end. After spreading to her lungs and brain, it is now in her spinal fluid, and there is no longer a chemo or drug that will fight the cancer.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayer during this time. Please keep her in your thoughts as she makes her final journey.

You're a very Useful Engine!

 

 

So we leave the baptism party for Logan, and we're not 5 minutes away when I get a call from Allyson. She says "hey, the lady across the street is giving away her Thomas the Train table and some track, and I thought of Josh. Do you want it?"

Now, we have a train table already, but the track is expensive (for what you get), and he doesn't have a ton. Plus, I'm thinking I can put the other table in his room. So I say "She's GIVING it away?" This stuff is expensive after all, and I'm thinking she missed a money making opportunity. Sure enough, she is giving it away. So we take it!

After some cleaning with clorox wipes, Josh now has a ton of tracks. There were also trains, but they were the metal ones, so we are holding on to those for a while. I haven't cleaned up the table yet, but that is on my "to-do" list.

After he woke up from his nap that day, he saw the new train layout (including some new big pieces like the mountain pass and mine shaft), his eyes got huge and he came running over! Now he's saying "Play trains!" even more.

So a huge thanks goes out to Allyson for calling us, and to the lady across the street!

Ellison Rose

 

My beautiful niece was born yesterday right after 2 pm! She weighs 9 lb 3 oz, and is 21 3/4" long. Abbie did really well, they started the induction process at 7 am, and with 10 minutes of pushing, she joined the world a bit after 2 pm! She's a sweetheart, and mom and baby are doing well.
We look forward to spending lots of time with her!

The Wagner Visit

 

The Wagner family came to visit! Actually, they came to look at houses because they are moving here!! YEAH! And they stayed with us while they started their search. I watched Erin and Josh while Paula and Ryan put a bid on a house. The sellers of the house are being stupid, so the deal didn't go through, but I had fun watching the two of them. I can't wait for more fun times with them!

FOXY!

 
Seriously, we have wild kingdom in our backyard. Last year we had a baby woodchuck and its momma, as well as a Cooper's Hawk eating its prey in the front yard (blue jays were squawking and dive bombing the whole time)

Today, after I put Josh down for his nap, I came out to the family room and Lance was laying low and growling. I look outside and there were 3 baby foxes having a good ol' time. One was just sitting there, looked at me, and I think he was thinking "what you staring at??"

Now I am trying to figure out how to get rid of them! Most of the numbers, including animal control and the DNR, won't deal with them. And those that do handle it are pricey.

I need to get rid of these things! but, they are cute.

Slumber Party

 
Paula and Erin came to visit us the past few days, and the kids had a blast. This morning, while they were still in their pjs, they decided to have some fun jumping on Josh's bed. It was great to see them playing together so well. It seemed to be the first time they played together, not just next to each other. Erin loved to hide in the corners of the rooms all over the house, and Josh would run and find her. We always have so much fun with them!

Good God It's Cold!

 
This month has been a busy month. Abbie and I threw Sam her bridal shower, and then a few weeks later, Sam and I threw Abbie a baby shower. I feel like I've been showering all over the place! Sam's wedding plans are going well, and Abbie looks like she's ready to have that baby - even though she's not due until the end of May.
Josh and I went and visited my mom up north (after a stop to Erin and Paula's house). She's doing well, and the chemo is making her tired, but nothing like the previous chemos she has had.
Josh had his first push-pop, and his response was "COLD"
Other than all of that, just the normal month, with play dates, and what not.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We've had a busy month, and here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Our friends, Bunk and Michelle, came for a visit one day with their two cute kiddos, Monica and Bryce. I did manage to take 2 pictures, neither of which are very good, but I was too busy catching up to use the camera.

Joshua had a great Easter. He really liked hunting for the Easter eggs, and loved eating the candy that morning. Needless to say, he didn't eat the big breakfast I made for us. I made 48 cupcakes to take to the dinner that Barb and Laurie hosted for us (very yummy) - but with so many other yummy sweet things there, there were a TON leftover, and since neither Ben nor I have an office to take them to, Barb's coworkers will enjoy them tomorrow - Happy Easter INHP!

Sunday Morning Paper

 
 
 
Josh decided to sit down and read the comics this morning, and he just looked too funny not to take a picture! He sat there for a few minutes just "reading" the comics. I'm not sure which was his favorite!

As far as an update about my mom - the cancer has spread and been upgraded to stage IV. Not really sure why it's called an "upgrade," but it is. Chemo starts tomorrow, and Josh and I are traveling back and forth to CP every once in a while to help out. Please keep herin your thoughts and prayers!

So the first night in a big boy bed was last night. It went well. He was excited about it, and he went in it, and didn't fuss at all. In about 20 minutes, he was snoring happily in his bed. The next morning came, and we heard him, so we went in his room, and he was still in his bed waking up, and it was about 7:15 am, so a normal time. But, today for a nap, all we wanted to do was play in the bed. I decided not to force the issue. He stayed in the room (even though the gate was open), and I could see him toss Tigger and George off the bed, get down, get his "buddies" and put them back in bed with him. So he laid in bed for a little over an hour and played and sucked his thumb.

Fast forward to this evening, and he is tired, so we are just watching Sesame Street, when I notice his head on the arm of his chair.


So I head over to check on him, and he is passed out!


He's too cute sleeping like this, so I place a blanket on him, and now I am desperately trying to stop the dog from barking so he can take a little snooze!

Who doesn't love to take a cat nap in front of the TV on the weekends?? Hope you enjoyed the cute little story about Josh.

Rain Drops Keep Fallin' on my Head

So it's a rainy day, and we are desperate for entertainment. After a morning full of playing with our trains, i decided to bring out the paints and playdough. Josh had a good time with both, after he figured out it was okay to have paint on his hands. All of you who know me, know I don't like sticky things, so this was hard for me. But, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Earlier in the month we had visits from Paula and Erin, and Amber! It was fun seeing everyone! I didn't take as many pictures as Paula - and she has the good one where it looks like Josh is proposing to Erin.

In other news, the doctor's have decided to do chemo and then surgery for my mom. We are now waiting for the University of Chicago to send her records down to Indy so that the oncologists can select the right chemo. More on that when I know more.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

Here's our christmas card photo from this year. Big thanks to Joel and Abbie for taking the picture for us and making Josh smile! It turned out great. We went to Michigan for Christmas, and everyone was there, including Sam's fiancee' Craig. Looks like there will be a wedding next summer that we will be at! Congrats to them. Abbie and Joel were doing well, and Abbie looks great at almost 20 weeks preggers! We had a wonderful time and Mom and Dad did a great job hosting the whole week. Josh had a blast, and I don't think he was ready to come home.

We then headed to my sister's to spend a few days with them and my mom and grandmother. Unfortunately, this year's celebration was a bit difficult. my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer right before Christmas, and while we celebrated Christmas, it still hung heavily on our hearts. She will be seeing a surgeon in Indy soon, and hopefully we will be on the road to recovery soon. This may be the third cancer, but it doesn't make the diagnosis any easier.

I also celebrated my 31st birthday. It passed without much fanfare - and that's fine with me!

Looking forward to a 2008 filled with recovery (for my mom and Doug) and weddings (Sam and Craig's) and births (my neice/nephew Hilgendorf!)

Oh yeah - and welcome to the world Logan Philip Armbruster!!!