My Husband Reads My Blog Finally!

So, after telling Josh that I posted the picture of him holding Raleigh with his bicep flexed, he finally decided to read my blog.

The first comment he had was about incorrect grammar in one of my blogs. Go figure!

Happy St. Valentine's Day

First off, let me just say that Josh and I don't celebrate St. Valentine's day by buying each other material goods. We did, however, buy eachother parishable food items from the local Applebee's and the local Papa Murphy's.

Josh's student loans are starting to kick into full affect now...ouch...let's just say that he has a lot more in student loans than I do. But, to his defense, he does have a graduate degree compared to my measly bachelor's degree. Now, in my defense, my measly bachelor's degree is paying for my degree and his degree :)

Ok, enough joking around. Seriously, I am extremely happy that Josh will be staying home with Raleigh and I am also extremely jealous. I go back to work one week from today and I am happy and sad about it. I do miss my coworker's and I am excited to be starting work on a new project, but I will miss my son a lot.

Ok, enjoy the latest pictures. The elmo suit is from my parents, and is absolutely adorable but too big for him right now. That didn't stop me from putting it on him though :)

What Happened to Sunday?

Gone, in the blink of an eye...we seemed to have lost Sunday.

It started out as an OK day. I hadn't had much sleep though and we were on the brink of being diaper-less...only one diaper left, I had thought...it seemed as though I would have to stay home from church to wash a load of diapers...then I found a stray diaper in the diaper bag and in less than 15 minutes Raleigh and I were ready to leave for church with Josh.

We sat closer to the band and Raleigh loved it. He almost seemed to be dancing to the music while he sat in my lap. He made it all the way to the sermon before he started getting cranky...still, his cranky wasn't like the cranky kids that I heard in the back of the church. After the sermon, when the music started again, he became a happy baby again (I'm sure his Grandfather Steve will be happy to hear that his first Grandson enjoys music so much).

At the end of the service, we had a number of cooing women come up to see Raleigh, who, by that time, was completely curled-up-in-a-ball asleep. Here are a few of the comments that we heard:

"Ohhhh, I have never seen such a perfect baby before."
"He looks like Steve."
"You can tell he's Josh's baby."
"He's a content baby isn't he?"
"He sure likes music."

I have to admit it...I love hearing people say that my baby is perfect. But getting back to the reason that I'm blogging at 4:30 am...

After church, we ate lunch, but then I needed a nap so I left Josh and Raleigh together with some expressed breast milk. Eventually, Josh and Raleigh joined me in my nap. What began as an innocent nap turned into a almost 5 hour sleep session. We all woke up again at 6:30 p.m. YIKES! That's not what was supposed to happen! We slept our Sunday away.

Raleigh was on his last diaper and needed to be changed, so I removed the soiled diaper and reached to grab for a clean one...oh no! there weren't any clean diapers!...I had forgotten to put the diapers into the dryer before I took my nap.

Now, what a quandry to be in! Thank heaven for the cloth changing pads. I simply placed the cloth pad in my lap and placed Raleigh on that and hoped that he wouldn't pee or poop before his diapers were dry. I didn't get what I had hoped for and Josh and I had a good laugh because of it.

With the diaper-less incident over and done with, around 11 p.m., I was starting to get sleepy. Raleigh and I ended up going to bed around 1 a.m. and we were both able to get to sleep right away. Josh joined us shortly after.

Raleigh woke up at his normal time ready to eat (about 4 a.m.). He fell back asleep right away after the feeding, but I am completely awake and sitting at my computer enjoying writing every word of this lengthy blog. It seems like it's been a while since I've had a blog with more than a hundred words in it.

Here are some pictures of Raleigh in the Vikings outfit that Josh dressed him in today.

All Cobbers!

Raleigh attended-and completely slept through-his first Cobber women's hockey game. Raleigh and I were in true Cobber spirit wearing almost matching shirts.

I didn't take any pictures at the game because Raleigh was too sound asleep for me to want to wake him. But here are some pictures of us at home after the game. Enjoy!

Fun Reminder: Josh, my mother-in-law and I all attended the same college and all graduated in the same year.



p.s. We didnt' bring the Cobbers any luck; they lost 0-6 to St. Thomas

The Latest Pictures

This is Raleigh just after a bath, wearing an adorable doggy robe that my friends Kerry and Pat got for him. Coincidentally, the swing that he's in was also given to us by the same friends. Their daughter Kellyn used to enjoy the swing.

Raleigh is beginning to hold things in his hand for about a minute at a time now.
Big Yawn! That toy was heavy.
We have him wearing bibs now because he spits up so often his clothes would always be wet and we would have to change him so often.

Mommy and Raleigh Napping

Yesterday I took a wonderful afternoon nap with Raleigh and Josh happened to snap a picture of us.

Samuel Joseph- Groundhog's Day Baby

I'd like to welcome my newest nephew Samuel Joseph to our family!

Barb, my brother David's wife, gave birth to him at 2:15 p.m. on February 2nd. He is a strappingly handsome young man at a whopping 8 lbs. 13 oz.

Raleigh and Samuel are almost exactly 2 months apart...oh how fun it will be to see them grow up together!

Congratulations Dave and Barb!!

Dad's Elbow Surgery

My Dad had elbow surgery on the same day that Raleigh had his 2 month checkup, so after Raleigh's appointment we drove 5 1/2 hours to Duluth to be there for my dad.



Overall, the hospital experience was horrible for my Dad. The nurses gave him too much pain medication which had side effects that Dad did not like. The machine that Dad was supposed to use for Rehabilitation of the elbow was a horrible little machine.



It was a brand new machine that the nurses and even one of the Physical Therapists didn't know how to use. And when Dad finally talked the nurses into reducing his nerve block for his arm, he had enough sensation to feel that the machine was putting pressure where it wasn't supposed to.



Finally, on the day that Dad was released, his surgeon came to see him and agreed that the machine wasn't working for him (30 some hours too late to figure it out, I think) so he agreed to discharge Dad and send him home with an elbow brace that was much more efficient and easier to use.


He's doing much better now that he's home. He's also taken on the amazingly hard task of quitting smoking, which is one of the things that I have wished for since I was a little girl. I hope he will be successful.


Here is a picture of his elbow 3 days after surgery. Notice the bruising up near his sleeve.

Oh how big he's become!

Raleigh had his 2 month check up on Jan. 30th, and his doctor was really impressed with him. He now weighs 12 lbs. 6 oz. and he is 23 inches long.

He received his vaccinations also and he did not like them one bit! It was so hard for me to watch a nurse stick him with those needles. He cried harder than I had ever seen him cry before.

Here is a picture of Josh holding Raleigh...I can't believe how big he has gotten.

Compare this picture of Raleigh at 2 weeks old, compare it to him at 2 months old in the picture below it.

We're off to see the Wizard...and Handmade gifts

Ok, well, we aren't really off to see any so-called wizard, but we are off to visit my father in the hospital tomorrow. He's having elbow surgery...and if you know my dad, you know that this is a big deal for him. The only reason he ever...and I mean EVER...goes to see a doctor is to get a yearly physical so that he can still carry the special drivers license that allows him to drive the big caterpillar machinery, back hoes and dump trucks for his job.

So, you know what this means...yup, no blog for another week probably. So, to make up for the lack of blogs for the next week, each time you visit my blog you can look at a picture of Raleigh and a handmade gift that he received from friends and family. Enjoy!

Raleigh is lying on a crocheted afghan that my sister-in-law's mother made for him.

Raleigh is lying on an amazing quilt that my friend Chelsea made for him. One side is made of these beautiful squares and the other side is made of this amazing fuzzy baby fabric. She also made him a toy blanket that has different textured ribbons all around it...And she made a mini quilt with the cutest monkeys on it.

My best friend Jamie made this fleece tie blanket for Raleigh.

Mary, a very dear family friend knit this wonderful wool hat.

The blue elephant fleece tie blanket was made by my cousin Kayla.

This afghan was crocheted by a friend of mine from work.

This tie quilt and knit blanket were made by my sister-in-law who is about to have her own little baby boy and day now.

The Knit blaket and cute knit baby stuffed animals were made by my mother-in-law. I am just in love with those animals! They are too darn cute!

It doesn't fit just yet, but this adorable apple hat was made by another friend from work.

I have so many talented people in my life! Thank you everyone for sharing your talents with us!