August 1

We've survived a month of having Meghan here. She has decided to take after her brother and is turning into a little fussy baby. Luckily, she is still decent at sleeping.

not the best picture, but I have had this little dress since before Russell was Russell

Our garden has grown beautifully (including all the weeds), and we have gotten several good harvests from our zucchini and our green beans. Ben also got lots of radishes (more on that later), and there is promise of good beets and carrots in a little while.

We went and spent a week at Mom and Dad's. While we were there we did some canning. Ben pickled all his radishes he harvested and declared them nasty. I canned some peaches and raspberries. They will be delicious. Russell played with the tractors a lot. He also really enjoyed Macey, Sadie, and Holly's visits. They were fun for him to follow around and try and get them interested in his tractors and digger and dumper.

The week before we were at Mom and Dad's was Eyota Days. We enjoyed the $5 meal deal, a little petting zoo, a tour of the new ambulance building, and the parade. Russell really liked the kittens at the petting zoo and did not like having to step more than two steps away from his chair to get the candy during the parade. He made me get it. Lots of Ben's teacher buddies were excited to see Meghan.

We also have another baby in our house, too. Someone really enjoys doing tummy time, being swaddled, and using a pacifier (after refusing one when he really was a baby).

One last adventure

At the beginning of June we had one last big adventure as a family of three. Karen Clark invited us to her graduation party so we made a day trip out of it and did some fun things around the Twin Cities before we went to her party.

We started at Ikea. We didn't have any real reason to go except I wanted to check out their kid stuff to see what they had and if the prices were good enough to invest in some of their toys right now. They weren't. The price on the hot dog combo meal was right, though, so we enjoyed one of those. I really wanted an ice cream cone, but decided against it for some bizarre reason.

Next we headed across the street to the Mall of America. We wandered around looking at stores. They have a Star Trek exhibit, but tickets were over $15 dollars, and Ben wasn't that interested in seeing it. A trip to the MOA wouldn't be complete without seeing the rides or playing in Legoland.

Russell sweet-talked Ben into letting him ride a ride. Russell wanted some trucks, so he got to ride this one:

Ben got to join him because Russell was just a little too short to ride on his own. Ben was just a little too tall for the ride so he had to scrunch into the tiny little seat with Russell. I'm surprised I was able to take any pictures because I was laughing so hard.

That face!

After the MOA we went to Como Zoo which was busy (like it always is). It was getting pretty hot that day, and I was tired, and there was lots of walking around, so I didn't enjoy it as much. Luckily we had also bought a candy bar at Ikea that we shared while at the zoo. It gave me enough energy to keep walking.

I'm sure he was counting the animals.

We also had fun at Karen's party, but we took no pictures. Like always, it was nice to be back in the cities especially near where we lived for two years.

Big Brother

It is hard to believe that our little boy isn't our baby anymore. Everyone warned us that he would seem huge compared to Meghan, and he is! Though it was a rough week for him, he has bounced back with his usual resiliency. Everytime he would go into Meghan's room at the hospital he would look for baby and then run over to where I (usually) was holding her to look at her to and touch her head or give her kisses. Since coming home, he continually amazes us with the love that he already has for his little sister. Without any prompting he will look for her, come over to her, and then smile at her or give her kisses or pat her head or hold her hand. Meghan is one lucky little girl to have Russell as her big brother.

BABY!!!

 Poor thing was dragged all over, thrown off his usual routine, missed sleeping in his own bed, etc. The day Meghan was discharged from the hospital and we could all finally come home, Russell fell asleep in the van as Ben was coming back from taking care of somethings at the apartments. Ben carried him from the parking garage and through the hospital to her room without him waking up. Meghan was also sleeping so Ben carefully laid Russell down and he slept that way for another hour.

When we got home, Russell quickly ran over to his toys and got his tractor to show Meghan. He wanted to share one of his most favorite toys with her. I am thankful for the tender loving spirit Russell has about him.

She's Here!!

Baby Meghan Margaret Joslin is finally here!!
Born 7/1/2014 at 13:45.
20.25 inches, 7 lbs 4 oz.
She can already lift her head up, hold our hands, say her ABC's, and do tensor calculus!

Here is Meghan a few minutes after birth! She's got some strong lungs on her! 

Here she is finally without her CPAP device on her! They took it off her last night at 10pm, and she can keep her oxygen sats up just fine! We were all very happy and relieved! And Becky (my NICU nurse sister called at that exact time, so it was nice that she could talk to me while they were doing it!) 

Here is our happy little family! Joanna was so happy to actually be able to hold Meghan again, and Meghan seems to be nursing just fine. 

We love our new little girl, and we are happy she is doing well!
During this whole process Joanna and I experienced deep emotions, and I was reminded again about how wonderful families are, especially our precious little ones, and about how strong a mother's bond is with each of her children. We love Meghan and Russell, and we are happy that our Heavenly Parents trusted us enough to help raise these two special souls!

- Ben

Last day of June

Seeing as it is 11:00 pm on June 30th, I should write another post, so I can at least get two in this month.

I'll dedicate this to my feelings on pregnancy #2 so skip this post if you don't care.

1. Being pregnant and not working is much easier than being pregnant and working. Russell usually didn't care if I didn't get dressed or off the couch if I wasn't feeling good. It is a little more relaxing even with Russell running around.

2. I was much better prepared on what to expect so I wasn't so miserable. I knew how to better handle the early pregnancy stomach unhappiness, the increased nasal/sinus congestion/mucus, etc. It made it nicer, so I generally felt better.

3. Preparing for another kid has not been as exciting probably because we had most everything (besides cute girl clothes), but it has made it a lot easier since we have everything. All we had to do was a little rearranging and then getting other things out of storage and cleaning them off.

4. Having your first child 3 weeks early and then not having your second child early really stinks! I have been pregnant 2 weeks longer than I was with Russell, and I am done with it. I have told her repeatedly it is time to come out, but she doesn't seem to listen very well.

For those who don't know, ever since 28 weeks I have been seeing a maternal fetal medicine doctor because some doctor (not my good old family medicine doctor) noticed that my thyroid hormone levels are not in the range doctors like it to be in while you are pregnant. The funny thing, though, is that it is pretty much where my thyroid level is normally. Anyway, I haven't enjoyed all the extra appointments and ultrasounds or even the doctor visits. Every single time I have gone he keeps telling me, "Well, everything looks just the same as last time." All the ultrasound techs say, "She looks perfect and everything is measuring right on." While it has been nice to have more than just the one ultrasound, it keeps annoying me when I keep going in to be told what I have already known.

Tomorrow is my 39 week appointment. I'm hoping that they'll keep me there because I'm dilated to a 4 or 5, but they probably won't even do more than just take my blood pressure and then feel around on my stomach. Hmpf.

We've done quite a few picnics since I've been pregnant...

This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago so you can imagine how huge I am now. Ben keeps commenting on how big my stomach is. And, this time around it is all pretty compactly in my stomach region instead of lots of growth all over my body.  I still haven't gained as much weight as I did with Russell (yay!), and I have had lots less water retention/swelling. So, while it has been miserable these last few weeks, it hasn't been as bad as it could be.

Summer Vacation

Sleeping in with no alarm to wake us up
Using Russell's new big boy bed
Meat cooked on the grill with one of Ben's home teaching families
Making Russell go to bed while it is still light and the other kids are still playing outside
Eating all our meals together as a family
Resting at any time during the day

Visiting the farmer's market each week to see what is new
Air conditioning is a must but we've opened the windows on several cool nights to enjoy the breeze
Checking on our garden: so far radishes, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, corn, beans, beets, & pumpkin
Ate graduation party foods including their yummy cakes
Taking walks to play at the park
Interruptions to our family time whenever we go outside (these people can't leave us alone!)
Once a week visits to the doctor now until baby comes
NBA play-offs are on our one reliable tv channel

This is how we usually find him in the morning

Gooey Louie with Camille over Memorial Day

friends from church

I caught him watching the birds

Oh Somebody (else) had a Birthday!

Ben reached the ripe old age of 35 last Friday. He is sad that he will never be able to catch up to Tracy in age.

It wasn't that exciting of a day, since Ben worked and then we drove 3.5 hours to Wausau, but Ben appreciated all the birthday wishes he got. I had to think out of the box to make him a special cake since he prefers pie over cake. I found this recipe for Lemon Meringue Cupcakes quite a while ago and decided I would make them since that is his favorite pie.

They were delicious! I didn't quite get enough of the lemon curd filling inside the cupcakes. It was the perfect combination so Ben could enjoy his 'pie' and I could still make cake. The only thing I will do differently next time is buy lemon curd instead of making it myself. It was too time consuming especially with a sick Russell and trying to get things ready so we could leave as soon as Ben got home from school.

Now I have accomplished one of the goals I set at the beginning of the year making a special cake for everyone's birthday.