The hawk and the drummer boy...

My aunt from Tennessee was in town this weekend and so we hung out with the Shay (Shay is my mom's maiden name) side this whole weekend. We had a blast visiting cousins in Davenport and just relaxing and doing what Shay's do best, gossiping and laughing!!! Conley had a blast playing with my cousin Andrew and Andrew's drum set. Luckily they keep it in the basement, so it wasn't too noisy, however as much fun as he had there will be no drum sets in our future! Shay got spoiled rotten and loved every minute of it. I included some pics of Conley and Andrew playing drums.

Shay's developed quite the mohawk (sp?). She has hair all over her head, but quite a thick chunk right down the middle. Now for those who know us well, know that Conley sported quite the mohawk once upon a time. I have included pics of both my children and their mohawks. We try to dress Shay's up with a bow, but the bow just won't stay in!

You can see the defined patch of hair on the top, center of her head

Our pretty bow we try to clip onto the "hawk", but it keeps falling out ;(

Front view of the "hawk", Nate added a little gel to get it spike up more crisp! He did this to Conley when Conley was about 7months old.

Back view of the "hawk". We left it for about a week, but I got tired of "doing" Conley's hair every morning when I don't even do my own. I had to gel it up and make it sure it looked good for daycare, Nate was very particular about this. I'm sure Conley will have many more mohawks.

Yeah, it's the weekend!!!!

We made it through this last week and that is a feat in itself! It was quite a week and it quickly reminded us how grateful we are for our family, friends and our faith.

Conley was out of daycare all week because of his E Coli, and after many phone calls each day with Public Health, Doctors Office and Hygienic Lab Conley received is second "double negative" poop test and is cleared to go back to daycare, prayer 1 answered!

Shay had her 6 month appointment this week and we were asked to leave the appointment and go to the hospital to x-ray her hips for dislocation or hip displaysia (sp?). I was an emotional mess from the entire 3 week ordeal with Conley and couldn't handle one more thing. My doctor was very gentle with me and the x-ray techs were amazing. I received a call later in the afternoon saying Shay was fine and maybe just really flexible or double-jointed. Either way we will just keep an eye on it! Prayer 2 answered!

Nate has not been feeling well and finally surrendered and made a doctor's appointment. He said he has had this "pain" for about 2 years, HELLO!!!!! So he went to the doctor and called me on his way to the hospital for x-rays. I still am not sure what they thought was wrong, but he received a call today saying everything looked great and they will follow up with him in a week. Prayer 3 answered!!!!

I'm healthy, just tired from working 50 hrs a week and dealing with the above all this week. I was so excited for it to be the weekend, you cannot know! My aunt from Tennessee is in town and my mom's side are watching my children right now so I can do laundry, and clean my house. Thank you to my prayer warriors this week! And thank you to all who helped watch Conley while he could not attend daycare, that means more than you will ever know!!!

So now the fun stuff! Last weekend we visited my sister in Minneapolis. She recently moved there and is working as an accountant for Cargill. She has the most amazing apartment and we had an awesome time visiting her. We went to the zoo, the Mall of America, Aquarium, Ikea and saw her office and Cargill headquarters. I included some pics from the trip. I wasn't very good with the camera and didn't get too many pictures, sorry. My mom took lots and hopefully will figure out how to email them to me, haha! Thanks for hosting us Jamie! We are so proud of you!!!! Great job, great city, great apartment, great life! We are looking forward to many more visits. Can't wait to see you again!

Conley loved this turtle statue!

Nate, Conley, my dad, Jamie (my sister), Bis (her friend, Elizabeth)

In the butterfly house, Conley was a little freaked out.

Threshermen's

2 weekends ago we headed to Alberty City to see Nate's grandparents and attend the Threshermen's event. It is no secret that I'm a "city" girl and I don't know anything about farming nor do I care for the outdoors (unless it is laying out by a pool, or walking across a parking lot to a shopping mall, haha). So all I can tell you is that it is an event that features antique tractors and demonstrates farming techniques from long ago. Bubba Dean if this is wrong I apologize and I know you are laughing right now ;) Conley was in love!!! He couldn't get enough of the tractors and the animals in the petting zoo. We also "camped" out in the RV and Conley just loves sleeping with Isaac. They were bunk buddies! It was a fun weekend!

The girls chillin' in their carseats on the ride there in the RV

Chloe was sharing her colors with the boys

Isaac in the kiddie tractor pull

Chloe rocked the tractor pull in a dress and flip flops! You go girl!!!

The boys loved the homemade ice cream!!!

Here some of the antique tractors all lined up, they were huge!

Conley and Nate in front of yet another tractor ;)

Conley and Bubba Dean. Bubba Dean was in charge of some things at the event, so he had a golf cart to ride around in. The kids thought that was pretty cool.

The girls still chillin', they both did awesome and loved seeing all the tractors :)

I'm still alive....I think!

What a crazy two weeks. There is so much to tell, I don't know where to begin. My last post occurred while I was home with a sick child. Well....I should have known something weird was going on. Conley has E. Coli, well hopefully he has pooped it all out, but the lab results on his last stool sample (oh yes, we have been collecting poop at this house) hasn't come back yet. We got the news last Thursday, so he has been out of daycare (yes, still paying for it) and staying with family members (love my family!!!!!). Unfortunately the lab and the doctors office did a horrible job communicating with me, so my sick child was attending daycare infected for at least a week without us knowing what was wrong. I feel horrible for everything and am glad to report that Conley is doing well and has had one negative test result and we are waiting for one more negative to know he is completely cured. Conley is my child who never gets ear infections or a cold, he always has the funky illness. So far in two years we have had: Rectal Strep, Hand Foot & Mouth, and now E. Coli. I think there was one pink eye and one ear infection in there along the way. Luckily this illness is only spread through fecal matter (I know, so gross), so Shay isn't at huge risk, unless we have poor hand washing after diaper changes, which we all know I like things clean!

We have also been working like crazy (Nate and I), which is nothing new. The last two weekends have gone out of town with family, which has resulted in no sleep both weekends. Someday I am going to sleep in and maybe do some laundry!!!!!!!! Nate loves to be outside working on the yard and house, but unfortunately the past two weeks he has had to be out working all day in homes and then working all night in the shop on repairs and cleaning jobs. This week is rough one for both Nate and I with work, so pray that we have patience with our children and each other, as we will be very tired. We are actually staying home this weekend, so maybe we will get some stuff done, and get some sleep!

I plan to post pics from our fun family getaways tomorrow. This is all I have time for tonight. I thought I would just let everyone know I'm still here, haha! I included one pic to prove that Conley is okay and having a great time, even though he is "sick".

Conley loved feeding the horses in Albert City

I did it!!!

I know I should probably be more excited that Shay "did it", but it was harder on me I believe. After finishing my post last night, and listening to Shay cry the entire time, I decided that after I put away my laundry if she was still crying I would go rescue her! Well she finally gave up during my laundry duty. I went to check, because I didn't believe it and she was fast asleep, yeah!!!! And yes, to answer the question everyone is thinking, I will give it another chance tonight and maybe even pack up the co-sleeper and put it away!!!! My mom and my sister-in-law are dying of shock right now ;)

For those wondering how I'm posting this blog in the middle of the day, I'm home with a sick child :( Conley has had "the runs" for 4 days (too much info I know) and had blood in his diaper today. Daycare doesn't like that too much, so we are home and see the doctor later today. The only positive thing that comes with illness is that he is very cuddly, which I love! We are going out of town this weekend, so pray that it is nothing serious and he will be back to his hyper self soon!!!

I thought I would include some pics I took the other night. Both kids had on "graphic t's" that I thought were so cute and so fitting. Conley is so funny, we are constantly laughing at things he says or does and Shay is filling out nicely!!!

Conley got a new hat from Grandma that he loves wearing (always backwards). He was entertaining Shay for me while I put away her laundry. I had a hard time getting Shay to smile, very unusual for her, she is always smiling.

Cutting the cord

I will admit it, I'm addicted to the co-sleeper. For those that do not know what this is, it is a bed for Shay that fits right up next to mine. It is awesome for many reasons.

1. I get stare at her when she is sleeping, which is so precious.

2. I can roll over and grab her half asleep for those 5:30am feedings.

3. She is close to me, so if she starts crying I can grab her quick before she wakes Conley!

So...I have decided it is time for her to sleep in her crib FULL-TIME! Now just because I have come to this realization does not mean I will quit cold turkey. For Shay's sake (yeah right, mine) I will make a gradual transition. She has spent nights in the crib, I'm just not consistent. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old, so that is not the problem. My attachment to her is! I bought her a mobile at work today, thinking this would help entertain/sooth her if she got lonely. As she is crying in the other room, I am guessing she is not a fan of the mobile. I included pictures of when I introduced her to it earlier. At the time she seemed to love it. Conley was awesome at falling asleep at night, never really threw too much of a fuss when we started putting him to bed awake. This is Shay's first night at being put to bed when awake. She is not really liking it at this moment. Luckily I have my blog to keep me busy and to keep me from going in and rescuing her. Oh, but Nate just did! There is a special place in a dad's heart for his daughter;) Oh wait....I think Nate is on board the "Cutting the Cord" bus, I heard her resume crying. I'm promise those of you who are reading this and wanting me not to let her cry, it is not hurting her and I will go in and get her as soon as I am done typing! I'm such a softy.

I have included pics of the beloved co-sleeper and the mobile. May the best sleep aid win. I would put your money on the co-sleeper :) My aunts will laugh when they see this picture, because they say that they are hoping to come to my house one day and see my bed made. Sorry, no chance! I'm a clean freak, but when it comes to making our bed I don't care. Plus, we leave the house at 7am and Nate is usually still in the bed, kind of hard to make it and we know Nate is not making it!

Fun Pics

I took Conley and Shay to the North Liberty pool on Thursday. We had a blast!!! Conley of course brought his ball along and had fun with that. He loved the slide and being able to touch and run in the water. I went by myself, so I was forced to carry Shay around the entire time, but she looked cute in her swim hat and had a great time as well :) There will be more trips to that pool for sure! Here are some pics I managed one handed of Conley.



Running in the water

He thought it was fun to lay down in the water

Boys will be boys!