My Wonderful Husband

So, Dustin was reading our blog the other day and complained that I "never" do an update on him. So here is an update on Dustin. I don't know what I would do without him! He is my everything and does so much for me! I could pretty much ask for anything and if he can get it or do it he will! God blessed me with a wonderful man! Our insurance company has a program that he has conquered in the past month. If you qualify for this program and lose 10% of your body weight they send you a check for $500!! He started the program in mid September and successfully completed it mid November! 3 MONTHS!!! He lost 24 lbs. for the program, but has lost more since then! I'm so proud of him and am amazed by his will power! He did way better than I would have ever done! And now if he keeps this off for a year he will get another check. This time for $1000!!!! I'm just so proud of him! So, that's an update on my man! Thank you God for blessing me with such an amazing gift! I love you babe!

Sickness Go Away!!!

I hope the past week isn't a look into what this winter is going to hold for our family. Starting last weekend, Dustin had sinus problems and wasn't feeling the best. Then on Saturday, while we were still in Roanoke, Caden came down with a little stomach bug. It wasn't horrible, but he just didn't feel right all day. He did throw up twice, but it was very small. I think Libby got a small touch of this, cause she wasn't 100% herself on Sunday. We were going to stay for church on Sunday, but when Cade and Libs weren't feeling the greatest, we decided it would be best to head home. Well, on the way home, I started to feel a sore throat coming on. I got a headache that night, but hoped that a good night sleep in my own bed would cure it all. I thought wrong! Monday and Tuesday were pretty rough for me. Headache, sore throat, fever, achy body....fun stuff. Also, on Tuesday Josie came down with what Caden had. She threw up twice, but again it was hardly anything. She was just really tired and cranky that day. By Wednesday mroning we were all feeling better and I was praising God that things were headed in the right direction. Thursday Josie got more fussy and wasn't sleeping through the night and by Friday morning she had developed a high fever. Oh my, does it ever end. We pushed fluids and kept medicine in her, but it didn't really help. On Saturday morning, she woke up and was burning up again. So I thought, forget this, I'm taking her to the doctor. So glad I did!! We found out she has a double ear infection. Poor baby, no wonder why she was so fussy. The rest of the day she was still fussy and probably was her fussiest last night about midnight. Oh, and when all this was going on with J, I had noticed that Libby was very quite all day, but didn't really think anything of it. Well, Dustin felt her around supper time as thought she had a fever. Sure enough she did. So we got some meds in her and she did pretty well the rest of the night. She went to bed about 9 and J finally fell asleep a little after 1am!! Libby slept till 10:45 and J is still sleeping and it is noon! Libby woke up her old talkative self! Praise God! I went in to check on J and felt her and she seems to have no fever. I'm hoping she will wake up a new baby! So, that is all that has went on at our home in the past week. This was also our first week on duty with out our wonderful assistant Abby. We will miss her so much! Please pray for Hickory House as we adjust to life without the help of Abby. God Bless!

Josie Update

Oh how diaper changes and clothing changes have become next to impossible with this little girl! My little Josie Mae is growing right up. She is now almost 10 months and I can hardly believe it. I took her to the doctor about 2 weeks ago and she was 17lbs. 4oz. She is still a little peanut, but has got some wonderful chubby thighs! She is just becoming so fun! She is now the proud owner of 2 teeth. Now these teeth didn't come that easy. Many night were spent up, many tears shed and many doses of tylenol we given, but it's all worth it. She does "so big", claps proudly for herself, started to wave, and dances when she hears music. She loves her big brother and sister and LOVES her daddy! One of the many things that I have loved about working at Gateway is that Dustin is around all the time. He always had to go to work for 10-12 hours a day when Libby and Cade were babies, so he missed alot. He has been around so much more since Josie was born and it has been wonderful. He has got to spend so much time with her and help mommy out! Josie now eats about 50% baby food and 50% table food. She LOVES to eat and loves her bottle. Most of the time she likes to lay on floor and hold her bottle herself. Every once in a while she will lay still enough so that I can hold her and feed her. Doesn't happen often though. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. Well, that is an update on Josie. Maybe tomorrow I will update you on Cade and/or Libby.

Update coming soon

I will post soon....I promise...Life here has been a tad bit crazy!

4 months

Josie had her 4 month checkup today and her 4 month shots. The morning sure tired her out. She is 13lbs. 12oz. (55%), 24 1/4in. (50%), and her head size 16 1/4in. (60%). So, she is growing how she should and is just an average sized baby. The doctor said that she is doing well and looks healthy. She had some problems with a UTI and is on a low dose antibiotic as a preventitive. She is rolling over from stomach to back and almost from back to stomach. When we put her down for a nap or the night, we usually find her in a different spot of the crib. She moves like crazy! It's so fun to see her doing all these new things. I just wanted to update you all on our growing little girl!
God Bless!

12 Weeks

I can hardly believe that my little Josie Mae is 12 weeks old today. She has just been so wonderful for our family and is developing her personality more and more everyday. She has conquered sleeping through the night!!! Woot! Woot! She normally goes down between 9 and 10 and sleeps till between 7 and 8. And she is sleeping in her crib. For the first 10 weeks of her life she would not sleep in her crib. She would only sleep in her carseat, so this is a big accomplishment!! She is just plumping up, too! I just love her little rolls on her legs and arms.....and I love her double chin. Although she has always had a double chin, even when she was born at 6lbs. 7oz.! Just thought I would update you on my little peanut. Have a wonderful day everyone!

A little something to make you smile

Just thought I would share this video with you all. This is my little man exercising. Normally he will put one of Libby's headbands on before he starts. Enjoy!

Hello again! It's been awhile since I last posted. Josie is 5 weeks old today. I just can hardly believe that she is 5 weeks already. She continues to do really well and we enjoy her more and more everyday. She has started to smile and that has been so much fun. She is a little cutie! Hopefully I will be able to catch it on camera and post a picture soon. She is still getting up about once a night to eat, but then goes right back to sleep. I have been trying to get her on a schedule, but kinda forget how to do it. It's been 3 years since I had a baby and it's hard to remember. Any advice would be grand!
Our most exciting news is that we bought a van last week. It has been wonderful. We were getting along fine with the car, but it was just so tight in the back seat. We looked for a van for a while and found a really good deal here in Fort Wayne. We are super excited about it! The kids love it and there is just so much room. We traveled to Illinois this past weekend and that was great! The kids had so much room to sprawl out! This was the first time Josie made the trip and she did wonderful. She slept most of the way and didn't cry hardly at all! I am so thankful. The ride out was the part that I was most worried about. It was fun to be home and be with family again. It was really fun to show off little Josie. Most of our aunts and uncles hadn't seen her yet, so that was fun for them all to meet her. Babies change so fast, she will probably be alot bigger next time we go home.
Well, Josie is getting hungry, so I must go feed her. Good night all!

Happy Birthday, Caden Joseph!!!

Today is Caden's 3rd birthday! I can hardly believe that 3 years have gone by since the little guy came into this world. It has been a wonderful 3 years and I don't know what we would do without him. He has been the "problem" child from the beginning. We didn't sleep through the night until 10 months (and even now we sometimes wake up), we got cold after cold followed by ear infection after ear infection. All this lead to getting tubes in his ears. The tubes have been a blessing because we haven't gotten a single ear infection since they were put in!! Then there was the stretch where he would get random nose bleeds ALOT!!! That has seemed to go away and not return! We then moved onto studdering! This all started about a month or so before we moved to IN. So, I know that all the stress from the move was probably the culprit! A couple months after we got setteled in he stopped the studdering and now has NO problem talking. We always thought that he was going to be the quiet one....boy were we wrong! He still comes down with a cold/cough about every month/month and a half, but those are bearable. I'm so thankful that all the things we went through with him were not life threatening. So many children in this world are much sicker and some may not see their 3rd birthday. So I'm not complaining by any means! Libby loves her brother so much and I'm so thankful for their close relationship. They love to play together, but also can get SO mad at each other! Alot of nights I will go into Libby's room and find them both in her bed, cuddled together, fast asleep. I hope that this relationship continues far into their lives. Caden is becoming more and more onery as the days go on! It can be reallly frustrating at times, but looking back we just have to laugh at the things he does and says. I hope I never forget these days! Caden Joseph, we love you so much and are so thankful that God gave you to us 3 years ago today!

One Week Old

Well, my little Josie Mae is one week old already! I can hardly believe a week has went by so fast. She is doing wonderful. The precious little girl only really cries when she needs something. She has been doing wonderful at night too! Last night she ate at 8:45pm then fell asleep till 1:30am. We fed her and she went right back to sleep and didn't make a peep till 7:30am. How wonderful is that!! She had her first bath last night because her umbilical cord fell off yesterday. She HATED it!!! She doesn't like to get her diaper changed so I imagined that she wouldn't like the bath. But she Hated her bath!! She was screaming so hard she was turning purple!! But she survived and when I wrapped her in the warm towel, everything was all better! :)

Libby and Caden continue to adjust pretty well. I can tell that Caden is a little different, but nothing horrible. He is just having a harder time obeying and they both are having a harder time going to bed at night. Last night they both were still awake at 11pm. 3 long hours after I put them to bed. I think part of the problem has been that Dustin was gone Monday and Tuesday. He had to go on duty by himself and spent the night over at Hickory House. That is not normal for the kids and I think was harder on them than I thought it would be. For the past 8 months our little family has hardly been seperated for more than a couple hours, so for Daddy to be gone ALL day and ALL night was really a change. Thankfully those 2 days have passed and we can get back into a routine again.

My mom was here the week before the baby was born and Dustin's dad and mom came last week. His mom left yesterday. It was so nice to have them both here and the kids really enjoyed the attention from both sets of grandma's and grandpa. I think that attention was good for them. We go back on duty together on Saturday night. I don't know if I'm ready for that, but we will just take it one day at a time. I'm sure everything will go fine and we will just get back into that routine. Well, I think that's all the news I have for right now. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

OK....so I have no clue how to turn this picture. Any advice would be great!

Josie Mae Hodel

Well, she's finally here! Josie Mae Hodel was born Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 3:56pm. She is just perfect! Labor was pretty good this time around. I went in on Tuesday morning at 7am to start the induction. When I got there I was almost 3cm!! That was exciting. They started pitocin and in a short while I started to feel some contractions. Since I went so quickly with Caden they gave me my epidural about an 1 1/2 hrs. after the pitocin. So I was feeling good! It took longer for me to dilate though because I wasn't quite soft yet. By the time I was fully dilated I could feel the contractions. They gave me more medicine, but that didn't really help. So I felt the whole delivery part. Not very fun, but once she was here, it was all worth it!! She was 6lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches. She's got quite a bit of dark hair, but not more than Libby did. She is just the sweetest little girl and I am madly in love with her already! I'm so excited to watch her grow!