Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the 4th with my dad's side of the family, which always guarantees LOTS of GOOD FOOD! It was also the first family get together since Sophie, Mya and Stella were born. So it was cool have lots of kids around. I only wish Grandma and Grandpa could have been there. They would have been proud. July 4th was my grandpa's birthday too.

First, here are my kiddos on the morning of the 4th.




This one cracks me up.


And here's Will in his new life vest. He really had no interest in swimming - just had fun throwing pool toys into the pool. But he also has no concept of the pool being dangerous, so I'm watching him like a hawk.




"Happy Birthday, America!" A flag balloon from Nana.


Double-fisted now with a patriotic pinwheel.


Cornhole... of course!






Zach and Aaron are too cool for school.


Secret handshake to get warmed up for another round of "bags".


Mom and the party hostess, Aunt Lori.


The Rethman family looking very patriotic.


Is this really the only picture I have of Casey with her daughters? Shame on me... again.


The Three Stooges.


And a fun new photo op with all 5 great grandkids. My God-daughter Cora is on the far left.


Bethany is thrilled to have so many baby GIRL cousins around now.


Grillin' and chillin'


Our little "Sophinator"


Cora loves swinging!




My appologies to the later arrivals to the party. I got snap happy at the beginning and then got side-tracked and stopped taking pictures. Who me? Yep, sorry.

Happy 4th everyone!

Sweet Little Sophia

If you haven't seen Sophie in a few weeks, you're missing out! She has really blossomed and matured in a short time. At just 2 months old (June 23rd to be exact) she has rolled over from her belly to her back more than 10 times. She can be held like an older baby where she's much more upright instead of laying on your shoulder and really likes to face out and see the world. Our strong little girl likes to sit up (with us holding her hands) and even stand in our laps.

Sophie has gradually fallen into a nice little routine throughout the day where she eats, "plays", and then naps (repeat). It has helped so much in understanding what she needs and wants and I finally feel like I really "get" her. She's been sleeping in her crib overnight (not in our room) since she was just 3 weeks old and naps very well now too.

Her smiles are absolutely contagious. She smiles with her whole body, scrunching up her legs and arms and squinting her eyes as though she's laughing at something very funny. And I swear her eyelashes doubled in length overnight a couple weeks ago! :)




Will and Sophia went to their 2 year and 2 month appointments respectively on June 26th. Our "little" Miss Sophia weighed in at 13# even! That puts her at the 95th percentile and over a pound bigger than Will was at that age. Will has now reached 27#5oz. Both received very good comments from the pediatrician and both were very brave for their shots. Will doesn't go back to the doctor now until age 3 and Sophie will return at 4 months.

Of course, just as I'm starting to feel much more comfortable with two kids, it's time to return to work next week (July 13th). Both of the kids will go to the same sitter. Lisa lives right down the street from us and she's amazing with the kids. We feel so grateful to have her watch them. It's like their home away from home and Lisa's whole family welcomes them and plays with them.

Despite a rougher start with Sophie (compared to Will), I'm enjoying each new, little, baby phase with her. She's a special little girl. Maybe a little more high maintenance then my first, but WELL worth the effort. I am a lucky mom.






Looking up at her mobile.

Happy Father's Day Craig

Because you love to get down on the floor and play with the kids...

Because you've mastered the art of distraction with a toddler and can use it to stop a tantrum dead in its tracks...

Because you airplaned bites of food into his mouth and opened yours at the same time...

Because you can sing along to all the music in Will's beloved "horse movie" and know all the words to Goodnight Moon...

Because you give bubble baths and make a big deal out of what pajamas he gets to wear...

Because you take the time to teach him things...

Because you can swaddle her as good as any hospital nurse...

Because you laugh with me at the funny things he says and does...

Because you spend your lunch hour shopping for matchbox cars just to see his face light up...

Because their health and happiness mean the world to you and you have an immeasurable amount of love for them...

You are a FATHER... and you are a good one.



Enjoy this time. They grow up so fast and "It won't be like this for long."



I love you, Craig, and I'm so proud of you.

Sophia is 2 Months Old!

Sophia turned 2 months old today! She's really growing and changing quickly. Her smiles are so cute and so much more frequent now. She's back to sleeping 7-8 hours again at night after a few week regression to 3-5 hours. We were also pretty sure she had a moderate case of colic there for a few weeks where her belly always seemed to be bothering her and she fussed for no apparent reason. It really started to be noticeable shortly before she turned one month, but we've seen a huge improvement in the last week and she's doing much better again. She's pleasantly content on her own for longer periods of time and not needing to be held constantly. And naps have improved this week where she's able to get herself peaceful enough to stay asleep like she needs to. So a little maturity has really done her well over the last month. We go to the doctor next Friday for a well check so I'll have another update then.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

I took the kids to visit Grandma & Grandpa Konesky this past week for a fun morning of something different. I always enjoy seeing them and it's nice to make the time when I'm on leave from work and don't have an official agenda. So we spent the mornings there on Tuesday and Wednesday playing outside, reading books, chatting, etc.

Will, of course, loved watching Grandpa mow the pasture with the tractor.






He even got to go sit on the tractor with Grandpa for a minute.


Smelling Grandma's flowers.


Practicing standing on one foot. :)


And Will & I got to take a ride around in Grandpa's Brister - it's like a glorified farm golf cart.


We had a yummy lunch both days and Will showed us his new way of eating raspberries. He picks it up, pokes his finger in the hole, and then eats it off his finger. It's so funny to watch. :)


Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Meet My Neices!

Mya Alyse & Stella Grace are a little over two weeks old now and I'm just getting around to posting a birth announcement. Shame on me! The truth is, I'm all about the pictures and until recently, I haven't had any. When I visited them in the hospital, I didn't want to overwhelm them with flashes so I figured I'd just get copies of Casey's. But then I had nothing to post!

You can check Casey's blog for the full story, but in short, she went into labor a little over 12 hours before her scheduled C-section. The girls wanted to make a surprise arrival! So they were born via C-section at 9:33 and 9:34 pm on Tuesday, June 2nd. Mya was born first at 7#6oz and Stella followed at 6#2oz.

Everyone is thriving and doing amazingly well. Spend five minutes with this new, little family and you will see that, not only were Casey & Wes meant to be parents, they're defying the odds and all the teasing and jokes about how difficult bringing home twins would be. Casey is exclusively breastfeeding the girls and she is doing awesome. She doesn't seem overwhelmed in the slightest. Both girls sleep pretty well at night so the new parents aren't nearly as exhausted as I imagined they'd be. Wes is such a calm, hands-on father and wonderful support for Casey. I am so proud of them - all of them. These two little miracles are going to bring so much joy to their parents and our whole family.

Here's Miss Stella:


And Miss Mya:


They look nothing alike! But both are cute as can be. Here's a couple recent ones with Sophie too. They crack me up. In the first one, Stella (on the right) is saying "talk to the hand" and in the 2nd one, Sophie looks like she's trying to put her arms around her cousins.




Casey and I thought going through pregnancy together was going to be awesome. But it flew by so quickly and didn't really feel all that significant. But THIS is really fun now. We call each other and one of us is inevitably breastfeeding or burping a baby. We talk about our day/night and it feels nice to know that we're sort of going through this together. Our daughters are going to grow up together and play together and go to school together. And Casey and I will go through all the same phases of motherhood together.