This Is Not A Mirage

No, this is not a mirage. I am actually updating my blog, because we finally have the Internet set up in our new house!!! (I am not really sure why it took us so long to get it hooked up!) I hope to keep you all updated more often, but we will see how that goes now that my time is more limited with a new job:) This week I started to take care of another little boy, named Elijah, during the day. His mom and I were childhood friends and our parents have been friends for a long time. So far it has been going great, and Weston and I enjoy having the extra company during the day. The job will take me through most of the school year, but come March I will have to take some time off to welcome a new addition to our family... for those of you that haven't already heard, we are expecting a second child!!! We are very excited and surprised at how fast this pregnancy is going. We are already at the end of the first trimester (12 weeks), and besides being extra, extra tired the pregnancy has been going very well.

Oh, and as a little side note, I really like my doctor so far this time around. I wasn't crazy about the doctor I had when I was pregnant with Weston. I considered it a good thing when I actually met my doctor at this first appointment! (My first appointment last time I never even met my doctor- only his nurse.)

Those have been the biggest changes in our lives since my last blog, but we have also had some other blog worthy things that have happened:

1) Weston had his first official birthday party!

2) Tory gave us a little scare when we noticed a lump on her belly growing over the past couple months. She ended up having to have surgery to get it removed and luckily the tumor was benign.

3) We celebrated the marriage of my Uncle Craig and new Aunt Jessie:) It was a wonderful day and we loved getting to see lots of family.

4) Mike and I became godparents to our new nephew Xavier. We feel very honored to have this important role in his life! Xavier's twin brother, Izak, also was baptized and Mike's cousin, Aaron, and his wife are Izak's godparents.

5) Weston is now cutting his second molar and still no top front teeth! It will be interesting to see when those come in since he was suppose to get those before his molars:)

6) Lastly, here is a video of Weston being his goofey self:) By the way, the sound you hear him making is his laugh when he is super excited.

*To all my fellow bloggers: I spent all afternoon just catching up on reading every ones' blogs, so sorry for the lack of commenting! I hope to be better at that in the future too! Hopefully, it isn't a bad sign that it has taken me four days just to finish this post!!

Toddlerhood and First Birthday!

Last Tuesday (three days before his 1st birthday) Weston took his first solo steps! It was very exciting, and since then he is increasing in distance and speed everyday. Here is a video of him walking on his birthday:) (Don't mind all the toys on the floor and sorry it is so dark.)

We had a little mini celebration Friday night (his actual birthday) and Michael and I gave him his presents from us. He loved this new bike/push toy that he got:)

Here he is enjoying his new pool.

Then, on Saturday we drove to Milwaukee for Weston's first Brewer game! It was a great game- especially since the Brewers won!

Then on Sunday, before heading home, we caught one of Uncle Andy's bike races. We were sure impressed:)

Breaking the Silence!

Well, I have been blog silent for almost a month! As many of you know we moved into our new house on July 1st and, not only have we been very busy unpacking and trying to get settled, but we also don't have the Internet yet. So, needless to say, I haven't had the time or the resources to work on my blog. I know many of our readers are anxious to see the new house, so here you go!

Outside front

Outside back

Living room

A view from the front door looking at the dinning room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Guest bedroom

Master bedroom

Weston's room

The future second guest bedroom

Our unfinished laundry room and second bathroom- obviously we will be doing some work down here:)

The future family/playroom- don't mind the nasty carpet we are taking out

Amidst the unpacking we also squeezed in a 4th of July celebration which included Weston's first fireworks. I wouldn't say he exactly loved them, but he did overall enjoy the experience and was very contemplative during the whole show:) I forgot my camera in the car during the fireworks, but I did get some of him and Gianna sporting their 4th of July apparel.

Finally, here are some more pictures of Weston enjoying the summer:)

Eating watermelon

His first experience with bubbles- he made this face most of the time

He loves water!

Swinging at the park

His new thing is to take just about any object and pretend he is talking on a phone:)

Weston just before he didn't move from the start line for some RiverFest baby races:)

Slow down weekends!

Where did the weekend go? We had a pretty busy weekend and this always makes it go by way to fast! Saturday we went to the Tausher family reunion (my Grandma Thompson's side of the family) and had a beautiful afternoon to hang out in the park, eat good food (potlucks are the best), and visit with family.

Weston and Gianna had fun picking up pine cones that, at first glance, looked very similar to something you would find in the grass if you owned a dog:)

Then Saturday night, we went to Merrick State Park to visit Mimi, Chrissy, Darrell, and Mae. They were camping there for the weekend, so we met them for dinner and a bonfire. We are not yet brave enough to go camping with Weston; however, I think he would love it. He got so messy yesterday being outside all day and seemed to love it. Weston's cousin Mae is only four months old and this was already her second camping trip!

Weston's first campfire

For Father's Day we hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and had a relaxing day. I think Michael enjoyed a day to relax since work is very consuming right now. After church we went out for brunch and then all came home and took naps! It is amazing how wonderful naps can be when you don't normally get to take them.

Finally, this picture is for Aunt Beth. She picked up some cute clothes for Weston at a rummage sale and I promised a picture of him in his new camo pants:)

Happy Birthday Gianna!

Gianna is one year old! We can't believe it!! Last weekend we headed up to Chippewa Falls to celebrate cousin Gianna's first birthday and it was a wonderful day:) Andrea and Andy were great hosts, the weather was beautiful, and Gianna really seemed to enjoy the day.

(She did get a lot more messy than this eating her piece of cake.)

Weston getting ready to do some sidewalk art at Gianna's party.

Weston's first time riding a bike- Mommy and Daddy just might have to get him one of these for his birthday:)

Weston wouldn't keep his hat on, so he sported a sunscreen mohawk for most of the day.


After Gianna's party we headed back to La Crosse for a bridal shower for my future Aunt Jessie. I didn't even get a picture of the bride-to-be, but look for wedding pictures in two months:) We joked that the shower seemed more like a baby shower because we had six little ones running around at the shower, and at one point, it seemed like it was nap time for all six!

Weston and Great Grandma Luebke

My cousin Brianna was great help with Weston during the shower- she will make a great babysitter one day:)

In other news, Weston is getting quite good at crawling up the stairs at my parent' house. This video was taken last Friday and he is even faster now. (Please excuse the sideways shot- I was thinking that it would turn out like a picture I take sideways.)

Well, that is the news for now. Oh, we are still set to close on our house June 29th and Michael is staying very busy at his new job. Please keep him in your prayers- as we all know, starting a new job can be very stressful! I, on the other hand, am loving my job:) Weston and I have a great time hanging out together and he keeps me smiling and busy all day!

Good Night

Well, the latest in house news is that we had the inspection today and it went well. There are a few things that will need fixing in the very near future, but nothing too major. We are one step closer! Before all the house stuff happened- we spent some time in Necedah with family and I didn't take a single picture, but we did have fun and got to do some catching up with Tamie, Jacob and their kids. Then, last Saturday we went to a family friend's wedding and it was beautiful. I haven't been good with my camera lately, so I didn't get a picture of Weston in his cute suit before the end of the night when there wasn't much left of it. (He slowly lost articles of clothing as the night went on.) Here a few pictures I did manage to get.

Aren't we missing somebody?

Sisters

At this point he really needed a good nap and I guess he was too tired to hold his bottle! We all got a good laugh when we looked over and saw him drinking his bottle this way.

Weston, Aunt Beth, Gianna, and Aunt Andrea tearing up the dance floor.

After the wedding, Michael left for a week of training in Wausau. It was a busy week for him full of too much information to handle in one week, but he did enjoy it. So far, this week he has been getting settled in his office and will meet with some of his clients this week and next. He is a little overwhelmed, but is handling it very well.

When Michael is gone I appreciate being with my parents even more! It is so nice to have the extra help:)

Grandpa showing Weston how to be a cowboy and put grass in his mouth. Not that he doesn't already know how to put grass in his mouth:)

Finally, this past weekend we went to my cousin Scott's graduation party and, again, I didn't take any pictures! I do have an excuse for not being on the ball though. Weston has been regressing in his sleeping through the night and lately has been doing this thing where he gets up about 3 am. He doesn't want to eat and doesn't need comfort- he just wants to play! I told Michael this is harder than when he used to wake up hungry or crying for comfort because it isn't a quick fix. He will NOT go to bed until he is tired again and twice this week he ended up staying up for two plus hours. Then when he is finally tired, he has been doing this thing where he realizes he his about to fall asleep and does something to wake himself up- like sit up really fast. Hopefully, this is a very short phase!!!! I am tired just thinking about it and I should really go to bed! Good night.

Very Quick Update

I am going to update our faithful readers very quick! Michael is gone for the week training in Wausau, so since I won't have opportunities to catch up on sleep and nighttime is the only time I get to work on my blog, I have to be sensible and choose sleep over working on it. Anyway, we made an offer on a house in West Salem (which happened to be exactly what we were looking for) and after a counteroffer we got the house! We still have a ways to go until it is officially ours (loan approval, inspection, appraisal, etc..), but if all goes well, we will move in at the end of this month!! We are very excited and CAN'T WAIT:)