Jake at 2 months

Jake has been such a good baby....I know I keep saying that....but he really is!He is content just about anywhere. I would say we are pretty well adjusted to 3 kids by now, not saying I've got everything under control! 3 kids was a harder adjustment than going from 1 to 2 kids....it's just that you are out numbered now. You are in the thick of "training" the 5 yr and 2 yr olds and then also meeting the basic needs of a baby....you know like feeding every 3 hours and changing diapers. I am not complaining.....I wouldn't want it any other way....I LOVE being a Mommy!

Jake's 2 mo. stats
weight: 11lbs 12 oz (49%)
height: 23 in (45%)

Milestones:
He started smiling at 4 weeks and is such a smiley baby! About 6-7 weeks you started cooing and talking! He still eats every 3 hours and started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks!!! He likes his bouncy seat and swing. Sometimes he falls asleep in them.

Blake & Jodi's Wedding

Jodi was one of my good friends in High School. Naturally after HS we lost touch, but shortly before we moved we reconnected on Facebook....see it can be good for something other than wasting time!!! We then found out that we were moving to the town where she lived! Anyways, to make a long story short.....we now live 3 blocks away from each other and our families have become great friends!

Mackenzie and I were very honored to be a part of their special day!

The wedding was at a beautiful vineyard in NW Iowa.

Right before the ceremony was to start we realized that the string quartet was not there yet. Jodi was a very laid back bride and the one big thing for her was to have a string quartet play for the ceremony. We tried to hold off thinking they would show up, but some brilliant minds got together and downloaded the Canon in D to an Ipod and hooked it up to a car stereo system....my brother Brock got to be the DJ! Well they ended up showing up in the middle of the ceremony....somehow the times were off, so they ended up playing the whole reception instead!

Jodi has a little boy Tucker who is the same age as Mackenzie and they got to walk down the isle together. They are best buddies....or like brother and sister.....depending on the day!!!

She was a stunning bride!

My family was also invited so my parents brought Kate up with them the day of the wedding since the rest of us had to be there the night before for rehearsal. My mom caught this adorable picture of Kate during the prayer!

Check out the view! It truly was an incredible day.....

For and incredible couple!

~We love you guys!

June '10

June was a BUSY month to say the least!!! Two BIG events happened and I'll highlight those....the rest of the pics are of our daily life!!!

First I helped host a baby shower for my sister Amy and her husband Andrew, for their first little one! It was a lot of fun and she was blessed with some amazing gifts. Click here for pictures of that!

Love the sleeping baby....and how they sleep through anything as a newborn!

June 12th Mackenzie and I got the privilege of being in our best friends wedding. It was absolutely gorgeous! Details and pictures about that in the next post!

One of the last times Jake can perch on Aunt Amy's belly......it was the perfect seat! It was also the start of his bonding time with.....

OLIVER ANDREW WIESE!

Born June 24th 9lbs 2oz, 22 1/2in long! Exactly 7 weeks to the day.... in the same room as Jake was born.... after 24 hours of labor and 5 hours of pushing this big boy made his presence into our family! It was an excruciatingly long wait on our end (and theirs too, I'm sure)......we couldn't wait to see what they were going to have!

We were SOOO excited to meet him! He seems to take after his daddy with his looks...we'll wait to see who he acts like!!! We couldn't wait to get our hands on him....Aaron and I got to hold him in the hospital, but the girls had to wait.

On Sunday after they got home from the hospital we officially got to introduce the boys! We couldn't hardly wait to get these two next to each other.....we predict they'll be best buddies!!!

We often swap babies when we are together to make sure we get to spend time with our nephews!! It is going to be so much fun raising boys together!

Daddy with his kiddos!

The girls, or should I say Mackenzie can't get enough of holding Jake.

Then almost always, right after Mackenzie holds him Kate wants her turn.....for 2.2 seconds then she's done!

Trying out the play gym........what are those blinking lights!!!

This is a picture of our whole family Skyping with Dustin, who is in Idaho on an internship. This was probably the first time Dustin got to "see" Ollie! If you look closely Andrew is showing him his ENORMOUS hands and feet....no joke!

We couldn't hardly go a couple days without seeing Ollie, so one day we just made a trip down to snuggle! He is just so cute and you just can't help but want to kiss those cheeks of his!

Mackenzie is such a baby lover!

At the end of the month, for Memorial Day Grandpa and Grandma Musselman came out to visit and spend some time holding Jake. They hadn't seen him since the day after he was born in the hospital! It was good to spend some time with them and Uncle Andrew as well!

Professional Pictures!

Normally I'm a little obsessive compulsive about getting my kids pictures taken 3mo, 6mo, 9mo, 12mo, 18mo, and then every year after that and as close to the date as possible! Well....I got a little off track....Kate didn't get her 18mo pics, Mackenzie turned 5 back in Dec and Kate turned 2 in Feb. I never got newborn pics of the girls but I decided as the time got close to having him I might as well wait and get them all done at the same time. The lady who had taken my senior pictures opened up a new studio and we got to be her first photo shoot in the new studio. Thanks StudioK....I am so happy with them!

The rest of May

May was an extremely busy month for us and here is the rest of the story....

After having Jake my parents helped out so much by taking the girls. One of the favorite things to do at Grandma's was to go and see some puppies that had been born at their neighbors house.

Mackenzie had a couple field trips right at the end of school and with having Jake in the middle of all of it she only got to go on one of them, well I guess the second attempt at the same one. The first attempt Aaron took off work and they were going to take a train ride, go to the fire station and then to the park. Well the train couldn't go that day so they continued with the rest of it and rescheduled the train ride for another day. Aaron wasn't able to go on that, so I got to take his place. I was pretty excited as I had never been on a train before.....a real one like Amtrak!

The train was VERY delayed and we thought we were going to have to skip it again, but we persevered and it finally came! Instead of having lunch at the park after the train ride we ended up having it at the station before we left.

There were some very creative teachers and parents keeping the kids busy while we waited! Someone finally had the idea to take class pictures! This is the whole preschool class....am and pm!

All the kids buddied up and Mackenzie got put with her good friend Issac. They were so cute together. Jake and I also enjoyed our first train ride!

Then after the train we went to the park and the kids celebrated "Max"-the class pet dog luau!


Mackenzie and Kate have really been enjoying playing PBS kids and Nick Jr. games on the computer lately. Most of the time it is just Kate watching Mackenzie play. That can keep them occupied for hours, but sometimes I have to limit the screen time..... it's educational right!?!

Then just a couple weeks after Jake was born my brother Brock graduated from High School. We were so proud of him and what he has accomplished and plans to do. Most of all we are so proud of the man he has become!

Mackenzie graduated from preschool and we had a potluck and program! It was so fun to see the things that they had been working on all year long and how far she has come!

I tried to upload a video of one of the songs that they performed.....it was hilarious!

Here are her two teachers....Mrs. Ditzman and Mrs. Goeddey! They were sooo great and she will miss them!
Mackenzie I am so proud of the girl you are becoming. You are growing up so fast and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for your life.....I pray He does mighty things through you!

I helped host a wedding shower for my friend Jodi, who's wedding Mackenzie and I will be in in June!

Then at the very end of the month my brother Dustin moved to Idaho to do an internship. Here is one of his final days. It was surprisingly hard on me to see him move away......for a couple reasons......One he doesn't know when he'll be moving back, maybe not for a long time if he gets a job, two he'll be a married man when he does(which we are very happy about, but it changes things) and I've never lived this far away from him before. We've lived in the same town for 5 years and then before and after that we were home on the weekends together and he has been such a big part of my children's lives! He is the best babysitter and the girls will miss him terribly!

Phew.....it wears me out just typing it all out! Getting ready for the next couple months cause it ain't slowin down, but looking forward to it!

Jake 2 wk

I am already failing at keeping up with Jake's milestones....they have so many in their first months! So to backtrack and attempt to remember what life was like when he was only 2 weeks old!

Stats at 2 weeks:
7 lbs 15 oz (26%)
20 in (27%)

He is such a good baby.....doing great at night, which is the biggest thing in my book at this point. I would sleep him on his tummy during the day and side at night. He would eat every 3 hours and would rarely need to eat sooner than that!