Return to blogging...

Well hello everyone...after a LONG break from blogging, I have decided to return to it...

I even skipped right over Maddux's first birthday!! However, I have posted some of his "formal" one-year photos from Sears. I'm still in shock that he is already over one year old and that he looks like a little boy already. There is almost NO baby about him anymore!

As you can imagine...he keeps us busy and on our toes all the time. He is still not walking on his own, but we're thinking he will start soon. He just needs to work on some balancing and standing on his own first I think!!

Time has flown by of course. There have been some ups and downs in the last few months for us and our families. We continue to appreciate what blessings we have and get through the tough times together.

We found out at the end of March that we were expecting again. However, complications began on Easter weekend and by later April, we were able to finally figure out that it was an ectopic pregnancy. Last week I went in and everything checked out well, which is good. It's still very sad to lose a pregnancy like that. I have some friends and family members that have also lost pregnancies and now I can truly understand what that is like. Our 2nd baby would have been due in early December. But we have tried our best to get through those emotions and look forward to the future, and hopefully another successful pregnancy in our future.

Of course most of the "ups" in our lives revolve around our little man! If any lesson is to be learned by what we went through, it is that we must be grateful for Maddux's life and to appreciate what a miracle having a successful pregnancy and healthy child truly is!

In May, Tom and I ran the Fargo half-marathon in just under 2 hours, 10 min! I had to take a break in training due to the pregnancy but was able to resume afterward. It was a good, positive thing to focus on after that.

For Memorial Day, we took Maddux for his first trip to Papa and Gramma Gerhardt's house in Pollock, SD. It was a pretty good trip, except he was not comfortable sleeping there and had a meltdown in the middle of the night. But he was much more comfortable there by the 2nd day and thanks to Jay buying the Ferber book, we have managed to get him in a much better sleeping pattern, with no bottles before bed or middle of the night feedings. In fact, he's moved on to pretty much just sippy cups, with no bottles excpet at daycare when he sees the baby drinking from a bottle. How exciting ;)

Jay has done some work with landscaping around the house and getting the back yard seeded. My garden is more successful than last year, but I'm still not quite at the green thumb level. We both continue to work full-time and still try to have some fun.

We were able to get a short vacation to Minneapolis in June to see a couple Twins/Braves games which was a blast! We took maddux to the first night's game and then Jay's mom and aunt watched Maddux for the 2nd night's games so we could go with Jay's dad and uncle. That was the first time I had gotten to see my faviorite MLB team live plus we got to go to the Twins new Target Field stadium! Maddux did very well traveling until about the last 200 miles of the trip. I don't blame him, as I would not want to sit in a car seat that long either!!

The weekend after Minneapolis we had a big 1st birthday bash for Maddux - it was baseball-themed and I had a blast planning it and decorating for it! We even got a great game of wiffle ball in with everyone. Maddux cooperated in diving into his cake and I got to open all his presents for him - he was more interested in the cards! Lots of family & friends contributed to make it a very fun and special birthday celebration!

Yesterday we went to the funeral of Janell Hellman, a family friend and a sister-in-law of our sister-in-law, Val. This was just such a devastating loss to her family, friends and the whole community. Janell battled cancer for 7 years, and in the end it was just too much for her to fight. Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to her family, especially the husband and 3 girls she left behind. We know that her legacy of kindness, strength, courage and hope will live on and we are truly honored to have known her. We will have a small token of what she meant to people, as she made Maddux's baptismal bib for him last year. She did that for all the babies baptized at Sacred Heart in Glen Ullin and for family and friends' babies. We will be happy to tell Maddux someday how special that baptismal bib really is, and to tell him about Janell.

With the experiences of life and death, we try to take with us lessons to be learned and hope for the future.

And our family's story continues....

He's Crawling!!

8 months+

Well hello again! I know it's a week after Maddux turned 8 months but I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately! Life is busy - wonderful but busy! Hope you enjoyed the Giggle Monster video from the other day. Doesn't Maddux have a great laugh? He did that for maybe 5-10 minutes straight - he thinks his daddy is hilarious!! I especially love that video, because it's not just the milestones we need to stop and capture, but also those silly moments filled with joy that come to us out of the blue!!

In the past month, Maddux has hit some milestones, however. He has TWO toofers, he can flip back and forth off his belly to back (he has been able to do belly to back on occasion for about a month but he "mastered" it this past weekend). He also likes to give his daddy high fives! He also is pushing up his legs when he's on his belly, pushing with his arms and managing to go backwards and around in circles. I have a feeling it won't be long and he'll figure this crawling thing out. He also likes to "stand" with our help, and I think he's going to be itching to walk early too...that's my prediction anyway. I know our backs and arms could use the break! (Although, to maintain my strength I'll have to start lifting weights again!!)

As always, Maddux keeps us on our toes and entertained!

He really enjoys splashing around and playing during bath time. Yes, he gets to take his baths in mommy and daddy's whirlpool tub!!

He stayed in so long, his toes shriveled up!!



In early February, we went to McKenzie's birthday party at the Ramkota hotel. This was Maddux's 2nd experience trying out "swimming". The first time, on New Year's Eve, did not go so well! This time, he was more curious aout the water and actually didn't scream/cry!!

Hanging out in the hotel room at the party:

Getting kisses from Auntie Lyndsey:

Do they look like two peas in a pod or what? T-R-O-U-B-L-E!! (Frosting, what frosting?)

Maddux got some balloons form a party at Gramma Joyce's work place and he LOVED them:

Just playing and being his usual silly self:

We went to Taylor's basketball game at the Y a couple weeks ago. He enjoyed it!

With Gramma Sandy and McKenzie:

With Papa Ron who likes to play "sack of flour" with him - Maddux seems to enjoy it as well!!

Our sweet 8-month old:

Playing Peek-a-Boo with Daddy!!

When he is done playign with toys, he just pushes them away from him, like in this picture:

Showing off the two toofers (and some carrot remants on his face, apparently):

Our little Valentine:

As for Jay and me, we have been keeping busy with work. I've gotten some scrapbooking time in, continue to play v-ball and have recently gotten back into running more. I'm hoping to run a half-marathon in May with my brother!! He's ahead of me in training rignt now, but I have almost 3 months to get in the long distance miles.

Jay has gotten out ice-fishing a few times - not much luck - but I think he has fun. We are the proud new owners of Ran's old snowmobile which Jay will likely put to use quite a bit! I may have to try it out sometime too ;)

The beagles are doign pretty well - they have had a few minor injuries this winter, but nothing serious. They also have recently added green beans to part of their diet, in hopes of cutting back a few pounds from both of their current weights!! Once the weather turns nicer, we'll try to get them (and Maddux) outside as much as possible. I'm so anxious for Spring and Summer to arrive once again!!

We continue to enjoy our life and journey as a family!! God is good!

Giggle Monster!

7 months

OK I have been BAD about updating this blog! But...better late then never, right??

Maddux turned 7 months old on the 17th of January.

Here are some pictures to show what he has been up to in the last couple of weeks...

Being silly - sticking his tongue out and not cooperating with the measurement picture. He's about 30-31 inches long now!!

His favorite toy - at home - is the Exersaucer. He especially likes the toy on there that spins. He's gotten quite skilled at that!!

Having fun in the Exersaucer again!!

Mommy's Little Bear :)

Being a big sister, even as a beagle, is apparently exhausting. Just ask Jerz...

And Bailey...

Quite happy and proud of the fact he's hanging out with Dad on the couch:

Dad teaching him all about the sacred remote!

Our happy little man!!

And so handsome :)

Playing with Mom. His face is orange because he just ate carrots!

Happy to be (almost) naked and playing!

Looks like a mischeivous smile to me!

Our big boy!!

Mommy better teach him that you KICK the soccer ball, unless you're a goalie!

Praciticing the hand over the heart for the National Anthem before basketball games!!

Gotta work on that shooting form!!

As you can see, Maddux can now sit up on his own - he's been able to do that since he was about 6 months old, a little before Christmas. He can roll either way from back to tummy but has only rolled tummy to back once (at daycare, it must have been a fluke). We work on that every night. His legs are quite strong - so who knows, he may be standing/cruising/walking before he figures out the crawling thing!!

Other than that, he just continues to grow & grow. He LOVES his solids - veggies, fruit and cereal. We've found some "fancy" cereal that works better with his tummy than the other rice cereal did.

He loves to play and "talk" and giggle. He sleeps through the nights most of the time now, or if he does get up it's around 5:00 a.m. We are very grateful for our happy, healthy little boy and can't believe he's already 7 months old!