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Mike & Kristen's Wedding

This past weekend, Josh got to be in a wedding at our church for our youth minister, Mike Strunga and his new wife, Kristen.  Mike has been in Catlin about a year and a half now, and he has become good friends with our family.  Mike has been in our small group, and we've had a lot of fun getting to know him.  He also comes over to play games and watch The Office with us just about every week.  Hannah adores him.  His wife, Kristen is from Catlin, and we've known her a long time.  I was actually her small group leader her senior year of high school.  Mike and Kristen met at Lincoln Christian University, and now they are ministering here in Catlin. 

Their wedding was really beautiful.  And the reception was very nice.  I thought the tables looked beautiful, and I loved that each table had its' own cake on it. 

They did a great job catering to the little ones.  They brought around goodie bags for all the kids, and then they brought around glow necklaces for all of them.  Those were a big hit!

The only downer was that Hannah was scared of the music once it got loud.  I was surprised because she was the hit of the party at Jordan and Courtney's wedding, but she was sincerely scared.  My parents were there too, so mom took her out in the hallway for most of the dancing time.  I thought she was going to have a ball.  She was getting her groove on to the dinner music so I thought she was going to have a lot of fun during the real dancing, but I was wrong! 

I hope she isn't the same way at Emily and Keith's wedding in a few weeks!  Even the next day, she kept talking about how the music was "REALLY REALLY REALLY LOUD!"  She was so frazzled by it! 

Jacob didn't seem to mind at all.  He totally crashed in my arms.  He actually never even woke up to eat, and I was quite surprised by that!

One of the best parts of the weekend for me was that the Burgers were in town!  I was so excited!  I got to spend lots of time with Jennifer.  We hung out at the rehearsal dinner, at the wedding, and at church on Sunday.  She also came over Saturday afternoon to get her kids ready for the wedding.  My house was a DISASTER.  I was embarrassed but so glad that I got the extra time to spend with her.  I love them and miss them so much.  It's a year later, and I can still cry about their move.   

We had such a great time at the wedding, and we were glad Josh got to be such a special part of it.  We wish Mike and Kristen a lifetime of happiness!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one of the best daddy's I know!  Hannah, Jacob, and I all love you so much!  You're our favorite!!!  Hope you enjoy all your Father's Day snacks :)

Landon Michael Downing

 

Josh and I are officially an uncle and an aunt!  Our first nephew, Landon Michael Downing, was born on Friday, June 10th at 9:30 am.  He was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 22" long.  Courtney delivered him 28 hours after being induced! 

Josh was out of town, but I got to go to the hospital and see him on Friday night.  He has such a cute little face.  I think I am always surprised by how small a new baby is.  It's like you forget, even though I just had one seven months ago!  His facial features are so small.  And he has TONS of dark hair.  I thought my kids had a lot, but he has WAY more!  Jordan and Courtney continued the tradition of the middle name "Michael."  Here are Stephen Michael Downing, Jordan Michael Downing, Jacob Michael Downing, and Landon Michael Downing.  We were just missing Joshua Michael Downing!

I got to see him again two days later.  We took them dinner, and Josh got to hold him for the first time. 

 

I am going to babysit him two days a week in the fall when Jordan goes back to work.  He teaches in Catlin, so he can just bring him to my house!  I am really excited that I will get to be such a big part of his life.  I also know that it could be interesting for awhile with 3 kids age 3 and under, especially with 2 of them under the age of 1.  Hopefully that will go smoothly and we'll all settle into a routine.  I am very hopeful that our boys will be close cousins.  They will be in the same grade and everything.  Now we just have to get Jordan and Courtney to move to Catlin so they can be in the same class!  I am so excited that our kids have their first cousin!

Indianapolis

Josh had to go to Indy for a few days for work this week, so the kids and I decided to tag along.  I'd been planning on going over to see Amy and go to the zoo anyway, so a free hotel room was just a bonus! 

We drove over on Monday late in the morning.  First, we stopped for lunch at a place called Five Guys.  As soon as we walked in the door, Hannah threw up.  I pretty much knew instantly that she wasn't sick.  She had just had too many liquids and no food besides yogurt.  She did this a few times last year, but it had been awhile.  Unfortunately, Josh's co-workers were also at the restaurant and I was afraid he was going to regret bringing us.  After cleaning the floor and changing Hannah's clothes, we sat down and she ate half my lunch.  She was fine.  We dropped Josh off for his first meeting and headed to the hotel. 

After unloading the car, the kids and I headed straight for The Fashion Mall.  This is definitely a "rich people's mall," but there are a few stores that I love there.  The kids were fast asleep (awesome!), so I got them in the stroller and headed straight for Janie and Jack so I could get some shopping in while they were out.  This store is a little pricey for me, but the clothes are adorable and are very good quality.  I couldn't have been there at a more perfect time because their seaon finale was starting the next day, and the price markdowns were already in effect even though the tags hadn't been changed (awesome again!).  So, a lot of the clothes were almost 70% off, and that was about as much as I was willing to pay.  I actually didn't find anything for Hannah in the price range I was searching, but I did get several things for Jacob, as well as a couple of gifts.  The girl who rang me up couldn't believe my deals... while I was convincing myself that it was ok to splurge every once in awhile.  What a difference in perspectives!  Here are some of my cute, cute finds for Jacob for next year:

Shortly after that, the kids woke up, but we visited a few more stores:  Pottery Barn Kids (love!), Williams-Sonoma, Baby Gap, etc.  It was fun to go to some stores we don't have.  Hannah got a purple wand at Baby Gap for $1.97 which she was totally in love with... and it beat the pink one at Pottery Barn which was over $10.  She held it the rest of the trip, including while sleeping.

We stopped at Chipotle (yum!) and picked up dinner to take back to the hotel.  After I got the kids buckled back in the car, I realized we had lost Jacob's pacifier, so I had to unload them and take them back in to find it.  Doing all this alone was exhausting.  I knew we had a big day the next day, so the kids and I hung out in the hotel room the rest of the night while Josh was out at a fancy restaurant.

Our hotel room was great.  It was ideal for sleeping with two small children.  There was a king size bed in one part, a pull out couch in another part for Hannah, and a place for a pack n play for Jacob.  Unfortunately, this ideal situation did not work so well for us, and we all four ended up sleeping in the king size bed both nights.  Oh well, at least everyone slept!  I know from experience it could have been much worse!

We got up on Tuesday morning and headed to the zoo to meet Amy and her adorable kids.  I had never met Kylie-what a cutie pie!  Amy and I laughed about our similar discipline issues with our oldest two.  Here are our two cute little rascals:

Hannah liked the zoo, but she wanted to move through it quickly.  She was always onto what was next. 

Her favorite was probably the tiger because she was able to get so close.  There was just a pane of glass between her and the tiger.  She was laughing/shrieking excitedly.  I think she liked it and was scared at the same time. 

Jacob was a trooper the whole day.  He slept in his stroller almost the whole time, until Hannah decided to wake him up!

It was so good to see Amy (and her little pregnant belly!) and catch up on our growing families.

After the zoo, the kids and I grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel.  We got our swim gear on and headed to the hotel pool.  This was Jacob's first pool experience, and my first time swimming with two kids (who can't swim!).

Hannah ended up wearing arm floaties and the ring, and I held Jacob.  That actually worked quite well because they were both secure.  I thought I was going to put the ring on Jacob, but then they both still would have needed lots of help, and I don't have that many hands!  We swam for quite awhile.  Hannah really enjoyed it.  I wish I had a picture of Jacob swimming for the first time, but I was doing well enough to manage the two kids, let alone a camera near water!  I did get this picture in our hotel room of Jacob looking adorable in his little swim trunks. 

That night, I googled "best pizza in Indianapolis" and came up with Bazbeaux's, so we headed there.  It was pretty good pizza.  It wasn't the best I'd ever had, but I'd go back for sure.  Eating dinner alone with two small children at a sit-down restaurant was a little difficult though.  Hannah had to go potty, so I had to take her, Jacob, and all of our stuff to the bathroom right after our food arrived.  Also, Hannah was much more interested in the boy at the next table than she was her dinner.  I was also feeding Jacob his baby food, so it was hard to keep Hannah on task.  I don't think I'll try that again for awhile!  The nice family at the table next to us told us about an outdoor mall with a playground, so we went there next. 

Again, the kids were asleep when we got to the mall, so I put my sleeping children in the stroller and started shopping!  Gymboree was having awesome sales, and I spent a lot of time there, but I just couldn't be decisive, so I left empty handed.  The kids woke up so we went to the playground. 

 While there, Hannah had a potty accident.  Luckily, she was wearing a pull-up, but she was really upset, so she took her pants off in the middle of the playground.  I pulled them up and said we'd go change her.  She was hysterical.  She didn't want to wear dirty pants.  I can't really blame her, but we were not in a place where I could really change her.  I finally convinced her to ride in the stroller back to the car.  We got her changed and then went back to the hotel.  I was exhausted!

For our final day, I packed up all of our stuff, checked out with the kids, and went to another mall.  And yes, again, the kids were asleep when we got there.  I think I wore them out!  We went to the Disney store and picked up some cute clearance things for Hannah.  We went to another Baby Gap and got a few more clearance things.  And, we picked out a few Father's Day gifts for Josh.  After that, we headed home. 

I had a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we went.  Josh also said he was really glad we were there.  He hates going back to an empty hotel room.  But, I think it will be a little while before I have the energy to do all of that again.  It's a lot of work hauling two little ones all over the city on my own.  I wonder if I would ever be brave enough to try that with three.... hmm, I don't think so.... but only time will tell! 

Jacob's 7th Month

 

Jacob continues to be our happy little guy.  He brings us so much joy.  I just love him to pieces.  I love the way he looks at me and the way he smiles so easily.  And secretly, I love that he's somewhat of a momma's boy.  He's usually fine with others holding him, but he's gotten so that if he can see me, he wants me.  I can't complain about that!  I'll hold him as long as he'll let me!

Jacob adores Hannah.  He just smiles like crazy at her.  She usually likes him too... He's taken to baby food really well.  So far, we've just done dinner, but we're going to add breakfast now.  He is an awesome sleeper and is starting to get on a really good schedule.  He just likes to go to bed a little too early sometimes, which means he wakes up a little earlier than I'd like, so we're trying to push that back.  He is a roller right now!  He rolls all over the place.  He's starting to get up on his arms and legs like crawling could be in his near future. 

He still does not have any teeth.  I'm just enjoy his little gummy smile.  It's so cute. 

Josh and I left him for the first time (technically) to go to dinner in Champaign for our 7th Anniversary.  It was the longest I'd been away from him (4 hours) and the first time we'd both been in a different town than him.  Yes, it took us 7 months this time.  We left Hannah at 2 months, and I regretted it (just because I missed her so much), so I waited until I was ready this time.  I did fine, and so did Jacob.  Aunt Emily, Grandma Teresa, and Papa Ed took good care of him.  They said he pretty much just rolled around on the floor and ate some baby food and was just happy.  And Josh and I had a really good dinner and had some time to talk.  He's such a sweet boy.  I couldn't be happier!