A lot can happen in a week!

Josh was gone in Houston this week and it actually really flew by, Grandma Peg came down, we went over to my friend Abby's and went to her dress fitting, helped Meghan and Joel with invites for their wedding and visited my Aunt Julie, Uncle Nate and their 3 girls (my youngest cousins).



Grandma Peg is spoiling already.....she was watching All My Children and Gretta got hooked! She is pretty fascinated by TV and computers, we think its all the colors and flashing lights. We really aren't going to make this a habit though!



I got my first night "off" from parenting and went to my friend Sara's bachelorette party and Josh took Gretta to her first Twins game with Uncle Seth and his girlfriend Kim.



Seth, Kim and Gretta



Aunt Molly and soon-to-be Uncle Elden got to meet Gretta for the first time at the airport. They are finally home from Taiwan and are getting married in less than 2 weeks!



We went out to lunch at Macaroni Grille (also happens to be where Josh and I had our first date!) This is the first time Josh and his siblings have been together at the same time in almost 2 years (since our wedding!) That is what happens when we all live in different countries I guess! Gretta was sleeping peacefully in her carseat while we ate, therefore she missed picture time.

Cabin Fun and Diamond Rings

We spent the weekend at Laura's cabin this past weekend and had a great time! Gretta behaved very well, as usual. She got her first mosquito bite so is definitely a "true Minnesotan" now! We got to do some of the typical cabin activities like boat rides, play games, water ski, campfires, go for walks and bike rides.....

She enjoyed the campfire, which she didn't when she was at my parents cabin. Maybe she knew what was about to happen.....

Tom got down on one knee....

and proposed to Laura, who said YES! Congratulations you two!

This is Josh and I, the moon was so cool that night! Very bright and we watched it rise. It started out really orange almost like a sunrise!

This wasn't her first boat ride, but we didn't get pictures of the first one. We did this time and she is sporting her new life jacket and seems to be a pro at riding along!

She also decided to try out the trolling motor.

There were also naps at the cabin of course...by both baby and Josh

It was a really great weekend and nice to get away, try out the new boat and relax. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The summer is already going way too fast, can't believe it will be July next week!

To blog or not to blog......the first "official" post

How hard is it to start a blog? In our case, very hard, since we've been thinking about it for a while but weren't sure how to start, when to start and now we look back and wish we would have started sooner! As you may have noticed, we have put a few things up from the past and may go back on old memories.....and will archive them accordingly. However, we'll see how motivated we get.

Our good friend Laura, (here she is with her new puppy Riley) was the instigator and she said that all we have to put up are pictures, LOTS of pictures. So we may just do that from time to time, but it will be nice to have a "diary" of sorts, since it is hard to keep track of ourselves sometimes!

As you know, we've had our website for a couple years and while it has been nice, it is hard to manage new happenings and we usually end up making a whole new page for each new thing we do. Since we have Gretta now, her page gets updated frequently and its hard to keep what we've written previously because we have to move things around to put new things on top and without boring you too much its just difficult to keep updating it without deleting what was updated last time. Yada, Yada, Yada. So, needless to say, we think that this blog will help us to update more often as it will be easier and faster to post and put up pictures using this format.

Given that we are headed back to Bangkok in the fall for about 8 months, we thought it would be good to start this and get the hang of it so we can be regular bloggers by the time we leave the country again and can give adequate updates to those back home who eagerly await to see and hear about us and our adventures! I don't know if we'll be as witty as some bloggers, but we will surely give it our best shot....and so here is our first post!

While we get the hang of this please be patient.........!

Father's Day and a Boat

Gretta's new favorite activity is "standing" we have to help hold her arms but she pretty much can stand on her own. We're thinking we might be in trouble and have an early walker!

First shoulder ride on Josh's first Father's Day. It was a very relaxing and fun day since he was just getting over his sickness after returning from Bangkok/Bangladesh. We had delicious kabobs and potatoes on the grill and carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert!

It was a good day for family pictures, the weather was gorgeous and Gretta was loving it so we took a lot.

Josh got a boat for Father's Day and we look forward to spending the summer cruising the lakes!

Two Months!

We cannot believe how fast the first 2 months have gone and it only is going to go faster we're sure. Josh was gone in Bangkok and Bangladesh this whole month, he left right after Mother's Day, so it was an interesting month of "single" parenting. There were a couple of days that were challenging but for the most part she was great, it was just hard missing Josh. We had webcams which helped a lot and made the missing each other not as bad. Gretta and I kept very busy while Josh was gone. We attended a Mommy and Me class once a week which was nice to meet other new moms.

Here we are on the first day of "school" :)

We went to a shower for Joel's fiance, Meghan, and then Gretta had her last shower given by my Aunt Nancy. She received a lot of adorable outfits and toys and books. I also took her up to my parents cabin as well so that was her first long trip as it was about 4 1/2 hours total in the car going up to my parents and then to the cabin. She slept the whole way! She had her first boat ride, but we didn't get any pictures of it. She seemed to enjoy it, she was a little fussy at first and then fell asleep.

Tummy time at the cabin, she did her trick of crawling over the boppy and she almost rolled over too!

She also likes to listen very intently to Uncle Joel, he speaks her language.....

We got to go see Abby and Nick at their new house and meet Raja and Furious the wonder dogs for the first time. They enjoyed licking Gretta's feet and she seemed pretty unimpressed by their curiousness! There was also another party at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Scott's for Briana and Andy's bridal shower, my mom's retirement, Aunt Jan's 60th Birthday and my mom and dad's 33rd wedding anniversary! We like to celebrate multiple things at once and cover all the bases. Gretta apparently enjoys a big crowd and being passed around, so she was on her best behavior of course. We also went to Josh's cousin's graduation open house and my mom's retirement ceremony at my old high school so it was fun to show Gretta off to some former teachers. Then Josh came home and it was fun to see his reaction to how much more alert she has become, he didn't get to see it a whole lot on the webcam!

Just chilling....

She did start smiling at about 1 month but we've been getting smiles a lot more frequently this month and its easier to make her smile by making faces and talking to her.

Showing off her mad ninja skills....

Don't you just wonder what goes through their heads?

Mother's Day

It was my first Mother's Day and it was a gorgeous day! We had fun with my family eating brunch, playing bocce ball and having angel food and strawberries. Then we went out to dinner to a new place with Josh's family called Spasso, delicious! Josh got a baby book for Gretta from him and her for me. Hopefully I will get that filled out appropriately! Gretta got to meet Uncle Jeff and Auntie Angelie for the first time as they came to visit from Colorado. They also had an announcement that they are expecting their first little one in November!

Gretta and Jess

The little family

The whole family!

Mom-to-be in November, Auntie Angelie

4 generations

One Month

We had a great first month! Gretta is a very good baby who actually sleeps very well at night, usually only waking us up once. She loves going places and seeing people, we had lots of visitors! She had a month full of firsts including stroller rides around the neighborhood, going to the Mall of America to shop for bridesmaid dresses for Meghan and Joel's wedding, going to a restaurant with Great-Grandma Lil, going on a road trip to visit Great-Grandma Glady up in Milaca and another road trip down to visit Great-Grandma Ellie, Grandma Rachel, Grandpa Fred and Uncle Seth in Gaylord.

First "trip" down to Josh's parents (Grandma and Grandpa) to meet Great-Grandma Ellie and Uncle Seth

Uncle Seth and Josh

4 Generations

First bath at home

Great-Grandma Glady

Great-Grandma Lil

First stroller ride

Doing tummy time and crawling over the boppy!

More Tummy Time and maybe a little Peek a Boo.

Baby Gretta

After a pretty uneventful pregnancy we welcomed little Gretta Renae into the world on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 12:25 p.m. She was 8 lbs 10 oz and 22.5 inches long.

I started labor officially on Wed. April 2 around bedtime with just some mild cramping, tightening, restlessness. So I didn't get much sleep that night. It stopped in the morning (Thursday) and I had a doctor appointment that morning and felt fine the rest of the day with just some mild cramping.

Around supper time on April 3 it started getting a little stronger, a little more uncomfortable and we started kind of keeping track of the time. We called the doctor on call who said to go ahead and come in when they were 5 minutes apart for more than an hour. We went into the hospital at midnight and they said I was at 3 cm so they wanted us to walk around a bit and see if I'd progress. We did and they checked again an hour later and I was at 4 cm so they admitted us. We continued to walk around all night until 6:30 in the morning and I hadn't progressed any more so we went home on Fri. morning April 4.

I continued to have contractions throughout the day on Friday, they weren't too uncomfortable just a little annoying. We had some Erberts and Gerberts for lunch, a strawberry malt and a walk to DQ later in the day and eggplant parmesean for supper, which we had read would do the trick! Contractions started getting worse Friday night and I wanted to wait until they were really unbearable because I did not want to walk around the hospital again all night! So around midnight again on Fri. night this time, we went to the hospital and I was at 6 to 7 cm so they admitted us and said we'd probably have our baby that day! (Saturday)

I got an epidural shortly after we got there and it helped so much since I hadn't slept for 2 nights and only had short naps during the day. I'm really glad I decided to have this so I'd have the strength later! We both got some sleep and then about 8 or 9 in the morning they broke my water and continued to monitor progress which was at 8 to 9 cm. Then around noon we started pushing and by 12:25 she was here! I only had to push for about a half an hour and it was the hardest part of the whole process! I was so glad it wasn't any longer than that. As you can see, it was of course, ALL worth it!

The new family at the hospital

Grandpa Steve and Grandma Peg

Grandpa Fred and Grandma Rachel

Pretty peaceful girl

Contemplating this new life....

Ride home from the hospital!

Big yawner!