We Are Still Alive

Well I have been getting too much grief for my lack of posting so to get people off my back I have posted a bunch of pictures and will give a little update on our lives. We survived another Iowa winter and the only I think I lasted the numerous ice storms was the fact that I knew it was my last one. Charlie has been working really hard to get all of his numbers for the clinic and is doing amazing. I am so proud of the wonderful Chiropractor he has become. Since he is getting all of his numbers we will be able to move back to Arizona in October. I am excited to go home and enjoy and nice warm winter before we have to climatize ourselves back to the summers.

No much has been going on around the house. I just finished successfully potty training my first child and I would have to say it was not nearly as bad as I expected. My little dudes are growing so fast. I can't believe I don't even have a baby any more. My little Jack is talking and climbing up everything possible. Danny is already telling me what to do - He is pretty much the boss. Well besides school, church, and sitting at home not much is going on, just trying to enjoy the boys before this stage is gone.

Jack wearing his favorite article of clothing even though it is finally spring and in the 60's.

This is how I found the boys the other day. I was probably watching tv or on the computer and then realized I hadn't heard them for a while I went searching for them and found them and the floor covered in their brand new shampoo. They thought it was really funny until they tried to walk out and both just kept slipping and falling. In this picture they are actually both crying from falling over and I was on the floor laughing my head off. Oh the joys of motherhood.

Jack after eating ice cream - It was the best thing he had ever tasted!!

Our handsome dudes -
I got them dressed and thought they both looked so cute
so I took their pictures. Man I love these boys.

Halloween this last year 08 at my mom's house.

Danny with Great Grandpa at Thanksgiving.

The family (minus Paul) at Thanksgiving.

The boys showing how painful it is to sit in the car in their car seats.

Jack is found in this position more than is probably appropriate.

I thought break meant you got to relax.....

Well we just finished our summer break and now I am ready for a vacation. At the beginning we finished up moving and clean houses. We also closed on our house – which was a wonderful relief. We are now just getting settled in and are on our way over to my parent’s house for a little retreat. My best buddy here is moving in just a couple of weeks so we decided to go over to my parents and have a little getaway. It was really nice to just sit around in the pool and do some shopping. I am really going to miss Louise. We then came back and planned a camping trip, but it was way to wet or way to hot the whole week so we just continued to unpack and help the Rogers move(Louise).

It was then back to the parents for the 4th of July and Danny’s Birthday. While we were over there the Rush’s and Judi’s Mom came into town. For the next week we went to downtown Chicago, Nauvoo, and Davenport. We got to see all the sites and spend lots of time together. I am so grateful that they came and loved to see all of them.

We made it home just in time to spend a weekend relaxing and them it was back to school.

Here are the pics from the whole adventure...

Danny opening his presents.

Danny's favorite thing in the whole world is a ball - any type, any size - in face anything circular. So I made him this little cake for his 2nd birthday. He loved it.

Pictures of us in Nauvoo and at Carthage. I am really bad at remembering to take pictures so these are all that I got over the four days that we were there.

Another One Down....(I just mean a week)

Well we have survived another week here in good old IOWA. A little bit more of an update. As I have said we sold our house because we were a little afraid we couldn't sell it next year if the market keep going down and when we are done here we want to be ready to go home to Arizona. We found a little place the is about half the size of our old house and we are renting it for the next year or so. We have just ended another trimester and had to say goodbye to some really good friends. We were really sad to see them go, but at the same time all the new families are showing up and I am glad that we are not having to start all over again. Our little Jackson - who is not little - is just huge. It is in the 95 percentile in all areas is just too heavy to carry. I am really glad that he can now sit up because I no longer carry him in the car seat.
Here are some precious little pictures that I took of the boys this week. Jack loves to swing and was apparently starving because he started chewing on the little bar that goes across him.


Danny is just about the funniest thing in the world. Whenever I try to make a face at him like I am serious or he is in trouble. He turns around and does the same thing back to me. The bottom picture is an attempt at my face I try to give him when I am trying to discipline him - As you can tell you can see how good I am doing at that.

Our Life in a Nutshell - Or at Least my Attempt to Summarize the Past Couple of Months

Well here goes our little 6 month recap - Jack finally came only 9 days late - but we welcomed our humongous little one into our home. I have realized although very hard going over - especially when my midwife said she hoped I would make it to 38 weeks - but when you have a ten pounds baby they are really easy. Judi and my mom were both able to make it to the hospital just a few hours before he came.

After a very cold and long winter we were glad to see spring. I don't know why people in Arizona say they wish they had the seasons - I just like the reliability of having the same thing every day. After visiting Arizona in February, Danny would sit by the front door saying "bye bye". He didn't realize the it was still 20 below outside - nothing compared to our wonderful week at home.

This picture is of Danny at his very first fathers and sons. It had a fun time and loved being able to sleep in a tent.

Now that summer has arrived my parents opened thier pool and turned on the heater. Danny refuses to leave the first step no matter who is going to hold him and Jack would float around by himself all day long.

This is me a my two cousins that live in Chicago - We all had babies within a few weeks of each other.

I just thought this was just the cutest thing ever. This was actually a sucker that was Jenny's. He dragged a chair across the room and got up onto the counter to get to it. I think he is getting to smart for his mom.

Dan had his first official crash and burn. It was so sad. He fell down our concrete stairs out our front door.

Our little Jack that we love so much - even though he wears the same size diapers as his big brother and wears 12 month clothing at 5 months!!!

WOW I AM BAD AT THIS!!!!!

This is my attempt to allow people to see my little guys. I am so bad at keeping up at this. This picture is actually when Jack was only 2 months old. Our little family has been very busy. We put our house on the market and it sold in only a week - so we had to find a new place fast and move. Of course, everything gets lost when moving, so I could get pictures onto the computer. We have been loving our new little place. Charlie just finished his 5 of 9 trimesters that we have to be out here so we are on the down hill slide. We are glad that spring is here, except that everything is underwater right now - and we haven't had very many good spring days - but at least it is not below freezing anymore. I will get more recent pictures up and more of an update as soon as possible.

Two Babies, Iowa Winters, and Finals

These are all of my reasons for not keeping up on my sweet little blog. It has been a lot more work than anticipated having two little ones. It seems that all I do is feed babies, change diapers, and attempt to get them both asleep at the same time so that I can have a nap - which hardly ever happens. Jack is actaully a really good baby, which has been a wonderful blessing. He is HUGE!! Everyone around here always assumes that he is about 3 months old - now that he is just past a month. Danny is doing a lot better with the baby. He just loves his baby so much that he can hardly stand to leave him alone. I walked into the room the other day and found Danny getting Jack out of the swing and was just about to start carrying him around. We are excited to head down to Arizona this week for our break. We need to thaw out. It is snowing right now, which is always beautiful, but I can only stand so many below zero days. I am forced to stay inside all day for days on end. Yesterday was finally around 30 degrees so we went out as a family and did our grocery shopping. Danny was excited to be able to leave the house and not have to cry while he is trying to breath in the freezeing cold.

HE FINALLY CAME!!!
Well I guess that we waited long enough - 41 weeks and one day. Early Tuesday morning our sweet little boy finally decided to come to our family. Jackson Fielding Rush was born at 12:23 am. He weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. We are glad that everyone is healthy and happy - and mom is especially glad to not be pregnant.

Well we got home a realized that there were not very many good pictures of the baby on our camera. These are the best that I could find so I will add more when we get some from the grandma's.