tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86911469861701217522012-02-17T12:52:31.724-05:00We wanted to provide an easily accessible place for our friends and family to find out what's happening with our newest addition.Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.comBlogger2341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-5644600151246657052012-02-17T12:52:00.000-05:002012-02-17T12:52:31.730-05:00

Quinny in a real helocopter at the fair - he loved it! The boys were super excited this morning to head to school for their big V-day party.  Mom made rice crispy treats last night and Quinny had valentine's all made up for his classmates complete with a red/white sprinkled granola bars.  Q has been sleeping better but Carrie and I aren't!?  Doesn't that say it all.  We both were up at 3 and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-26522905330149037692012-02-10T14:17:00.000-05:002012-02-10T14:17:19.644-05:00

Is this a teenager or my 3 year old? The state fair is officially here.  It's a little strange heading out the fair in early February but the temperature is a cool mid 70s with little humidity so although that's not warm enough for me it's warm enough to be outside all day and enjoy the bouts with fried Pepsi and hamburgers sandwiched between two donuts for buns.  There is so much to love

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-31169103000867110132012-01-29T11:23:00.001-05:002012-01-29T11:23:54.246-05:00

What to do on a beautiful January morning?  We headed out to the beach of course and even though it wasn't warm enough to go swimming (that didn't stop some diehards notice exhibit A. to the left and B. to the right - clearly not locals!) we ventured out and walked the beach, played in the sand and had a nice morning enjoying the sunshine.  It's good to spend January in Florida.  It was Q's first

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-88865456579866526042012-01-17T21:59:00.000-05:002012-01-17T21:59:01.692-05:00

Doing his best impression of Lucky First, a quick note about the Packers.  Ya, ya, they threw away the best season in Green Bay history and were the first 15 win team to blow their first playoff game.  (That has to be a pretty small list doesn't it)?  My folks were at the game.  I also want to note that they were at the pivotal must win Brewer game against St. Louis where they took a

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-76748279014837848372012-01-11T13:58:00.004-05:002012-01-11T13:59:25.674-05:00

The holidays are behind us and we now start the long trek to Spring Break before getting a work breather (or school!).  It sounds like it's been a tough holiday season for a lot of our friends and family.  Carrie's cousin, Meagan, formerly of Tampa fame has been doing a pretty long stint in the hospital and will be there for a bit longer.  The doctors had a tough time diagnosing her but they

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-13985967843035656292012-01-01T00:19:00.000-05:002012-01-01T00:19:04.150-05:00

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture with 2 kids and a dog plus a 10 second timer on a camera?  This was the best we could do.  Happy New Year!  Here's to a great 2012!  Cheers!

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-33875851412308024952011-12-26T10:56:00.000-05:002011-12-26T10:56:22.195-05:00

Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! We trust everyone is having a fantastical day opening gifts and generally being merry. We attended the children's program at church last night, which Quinny thoroughly enjoyed. It was fun to see all the little kids performing. We could envision Quinny and Gavin up there causing all kinds of trouble while teachers were trying their best to corral them. Maybe next year.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-70968490654609459342011-12-24T10:31:00.000-05:002011-12-24T10:31:16.861-05:00

Santa's little helper It's Christmas Eve and we have officially arrived in the cold north leaving 78 degree Florida yesterday and landing in 28 degree Wisconsin. Ironically my sister and her family arrived in sunny Florida to spend Christmas at Disney World. She was raving about the weather once she arrived. It's been a really warm winter for everyone this year. People were talking about how

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-68856707598349753712011-12-21T08:24:00.000-05:002011-12-21T08:24:43.814-05:00

I'm not sure if Quinny is hanging out with some older boys or what but he's really tearing through the potty mouth vocabulary. Let's put this in perspective. The word fart is funny until you're what? (male perspective here) 23 years old? Does he really need to start throwing it around six seconds after turning 3? I'm positive he'll get tons and tons of mileage out of it through the years.  I was

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-80018779193778610532011-12-17T08:39:00.005-05:002011-12-17T09:04:24.183-05:00

Everyone slept last night - hurray!  I literally went to bed before Quinny did around 7:30 pm and slept the whole night.  Quinny and Gavin did too.  You should see how joyful our household is this morning.  Everyone is rested, happy and enjoying each other's company.  Who knew what a little sleep could do for a family? Carrie and I took the day off and did some Christmas shopping yesterday. 

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-64868315081528822512011-12-07T08:27:00.001-05:002011-12-07T15:50:01.025-05:00

Some of you may be familiar with Jimmy the Greek the gambling guru but the Spiegelhoff's now have Jimmy the Elf.  I was told last year about this Elf on the Shelf book that would keep your children semi-in line for the holiday season.  You buy the book, which comes with an elf.  You let your kids name him.  Quinny originally wanted Cocky.  Not sure where that came from but we didn't think it real

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-52205246597691097722011-12-05T22:02:00.001-05:002011-12-05T22:05:21.665-05:00

Getting the new train set up Q had so much fun at his birthday bash.  We went with a Cars theme.  Not sure how he is so in to that as he's never seen the movies but he loves Lightning McQueen and was stoked to get an RC McQueen car.  The reaction was priceless. We wish we had it on video but we just couldn't get it set up as fast as he opened up.  He was screaming with joy.  Cousin Rachel and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-34970755016713796262011-11-29T14:16:00.002-05:002011-11-29T14:22:49.702-05:00

Bringing cookies for my friends at school! I cannot believe it but we have a three year old on our hands.  It was around 9:30 in the morning that we headed off to the hospital on a Thanksgiving Saturday to have our first born.  We can't believe it's been 3 years already.  He can talk, run, jump, skip, ride a bike, he's lived in two states, taken more plane trips in 3 years than half the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-31635888365584085652011-10-20T11:21:00.000-04:002011-10-20T11:21:06.765-04:00

I wanted to get a quick update out there so everyone knew the surgery went well.  We had Poppa Steve drive over to our house before the rooster crows arriving just before 6:30 this morning.  We wanted Quinny to keep his routine so they spent the morning together so we could get off to the hospital.  Carrie, Gavin and I arrived around 7 am complete with valet parking.  Wow.  Valet parking at the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-67705990195205852302011-10-17T23:52:00.001-04:002011-10-17T23:57:11.459-04:00

Happy first birthday to Gavin!  He celebrated his first with family last weekend and we had a nice “Look Hoo’s turning one” party.  You know complete with hooting owl.  It’s the newest rage.  C’mon you haven’t heard?  You must not be rolling with a posse of one year olds.  We had three great grandparents in attendance (hooty hoo!), all four grandparents, some uncles, cousins and friends.  Both

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-67783028637913964972011-09-19T21:47:00.000-04:002011-09-19T21:47:14.634-04:00

Had a nice weekend of chilly temps and rain.  Fall has arrived as fast as summer came and disappeared again.  Time just moves too fast.  Both the Packers and the Badgers are undefeated and the Brewers look destined to win their first division crown since 1982.  I was 6!  The leaves are starting to turn their autumn colors and it's getting dark all too soon.  The house has turned to talk of

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-18517973037026471502011-09-05T22:25:00.001-04:002011-09-05T22:25:57.775-04:00

Friend's B-day party I solo parented this past week and I don't know how any single parents can make it through a week much less a year or a lifetime.  Sheesh.  You're up at 4-5 am and you sit down around 9:30 pm.  And as soon as your comfy rear hits the couch you realize you don't even want to be sitting on the couch. You want your booty in bed because you see the clock, do the math and know

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-8820409974488748822011-08-24T23:20:00.000-04:002011-08-24T23:20:51.951-04:00

Another weekend, another festival.  It was a crazy end to last week.  My brother bought a house (Wahoo! Congrats!) and my parents sold a house (Wahoo! Congrats!) and Gavin survived his bout with RSV.  I took off Thursday afternoon with Q in tow to help my brother move, which puts the moving score at about 12:1.  I guess I'm fortunate he doesn't like to move as often as I.  His new home, all the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-23661072705869451412011-08-16T13:52:00.000-04:002011-08-16T13:52:10.663-04:00

Oh man!  Our little guy is really in rough shape.  He made it to the doctor still sporting a 101+ fever and it was not good news.  He has a double ear infection and was diagnosed with RSV.  Yikes.  RSV is not cool and takes a long time to get rid of, up to 3 weeks.  You can read more about it here.  It's rare to have it in the summer time so they tested him on a whim and were surprised to find

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-64864833623714873892011-08-14T22:30:00.000-04:002011-08-14T22:30:00.242-04:00

Welcome back blog readers.  We have so much to catch up on after such a busy summer.  Last night was like going back in time to when we only had Quentin to deal with but he didn't sleep a wink.  It was discovered after a long day with little napping happening for either boys that Gavin was sporting 104 degree temperature.  We were planning on going to the Sweet Corn Festival (oh, Iowa!) but since

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-63700470910181931822011-07-19T22:50:00.000-04:002011-07-19T22:50:41.537-04:00

Gavin had his nine month check up today and he's growing up fast.  He has four teeth coming in on the top and has his two front ones on the bottom.  He's starting to copy us when we do things like shake our head no.  Every day he gets more alert, curious and mobile.  About 10 days ago he made the plunge from stationary to regular army crawler.  He's not officially crawling yet but he can go

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-79962588025598444792011-06-27T14:48:00.001-04:002011-06-27T14:51:27.852-04:00

After the addition of a dog and two boys we decided it was finally time to take that second vacation we've always talked about.  (Now if we could only get to that bucket list we would really be making progress).  Of course we needed some salt in our vacation and what better place than Key West.  This was my third trip, Carrie's second and my 10th year reunion from that fateful first trip where I

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-33402490858316478892011-06-21T13:31:00.001-04:002011-06-21T14:05:07.713-04:00

We thought building that bird feeder in spring was an excellent idea, but I wonder if we have invited our fine feathered friends too close to the house.  About a week ago I went to get Quinny out of his room and I could hear scratching.  I couldn't figure out what it was but it was pretty loud and coming from his window.  At first I thought it was the blinds hitting the window but they weren't

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-37034092319059944412011-06-14T00:10:00.003-04:002011-06-14T00:18:38.959-04:00

Look Ma' no Bah! Quinny turned 2 1/2 over the Memorial Day weekend and that was the tipping point for the bah.  He's been holding on to that thing forever.  Well, literally forever for him.  He was born with it and still has it.  It's not too often you can actually say forever and have it be true.  Take that world.  We had 3 goals to accomplish with Quinny this year; we wanted him to be potty

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-15098698559396248412011-06-05T11:01:00.001-04:002011-06-05T11:06:21.374-04:00

My new crib! The family has been hitting the graduation parties this year.  It's been a while since we've had family members old enough to graduate.  It's been nice for the family as we have been traveling to the farms so Quinny has lots to be entertained by.  A couple of weekends ago we checked out Carrie's God daughter's party and Quinny got to see all the tractors.  It was a rainy and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-1335307589523753092011-05-13T21:13:00.000-04:002011-05-13T21:13:48.370-04:00

It was four years ago today that Carrie and I tied the knot and made this blog possible.  It’s been nothing but smooth sailing since that day, hardly a single bump in the road.  We met nearly six years ago.  I, being so shy could hardly muscle up the courage to speak with her outside of a short introduction.  She was an attractive, successful business woman intimidating with those looks.  After

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-18709073886423577162011-05-11T21:49:00.000-04:002011-05-13T16:26:45.113-04:00

It’s been crazy around here.  Too much to do! In the last 3 days I have been on six planes in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota (all 3 days), California and Iowa.  Sheesh! I am earning those frequent flier miles! Carrie’s birthday was on Friday so we celebrated Thursday night last week. She turned the ripe old age of 28.  She’s looking better than ever in case you were wondering.  Right

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-61384109997145883122011-04-19T00:25:00.000-04:002011-04-19T00:25:43.463-04:00

Ah, yes just what you signed up for; a blog about poo.  Not Winnie the Pooh, the other kind of poo.  I know when you looked up the blog this morning you wanted to read about our trials and tribulations of getting our nearly 2 1/2 year old to poo somewhere, anywhere, other than his pants.  We are in, what we hope, are the final stages of potty training.  (After further research we learned it may

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-13883242574998752672011-04-14T23:27:00.000-04:002011-04-14T23:27:03.458-04:00

I'm baaaaaack!  I had a rough time at the office for a little bit.  It's hard to write a blog about kids when you're POed! I'm thinking about starting a whole other blog that would be less kid friendly, but undoubtedly funnier.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe what I go through on a daily basis.  Dilbert's got nothing on my work life.  We've had some nice weekends and it appears that spring has

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-77781826880797875282011-03-30T18:30:00.001-04:002011-03-30T18:47:15.123-04:00

Iowa's not looking so safe these days.  We have a total perv on the loose and he's been having his way with our neighborhood for nearly a year and still no leads as to who he is.  Here is the news story.  You can actually see our house in the video.  Way too close to home (pun absolutely intended). The police have been called 8 times already this year as residents and neighbors have spotted him.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-8763651435696817482011-03-16T00:16:00.000-04:002011-03-16T00:16:56.306-04:00

We took Gavin into the doctor on Monday and they only test for one strain of RSV. Fortunately he was negative.  I am not sure how many there are but they prescribed another round of antibiotics, his third this month and his second breathing treatment.  There are 7 babies in his the nursery and 3 are out with RSV (43%).  It's a mandatory week at home once a baby has been diagnosed so as long as

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-28166045175268965962011-03-07T12:42:00.074-05:002011-03-13T15:04:32.729-04:00

As we continue to navigate our way through the transition of diapers to potty trained euphoria we have entered the vast expanse of whitey tighty land.  Quinck million dollar idea - boxers for toddlers.  You are one celebratory endorsement away from the mansion down the street.  Quinny is officially sporting Batman underoos and has really taken to them.  When wearing them though, he doesn't like

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-90327672165289428042011-03-03T22:21:00.000-05:002011-03-03T22:21:13.136-05:00

Your whole life you've heard it and you finally get to say it.  The anticipation has literally taken decades and finally the moment is here.  You weren't sure if it would happen when your kids were 3, 12 or maybe it wouldn't even be your kids.  You just knew you had to have your moment.  And you knew it would be awesome.  Sarcastically you had been practicing your whole life and now the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-35981564310490339222011-02-18T18:34:00.001-05:002011-02-18T18:50:44.643-05:00

Gavin had his four month visit this week.  Four months already! It goes by so fast.  I am still getting used to calling him Gavin.  Every time I type his name or sign it I add a G at the end.  Super embarrassing.  Last weekend we headed to LG to see my folks. It was my Dad's, sister's and Grandma's birthday all last week.  My grandmother is out in Los Angeles for the winter but I was fortunate

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-79631218399492225892011-02-09T01:10:00.000-05:002011-02-09T01:10:32.674-05:00

A true fan from birth Woke up this morning to that sweet alarm of Quinny screaming, "DAD! DADDY!"  I was out cold and sound asleep so it took me a while to figure out what that noise was.  Oh, right my kids.  I have kids.  I walk into his room totally in a daze wondering what the matter is and I find my son buck neked holding his diaper.  Um, what's going on here?  Is there a chick hiding in

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-28733950848708339732011-02-02T10:25:00.000-05:002011-02-02T10:25:05.741-05:00

Today I’m flying through three time zones, one “blizzard of the decade” and if all goes according to plan landing in sunny San Diego.   Making this snow storm the blizzard of the decade shouldn’t be too difficult considering this decade is a whopping 32 days young, but still it seems like a scary time to board an aircraft (without skis) and a good time to skip town at the same time.  To be fair

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-44498822655035261222011-01-26T22:36:00.001-05:002011-01-27T08:40:17.355-05:00

When we moved to Cedar Rapids we didn't know the area very well and wanted to rent for a few months before we chose a neighborhood to permanently (does that even mean anything any more with the job market?) live in.  As our handshake lease draws to a close and we still enter room after room with our lives neatly packed in moving boxes we decided to at least get the fish tank up and running.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-87571880614308544892011-01-19T19:10:00.000-05:002011-01-19T19:10:12.906-05:00

This Christmas we got an interesting gift.  For those of you that don't know our son loves cleaning.  I mean absolutely loves cleaning.  Give him a cloth and he's a dusting machine.  He wakes up in the morning and immediately runs to the closet to pull out the vacuum.  It's scary how much he loves to clean.  Is there anyway possible he will hang on to this fetish?  We've already discussed

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-14260032015008087442011-01-16T11:02:00.000-05:002011-01-16T11:02:35.685-05:00

I have been traveling both the last two weeks and hit the road again on Monday so Carrie has been a single parent for the majority of 2011 while juggling a new job and going back to work full time.  Yes, she is super mom.  Thus, we dubbed Saturday Family Day.  We would do it all as a fam.  Her younger brother turned 18 this week so we needed to shower him with our best birthday wishes and headed

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-35904235405738637472011-01-08T14:43:00.001-05:002011-01-08T14:51:56.911-05:00

As we assimilate into our local community we decided to hook up with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids to help raise funds for the children in our community.  I am donating my athletic prowess (dripping with sarcasm) for an afternoon of bowling with fellow teammates to raise funds.  Overall the Bowl for Kids Sake hopes to raise in excess of $350,000 this year.  My team, Split Happens,

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-432728643024279192011-01-06T17:58:00.001-05:002011-01-06T18:02:14.961-05:00

 That speck middle left is our mailbox - Xmas Eve snow storm  O Mr. Blog where have you been hiding? With all the holidays - 7 Christmases, count em' seven! And the travel that goes along with them plus the hosting of my own conference this week I haven't been very good at updating the blog, obviously.  Well, there was that and the 5 days of mourning required for losing a Rose Bowl.  The

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-16205166585585265032010-12-20T02:14:00.001-05:002010-12-20T21:20:21.282-05:00

Gavin's "bed" I have been traveling again so my blogging has been getting a bit bogged down.  (How is that for my English major use of alliteration)?  I was fortunate to find my way to New Orleans a few weeks ago and Chicago last week.  Carrie was able to join me for a day while in Chicago at the tail end of my conference and Quinny got to stay on the farm with his Iowa grandparents.  Neither

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-14858329116779317772010-12-12T11:35:00.000-05:002010-12-12T11:35:49.502-05:00

First time in a snow suit! It's a bit chilly here this morning.  It's so cold that when I opened the door to let the dog outside he peered out the door letting the sub zero air touch his whiskers and froze in his tracks.  He looked outside, he looked at me, he looked outside and back at me.  After about 45 seconds it dawned on him that nature calling was stronger than nature's blowing wind.  He

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-23615619199966643162010-12-01T00:37:00.002-05:002010-12-01T00:43:02.267-05:00

Quentin celebrated his second birthday yesterday but before we get into that we need to address the ice falling from the sky outside.  Yes, it's snowing.  It's exactly how I remember seeing it too.  It's cold.  It's windy and snow in real life looks exactly like the white stuff on TV.  We used to make fun of those people shoveling out in the cold as we watched from our couch clad only in our flip

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-27821172120298599492010-11-27T09:26:00.001-05:002010-11-27T09:27:35.040-05:00

We hope everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving.  We had a lot to be thankful for this year, most notably the birth of our second healthy boy, Gavin.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  How can it not be everyone's?  We had enough food to feed a small army, football galore and good company to enjoy the day with.  Carrie's family came down to join us this year.  Earlier in the week Carrie and I

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-33152942278663830822010-11-19T15:35:00.000-05:002010-11-19T15:35:10.169-05:00

After living here for approximately five minutes Carrie entered a drawing through the local paper to see Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes.  Wow, that's a mouthful.  We had seen the show once before in Tampa and anyone that knows me knows that I love anything with singing and dancing in it.  I just had to go again!  We won four tickets in the front row of the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-44742282370446021162010-11-09T14:14:00.001-05:002010-11-09T14:14:39.810-05:00

Now that Q-dog has a little brother I thought it high time that he start taking on the challenges of manhood.  Do you think your son's two year old birthday is too early to buy him his first gun?  I thought it would be a nice bonding experience.  You know killing things together and then gutting them.  Nothing says BFF's like getting two hands bloody.  I was trying to remember back when my dad

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-15258074201362900122010-11-08T23:26:00.000-05:002010-11-08T23:26:45.828-05:00

Daylight savings was not made for children.  Yowsers.  Momma!  Dadda!  Um, what's that noise?  It's 3:37 AM.  Oh, well it's Quentin of course ready to start his day.  If it wasn't for the Packers pummelling the Dallas Cowboys all night long I might have gotten some sleep.  That game was like watching a car crash.  I really wanted to turn it off and get some sleep but every time I reached for the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-59606746756400428382010-11-02T00:25:00.017-04:002010-11-02T00:35:44.114-04:00

As we continue to retrace our Midwestern roots we did what any new to Iowa person would do this past weekend.  Yup, we visited the ole' shootin' range.  Being a novice I wasn't too sure about this little adventure but my father assured me this would be a blast.  I'll bet.  I'm not afraid to walk into this place and let everyone know I don't know anything about bustin' a cap but my dad tells me to

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-54515728706600249232010-11-02T00:09:00.012-04:002010-11-02T00:17:44.402-04:00

We had our first Cedar Rapids Halloween and fairly good weather.  By fairly I mean a temperature that would be considered tolerable and a breeze less than the 40 MPH winds we experienced throughout the week.  The city held trick or treating Sunday evening, which seemed a bit odd but this is the first time we've been trick or treating in 20 years so I'm not in a good position to argue otherwise. 

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-13053737171039792222010-10-23T14:50:00.000-04:002010-10-23T14:50:52.471-04:00

We are preparing for the showdown between the Hawkeyes and the Badgers at the house this afternoon. We invited the Iowa family over to watch the 2:30 kick off.  We will of course show off our newest addition as well.  The rules are pretty simple.  If you wear red you get to eat and drink for free.  If you wear Badger gear you won't have to pay a cover, will be relieved of incessant smack talking

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-70095839295777661482010-10-20T00:04:00.009-04:002010-10-20T01:40:20.942-04:00

I've lived in Iowa for about 7 weeks. I grew up in Lake Geneva, a way too small town way too many people think is a great destination. I am sure the town or city that everyone grows up in shapes them in some way or another as they grow older. For me I knew immediately that anonymity was the way to go. Small towns, well you can keep em'. I applied to two schools for college, Marquette and the UDub

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-18875533465921527062010-10-17T09:30:00.006-04:002010-10-18T10:53:33.329-04:00

We received a clean bill of health on Saturday and were able to be discharged in time to watch the Badgers dismantle number one Ohio State on national TV. It was the first time Wisco had beat a number one team since 1981 likely dashing OSU's hopes for a national title. Gavin, Q, Dad and grandpa all were able to enjoy some couch time and watch the first half together before Q had to go to bed. It

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-22795592889706819592010-10-14T08:54:00.010-04:002010-10-15T13:14:35.223-04:00

We are happy to report that Gavin slept through the whole night. Ha! No kid of ours is ever going to sleep through a night. We hit the sack around 12:30 am and the second I climbed into my single camp like bed Gavin blew an O-ring having his first poo. Carrie is immobile so I climb back out of bed and had a chance to tackle my first blowout 12 hours into baby number two. It was nasty and about

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-29721164338346243182010-10-13T20:53:00.008-04:002010-10-14T00:33:50.560-04:00

We arrived at the hospital by 10:30 this morning and were escorted to our room. We dropped our bags and Carrie got prepped to have her surgery. By 12 noon we were in the OR. I, decked out in a sweet surgery jumpsuit (totally kept it for a souvenir) complete with mask and scrub cap (hair net), and then unceremoniously left in the hallway for a solid 15 minutes totally alone while Carrie was

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-7827920825104276172010-10-13T09:36:00.003-04:002010-10-13T10:19:07.603-04:00

We are getting ready to head out to the hospital. Q, for the third night in a row didn't sleep and was up from 2:30-5 and at that point moved into our bed and was up for about another hour adjusting to being in there. It was a rough night. The night before he was up from 12:30 - 2:45 so I fear for Carrie's parents and what they are in store for the next couple of nights. For us, well, I guess we

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-53833485964679248432010-10-11T18:10:00.003-04:002010-10-11T18:55:55.785-04:00

Carrie had her visit to the doctor. I stayed at work to try and get my work life in order before an extended leave. I asked her to text me when she had some news and was in a meeting when the results came in. She was down a full point since Friday in fluid so I got pretty nervous. I thought for sure they would say it's go time. It's a little early to have the baby still so they want to wait as

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-83418577324067385252010-10-10T11:15:00.012-04:002010-10-10T14:59:47.500-04:00

We spent yesterday morning walking our neighborhood to check out some houses for sale as we need to get moving on finding a new place to live. We think having a baby and a two year old will not make that process any easier so we thought scouting locations now would be a good idea. Our neighborhood is jammed full of children of ages so it looks like a really nice place for the kids to grow up. The

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-15977517245711930642010-10-09T09:19:00.007-04:002010-10-09T11:04:09.712-04:00

We had an interesting day yesterday. We left work around 2pm yesterday and headed off to another ultrasound to see if Baby Doe turned yet. It turns out that not only has the baby not turned it isn't going to turn. We are a little short on amniotic fluid and it's been decreasing for the last several weeks so the baby doesn't have a very big pool to be swimming laps in. This means there isn't

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-12808958957698281482010-09-29T22:23:00.008-04:002010-10-03T21:19:33.386-04:00

Time has just gotten away from me. We have been so busy with doctor visits, traveling for work and getting situated in our new city that I haven't done a good job updating the blog. We have lots of news so I will get to it.I finished my last week of travel until the baby is born this week. That should help free up more time to write the blog about the goings on in Iowa. Quentin is growing up so

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-71439935666089132752010-09-12T09:33:00.006-04:002010-09-12T10:22:51.153-04:00

Finally, Thursday arrives and we can begin the move-in process. Our truck arrived at 10 am to begin the process of getting everything back in the house. We had 300 boxes packed. It took about 8 hours to move out, but they told us it would be quicker to move in because they don’t have to do such fine stacking, taking up valuable time. We ordered pizza for the crew as they worked through most of

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-6368982894227433152010-09-11T13:20:00.008-04:002010-09-11T13:49:41.649-04:00

As I continue to mosey along to the finish line I get up Sunday to make my way to our final destination, I - O - W - A. It’s just Lucky and I now. He wants to climb up into the front, sit his front paws on the center arm rest and stick his head out the moon roof. We are on back roads now doing only about 60. But he sticks his head out facing forward filling those big old jowls full of wind and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-9642170145551281032010-09-09T10:10:00.008-04:002010-09-09T10:41:44.281-04:00

The next morning we got up at 3:30 am to get the car packed and get on the road. We hoped to drive about 800 miles and spend the night in Kentucky camping with the pooch. The drive took us about 12 hours. The speed limit is 70 and there are 6 lanes the whole way so you can drive at your own pace. It’s a pretty drive with lots of beautiful scenery; mountains, jungle, and curvy roads to keep you on

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-35202902665517297712010-09-05T12:39:00.012-04:002010-09-08T13:28:09.684-04:00

Life is crazy and the simple task of tracking down an hour and an internet connection has been nearly impossible. I flew out to the west coast so I had a long plane ride and found the quiet to write several blog postings about our move. I will post them over the next several days as there was a lot to write. I hope you enjoy reading them. We hope to have more time as we settle in (ya right!) to

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-87691186312660090482010-08-23T20:14:00.004-04:002010-08-23T21:28:53.161-04:00

I think this is very likely the last blog written from Tampa where it all began. The house is mostly packed up and the last day working from home has been put into the books. Tomorrow we have professionals coming to crate the TVs, aquarium and stuffed trophy fish. Carrie and I will put the last few items into their respective boxes and we will get ready to load the truck on Wednesday. I put

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-87928629390220338482010-08-18T07:51:00.007-04:002010-08-18T15:44:30.274-04:00

We have climbed the stressful mountain and I believe are standing at the apex, the summit, top of the world or bottom depending on your perspective. Today is my last trip out before the move. We move exactly one week from today. There isn't a lot going right at the moment. I woke up this morning to get in my car, which would normally be parked in the garage but since I was leaving so early we

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-61844522035359255622010-08-11T15:12:00.006-04:002010-08-13T09:57:46.218-04:00

My folks were kind enough to drop by this week on their way to a little R & R in south Florida. They didn't want to intrude into our warehouse living situation but we insisted. After the night they had with Quinny down the hall they are really going to need that trip. He wailed and wailed from about 10:30 pm until 3:30 am. I took the brunt of that one but we're used to the occasional all nighter.

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-70989359366172537032010-08-08T10:45:00.007-04:002010-08-09T11:45:05.687-04:00

We are officially knee deep, well actually more like chest deep in boxes. Quinny is being oh so helpful. For every box you tape and write the contents on he'll come around behind you rip the tape off and relabel (in his own handwriting of course). Every task is a cat and mouse game. Our dining room has officially morphed into a storage shed with boxes stacked to eye level. We are using the dining

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-60435420686942266902010-07-27T20:48:00.005-04:002010-07-27T21:21:38.819-04:00

This week Carrie and Q left at dawn on Monday morning, which was a change of pace. I am not understanding the effects of being alone with nobody around but the NFL network and Lucky. Here are a few observations I have made this week with the absences of Carrie an Q.Apparently, the house does not magically clean itself. This whole time I assumed some maid just took care of this task but after two

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-88407937452914213612010-07-23T14:01:00.003-04:002010-07-23T17:32:44.546-04:00

We put an APB out on our video camera and hired the majority of Disney characters to see if they could sniff it out. Soon after employing these characters we realized they don't talk so that caused a problem. There is only so much pantomiming one can do to find a camera. Donald Duck was especially worthless. All that quacking and nothing to show for it. Mickey, well known, but all that fame has

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-363720008170343772010-07-19T09:08:00.003-04:002010-07-19T09:39:37.998-04:00

We woke up early Sunday morning in a panic. We realized we forgot the video camera in our hotel room. I arrived a day earlier than Carrie and Q. When they showed up they were going to kill some time at the pool so I could finish my meetings and then we would head off to Disney together. Since the room had not been cleaned Carrie hid the video camera. A little too well apparently, because we

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-82580182236647177922010-07-13T17:03:00.004-04:002010-07-13T18:05:26.591-04:00

I had a conference this week at Disney World. So, we brought the family up on Monday and we played hooky for the afternoon to have Q get his first taste of the mouse in Orlando. Participants in the conference were given a free afternoon ticket to the park and Florida residents get tickets at discounted prices. Some how junior manages to get in free (at Disney?). Oh that Walt, so smart. I am not

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-40479258705509970822010-07-06T17:44:00.007-04:002010-07-06T21:16:25.877-04:00

It's been raining for the last 10 days. We haven't seen the sun since two Saturdays ago. We live in the sunshine state. It's not good to combine boisterous 19 month old, house with no basement, lots of rain and long weekend together. You end up with said 19 month old quite literally bouncing off the walls, and climbing and did I mention jumping off objects not meant to be jumped off? His new

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-16592334189403146062010-06-25T16:06:00.003-04:002010-06-25T16:32:54.906-04:00

Went outside this afternoon to catch up with Carrie, the sun and let the pooch run around a bit. Carrie was telling me there was a chicken sighting this morning in the front yard. Chicken sighting? Apparently, there was a raggedly looking chicken running around the neighbor's yard. In the Keys chickens are all over the place so it's a common sight, but I don't believe we have ever come across a

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-6214567905497601332010-06-21T12:50:00.008-04:002010-06-23T07:02:26.088-04:00

Quentin added another state to his places I've been list - Taxachussettes. He did well on the flight but is getting so big for the 17 inches of space they give you. On the way home we were sitting in the first handful of rows next to a Jimmy Buffett roadie, which makes for a great seatmate when you have a giant 18 month old that enjoys kicking you, your seat, and standing on your lap slapping the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-17905508634559846542010-06-14T16:34:00.005-04:002010-06-15T08:54:57.196-04:00

I came home from an exhausting long strange trip this past week to find our son with a 103.5 degree temperature, a record for little Quinny. Into the ice bath he went. That parenting class taught me few medical skills (outside of slurping snot out of his nose with that bubble syringe) so we called the doc to make sure he wasn't going to burst into flames and tossed him into the bath to cool him

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-47755624197464560672010-06-02T11:38:00.005-04:002010-06-02T13:35:37.835-04:00

...to me! Ahh, the beauty of writing your own blog as you get to take time out to give yourself a pat on the back once in a while. I turn 29 today and had another solid year in the books. I have a great son attempting to wish me a happy birthday at dinner last night in the video. He's got the happy part down and then just goes blshpshs for the birthday part. You can see him eyeballing me and

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-90715397510405098752010-05-31T18:04:00.007-04:002010-05-31T19:25:38.720-04:00

Oh boy did we enjoy the long weekend in sunny Florida. It was a much needed reprieve after too much travel, long work filled days and to simply get away from the daily grind. We had grand plans to see a Rays game, go to Honeymoon Island (the beach) and spend some quality time together as a family. We are trying to cross some bucket list items off before our sunshine state departure and failing

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-86856290443281537522010-05-22T13:24:00.003-04:002010-05-24T14:56:45.033-04:00

Quentin is learning that teeth can be used for more than just boring eating. We had not one, not two but three glorious biting battles at daycare this week. What's that saying? Fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice shame on me, fool me three times and I'm calling the police if you don't get your daycare under control? Or something like that. So the first day he comes home with a huge bite

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-28472302726125683762010-05-17T08:31:00.008-04:002010-05-17T22:30:10.611-04:00

Our third anniversary was last Wednesday. I know, three years already. Time flies when you don't sleep all but 4 hours a night. We have two quick secrets to share for a successful marriage. First, if you are out of town traveling for business half the time does that mean your marriage will last twice as long? You be the judge. We miss each other more and enjoy each other's company more when

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-25432297123553051202010-05-09T12:07:00.003-04:002010-05-12T11:52:44.605-04:00

We wanted to wish everyone a happy mother's day. We hope everyone enjoys their one day of the year when mothers are appreciated. I know that we do appreciate them much more than most will know, but it's difficult to always tell them. For Carrie Quentin gave her several art projects. She received a framed picture he created with his hand prints all over it, another one with his foot prints and a

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-58154343737596164662010-05-07T13:16:00.004-04:002010-05-08T09:40:49.301-04:00

Yesterday was Carrie's 23rd birthday so I hustled home from Minneapolis on a well before dawn flight through my favorite place on earth - O'Hare International in route to get to Tampa. I was in Minneapolis for some company meetings mixed in with some local clients we work with. So our days were pretty packed from morning into the evenings. I mention this because on Wednesday night I had

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-74549251886566620542010-04-30T14:12:00.003-04:002010-04-30T15:04:20.773-04:00

Carrie and I took the day off today to spend some time together before embarking south to Sarasota for a wedding on the beach this evening. We took a walk with Lucky and Quentin in tow this morning and then took Quentin off to daycare. Upon return we decided to talk a little shop out on our porch enjoying the last few days of our increasingly growing dirt lawn. In preparation for our new lawn

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-40090463702867271512010-04-27T06:23:00.004-04:002010-04-27T16:56:07.143-04:00

Quinny got invited to his first birthday party this weekend for a boy that was turning two. The event was held at Gator Fred's, which is a Chucky Cheese type place on steroids. It's a giant building essentially filled with inflatable blow up bouncy stations. I don't know what they are called, but you give your kid a bunch of sugar, acres of inside playground, take off their shoes and hope they

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-81317989300904649062010-04-20T07:29:00.007-04:002010-04-20T15:21:10.067-04:00

Our little guy has been hacking up a storm and having a tough time getting comfortable at night because he keeps waking up with these coughing fits. We decided to take him in to the see the doc. This is how we found out he's pushing 30 pounds already. He's going to be a big boy. We thought he might be allergic to pollen. Due to the exceptionally cold winter, spring in Florida has arrived very

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-16116148251550308432010-04-10T19:16:00.009-04:002010-04-13T17:07:52.795-04:00

We survived the man weekend. And believe it or not there were zero visits by Tampa's finest. If that isn't a validation of solid fatherhood I don't know what is. We certainly had some ups and downs but overall we got in some nice bonding and had a solid man weekend. Let me give you some of the highlights of single father parenting.The hardest part of the weekend was feeding time. Quinny eats like

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-79289986326839405882010-04-09T12:28:00.002-04:002010-04-10T11:40:47.474-04:00

It's an all man weekend over here at the Spiegelhoff household. The lady of the house ventured out all the way to the deserts of the southwest landing in Phoenix last night well past her bedtime at 10:30 EST for a little girl getaway. That leaves proud papa to take care of junior and the Luckster all the way through Monday morning. Hopefully the cops don't get called.Our wonderful son has entered

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-46334793352825147882010-04-03T09:07:00.005-04:002010-04-03T12:02:22.541-04:00

I took off for Wisconsin yesterday after spending some much needed time with Quentin. Since I have been traveling so much we have begun experimenting talking on the phone so we can have some kind of daily contact. This morning I can hear him in the background going , "Hello? Hello? Hello?" He had gotten Carrie's cell phone, unlocked it and made a call to her mother. Carrie was freaking out, not

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-73425594821033422272010-04-01T09:41:00.008-04:002010-04-01T13:51:34.308-04:00

Let me start by saying Happy April Fool's Day. Don't believe anything someone tells you today. This blog post is real. I didn't want to be inundated with questions asking me if what I wrote was really true so I am just prefacing this post with the fact that the post is indeed real.I am having Quentin withdrawal. We both have been doing the travel circuit. He went on spring break with my wife to

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-49316648180732153862010-03-22T08:19:00.004-04:002010-03-23T13:54:56.606-04:00

I left the house yesterday right before sun up to walk the dog and noticed a diaper in the landscaping. Hmm, that seems odd. I walk a little further and can see the driveway also has a diaper in it. Umm, this isn't going to be good. I peek around the corner where the garbage should be neatly packed into garbage bags loaded into garbage cans. It's not. It is spewed all over the yard with the

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-42837360491125780232010-03-16T11:34:00.002-04:002010-03-16T12:41:39.435-04:00

We celebrated Easter this weekend with the Reiter family. For the most part they behaved. Outside of some crazy talk about a left wing conspiracy - health care for all! they were normal. It was great fun for Quinny to have so many people to play with. Lucky was pretty stoked too. We haven't had the whole family down since Quentin was born so it was nice to spend a pseudo-holiday together

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-10681011862709263202010-03-11T12:58:00.006-05:002010-03-11T17:05:01.790-05:00

Quinny dodged a bullet this week when he went in for his dreaded 15 month check up. It's the MMR visit and your wishy-washy government (FDA two years ago, "BPA is totally safe for consumption." FDA today - "Umm, BPA is dangerous and we are banning it for children)." Exactly. So, just like SIDS we are biding our time to get past the autism age and I was unable to attend the doctor visit adding

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-58516486441008905032010-03-04T09:12:00.003-05:002010-03-04T17:11:49.195-05:00

Quentin stayed home from school yesterday with a fever. Carrie drove him to daycare and then upon dropping him off realized he felt warm and they took his temperature. They won't allow you to leave him there with a fever. They only allow children there with contagious diseases. A fever they don't want any part of. Snot running down your face, now they actually promote that, but a fever not so

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-2040863344599930202010-03-03T14:12:00.003-05:002010-03-03T17:01:23.111-05:00

It's no secret that our son has a bit of a belly on him. If he's wearing outfits that don't button into a onsie (I think that's the correct name??) then his belly protrudes like a Homer. He's sporting 2T's that are too small because of that awesome belly. His belly button is permanently an outie these days and we all celebrate his little buddah. It's also no secret that he is an early riser

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-28767044274011977662010-02-28T17:45:00.007-05:002010-03-02T13:04:31.024-05:00

It's been pretty chilly around these parts lately. Yesterday it was in the 30s when I took the pooch for a walk. So, because it's been so cold we have all been going a little stir crazy in the house so we have been venturing to shall we say, interesting venues with Q in tow to get out of the house. This past weekend we checked out Lowe's. Yup, that's the life we are kicking these days. It's fun

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-32580650823752849032010-02-24T08:34:00.002-05:002010-02-24T11:14:37.205-05:00

A fundraising conference was hosted in Tampa this week so I had clients and colleagues in town. Instead of me traveling to them all of them traveled to me. That was a nice change of pace. Yesterday I spent the day at the conference and had lunch with some clients and then took a prospective client out to dinner to try to woo them into becoming one of my own. Since I was out late I didn't get

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-51692799443933720202010-02-20T12:33:00.009-05:002010-02-20T13:22:06.485-05:00

Let me start by saying the blog has had some trouble viewing the videos. There is a solution. Click on the title of the post and the video will reload and play. I'm not sure what the problem is but this will work. So, if you click on the title, "My Dog is a Metro" the video will reload and then play. I am way behind with my blog postings so I am hoping I can get caught up this weekend on some

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-67243171876698747132010-02-09T08:43:00.006-05:002010-02-11T08:21:32.003-05:00

I have to tell you about how my dog turned into a metrosexual yesterday. We have a golden retriever and a big one at that. He has long hair and loves spending time outside. We have a wetland behind our house, which means thickets, burrs and thorny bushes. The dog picks these thorns and burrs up while frolicking about and they get embedded in his hair and over time form doggie dreads. We pick

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-1186287886987230712010-02-07T12:17:00.003-05:002010-02-07T13:02:40.429-05:00

We finally had a calm weekend with no housing woes. Everything works! We spent Friday cleaning up the house before heading out to the BB King/Buddy Guy show in Clearwater. We had a great time. It was great little venue with excellent seats regardless if you were in the front row or back row. Buddy Guy started the show and lived up to his reputation of being one of the best blues entertainers

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8691146986170121752.post-233522720925300382010-02-02T13:21:00.002-05:002010-02-03T17:19:44.735-05:00

This past weekend was the weekend to put the football winnings towards some good old fashioned instant gratification. After Obama's rousing speech we decided that a little stimulating of the economy was in order and got a new TV. We did some rearranging and put the TV in the bedroom and then moved that TV up to the man room. To date we have had the alarm clock on top of the TV because it was flat

Joshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670777938830647224noreply@blogger.com0