Krazy Kuzins

If you're looking for good children's music that's fun and will get your little one dancing, check out Krazy Kuzins on CD or iTunes. We found them on the "Toddler Tunes" channel on TV and Josiah drops everything and dances like CRAZY! It's hillarious!

Gimme A Bump

Josiah's been doing the "high five" thing for a while, and Amy thought it would be really cute to teach him to fist bump. It's seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life! We'll say, "bump it" and he'll make fist and bump it. I HAVE to get some video of it.

He's been talking a lot more, too. His favorite phrase is "uh oh" which we hear a LOT. He also says "Abby" (our dog) and "Baby" referring to Annie.

My Angel

Amy and I had this long talk about my job last night. I've been at the studio almost 10 years and I was questioning whether or not it was still a good fit, especially now with the family. We were talking about what I want out of life and what I want out of my job. It was a hard week and I just needed her perspective. We didn't come to any conclusions or make any big decisions, but it was nice to have a sounding board so that I'm not always in my own crazy head all the time. She bring a lot of sanity to my crazy world in gereral.

As if a message from God, I had the most awesome, life-affirming day at work today! I was working with four bands from a local summer music camp that were each working on a 3-song demo. They would record the rhythm tracks in Studio A and the viit me in Stuio B for the overdubbs. We added some crazy stuff to the songs and really dished out the collective creativity! After one session, one of the guys came up to me and said, "thanks for being so chipper; it really made the whole experience for us!" Another girl that was a part of one of the bands said, "this is the coolest thing I've ever been a part of." That kind of stuff really booosts morale.

Then I had worship team rehearsal at church tonight, which went well, and went home and crashed for a little bit. I was sad because I missed Josiah and Annie all day and they were already in bed by the time got home. Luckily Annie got fussy around 11:30, so I ran up and got her. I just hugged her and played with her; we both looked into the mirror and made faces. She laughed at my faces, which made me laugh. It was the boost that I needed from such a long day. But it was a good day, and Annie was the cherry on top!

Hey Jealousy

Josiah has this favorite chair. It's one that my Mom bought him at a dollar store and he's loved it ever since he got it. Well I thought it would be cute to put Annie in his chair and see if she would sit up. As soon as Josiah saw her in his chair, he ran over and grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her out! They generally get along nicely, but he had aparently marked his territory and didn't want anyone else on his stuff. I feel the "terrible twos" coming . . .

Happy Birthday, Patricia!

Happy Birthday to an amazing woman who gave us an amazing gift . . .

Hugs

There are some moments that warm a parent's heart like no other. One of the best is when your kids are warm and affectionate towards you and you can tangibly experience their love. Even better is when you see your two kids being affectionate towards each other. Knowing that they love each other and watching it play out when they're together is a powerful thing.

We were playing with Annie on the floor and Josiah runs up, plops down and throws his arms around her. We make sure that he's not squeezing too hard, but she loves it! Annie giggles and coos, her eyes sparkling as feels Josiah fuzzy head. They just absolutely adore each other!

update

Looks like I herneated some discs in my lower back, so I'm going going in to get some epidural injections tomorrow for the pain. They tried to schedule me for next Wednesday, but when I explained that I'm the 7th stage of Hell painwise and that the narcotics haven't been working, they squeezed me in. Thank you Jesus!

Lumbar Limbo

While many of you no doubt spent the 4th of July at picnics and fireworks displays, I spent the day in the local ER. I woke up Saturday morning with excruciating pain in my lower back, barely making it through my morning shower. It hurt to stand, sit or do anything other than lay flat on my back. Amy drove me to the ER and dropped me off, and I proceeded to get checked in.

Over the next 8 hours, I received every conceviable narcotic available (for those of you who are curious: Vicodin, Prednisone, Perkaset, and healthy injections of Toradol and Dilaudid.) Unfortunately, they did nothing for my pain. I was diagnosed with a pinched sciatic nerve and sent home with more innefective narcotics and bedrest.

I was able to see my primary doc on Monday afternoon, and I was hoping that he could do some sort of adjustment to un-pinch the nerve, but he ordered an MRI to be safe. Luckily, I was able to get right in that same day

The MRI has been a long-time fear of mine from a clausterphobia standpoint. I'm a big guy, and the tube was a tight fit. To make the clearance, I had to have one arm up over my head and one down by my side. I could feel the walls of the pressing against my arms as they slid me in. My face was only about three inches from the walls, and I had to stay there for 20 minutes. [I'm actually breaking into a sweat as I type this...] but I did it! I closed my eyes, grooved to the tunes coming through the earphones, and tried to ignore that I was completely entombed. I remember talking to Jesus quite a bit over the course of that 20 minutes...

So where does that leave me? Waiting for the results of the MRI. Waiting for the pain to stop. I know I'm in a lot of pain, but Amy's got the truly hard work of managing both kids in my incapacated state, so she's exhausted as well. I've never had an illness that I was completely powerless over, and it's scary. I just hope that this will all be over soon.

Let the Good Times Roll

Annie hit a developmental milestone today: she rolled over! We've been waiting for her to do it, and she rolled over twice today while my mom was watching her! Amy was a little sad that she missed it, but we're thrilled that Annie is right on track, developmentally speaking. My mom spread out a blanket on the floor and laid Annie down on her belly. She rolled right over to her back and has since gone back the other way, so she's come "full circle," so to speak.

She's also been a lot more agreeable lately. She's gone from fits of scraming and crying when not being held to lots of laughing and giggling, curiously looking around when she's in her bumbo. It's like a whole new little girl (not that we didn't love the cranky one but I'm glad we're done with all that screaming!)

In other news, Josiah's canine teeth have arrived! They were the only things missing in his big teethy smile, and I noticed today that the upper ones have broken through the skin. His hair is getting longer, too. I guess he's due for a haircut, but I really like his hair longer. It's fun to moisturize, brush and comb.

He runs everywhere; no joke! His two speeds are "walk" and "run" and let me tell ya . . . he's fast. We took him a local park for their summer concert series and let him loose. He just ran up and down the hill, running with (and into) the other kids and having a ball! It's a great way to meet people; he goes right up to anybody, which usually results in "sorry about that; here's your ball back..." or "Josiah, that isn't your handbag . . . give it back to the nice lady."

This should be a pretty fun summer!