Kevin Minnis

Man, has it been hot. This weekend we decided to go to Creston to visit Kim’s family. They were all camping out at Green Valley State Park. It was hot as anywhere else in the state. We were able to go to Kim’s parents place to sleep at night so that made it a little more bearable. Thankfully there was a slight breeze on Sunday to help us out. It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like 50+ years ago without any air conditioning.

Josie’s growing everyday and eats non-stop. I don’t remember Jayden ever eating that much, but I’m sure he did. Depending on the light you can see more blondish tint to Josie’s hair. She seems to be more active than Jayden was as she likes to lift her head when you rest her on your shoulder and she also enjoys tummy time more. Who knows maybe we’ll have a crawler at 9 months instead of the 18 with Jayden.

Jayden’s loving life and we’re enjoying watching him. Yes, he does on the occasion have a “terrible two” moment, but for the most part he’s (we’re) handling it pretty well. He’s starting to get clearer on saying certain words. His favorite is probably peeezzzz (please). Hopefully he’ll continue to be well mannered. hehe

Well, it’s sure been nice having off a week after Josie was born, but I had to go back to work today. Jayden was pretty sad about the whole thing. In fact, he even had to call his Dad at work to say hi and tell me that he missed me. Or, at least I think that’s what he was talking about. haha.

Josie is getting along nicely in her big new world. She actually is sleeping through most of the night and gets up around 4:30-5:00 in the morning to get her bottle. I sure hope she continues to do that as it’s better for her Mom and Dad. It’s amazing to see how fast they grow. After a week, she’s already starting to fill out in her face.

Josie Marie Minnis was born on June 21, 2006 at 6:05 PM after nine hours of labor. She was 6 lbs. 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Her birth was quite a different experience than with Jayden as she didn’t have any issues with meconium. Kim also had an easier time with Josie. She only had to push two times (one time was only to see if she was ready). This morning we changed Josie’s first diaper. Man, talk about a load. haha. We had to change everything. Kim and I tried to sleep last night, but the bed she had and the “chair” bed that I had were not the same as a real bed. Hopefully we can get some naps today and sleep tonight. Both Mom and Josie are doing great and are hopefully sleeping right now. I’m going to sleep now. What a wonderful birthday it has been (except for spending it in the hospital)!

Pictures can be seen in the photo set, Birth and Prebirth.

Let’s see. Where to begin? Life has been busy. Kim’s Mom, Pat, had surgery on her shoulder as a result of someone not cleaning up spilled water in the hall at the hospital she works at. We went down over the weekend (May 25-27th) to visit Kim’s Mom and Dad and make sure that Pat wasn’t doing anything she shouldn’t. Then we headed back home to have some fun for the rest of Memorial weekend. We took Jayden out to Big Creek State Park so he could play in the sand and water. We took Jayden to the splash park when it was in the upper 80s a week ago or so and he didn’t seem to like the water much. Instead, he liked to play in the grass and follow the fence around. Not sure what that’s all about.

In spite of Jayden graduating to his “big boy chair” and gaining another 2 pounds (not much, but at least he’s holding steady), he’s managed to gain his terrible twos attitude a bit early. This past weekend we went up to Hope and Mike’s wedding in Emmetsburg, IA. The wedding was short and sweet, but Jayden thought he should make a big deal out of it and wasn’t the quiet little boy he usually is. So, I spent half of the wedding in the atrium of the church with Jayden. Next we went to the reception for about a half an hour. Jayden proceeded to want to run around. Kim and I decided we’d just leave early and head back to Rockwell City to visit with her brothers. I guess the lesson in all this is that I don’t think we will be able to take Jayden to another wedding anytime soon. I don’t blame him any, he’s almost 2 and he had been riding in the car for about 2.5 hours.

Kim did okay on the long trip, but I think she’s paying for it now. She (and I) can’t wait to have the baby! We’re not all that excited about the birthing process or the sleepless nights, but more for the comfort of Kim and getting back to normal.

So, yeah, that’s almost all that’s happened within the last month.

Haha, catchy title huh? Last week after shopping at our Ankeny Wal-mart we were driving up the parking lot to leave and I saw some green stuff on the road so I pulled up by it and had Kim get it. Sure enough it was a dollar. Wow, we thought this is cool Kim will be able to get a dewski. Well, we continued up the lane and we couldn’t believe it. We found another 4 dollars. haha. It was probably a funny thing to see us running around the parking lot picking up money. But, hey, I’m sure you’d do the same if you had the opportunity. Saturday night we went to Wal-mart again to get some food for when Kim’s brother came to town. While there Kim was pushing the shopping cart and on a “blind” intersection (most intersections are blind corners in Wal-mart) this man in his 60s comes powering down the aisle. Kim stopped to see if anyone was coming and he almost ran into her. He proceeded to stare Kim down and if he could shoot flames from his eyes she would have been toast. We were all saying something to the extent of “What’s your problem” to the guy. Needless to say we made it out alive. I really do hate shopping at Wal-mart. I always feel pissed off whenever I go there. I told Kim they should take your heart rate before and after visiting. I’m sure mine would indicate a heart attach coming on. Stupid cheap.

With this small fortune that we found at Wal-mart, we went to some garage sales with Kim’s parents this weekend. I managed to find a computer for a dollar. It’s not much of a computer but I thought I’d play around with it. Jayden was all excited he got to ride in Grandma’s Avalanche. We’d ask him if he wanted to ride in the car, but he’d shake his head and say in his little voice, “No.”

Baby number two is making Kim’s life miserable. It seems that it’s already started to drop some as Kim was feeling less then great over the weekend. Hopefully it stays in the oven at least another 2-4 weeks so it’s not born too early.

Oh yeah, and I still have a job and haven’t been “re-assigned”. Hopefully it’ll continue that way. We’ll all find out more after another meeting this morning.