How to listen to a video without the music....

Have you been struggling to hear the funny sounds on our videos because of the background music on our BLOG? If you scroll down to our playlist on the left hand side you can mute the music. Then you can hear the sounds on the videos. Just FYI! We leave tomorrow morning bright and early for Washington D.C. I will try to blog next weekend when we get back!!! Watch out Cool Aunt Joy - HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!

Family Fun

Travis, Nicole, Alta & KayLynn came up for a little while this weekend. It was a fast trip but we had some fun! On Friday night when they got here we put Cael in his walker and Alta decided it looked like fun. So she jumped on the back so he could pull her around. It was so cute!












Give me that damn Happy Hippo!!

Wheelin' Around

Bathtime Fun

I know it's a little fuzzy but his laugh is so cute!

Sports banquet

Courtney had the winter sports banquet this week and we of course had to take Jedi. He wore his tuxedo and even got special recognition from Coach Weber. He thanked Cael & me for always being at the matches & tournaments. He even called me a "brave woman" for driving Cael (a "young man") there in fog, ice & snow. It was nice! Then everyone clapped for us and Cael bounced up and down for them. Tom & Mary Pineau made a big board to show off all of the state qualifiers from PR. I think the basketball players were pretty jealous of our board! :) When they called up the wrestlers & managers to get their letters & bars the managers took Cael. He had to be with his team!

Bear Fight!

Feeling better...

Cael is feeling much better after his run with RSV. His cough is basically gone and so is his runny nose. I am so glad he got over it so quickly! He is now fighting the breathing treatments which is a good sign. I figured out how to get the mask on him by myself now that he fights it. The trick? Make sure he has a toy in each hand so he gets confused! Which does he want more: the toys or to take the mask off?! He had his 9 month check up this morning that Daddy took him to. He weighs 19 lbs. and is 28" long. He's a tall skinny baby! His head is 17.5 - when he was born it was 13.5! Dr. Yu said that he looked great after how he was last Wednesday. He's always so nice because he tells us what a good job we're doing as parents. We're pretty excited for this week because we leave at 6:45 Tuesday morning to go see Cool Aunt Joy! We'll see how Mr. Boy does on his first airplane ride. Dr. Yu said to give him Benadryl to sedate him but he also said that 1 in 100 kids flip out because of it...hopefully we're not that 1!

"Take that nebulizer!"













Fun with Daddy!














Bath time is fun!













Big boys get beef jerky, crackers & cheese puffs!

9 Months

Cael and his fish mask, Bubbles

He left the mask on for almost 10 minutes this morning! Woo Whoo!!!

Wrestling's over, baseball is starting up & we have a sick baby

We went to State wrestling last weekend in Salina and it sucked!! Our boys did not do that great but that isn't what was so bad about it. The people that worked there were very rude, there was hardly anyone there to watch (Hays is always packed for State!) and Courtney was going to have to pay to eat in the hospitality room. How can you call it a "hospitality room" if you're going to make them pay?!?! It should have been called a "coach's concession room". Needless to say he did not eat in there. It was even cheaper for both of us to eat at the concession stand than it would have been for just him in the "hospitality" room. We were done first round Saturday morning so we went to lunch with Donna & Calvin, Sharon, Travis, Nicole, Alta & KayLynn. We had a nice lunch and just hung out before going back to watch the placing rounds. We stayed for a little bit of finals and were even disappointed in how that was done. There was hardly anyone there to watch that either! Finals is definitely the best part of State at Hays. It's packed and there is so much energy! I will say there were a few nice things they did in Salina that maybe they should consider doing at Hays. 1) To start the tournament on Friday they do a parade of champions. The boys stand with their schools and they hold up a sign with their school name on it. Then they walk around the mats so everyone can see all of the wrestlers. 2) Finals are done on a center mat under a spot light. It's just kind of cool. Finals in Hays are done on a center mat but not under a spot light. 3) To hand out medals they all walk over to the awards stand together to a song and a cheerleader from their school gives them their medal. That was pretty neat. Other than that it sucked!

The best part of last weekend was that it happened in Salina so we got to see family. We went early on Thursday and took the boys to see Courtney's wrestling room in Minneapolis. Aunt Kim and the girls at the district office made a sign to welcome him home. She had put up a bunch of pictures of him from High School and one of Cael that says, "That's my Daddy!" It was really neat and now we have it at home. I'm thinking about framing it....don't tell Courtney! After that Courtney took the boys to Rock City. OMG they loved it there! They crawled all over the rocks and took lots of pictures. They had a blast! Thursday night we went to bed early so we could get ready for Friday. Unfortunatley "Uncle Pineau" got beat out Friday (160 lbs. was a stacked weight class!) but Jared made it through to Saturday. We went back to Rock City Friday evening so the parents could see it. Seriously?! Rock City?! Not such a big deal when you grew up with it! We took Cael Friday and got his picture by a rock. :) We ate at Golden Corral that night and the boys went crazy! There should be a rule against taking a team of wrestlers to an all you can eat buffet! Saturday we went to wrestling and Jared lost. Courtney, Cael & I spent the night with Calvin & Donna Saturday night and got to hang out with Dustin, Curtis & Grant so that was a lot of fun!

We came home Sunday and got ready for the week. On Monday Cael woke up with a runny nose and the start of a cough. I took off work at 11:30 to get him because he had been screaming and just unhappy all day. I thought it was just teething because that's how it all started last time. Tuesday he woke up at 3:00 am for a bottle and he was burning up. I took his temperature and it was 101.4!! We gave him some Tylenol and it broke pretty quick but Courtney took the day off and stayed home. By yesterday he had a pretty bad cough and would cough until he threw up. I called the Dr.'s office to ask what else I could give him to help him out. Dr. Yu said he wanted to see him. I'm soooo glad we took him in. They swabbed his nose and it came back positive for RSV!!! In case you don't know what that is, Dr. Yu described it as "the mother of all viruses". It can be deadly in a baby if not caught in time! He has even hospitalized 4 babies in the last 2 weeks with RSV! Thank God we caught Cael's in time and he doesn't need to be hospitalized. We are pumping him full of fluids, giving him antibiotics for a possible ear infection & giving him breathing treatments every 4 hours when he's awake. Last night when we got home he went to bed at about 6:15 and slept until 4:30! He got up then and I gave him a breathing treatment & medicine at 6:00 and he's now asleep. I hope he sleeps all day! That's the best thing for him right now! I might take some pictures of him with his "fish mask" on if he'll let me when I give him a treatment this afternoon. We'll see! We aren't going to be able to go home this weekend now because he is contagious and he just needs to stay home and rest. Have a great rest of the week...we're going to try to! :)

Wrestling season is coming to an end....

It has been a long last few months for the Marsh family. We've spent alot of time traveling to wrestling tournaments and our boy has been a trooper. Next week will be our last tournament as we travel to State in Salina. This weekend we were in Holton for Regionals. Friday afternoon when Cael and I drove to Holton and it was pretty crappy weather. It was starting to snow/rain in Leavenworth when we left and the county road I had to take to get to Holton was covered in slush. We sat through Regionals all afternoon & evening on Friday and Cael was struggling. He was cranky because he hadn't had his long naps that day. When we left Friday night it was slick and foggy! I drove very slow because I get nervous driving in nasty stuff with baby boy in the back seat. We got up Saturday morning and left early so we'd get good seats. Cael had a really good day yesterday. He even got some good naps in...as long as Mommy was holding him. He's going through a phase right now where he really only wants his Mommy to hold him. My sweet boy! It is nice to feel loved but Mommy can use a break every once in a while, too! We saw some real good wrestling over the weekend. Complete with a dislocated to the point of bones almost popping out of the skin elbows...courtesy of "Uncle Pineau"! He didn't do it on purpose - it was mainly the way the guy landed. They even had to call for EMS and they gave him an IV right there on the mat! Pineau & Johnson got 3rd so we've got boys in for next week. When we left to come home last night the weather was getting bad. I drove about 35 mph most of the way home. The county road had not been plowed so there were times I couldn't even tell if I was on the road or in the ditch. But we made it home safe. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday!

I know this one is fuzzy but his smile was so cute!!











Look Ma! I'm standing up!










You shut your mouth when you're talking to me, Pup!

One of Cael's cutest pictures ever...

Now that we've mailed the picture out I can finally post it! This was a Valentine's pictures we took and it is freaking ADORABLE!!! Yes I know I'm saying it about my own son but he is one of the cutest babies I have EVER seen in my life! Don't you agree?

I'm one of the boys!

Yesterday was our DVL tournament for wrestling. Luckily it was in Leavenworth so Cael and I got to "sleep in" and not have to rush. Cael had a very rough night Friday night and he & I were up from 2:30 until 4:00. So I let him sleep until he woke up yesterday. For the 2nd year in a row we lost the tournament by just a few points. We got 2nd place and lost by only 2 points yesterday!! The same wrestler as last year didn't wrestle at the DVL which probably would have put us in 1st place. And one of the boys lost a match he should have one which would have given him 3rd place and us 1st. Oh well - there's always next year! I took a picture of the boys with their little mascot, "Jedi". Sorry it's blurry. The camera had been in the car and I ran to get it and didn't get it warmed up enough before I took the picture. :( It's still a good picture though! The boy that's holding Cael is his "Uncle Pineau".

It's almost time for baseball, Daddy!

I took these last weekend and forgot to post them. It is almost time for baseball season to begin. We have regional wrestling next weekend, state the weekend after that and then baseball begins on Monday. Basically - 2 weeks for tomorrow my husband will start his 2nd sport and Cael and I will continue having Cael & Mommy time after school. At least these sporting events will be outside so we can get some fresh air!

8 Months

I can't believe our boy is 8 months old already! You know what that means....only 4 months until his first birthday!! And yes Mommy is already starting to plan. I already know what I'm doing for his cakes and invitations. I even know the date (Saturday, June 12 in case you're wondering...exactly 1 year from when he came home from the hospital!)! I don't know the time or anything but it will be here at the house. Anyway - here are his 8 month pictures that we took on Wednesday. We have been so busy this is the first chance I've had to post them. Enjoy!!

Choo Choo!

Trooper Cael

We have no idea where this outfit came from but I found it in Cael's closet this morning. This post is for Uncle Jim & Uncle Travis....Daddy says, "Where are the donuts?!"













Here is the big question: Would you rather be stopped by Trooper Cael in a Jeep...












On a horse.....












Or on a Moose?












I don't think I have to worry about it any way because he would never pull over his Mommy!!

I'm ready to eat steak!

Not alot to update. We've had a busy but quiet last couple of weeks. A week ago Cael started with a really runny nose because....HE WAS GETTING TEETH!!! Let's see where we begin:

Last Monday I came home after school with a little fever so Courtney took care of Mr. Boy for the evening. I stayed home on Tuesday but Cael went to daycare so I could rest. I still had a fever on Tuesday and that night Cael was up every 2 hours. It was a LONG night! He went to daycare on Wednesday and I stayed home again although I was feeling much better. Wednesday evening was very rough. He screamed & cried from 4:00 until about 8:00. I called my Mom for advice because I had done everything I could think of to get him comfortable. I felt the first tooth popping through that night. Mom ended up coming to the house & spending the night in case we needed her. He did fine that night and slept much better. Thursday and Friday were fine and then we got up for the wrestling tournament on Saturday. I felt his mouth to check on his tooth at 8:30 that morning and there was 1 tooth - same one. At about 10:00 he was chewing on the lid to his bottle and I thought I saw another one. He did it again and I saw it again. So I stuck my finger in his mouth and there it was. Tooth numero dos!!! From 8:30-10:00 he got a tooth and didn't even fuss!!! Yesterday he started to cough a little and this morning it was awful! Poor guy is so congested and hacking. He coughs so hard he turns red and his eyes water. I took him to the Dr. because one of my kiddos at school had croup last week and was at school while contagious, lovely! I wanted to make sure he didn't have that or worse like coming down with RSV. They said it's just the teething and a little head cold on top of that. We're giving him liquid children's Zyrtec and they said it should kick in and help by tomorrow. Fingers crossed everyone! Courtney's got a dual tournament Thursday night in Lawrence and another one in Onaga on Friday night. We'll see what happens. I think I'll just check Mr. Boy is doing when I pick him up from daycare. I hope he's better! Other than that we've been pretty low key around here. Wrestling is almost over and then it's on to baseball!

Happy note - Travis & Nicole had baby girl #2 yesterday! KayLynn Grace was born by c-section around 10:30 yesterday. Can't wait to meet her when we're in Salina for state wrestling the last weekend of this month!!

Here is a pic I took at the wrestling tournament a few weeks ago. The boy with Cael is his "Uncle Pineau" as he calls himself. He's one of Courtney's wrestlers. Those high school boys love Cael! He also started sitting in shopping carts & high chairs like a big boy! Lemons taste much better when you're sitting like a big boy. And - he's just too beautiful when he sleeps! Have a great week!

A Long Overdue Thank You

I seldom find myself at a loss for words and I consider myself to be reasonably proficient in the English language. That being said, I have been thinking about this for almost 8 months now and I am still at a loss. There is no way to express how grateful I am to my wife for the gift she has given me. Our son has completed a life that I didn't even realize was incomplete. Looking back now I can see a void in everything that I have done, and that void is now filled thanks to her. She is an amazing woman who has created the most perfect son a father could ask for. My days are now spent thinking of his smile and how to make him laugh. I owe all my current happiness to her. While life has not been all sunshine and rainbows these past 8 months, it has been more than worth any of the bad times just to see his big gummy grin. I know this isn't much for 8 months of thought, but like I said, the words do not exist to express how I feel. It is beyond grateful, beyond love, and beyond happiness. I love you both!

Correction....

When I posted last I was pretty tired and Cael was fussing because it was bed time. Why am I writing that? My son weighs a little more than 7 pounds. He weighs 17 lbs. 10 oz. Wouldn't that be a tall skinny baby? :)