Happy Father's Day

Teddy is blessed with a wonderful, devoted, and loving father. This post is dedictated to Shae. He is the best daddy I could ever ask for my son to have!

Here Teddy poses with his dad on their very first Father's Day:

We celebrated the special day by relaxing at home, spending the afternoon by the pool, and having a picnic dinner by the river. Of course Father's Day also made Shae and me think of the other special fathers in our lives:

Teddy loves his daddy SO much! Over the past 5 1/2 months, Shae and Teddy have found so many ways to bond.

They cook together:

hang out together: sing together:

read together:

and play together:

How else can they bond together????

Oh yeah, they also LOVE to nap together!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY SHAE!!!! We LOVE you!

Teddy goes back to Burlington

On Tuesday, we packed up all of our stuff and put Teddy in his car seat once again. That little man was still smiling:
We got in town just in time for Steamboat Days! We were excited to take Teddy on his first boat ride on Grandpa Steve's new houseboat. Tuesday night we listened to Billy Currington from the boat. Although the life vest is not his favorite thing, Teddy seemed to enjoy to boat ride:

He especially liked it when he got to drive: Grant and Amy joined us for the boat ride:On Wednesday we went to Fun City with Amy, Aunt Stephanie, and Grandma Susie. It's hard to believe that it was only a little over a year ago that Shae and I had our party there to celebrate our marriage!

Amy and Grandma Susie: Cousins in the water: Swimming wears a boy out: Wednesday night we took Teddy to Steamboat Days to hear Jason Michael Carroll. It was Teddy's first live concert/festival and he stayed awake for at least a third of it. Here he and Shae pose in front of a huge beer: Teddy, Lisette, Grandma Susie, and Shae: Teddy was such a good baby at the concert: On Thursday we took another boat ride with Grandpa Steve. Teddy started to get more used to his life vest and we even got some smiles: Nothing goes better with a baby on the Mississippi River than a tank top and denim diaper: On Thursday we also took a stroll down memory lane with Shae's mom. This is a picture of the house Shae and his sisters grew up in. Shae kept singing... "Love Grows Best in Little Houses."We were very excited to see the Zac Brown Band on Thursday night at Steamboat Days. Since Teddy did so well on Wednesday and is still nursing every 2-3 hours, we decided to take him again. You can see in the picture below how difficult he was to care for (this was taken as the band was playing): It was packed with SO many people, we were happy to set up our chairs all the way in the back, right in front of the auditorium. Shae sported the nursing necklace as Teddy enjoyed a "cold milk on a Thursday night" Aunt Sammie and Darcy like their Chicken Fried: Shae and Caleb: Once again- napping during the show! On Friday we hung out in Burlington. We were so thankful Grandma Susie babysat Teddy while Shae helped out with a dock and I enjoyed a massage (a mother's day present to me). It was GREAT! Then later we were able to visit with some friends. Here Teddy sits with Jacquelyn at Big Muddy's: We also got to see cousin Tommy's new house boat. We enjoyed the air conditioning on it during such a hot day! Here's a casual 3 generations picture (copy...copy...): And of course, no trip to Aunt Stephanie's would be complete without a photo shoot.

The theme this time: Redneck babies!!! Eat your heart out Aunt Shelley! You know you want some denim diapers for your girls. And Uncle Matt- check out those thighs!

The diapers have pockets on the back:

Friday night Grandma Susie and Grandpa Jim came over to visit with us again. Teddy had so much fun with them!

Teddy LOVES his Grandma Susie:

Guess who else joined us during our vacation?? Teddy's two bottom teeth made their debut. Like I already mentioned, 30+ hours in the car gives you a lot of free time. Enough to get a really good picture of the new teeth:

How about a little closer:

There they are: They must feel strange to Teddy. He was so funny, he kept opening and closing his mouth and rubbing his teeth with his tongue. And guess what? He has FOUR more teeth coming in on the top. Although they haven't broken through the skin yet, you can see them getting ready. Our little man is growing up too quickly!

Well, thanks for reading these long posts. We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and we are happy to now be safely at home.

Teddy goes to Chicago

So, Teddy really is a traveling baby- and a champion at that! Here are some crazy statistics we figured out while we were in the car (30+ hours in the car leads to some free time). In the past 2 1/2 weeks we have visited 3 cities (Syracuse, Libertyville, and Burlington) to attend a memorial, a baptism, Steamboat days, and to visit with family on both sides. We flew 1888 miles and drove over 2000 miles. Teddy got to visit with 12 cats, 5 dogs, 7 cousins, and all of his many loving aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He had his first flight, first ride on a boat, first time in a church, and first two teeth appear. A lot can happen in just a few weeks I guess! Anyway, this update will include the first part of our trip, and I will do another blog update for the latter.

We were only back home from New York for 4 days before we packed the car up again and headed for another trip- this time by car. Although Teddy did really well flying, we were relieved to be driving this time. That way we could bring as much of Teddy's stuff as we wanted, and we could travel on "Teddy time." We headed to Chicago (Libertyville) for cousin Harper's Baptism. Here we are as we headed out of town: Although we did leave shortly after lunch, we were not able to make it out of Atlanta before traffic time. We drove all the way north of Louisville, where we stopped for the night. We chose a scary Super 8 Motel to stay in. Teddy was excited to get out of his car seat and play with some toys: The hotel turned out to be lacking in the cleanliness department (to put it nicely). We were initially happy when they told us they had a pack-n-play. However, the box was wet and the pack-n-play moldy (EEEWWW) so Teddy got to sleep between his mom and dad on a queen bed. He slept well, though neither of us did. How can someone so little take up so much space?? We were very excited to visit with the Weinsteins. As you can tell, Teddy is getting some much needed rest after 2 days of traveling, while Aunt Sammie and Aunt Shelley visit with Jack.

More dogs!! Oliver and Monty show us that the life of a beagle is very difficult:

Nana Pat and Harper were happy that Jack shared the couch with them:Grandpa Steve with Finley: Grandma Susie with her sweet granddaughters Harper, Amy, and Finley: The family poses for a picture before Harper's baptism. From left-right: Grandma Susie, Harper, Aunt Sammie, Aunt Shelley, Aunt Stephanie, Grandpa Steve, Amy, Shae, Teddy, and Lisette:

3 Generations of Hoscheks, all dressed up: "Copy, copy"

Shae was excited to see a Cubs game with his dad and sisters while we visited. Although Teddy stayed home to play with his grandma, aunt, uncle, cousins, and mom, he showed his support for the Cubs:

Shae and Sam visit their brick:

Aunt Shelley and Uncle Matt got a cool new stroller while we were visiting. The two girls look like movie stars as they check out their sweet new ride:

Hung over dad + baby = lots of naps!

We had a great time visiting with family. Aunt Shelley and Uncle Matt were so nice to open up their home to everyone. We had 7 adults, 3 babies, 1 toddler, and 4 dogs in one house! It was noisy but fun. Harper was so sweet to let us borrow her room. Poor little girl had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, but continued to smile and play. Shae and I were your typical germ-phobic first-time parents; washing our hands and Teddy's toys over and over again. But so far he does not have any bumps (knock on wood). We had so much fun playing with the babies and Finley, and we are grateful we were able to spend some time with the Weinsteins before they move to Canada next month.

Here Finley plays with Teddy: Teddy enjoys his cousins' cool pink chair:

Lastly, I'd like to dedicate a video is to cousin Finley. She is such a doll and so full of personality! We're thinking she may want to watch this video one or twice. (You can thank us later Shelley and Matt).