Growing weary of the shinanigans.

Ok so all the shinanigans are enough.

Yes... I use "Shinanigans" not as in the place you go and eat, but the same kind of Shinanigans on "Super Troopers".

I have switched my football allegiances about a year ago from the Lions to the Vikings.

The move made sense.

Samantha grew up a Vikes fan.

She adopted the Tigers... I better return the favor.

Oh yeah... and the Lions stunk for forever.

Now however it looks like I've made a pretty bad decision.

Brett can't keep his Blackberry North of his Wrangler waistline.

They can't seem to win.

One of their best players is hurt... better yet, a lot of their players are hurt.

They decided to bring Randy Moss back in the equations.

They're 2-5.

Brett can't keep from injuring something every time he gets on the field.

Today they deleted Randy Moss from their roster. (This was probably a good move... but doesn't do much for continuity)

The defense can't seem to stop anybody when it should be top 5 in the League.

I don't know what to think. Right now I'd be a safe bet to think that the Lions will finish with a better record.

We'll see.

Progress...

The passed few weeks have been pretty busy for me personally. Outside of taking a break when Samantha's folks were in town everthing else has seemed to be more of a "hold on and hope for the best".

Outside of being a dad and husband, having a full time job, coaching fall baseball, going to class one night a week; I've been very busy working on an administrative internship.

The internship hasn't been to difficult. Although I've experienced a few interesting stories overall it's been a good experience.

The internship basically consists of 300 hours split between Elementary and Secondary. I have till March or so to complete the hours. After tomorrow I'll have 40 done. That's not much. Considering that a majority of them are secondary.

I guess just hold on and hope I graduate in May.

Koren is growing well. He's now around 10 lbs. Hope to post up some pictures of the kids and Daryl, Janet and Ben's visit by this weekend.

The Secret of Parenting like a PRO!

Having Koren and potty training Tristan has brought back several not so distant memories on parenting.

Most of which aren't pleasant.

Their are many keys to proper parenting that we've had to subject ourselves to in the last four years.

1. Pooping and Peeing happens... deal with it.

2. You will eventually get to a day where you realize it's normal to have poop and pee on your hands. Just wash it off with soap. (I'm not yet to that day- Tristan proved that a few hours ago)

3. You eventually for some reason smell something funny and instictively bend over to smell your son's diaper to confirm your fear.

4. Kids usually have to eat, but never when you want to.

5. When they do eat it usually means you don't.

6. It takes twice as long to clean up after them as it did for them to eat.

7. Falling happens a lot. Let them figure out how to get up.

8. Crying happens a lot. Kids don't die from crying... (just all the blood from what they're crying about?)

9. You shouldn't actually do a touchdown dance everytime one of your kid uses the potty.

10. Getting up in the morning to a wife that's been up 5 seperate times in the night and slept for about 3 1/2 hours total will NEVER be a fun experience.

We've had a rough couple of days with potty training and keeping the house looking like actual people live in it!

I've pretty much given up on a normal sleep pattern. Not sure that it has anything to do with a new born, just my inability to shut the thing between my ears off.

On a good note... we sold a lot of stuff last weekend at our garage sale. 100x more than we had planned or expected. We sold every big ticket item that we had hoped to sell and for good money. Downsizing slightly has it's rewards.

We're still exploring our future in Gillette, downsizing is good if we decide that we need to move on in the future. At the same time we had stuff that needed to go anyways!

The pool table, washer and dryer and dining room table all sold. On top of that we parted with many other items as well.

We're currently moving mom and dad from one place to another. That's always hectic. This is their 2nd or 3rd move since arriving to Gillette.

Yippee.

Settling In!

~Visiting Koren in the Hospital~

Of Course these two were there! Mom and Dad finally got to see a grandbaby just a few minutes old! This one was taken on the second day.

Cousin Matias checks out this stuff! He was very handsy! Who could blame him, that little guy looks like he needs to be played with!

Uncle Christopher gets in on the holding action.

Aunt Rebeca has had a little bit of practice this past year at holding a baby!

Aunt Cheri came out from the Cities to check up on the latest nephew, and providing sitting services for the oldest two.

2nd Cousins Julie, Stephen and Maria stopped in to welcome the new baby. Make sure you notice Julie's new hat... she was sure to point it out to me! I like it!

Of course... big brother! No longer the little guy and happy about it!

No doubt it's been an eventful 6 days for us!

Life is slowly or at least attempting to find a little bit of normalcy... we think!

Isn't normal being up at odd hours of the night to the sound of a hungry baby? If it is then we're normal as we can be!

Koren right now is up 4-5 times. Which maybe we shouldn't complain! He usually decides that bed time is the perfect time to start his 1-2 hours of multiple eatings. This is about the time I kick off and Samantha gets upset!

Aundrea and Tristan are still happy we're home.

I've gotten a little dramatic with their nap schedule in an attempt to get them caught up with sleep. They were out tonight at 7:30. It'll be a good night sleep but will more than likely mean an early morning from Tristan.

Part of their early sleep was their behavior this evening. The rode along to my class tonight with the intent that they'd just be sitting still with one of the fifteen things we packed for them.

That's not exactly what they did!

I'm dissapointed not because they weren't perfect but more because they were SO bad. I'm pretty sure I had poop and pee on my hands for most of two hours.

When we arrived home, they were both confined to their beds, and imagine that, they both fell asleep within minutes of laying down.

We'll figure them out!

Koren has been pretty quiet in comparison to how he entered the world last Friday. Mainly crying when he's hungry... he also is quite the jabberer in his sleep, which is more funny than anything!

Samantha has experienced a few different symptoms stemming from this pregnancy. Some things she's watching and hopefully won't require much more than time to correct.

I've been busy continuing with the apartment. It's been difficult to keep up with the mess and laundry... on top of trying to figure out where things still need to be put away at!

All part of the joys of a growing family! The two weeks off is a big help!

A garage sale will be a part of our weekend plans. We've sensed the need to downsize since we left Ellendale. However timing and location were distractions from folloing through with our intentions. Hopefully we can get rid of some of our bigger ticket items.

That mainly will help set us up to make a move next summer, should something happen on that front. Hopefully we're flexible enough and find just the right thing!

Introducing Koren Lynn Strong

One Happy Mommy! It's nice to know that 9 months of misery is worth it in the end!

You son are blessed to have the WEIRDEST dad on earth!

Koren doing what Koren does best!

The kids are smilling because they know they now outnumber Mom and Dad!

One HAPPY Big Brother! I think he's going to do a pretty good job!

Deciding that this Big Sister thing is actually pretty cool! She'll adjust!

The wait is finally over!

1:31 yesterday we welcomed baby #3 into our lives and family!

We gave HIM the name Koren Lynn. He was by far our lightest kid weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and being 19 1/4 inches.

Koren is a Latin name that we settled on a few days ago. Not really for the meaning (Spear) but just cause we liked it! Lynn is after my Dad and also makes him the third generation to carry the name.

Samantha is resting well and looks to be out of the Hospital by Monday. She's healing very well and is resting as much as possible.

Koren is sleeping the 20 hours at least that our kids tend to! He's waking up and eating every couple of hours.

Aundrea and Tristan are accepting their roles as the older siblings somewhat differently. We've long expected that Aundrea would be quite motherly and take to the baby rather quickly. We were pretty certain Tristan would take a little while to adjust to the newness of the baby and really get clingy to mommy.

As it turns out we were flipped completely. Tristan wants to hold him all the time. Aundrea was finally convinced today that it was ok to hold him! Crazy kids!

It's been a great day or two for the Strong Family!

A Night Out

As previously mentioned, we've had a busy couple of weeks.

All of the things we've done, between moving, preping to have a baby, work, classes, baseball 4x a week I have found that I haven't had a great deal of time to just spend it with my kids.

Tonight I changed that, if only temporarily.

Aundrea has really been activing out lately, mainly I feel, becuase I haven't been able to give her the attention she needs. Tristan has been more in a haze as he's not really understanding the move, or having the baby.

Tonight was all about them. I took them over to the Theatre for a showing of the "Dispicable Me". We bought pop, popcorn and two candy bars, all treats that they get very rarely.

The movie was ok, funny at times. But ultimately the kids enjoyed it! Which made it worth it. After that we went shoping at Wal-Mart mainly for a dog poop picker-upper and clippers for Tristans hair... not sure that those two are even closely connected!

It was such a great time for the four of us. I say four, because Samantha spent the night at home relaxing. Although she seemed to be a little more tense when we returned... maybe the baby is getting close!

It's so vital for me to spend time with the kids. Which every dad knows, it just seems like at stages I have a difficult time following through. I'd like to do a better job of that this fall and winter.

Aundrea told me tonight that she wants me to stay home now and not work. Pretty simple when a 4 year old understands the need to have daddy around. It's probably one of the best things Aundie has said to me. I know she desires my attention/affection.

Tristan has opened up to me a lot more in the last 2-3 months. He's still his momma's boy, but he's realized that dad can be a lot of fun to! That's gotten to be pretty cool. He's a pleaser more than his sister, he loves to be told that he's doing a good job or that he's a good boy!

It's difficult for me to imagine that #3 is only about +/- 36 hours away. On one hand I love Samantha and the kids more than anything on this planet, to imagine opening that up for one more child is difficult, makes me wonder if it's possible to open up that much more, yet I know that nothing will replace the feeling that I'll have when I see this baby for the first time.

The birth of Aundrea and Tristan has been to date the most EMOTIONAL experience in my life. Marrying Samantha was emotional, but much more excitting than anything! I can already feel myself slipping into that same set of emotions with this child. To imagine being able to call this life by his/her name for the first time is just absolutely incredible!

I'm having a difficult time just containing myself right now.

Aundrea in the pool this summer! It provided a chance to cool off and a chance to have FUN!

He may be freezing, but he's not coming out!

A New Roof

What a long, long week and a half!

We moved to Gillette, Wyoming (or Wynoming according to Aundie) on December 15, 2008. We're approaching the two year mark rapidly! We actually lived only about 5 miles North Savageton, Wyoming and 28 miles South of Gillette.

Savageton is complete with about 2-3 houses and a Bar. Making Gillette our postal residence.

We've found in the last 21 months that we enjoyed the quietness of our country home. The house/duplex itself was quite small. It was basically big enough for us and not much else! All the same the rent was reasonable, and I was handling the daily commute. What I didn't enjoy was getting home after 10 on some nights having left at before 6 that morning.

With that in mind and the number of trips we make into town on a weekly basis, Samantha and I began to look for a place in town about 2-3 months ago.

Gillette is pretty tricky. Your going to pay a bit more than you want to, but your ultimately not going to get the Ritz. For us, our budget was about $1000/month. I know, seems unreasonable, and yes you can buy a house for less than that per month, but you better know your staying in the area for a few years.

We toured a couple homes. Called on probably close to 100. Either to much or a home that I wouldn't allow the dogs to live in, let alone my wife and kids.

Eventually I shifted my focus from house to apartments. I had been adament that we will NOT live in an apartment ever again. I did it once in Ellendale and found the experience to not be overly excitting. However in Gillette it didn't appear that I had many options.

We basically settled on a three bedroom on the North side of town. The complex is fairly new and provided close access for school and about a 5 minute walk to the baseball field. Both were pretty appealing.

We're paying under budget which was another plus.

The most challenging part was actually packing and getting moved in.

I hate moving.

Anyways, we started on Labor day and are complete as of about 1:30 AM this morning. We have just a few items that we need a place for, but overall we feel confident that we're pretty much ready to weather the next storm.

The next storm of course is a new baby Strong.

We're scheduled for a c-section on Friday. I once thought that we'd see the baby before then, but I think this one is going to hold out on us!

We're both pretty confident we have a little girl on the way. We hope anyways! We've had the girl name set for 2-3 months and we're still back and forth on the boys name.

So at any rate, by Friday we will be parents for the third time. Odd for me to comprehend that.