jjncj.com - family

Vehicular upgrades

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:51:40 +0000

If you follow this blog, or our Facebook pages (Joshua's, Crystal's) you know we're expecting our fourth child in November. That means, as much as we love our Subaru, we're going to have to say goodbye. We recently (yesterday) acquired a used Toyota Sienna. It's a 2004 with almost 90,000 miles, but it's in really good shape. It has all the Alaska accessories: engine block/transmission heater, winter tires, and it's all-wheel-drive of course (Toyota is the only company still making an all-wheel-drive mini van).

We will be selling our Subaru Outback once it's cleaned up and in pristine shape. We hate to see the Subaru go, but are excited about the baby, and really jazzed and praising God about the vehicle acquisition.

Sleeping babies...who can resist them?

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:01:11 +0000

Two photos too cute not to share.

Catching a late-morning nap.

Timothy's early afternoon nap.

Ouch on my cheek

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:44:19 +0000

Jonathan may be 2.5, but he is still a toddler. And sometimes he toddles...and sometimes he does faceplants. Such was the case, sadly, this past Sunday at Alaska land. He was trucking across the parking lot and hit an uneven spot. I only caught the last half of the event, so as near as I can tell, his hands went down, but didn't adequately catch his fall. His face made contact with the asphalt knocked off his glasses (they survived) and gave him, as he put it, an "ouch on my cheek." He cried, we wiped it off, prayed for him, and he was ready and raring to go once again. Brave little boy.

Timothy's First Month

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:30:00 +0000

It's been a busy month so please forgive us for not updating you sooner.

Our baby boy has a name: Timothy-Isaiah John Kugler. Timothy means honoring God; Isaiah means Yahweh (God) has saved; and John means Jehovah (God) is a gracious giver

The first week and a half of Timothy's life is a bit of a blur. He was jaundiced to the point where he was admitted to the hospital over night to get his biliruben levels down. After that we were in and out of the local clinic checking on his weight. Today he had his one month check-up at the birth clinic. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he weighed in at 11lbs. even. He gained 2lbs 2oz from his birth weight of 8lbs. 14oz.

So, all in all, Timothy is quite healthy and going strong!

"You and mommy have three children!"

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:22:46 +0000

Or so said Elizabeth this morning at breakfast.

Yesterday evening, Crystal started getting pains below her stomach. Having just had a chiropractic adjustment earlier that day, she didn't think much of it; she wasn't due for three weeks, after all. But as the evening progressed, it became clear she was experiencing contractions. So, early this morning, the mid-wife came over, checked Crystal out, and said, "Yep, you're dilated to three centimeters."

Time to go to the birth clinic.

After a relatively short labor (about five hours total), our third child, a boy, was born. Eight pounds, 14 ounces; 21 inches; born at 4:37AM today, January 24th. Incidentally, today is also my dad's 65th birthday. Another interesting fact about my dad's birthday: He was born about 6:30AM, Arizona time. So, our new baby boy was born 65 years after his grandpa, almost to the minute.

Praises:
- Crystal was only three weeks early, so we didn't have to go to the hospital (the cutoff is three weeks prior, two weeks after)
- Baby and Mommy and doing GREAT!
- Labor and Birth had no complications

Prayers:
- Baby boy doesn't have a name yet...we want wisdom in naming him!

Edit: My dad is 65 today, not 68.
Edit: Correct hospital "cutoff"

Woohoo! Employment!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:47:57 +0000

Joshua is starting a new job Monday! See his geek blog for more details.

Win 20 pairs of Baby Leg warmers!

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:46:20 +0000

A while back I heard about this product called Baby Legs. Think of them as long socks minus the feet. Great for crawling around hard floors, keeping legs warm (of course!). I've seen adults use them on their arms. I like the idea of of using them on little ones, sounds like a great alternative to pants when it comes to changing diaper!

They have a contest going where you can win 20 pairs of Baby Legs, and you can get bonus entries if you link to the contest on your blog (as I'm doing now). Go here to sign up.

Childhood Dreams

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:36:50 +0000

Every now and then you get a reminder that small children are still working on discerning that fine line between reality and dreams. Like today, for instance.

Elizabeth was sleeping on the bed while I worked at the computer. She woke up from a dead sleep, eyes open, and, the following conversation took place:

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Earlier I saw some giraffes."

"Really?"

"Yeah, outside."

And she laid back down and was back out. And this all happened in the span of about 60 to 90 seconds. Wow.

Binky, Food, and Counting

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:19:41 +0000

In order to get to Jonathan's appointment I had to wake him up from his nap. He got to keep his binky (pacifier) to the car. When we got to the car I offered him a granola bar as a snack. He held it firmly in his hand, and I asked for his binky. He was quiet for the whole ride to the eye clinic. When I went to get him out of his seat, there was his uneaten granola bar. Feeling really badly, I offered Jonathan his binky. He took it, still clutching onto his granola bar. I asked for the binky back when we got inside. (they have a small play area and I didn't feel like losing a pacifier) He willingly gave it up. We get inside to sign in where he tells everyone he's sick (he's not, this is the eye doctor). All the while he's clutching onto the granola bar. We sit down in the waiting area and I ask if he's going to eat the granola bar.

"Yes" he says as he just sits there. I ask a second time and it was like the light bulb went on, "oh yeah, food". He then proceeds to start counting (mouth full of food no less), "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9."

I corrected him, "7, 8, 9." He practically shouts "10!" I asked if he knew what came after 10.

"9?"

I told him that 11 came next. He then says "12."

"What comes after 12, do you know?"

"10".

I said "10, 11, 12."

"13"

"Very good Jonathan. Who taught you that? Did Elizabeth teach you that?"

"No"

"Did you learn that from Elmo (we have a TV game that uses Sesame Street for learning)

"Animals!" (There are animals on the Elmo game.)

one too many doctors??

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:44:15 +0000

Today Jonathan had an other eye exam, to see how he was adjusting to his prescription. When we went to sign in, he said "I sick". I was quick to tell him that he was not sick but he persisted. I reiterated the fact that he was not sick. I also told him that we were seeing the eye doctor not his medical doctor. To which he replied: "ok"
I am happy (elated perhaps) by the fact that Jonathan does not have to wear his glasses! He will have to wear them again if we see his left eye start to drift (and also bring him back to the eye doctor). Dr. Zamber was very impressed with how far Jonathan has come since getting his glasses.

Blessed Inconvenience, Part 2

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:57:15 +0000

So, you don't think I was going to let you escape without hearing about the other child, do you? Today, it is Elizabeth who is on my lap, sitting sideways, leaning against my right arm, with her right hand on mine as I type. And she's asleep. Yup, it's kind of hard (translation: impossible) to use my trackball, but there is little that can match the feeling of a sleeping child on your lap. I certainly don't mind the "inconvenience."

Blessed Inconvenience

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:56:19 +0000

Right now, I am typing, but the range of motion of my right arm is somewhat impaired, effectively eliminating the usage of my trackball. This is because I got my son up from his nap, but he's not quite awake. In fact, he's quite sound asleep on my lap, laying against my chest. And the typing/trackball impairment? He's using my right arm as his pillow. Well worth the bother.

Another Kugler is on the way!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:03:21 +0000

Yes, we're late in getting this on the blog, but if you haven't heard yet...we're expecting. Another little Kugler should arrive some time in February.

Just so you know!

Update: We're due February 11. We had an ultrasound today. There is only one, but the upside to that is we don't have to buy a new car yet.

Getting away

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:33:37 +0000

On June 11-15, Crystal and I had our first multi-day no-kid get away since Elizabeth was about six months old. We drove down to Soldotna, Alaska, and stayed at a bed and breakfast called Escape for Two. We stayed in a small cabin sitting about 20 feet from the edge of a small lake. We had the cabin all to ourselves, hence the name.

Our breakfast each morning was two kinds of fruit. Pineapple quarters and blue berries, or watermelon and grapes, for example. In addition, we were given "munchies" each day: granola, small loaves of fruit and/or nut bread, crackers, and the like. In addition, I ordered the "mini-moon" package, which got us a dozen roses, a box of specialty chocolates, sparkling cider (we could have had wine, but Crystal can't drink that right now...more in the next post), and a large plate of fruit, meat, and cheese. And not just "normal" cheese either. There were three large wedges; one each of blue cheese, brie, and a really good mango/soft cheese combination. There was dry salami, cold cuts, and smoked ham. The fruit included grapes, strawberries, kiwi and star fruit.

So, what did we do on our trip? Not much. We drove to Seward with Crystal's dad one of our days down there. We went geocaching, and found all three of the locations we had printed out, but only one cache. On a couple of the days, we just drove around and looked at the scenery. And of course just "vegged" out at the cabin.

It was a very relaxing, very enjoyable time. Pictures follow. Click for bigger versions.

Our chocolate and cider.

Meat and cheese platter

The stairs down to the lake-side deck.

The private lake.

No, this picture is not upside down, the lake was really that still.

Stairs up to the loft. Yup, rose petals.

The king size bed. Yes, those are more rose petals.

sentence structure

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:00:29 +0000

I love listening to Elizabeth talk! With her limited vocabulary she tries so hard to form her thoughts into sentences.

On the drive home from church tonight the sun was right in her eyes. She asked for her sunglasses like this: "I want my sunglasses! I don't want my eyes to be bright!"

This is the life

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:50:11 +0000

I'm sitting here, working, reading, and doing other things I get paid for, and on my lap sits an almost-three-year-old little girl, snuggled up against me. Out cold, mouth open, nearly sawing logs. My own little sleeping beauty.

I love working from home.

That would be quite the crowd!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:30:09 +0000

Background 1: Tonight we had a special service at church. Usually, nothing is happening on Sunday evenings, and we usually attend the Saturday evening service.

Background 2: Elizabeth knows what church is, and knows what it means to go to church.

Well, Elizabeth is used to having people over after we come home from church in the evening. So, she was asking if various people were coming over tonight: Izzy, Becca, Robb (friends of ours), Chana (a good friend and a girl she plays with at church), and some others. We answered to the negative each time. This was then followed by the question: "Is church coming over tonight?" Fitting 400 people in our apartment would have been quite the feat.

A homemaker in the making

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:26:13 +0000

This morning while I was watching Elizabeth (while Crystal took Jonathan to the eye doctor), I noticed Elizabeth was being very quiet. I went to check on her. She was hiding in her closet. Folding clothes. Quite the little mommy, she is.

Love your enemies

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:11:25 +0000

Today was Jonathan's 1 year check up. I know it's a bit late, but this is just how it played out....

When the nurse came in to give Jonathan his shots he leaned over to hug her. Scratch that, he LUNGED for her. She took him from me and hugged him, saying how sweet he was. By this point the nurse and I were both feeling bad. The little guy didn't know what he had coming. (For the record I don't like needles so this is the worst part of the visit, luckily it's over pretty quickly.) We laid him down and he did fine for the first half of the first shot. After that he was a water works complete with screams of protest (I have yet to meet a baby who doesn't cry). After he was back in my arms he quieted down and smiled at the nurse. He even waved bye-bye on the way out the door.

Jonathan took his first steps!

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:35:14 +0000

Jonathan took his first steps (and first standing on his own) today!

A New Job!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:01:00 +0000

The interview is long over, the offer letter has been signed, and my two-week's notice has been given, so now the story can be told. As many of you know, for the the past year and a half I've been working at EE Internet. The time has come to move on.

A few weeks back, I came across a job posting on the AK LUG mailing list from a company in Anchorage looking for developers (programmers). I replied and asked if it would work as a telecommute job from Fairbanks. The answer was: "It's a slim chance, but let's give it a try." So, after sending them my resume, I flew down to Anchorage for an interview on September 25th. They liked me enough to make the telecommuting thing work, and I start work on November 5th.

I'll be working for S&K Aerospace a Montana native corporation, and the only non-Alaskan native corporation doing business in Alaska. They are a military contractor developing technology solutions for the armed forces in Alaska. I will be doing web application development, mostly in Python (woohoo!).

The best part is, I'll be working from home, so will get to be around my family so much more. We're all looking forward to it, and are very thankful for this opportunity. Crystal and I have been praying for a work-from-home job for me probably as long as we've been married, and God provided this job.

I'm excited!

I'm not sure that's up to you, Elizabeth

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:29:00 +0000

Back story: one of Elizabeth's current favorite phrases is "Oh-tay," her version of "OK." It's often (but not always) said in response to requests or statements of information.

The other day, Crystal asked, as she often does, if she could borrow one of my t-shirts. Elizabeth responded with an enthusiastic "Oh-tay!" I hadn't realized she had taken over my clothes.

Mom

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:37:46 +0000

During lunch today Elizabeth and I had the following conversation:

"Mom" Yes Elizabeth? (me expecting to hear that she was done as her bowl was mostly empty.) "Mooooom" Yes Elizabeth? "Mooooooooom" Yes Elizabeth? (this time establishing the fact that she does indeed have my full undivided attention) "Lalu" which was followed with a hearty grin and an attempt to say I love you in sign language. I love you too!

Jesus Loves Me

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:23:29 +0000

To help pass time in the car we sing songs with Elizabeth. She loves The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row Row Your Boat. We have recently introduced her to the song Jesus Loves Me and she likes it quite a bit.

Last night we sang a couple of songs and she started saying "bahbu dooooooh". Took us a few times of her saying that for us to realize she was saying "Bible...soooooo". Actually what she was going for was ".....the Bible tells me so"

Joshua asked Elizabeth if she could say "love you Jesus". She was quick with the "lahlu" and a bit shy on the "Jijis" (Toddlerese for Jesus) So I asked her if she could say it. She again, was quick with the "lahlu" and shy with the "Jijis". She then smiled at me and started using Sign Language to say Jesus and saying "lahlu Jijis"

Where or where did she go?

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:52:29 +0000

This morning around 6am Joshua heard Elizabeth's door open but she never came into our room to snuggle. After a little while Joshua went to look for her. He came and woke me up saying that he couldn't find her. (So not the thing a mama wants to hear first thing in the morning!) We went into her room to double check her bed, a large box that she likes to play peek-a-boo in and her closet. We checked the bathroom, the kitchen and she was no where in sight.

My dad is visiting for a few days and we were trying to be quiet. But I saw his head pop up from his air mattress and then Elizabeth's head pop up for a second. I think she melted her grandpa's heart. She snuggled with her grandpa for a good 2 hours!

Preach it Punkin!

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 08:40:45 +0000

Yesterday I had the privilege of listening to Elizabeth preach for the first time.

She sat in front of Jonathan who was laying on the floor. She brought out a pocket sized New Testament (which she calls a Bible). She opened it up and started saying: "Bible" then flipped a few pages, "Baby" flipped a few more "Jesus"

Now we just need to teach her the meaning of Easter.

"Happy day"

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:56:00 +0000

Why is today a "happy day"? Because today is Elizabeth's 2nd birthday! She's been running around the apartment saying "happy birthday birthday". (We sang Happy Birthday to her this morning.)

Happy Birthday punkin!!!

Naptime = photo opportunities

cj@jjncj.com (Crystal Kugler) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:43:44 +0000

So yesterday I put Elizabeth on her bed and told her it was nap time. She was holding a stuffed animal and talking to it when I left the room. Which I don't mind. So I started taking care of Jonathan and realized that within about 20 minutes things were quite. At this point Jonathan was almost asleep so I laid him in his crib hoping that he too would fall asleep, he started fussing instead. Oh well. I tiptoe down the hall to check on Elizabeth. Her blankets were all piled up but she wasn't in bed. Instead of sleeping on her bed she was sleeping on her bean bag chair with a small blanket over her. While I was thinking of how cute this all was I grabbed our camera. I just HAD to get a photo. And so there ya have it.

Congrats to the Bourne family!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:09:34 +0000

Congratulations go out to Jon and Caitlin Bourne on the addition of their latest. Speedy recovery to Caitlin and continued health to the new one!

Oh, the suspense!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:14:33 +0000

Well, we're still all hanging in suspense. Is she here yet? How big? How's Caitlin?

We'll laugh about this...someday

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:04:39 +0000

(By Joshua, with help from Crystal)

No, Crystal's not pregnant (the first Valentine's she's not been pregnant since we married, incidentally.)
No, Joshua didn't lose his job.
No, we're not getting a divorce (not even close, people)
No, nobody is dying.

The day started great. I got to work by 8:30, which meant I was able to get off at 4:30. We ran errands, and dropped the kids off at church where they were running a baby-sit-for-donations night to help fund their Mexico missions trip. Ran a couple more errands, first to the post office, then to the bank to deposit a check, where the ATM gave me a nice receipt telling me our checking account was overdrawn by $596. Yes, that's right, our balance was negative five hundred, ninety-six dollars and ninety-two cents. Huh!? What?! Choke!

Immediately, my mind is racing...what did I do? Did I forget a check? Did I accidentally make my last credit card payment a scheduled payment instead of a one time payment? Any other possibility? So, I printed the last ten transactions (thankfully, a free service) and I promptly found out I had five overdraft charges. Now I'm really worried, ticked (at myself at that point), and not thinking terribly clearly. I was on the phone with my dad at the time, and I'm not sure he noticed that I was a bit distracted. He may need to repeat the contents of most of that phone call. I was so frazzled that I drove away from from the ATM and left my card there. No, still haven't found it. Will call the bank in the morning to see if the ATM kept it, or someone turned it in. If not, well, then, I'm getting a new check card.

So, instead of heading to dinner, we head back home so I can pull up our statement online, and call Wells Fargo to see what on earth happened (while I was on the phone, Crystal headed back to Wells Fargo to see if she could find the card...nope). Well, it wasn't my fault, so I was able to relax a little. What had happened was that we deposited a (rather large) check given to us, it cleared (according to our statement), and then ten days later, Wells Fargo came back and said, "We're sorry, according to the bank at which that account resided, that account is now closed." So, the entire check bounced, of course, putting us in the hole. All the while, other checks cleared, plus the $23 to $29 overdraft fee for each one they honored. So, on one hand, it was the fault of the check writer for grabbing an old check, but on the other hand, Wells Fargo shouldn't have credited our account until the check cleared on the other end. They've already refunded $100 of our overdraft fees, and claim that's their maximum since it wasn't their error, but I'll have to bug them again and see.

So, after that whole debacle, Crystal and I proceeded to Carl's Jr. (which was our original plan), got our food, and came home to watch a movie (also part of our original plan), then went to pick up the kids Certainly not the most relaxing way to start your evening, but it makes for a great story.

Yes, this all happened today, Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know, we'll laugh about it someday, but right now, I think I'm still coming down from the adrenaline high. Crystal must really love me to put up with all the disruptions to her Valentine's evening. Must? Yeah, I know she does. And for that, I'm very thankful.

Learning words by utility

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:56:56 +0000

For Elizabeth, the word "datch" translates to "watch." It can mean either the time-keeping piece, or the verb "phrase" as in, "I want to watch what you're doing." When Elizabeth "datches" you, she often uses either a step stool (at home) or a folding step (out at Opa and Oma's - her paternal grandparents).

Tonight Elizabeth and I were reading The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. I pointed to the mouse dragging the (very long) ladder out of the house, and asked Elizabeth what it was. After hearing "moush," I clarified that I was pointing to the ladder, and she answered quickly, "datch." Well, of course, it's something you use to climb up so you can "datch."

Makes sense to me.

It's always nice to be noticed

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:44:58 +0000

John Bourne made mention of our new web site. It's nice to get pointed to by an established blogger. And, no, Jon, I don't mind you filing the notice under "geek."