Fight with the Window Sill

Well, we had our first big accident yesterday.  I was packing for our trip to GA on Sunday.  I had finished packing all of Sophie's clothes and went to Josiah's room to work on getting his stuff together.  He followed me into his room like a good little baby duck.  I went to open up the curtains, and he followed me over to the window.  He tripped over his own foot and fell forward and hit his face on the bench window sill.  He scrapped his nose and bumped the bone under his left eye pretty good along with scratching his eyelid.  As soon as I picked him up, his eye was bruised and swollen--it was that fast!  I called Chris at work, and we decided it would be best to call the doctor and see what she wanted to do.  They decided that it would be best to have him checked out.  So I pack the kids up and Chris makes his way home.  We arrive at the doctor's office, and she feels like we need to go ahead and get some x-rays.  The reason she decided to do this was because of how quickly he bruised up.  She said his injury looked like it should a day or two after the accident and here it was only a couple of hours.  She wanted to make sure that he didn't fracture anything.  After she got done checking him out--he was running a little bit of a fever and had a runny nose--we head over to the radiology office.  Chris said that Josiah did an EXCELLENT job when it came time to have his x-ray done.  The tech there said that everything looked great and there weren't any fractures--PRAISE THE LORD!!  Needless to say, I felt horrible about the whole thing--I guess it is because it happened on my watch and it was the first accident we have had with him.  Chris had to keep reassuring me that I am a good mom and that it was an accident.  I was so upset by the whole situation, I threw my cellphone away!   By last night, I was feeling better.  I guess we should be very thankful that Josiah made it 22 months without having anything major happen to him!

On a brighter note, Sophie is doing a tremendous job with sleeping!  She had quite a few nights in a row where she slept 9 hours!!!!  She is no longer screaming when she is in her car seat and tired---that's a good thing since we have a LONG road trip to GA coming up in a few days!  Now, when she is in her car seat, she fusses a little bit and then goes right to sleep.  Chris and I have asked, "Whose child is this?"  Seriously, we are very thankful for this maturing because the drive to GA could have been extremely long if we had to listen to her scream the entire way! 

Well, I should get going--Josiah has gotten up from his nap.

All By Myself

Well, Mommy and kids are surviving our first over night by ourselves.  Chris took some youth to Lynchburg, VA to another EPC church, and we stayed home.  Both Josiah and Sophie have been wonderfully behaved---a lot of prayers must have gone up on our behalf!   Right now, I'm listening to Josiah over the monitor--he should be napping--yelling, "BUBBLES! BUBBLES!"  I went in there to tell him that we couldn't do anything fun until he took his nap---his response---"BUBBLES!"  He is being absolutely cute, but I have to keep my tough mommy face on!  Sophie amazingly napped when she was supposed to, so that is good.  I think there is a conspiracy around here that Mommy is no longer going to have a nap in the afternoon!!!!

Last week, we had a fun family outing to the Frying Pan Park.  It's a local working farm, so we got to see lots of baby animals.  Josiah had fun making all the animal noises.  It was hard keeping him in his stroller.  Sophie did what she does best--took a nap.  It was a lot of fun and we are enjoying our "weekends"  which are now Mondays and Tuesdays. 

Well, it's time to share what is new with the kiddos.  I'll start with Josiah. 

*Josiah has started his 2nd swimming class.  He is still in the guppies group, but is doing a fantastic job!  He has no problem blowing bubbles, putting his face in the water, turning his head side to side so his ears are in the water (this is preparing him for the breathing motion), and floating on his back.  He LOVES to show us his skills in the bath tub at night.  He should be able to move on to the next level the next time around. 

*Josiah has been such a big boy eater lately.  He has been eating the same things Chris and I are eating.  The other night he had honey mustard chicken, mashed potatoes and peas.  The next night he had ham, rice and mixed veggies.  He has also been eating pears, peaches and pineapples along with fresh berries.  I think he has turned a corner when it comes to eating!!!!

*The other morning, I was getting our breakfast ready.  I told Josiah it was time to head over to the table.  He goes over to the table and pulls out my chair and says, "Sit, Momma, Sit!"  Chris has started pulling my chair out for me--well, most of the time!  So I guess Josiah thought it was his job to do it since Chris wasn't home.  It isn't anything that we expect him to do, but he is obviously watching us. 

*He did make Chris and I laugh--after the fact---the other night during his bath.  He was being a little difficult in the bath tub.  Chris told him if he didn't stop and start listening that he was going to get a spanking.  Josiah proceeded to turn his bottom towards Chris and spanked it a couple of times.  Where he got that from, I don't know!?!?  It was rather funny though, but we didn't laugh at him because if we did that would have been it for us! 

*Josiah has been enjoying "doing" the Wii with Mommy.  He definitely inspires me to work out.  He gets his own remote and will march in place next to me as I do the exercises.  When we head down to the basement, he wants to do the Wii, so like I said before he is inspiring me to loose these last few baby pounds. 

*Josiah used his potty for the first time this week!!!  Ok, so I did a little bribing to get him to do it, but I think he was having performance anxiety.  I gave him an extra juice box, a snack and sat him in front of the TV to watch Elmo.  Usually, he needs to have water after his nap and TV is a rarity for him.  Sure enough, he ended up going pee pee in the potty!!!! 

*He has started learning the different types of weather.  Each morning we come downstairs and open up the blind.  I say, "Good morning, God!  Thank you for the beautiful _________ (sunshine, rain, etc.)!  Now, he has started saying, "Sunshine, sunshine!"  on sunny days. 

*He has also started bowing his head when we pray.  When we sit down at the table he makes sure we say our blessing by saying, "Bes, Bes!"  No food is going in his mouth until he has said it.  It is so sweet to see him bow his head! 

*Now for our little girl.  She has been doing a much better job going to bed at night.  We have figured out that she needs a pre-bed time nap.  She gets up for a little bit, takes a bottle and then nurses before she goes down.  She is sleeping about 7 hours straight!  Naps on the other hand are an entirely different story, but we will eventually get there!

*She has started "holding" her bottle when we feed her.  There is a picture in the April album of her holding her bottle.   

*She  has started holding her toys, but now will shake her rattle. 

*The other day she was having some tummy time and was looking in her mirror.  I guess she liked what she saw because she kept smiling at herself. 

Not much else is going on here.  Chris will be out of town again next Friday and Saturday for presbytery, so I will be hanging out here with the kiddos.  Please say some prayers that we will have another great weekend!

PS--Josiah has finally gone to sleep--I guess he gave up on the "BUBBLES!"

Easter and More!

Well, the last few days have been rather busy.  We celebrated our first Easter as a family of four.  Last year, Chris and I were serving in the nursery at church during both services, so it was especially nice to be able to worship together.  Chris dad came to church with us on Easter, then we went out to lunch and visited for a bit.  It was nice to have family around.  I think that is the hardest thing for me about living away from family during holidays.  My mom, sister and niece arrived the Monday after Easter and stayed with us until Friday.  Again, it was nice to have family around for the week.  Chris and I were able to go out one night.  It was nice to spend some time together and reconnect as a couple. 

We started a new tradition this Easter.  We purchased Resurrection Eggs, which are eggs filled with symbols that tell the story of Jesus' resurrection.  It amazed us how quickly Josiah picked up on what was in each egg.  The blue egg had a donkey and when he saw the blue egg, he would say, "Donkey, donkey!"  The next egg had 3 coins in it for the 30 pieces of silver that Judas took to betray Jesus.  When he saw that egg, he would say, "Juas, Juas!"  The next egg had a cup in it to remind us of the Last Supper.  When he saw that egg, he would say, "Cup, Cup!" and then take the cup and drink out of it.  The next egg had praying hands in it to remind us of when Jesus went to pray in the Garden.  Josiah would try to hold his hands like the praying hands, but had a little bit of a hard time.  Next, was an egg with a whip in it for when Jesus was beaten.  Whenever he saw this egg, he would say, "NO, NO, NO!"  We don't know why exactly he would say that, but he must have understood when we explained that Jesus was beaten with the whip and it was very, very mean.  The next egg had a cross made out of nails to remind us of Jesus' death on the cross.  Whenever, Josiah saw this egg, he would say, "Cross, Cross!" The next egg had a crown of thorns.  When he saw this egg, he would tap his head with his hand.  When he got the crown of thorns, he would balance it on his head.  The next egg had a spear in it to remind us of when the solider stabbed Jesus to make sure he was dead.  When Josiah saw this egg, he would say, "Pear!"  The next egg had a die in it to remind us of when the soldiers cast lots of Jesus' clothing.  When he saw this egg, he would say, "Dice!"  He would have fun rolling the die across the dining room table.  The next egg had a piece of linen in it for when Jesus was wrapped in his burial clothing.  Josiah wasn't very excited about this object, but I think it is because it's a hard concept to understand and let's be honest a small piece of fabric doesn't do much!  The next egg had a rock in it to remind us of Jesus being laid in the tomb.  He had LOTS of fun with the rock and rolled it across the dining room table like the die.  He left a few scratches on it, but when Chris and I are in our 80's we will remember this special time with our kids sharing Jesus with them.  The last egg was empty to show us how Jesus was raised from the dead.  Again, this wasn't very exciting for Josiah, but as he gets a little older it will make sense to him.  We look forward to many more years of sharing Jesus with Josiah and Sophie and any other children God blesses us with. 

Josiah antics:

*The other morning, I was tickling Josiah.  He told me, "No!"  and then laughed.  I gave him another tickle, and he said, "No!"  I thought he was playing a game with me, so I tickled him again.  This time, he said, "No!" and signed "no" at the same time.  That is what I do when I mean business about him not touching something.  When he did that, I realized that he wasn't playing a game anymore!

*Chris' dad and stepmom came over for a visit, so we cooked a nice lunch with steak.  Josiah hasn't had steak yet, so we decided to put some on his plate to see if he would eat any.  To our surprise, he ate about 5 pieces!  He has also been eating fresh fruit in his yogurt.  I'm not having to puree it like I did before, which is a nice step to get rid of in the kitchen!  We were so proud of our big boy eater!

*He has also started drinking out of a big boy cup.  He started off doing really well, but has started taking a mouth full of water and then spits it out all over his shirt and then laughs.  Needless to say, we make it a special treat to use his big boy cup. 

*Josiah went to the National Zoo for the first time while my family was here.  Actually, this is his first zoo ever.  He liked the lions and tigers and the reptile house.  I wasn't overly excited that he liked the reptile house because I have a feeling he might bring some "presents" when he is older!

*Before we went to the zoo, we were telling my family what they had there.  We started by saying, "They have lions and tigers..." and then someone finished, "and bears! Oh my!"  When they said, "Oh my!" they put their hands on their cheeks.  Well, that is all she wrote because whenever we said, "Oh my," Josiah puts his hands on his cheeks! 

*One day, Josiah had enough of his Mimi holding Sophie.  He led my mom to the couch and told her, "Down."  So my mom sat down on the couch.  He told her, "No, down."  She told him that she was sitting down.  Then he pointed to the couch again, and said, "Baby, down."  My mom told him that she was holding Sophie for just a few minutes.  He kept pointing to the couch and saying, "Baby, down."  When my mom wouldn't put Sophie down, he came over to me and looked at Mimi and said, "Baby, Momma."  I think he got his point across that he would ready to have some time with Mimi! 

Sophie antics:

*Sophie met three new family members in less than a week.  She met her Papa T, my sister and my niece.  For some reason, whenever my sister would hold Sophie, she would start crying.  It wouldn't matter if she had just finished eating or just got up from a nap.  She could be sitting there smiling and cooing, but as soon as my sister picked her up, she would start screaming.  My sister had a good spirit about it and by the end of the week, Sophie liked being held by her aunty.  She even let her Aunty Sue give her a bottle or two. 

*Sophie also went to the zoo for the first time.  She spent most of her time sleeping in her carseat or eating.  I can tell I feel so much more comfortable being a mom because I was nursing Sophie as we walked around the zoo.  With Josiah, I would have found a bench and been there for 30 minutes. 

*She has started grabbing for her toys that hand down on her exercise mat.  She smiles when she hits them and they make noise in return. 

*She also took a bath with Josiah for the first time.  I decided to go ahead and see how that went since I feel like I spend so much time feeding, changing diapers, picking up after the kids, bathing, etc.  I figure if I can cut some time out some where, then I might as well do it.  Josiah was very sweet with her.  I bath Sophie and Josiah sits in the tub and "helps" me.  Then I get Josiah cleaned up while Sophie sits in her lounge chair.  I get Sophie dressed in the bathroom while Josiah plays with his toys, then it's time for Josiah to get out and Sophie just chills in her swing.  It seems to be working for now, and I'm glad to save some time in the process! 

Please be in prayer next weekend.  Chris is going away on a youth trip, so it will be the first time without him.  I tend not to sleep very well while he is gone, so prayers that I sleep well will be appreciated