Alachua Splash Park

Today my mom and I took my niece, Savannah, and Josiah to the Splash Park in Alachua that we recently learned about. Savannah took some time to warm up to the idea, but ended up having lots of fun. Afterwards we went to Conestogas for Blue Bell ice cream. Yum! Then we went to the local consignment shop where we found some good stuff. Our outing would have been perfect except that we got caught in a monsoon as we walked back to the car. There is no quick way to pack a toddler, baby, stroller, and shopping bags into a car without getting all of those things soaked along with the interior of the car. Oh well.

I know several of you have talked about checking this out, but don’t know where it is, so I figured I’d give directions. As you drive down Main Street (from 441), turn right at 146th Ave (just past the Ivy House Restaurant). Take this down to 146th Terr and turn left. You will see the park on the right. It is free and the hours are dusk till dawn or 7pm. I didn’t see the days it is open posted, so it must always be open. I figured it would be really busy since it was a Saturday, but it wasn’t too bad. We had a good time. Here is the address and phone number: 14300 NW 146th Terrace, 386-462-1610.

I included lots of pictures so you could see different parts of the splash park. And because my niece is just plain cute! By the way, the bathrooms were decent and there were picnic tables and shade.

Notice the deluge of water coming down behind her. There are buckets up above that dump the water out when they get full. Savannah did get doused by one of these and was very confused as to where the water came from. It was funny.

The water is recycled through the park, so the fact that she kept trying to drink it made me cringe. It smelled like chlorine, so I guess it was ok.

Playing with a random boy that I think was sweet on her.

He Just Gets Better All The Time!

I thought I loved Josiah before, but as it turns out, it just gets stronger everyday. I told Jacob that I am in love so much I can hardly stand it and he says “what about me?” I remember those days that I felt that way about him, too. In fact, thankfully I still do at times, though admittedly the new has worn off (nearly 12 years later) and the preciousness of memories, commitment, the promise of a future life together, and the realization of dreams has taken over. I’m sure the “newness” will fade with Josiah as well, but something just as good will take over.

I praise God everyday that first of all he gave us Josiah, then that he is healthy, whole, and developing well. It is such a blessing to have him be “normal”. God is good! Of course WE think he is better than normal, but we have been wooed.

As far as his development goes, I was disappointed last week to find that he only gained a pound during his third month to reach 12 pounds. However, the day after I weighed him he began a 2 day growth spurt that helped him gain another pound by the time I weighed him the next week!

On another note…I have been attending the new mom’s luncheon on Tuesdays at North Florida Regional Medical Center where Josiah was born and where I weighed him (this is so worth going to for those of you who have the opportunity to). Usually you just get together with other moms with babies your age and you talk about any and everything, but this week they had a speaker about carseat safety and I learned tons of stuff I had never even thought of. They provide FREE carseat inspections every Wednesday at the Farmers Market on 121 and 441, so we went to that too. While our seats were installed correctly (mostly), we did learn a few things we were doing wrong. They are great about teaching you and not lecturing you and both Jacob and I would highly recommend getting an inspection if you have kids in carseats. We plan to go back when Josiah needs a new seat to buy a new (economical) seat from there and get it installed at the same time. If you want to sign up, go to nfrmc.com and click on the “Safe Kids” link under “Women’s Services”.

Another Baby On The Way!

No! Not for us! Are you crazy?

Josiah is soon to have another first cousin and we are very excited! My brother, Caleb and his wife, Star are expecting. It is so fun to watch our families grow and I can't wait to see them interact as they grow.

Congrats guys! I can't wait to love him or her!

3 Months Old!

My how time flies! Josiah turned three months old yesterday. I was thinking the other day that he has played a part of some kind in our lives for one year now. It has been a wonderful (yet strange) year.

Major accomplishments for the past 3 months are no different from other babies, but they are still so precious and cute. He can suck his thumb like a champ, role over (from belly to back), hold and shake toys/teethers, smile the most beautiful smile, make all kinds of sweet and happy sounds, and last but certainly not least – sleep through the night!

My favorite things aside from his smile are listening to him babble over the monitor in the mornings as he lies in his crib and we are in bed. Even though he often “goes off” before our alarm clocks, he is much more pleasant to wake up to and it puts a smile on my face to start the morning. The best part is that he is happy and content to be there, so we don’t have to jump up (this is not to be confused with when he wakes up crying in the middle of the night which rarely happens, thankfully). Secondly, I love the sigh he often gives at the end of a long yawn. So sweet. I also like to listen to Jacob “interpret” Josiah’s babble. It is usually some tale about what one of our animals did.

Here are some recent pictures and video:

Here's our sweetie at 10 weeks.

And at 12 weeks. Just as happy as can be.

Isn't he cute?

Bathtime with Daddy is fun!

Warning: Listening discretion required. He's all boy! (I couldn't resist this)

This video is meant to be enjoyed for its sound only. Josiah stops "talking" when he sees the camera, so I just turned it on and left it alone. Consequently, you mostly just see my hand.