New Ultrasound Picture and More Info

9 Week, 4 Day UltrasoundOur baby was 31.3mm (about 1.25 inches) in length.  Can you make out the upside down baby?  You can see head, both hands, legs and umbilical cord.  It looks like he or she has a snout, but it is one of the hands next to the face.

When we found out we were going to have a new little one, we had no idea we were going to be joining such a large group of friends doing the same.  I currently know 13 people with the same exciting news, 9 of which are due within the same time period, and 7 of which are local.  As Amy, my friend and fellow pregnancy mate said, if this is any indication of the population as a whole, I’m left hoping for a hospital bed when the time comes!  Then again, many of the friends I met when having Josiah make up that number as they, too, are ready to add a sibling, so my numbers may be skewed.

When I was pregnant with Josiah I didn’t know ANYONE else who was pregnant and due around the same time, so I’m super excited to have company!  I’m praying we all have healthy pregnancies and babies.  And I’m looking forward to some playdates!

How will you know if you are joining this crowd?  Silly things will make you tear up and want to cry (but if you are like me you will fiercely resist!).  The other day Jacob and I happened to be watching Wheel of Fortune, which I haven’t seen since I “babysat” my elderly great aunt when I was 15.  I actually wanted to shed happy tears for the girl who won.  What is my problem?!?!?

One Picture Says It All!

When we married we made a family of two,

then along came a sweet baby boy in blue.

Now God has seen fit to open the door,

so that we should have at least one more.

One sweet picture says it all;

that our family of four will have a ball!

I thought I'd "reward" those of you who read our blog by telling you first. After family, that is.

6 week, 3 day ultrasound - A tiny baby with a heartbeat. This little one is due March 25, 2011.

Stay tuned for further details! A new ultrasound picture will be up soon along with further thoughts.

Playing In The Rain

Jacob was working at home today and Josiah and I went to the barn to visit with him during our outside playtime.  It started to pour down rain (with no lightning), so we decided to make the best of it and play in it.  By the time we stripped Josiah (um, we kept our clothes on!) and got the camera, the rain slacked off but left behind some big puddles to play in.

Jacob trying to convince Josiah to play in the mud.

He’ll do anything Daddy wants to do.

 

All I could think of the whole time was cutaneous larval migrans!

Our Newest Pets

Not really.  They certainly aren’t welcome in our home and they are lucky to be allowed on the edge of our property, but last week Jacob purchased 20 nucs of bees.  Nucs are basically just starter hives.  He bought these and is waiting for them to mature, then will move them to their new hives and return the boxes to the seller.

Here are four such hives.  The one in the front on the  right is ready for a new larger box.  You notice all the bees hanging out in the front.

Here are the 20 nucs.

Jacob is transferring the bees to their new box.  I think he got stung once on the finger.

In their new home.  All 20 nucs will be moved to this type box.

I find it very ironic that most people pay to have bugs exterminated, but we pay GOOD money to have them.  In fact, if you find a feral hive, call him, he’d be happy to come catch it.  It seems a little backward, but then again, most things we do are a bit backwards.  All I wanted was a couple hobby hives so that we could have some honey, but no, Jacob always has to go big.  We are well on our way to having 27 hives (with a goal of 50 by the new year)  instead of 2.  With these goals of growth, it should still be a couple years before we see substantial honey/income from these little guys….um, girls (Jacob says the boys only eat and mate).  I hope this little business venture pays off!  Of course if anyone can make this kind of thing work, it is Jacob.

Smarty Pants!

Perhaps these is not unusual feats for a 15-17 month old, but we are impressed.   (I wrote this post awhile back and never posted it because I kept meaning to add pictures, so now it seems like old news.  Oh well.)

Josiah has difficulty climbing up onto our loveseat because there is nothing to grab on to and nothing to step up on, but he has used his problem solving skills to figure out that he can go get the cardboard box I gave him to play with, empty it out, take it to the loveseat, flip it over, and use it as a stool.  This means he can visit Lilah napping on the couch anytime he wishes.  He loves crawling overtop of her repetitively.  She’s not as thrilled with the arrangement, as it used to be a safe zone for her, but as usual she has handled it nicely.

 

Several weeks ago he learned to buckle his high chair strap together.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I didn’t think they started this until closer to 2 yr old.  It has become his new favorite, aside from jumping on the couch. 

About 2-3 months ago he learned to UN-buckle his carseat.  I definitely thought this was a hurdle we’d have to jump LATER in life.  I even put one of those padded velcro strap covers over it, but that only slowed him down for about 3 seconds.  So now we are down to only one useable carseat as this is a safety (and annoying) issue that I prefer to not teach him by correction.  I learned that it doesn’t necessarily matter how safe an item is or how much you spent on it because one small factor can render it useless.  Thank goodness for the $40 backup seat we got from the Safe Kids Carseat Safety check that he hasn’t figured out yet. 

This one isn’t necessarily related to his smarts, but does demonstrate how he can get Jacob and I to act stupidly.  Lately he has taken to running small circles around groups of toys in the middle of the floor. Perhaps this is related to us trying to teach him “Ring Around The Rosie”.  We were just sitting watching him and laughing and then decided to join in.  I never thought Jacob and I would run tiny circles around kids toys in our own living room, but it was fun!  I got dizzy and had to stop, at which point Josiah started spinning to get himself dizzy and fell in the middle of all the toys!

Oh, on a side note: does anyone else think that those plastic childproof outlet plugs actually seem to entice them to play with the outlets?  Josiah just likes to pull them out (so much for childproof!) and play with them.  I finally just removed them and he’s no longer fascinated by the outlets.

My Latest Project

I really don’t consider myself creative, much less a seamstress, but sometimes I try anyway.  Over Christmas I came up with the bright idea to make a quilt where each year I can put Josiah’s (and any other kids’) handprint on a square and watch him grow.  I bought some of the fabric on clearance after Christmas, put his first handprint on it, and stuck it in the closet.  Several weeks ago I decided to pull it out, I bought the rest of the materials I needed, and set to work. 

I decided to make it a small uncomplicated quilt since it was my first, so I chose to do this ragged quilt.  I tried to keep the pattern simple squares because by the time it is filled with handprints, it will be quite busy, not to mention the spaces needed to be big enough for bigger hands!  If we have no more children, then there’s enough space for Josiah to put a handprint for like 60 years, but I bet he’ll lose interest somewhere in the teenage years!

Here is the ragged side with the first handprint:

And a close-up:

The reverse side with finished square edges: I have to say, while I don’t pride it as being the prettiest quilt ever, I do think it looks better in person.  All of the fabrics have either a gold or glittery sheen to them and the details of each don’t quite stand out in photos.  Oh well.

Splash Park Fun Despite the Rain

We have been trying to make it to the splash park for a couple of weeks now, but every time we have tried either our schedules got in the way or we got rained out.  But today Josiah’s napping routine was off kilter, so when he woke up in the middle of the afternoon and Jacob finally got home from work we jumped in the car and went for it. 

Of course it started raining before we made it there, but no worries, Jacob suggested ice cream at Conestogas!  By the time we finished there, the rain had stopped, then we just had a short wait while the splashpark maintenance man hemmed and hawed about starting it back up after the rain.  I think he was looking for a reason to go home early and we ruined it.  Once it was up and going we had the place to ourselves for about a half hour and we had a blast!

  Hanging out under the water umbrella!

For those of you who have not been to the splashpark…these “buckets” fill with water then dump it out sporadically.  All the bigger kids love it and the younger kids seem bewildered by it and are surprised when water suddenly falls from the sky on top of them as they walk under it.  Here Josiah is evaluating the risks with Jacob.  (I know he looks tiny in this picture, but I wanted to show the buckets too.)

Then he decided to make a run for it.  It’s like running through a mine field, but he made it unscathed with water falling on each side of him, until…

…he became fascinated with the drain then, GERONIMO! 

   

He only really was directly hit once and his reaction was priceless – absolute surprise! - but it didn’t bother him one bit.