Happy 59th!

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandparent’s 59th Anniversary.  I had kind of been planning to have a semi-big party to celebrate (thinking it was their 60th…oops!), but then Deda took a fall and we nearly lost him.  The entire family gathered at the hospital to say our goodbyes to a man who wasn’t even there mentally due to brain swelling.  Once he pulled through he didn’t even remember we had been there the day before.  After all that drama we decided that perhaps a small family affair would be best.  It was nice to spend those hours together though it is difficult to see how quickly Deda is declining in physical health, though thankfully his mind is sharp again and he is in good spirits.

Here are some pictures from the day (mostly courtesy of my uncle):

We tried to get pictures of everyone, but the kids were tired and everyone was looking different directions.  Apparently Deda was the only one paying attention here.  You’ll notice he struggles to hold his head up.  His hands and feet are so swollen and his arms are useless.  He is unable to even scratch an itch on or in his nose, but he’s not afraid to ask you to!

He’s getting tired of pictures here :)  And so is Josiah!

My cousin Michelle.  She’s a great caregiver for Deda.  Great picture!

Aunt Margie getting some Elijah lovin’!  He pretty much slept through the party, but he made up for it that night!

Such cutie pies!  They have so much fun together.  They may as well be brother and sister because she always tells on him and he screams and fusses when she won’t leave him alone, but when they are apart they miss one another.

Poor Josiah was SO tired he kept cuddling with us and hugging our legs when we were standing.  Here, though you can’t see it, he had ripped up pieces of napkin that were the “load” for his dump truck.  He played with that for quite awhile.

    Michelle is a baby lover!  I like when she’s around at family events because I have a reliable baby sitter.

Silly girl!  She dressed herself this day and was very proud of the outfit.  She didn’t match at all but she thought she did because she had purple shorts and a touch of purple in Ariel’s hair, but they were totally different shades.

And last, but not least…a loving Grandma.

I’ve learned so much from Gram and Deda through the years, both about the kind of person I want to be and also about the kind of commitment it takes to be married for nearly 60 years.  They are both tough but incredibly giving people who would do anything for anyone.  I have never doubted their love for me or the faith they have in me.  To try to describe them accurately and completely is useless, but it would be clear if you knew them.

Happy Anniversary!  I love you!

Four Great Months!

Elijah is four months old!  He’s had a pretty eventful month, for such a young little guy, that is.  He is such a fun little baby because he’s always quick to smile and giggles are easy to come by.  He’s very content, easy, and great at falling asleep with little to no help when it comes to naps.  Sometimes I feel guilty about that, but most of the time there just isn’t the opportunity to have a drawn out naptime routine.  I have to carve out special time for him in other ways.  His big “flaw” has been staying asleep, though that has improved dramatically this month, as you’ll see below.

This deer-in-the-headlights look shows off his beautiful eyes!

The big change for Elijah this month is the ability to roll from back to tummy, but he’s also grabbing the toys he wants, touching his feet, and is in the beginning stages of learning to creep.  Yes, I said creep.  It seems early to me, but I haven’t checked the books.  I keep finding him inching off his blanket.  Now that he’s rolling so much he has taken a liking to sleeping on his sides – it’s too cute! 

Elijah has gotten the nickname “octopus,” first used by my mom to describe him after she volunteered to change his diaper and put him in his PJ’s one night when I was busy.  It fits him well because he latches onto your arms and you can’t do anything.  If you manage to free yourself you still have the challenge of getting the diaper on right as he repetitively pulls his knees up to his chest and the abruptly and forcefully straightens them and clenches them too close together to maneuver the diaper.  The good part about the nickname is that Josiah can say it, though he usually calls him “jijah.”

He starts creeping by bunching up the blanket in front of him to get it out of the way, then once he is on the immobile carpet he makes kinda quick progress.  I’m not sure how intentional all that is, but it works for him.

As I mentioned, we have have had some sleep issues to solve this month.  We’ve battled reflux, gas, and mobility.  He has always taken nice naps, but at night he’d cry multiple times after being put to bed, sometimes inconsolably.  Finally after his late night feeding he’d sleep fairly well, and while some nights were perfect, often he’d still wake multiple times but be happy with the paci, then eventually poop, then sleep well until morning.  I had been dealing with it ineffectively as a sleep problem.  It finally dawned on me one night that this symptom, along with occasional LARGE volumes of spit up, gagging, and dry coughing, was typical for reflux.  I should have caught it much earlier.  We visited the pediatrician, got some meds and mostly resolved those issues, but the middle of the night problems remained.  I decided to try some Mylicon again (it helped him greatly in the first month) and that seems to have cleared up the rest of our issues.  Somewhere in there when he was mastering the rolling over and before I got the breathable bumper, we struggled with stuck arms and legs waking everyone up, but he now sleeps beautifully at night.  I don’t like doing long term medications, so after we are well established in our nights I’m going to try to wean off at least the Mylicon.

Just a quick little side story related to sleep that I want to remember: The other morning we needed to get out of the house at a reasonable hour and we had heard Elijah making noise, so we headed to his room to get him up (for some reason both Jacob and I went).  He was on his belly cozied up to the corner of the crib so I rolled him over and he immediately rolled back without ever opening his eyes.  I rolled him again and he looked at us both and just smiled the biggest smiles, then rolled back over.  I tried him one more time, but back over he went and was still.  We finally got the hint to leave him alone for a few more ZZZZ’s.  We joked that he was like trying to wake a teenager and left his room.  So sweet!

This little guys is a smiling machine!

Most recently we’ve dealt with yet another eye infection as well as a little cough.  I had thought we cleared up the blocked tear duct issue, but in just one day he went from perfectly clear to infected.  He has 2 more months to clear it up on his own, then he has to get a surgical procedure.  Yuck!  Yet another visit to the pediatrician confirmed my suspicion that the cough was related to worsening reflux.  This came along with a couple nights of interrupted sleep.  Since we used up his 4 month well check with a sick visit, we’ll be going back to the pediatrician next week for his official checkup and vaccines.

Elijah has become such a special part of our lives.  We all love him in our own way.  He’s my little guy to love and care for and be thankful for in those few quiet moments we get together when I can just absorb his preciousness.  While I’m sure those things apply to Jacob as well, he is more focused on getting laughs and is very good at it!  They are great entertainment for one another.  Jacob is also a great medicine-giver.  It tastes terrible!  For Josiah Elijah is a great companion.  Josiah loves for Elijah to come everywhere with him.  He gets very distressed if he thinks we are leaving him behind.  He also loves to plant himself in front of him and get laughs, usually either by fake laughing or by blowing on Elijah’s tummy.  We have enjoyed Elijah thoroughly and look forward to who he will become.

Someone needs to shave!  And I don’t think it is Elijah.  Right before this picture, Jacob and I were talking about how Elijah looks nothing like him and he assumed this pose for comparison purposes.  I made him do a re-take for picture purposes so he could see.  Um, nope…nothing alike.  I think their personalities will match up, though.

(I had thought he seemed to have a lot more hair all the sudden, or at least I noticed it suddenly, so I looked at 3 month pictures and sure enough he has quite a bit more.  He’s becoming more of a carrot top!)

Sometimes You Just Can’t Win…

…And you just have to accept that!

At the end of this day when I was nursing Elijah before bedtime and reflecting on the last several hours, I couldn’t help but smile at how ironically discombobulated the afternoon was.  I only write about it because not only am I amazed at how many of my plans could be thwarted in just a few hours, but also that I can laugh at it, rather than sulk at the end of the day.  That is an accomplishment for me and evidence of how parenthood has developed me!

For starters, both boys were pretty exhausted after church since we had a LONG day and short night the day/night before.  I, myself, was exhausted and looking forward to a nap of my own while they napped – a rarity for me.  We got them both down and I did a few random tasks (including filling up our kiddie pool) while I waited for Elijah to wake up 45 minutes into his nap – a very predictable thing for him – so that I could help him go back to sleep if needed.  After that I hit the sack.  Well, I think he is hitting a growth spurt and he woke SCREAMING 30 minutes later, while I was apparently in a deep sleep because I just couldn’t quite pull myself together. 

At 5 p.m., an hour after my much needed nap was cut short, I decided to wake Josiah since it was getting so late.  To coax him out of bed I told him we’d go swimming.  He jumped up and ran out saying “pool, pool”…and then I heard a crash of thunder.  So much for that!  Plan B: we decided to play on the porch while it rained.  We got out there and it turned into a torrential gusty rain and we had to go inside.  Plan C:  He begged for “Pooh” (a new DVD he’s obsessed with), so I gave in, but then the power flickered off.  Plan D: Coloring by flashlight by the window.  This one panned out and proved to be fun.  He says “color me”, meaning “color with me”.  I opened the window so we could get some air and every time there was a crash of thunder/lightning, he’d look out the window and say “space ship”.  What?!?  I finally realized he had watched the shuttle launch on t.v. with Jacob and I assume it was noisy and he now thinks that is what makes thunder.  Too cute! :)

This is what an afternoon of playing in the pool may have looked like.  I’ve been looking for an opportunity to post these :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But this was our “color me” session we had instead.  It was actually quite dark in the room, but you wouldn’t know it due to the camera flash.

We had planned on grilling steaks, but with the downpour, that was out.  Not having AC, I didn’t want to heat up the house with the stove/oven (it is gas) only to eat with Josiah in the dark, so we packed the kids up and went out to dinner at Piesanos, a pizza place.  On the way out the door the power came back on and the rain let up.  We decided to go anyway since Josiah was well rested and, therefore, should behave and Elijah was tired and should sleep through it.  Perfect, right?

Well…Elijah didn’t sleep and Josiah didn’t behave!  I thought our food was good, Jacob said it “wasn’t bad”, and Josiah wouldn’t even eat a bite because he touched it too soon and burnt himself and because it didn’t look like the pizza he is used to.  Mom came late after church and I had ordered her a chicken parmesan pizza which she didn’t like because it had chicken on it!  Apparently chicken doesn’t belong on pizza.  Elijah finally totally lost it and I had to nurse him at the table which I know makes both Jacob and mom uncomfortable in public and definitely made our early 20’s waiter uncomfortable :)  Oh well.

That brings us to the end of an afternoon gone bad that wasn’t so bad.  I love and hate that life is so unpredictable.  You never know what you are going to get with kids and the best laid plans may or may not pan out.  Parenthood has definitely stretched my limits on many levels and has made me more understanding of other people’s day gone bad when it affects me.  And that is my only hang up when things don’t go right.  I hate when it alters other people’s plans or ruins their dinner out.  I don’t think we were too bad, though.  Tomorrow is another day…

Here are more random photos to help make up for so many words.  I think I’ve decided I need a journal so I don’t have to bore all of you so badly!

Aren’t they so cute?  I didn’t bother to put in all of the pictures taken in the process to get all 3 looking at the camera at the same time, but we finally got a cute one!

So Proud Of Him!

For once this is referring to an adult in our home, though I am quite proud of some things my little boys are doing right now, too.  I just wanted to brag on Jacob a bit, but in order to do so adequately, I must do a little whining first.

Here’s the whining: Lately we have been really busy and we just feel like we are getting farther and farther behind everyday no matter how hard we try.  Jacob, in particular, is in his busy season for both bees and lawncare and has been running hard for awhile now.  Add in a young baby, me starting back to work, a few other random projects and family happenings and it has been just a bit wild…

And here’s the bragging:  …but in the midst of the chaos Jacob has been willing (and wanting) to watch the boys on a few random weekdays and Saturdays when I have had to work or do other career-related things and haven’t had other childcare lined up.  Also, when we got the call on a recent Sunday that my Grandfather would not make it through the day (he did – that’s another story), Jacob told me to do whatever I wanted – leave the kids with him and go, or he’d pack up with me and we’d all go – despite putting himself further behind.

Now, you might say here that that is just what family does.  You have to, right?  Well, some wives aren’t so lucky.  But here is where he really sacrificed.  Last weekend he got a call that the 3 year old daughter of a friend of his passed away unexpectedly.  Now, this friend, Ken, is really only a friendly business acquaintance who Jacob speaks to on the phone regularly about business affairs and only personally when one of them has a new baby or something.  When Jacob heard the news, knowing that Ken was struggling to keep up this summer as well, Jacob called him and left a message that he’d be able to take 2 days to do his work if he’d just send the addresses.  Ken was apparently overwhelmed by the offer particularly since his own work truck and trailer had been rear ended and totaled the day prior to his daughter’s passing.  (Talk about being kicked while you are down!)

So, that is what Jacob is out doing today and tomorrow.  Did I mention that it is REALLY hot out there?  And that he is using his own truck, fuel, and equipment?  And that these are usually his days to build his bee business?  It is definitely the right thing to do, but so many people understandably wouldn’t.  I’m a bit jealous myself, I’ll admit to it, since I don’t get my day of him being in and out of the house while working on our property, but I am proud that my husband is such a good friend to so many people.  And, by the way, it doesn’t usually take death to make him that way.

That’s it for my whining and bragging post with no pictures.   Hopefully you will come back next week to hear me brag about Elijah in his 4 month update.  It has been a big month for him!

Independence Day!

Most of our Fourth of July weekend was spent working on a very special project that will get its very own post in the future, but we did make time for a little fun.

On Saturday we got together with some family and friends to eat (of course!) and set off some smaller scale fireworks.  We mommies sat around nervously watching while the daddies helped the kids enjoy themselves.

Don’t you love how Jacob compensates for looking away to chat by holding down Josiah’s free arm? :)  

 

On Sunday we decided just to continue our project after church rather than doing more celebrating, but on Monday we joined some friends for dinner then headed up to Alachua for Josiah and Elijah’s first fireworks.  This is my only picture…oops!  I told Josiah in advance that the fireworks would be lights in the sky and we practiced saying “boom”.  Once they started he feigned nervousness – mostly for the grand finale, but kept asking for more all the way home.  

 

Jacob really needs to get some photography lessons.  Every picture he takes of me with the boys (the ONLY pictures he takes) really need help.  The whole point of this one was that our clothes were festive, including the shorts, but you wouldn’t know it!  Oh well, at least this proves I really was around for their childhood.

Three Month Pictures Of A Cutie!

I couldn’t quite get myself together enough to get Elijah’s 3 month photos done professionally, mostly because I was too indecisive to be able to decide what route I wanted to go.  So, the other day I just took him outside and did some myself.  I figured if they didn’t turn out good, then I’d buckle down and get it done right.  Well, let’s just say I had a tough time narrowing them down enough for this blog post!  His blue eyes made it fun.  I think they turned out pretty great, but I don’t know how well they’d print up since I have a cheap camera.

This first one is terrible lighting and color, but I love the look!

Look at these luscious lips! 

The spit up in his mouth ruins this picture from being any larger :)      

Here are those lips again!    He’s such a happy boy!

(And yes, I know this is entirely too many pictures of the same baby for one blog post, but I actually did narrow it down quite a bit.)