Thankfulness

We’ve had an eventful last few days as we went about the business of celebrating Thanksgiving.  As usual, we have so much to be thankful for with nearly 11 great years of marriage, two wonderful little boys, a great extended family, and all of our needs being more than provided for.  Not to mention salvation and spiritual blessings.  We are also thankful for good overall health, though these pesky monthly colds our family keeps coming down with are getting old!

Josiah and I picked this little art project up at the library and brought it home to color and put together.  He refused to wear it at first, but finally took to it the other night, wore it all through dinner and then had to be convinced to take it off for a bath.  Turns out he loves wearing it!

We celebrated Thanksgiving day at Mom’s house with her usual feast for 50, though she only served a quarter that many.  I love a good traditional meal!  We had a good time visiting, eating, and watching the kids play.

Savannah brought her Gator and Josiah loved it.  He was a bit too short to hold the pedal down constantly and whenever he inadvertently let up and it stopped, he’d get out and look at all the tires saying it was stuck :)  And yes, he did fall off of it once when Savannah was driving and she talked him into raising his hands into the air when she made a sharp turn!

She loves being the big cousin, but she did tell me she got a little bored with Elijah because he was slow.

Nathan after naptime.  Such a cutie!

Jacob left that afternoon with Josiah and the four dogs to go to the huntin’ camp.  Josiah has been begging ever since his last visit to go back.  Josiah really wanted to take me and Elijah, too, but for simplicity sake we’ll wait until Elijah’s a little older first.  Apparently they had lots of fun, but they played more than they hunted.  (Sorry – no pictures.  He forgot the camera.)

Though I had high hopes for some fun on Friday, Elijah and I spent it sick at home and attempting to catch up on chores.  That was a useless effort, but we enjoyed some cuddles and playtime.  I missed Josiah, but it was nice spending some time with just Elijah and having time to rest when he slept.

I worked Saturday morning while Elijah went to Grandma’s to play with Savannah and then Josiah and Jacob came home later that afternoon.  It is always fun to see Josiah when he comes home.  He’s cuddly and full of stories.  He looked so big and cute to me :)

Sunday was our annual family reunion at Gram’s house.  It’s always a good time catching up with family, eating too much good food, and “buying” another person’s junk at the Turkey Buck Auction.  I used my fake money (and donations from people around me) to buy quite a few things this year including a baby swing (for a swing set), a few baby toys, a tambourine for Josiah (the only thing he wanted – so cute!), some vintage glass doorknobs (which I had to fight for!), a pretty bowl, a movie, 2 jackets, and a picnic mat.  I did pretty good, huh?

Savannah caught a ride with us down there.  Sometimes it is fun to experience having 3 kids!  They did great.  Josiah read his John Deere toy catalog most of the way, saying “I want dis for Kismas.  Let’s do dat, ok?  Maybe later.”, and Savannah made sure to give us a play by play on Elijah…“he still has his pacifier….he still has his pacifier…”

  He was so excited to get his tamborine and he was mesmerized by Uncle Teddy taking bids.

Our long time auctioneer, Uncle Teddy.

Fun times!

I didn’t get nearly the pictures I’d like to have.

I just have to brag for a second…we got SO MANY compliments on our little guys this year.  So many people commented on their cuteness, particularly Elijah’s eyes, as well as their good behavior.  And I have to say that they really were great.  Can you tell I’m proud?

When we were about to leave Gram’s Josiah started asking where Deda was.  We reminded him that he was in heaven and wouldn’t be back.  It was kind of sad, but I was happy that he was on his mind.  Unfortunately I doubt he’ll remember him at all in the long term.

I’m writing this on our way home while we are at a dead stop on the interstate.  Oh, the joys of holiday travel.  Let’s hope Elijah stays happy!  Update…we made it through that traffic ok and took 441 the rest of the way home.  Both boys slept until we woke them in the driveway.  Ah…peace.

Eight Months And Full Of Energy!

Elijah is eight months old now and BOY can he move!  He is the happiest, most energetic little guy with a smile to light up the room.  He’s just recently developed a smile that playfully squints his beautiful little eyes rather than just having the typical open-mouthed young baby smile.  It is way too cute!  This month he has also become the crawling king and is on the fast track to pulling up.  He and Josiah have also entered the beginning stages of wrestling.  More on that later.

I was a little worried when Elijah started crawling because I felt like my hands were already full, but it’s been great.  With the entertainment provided by toys and Josiah, he doesn’t really get into things (yet).  He even seems happier that he is mobile and he follows us everywhere to be in on all the action, though he’s so social that he gets upset if we ignore him for long.  When I need a little freedom I just get the cat and he follows her around for awhile.  He loves her and while she likes him she’s not fond of losing fist-fulls of hair at a time.  My newest problem is keeping him from visiting Josiah when he’s in time out :)

Too bad this picture is blurry because I love it!

Speaking of Josiah, he and Elijah have so much fun!  As mentioned before, they have started wrestling.  It is really cute to watch, but also precarious as it can turn not so fun for Elijah really quickly as he’s likely to lose his balance and take a spill.  I love listening to each of their giggles.  That’s not to say it is always hunky dory.  Josiah does have his moments of not wanting to share toys or wanting to “hold” Elijah.  Overall, I love where their relationship is headed and I love how Josiah is excited to get Elijah out of bed in the mornings and after naps.

Almost there, Elijah!  He’s working on pulling up.  Right now Josiah’s safe place for his toys is on the couch, but that won’t last long!

But….   …he gets free choice of the toys when Josiah’s sleeping :)

           Smiley boy!

As for sleeping, Elijah has been spoiling us with full nights of sleep for the last few weeks, though at the beginning of the month we were still suffering due to his stuffy nose.  Funny enough, he has gotten two teeth (and is working on another) without any interrupted sleep.  It has been SO nice and I’m thoroughly spoiled!

Aren’t those teeth so cute?  (Nevermind the war wound from torturing the cat.)

His eating habits have improved also and he’s all about his solids now.  Since last month he’s had avocado, pear, mango, blueberry, and maybe more I can’t think of now.  He’s also starting to branch out to finger foods – any and all of the soft foods above and rice cakes.

It is hard to hit a moving target and he’s just so wiggly sometimes! (Jacob did this!)

Last month Elijah was really starting to say a lot of identifiable syllables, but this month he has switched to sound effects.  He cracks me up!  These noises mostly entail lots of slobber and motor sounds.  He likes to mimic noises, too.  But his best noise, by far, is his sweet repetitive humming coo that he does when he cuddles.  Talk about a melted heart!Here’s Mr. Motor Mouth making motor noises.  Spit everywhere!

In addition to “octopus” his new nick name is “rug rat” because he loves to pick up the rugs and play with them.  This drives me nuts because they are inevitably dirt filled (think by the back door with an outdoorsy Daddy and toddler going in and out) despite my daily shaking and vacuuming.  Dirt gets everywhere and sticks to all his saliva-wet parts.  Jacob and Josiah also like to call him “Rascal”, and he is that!  Despite his wiggly nature we sure do love him and he really is a fun little baby.  He is very generous with his cuddles and even more so with smiles!

We love you, little man!

Florida Aquarium And Busch Gardens

Jacob and I (ok, mostly just “I”) have been wanting and waiting to take our little family to the Florida Aquarium and Busch Gardens for quite some time now.  This is part of my quest to go to all the fun things we can do while Josiah is old enough to enjoy things, but is still free :)  The plan was to go the first available opportunity once the weather turned more mild.  In a last minute decision (8pm the night before – totally not the norm for us), we finally decided to go this past Sunday and Monday.  Thanks to Gram we had a free place to sleep that night in Tampa.

We first went to the aquarium, and I have to admit, we were a little less than impressed, but we enjoyed ourselves.  Josiah’s favorite things were the owl, the blue crab, and the ducks.  He also thought it was cool that he got to see Nemo!  Jacob and I learned that when doing that kind of thing, you have to learn to look at everything with the attention span of a 2 year old.  A tank with 20 different types of fish in it only takes a minute or less to fully take in.

Josiah and Daddy looking at a duck!  He said, “touch it, Daddy!”

Not a great picture, but you can see Josiah and Jacob’s reflection in the glass checking out a gator on the other side.

Checkin’ out the blue crab.  Don’t you love how Josiah hangs his finger on his pants pocket?  He’s such a big boy now!

 

The next day we hit Busch Gardens.  We waffled on whether or not this would be a waste of money and while we are glad we didn’t splurge for the year passes, we are glad we did it.  In typical Josiah fashion he had more fun running around (with Jacob!) than he did riding rides or looking at stuff.  The boy is happiest when he is going full speed on his own two legs.  He did ride his first two rides, but he was not too impressed.  He was only tall enough for a couple anyway.  He did get to enjoy the train and looking at all the animals, too.  My personal favorite was the pet show. 

Josiah’s first-ever ride!  He was SO excited while waiting in line.  He kept saying “my turn!”  He was worried, though, because he wasn’t sure how he’d hold on to the acorns he collected while steering the car.  He was so relieved at my idea of storing them in his velcro-safe pocket :)

I just knew Josiah would love the Sesame Street show.  He dragged me out by my hand to rejoin his Daddy and a sleeping Elijah.

Elijah thankfully slept through the rides and what little of the Sesame Street show we watched.

  One of Josiah’s favorite parts was running through these tunnels and listening to his screams echo.

Naptime, anyone?

  Elijah was feeling refreshed from his nap, though.

This cutie was a hit on the train.

He’s teething.  Can you tell?  He’s not much of a drooler so I kind of think it is cute when he does.

Some of the animals we saw:

  Saying bye bye to Big Bird.

Josiah liked the cool plant-animals (I know they have a name that I can’t come up with right now.  Topiaries, maybe?)

The tired parents posing in front of the over packed car preparing for the long drive home.  It wasn’t smart to leave Tampa at rush hour :)

Our ride home was a bit of an adventure in and of itself, as can be the case with two young kids, but we made it home and finished the trip with Josiah’s all time favorite…pizza!  It was a bit late and it made the next working day seem harsh, but we all survived and had a good time doing it.

As we were leaving BG, Jacob and I talked about what made the trip so good and all we kept coming up with was the fact that we did it as a family and without deadlines.  It was so nice just to connect with one another and play with the four of us together.  It is healthy to just be a family sometimes.  We didn’t have any bickering or stress, but lots of smiles for no apparent reason.  I guess that is what a vacation does…we felt the same way after we took Josiah to the mountains two years ago, but we haven’t done anything since.  We need to make a point to do it on a small scale more frequently.

Josiah’s souvenirs…pebbles and acorns.  Who needs an Elmo doll?

Pumpkin Patch!

I forgot to post this…

We finally carved out a little time to go to the pumpkin patch at Trinity United Methodist Church the other day.  I’ve been looking forward to it and the weather had been perfect, but as luck would have it, it got hot again (I totally dressed the boys wrong) and since we were so late in going there weren’t all that many pumpkins.  Oh well.  Josiah enjoyed looking at them all anyway, though he enjoyed the playhouses more.  And Elijah had fun trying to eat hay every time we put him down, which means he rarely looked up for pictures :)

Don’t you love our happy boys?  Both were tired and one wanted to be off and running.  Josiah doesn’t talk to or smile for strangers, so this was a lost cause.  I love me little man, though.  His shyness makes him behave in public :)

He carried this pumpkin around under his arm for awhile.  He seemed to prefer the small ones and he finally picked two for him and Elijah.  Somehow I didn’t get a picture of that.

 

This was right before he fell over and hit his head on the ground.  No pumpkin patch visit is complete without a mishap!

“Rollin’ a big one, Mommy!”

My little pumpkin!

My little carrot top matches the pumpkins :)

He finally looked up and broke out of his amazed stupor long enough to smile!  Yep, he’s still sucking that lower lip.  I wonder when those teeth will finally come in?

  He cracks me up!

Macho man…uh, maybe next year you can pick it up, little man!

We learned a lesson: go early in the season and not at the beginning of naptime, even if it is the only available time.