We gave these Christmas ornaments to the grandmothers and great grandmothers for Christmas in order to announce our big news:
We are excited to welcome our new addition, boy or girl, later this summer! We aren’t exactly sure how far along we are yet, but we shall soon see. The older boys are very excited and it’s funny to hear them come up with the various things they realize it means as we go along and it’s fun to hear them tell other people.
A few months ago I wrote a post about how nasty, but cute Joshua’s kisses were. After the sweet kisses he’s been giving lately, I figured I should amend that. He now grabs your head with both hands and gives perfect and wonderfully sweet kisses on the cheek. I can’t help but ask for them repetitively.
During the car ride home Josiah was asking questions about predators and prey with chickens being used as an example. The conversation drifted to Josiah and Jacob discussing us getting chickens. I made the point that if we got chickens then we’d have chicken poop in our yard where they play, to which Josiah said, “we can tape them up!” (meaning put tape over their behinds). Jacob explained that you couldn’t just keep chickens from pooping without them getting sick. Josiah’s next solution was that he could tape baggies to their rears. I told him that that was great thinking and that it could be his job to change the poop bags daily, to which he replied, “I bet they’d say ‘BAAWWKAHHHH!’ when I pull the tape off!”.
Yes. Yes, I believe they would.
Next, we discussed how eggs come from the same hole in the chicken that the poop comes from. Our car rides are always interesting!
In the car the other day, Josiah overheard Jacob talking to me and referring to his sister, but not by name. He said, "Daddy, you have a sister!?" Jacob and I looked at each other in confusion thinking it odd that he didn't know this. Jacob told him yes, and said that Aunt Carla was his sister which seemed to floor Josiah. Then I started to wonder if he realized Jesse and Caleb are my brothers...he didn't. I guess he just thought we CHOSE to hang out with them as random guys :)
Ha ha! I love it when I realize that the kids never understood things I assumed were a given. I love seeing them connect the dots.
In a conversation with the boys tonight about inheritance (not sure why it was up for discussion) I explained to them that they'd get all our stuff when we died. Then I had to explain that it should be a long time from now and that I'll probably die before them, to which Josiah assured me that I wouldn't be first, because I am "not as crunchy as Daddy". Perplexed, I asked what crunchy means, to which he said, "you know, like when old women have crunchy skin and stuff." Oh, wrinkles. Hee hee!
Then Josiah told Elijah that he’d have to move out next week. When I asked why, he said because Elijah couldn’t live with him in his house. Now I guess he plans on Jacob and I dying next week and giving Elijah the boot! We’ll need to work on this.
I am REALLY late in writing this, but so much has been going on. This isn't the only thing I’m behind on. Joshua has been doing great! He is still an active handful, but also extremely sweet.
I went to a conference for 5 days right after Joshua turned 14 months and I had been weaning him slowly up to this point. He did well accepting cows milk and has become quite the eater with a good appetite.
Right around 14 months, Joshua starting walking from place to place. Prior to this he’d just take a step or two here and there. He’s become adept at it and gets into everything. His climbing abilities are still top notch. I have to say that while he takes risks, he’s pretty good at coming out of it unscathed.
Physically Joshua may be trucking along, but he’s still a slow teether. At 15 months he has 4 upper teeth and 2 lower teeth, though it looks like he’s working on some molars. I wouldn’t say he’s behind verbally, but he doesn’t really show much interest in communication. He does a very cute mimicking of speech, but his list of words is pretty limited. Daddy is not only his favorite person, but it’s his favorite word, as well! The pediatrician was a little concerned about his lack of interest in talking, pointing, or waiving, but after asking a series of questions determined he was still within a normal range. A week after his appointment he started waiving and pointing :)
As always, Joshua is still my super snuggly guy. He loves his paci and new blankie that he picked out. We attempted to find him something soft to love as I weaned him and of all the blankets and stuffed animals we offered, he chose just a simple cotton blanket. We try to keep the paci usage to a minimum and I ask him to leave it in the crib when he gets up. He’s super cute because he dramatically spits it into the crib and if he has the second one in his hand he’ll put it in his mouth, take a few sucks, and spits it in, too.
Joshua is growing fast and is taking life in. He’s interested in everything and is scared of nothing. We love his funny little happy self, even when grumpiness and neediness overtakes him. He loves the men in his life but really just loves to be loved by everyone. He brings a fun dynamic to our family and I can’t wait to see how he blossoms.
Reaching for the stars!
Here are a couple little things I thought I’d get a chuckle about later. These aren’t unique stories in terms of what I hear come out of the boys’ crazy mouths on a daily basis, but they are a good representation.
Elijah is always making up songs. They usually don’t mean much and generally consist of him narrating a little bit about life, but this one made me laugh, almost made me rebuke him, and then kinda made me say “hmmm” because maybe he does get it. While I was brushing his teeth the other morning, Elijah said he’d sing a song for me when I finished. He performed a song standing on the stool, eyes closed, singing a very heartfelt song that went like this… “God made the world a long time ago with his friends” (I’m thinking maybe the trinity?) “Jesus doesn’t know he can go to jail if he does bad things” (I’m opening my mouth to tell him how messed up this is, but then he continues with…) “But he never ever ever does bad things, so he’ll never go to jaillllllll” [he continues head sway with eyes closed then open eyes and smile big]. It was all I could do to not burst out laughing. I couldn’t think of anything to say except that it was great!
Josiah has never liked to draw attention to himself. At VBS this year (his first year) they did something special everyday like crazy shirt day, safari day, crazy sock day, etc. He refused to participate out of shyness, but when it came time for crazy hair day he was super excited about wearing a mohawk! He and Elijah love to have them after bathtime so he associates them with fun. I combed him a fantastic mohawk that he was thrilled with and sent him on his way. When I picked him up a few short hours later, his hair was as flat as could be. When I asked him what happened he said he flattened it, but before I could get upset (as he feared) he assured me there was a good reason, but he wouldn’t tell me till we got to the car. He later revealed that everyone kept looking at it, talking about it, and touching it and it “was SO ANNOYING so I just flattened it!” Typical. Any other kid would beam with pride.
Elijah “talks” a lot these days. He babbles on and on and sounds like he is truly trying to say something to us. He was doing a good job of talking to Bill the other day and Savannah asked, “is he speaking Spanish?” Yes, Savannah. Yes, that’s exactly what he’s doing :)
And lastly, both Josiah and Elijah love to pray. Josiah sticks to the tried and true Lord’s Prayer while Elijah starts every prayer with, “God I love you. I love you again.” Followed by a million simple things he is thankful for.
I love my boys!
We had to euthanize Molly, our sweet heeler/lab mix of 14 years recently. She’s had a huge mass on her rump for about 3 years that we were never able to figure out what it was. Because of it’s size, attachment, her age, and how well she was doing, we decided not to remove it and it never seemed to slow her down or be detrimental.
Well, recently she started having unexplained wounds on her right front leg that were unresponsive to treatment. I got some samples and, while it’s not confirmed, the pathologist thinks that it is the result of the original mass spreading through her lymph system. The type of mass she started with is generally only locally invasive and rarely spreads, so she was a unique case that he’s going to use in his presentations. Leave it to us to have weirdness in our home.
At any rate, she still was pretty functional, but the wounds were bothering her, she seemed a little stress and was dropping some weight and not eating great, so we decided to let her go before she progressed. Molly was a family favorite and she will be missed. She, and her brother Cowboy who we lost to a brain tumor last year, were the first dogs Jacob and I got as a couple and we’re sad to see them go. It feels like an end of an era.
One day very soon I’m going to set some work boundaries and start blogging again instead of doing paperwork every night. In effort to move that direction, here’s one quick post.
Joshua has started to give kisses. They are so disgustingly cute that I can’t resist asking for them! We don’t do mouth kissing around here except between Jacob and I, but Joshua has decided that’s how to kiss. He grabs hold of our heads and open mouth mauls, I mean kisses, our lips. It’s so gross, yet so sweet.
And it’s actions like these that perpetuate illness in our home :)
We wanted to christen our home by recording our own thoughts and some well wishes from family on the foundation. Here are some of the things recorded in our home:
In the boys’ bedrooms:
In my and Jacob’s room:
Throughout the main house:
I love our family and extended family and I love the love that will fill this house! :)
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