Family Pictures

Our church took pictures for the directory last month and of course we were gullible and bought some.  We were a little disappointed in the coloring as they seemed washed out when printed (these are scanned and touched up as good as I can get them), but the poses turned out nice and Josiah was in the perfect mood for it.  I have to say they did a good job removing the FIVE mosquito bites Josiah got on his face the day before.  People kept thinking he had Chicken Pox.  Isn’t that my luck?   The photographer attempted to take pictures of Josiah by himself, but they were mostly a blur as he hardly sits still these days. Here the ones we bought where he was contained:

And that’s my sweet family!  I can’t wait for it to be one larger!  (He is oh-so-close to having a name)

Halloween Fun

We got to have a little fun this weekend because Jacob’s parents came for a short visit.  Josiah always loves playing with him and he soaks up being the center of attention.  On Saturday after they left, we headed to Micanopy with Grandma for their Fall Festival which turned out to be much bigger than we expected and we ran out of time to experience it in full, but we had a good time anyway.  Afterwards we enjoyed a very yummy dinner at Ruby Tuesday.  Unfortunately I have no pictures of those events.

For Halloween we went to our church’s Fall Family Festival with my mom and niece.  Josiah LOVES to play with Savannah, so we had our very own party in the car on the way – lots of laughs!  Both of them refused to don their cute costumes, a Lady Bug and a Puppy, but we went anyway.  Josiah, a boy who has barely ever even eaten candy, caught on quick to what this whole trick-or-treating was about.  He latched onto the first lollipop he got and stuck it in his mouth, wrapper and all.  I tried to show him to put it in his candy pail, but eventually just unwrapped it and let him have at it.  Nothing else in this world mattered anymore but that lollipop and I had to do his candy collecting for him.  When he finished the lollipop, he got back into the trick-or-treating and grabbed the candy by the handfuls to put in his pail.  He was a trick-or-treat natural!   He was a disgusting sticky mess by the end of it, and so was I.  He had drooled all down his arms and even on my toes. 

Next was popcorn and cotton candy.  He scarfed down the popcorn, but just acted like the cotton candy tickled him every time it got close.  Then we did another round of trick-or-treating (for Daddy’s sake since he missed the first round) while we waited for Savannah to jump in the bouncy houses.  I was able to shoot a couple quick pictures then. Josiah usually loves breakfast time and begs to eat while trying to climb into his highchair.  This morning however, he pitched a fit when we tried to feed him his oatmeal with fruit.  It took us the longest time to figure out the problem…he saw his candy pail on the counter next to where Jacob was making his oatmeal, yet it wasn’t candy that we were giving him!  Poor guy.  He ate hungrily, though, once he realized he wouldn’t be getting his way.

Sleep Tight

Jacob has a canoeing/camping trip planned for next week with his friend Ed and he wanted to try out his new hammock-tent thingy before committing to sleep in it for 3 nights.  It is basically what it sounds like – a hammock with a tent covering it.  So, last night he decided he would sleep in it.  I felt very silly saying goodnight to him and sending him outside to sleep!  It just didn’t seem right, but I took advantage of teasing him for being in the “doghouse”.

He apparently slept fairly well, because when I woke up to get ready for work the next morning, he had not joined me in bed.  Josiah woke up early as well, so I got him up and we went to see how Daddy faired.  This is how he spent the night:

Josiah clung to me and was very unsure of the talking and moving tent that strongly objected to the flash of my picture taking in the dark!  (Hence the closed eyes.)

I think the hammock passed the test and we wish Daddy a good time and sound sleeping next week.  

It’s A…

18 Weeks 3 Days

Boy!  Can you believe it?  Of course you can because everyone is having boys right now and we are happy to join in the fun!  I’m looking forward to some great playdates in the coming years. 

I can’t really say that we had a gender preference as we thought it would be fun for Josiah to have a brother, but we also wanted a girl at some point, so we were happy to have either.  Though I have to say a boy will be cheaper seeing as how we have all the clothes we need already.  However, the little girl clothes are so much cuter and I’ve been drooling over them for over 2 years now.  Also, many of our friends are having boys, so of course that will be fun, but by the same token a little femininity would have been nice amongst all those boys!  At any rate, we are really excited about our little guy.  Oh, and Jacob is really relieved to not have to paint the nursery!

Jacob and I have not yet been able to decide on a name for this little tyke.  We agreed on a girl’s name, but are bartering back and forth for a boy, so that announcement is yet to come.

Here is a little more info on our doctor’s appointment today:

We didn’t think to ask the ultrasonographer how long he is, but she did mention that he weighs about a half pound now.  He was highly active (as usual) for the exam and she said she had to chase him to get all the needed views.  With patience, he was quite cooperative, though, and we enjoyed watching (and feeling, in my case) his movements.  The ultrasonographer was really kind and took her time with us.  Everything appeared to be very normal.

During our actual appointment with the doctor, his heartbeat was in the 130’s – normal, but lower than Josiah’s ever was – I’m not sure what that means.  Also, while Dr. Million was reviewing my stats, she paused at my weight gain since my last exam and said “Wow!”.  I think my eyes got big while I waited for an explanation.  Apparently gaining 6 pounds in 5 weeks at this stage is a little above average.  I’m two pounds more at 18 weeks than I was with Josiah at 19.  Oh well, the overall determination was that it was a good thing.

To celebrate our little man, we shopped for a going home from the hospital outfit and then we had the best desert in the world – warm chocolate melt cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream – another pound gained, I’m sure.  Josiah loved it, too, so so far he loves having a little BROTHER!

Canoeing On The Sante Fe

Today we took advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather and took Josiah on his first canoe trip.  We’ve been waiting for just the right time and the right weather to attempt this and I’ll admit, I was skeptical about how it would turn out and thought maybe we should leave him with mom.  I could picture a bored toddler that needed to move around and expected it to last a half hour at the max.  However, he did great!

Here is my cutie in his life vest.  Jacob and I have decided that someone should invent a comfortable life vest for toddlers and babies since they all seem to come up around their faces.  Josiah got several “awww’s” from some girls putting in kayaks at the ramp.  If you think they look a little funny in this picture, notice that it is because Jacob has his tickling finger out!

I had planned to settle Josiah in the floor of the canoe where he could play safely and eat snacks and I could help paddle upstream, but he insisted on being in my lap for the fist half which limited the amount of help I could give poor Jacob.  Finally, once the thrill of the new adventure wore off, he did settle down in the bottom of the canoe and just lounged back, ate Cheerios, drank his drink, played with his tractor and watched the river go by.  Lucky for me, by then we were headed back downstream!

We had a great little first time trip.  Maybe next time we’ll put more planning into it and make it more extensive. 

Next up…camping!  (We are starting off with one night in the tent in our front yard just to be safe!)

This is why we love our car!  It might not be “cool”, but it can do anything without the extra gas and insurance that SUV’s and trucks involve.  It has forded rivers in the mountains, carried our canoe, and been packed down with tons of stuff.  Next week it will carry me and mom to the Country Living Festival outside Atlanta.  We may challenge its stowing capacity!

Kickin’ It Up!

I’m writing this post more for records sake than anything else.  I’m now nearly 17 weeks into this pregnancy and at 14 weeks I started feeling a little movement within.  It took some time to convince myself, but it became clear within the week.  I know I didn’t feel (or at least recognize) Josiah’s movements until around 17 weeks, which is apparently average, so now I’m wondering if I have a serious kicker!  Josiah was and is so laid back, but this one may be a wall climber and I’m concerned about the welfare of my ribs and bladder down the road!  My doctor told me that it depends on the baby’s location and position within the uterus and placenta as to how soon you will feel things, so maybe that is it and I’m just lucky.  After all, it is pretty cool.  During that 14th week, I happened to have my hand on my lower belly and physically felt a firm kick with my hand – that really surprised me!  That is pretty common now, though.

Since I’ve been feeling so well, it is nice to have those reassuring kicks to tell me all is well and I really am pregnant!  It kind of enhances the bonding as well.

This picture has nothing to do with the baby kicking, but I thought I’d share it anyway. Josiah has really enjoyed stacking things up lately and this is his latest masterpiece.  I was surprised he could get that third one up there because it was so much taller than him.  In case you are wondering, Jacob loves Cheeze Its and they were BOGO  last week.  I took advantage.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Josiah and I had a great day yesterday.  We started with him sleeping in just a bit since it is getting light later and later these days.  It was 30 extra minutes of bliss for me!  We ate a leisurely breakfast, dressed in cute clothes (him, not me – I just wear what fits now), and headed out for toddler time at the library.  We picked up some yummy lunch and headed home to eat it after which we read 3 of our new library books followed by a 3.5 hour nap!  Snacktime followed naptime (eaten outdoors in the beautiful weather), then some time spent at the pumpkin patch with friends.  A quick but tasty dinner and a peaceful bedtime wrapped up the fun day.  I couldn’t help but love all over him all day and keep telling him how good he was being and how much fun I was having with him.

Here are some Pumpkin Patch pictures.  It was complete with a bouncy house, play equipment, a hayride, and pumpkins, of course.  Unfortunately Josiah was more interested in the sticks, dirt, and acorns on the ground than much else.  He headed for every patch of dirt, but that’s my boy!  

Wishing he was on the other side of the fence.