Happy 1 year, Josiah!

Dave and I just spent some time (OK, it was a significant amount of time!) flipping through family photos. It is amazing to see how our kids are growing. And they are changing so fast. We saw in the pictures that Josiah looks really different from when he was born, but not so different from month two or so. We saw Sarah adoringly mothering him, just as she does now. We saw him sleeping, which he didn't do much then and doesn't do as much as we would like now! Pictures give us such a full scope of where we have been. They fill our hearts. But they also get us so excited to enjoy the present and anticipate the future. Our kids are growing fast- we want to enjoy every minute.

Weight: 25 lbs 2 ozs (94%)
Height: 31.75 in (98%)
Head: 18.25 in (58%)
Diaper: cloth and size 4
Clothing: 18 and 24 month (some 12 month still fit)

Likes: climbing, cruising, being tossed twice (it's not fun the third time), high fives, being held, smiling at people, playing intently, blocks, knocking down towers, being tickled, finding things he can pull up on and then push around, puzzling with Sarah a.k.a destroying the puzzle she is doing, being chased

Dislikes: big boy baths (we have considered moving this battle back to the baby tub...we'll see...), napping past 3pm, thinking he was going to be picked up then learning that wasn't my intention- I was just wiping your nose, Josiah :)

Schedule: Same old same old here. He hasn't slept until 7am in a long time and we often put him down for the first nap more like 8:30am if we have somewhere to go in the morning. Josiah definitely still likes having the two naps, even though he doesn't sleep more than 1.5 hours on average per nap.

7 am: Wake and nurse/eat
7-9 am: Wake time
9-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and milk/eat
11-1 pm: Wake time
1-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and milk/eat
3-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Nurse and down for bed

Sleeping: Josiah is still waking up during the night as well as starting his day earlier than we would like. Thankfully, he isn't eating at night (thank you Dave for putting him back down!) and is getting better at not needing someone to settle him back down when he does wake up. He is still falling asleep without protest, which is such a huge answered prayer from those first few months- we are so thankful!

Eating: We have started dropping nursing feedings and are now down to just two of his four feedings a day. Josiah and I are both enjoying the transition. He is a champ with a cup, though he doesn't inhale it the way Sarah does. We are using our freezer reserve of milk as we make the transition and mixing it with whole milk. Josiah doesn't really seem to care what is in the cup, he just enjoys filling his tummy. In anticipation of his first birthday we have added berries, peanut butter, and eggs to his repertoire.

Moving: Josiah is still a lightening fast army crawler, though, if he is being cautious, he goes up on all fours. He loves being up. I am always impressed when he cruises on something above his head, like the kitchen table. That seems really scary to me! I don't know that he is going to take off walking any time soon, but I don't think he will hold out quite as long as Sarah did either :)

Communication: Josiah is mimicking all kind of sounds, but never quite how we say them. That means we have lots of cuteness and no new words. His learning seems to be slow and steady when it comes to signs and understanding- good communication days are ahead!

Teething: Josiah now has four good teeth through. After the top two took ages to come through, the ones on either side immediately started to come through just to keep things nice and interesting, I'm sure. Thankfully, Josiah is handling it pretty well.

Visiting the doctor: In the three months since Josiah's 9 month check up we have visited the doctors' office three times. Three. Sarah loves it, seeing as she gets a pretzel at the end of every visit :) First we were working on a pretty bad rash on his hip. They thought is was eczema at his check up. When it didn't clear with the steroid they tried remedies for a bacterial and, finally, fungal problem. Fungal was the winner. And then last Thursday his nose started to pour. We credited teething until he woke up with a pretty good fever and lethargic spirit Friday morning. I might add that I was feeling pretty lousy Friday as well. The doctor crossed several treatable illnesses off her list and deemed it a good virus. And we just had to wait it out. When we went back for his check up on Monday the doctor said the same was true, just keep waiting it out. She graciously heeded our request to check Sarah's ears and sure enough, Sarah had a little infection in her right ear. We have a prescription in case it doesn't clear. It has been an adventure!

Next appointment: Wednesday, August 14, 2012 at 10:45am

Sarah gave him "all the toys"

watching the herring run and the gulls eat

"I'm one of the big kids, mom!"

typical :)

Mr. J challenged Josiah's army crawl to a race- Josiah beat him to the fridge!

Josiah's first time to the National Seashore . . . he doesn't look impressed . . .

the beloved blue doggy

BIRTHDAY BOY!

Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

I remember this morning in 2012: we were sitting at a local breakfast joint called The Daily Paper. I always wanted to be the new dad who sped off to the hospital, but instead we had enough time to stop for breakfast and take a walk. The waitress of course, had no idea we were on our way to have a baby. We looked at Facebook statuses together and came across a terrible realization: our little man would have to hear, "May the 4th be with you," for every birthday of his life.

He was born that evening, through much stress but no real complication. Soon afterward he met his sister, his grandparents, and many friends.

At the same time, our friends Matt and Jenny were welcoming their baby girl into the world. Now Kate and Josiah go to nursery together, play together, and just celebrated their birthday together. They spent the morning at a double birthday party, which was lots of fun for all of us.

It's been a great year with our little guy. He's charming, so very ticklish, and full of life. As he learns to walk, talk, and love his neighbor (or just his sister), we thank God for such a lively little boy.

Happy birthday, little guy! May you grow strong, wise, and full of faith. We love you.

Florida Vacation

How would our squirmy little guy do on a plane for three hours? We weren't sure, but with much prayer he did fine.

This April, we took a family trip down to Florida to see the Cook side of our family and get away from the cold. I also got a chance to go to The Gospel Coalition national conference, while Emily and the kids stayed with my family.

In addition to being Josiah's first plane ride, this was also the first time Sarah actually knew she was on a plane and could talk with us about it ahead of time. Building up the journey for her made it much more fun for all of us.

Watching planes take off from the airport. Sarah was so excited!

Josiah all geared up to fly

Sarah showing Monkey the view from above

 Of course, Sarah was even more excited to see Pappy and Gigi at their house. This little girl loves her grandparents!

Glad to be with pappy

Pappy was pretty glad to see them, too

Auntie J giving Sarah her first sewing lesson

 One of the fun things we did was visiting a Children's Museum.

You can take the boy off the Cape, but you can't take the . . . 

Later that week, we had a big family party to celebrate my Grandmother's 80th birthday. Last year, she had five great-grandsons born, to add to her two great-grandaughters. She's a blessed woman!

We still took time for a Family Portrait

A big family portrait on Grandma B's 80th Birthday

There were two more birthdays to celebrate, mine, and our nephew Eli's very first. We all had a great time the next day at the park giving Eli a big blast.

Grandma Lynda helping Sarah down the slide. 

They gave me my own smash cake, so I shared it with Sarah

Mrs. Dee sure knew how to make Josiah giggle

Of course, a trip to Pappy and Gigi's always has a little beach time to go along with it.

Get used to it, little buddy! Cape Cod Summer is coming!

Happy 33 months, Sarah!

As the seasons change here on the Cape and we begin to believe that Spring is really coming, we also see the wonderful changing and maturing of our little girl. She is a sweet blessing to our family!

Weight: ?
Height: ?
Clothes: 3T; shoe, size 6 or 7

Likes: pretending to be someone else (best when the whole family pretends to be another family), playing outside, collecting rocks/shells, reading, singing, tending to her babies

Dislikes: Josiah actually wanting to play with toys (sometimes), bugs, vacuum cleaners (doesn't have to be running, it's mere presence will keep her out of a room,) and specks of dirt or fuzz in the bathtub

Schedule: Sarah usually goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up around 7:30am. It is nice at this stage that she is able to stretch and get more or less sleep depending on what we have going on. She still goes down for her nap around 1pm and only sometimes sleeps. The rule lately has just been that she must remain quiet, so that Josiah will not wake up. She probably sleeps on average 3 days a week.

Eating: Sarah still likes eating and especially loves bread and cracker treats. Lately she has been a little picky and particular, but generally wanes under pressure. Favorites are yogurt, pretty much any and all fruit, peppers, string cheese (a.k.a. "Daddy cheese"), an open-faced peanut butter sandwich, and grilled cheese.

Talking: Sarah can say pretty much everything she wants to say- plus some! She loves connecting the dots and talking about the same things over and over. Favorite subjects are eye color, birth month, and gender. We also do a lot of singing during the day. We still sing Angels We Have Heard On High and The Solid Rock before bed.

Potty Training: She is doing really well. We don't put diapers on her for anything at this point and she has had about an accident a month for the last three months. We were a little concerned about travelling a few weeks ago, but she did really well and always told us when she needed to go. She still isn't close to going by herself yet, but we haven't pushed it.

Random, but fun:

* She went swimming for the first time this year in FL and loved it!
* She still doesn't really jump, so we have been practicing hoping like a frog. It is super cute...she doesn't get anywhere close to getting off the ground :)
* Sarah doesn't like to go up or down any vertical change without holding onto something. We suspected this and tested it walking from the sanctuary to the church office recently. Sure enough, she would wait for us to come back and give her a reassuring hand to hold or would put her hand on the ground. I think the doctor may say she might be lacking core strength (which is probably true to some degree), but we are quite sure she can do it and just doesn't have the confidence.
* Church is very exciting to Sarah. She loves to be in the service to clap and dance, but equally loves going to the nursery to play.

Next appointment: Monday, July 22, 2013 at 9:15am

Happy 11 months, Josiah!

It has been said before, but is worth saying again- what a fast year! Josiah is still our little joyous, adventuresome one, and he keeps us on our toes in the most fun way. He is thoughtful and intentional at this stage and generally sensitive to what is going on around him. He is a sweet and happy boy!

Weight: heavy
Length: especially long torso
Head: getting hair!
Diaper: cloth and size 4
Clothing: 12 and 18 month (and 24 month in one-piece items)

Likes: splashing in the bath, crawling on Daddy, Cheerios, pulling up (especially on Mommy's pants), closing himself in a room (bathroom, closet, etc.), tickling/being tickled by Sarah, scooting around on and playing with the blocks in Beep Beep (the push cart), fridge magnets

Dislikes: being told "no no", Mommy walking away, sleeping until daylight :(

Schedule: This goal was rarely achieved this month...

7 am: Wake and nurse/eat
7-9 am: Wake time
9-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and nurse/eat
11-1 pm: Wake time
1-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and nurse/eat
3-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Nurse and down for bed

Sleeping: Unfortunately, the time change wasn't the catalyst our little guy needed to get him back to sleeping until daylight. For the last month he has been waking up around 5:30-6:00am, sometimes going back to sleep, sometimes not. The last few mornings he has been waking up at 1 or 2am and then again at 4:30 or 5:30am. Not good! We are holding out hope that he will stretch out and that being out of town will shake up his schedule enough to knock him back into some good habits. (Read: really wear him out!) In other news, he has developed a sleep prop, which Sarah never did. When he sees his blue dog lovey he does his two finger throwback and either rubs his head on my should or lunges for his crib.

Eating: He is still nursing and eating like a champ. This month he tried lots of new foods and doesn't turn his nose up at much. (Avacado is still on his "definitely not" list.) We can usually give him a little something from the meal that the rest of us are eating, which is nice. It is a reminder than one day we will all be able to eat the same meal at the same time...glory!

Moving: It appears that, like Sarah, Josiah may only ever be an army crawler. He is pretty fast at it and finds it quite sufficient. The only time he gets on all fours is if we leave him in only his diaper, but he makes it look like torture that we are making him keep his belly off the floor, so we don't do that intentionally. The last couple of weeks he has gotten good at playing on his knees and pulling up. He is even cruising around the furniture and stepping between the couch and coffee table. Those are things that we had doctors teach us to work on with Sarah, so it is kind of amazing to watch him do it so naturally. The last couple of days he has been pulling up on a little push cart and walking by himself, which is also neat to see. He enjoys taking steps when we hold his hands.

Communication: He makes all kind of noises these days, but no new words. Josiah does seem to use "momma" and "dadda" very intentionally, which is fun. He definitely understands much of what we say and is choosing how to respond.

Teething: One of his top two teeth is through now and boy, was it a SLOOOOOOW process. It took weeks to get from the blister on the gums to while spot to breaking through stage. This one seemed to bother him a bit a times, which was unfortunate. The other front one is also on the move, but hasn't broken the gums yet.

Fun facts:
- A lady at church complemented his new haircut, which I think means he looks like he has real hair now. (No actual need for a haircut yet.)
- His eyes are still blue, but it is kind of a navy/gray blue.
- He was so tired once that I was able to move him from the car seat to my shoulder without him waking up. This is the first time in recent memory he has slept on my shoulder- I ate up every moment.
- He likes to chase Sarah so that she will chase him back.
- He has had a few good bruises this month. The best was on his forehead after he lunged into a low shelf.
- He is a grunter and makes lots of little man/monkey noises. Sarah does a pretty great impression.

Next appointment: Monday, May 6, 2012 at 9:40am

Playing with Pappy

It was fun having cousin Eli visit!

Siah's first sled ride- he was a fan!

Walking on Mom's toes at the Cape Cod Children's Museum

Big fun!

Daddy let J-man "drive" while we waited on the sun to set

Josiah's first Easter

Dave's take on the kids' photo at Easter lunch :)

"I've got moves, people"

The aforementioned shoulder sleeping experience :)

I love that they (generally) love playing together

Could you sleep like this?!?!

#1 Sarah telling Josiah to smile

#2 Sarah turned her back and Josiah seized the moment 

#3 Josiah is pretty proud of his attempt while Sarah gently scolds. . . never a dull moment with these two!

Daddy/Siah fun at the Clermont library for story hour