Visit with Lindsay & Lila and Doctor's Report

I sometimes find it hard to believe how life has changed so drastically in what seems to be such a short period of time. It was only a little more than 10 years ago that I got a letter from Penn State with the name "Lindsay Rippke" on it....my roommate. We talked on the phone to each other and asked the important questions- "What color is your hair? It's not green is it? How many tattoos do you have? What color is your bedspread?" And then we met and hit it off like we'd known each other all our lives. And still, Lindsay remains one of my most cherished friends, my "go to" phone call when I need some advice or an honest opinion about something, and, quite simply, one of the people I just love spending time with. I hate that our visits are so spread out, but I love them all the more because of it. And so it was a bit surreal to be sitting in our house yesterday visiting with our children. Our activities were much the same as they always have been--- chatting, catching up, laughing, watching a little TLC and a touch of Oprah, and marveling over the fact that we're both moms now with these beautiful children that we couldn't love more. Isn't Lila just precious?

Joshua was the most well behaved that I have seen him in recent history. You could tell that he loved Lindsay (got as much of a kick out of her as I always do) and proceeded to show her every toy in our house. He sang songs for her and talked up a storm. Lindsay probably thinks all of my stories about Joshua and his mischief are exaggerations....but they're not. We just lucked out with a great day with him. I was so proud of him and must have told him that a thousand times last night. Lila was as sweet as she could be. I give Lindsay BIG points for making the trip from Philadelphia (here and back in the same day) with a three month old. I would never have been brave enough to attempt it.

Skipping his nap and playing hard yesterday afternoon had him fast asleep at 8:00. I got a little overconfident thinking he'd surely sleep through the night after missing his nap, so I didn't go to sleep right away and went down to catch a little TV time with Jason (a rarity these days). Josh woke up around 10 from a bad dream and screamed for a half hour until I had told him enough good stories to get past whatever happened in his little head. Poor thing. Then he was up at 5 raring to go for the day.....not quite what I had in mind. But we managed with Daddy's help.

We were out the door at 8 for his 2 year checkup at the pediatrician's. Now, I try not to complain, but I have to wonder how it could take us from 8 until 10 to get this child in and out of the doctor's office for a CHECKUP. When we got there, the office was vacant...not a soul around. Yet we waited for over 20 minutes to go into the exam room. Then we waited for the doctor. Then we waited for the nurse to come in with the flu shot. It was really getting a bit ridiculous. I try to be reasonable in my expectations about things, but it seems odd that you have to take a whole half day out of the office to go to an 8:15 doctor's appointment.

I won't withhold the stats from you any longer. For those of you keeping score, Joshua was 36 1/4 inches tall (90th percentile). His head size is right where it should be, 49.2 cm (52nd percentile). And here's the biggie------ he weighed 27 pounds. That's almost a 3 pound gain since his 18 month checkup. He's jumped to the 30th percentile for weight and the doctor felt more comfortable with how he caught up since our last visit. He did end up getting his flu shot, which he was none too thrilled about. I felt awful because I knew all of his baby shots were done, but I had forgotten about the flu shot. He screamed the entire way through the appointment.....honestly, the WHOLE way through. And then it escalated when he saw the nurse appear with the shot. When he finally settled down and we said goodbye to the nurses and headed to the car, he looked at me with the saddest eyes and said, "Mommy, you said no shot." It just broke my heart that I had lied to him. I hope he'll forgive me. If we hadn't waited 2 hours, I was seriously considering bringing him back another time for the flu shot, but after the long wait, I thought I'd take my chances that he'd get over the disappointment from my fib.

I still can't believe he's 2.....

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

Birthday celebration at home on Friday night.....loving that Mickey cake!

The next generation...Jordan, Olivia, Brewen and Joshua (not paying attention).

Dancing with Cory and Shannon. Joshua had SO much fun!

And here's a family shot. Since we're rarely dressed up and have a fourth person to TAKE the picture, we took advantage of the opportunity. Thanks, Danaca for doing the honors.

What a whirlwind of a weekend! Joshua is now officially 2...which I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around. Somehow it seems like just yesterday that we were bringing our new bundle home from the hospital, welcoming the flurry of visitors and getting used to the rigors of being brand new parents. I never quite grasped the concept of "time flying" until you put in in the context of watching your children grow up right before your eyes. And now I feel like I'd give anything to slow things down just a bit. I think I described the end of the first year as "my heart was overflowing"...and it still is. I just feel so full of happiness and laughter and thankfulness and blessings to be able to be Joshua's mommy and have a front row seat to watch his life unfold. He is the true joy in our lives and we are blessed beyond words.

We had a nice little birthday celebration for Joshua on Friday night at home. He really loved his Mickey Mouse cake and dove into it like he hadn't eaten in months. He mostly ate the icing, so we decided after about 10 forkfuls of it, that he'd had enough. He blew out the candles like a champ, as well, and really seemed to enjoy the big fuss we made over him. Grandma gave him a few birthday presents before she left to go home and he is now the proud owner of a weed wacker and an Aqua Doodle pad that Mommy really likes!

Saturday morning when Joshua woke up, I went into his room and sang "Happy Birthday" to him and gave him a hug and said, "Happy Birthday Buddy!" He said, "Happy Birthday, Mommy." And that's when I knew for sure that he didn't quite get the birthday concept yet. We packed up and headed to Harrisburg/Hershey for the day. Cory and Shannon's wedding reception was Saturday night, so the whole family was rolling into town for the party. We took Joshua to Chocolate World in the morning and he LOVED it. He has never had more than a bite of chocolate, so I think it was just the spectacle of everything that he liked. They've really spruced up the ride, though.....we all got quite a kick out the singing cows! Then we went and met up with Nana and Pap at the outlets for some lunch. Then, a few stops at stores I can't stay out of (dodging cats and dogs as it POURED) and we were on our way back to the hotel.

Nana and Pap had a few birthday presents for Joshua at the hotel. The big hit.......a doctor's kit. He's been "checking" everyone ever since he got it. He even insisted on napping with the stethoscope around his neck on Saturday afternoon. They also got him a Clipo table, which he really seems to enjoy. Another hit was a toy recorder (think flutophones in elementary school) from Stephanie. As he was marching around the house blowing into the recorder, Jason's exact comment was, "I'm going to kill Stephanie the next time I see her."

When it was time for the wedding, we all got dressed up and headed downstairs. It was so awesome to be there to share in Cory's day the way he was for all of us. Shannon's the best, and they both seemed to have such a wonderful time. We got to sit with Danaca and Christine, Steph, Stacie and Noah. We all commented that even though we've been to a pile of weddings together, we don't ever recall having the chance to sit together and enjoy each other's company. So that was fun. The real fun, though, came when the dancing started. Joshua got up onto the dance floor and was a dancing fool. You can tell when he's getting into it because his arms start to move up and down, and he was smiling from ear to ear with arms flapping! He spent a good bit of time dancing with Cory and Shannon and Neen. He, at one point, went up to a complete stranger and held their hand to dance around in a circle. I would have never in a million years expected him to enjoy dancing as much as he did, but I had a blast just watching him have fun.

At the same time all of this was going on, Jason, Steph and Noah were outside with my dad and Butch and 3/4 of the rest of the wedding guests watching the Penn State game. Joshua and I kept sneaking out to get a glimpse of the score. What a game! Stephanie, at one point, even put her PSU jersey on over top of her dress clothes for the wedding...very funny. Mom and I watched the end of the game while putting Joshua to sleep. We had to fight him to go to sleep, and it was still about 11:30 when he finally gave up and closed his eyes. But the first thing he said when he woke up on Sunday morning was "Had so much fun dancing at the party!"

So, birthday number 3 will likely pale in comparison to this one....but it was a very happy birthday indeed for Joshua.

This is a big week coming up for us. There should be something interesting to write about every day. Tonight is music class. Tomorrow (I'm so excited), Lindsay and Lila are planning to come for a visit. Wednesday is the big #2 doctor's checkup. Thursday (I'm so excited) I have to take the Highlander to Lewistown for a wax coating so I'm going to spend the day with Libby and Brooke. And then on Friday, it's Trick or Treat night and we're hoping to see lots of little costumes! Can't wait to see everyone's Halloween pictures.

Happy Monday everyone!

Checking on supper...

...with a basket on his head.

I thought you all might enjoy a sneak peek into a silly two year old's idea of fun. It always amazes me the way Joshua's little mind works. I have no idea what would have made him think to put this basket on his head and then check on our supper in the oven, but that's what he did last night. And, of course, I had the camera within arm's reach to catch it.

We're going to enjoy some birthday cake (and ice cream...at Joshua's request) tonight for a little family celebration tonight at home. Joshua is sharing his birthday with my cousin Cory and his fiancee Shannon since they're getting married tomorrow. So we'll be in Harrisburg/Hershey all day tomorrow for the festivities. We're going to turn the early part of the day into some special birthday activities with Joshua (including a trip to the Disney store to pick out something special) and perhaps a trip to Chocolate World while we're there. We'll see how it goes.

I have to admit that I feel like a bit of a bad mother for not turning his birthday into some big, elaborate party for him and I don't know where the pressure to do that even comes from. But I feel guilty. Hopefully he won't be scarred for life for having missed out on a big #2 birthday party. He'll actually get quite a party tomorrow night (our whole family will be at the wedding...and I mean WHOLE family...aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents). There will be dancing and cake and everything, so maybe he won't even know the difference.

As MY present for his second birthday, Joshua has graced me with two nights in a row of all night sleeping. What a wonderful gift for his mama. I hope it continues...forever.

Have a great weekend everyone! Fight on State........BEAT THOSE BUCKEYES! In case anyone questioned our PSU loyalty, there are plans to watch the game (or at least portions of it) from the wedding reception tomrorow night. We're told that there is a nice bar with lots of TV's in it for the die hards in the family. Count me in.

"Elmo-N-P"

Joshua is snoring away still this morning. I think part of the snoring is his cold that he's still fighting with and part of it is that he's really tired. We've been meeting in the middle of the night again lately...darn cold. And now he's catching up on some rest while I'm sitting here, dressed for work, waiting for Grandma so that I can make it to an 8:30 meeting.

But I figured I would take a quick second (since I've already started a load of laundry, made coffee, ate my cereal and got supper ready to be slid into the oven at 5:00) and share a Joshua moment from last night.

As usual, it was after his tub. He stood up on his changing table and pointed to the "No Parking" sign that is hanging on the peg shelf above his head. (His nursery theme is dump trucks...little did I know how fitting THAT choice would be.) He started pointing to the letters and saying his ABC's. He went ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE ALPHABET! The best part, at least in my opinion, was the L-M-N-O-P part. He said "Elmo-N-P". He still has absolutely no clue which letters are which to recognize them, but I'll cut him some slack there since he's not even 2. He will get lucky on occasion and be able to tell you what a letter is when you point to it...but it's generally a fluke. So when he got to Z, I yelled "YAY!" and then he yelled "YAY.....I did it!" like he was so proud of himself. And then he did it three more times. I think it was the cheering and hugs that he enjoyed.

So "Yay" little buddy! Mommy's so proud of you.

A song for you...

Joshua and I had a wonderful time at music class last night. He was leading the charge when it was time to sing "No Bears Out Tonight" and was the first to hide behind the "mountain" (a table with a sheet over it). He emerged smiling from ear to ear saying "Here I am Mommy!" It's been so fun to watch him come out of his shell a little bit with this class.

This morning, Joshua entertained me with a very nice rendition of "Two Little Apples" that I managed to catch pictures of at each section (with the motions). I hope you enjoy it...

"Two little apples hanging on a tree..."

"Two little apples smiling at me."

"I shook that tree as hard as I could." (Note the determined look on his face while he shook!)

"Down came the apples. Mmmmmmmmmmm they were good!"

Big News!

I know that I could sometimes be accused of making a big deal out of nothing (first time mom...everything is amazing to me). But this is huge. Really big stuff.

Joshua learned how to blow his nose.

I know.....I can't believe it either.

It takes some coaxing each time, and he needs to be reminded that he should close his mouth before blowing. Our first two attempts usually result in raspberries instead of nose blowing, but he's getting better and better each time. I can only imagine how great it feels for him to be able to DO something to get rid of the congestion in his nose.

That's all...just thought you'd all want to know that.

Fun at Nana & Pap's House

Wearing Pap's Harley bandana...

Eating the "Green Ice Cream" Nana made to make me feel better! It worked!!

Playing guitar with Pap...
Riding like a big boy in our new car!

It was a great weekend. I feel like we squeezed a million things into the past two days, but I guess that's the making of a great weekend.

We got to Lewistown on Friday night in time for Joshua to have some special play time with Nana and Pap, and to take his first tractor ride with Pap, while Jason and I went and did some discussing at the Toyota dealership. With the problems we've been having with our Jeep and the car seat troubles we were experiencing, it was time to look into options that would accommodate our family if it ever grows larger than the three of us. So, an hour or so later, we were back at Mom and Dad's with the deal in the works for us to bring home a slightly used Highlander...which I LOVE! Being excited about this is a real stretch for me because everyone knows how much I HATE to buy cars. But this one is really nice, and I'm thankful that someone else put the first miles on it so that we could afford it! Joshua had some supper with Nana and Pap, Aunt Libby and Uncle Zig, and Pappy Ray and then played in the garage until we got home.

Saturday morning we went and finalized the vehicle purchase and brought it home with us. Joshua was in his glory playing with Nana. He perked up from being sick and was playing nicely all morning. He was so excited to spend the day with Nana and Pap while we went to the football game, and didn't complain at all (in fact, didn't even bother to say goodbye) before we left for PSU. We got over to Penn State around 2:00 and got parked (after making a loops around State College to get into a yellow lot that wasn't full). We walked 14 miles to get to the stadium (I may be exaggerating slightly) just in time to see the team busses pull up. Then we got to see the Blue Band march in, which was very cool. I know I'm a nerd, but it's OK...make fun of me all you like. I LOVE the Blue Band and I'm not afraid to admit it. The game was a bit stressful in the first half, but tons of fun during the second half. If you've never heard what 110,000 screaming people sound like when things are going well, or when they're trying to make trouble for the opponent, there's nothing like it. It was wonderful to see PSU break the Michigan curse. We were on the road shortly after 8:00 and home rocking Joshua to sleep by 9:30. By all accounts, a great day.

This morning we made a quick visit to Libby and Zig's to sneak a peek at Brooke. I feel like I didn't get to see them or spend any time with them with our deal making on Friday and then the game on Saturday. So it was nice to see them for a few minutes. I just love Brooke...and I feel a hooky day coming on shortly once I shake this cold and can touch her again. I wouldn't even breathe in the same vicinity as her this weekend.

Joshua is waking from his nap now, so I'm sure the evening will be filled with playing, hunting bears and reading stories. I can't wait! I think we're going to have a cheater dinner and order from Ciro's.

If you haven't caught up on Stacy's blog about Isaac's memorial service over the weekend, make sure you do. I just recommend a box or two of Kleenex before you watch the slide show. Good grief....a good cathartic cry is good for the soul, but I've had more than a few over this precious little boy.

Not feeling 100%...

He may look peaceful, but our poor little buddy doesn't feel good today. Or last night. I can not possibly imagine how parents deal with their children being seriously ill. Poor Josh gets a bad cold and I'd do anything so that he wouldn't feel so crummy. You can see it in his eyes that he's just wiped out and completely miserable. We had a horrible night last night, but somehow it doesn't really matter when they're sick. I just felt awful for him. I laid him down at 9:00. I heard from him again at 10, 11, 12, 2, 3 and 4:30. Each time we were up for about 20 minutes until he could fall back to sleep. The problem was that he couldn't breathe--- so as soon as he'd be propped up in my lap, he drifted off like an angel. It took me until after midnight to get him a second pillow to create an incline of our own. It helped...a little. We've now begun our strict regimen of ocean drops (a miracle, I swear) despite Joshua's protests not to use them. He throws a fit upon seeing the bottle, but this is when I build on my unbelievable respect for people who deal with children in a medical capacity (Emily!).

So, Joshua & Bear are upstairs resting while I pack the car and wait for Jason to get home from the office for our trip to Lewistown. I figured I'd sneak in a quick picture while I could. I never get tired of looking at this little face while he's sleeping...

Happy weekend everyone! And to all of my fellow PSU Alumni and Friends----- Fight on State!!

Counting down to Friday...

Still, this week, each morning Joshua asks me if it's Friday yet. He knows that on Friday, we're going to visit Nana and Pap (and Aunt Libby, Uncle Zig, Baby Brooke, Pappy Ray, Pappy Fred AND Freda....don't forget Freda...and John, Pama, Digger and Mia...and after he thinks about it, Uncle Butch, Aunt Rhonda and Stephie). Honest to goodness, those are all the names he says when you talk about going to Nana and Pap's house.

Then he gets going about the tractor. I sincerely hope the weather cooperates for Joshua and Pap to get to spend some time on the tractor. He's really counting on it.

And so, today (yet again) I was a slacker mother who didn't get a good picture of Joshua. My words are needing to suffice these days instead of photographs and I fear I'm losing your interest without snippets of Joshua in action. I apologize. Hopefully what we can come back with this weekend after visiting with Joshua and Brooke together will make up for it.

Tonight begins packing, cleaning, preparation for next week and all of the things that go into being away for the weekend. It also starts our spell of being away just about every weekend from now until Thanksgiving. Perhaps we'll leave the suitcases packed and in the car to avoid all of this work in the future.

Next week begins the countdown to Joshua's big #2 birthday. How can that be possible? If this is anything like last year, I'll be weepy, reminiscent and very sappy about the whole thing. So brace yourselves for what may be coming. So far, we're doing OK, although the thought of being the mom of a 2 year old doesn't seem quite right. Joshua tells me all the time, "Mommy, I not a baby aaaaaaaaaany-more. I a big boy now." And I guess he's right. But between you and me, he'll always be my baby.

More to come after the weekend. With pictures......I promise.

If you're looking for a good laugh...

Try teaching a two year old how to roll their tongue. Really, it was a hoot. Joshua and I have a silly moment each night when I get him all wrapped up in his frog towel after his bath. His hands are confined and it's truly the one moment of the day that I have the upper hand. We usually end up making silly faces at each other or giving kisses. Last night he started sticking out his tongue at me, which I imitated. Then I rolled my tongue and you should have heard him laugh. It was like he saw me as a freak circus act or something. And then the fun started when HE tried to do it. I have to give him credit for being persistent, because despite the fact that he never did manage to do it, he sure did try.

In skill updates, we're diligently working on going down stairs so that I don't have to have QUITE as big of a fear of him breaking his neck if I look away for even the slightest second. I doubt it'll ever go away, but having a slight reassurance that he has the skills to handle going down as well as he can go up would be a good thing for me. I let him walk down every time we come downstairs now. He holds on to the railing with one hand and my hand with the other. When we get to the last few steps, I go down to the bottom and let him do it on his own. It's not always pretty, but he's getting it. This morning he did 4 steps without falling. Small victories. And I also have no idea when he's "supposed" to be able to do steps on his own, although all of the "supposed to" timelines serve no real purpose other than to make mommies crazy. At least that's the conclusion I've come to in the last 2 years.

And one cute story from last night. Joshua was VERY excited to see Jason when he came home last evening. He went running into the kitchen screaming "DADDY!" I love that...almost as much as I love him screaming "MOMMY!" when I come home. Well, when we sat down to eat dinner a little while later, I was in the kitchen making Joshua's plate and I heard him say to Jason, "Daddy, I so glad you're home." How sweet is that?

No great pictures this morning. Joshua was too wiggly to take any pictures. Everything came out blurry because he was this STREAK of a toddler running from corner to corner of the house. I'll try harder tonight. I must say, it was easier to take pictures when Joshua was Brooke's age....and immobile. Oh how I miss those days. Speaking of my favorite little pink person, only two wake ups until I get to see her! Joshua keeps asking if it's Friday yet since he knows he's going to Nana and Pap's on Friday. He was quite disappointed when I told him it was Wednesday today. "Not Friday?" he asked. Dad, you better warm up the tractor!

Have a great day everyone!

Multiple Blog Personality Disorder

I think I have it.

I'm sorry.

I had NO idea that there were so many blog backgrounds available out there. And now I'm feeling the need to investigate. Do you know you can change your background each season? For holidays? Birthdays? Good grief. This could get out of control.

I find it slightly scary that I'm pressing buttons that say "Edit HTML" just for the record. I'm no technological genius.

But I hope you like the makeover. And most of you seem to have had this all figured out before I did, so if you're finding secrets, kindly share!

"So Sweet"

I feel like all of my blog posts lately have been these little snippets of conversations that I'm having with Joshua. But maybe that reflects the wonder that I have in these small, simple moments with him lately. And I'm sure that some people who read this little look into our family's life probably think I make a little too much out of nothing. But I share because when I look back over the stories and simple pleasures that I've gotten over hearing "kid" stories over the years, it's the little, hillarious moments that stuck with me. Like Courtney telling me about the time Teagan called her new friend Celery (his name was Zachary). And so, I guess this is a long winded way of leading into another new phrase of Josh's.

Last night Joshua was getting ready for his bath and had been playing so nicely with Daddy all evening. I had managed to fold and put away a load of laundry and make a quick call to Nana and Pap, thanks to Daddy's super fun playtime with Joshua. At one point they even came upstairs on a "bear hunt" and claimed that I was a bear. So when it was time for the tub, Joshua was played out and quite sweet. He picked up his beloved Bear and hugged him and said "Bear, you are so sweet."

That little comment came back to me at 5:00 this morning when we were rocking to get Joshua back to sleep. When he wakes up whimpering or fussing, it's usually a clue that he's not quite ready to be awake yet (and that was fine with me). I was sitting there with my most favorite little boy in my lap, noticing how he doesn't fit there easily anymore. He was snuggled up to me with his little hand wrapped around my shoulder and I wanted to tell him how "sweet" he was at that moment. Sometimes those middle of the night (or early morning) times when everything else is quiet are the most special. But I must say, before you all call me mad, I do appreciate them more after a spell of WHOLE NIGHTS of sleep, which is the case today.

Enjoy a few pictures of Joshua from our morning playtime before Grandma got to the house. I especially get a chuckle out of him "moving" his garage into the living room from the playroom. He told me he had to "fix it" with his tools. The last picture of the goofy smile was from last week, but I just found it like a buried treasure on my camera.

I almost forgot...

Yesterday, I talked to Libby on the phone to catch up on Brooke's weekend activities and told her this story about Joshua. She said it was definitely "blog worthy", so I don't want to let her down on that.

I was getting Joshua dressed for the Woolly Worm Festival (somehow all of these stories happen when he's getting dressed....strange). I put on a pair of jeans that I was pretty sure would fit, but they were new. I was horribly wrong, and the jeans were literally swimming on him. He looked down at the jeans, then looked at me and said "Josh not think they fit Josh. Find 'nother pants please."

And so we did.

Random things...

Fun with stickers!

As the weekend is winding down, I thought I'd post quickly about the events of the weekend. I thought I would accomplish this BEFORE Joshua awoke from his afternoon nap, but I got a little caught up staring at the new pictures of Brooke on Libby's blog. Please please please go and check them out. I'm telling you--- that precious baby girl gets more adorable every single minute. I'm missing her like crazy. So, while I was admiring Brooke, I heard Joshua upstairs in his room. I heard the thump of him getting out of bed (not very graceful...he gets that honestly) and then I heard the reading start. He read the whole way through "How Lucky You Are" and I didn't have the heart to interrupt. When I just went upstairs and asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm just reading books, Mommy."

It's been a fantastic weekend. The weather is almost too good to be true, but we've been soaking it up just the same. Friday was a relatively quiet night. We finished some chores and played at home. Saturday was a whirlwind. We visited Daddy at the Woolly Worm Festival and Joshua seemed to enjoy that. He especially liked the ducks in the park and continually pulled one of us over to the creek to look at them. After the festival, we did a little shopping and ate some lunch and then headed off to a party for a new State Farm baby who has been born in the past few weeks. It was great to get a chance to visit with State Farm friends, see all the kids and how fast they're growing and spend some time together in a non-meeting setting. Karen's baby Delaney is growing so fast I can hardly believe it....and goodness is she ever cute! Joshua had just met most of the people there for the first time, but amazingly went around the room and gave each one a hug before we left to come home. Last night we enjoyed PSU giving Wisconsin a good, old fashioned whooping...although I have to admit that I was checking the insides of my eyelids for rust after halftime. I hope that doesn't lose me points on the biggest PSU fan of the century contest. And if it does, oh well.

This morning Joshua was a bit of a nightmare...into everything, yelling, whining, etc. and I wasn't feeling good about my chances of keeping him in church. Since he won't go to the nursery and stay there without me, Jason decided to stay home with him while I went to church. I felt guilty about not taking Joshua along, but enjoyed that time immensely. We've been searching for the right church for Joshua...ours is SO lacking in the children's department. And by that, I mean that there are no children. The closest one to Joshua's age is 3 years older than he is. And there aren't any coming along behind him either. So I walked to the church right outside of our development this morning and was unbelievably impressed. I was moved and I was challenged, and I think it may be the right place for us. I've been there twice before, but with Joshua...which ended with me being confined to the nursery. We'll need to work on that.

In other news, I attempted my very first batch of apple dumplings this afternoon and man, does our house ever smell good. They definitely smell better than they look (since everything broke apart in the dish), but my thought is that with a little ice cream on top, you'll never know. I'll let you know how they turned out. If they taste HALF as good as they smell, I'm going to be a happy camper tonight!

Woolly Worm Festival

Everything in our house gets "fixed" with Joshua's tools. Example above.

"My pleasure..."

Joshua stood up last night while I was getting his helicopter pajamas on him so that he was ready to sleep. He put his little head on my shoulder and this is the dialogue that followed:

Me: "I love you so much Joshua. Thank you for being such a good boy tonight. I'm so proud of you."

Joshua: "My pleasure."

Me: "What did you say?"

Joshua: "My pleasure."


Holy cow. Where in the world would he have come up with that?

I'm off for a special day with Libby and Baby Brooke today. Almost can't wait to get on the road. But I had to share this little nugget of Joshua this morning. He amazes me.

Am I thankful enough?

I started out today thinking that my post was going to be very fun-filled. It's been an awesome morning. Grandma had a doctor's appointment this morning which meant that I had the opportunity to spend the morning with my favorite little man. We had lots of things to do...which Joshua pointed out every time I crossed something off my list. He kept referring to "Mommy's List" all day, keeping me very much on track. Such a drill sergeant. We ran some errands, did some Kiwanis work, said hello to Julie and Chris at the office and then headed off for a special treat- some time at the park in Lewisburg. I swear to you, this place is Heaven for a 2 year old. Honestly. There must have been 30 toddlers running about with their mothers close by to prevent injury. Sometimes we even stepped in to assist when another mom couldn't possibly get there fast enough to prevent a trip to the ER. Luckily, no 911 calls while I was there. What fun we had! Joshua ran and giggled and climbed and slid and swung for the better part of 2 hours....and then cried all the way home because he wanted to go back. I may be able to use this as bribery, and I'm not ashamed to do so. And so, I figured that the majority of my update for today was going to be about our awesome morning together. And I hope you enjoy the pictures I snapped when we were out.






But then I got into the office. And I received an email from my friend Sue, sharing the name and story of a friend of a friend (gotta love the Internet) who just happened to have a blog about their journey to today. The friend's name is Stacy and she had a c-section this morning and gave birth to a little boy named Isaac who was in their arms for 16 minutes and then was called home to Jesus. He had Trisomy 13...a very similar condition to what Joshua had been suspected of when I was 19 weeks pregnant (that was Trisomy 18). And so I wept as I read their story, almost feeling guilty that ours had a different ending...one that led to this little, perfect person running and jumping and playing just like he's supposed to. I think back to how I would have dealt with carrying our son to term and giving birth to him with no guarantees about how long he'd live. And how we would have had the strength to handle the minutes or days that we had with him. I wonder what Jason and I ever did to deserve a different ending. And I feel ashamed of myself for ever letting a day go by that I haven't thanked God for the miracle he gave us in that ultrasound room at Geisinger when they said "We're 99% sure that your son is perfectly healthy. Go home and plan to bring a baby home in October." I'm reminded of far too many people who have experienced sorrow along their journey to parenthood, and wonder whether I've been thankful enough for the good and perfect gifts placed into my life by God. I'm sure I haven't been. I'm reminded of a scripture that tells us that we are blessed in order to be a blessing to others, and I wonder if I've done a good enough job of that too.

This journal tends to be a silly reflection on motherhood from my vantage point. A place to share photos of Joshua and stories about his conquests. But today I guess I've just been a bit more reflective. A bit more thankful after getting jolted by the story of baby Isaac. I pray for his parents today...that a peace that passes all understanding would come to them as they grieve the loss of their baby boy. So hug your kids. Be glad that they make a mess or keep you up at night. I'm going to try to.

Fall Fun...Kind of a Bust

"Hi bunnies..."

"Don't worry tractor.....I'm on my way!"

"If I just try a little harder, I think I can get it."

"I think I'll just take this one home with me."

So we've covered the topic before of my fall obsession. I don't know why, but it's important to me to experience fall things with Joshua. Maybe because he's an October baby, maybe because I'm just nuts...I don't know. But this weekend, being the only free one that we have between the beginning of October and Thanksgiving (sick, isn't it?), we decided that we'd better get my fall fix. The only trouble is that our favorite fall spot doesn't exactly have a schedule that works with Joshua's....can you imagine?

What I was most looking forward to was taking him on the hayride to the pumpkin patch this year since he was too little to do it last year. With his love of tractors and my love of pumpkins, I figured it would be perfect. But they apparently only do hayrides to the pumpkin patch on Saturdays from 12-4. Yesterday, that happened to coincide perfectly with PSU kickoff and Joshua's nap, so we missed it altogether. We decided to go to Ards this morning just to see what we could find. It wasn't all I had imagined it to be, but Joshua still seemed to have fun.

The pumpkin patch isn't completely out of the question for this year. Next Saturday is the day of the Woolly Worm Festival in Lewisburg, so we'll be there for a while. And if everything falls together, perhaps we'll end our morning with a ride on the "big big tractor" to the patch before lunch time. We'll see. The only trouble with that plan is that Daddy will be tied up at the festival all day, so he won't be able to be with us.

Not too much other major news for the weekend from here. I was feeling a cooking jag coming on, so I got together a batch of homemade macaroni and cheese and some meatloaf for supper tonight. Next to lasagna, it's my all time favorite home cooked comfort food meal. So I'm already looking forward to that. I'll spend the rest of Joshua's nap time folding laundry and changing load after load down in the basement...Sunday afternoons are so much fun. Then it's off to the races again tomorrow.

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful fall weekend wherever you are. More tomorrow, hopefully.

The haircut that wasn't...

I don't have any pictures to share with you yet this morning since Joshua is sleeping (though stirring) upstairs as I type a quick update. But yesterday was a real treat with him...sense the sarcasm?

It began at 4:15 yesterday morning when Joshua awoke screaming. This is always a dangerous waking time, and the one I most dread. Usually, he's rested enough that the prospect of going back to sleep isn't appealing, but he's not gotten enough sleep to keep from being a monster through the day. And that's exactly what happened.

I had left the office a little early yesterday in order to get home and take Josh for a haircut at his favorite barber shop (the only one he's ever been to, but he talks about Rene like he's known her for ages). He was fine until it was his turn to get into the chair (in my lap of course). And that's when it all went downhill. Suddenly, he went into meltdown mode- screaming, high pitched sqealing, the whole bit. I felt so embarrassed, but we tried to coax him into letting Rene cut his hair. He was having none of it, and we weren't about to attempt a haircut with him squirming and screaming. So, he's still shaggy. That's never happened before, aside from the normal few tears you might expect for his first haircut.

The rest of the evening followed a similar pattern. Something didn't go his way.....turn on the waterworks. Joshua gets told "no"....let the tantrum begin. It went on most of the evening until we decided that it was tub time and got him ready for bed. I started that at about 7:15 and, despite the fact that he was exhausted, he still fought it until after 9. He woke three times during the night, and is still snoring now. Let's pray for a better day today.

So, as you can imagine, I don't have many good pictures from last night or yesterday afternoon to share. If you want to see a happy, content baby, please check out my sister's blog for my most precious niece (link to the left). Libby and I giggled last evening that we had no idea how hard it was going to be to have a conversation with each other once we both had kids. Every time we get on the phone anymore, one of them freaks out. So our talks have been short....very short. So, Lib....we love you, we're thinking about you, and we can't wait to see you guys again soon. (That's the important stuff we'd cover on the phone...but we've yet to make it that far!)

Have a great Friday everyone!

"Hewwo in there!"

Cheese!

Looking innocent...which he rarely is.

My pictures this morning don't really have anything to do with the post title, but I thought you'd all enjoy them anyway.

I have two stories today.

First, Joshua is taking quite a liking to music class. Each week when we go, I'm seeing him intereract more and more with the teacher (a client of mine) and the other kids in the class. It's a great study in children's personalities, though. There are the kids in the class who are the first ones to hop up and do whatever they're told (not Joshua). There are the kids who have a different opinion about everything the teacher wants to do...."I don't want to sing that song. I want to sing _______!" (not Joshua) There are the kids who are clearly in their own little world. When we're playing with drums, they're digging in the bag for the red ball that they want and pay no mind to the fact that they're not with the same program as everyone else. The best I can tell you about Joshua is that he's very inquisitive, but very cautious. I don't get the sense that he'll be the leader of the clique in high school. He likes to observe everything that's going on and then get involved when he knows what to expect and feels comfortable with what's going on. I usually have to coax him a little bit to hide like a bear with the other kids, but he loves it once he gets to jump out when the song says to. I usually have to remind him to stay at the big drum at the end of each song that they use it for, because as soon as it's done, he's back at my side. But he loves it. He's now started asking for music class in between Mondays. He's also learning to words to the songs that we sing. He's got his "Two Little Apples" song down perfectly. He's also learned "No Bears Out Tonight" and the squirrel somg that he likes. Last night, I was singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" trying to teach him where his knees were, and he was singing it completely from start to finish by the end of his bath. He repeated the trick this morning, so at least it stuck overnight.

I also have to share that last night I was upstairs in Joshua's room arranging his fall wardrobe and going through the pile of summer clothes that need to be put away, as well as the fall/winter stuff from last year that I was so sure I'd get another use out of. WRONG! This is when I pray for another boy someday so that I don't feel so wasteful about the mountains of clothing that aren't getting more wear. But that's not the story I'm leading into. No baby announcements coming from me. From his room, I heard Joshua downstairs yelling "Hewwo in there!" When I finally went downstairs, Jason explained to me that they were looking for bears. And Joshua had spotted one inside Daddy's ear! Can you imagine? So he was calling to the bear, of course, using his snake light from the toolbench to see it. I can't make this stuff up. I swear.

Busy week in our household. I'm actually just now getting caught up from being away last weekend...and it's Wednesday. Almost time to start going around again with cleaning/laundry/grocery shopping/etc. It's just one big hampster wheel...and I'm caught!