Brothers...

... in good times......and bad times...

Cheerio!

Today marked some new "firsts" for Caleb Luke. Today was the first day he sat up to the table while we ate dinner, rather than in his high chair. He did really well in the seat, and he even picked up some of the Cheerios we gave him and ate them. Great job, little one!

Today Caleb also started pulling up on his own. He then cried because he was "stuck" up on his knees. I can't believe how strong he is! Tonight Daddy lowered the crib since he likes to look out over it. He crawls so quickly now. The other day I went to the bathroom and in two seconds, he had left Joshua's side playing and crawled into the Bean's bedroom. We've gotta watch this little one like a hawk!

He's a bundle of joy, though, no doubt. Shawn & I were pondering whether or not Joshua would even remember life without his brother. We agreed that he probably wouldn't, which makes me sad because there are days that Joshua gets the short end of the stick when the baby is fussy (which today was one of those days because Caleb got his second flu shot and was not thrilled most of the day). But, as Shawn said, Joshua's an amazing kiddo and he'll be okay.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To quote a friend, "this week has been the race of the runny noses" in our house. Joshua, Caleb and I have all come down with a cold. Caleb seems to be struggling the most (please keep us all in your prayers!).

Yesterday morning, I was surprised to find a gorgeous arrangement of red roses and tiger lillies, along with a chocolate sweetheart in my kitchen. That husband of mine is so romantic! We had promised not to get each other gifts, and he didn't keep his end of the bargain. Last night I had made dinner reservations for Fiorentino's by the aiport to celebrate Valentine's Day. I had tried the Iron Hill Brewery, but they were booked for both Friday & Saturday. Even Fiorentino's was packed! Even with reservations, we waited awhile to sit and be served. The boys had fun with Grandma while we feasted on Italian deliciousness (thanks, Mom!). I also got to wear my new zebra print high heels. While they weren't the $150 variety, Shawn bought me a nice set of knock-offs for under $30 from a retailer on Ebay. They are GORGEOUS! (And, I might add, a little hard to walk in as I think they are 5" heels.) I LOVE heels! And I love my hubby!

Every year we try to watch a horror movie for Valentine's Day since our first Valentine's Day together we went to see one of the Scream movies with a group of friends. Since then we've watched two "Saw" movies, "What Lies Beneath," "The Ring," "Scary Movie" (which is more of a commedy), "Final Destination," "The Others," "The Grudge" and more. Shawn rented one from Redbox last night - which ironically enough was Friday the 13th - but until we got the boys settled in bed, I couldn't keep my eyes open. Luckily for me, we can still watch it tonight since today is technically Valentine's Day.

I feel so blessed to have two amazing little boys to celebrate with, too. Last year on Valentine's Day, we found out we were having a BOY! My ultrasound was with Dr. Bayliss, and I'll never forget his technician asking us if we wanted to know what we were having...which I already knew from looking at the screen since his legs were spread wide and there it was! My little Caleb Luke has been such a blessing. His smile could light up an entire room. He babbles and giggles and gets into EVERYTHING!

Joshua is also amazing as he tells us he loves us and dances and laughs and says some of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. He kept reading his card from Great Grandma Kennel to us "hugs and kisses to Joshua!" He absolutely loves when we hug him in a Joshua sandwich, with Daddy holding him chest-to-chest and me hugging him from behind. He asks for "bear hugs" all the time. I love my snuggle buggle! He also loves the "Momma book" which is the "I'll Love You Forever" book and sings along with the song, even when I do a low voice to mimmick the grown man singing. I think part of the reason he joins in then is because when he does I laugh instead of cry (the grown man in the story started out as the newborn baby, and it just gets me every time to think how quickly these little guys grow up!). I love how he can sing and talk and learn and express himself. He's a true character!

God has blessed my life with more love than I can imagine with an amazing husband, kids, immediate family, extended family, friends, and most of all Jesus, whose love is unconditional. I am blown away this Valentine's Day remembering the love and sacrifice He made to give us abundant life both in heaven and on earth. May each one of you have a happy Valentine's Day!

Daddy, Our Hero

Yesterday, our electricity was out for an hour and a half in the morning. I heard all sorts of sirens, so I'm assuming maybe an accident??? I didn't have a chance to watch the news to find out. Either way, nothing worked in our house without electricity. Joshua kept going around the room, "TV bloke...Daddy fiscuit. Fan bloke...Daddy fiscuit. Light bloke...Daddy fiscuit. Clock bloke...Daddy fiscuit." Each time he said 'broke' and 'fix it,' I would crack up, which made him go on and on. He thinks Daddy can fix anything, and to a degree, he really can. I said "let's pray to God and ask him to fix it." Pretty soon we had power again. Daddy God is pretty cool at fixing things in our lives, too, if we have faith like Joshua's. :)Both Joshua & Caleb have come down with colds. We rarely escape church these days without something! Joshua had the symptoms first, but now Caleb has the full-blown runny nose. I've suctioned both their noses today; Joshua, I've learned, is pretty good now at blowing his own when he wants to. Please pray they both feel better soon!

Son-shine, you are my sunshine

Yesterday and today were simply gorgeous outside. I think it was in the 50's or warmer, and we all enjoyed some fresh air. Yesterday Daddy took Joshua out while Caleb napped and I worked on grading. Today we all went outside, and we opened our garage door for the Bean to play. He was in heaven! He pulled out his tricycle (and I couldn't believe how well he was doing), he pulled out his shopping cart and his car, he "raked and shoveled" a little bit of a snowpatch we still had in our yard, and he played and played. For awhile Caleb sat on the "doublewide" outdoor chair with me, but then we decided to sit him up in the stroller. Ah, what sunshine and fresh air does for the soul! I read the newspaper and soaked up the sun. We also talked for a long time to our nextdoor neighbor Paul, who is one of the nicest guys. We heard some funny stories and enjoyed just being outside. It encouraged us that spring may be around the corner...or at least we hope so! I love the winter when it comes to the holidays, but I'm anxious for the days to be longer and it to be warm enough to walk around the neighborhood and hang out outside. Soon...soon!

Here's the Bean playing "peekaboo" in his tent that he got for Christmas from Aunt Missy. He loves it and constantly asks for us to go inside. We've all made it in, but it's not pretty to get in and out of it if you're not his size! He loves it. Thanks, Aunt Missy & Uncle Kevin!

Fun in the Car

Here's Caleb in his new big boy carseat. Both boys love it! Now Joshua & Caleb can really see each other well since Caleb is facing backward and Joshua rides forward. On our way home from church, all we heard was laughter. Caleb squeeled with delight, which made Joshua squeel back and laugh, then Caleb giggled at him laughing, which made Joshua crack up, which resulted in Caleb's belly laugh...it wasn't long until Shawn was joining in and me too! We all howled. It was sooo cute and so priceless. I hope this is a memory I won't ever forget. It still makes me smile just thinking about it. I love that my boys love each other. I am a blessed momma!

Remembering...

When I saw Caleb's 7-month pictures, they reminded me of the Bean's 9-month pictures. You can tell they're brothers, I think!

Happy 7-month birthday, Caleb Luke!

Caleb is growing in leaps and bounds. He's easily distracted and loves to look at and play with toys. He also loves watching his big brother, and the two gab back and forth and giggle a lot. Caleb is also fond of Daddy and loves to send smiles his way.

Caleb sits well on his own now, but we have to be careful where we plop him down because he can crawl and get into just about anything. He's SO curious!I called the pediatrician and we can start giving him some "real" food on a limited basis so long as it's cut up really tiny (no bigger than a pea size) and really soft. This weekend, though, Caleb has ate baby food like a champ and hasn't really nursed well. I guess I worry too much. These pictures show just how chubby he is! I love it!Both Caleb's top two front teeth are working their way down. I can see the white but they haven't completely cut through the gums yet. Any day now! He's biting everything, so soon we should be good to go. We've found in this dry winter that his skin is sensitive just like his brother's, so we've gotten rid of anything scented as far as his body wash, baby cream or laundry detergent. I love those baby smells, but not at the risk of them getting outbreaks of dry skin patches!

Caleb also moved out of the Ladybug nursery this past weekend. I'm so sad about that, and yet I understand that he's got to move on with other kids more his age rather than newborns. He's now in a class with 8-10 month olds. He did well during the service, though - or at least I wasn't paged out. Great job! Happy 7-month birthday, kiddo! We love you!

A Week of Wonder

This has been a fun week all in all. Monday night I had a longer class than normal, but I had planned lots of fun activities, so I think the students enjoyed it. Tuesday morning was MOPS, and the speaker talked about pregnancy and loss. It was heartbreaking, but catching up with our group was fun. I just love all the moms in our group! Becca has been a fabulous friend to get to know (she even held hands and walked Joshua down to his classroom when I forgot my nametags in Caleb's room), and I just adore the gal named Margie who seems so well-spoken, so nice and so fun. Renee in our group seems like a hardworker (she's in charge of a lot of the activities for MOPS) and just bought a house near ours, and Beth seems to have the sweetest personality. We were missing Amy, Melissa and Nicki, who we just took a meal to last night because her OBGYN put her on bedrest (she is 7 months pregnant) and she has two other kids.Unfortunately, Caleb was fussy almost the entire time for the nursery workers. I absolutely LOVE the little old ladies who work in the Ladybug nursery and wish I could adopt them as grandparents. They are sooo amazing and really interact with the babies there and care for them so well. Caleb cried the second I left the room. I went back to check on him and he was still fussing. The minute I walked in the room, he smiled and laughed but as soon as I went to leave, he'd start hollering. They said that separation anxiety is normal for this age. I told the ladies I could take him with me or they could page me if he got too upset, but instead they played with him and rocked him and told me to go enjoy my morning out. I could have kissed each one! Caleb has been really going through separation anxiety lately. He cries at night until I go get him, and I feel like I can't leave him with a babysitter because I know that he'll be cranky and they'll be miserable. He's absolutely fine when I'm around, but I feel like I can't leave. When does this end? I don't really remember Joshua going through this stage this badly, and I would love to have folks watch Caleb so I could have more quality time with Joshua doing fun things. I'm sure this, too, shall pass.Then on Wednesday morning - even though we got over 12" of fluffy white snow - we headed to Melanie's house from our small group. There we saw Melanie & Abby, who are always fun to hang out with, Becca & Alayna, and Angie and Lael & Allana. It was fun catching up with everyone! I always feel like I talk too much when I get around other moms. I'm just so excited to be around adults and be out of the house! I need to work on it, though. :) Joshua did really well when we were there. I told him on the way that we were going to see his friends at Abby's house, and he looked up at me and with a straight face said "no screaming, no headbanging, no hitting, be nice and gentle." Does he know the drill or what? I said "yep, that's right!" And he was an angel. Once again, Caleb was fussy, but he had missed his morning nap and I think he was just exhausted from being up every night the past week...or the past month or two...I'm losing track as I'm losing brain cells. This morning we went to the mall with my mom to look for shoes for her and go to the playground with Joshua. Caleb did really well at the mall, but Joshua was restless. He wasn't necessarily bad, but he doesn't like to shop. He did a GREAT job at the playground, though, and we ate lunch together there. Even though we got another couple inches of snow, we didn't go outside to play today because it was so windy and the temperature with windchill was well below zero. We froze just going to and from the car.

Caleb got a new big boy carseat (thanks so much, Grandma!) since he has definitely outgrown his other one. He's also working on a top tooth. I can literally feel the tooth, but it hasn't broken through his gums yet. He's still not eating well as far as baby food, but he's very interested in table food. He had a little bite of my bread yesterday, a little bit of my fruit, and today he ate some of Grandma's rice. Is it okay to give him real people food? I'm not sure, but he's not eating otherwise and I'm desperate. He loves to feed himself, and he's been chowing down graham crackers and zwieback crackers. I think it's early to give him all these things, but it's difficult to nurse him since he's easily distracted, he turns his head and screams when I try to feed him baby food, and I just want to make sure he's healthy. He sits up well on his own now, so I'm assuming that's the major battle of giving him other types of food, so long as it's in very small pieces that he can't choke.

He's also into everything. He's not one that you can leave alone for more than a second or two or he's into something new. He already pulls on our dresser handles, reaches up for things he shouldn't have (like Joshua's crayons when the Bean is coloring anywhere close to him), and can crawl pretty quickly now. He also put his chewed-up-graham-cracker covered hands all over our dining room walls for fun! This little guy may be a challenge in other ways than the Bean - he's a lot more easygoing, but he's also more into things than snuggling and people. My boys are so different, and I love both very, very much! And I love their daddy, too!

My Big Boy Bean

I think Joshua grew two feet over night. For the first time ever in his life, he started to really eat...and eat...and eat! Last night he kept asking for more carrots. He also loves cheese and bananas and grapes and bread and yogurt and waffles and is trying new things. He still doesn't care for meat, other than fried chicken tenders. He's also drinking water from a big boy cup! We've seen the growth spurt in that he can now turn off and on our light switches without being lifted up or getting his baseball bat. His 2T clothes are also fitting a little better (well, some of them!).

I also must say that as Joshua is getting older, he is so much easier for me to understand and handle. As he communicates more of what he's thinking, there is less frustration all around. I also see in him this beautiful sweet, kind and gentle spirit that shines forth on a daily basis. As he plays with other children, he is so gentle and loving. Today there were kids that were climbing up on the slide where he was at, but he didn't push, shove, get angry or act meanly. He simply waited his turn and at one point told a boy to "scoot" so a little girl could take her turn. I still have to remind him that he can't roll on Caleb even as Caleb rolls around, but I know he's not doing it to be hurtful and also says sorry when he occasionally bumps into us. He's also getting better and better at saying "please" and "excuse me" without prompting, and we're working on "thank you."

The last few days have been really good at our house. I've enjoyed playing with the Bean and seeing him learn. As far as colors go, he still confuses yellow with blue, but he gets purple and black and white and red and green correct most of the time when I ask him what color something is. He also counts to 20 and loves learning new words and sayings. He's a regular ol' ham! We laugh daily at his expressions. Today at the mall when he climbed up on play bed and started to jump, I said "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" and he's been saying it all night as he tries to jump on our bed. He also told Pa-paw yesterday to "be a good boy" on the phone because he remembered that's what Pa-paw usually says next after "bye-bye." It's bizarre what the Bean remembers and repeats. Bizarre and REALLY funny. Today at nap time, he said "Love you, Momma! See you in an hour!"

I also love how I feel like we can trust Joshua. He doesn't really get into things he's not supposed to, and I know even if he leaves the room I'm in for a minute or two, he comes right back. He's much more of a "people person" than a "things person." Toys don't excite him as much as a conversation or quality time would. He LOVES when you pay attention to him, and he's pretty well behaved when you fill up his love tank in this love language of quality time.

Being a mom has been a challenge for me from day one, but I'm starting to really enjoy my role more and more each day. I think Joshua is the neatest kid I've ever known (although, I'm completely biased, of course).I love you, my Bean!

Birthdays Abound

January literally flew by between being sick and vacation. But, I don't want to forget to wish Faith a happy birthday on 1/12/09... and Uncle Kevin a happy birthday on 1/15/09 (we hope you're feeling better!):
This month we celebrate Jenavieve's birthday (which was yesterday, February 4)...:

and Grandma Ginder's birthday, which is today! Hope it's a special one!Coming up on February 20, we want to say Happy Birthday to Great Grandma Good!

Happy birthday, everyone!

More Wisdom from Isaiah

Isaiah 33:15-16 "He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil - this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him."

Happy Groundhog Day!

I hope we won't have six more weeks of winter...we're anxious to get outside and play!

Yeah for 2/2!

Drummin' Up Trouble

This morning, Joshua got into the plastic containers drawer (I specifically put things in the lower cabinets that he can play with while I'm cooking - this morning I was making eggs for breakfast). He pulled out a tin can, so I gave him a wooden spoon and showed him how to drum. After breakfast was finished, I decided to add more drums to our band.

I dug out big and little pans, plastic & tin pans, and things that would make different types of noises when being hit. Then I dug out another wooden spoon, a tin pie server, a plastic spatula and a silicon skinny scraper to make different noises when using them.Caleb decided it was most fun to eat the scraper, but Joshua truly enjoyed hitting all the different "drums" and lining them up and going back and forth between the different gadgets. We had fun drumming!

Touch Down!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of the Super Bowl last night, even though I enjoy watching the commercials (they cost millions of dollars to air for 30 seconds, let alone the production time).

Hope you all enjoyed it. Here are pictures of the boys doing their "touch down" pose!