My Everyday Life

And....

2011-02-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

....she is in the tub happily. No crying this time!! :o)

When the cat's away....

2011-02-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

My husband is a great father. He is so fun to be around. He loves our kids. Loves to play with our kids. The kids adore him. And so do I.

We definitely have different approaches to life with our kids. I tend to be the one who is overprotective, trying to "think ahead" and prevent all injuries, conservative in behavior, boring, and just plain no fun. Steve however, likes to live life to the fullest and allow the kids to experience things spontaneously. If some issue is to come along in the process, then he just deals with it at that moment. This earns him the title of the "Fun parent".

Recently I went to Swaziland on a 10 day missions trip with a group from my church. I asked Steve if he would miss me, and he jokingly said, "No, I will finally have some freedom!!" This was evidenced by my first Skype call with him from Africa. He proceeded to tell me how he and Josiah set up the soccer goal that J had received for Christmas outside. It had started to rain soon thereafter, so "Since you weren't home....", he says, they moved the furniture aside upstairs, brought the goal in and then played soccer in the house.

He had no idea how this move would impact his future or the well-being of our two-year old daughter.

You see, Saturday night of that week he decided to give the kids their baths instead of waiting to do it on Sunday morning. He put a little bit of water in the bathtub, inserted Zoe with a few toys and then went about doing some tasks around the house. Not long afterwards, she started hollering for him. He goes to check on her and she asks him to fill her Dora castle with more bubble bath so she can make bubbles. At this same time, Josiah comes in asking Steve to play soccer with him. They debate about how long their game would last, finally settling on a 5 minute limit. They head upstairs to play. About 2 minutes into their game, Zoe starts yelling for Steve again. He calls downstairs telling her that he would be there in just a minute. They continue playing and she continues to call to him. At the 4 minute mark, Josiah kicks the ball and it goes down the stairs. Steve sees this as an opportunity to head down and check on Zoe. As he is going down the hallway to the bathroom, her cries are getting louder and louder. Once in the bathroom, he sees tears just streaming down her cheeks. Her arms are extended and she was holding her hands outwards. She yells out, "Daddy, it's the poop!!!" Sure enough, there was one in each hand. He grabs it out of her hands and throws it in the toilet. Washes his hands, gets her out of the tub, washes her hands and tries to get her cleaned up, while Josiah comes crying in the bathroom because daddy had left him with one minute to go in their soccer game.

He did finally manage to get them both into another tub and give them baths. The old tub got cleaned. Now if we can just convince her that she isn't going to poop in the tub every time she takes a bath...

Finally....

2011-01-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

I have not made a list of resolutions for this new year. Instead I am proposing a list of things that I "hope" to FINALLY accomplish sometime in the next 12 months. These are things that should have been done long before now, but being the lazy, busy, distracted, procrastinating person that I am, alas, they are not done.

*I hope to FINALLY finish the pillows I started for the living room. It has been at least 8 months and I am only halfway through the first one.

*I hope to FINALLY paint Zoe's room and find a bedspread for it. The old wallpaper trim was removed last March. It is time.

*I hope to FINALLY get all the clothes off the floor of my half of the closet. If I ever do, I think Steve will faint.

*I hope to FINALLY finish Josiah's quilt for his room. I do believe this has been sitting waiting to be finished for at least a couple of years.

*I hope to FINALLY clean out at least one of the 23984774876098 junk drawers we have in this house. I need more storage space.

There are tons more "hopes" that I could post, but this is enough to get me started. What things do you hope to accomplish in this new year??

Doesn't the number 7 represent perfection??

2010-12-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Steve and I had not even been married a year when we decided to attend a marriage conference at the Wilds. It was a fun weekend filled with food, skits, games, time with friends and most of all instruction on building a biblical marriage. I don't remember a lot of specifics from the weekend except that one lady from our church that we didn't know very well thought that Steve was younger than me. (Seriously?!?) One thing that both of us still remember to this day is the speaker describing the ups and downs that marriages go through and most specifically that years seven through twenty are the "lean years". The years when most marriages fall apart and when most divorces take place. Well, we have finally reached that point. It is over -- at least for the next thirteen years. Today marks 7 years since we both said "I do", so it is downhill from here. We will both be enduring and holding on from now until year twenty, when things will finally be good again between us.

Reminiscing....

2010-07-07T13:07:00.001-07:00

God has definitely blessed us with two wonderful treasures. Every now and then I like to sit down with one or both of my kids and look through old pictures and videos to see how much they have grown. That is what we did this afternoon. With Josiah's birthday coming up, I decided to have us all watch the video of him that I made a while back. It contains a lot of my favorite early on pictures of him. It brought a tear to my eye. If you wish to watch it, it is here.

P.S. Yes, I know it has been FOREVER since I have blogged. Hopefully I will get back in a routine here pretty soon. Ciao for now... :o)

Snowy Afternoon Adventures

2010-01-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

Because of all the snow here in the Triad, Sunday services were cancelled. We had a pretty quiet morning here on the plantation. Pancake breakfast. Josiah and Steve played wii and I worked on a quick sewing project while Zoe took her morning nap.

Sunday afternoon lunch would be at my parent's, as usual. There are definitely benefits to having them live next door. :o)

Once Zoe awakened, we set off in the truck the back way headed to Nana and Papaw's house. Josiah was not to excited to have to walk in the snow from the truck into my parent's house. Zoe could have cared less. We stomped the snow off our feet in the garage and headed inside....this is where it all began.

I can see it now. Zoe sets her eyes on Nana. Let me pause here in the story to tell you that Nana is one of her favorite people. She goes crazy, yelling and screaming, jumping and running, whenever she sets her eyes on my mom. And that is exactly what she did this time. Only in the process she trips on the threshhold and fell flat on her face. Not sure if it was because her arms were up in the air reaching toward her Nana or because of the puffiness of the jacket her daddy put her in that she was not able to get her hands down in front of her to soften the fall. She landed on her mouth.

She was crying at first. I picked her up and tried to rock her and soothe her. Upon taking a closer look, I realized that her tooth was bleeding. It almost looked at first like she had broken the tooth off. We realized later that she had just jammed it up into her gum. We washed her mouth with a cold wash cloth and then set out trying to find something to distract her and calm her down.

I admit that I definitely need to work on making Philippians 4:6 my own in situations like this. I was already thinking about what might happen to her as a result of this fall. I am seeing visions of children's partials dancing in my brain. I convinced Steve that we needed to call the doctor. He called the after-hours call nurse. She said to feed her popsicles and to take her to see the doctor in the morning.

I just couldn't stand it. I HAD to look on the internet to see what people posted about children with teeth pushed up in their gums. Of course, everything I read was about teeth turning black and the need to get to the dentist ASAP.

So, we called the dentist. He is way too kind. He told us to meet us at his office in a half an hour. After looking at Zoe's tooth, which she was not all too happy about, he confirmed what we had been thinking all along.

She will most likely lose her tooth.

It could end up being pulled as early as two weeks from now, maybe even sooner if the horrible tooth turning black thing occurs.

Since she is so young, there is probably no damage that occured to her permanent tooth.

With the baby tooth gone, it could take longer for her permanent tooth to come in because it will have to push through bone instead of just following the path of the baby tooth.

Sad to say, I think her chance at a baby modelling career is over.

Please be kind and don't make fun of her.

She is a trooper. On the way home from the dentist she was singing one of her favorite songs:

Oh no, never ets go

Crew ca calm, Crew ca calm.

(That's the Zoe version.)

And what a truth there is in that...

Praise Him in the Storm

2009-07-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

It has been a rough week for us. I cannot deny that fact. But even in the midst of all the sadness and pain, there are two things that brighten my day more than anything else. I would be a fool if I didn't take the time to praise and thank God for these wonderful gifts.

Pictures

2009-06-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

A sweet girl that was in my accountability group when I was working with the youth at our former church came over the other day. She is an art student and wanted to take pictures of the kids to help build up her portfolio. Here are some of my favorites. Thanks, Shelly, for taking the time to do this.

For Josiah...

2009-04-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

For Josiah...

2009-04-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

I made a video on imovie, but can't figure out how to upload it. So I uploaded it to youtube. Here is the link.

For Josiah....

new blog

2009-03-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

So, I made another blog today to explain my coupon geekiness. I get a lot of questions so I thought I would just start posting the info for everyone to see. If you want to check it out, you will find it at www dot saving hyphen skillz dot blogspot dot com. I spelled it out because I don't want it linked to this blog in case people are using a search.

If you want to email me with questions, that would be great. That way I will know what I should post in future entries.

4 Stores - $68.68

2009-01-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

Steve and I had a fun little "date" tonight. We went couponing and drug store shopping. It was a lot of fun. I just have to say that God has been so good to us lately. When it seems like there are no more deals to find, he keeps putting more and more in our laps. On the groceries alone we spent $68.68 and saved $134.02 in sales and coupons. The CVS and Rite Aid purchases, although included in the picture, are not included in the total. Steve will have made money on those purchases once the rebates come back. Here's what we got...

6 bags of Frozen Chicken Breast

5 pouches of tuna

2 mustards

3 Wishbone spritzer salad dressings

1 Roma tomato

2 bottles of Worcestershire sauce

8 Sobe Life waters

Gallon of milk

Wheat Thins

Triscuits

Egg noodles

4 cans refried beans

2 cans Manwich

4 bags of shredded cheese

4 bags of cheese cubes

2 chunks of cheese

1 pack of American cheese

3 Sour creams

Velveeta

4 Grands biscuits

2 Country Crock spread

2 packs of hot dogs :o)

1 box of Frosted Mini Wheats

3 small beef stews

10 Pizza Rolls

green onions

2 bottles of Juice

4 taco seasoning packets

2 skippy peanut butters

2 Rotel tomatoes

jar of pimientos

3 jars of Ragu sauce

Crest Weekly clean

Bay leaves

GE Low energy light bulb

Baby wipes

travel kleenex

2 Glucose monitoring systems (Retail price: $70 for one and $20 for the other. Both were free)

Garnier Fructis shampoo

Veet

Jumbo pack of Goodnights

Updates on the kids

2009-01-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

Zoe will be 9 months old next week. Unbelievable! She is sitting up now and loads of fun. She has a quick smile and a laugh that would melt your heart. She loves taking baths. Here is a shot from one she took the other day. No, I did not tell her to strategically place the duckies. She just knew to do it.

Here she is in her attempt to crawl. Right now, she only moves backwards and somehow managed the other day to get stuck under the couch. She didn't seem to mind too much.
Josiah is becoming a great big brother. He loves to "help" Zoe (as you see here as he pulls her out from under the couch.) He also likes to instruct her a lot. Some would probably say he is bossy. I have no idea where he gets that from!! :o)
His newest obsession is the Wii. We have had it for a while, but in the last couple of weeks you can hardly pull him away from it. All day long, "Play the wii, mommy? How about bowling??" He is actually pretty good. You can see his top score here. Yes, you see it correctly. 177. And he beats Steve who only got a 154. You can believe that Steve played another round and made sure he won that one!! :o)
Josiah's newest obsession is the violin. Here he is with a toy violin that someone gave me when I was teaching preschool. It was too cool of a toy to leave behind, so I kept it. He loves it. When listening to music, if it has a violin in it, he is quick to point it out. He has a great ear. I think he will do something musically one day.

Personal Goals for 2009

2009-01-22T21:03:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know this is late. I have been meaning to do this post for several weeks now. All of the thoughts have been swirling around in my little brain, but I haven't had a chance until now to actually put them into print. Here is a list of my personal goals for this upcoming year. If you know me and are reading this, feel free to ask me sometime how things are going.

1. Finish reading through the Bible. I am currently in 1 Chronicles. I would like to make it all the way through this year or at least make significant progress in that direction.

2. Make something useful with my sewing machine. It has been sitting in my closet for a while. I need to pull it out and make something creative. I am thinking something for Josiah's room...

3. Learn to bake. Although I love to cook, I am not very good when it comes to making rolls, bread, and such. I want to learn how to do some of those things.

4. Teach my children diligently. I want to teach them especially about God and his Word. We have been teaching Bible verses to Josiah. I would like to continue doing that and also show him how to put into practice principles from God's word like loving others, being kind, etc.... This one is mostly focused on Josiah at the moment, but would include Zoe as well as she continues to grow.

5. Be a better wife. There is always room to grow. I pray that as God reveals these areas to me in my relationship with Steve that I will embrace them, and move full speed ahead with growth.

6. Eliminate my fear. This one is probably the most important goal I am working on this year. I struggle with the fear of man. I am always worried about what others think about me. I am always doing/saying things that I think they want to hear or see just because I don't want them to think bad things about me. This year I want to put that behind me and to become the person that Christ wants me to be, not the person that I think others want me to be. You may not see a big difference in me or in the way that I act, but Lord willing, the motivation behind all of those things will have changed. That I will be doing it for God's glory, not for approval of others.

7. Be myself and have fun. I want to enjoy my life this year. I want to spend time with my husband and play with my kids. I want to try new recipes. Lay out by the pool. Cheer for the Tarheels win or lose. Play cards with the boys. Eat hotdogs until I can't stand them anymore. Just have fun!

Slow afternoon...

2008-12-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

After a busy day cooking and cleaning yesterday and having company last night, I didn't feel like doing much today. So while the kids took their nap, I piddled on the computer checking out grocery ads and comparing them to the coupons I had in my book. I LOVE doing this and seeing what kinds of things I can get for free or nearly free. After a trip with the family to Lowes and Harris Teeter, and after $24.51 out of pocket, this is what we came home with....

Gallon of Milk

Reddi Whip

2 Bakers Joy baking spray

10 Green Giant frozen vegetables

2.5 dozen eggs

3 blocks of cheese

bag of baby carrots

3 sweet potatoes

4 Frusion yogurt smoothies

1 Betty Crocker cake mix

2 Garlic Tabasco sauces

2 JFG coffee

3 Pace Salsa

4 Philadelphia cream cheese

10 jars of Gerber 2nd baby food

2 Progresso chicken broths

2 Daisy sour cream

1 sweetened condensed milk

1 box of Reynolds oven bags

2 Tennessee pride sausages

2 Cool Whips

Any Resemblence??

2008-12-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

Steve's Freebies

2008-11-24T16:06:00.000-08:00

My DH has just stumbled upon the fact that there are many free things out there in the world. All you have to do is take advantage of them. His new favorite hobby is seeing how many free things he can get from trips to CVS and sometimes Walgreens. Here is what he purchased today:

From Walgreens: 2 bottles of Excedrin Migraine (Jude, these are for you)

Regular price: $4.49 per bottle

Steve's price (for 2 bottles): $0.79 including tax

From CVS: 2 bottles of Coke $1.89 each

2 Maybelline mineral powder foundation $8.99 each

2 Complete Saline $8.99 each

2 Hershey bars 2/$1.00

Steve's price: $0.04 -- yep, that's right. With coupons and ECB's he only paid 4 cents. He also started with 30 ECB's and ended up with 36 ECB's.

Song of the Day

2008-11-24T11:33:00.002-08:00

I have been pondering this post for quite a while, but have never gotten around to it. Now seems as good a time as any. The kids are sleeping (or are supposed to be sleeping) and I have had caffeine today to give me a bit of a boost and get things done, so I have a bit of time on my hands. So here goes...

I find music to be such a vital part of my life. I love to sing (not that I am any good at it), I love to play, and I love to listen. It is such a great outlet of worship for me. Because of how inbred the love of music is for me and how songs tend to run through my brain throughout the day over and over again, I try to listen to songs that I know worship and glorify God. Why, you say? Because isn't that our overall purpose here on the earth, to glorify Him?

I say all this because many times I will wake up and find myself in a different mood than I was the day before. So I like to pick a different song to fit the day. Then I like to play that song over and over again on my ipod and then I find myself thinking of the song and the words all throughout the day. I have been practicing today for a wedding that I am playing in next month. Ironically, it is on my anniversary. The girl getting married was one of our program attendants. She is having me play this song. It was one sung at our wedding. As I am practicing, I find myself coming back to this one over and over again. I just love to play it. I love to think of the words. And most of all, I love what the words mean. So here it is...my song of the day.

YOUR GRACE STILL AMAZES ME

My faithful Father, enduring friend,

Your tender mercy's like a river with no end.

It overwhelms me, covers my sin.

Each time I come into your presence

I stand in wonder once again.

Your grace still amazes me,

Your love is still a mystery.

Each day I fall on my knees,

'cause Your grace still amazes me.

Oh, patient Saviour, You make me whole.

You are the Author and the Healer of my soul.

What can I give You,

Lord, what can I say.

I know there's no way to repay You,

only to offer you my praise.

Your grace still amazes me,

Your love is still a mystery.

Each day I fall on my knees

'cause Your grace still amazes me.

It's deeper, it's wider,

it's stronger, it's higher

than anything my eyes can see.

Your grace still amazes me

Your love is still a mystery.

Each day I fall on my knees

'Cause Your grace still amazes me.

How to get a free bottle of barbecue sauce and what to do with it once you do.

2008-10-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hehe....I love this coupon game. Especially when it works out that I can get something for free. Pretty amazing. Anyway, if you like barbecue sauce, go here and get the 75 cent off KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce. If you then take the coupon to Lowes Foods, they just happen to have the little bottles of KC Masterpiece on sale from $1.99 to $1.50 this week. They also double any coupon up to 99 cents, so when the 75 cent coupon is doubled, TA DA.....your barbecue sauce is free.

Here is a quick and simple, but tasty idea of what to do with it - BBQ Chicken Salad.

You will need for sure:

1 chicken breast per 2-3 people

onion

lettuce or salad greens

tomato

cheese (I prefer cheddar)

bbq sauce

ranch dressing (Hidden Valley is the best!!)

Other options:

shredded carrots

sliced cucumber

bacon bits

croutons

any other salad item that you like

Cut the chicken into cubes and saute in a little bit of olive oil. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. When almost cooked, add sliced onion to the pan with the chicken and cook until the onion has carmelized. Add barbecue sauce to the point of sauciness that you like and heat through. Using the lettuce, tomato, cheese and whatever other salad fixings you like, make a salad. Hold the ranch until later though. To the top of the salad, add the bbq chicken mixture and then add the ranch. Tastes just like a BBQ chicken sandwich without the bread. I bet you will have it more than once!! :o)

If you do try it out, let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas of how to improve it. Thanks.

Food Lion Drama

2008-10-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Act One:

Lorena, being ever so frugal, is at home checking out the weekly specials at the different grocery stores. She compares the specials to the coupons that she has to see if any of them match. She knows this is the way to get the best deals. Discovering that Food Lion will have the Michelina and Lean Gourmet on sale over the weekend for 77 cents each and knowing that she has four 'one dollar off every five' that you buy coupons (two for Michelina and two for Lean Gourmet), she decides this would be a great deal since it would make them only 57 cents a piece.

Act Two:

One the way home from the zoo on Friday, Lorena stops at Food Lion. She runs in quickly to get a few of the things that she knows are on sale and that she has coupons to match. She is excited about the 12 pack Cottonelle that she got on sale for $4.99 and also the 75 cents off coupon making them only $4.24 a piece. Add to this diapers and a few other things. But she is mostly excited about the Michelina and Lean Gourmet that she buys. 20 to be exact, because she knows that they are on sale for 77 cents a piece. After purchasing her items and returning to the car, she is reviewing her receipt on the way home (don't worry, husband is driving) and realizes that the Michelinas rang up for 77 cents, but the Lean Gourmets rang up at $1.69. Frustrated at missing this while they were being rung up and then second guessing whether or not they were really on sale, she quickly runs to the computer on her arrival home to check. Yes, the online ad says that Michelina and Lean Gourmet are both on sale. She prints out the ad and tucks it, along with the receipt, in a safe place for her next return visit to the store.

Act Three:

Early Monday afternoon Lorena heads back to Food Lion for a few things, both kids in tow. She heads into the store and patiently waits for someone to show up at the Customer Service Desk. When the lady arrives, Lorena nicely explains to her that what she paid for the Lean Gourmet did not match what was advertised in the online ad. The lady goes and confers with a couple of other coworkers. They discuss the issue and the lady returns with the store ad showing that only the Michelina were on sale not the Lean Gourmet. Lorena shows her again where the online ad shows as you scroll the mouse over the Michelina that both Michelina and Budget Gourmet are on sale. The lady points to the bottom of the page on the store ad where it says they are not responsible for typographical errors. Therefore there is nothing that they can do. It is an error from the corporate office and they are not responsible for it at the store level. She calls over both of the other coworkers who try to explain the same thing to Lorena and they tell her that the only thing that she can do is go home and bring back the Lean Gourmet and they would be happy to exchange for the Michelina at the 77 cent price. Lorena is not very happy since she would have to spend quite a bit in gas to go home, get the meals and bring them back, not to mention that it is not an easy task to get two little ones in and out of the car a multiple amount of times. Lorena gets very frustrated at this point, and as they are saying "I am very sorry" to her (which she doesn't exactly believe), she departs the store without making any purchases and considering never returning there again. She proceeds to Walmart where she purchases the items she needs.

Act Four:

Lorena comes home and writes a nice email to the corporate office explaining the whole situation. At the present time, she is anxiously awaiting the reply to see how the story will end.

What I am up to these days...

2008-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, some of you know and some of you don't (so I will share) that I am working hard this nest year to try to become more disciplined in my life. I know some of you are shocked to hear me saying this because you think I am disciplined already, at which I just laugh. In all honesty, I put on a good front. Anyway, my goals are to be more consistent in my quiet time, spend more QUALITY time with my kids and husband, keep up with things around the house better, and bemore disciplined in my spending.

I have been trying to do "school" with Josiah three days a week. We have been doing a lot of coloring, painting and gluing and it has been a lot of fun. One day soon I will have to post a picture of the wall of stuff he has done. It is rather cute. And yes, I have to help him out a lot, but give him a break. He is only 2! :o)

I have given myself a spending budget, not because I have to have one, but because I wanted one. I only have an allotted amount of money for the week to go spend on food or whatever else. If I am under, I get to put what is left over in the "bank" for whatever I want to save it for. If I am over, I have to pull money out of my "bank" to make up for the difference. It makes me think twice about that large sugar-free vanilla iced coffee that I have to have from McDonalds. (Okay, so I don't think twice about the coffee, but maybe the double cheeseburger?!?) :o)

Another thing I have done is to start using coupons again when I can. I used to use them all the time when I was single and living on a Christian school teacher budget. There is really no reason that I shouldn't still do it now, even though I have a husband who is supporting me and I am not on the limited budget that I once was. I want to be responsible with the resources God has given to us, so I want to try to cut expenses where I can.

All this said to say that after lunch at McDonalds today, I went with the kids on a trip to Walmart. Here is my purchase:

The entire purchase before tax is worth 24.44. I paid 15.56, including tax. Without tax, 14.69. When you take out the eyeliner that I didn't have a coupon for (and it comes out of my personal budget), everything was 11.91.

Here is the breakdown:

Toaster Strudel - 1.88 $1 off coupon Price paid: $0.88

Deli Creations - 2.50 $1 off $1.50

Juicy Juice - 2.57 $1 off $1.57

Kotex pantiliners - 1.00 $1 off FREE

Granola bars - 2.58 $1 off $1.58

Wet ones - 0.97 $0.75 off $0.22

Baby soap - 0.97 $1 off -$.03

Diaper rash cream - 2.24 $1 off $1.24

Now I know this is not as incredible feat as some others have achieved (i.e. Pam & Sherri), but I felt pretty good about it. I find couponing to be somewhat of a game.

Just a note on the Juicy Juice - the 64 oz bottles were priced $2.57 and the 46 oz were priced $2.67. Go figure.

Well, since spending my time blogging on the internet when I have other things to do is not being disciplined, I had better run. I will return when I am caught up.....

The girl loves food!!

2008-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

We started Zoe on food last week. So far she has tried sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and squash, with sweet potatoes being her favorite. She loves to eat!! (Must be like her mommy!) :o)

10:12 PM

2008-09-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

my life was forever changed at 10:12 PM on September 6, 2003

That's the moment I first heard the voice of an angel, my angel.

Ninety minutes later I hung up.

With that phone call, a wondrous journey began.

One week later, shortly after noon on September 13th I first saw her up close.

When she opened the door,

my knees buckled,

my heart pounded,

my first thought,

"She's much too pretty for me."

As the date progressed, I was captivated by her heart;

a willing prisoner of the woman who would become my wife.

It was her easy smile and fun spirit that first drew me.

It was her huge heart for kids and love for ministry that left me wanting more.

When I hugged her goodnight 8 1/2 hours later, I just wanted to be near her.

I was smitten.

Things went pretty fast after that.

A surprise visit to her church the next day, another date on Tuesday, then Friday holding hands

and dangling our bare feet in the water at High Rock Lake.

I'm not sure how or where it happened, but she fell in love with me before I did with her.

I knew she loved me, and she knew the pain that was holding me back.

Insightfully beyond her years, she reached into my heart and said everything was OK.

Her verbal caresses released me.

Two days later I could wait no longer.

Scarcely two weeks after I first saw my angel up close, I told her I loved her.

She said, "I love you too."

I've never been happier.

Not even one month later, on October 18th, I would ask Lorena Lynn Finley to be my bride.

She said, "yes!"

I am the luckiest man alive.

Now as I stand on the precipice of a lifetime - as I peer into our future,

I see our kids to to school, then off to college.

I hear the laughter of our grandkids.

I feel the wrinkles of my face pressed against her aging cheek.

This I see; this I embrace.

a lifetime to love together,

a lifetime to play together,

a lifetime to serve together.

A lifetime with one so precious,

one so pure,

one so lovely.

A lifetime for which I dared not even dream before 10:12 PM on September 6, 2003.

Steve Hungerford

(It has been five years since the first time I talked to Steve. He wrote this poem and placed it on all the tables at our wedding reception. It has been very touching to pull it out and read it tonight. I thought I would share it with you. He is such a wonderful man and God has richly blessed me with him and our lives together, more so than we ever deserve. I am forever grateful to Him! To Steve - Thanks, Sweetie, for these five wonderful years. I am looking forward to many, many more to come. I love you with all my heart!! - Your doll.)

New Pics

2008-08-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

There has been a ton of things going on around here lately. Too many things to write about at this time. I might get around to it one day....then again, I might not. I have managed to capture a few cute pics of the kids that I thought I would share. I have been trying to work on my photography skills. Here you go...

ABC's

2008-08-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

This came from Sarah. I will be a nice girl and play along. :o)

A. Attached or Single? definitely attached
B. Best Friend? Steve, for sure!
C. Cake or pie? cake
D. Day of choice? Sunday
E. Essential item? food :o)
F. Favorite color? brown, green, purple....it is so hard to choose
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms
H. Home town? Winston-Salem
I. Favorite indulgence? iced coffee
J. January or July? July (although there are great sales in January!!)
K. Kids? Yes. Josiah & Zoe. They make me smile.
L. Life isn’t complete without? My family.
M. Marriage date? December 13, 2003
N. Number of brothers and sisters? two brothers
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples - pink ladys to be exact
P. Phobias? snakes....ewwww
Q. Quotes? "There is never an excuse for bad behavior." - Steve Hungerford
R. Reasons to smile? My husband's silly jokes, my kids laughter, worship music, one great God!
S. Season of choice? Summertime!
T. Tag 5 people: Jenna, Johnson family, Mavis, Pam, and Josh Lindstrom [and yes, I know you will find out about this because your blogstalking wife will read it! :o)]
U. Unknown fact about me? I once sewed an entire shirt for my dad by hand....no sewing machine!
V. Vegetable? brussel sprouts
W. Worst habit? messy and disorganized. Oh, and I am always running late.
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? I have had both. X-ray for broken elbow and Ultrasound for baby.
Y. Your favorite food? Anything Italian
Z. Zodiac sign? Virgo
(Another) Z. Which zoo animal is your favorite? Fish (if they are considered a zoo animal.)

Ups and Downs

2008-07-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today has been a day of ups and downs. As a result I have a lot of things on my mind tonight. First the up. Zoe laughed for the first time today. She was on the changing table in the laundry room and I started singing this silly song we made up with Josiah called "Scrub your body". All of a sudden she started giggling. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. (Don't tell Josiah, but her laugh is cuter than his!) Steve was in our bathroom, so I quickly called to him to come see her. We also called my parents so they could hear it over the phone. What warmth filled my heart to see the laughter in her eyes and to finally hear it out loud. God knew what he was doing when he gave us little things like this that bring such joy to our hearts. It was much needed after the news that I heard earlier in the day. This is the down. I found out today that a former pastor of mine who was my pastor when I was in high school, college, and through my early adulthood life has Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This disease is also known as mad cow disease. (Oddly enough, the interem pastor that we had at our church just before this pastor was called had mad cow disease too. He passed away in 1999, just shortly after being diagnosed with the disease. ) My heart is aching right now for him, his wife, and his family. I grew up with many of them being a part of my life. His wife was my piano teacher, so was his niece. His brother-in-law was our music director and my history professor in college. His sister-in-law was my brother's kindergarten teacher and my co-Sunday School teacher. And it just goes on and on... He and his wife were there for my family when my brother died and now it just might be the reverse.

My thoughts are reeling around in my head. I can't find a way to put them into words right now, so I am going to close. Please keep the Gaines family in your prayers over the next few days/weeks. God can give them the grace that they need. We know all things work together for good to them that love God. What a great promise to cling to.

Did a whirlwind just blow through here??

2008-07-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late. It seems as though there has hardly been a minute to stop and breathe around here over the last week. Even as I am sitting here typing while listening to Josiah sing and play with his little piano, I can hardly wait until his nap time (which is over three hours away). I am that tired. But it was worth it all and I know I will catch up on my sleep over the next couple of days. Then it will all start over again!! :o)

I will start with last Wednesday, the 16th. I went with Heather to Concord Mills to do some shopping for the kids for next summer. I came away from the Children's Place with 37 pieces of clothing for $120. That averages out to be about $3.25 an item. You can't beat that for new stuff!! (I actully bought $155 worth of stuff. I had accidently picked up 5 items that weren't on clearance, so I took that $35 worth of stuff back to the mall here and exchanged it for 11 things that were on clearance!)

Steve's mom flew in that same day for a visit. She had decided to come for Zoe's baby dedication that would be on Sunday. On Thursday, Steve went to do the radio show, but then he came home to spend the rest of the day with us and his mom. The fence guys were here working so that kind of put a damper on our plans to go swimming, so we ended up just hanging out here around the house. My parents came over in the afternoon and we played some scrabble and had dinner together.

On Friday, Steve's brother and sister-in-law took his mom out to the Mellow Mushroom for lunch. My parents agreed to watch Zoe, so I took this opportunity to go to the mall with Josiah for some mommy-Josiah time and also to find some last minute things, including shoes for Zoe for Sunday's dedication. Josiah and I ate pizza at the food court. Or should I say Josiah ate most of the pizza at the food court. He ate all of his piece and almost half of mine. It was thin crust, but still!! We ran around. I exchanged those clothes at the Children's Place. We looked for an outdoor umbrella. I tried on numerous outfits. Bought a baby gift. Then we headed home. Once we arrived back at my parent's house, I realized that I never looked for shoes for Zoe. "You should have put it on a list", you say?? Well, I did. I just never looked at the list!

Friday night the three nephews came over and we all went swimming in the pool. Zoe sported her new bathing suit that I bought at Concord Mills. Josiah had a blast. His fun came not from swimming, but from being the "ball boy". They convinced him to get the balls every time they landed up on the deck. He loved it!! Steve's sister and her husband came that night to spend the night with us. They had to go pick up his nephew from camp on Saturday.

We had lunch visitors on Saturday.

We swam for a little bit in the afternoon. Then I had to spend the evening preparing for Sunday lunch. We were having quite a few family and friends over for Zoe's baby dedication. I made lasagna, and thanks to Pam and her recipe, a carrot cake trifle. A couple of other people provided the salad, bread, and an eclair cake.

Zoe was dedicated along with four other babies on Sunday morning at church. It was a very special time. We are so thankful that God has given her to us and we want to commit her to Him and to raise her in the way that he would want us to. We are so thankful to have a church that is supportive of us and friends that encourage us along the way.

Sunday afternoon/evening was a time of swimming, eating leftovers and other miscellaneous items we had in our fridge (Steve loves "getting rid of stuff" when we have people over) and watching "No Reservations."

Steve's mom left on Monday. I did a ton of laundry and started trying to put the house back in order. Josiah went to spend the night with Nana and Pawpaw. Steve and I went to play cards at his dad's house.

Tuesday I went with my mom to visit a couple from our old church. She had been my Primary Sunday School teacher and the librarian at my school when I was in 3rd grade. I haven't seen them in a quite a while. We picked up Kernel Kustard and went to their house. We had such a nice visit. Josiah was in rare form, showing off all of his skills including the newest - counting to five in Spanish. We stopped at Costco on the way home for a few things. That evening I made a Walmart run for the things I needed for a dinner on Wednesday night.

Wednesday I cleaned a lot of the house and made dinner for a group of our friends who are doing a book study with us this summer. We are reading "The Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas and discussing it.

And that brings us to today.....

I am going to relax and take a nap. I am going to slow down and take time to really enjoy my children. And that is all....

On another note: Josiah loves Zoe more and more all the time. He now demonstrates rolling over for her and tried to help feed her when she is taking a bottle. Zoe is now sleeping through the night and for the first time last night slept in her pack and play. She has been sleeping in her swing up until now because she was spitting up so badly. I am so happy to see her moving up!

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

2008-07-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

My sweet little boy turned two yesterday. It is so hard to believe. People always say that if you blink, your kids will have grown up. I used to think they were kidding. Now I know what they mean. Time goes by so quickly and we have such a short time with them. I am really trying hard to enjoy every moment. Josiah is that joy! He always brings a smile to our faces with something he says or something he does. I love this little boy soooo much!!

We started off the day by going to the Children's Museum with Josiah, Nana and Pawpaw, and Josiah's friend Isaac and Isaac's mom Sarah. Here he is in the car. We had been singing 'Happy Birthday' all morning. I think he is a little bit excited!

We did lots of fun things at the Children's Museum. Here is a little sampling:

Drawing snow men.
"Making Donuts" in the Krispy Kreme shop

(I think this was their favorite!)
"Row, Row, Row your boat" with daddy.
Helping Pawpaw put the balls in the air tube.
Making puzzles with Sarah and Isaac.
Making a picture of a watermelon.
After the Children's Museum we had lunch a Mary's, Of Course. We sat outside in the breezeway. The boys had tons of fun squealing at each other across the table! After lunch, we headed home for some cake. Josiah had a Diego cake. Steve told me that Josiah wanted a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting, so that is what we had. It was a lot of fun to make, although there were a ton of colors! Mixing them all up and changing tips and bags the whole time wasn't too fun. I think next year he will get a soccer ball cake -- two colors--black and white!! haha

Here he is after he has just taken a HUGE bite of cake. He did much better than last year when he just smeared the cake all over his tray! :) Nana and Pawpaw got him a little vaccuum cleaner. He loves to vaccuum and it makes it difficult on us if we are vaccuuming and in a hurry to get it done. So, now he has his own and he can "help" us! Thanks Nana and Pawpaw! :)

We have a winner!

2008-07-05T18:43:00.001-07:00

Since Zoe came out of the womb crying, we have tried everything we can to comfort her. I tried giving her the MAM pacifiers that I bought before she was born. She would spit it out. Heather gave us some Soothies to try. Again, she spit it out. I bought some NUK pacifiers. Spit straight out. Today, she figured out what she likes -- her thumb. She sucks on the left one with the right one up on her head. It is really cute! (p.s. I am not really in favor of thumb sucking, but if it makes her happy, we will go with it for right now.)

Girl loves her daddy!

2008-07-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

Zoe is in a much happier mood these days. It is definitely much more pleasant to hold her. She isn't always squirming and screaming in your ears. In fact, she likes to look in your face and smile at you. Steve got to hold her tonight while she was in her good mood and I got some cute shots. Here are a couple. It is obvious that she loves having her daddy hold her.

Two months old and Pool!!

2008-06-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little baby Zoe is two months old today. I say sweet because that is what she has become. After a rough start, she has finally figured out some things about life and is much more content. She smiles all of the time, especially when I am changing her diaper, and her crying is down considerably from where it was before. She has been sleeping longer at night and I am looking forward to the day when she makes it all through the night without waking up. She is such a joy and we are so thankful to have our little "missy" as a part of our family.

In other news, the pool is finally finished. After construction was completed and the concrete poured, we had a huge growth of algae in the pool as a result of all the dirt that ended up in there when they were using the bobcat to smooth the land before pouring the concrete. We finally got that cleared up and yesterday I finished vaccuuming out the pool. Steve and I took a quick dip before our date last night and then today I was in there most of the afternoon. Josiah loved it! He was especially glad to have his cousin Caleb come over and go swimming with him!

Atlanta Trip

2008-06-26T17:51:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went on the Hungerford Family trip to Atlanta. There were about 50 of us in the group. Not all were actual family. Some were just close friends. The majority of the group rode to Atlanta on a charter bus. Steve and I drove down with the kids, and those not from NC flew. After our 7:00 a.m. departure Thursday morning, we arrived in Atlanta in the early afternoon to tour the Coke Museum, CNN and eat dinner at Agnes & Muriels. Friday morning we went to the aquarium, followed by lunch at the Varsity. After an afternoon nap (that was much needed), the majority of the group went to an Atlanta Braves game. Robin and I skipped the ball game and went to the mall for a quick walk around and then to Maggiano's for an absolutely fantastic meal!! Saturday we visited the zoo. Our kids were extremely tired, so we took them back to the hotel while the others went to the puppetry museum. Saturday night we all had cake from Costco to celebrate Steve's birthday that would be on Sunday. Sunday of course was the trip home. We did stop in Gaffney for a little bit at the outlets and I scored some great deals at the Children's Place. It has taken me a while to blog about this vacation because it has taken me several days to recover from it!! :0) Overall it was a great trip. Next year -- Chicago!

He is starting to like her....

2008-06-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

I can see it happening. Slowly, but surely, the boy is warming up to the girl. I have to admit, I can understand why it has taken so long. Zoe was pretty much anything but enjoyable the first few weeks. She cried, A LOT, and threw up, A LOT! The crying obviously bothered Josiah. Now she is starting to calm down and is in a good mood more than a bad mood, so she is much more tolerable for him to be around. He has now begun to try to "take care" of "sister". If we are in the car and her head flops forward, he goes crazy until we know what has happened. If she starts crying here at home, he grabs her pacifier and tries to shove it in her mouth, or he pushes her swing really fast to try to get her to quit. He has also tried sharing his fruit leather and pineapple with her before. I am glad to see that he is beginning to show interest in Zoe, even though it means we have to keep a close eye on him when he is around her. His latest, and I must say cutest, thing is pushing her around the house in the umbrella stroller. I was able to capture this quick shot.

Best buds

2008-06-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sarah came over today so we could work on a cake. Josiah and Isaac had a good time romping around together and "negotiating" with one another. I do think they will be good friends when they grow up.

Here is a cute picture of the two of them. Don't they look so innocent??

Five weeks

2008-05-31T19:11:00.001-07:00

Our baby is five weeks old today. She was one month this past Monday. Crazy how time flies. Here is another comparison picture. One is of Josiah taking a bath and the other is Zoe. Can you tell who is who??

2008-05-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted. Things have been kind of crazy around here. To make up for it, I am posting a few cute pictures.

One week old

2008-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Our little baby Zoe is one week old already. It is hard to believe. It has been a crazy week filled with crying, dirty diapers, lack of sleeping and just pure joy!! We are so thankful to have her as a part of our family.

Here is a picture of her taken today. You can compare it to the picture of Josiah when he was three days old. Can you tell they are related??

Three Random Facts

2008-04-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

Mavis thinks that even though I have just had a baby that I have plenty of time on my hands, so she tagged me to write three random facts about myself. I did the seven facts before. I will try to think of three new things to tell you.

1. I once ate cow brains. Not by choice, I was ignorant of it until after the fact. It was during the year that I lived in Romania. They consider cow brains over there a delicacy. Me, well, let me just say that once I knew what it was I didn't enjoy it as much. Eww....it is just the thought.

2. I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 27 years old. First of all, because my parents wouldn't let me, but that was okay, because I was scared of the thought. Even when I moved out it took me a while to get it done because I was scared. I had to hug the teddy bear while they did it and even then I still almost passed out.

3. When I was in high school I had my picture made with Dean Smith and several of the UNC basketball players. I was OBSESSED with Carolina. When I went to college I decorated my half of the dorm room with basketball posters.

Thanks Mavis for this wonderful opportunity. Jude and Sarah....consider yourself tagged!!

A Zoe Story....

2008-04-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

Zoe is here. She arrived on Saturday morning at 2:55 a.m. She was 7 lbs 7.9 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. Some of the details are a bit blurry to me, but I will do my best to recount them to you. Here is her story....

Friday morning I woke up around 5:30 having contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart. I had been having contractions off and on for a while, so I wasn't sure whether or not they were the real deal. We decided to go walking at the Y to see if things would start moving along. After walking for an hour or so, the contractions were coming three minutes apart. We came home for lunch and called the doctor. They said to head to the hospital whenever I wanted to, but recommended that I walk as long as I could. So we headed to the mall where we met our friend Deb. She was a tremendous help when I was in labor with Josiah, so we asked her to help me during labor with Zoe as well. She walked with me at the mall while Steve (who had been having a "rough day") took a break. After a while, we decided to go ahead to the hospital. When we arrived, they sent me to triage. When they checked, I was only dilated two and a half centimeters. That was what I measured at the doctor on Wednesday. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed that all the walking and contractions hadn't done anything. They told me to walk for an hour and they would check me again. Still no change. The doctor prescribed me a sleeping pill and they sent me home, telling me that in the morning when I woke up the contractions would either be harder and I would come back to the hospital or they would have gone away. We finally left the hospital around 7:30. This is where things start to get blurry for me. The sleeping pill had already started kicking in. We stopped at Kernel Kustard's drive-thru on the way home (where else??). I got a cheeseburger and fries which I ate on the way home. We then stopped at my parents' house to get Josiah. They were playing outside. Apparently Steve suggested to me that I should wait in the car. I assured him that I was okay. He had to hold me up to keep me from toppling over. Once we got home, I put on a t-shirt and shorts and went to bed. This was about 8:30 or so. Around 9:15 or so I woke up out of sleep with a hard contraction. I let Steve know that it was a pretty strong one. It wasn't long after that, 15 minutes or so, I was up out of bed with contractions that were four minutes apart and getting stronger and stronger. We called our friend Robin who was coming to stay with Josiah and my parents to come wait until Robin got there. We also called our friend Deb. We left for the hospital around 11:00 pm stopping in Clemmons to pick up Deb at the KFC.

When we got to the hospital, they put me back in triage. It was super busy. (I found out later they delivered 28 babies on that day). They put me in the last available room. It was quite a while before the nurse was able to come check me. Meanwhile I was still having strong contractions that were four minutes apart. After about 40 minutes or so, the nurse came to check me. Once she did, she immediately got a panicked look on her face, got on the phone and told them that they needed to do something quick because the girl in the room was dilated 9 centimeters! At first I could hardly believe she was talking about me. After all, I had been two and a half for two weeks. How in the world could I get to a 9 in a matter of a few hours? They began unhooking me and quickly wheeled me to a birthing room. Now it is just a little bit past midnight. I continuted having contractions for a couple of hours, but just couldn't manage to get past nine and a half centimeters. I was very hot. Steve and Deb were kind enough to keep me supplied with ice chips. Steve also scrounged around until he found something to use as a washcloth to wet with cold water and put on my head. (Take a good look at the picture. See if you can guess what my "washcloth" really is. The answer will be at the end of the post.)

They both did such a great job of encouraging me to breathe in my nose and out my mouth. I definitely could not have done it without them. They paged the doctor to see if there was anything he could do to help me get past nine and a half. He said he was going to do something and if it worked he would tell me right away to start pushing. It worked, I pushed, and he said he thought we were getting ready to have a baby. He told me to push on the next contraction. I did and Zoe's head came out halfway. He told me to stop right there because he needed to put on his gown. Which he did and also the booties over his shoes and a few other things. Meanwhile, I am laying there with Zoe's head partway out. I find it rather humorous! :) I pushed again, her head came out. Then one more push and there was baby Zoe! It was 2:55 a.m.

Through all of this, I am so grateful to God for so many things- first of all for baby Zoe! Her name means "life" in Greek. She is definitely a gift from God. I am also thankful that he allowed her to come before Monday. I was going to have to be induced if she didn't come by then. I was really nervous about it. I had pitocin with Josiah and was really hoping to avoid it with Zoe. And I did! :) I am also thankful that he allowed me to do it without an epidural. I really do not like needles and especially the thought of one going into my back. I prayed hard that I would be able to do it without one, and I did! :) Since I got to the hospital so late in the process I didn't even get any pain medication at all. I am also thankful for Dr. McCunniff. He delivered Josiah almost two years ago. We were very grateful for him to be able to deliver Zoe also! I know that so many people were praying for me during this time. I am so very thankful to all of you for that. God answered your prayers!! How awesome is that!!

So did you figure it out?? What was the "washcloth" that Steve put on my forehead. Here is another picture of it up close.

Yup, that is right. Underwear. You know those disposable, stretchy, mesh underwear they give you right after birth. That was it. I do have to say, it was rectangular in the cupboard and Steve had no idea that was what it really was!! He was just trying to help me be more comfortable. Thank you so much, sweetie. I love you!! :) Besides, it makes a great story!! :)

Day at the Park

2008-04-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

We went to the park today with some of our friends from church. It was quite the exciting time. First of all, I went to sit in my chair and it broke! Yes, that is right, it broke!! Come on Zoe. When you make mommy's chair break because she is so heavy since you are still inside her, I think it is time for you to come!! Josiah was also brave enough to go down the BIG slide all by himself for the first time. He also went up to some lady he didn't know who was on the swings and asked her to pick him up and swing him! It was hilarious! Here are some pictures:

Due date...

2008-04-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the doctor this morning. No change. I am still dilated about one and a half and have been so for about three weeks now. They said that they won't let me go one week past my due date, which I found out is Monday, April 21st, NOT Friday the 18th as I have been thinking for a while. See, when I originally went to the doctor they said the due date was the 21st based on my cycle. When they did the ultrasound, the ultrasound lady told me it was the 18th based on the size of the baby. So that is what I have been going by. The doctor told me today that if there is less than a 7 day difference between the two, they go with the date based on the cycle. So, I am only 39 weeks and 2 days. I have an appointment on Wednesday next week which Steve is sure we are going to miss. There is a full moon this weekend, and that does seem to help put people in labor, so we will see! :)

Still waiting....

2008-04-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

No baby yet. I go to the doctor in the morning. Hopefully things will have progressed a little bit since last week! I am holding out for everyone who has a birthday Wednesday, Thursday, Monday, or whenever else people have said I should have the baby!! :) (I am happy to accomodate you all, but ultimately it is up to Zoe!) More to come soon....

What a difference!

2008-04-08T07:00:00.001-07:00

In getting things ready for baby Zoe's arrival (which by the way has not happened yet, but hopefully will really soon!), we pulled out the swing, bouncy seat, jumparoo, and car seat and had them all cleaned up and ready to use. Josiah decided it would be fun to use them again himself. Just for fun, I am posting pictures of him when he first used the swing and the jumparoo and pictures of him this week as he is using them again. It is amazing to see how much he has grown!!

7 Random Facts

2008-03-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Sarah to share 7 random facts about myself. Here goes:
1. I like brussel sprouts.
2. I know how to sew and used to sew a lot of my own clothes in high school and college.
3. I started college as a music major. I loved theory and hated ear training. I changed my major to Elementary Ed. after my freshman year because I didn't want to do a sophomore recital.
4. I met and married my husband in 3 months.
5. I taught English at a kindergarten in Romania for a year.
6. I had a Strawberry Shortcake canopy bed when I was a girl.
7. I learned how to drive a tractor when I was 12.

I don't believe that I know of 7 other bloggers to tag, so if you are reading this and feel so led to do it yourself, feel free. Let me know so I can check it out!

Tuesday fun

2008-03-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

The last few Tuesdays I have dropped Josiah off at my mom's while I have run around doing different things. My dad works on Tuesdays so she likes to have him around. Today I decided instead of dropping the boy off with Nana, that we would ask Nana to come along while we went to the park. Josiah had tons of fun. He went down the slide many times (although not headfirst like his brave friend Isaac) and also played on the swing. He loved to give Nana a high five as he passed by her on the swing. Here are a few pics.

Big boy bed and Guitar Hero

2008-03-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

We decided a while back since we are going to need the crib for baby Zoe when she arrives that we would buy a "big boy" bed for Josiah. We ordered it last month and it finally arrived on Thursday. The poor guys that delivered it had never put this particular bunk bed together before and it took them four hours. I felt so bad for them. Finally, it was finished all except for one slat that had broken in the shipping process. I stopped by the store on Friday to pick it up and we put it on the bed and made it up. Josiah would just walk into the room to look at the bed and say "Wow!" Saturday when he woke up, we took him into his new room to play on his new bed. He had quite a good time playing with his daddy and all his Pooh friends on the bed.

This afternoon we decided to see if he would go to sleep in his new bed. He played with the radio for a little bit, but after it got quiet, I went to check on him. This is what I found. What a sweet sight!

After a couple of hours, I went to check on him. He was laying on the floor just inside the door. When I went to take a picture of him, he sat up.

I just went to put him to bed. We "rock rocked" in the rocking chair for a few minutes, and then I put him down telling him he needed to go to bed. I wanted to see if he would go to his old room and the crib or his new room with the big boy bed. He walked straight into his new room and climbed up into the bed. We will see how it goes! It might turn out to be an interesting night.

On another note, last night was our teen night here at the house. One of the guys brought guitar hero and Josiah decided to try to play. It was hilarious. He was dancing and playing. We took some video, but I haven't figured out yet how to upload it. For now, the still pictures will have to do.

Watoto

2008-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

The Watoto children's choir sang at Clemmons Elementary last night. Steve and I were asked to be alternate hosts in case of sickness or anything else that made someone unable to keep some of the kids. Turns out we got to be alternates for two families and had four boys and two chaperones from the choir here for the evening. First of all, let me say the concert was awesome! You can learn more about the Watoto and their ministry here. The boys had an awesome time playing in the gameroom and with Josiah's toys. They also loved fruit!! Here are a few pictures from the night.

Forget something??

2008-02-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Earlier this evening, Steve went to change Josiah's diaper. He decided to go ahead and put on Josiah's pajama pants, but leave on the sweater that he was already wearing. (Josiah is getting sick, so Steve thought the sweater would be warmer.) I commented to Steve that Josiah looked really skinny in his pajama pants compared to his little cordoroys. After playing a while and then sitting in his high chair for a snack, Steve picked him up only to discover this:

What a blowout! I had never seen him leak so badly.

Upon investigation (which I, assuming the worst, refused to do), this is what Steve discovered:

Josiah had not blown out his diaper after all. There was no diaper on him to begin with!! Oops!! Oh, and by the way, there was a puddle on the floor underneath the high chair! haha....what a night!

Do I hate my son??

2008-02-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

One of our verses for Bible study today was Proverbs 13:24. It says, "He who withholds the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."

The video we watched really got me thinking about this and it has been on my mind most of the day. Some really good points were made, one especially being, do I make excuses for my child's sin? For example, if I tell Josiah to do something, and he doesn't do it, do I say that he didn't hear me or that he was too involved in what he was doing and I shouldn't have asked him to come. In essence by saying that, I am taking the blame for his disobedience or allowing him to become self-absorbed and to passively defy my authority. Another example of this is when we are in a store and he is misbehaving, do I excuse his misbehavior by saying he is just tired? I have caught myself doing this one several times. By excusing it rather than dealing with the problem, I am not teaching him self-control. He has to learn to behave under any circumstance, even when he is tired or doesn't feel good.

It just really got me thinking. I am going to try to watch this week and see how I handle my son. I really do love him, and I want to love him the way God wants me to by disciplining him. I am not talking about just spanking or hitting him, but truly teaching him to be a self-controlled young man.

I'm a big boy now!

2008-02-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

Ever since the Sunday night Super Bowl party, where the gates on the steps were down and little ones were free to roam around, Josiah has decided that he is a big boy now and can go up and down the stairs. He is so proud of himself every time he does it. I, on the other hand, have to keep from panicking every time I hear him going up and down. He really does pretty well. You can see from the pictures that he likes to try to climb "big boy" way. Man, he is growing up way too fast!!

Double Stroller Ride

2008-01-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

Since there are only 11 weeks left until my due date, I have been trying to slowly get things done around the house to get ready for the new baby. Today's task - the double stroller. Steve and I went to Babies-R-Us a couple of weeks ago and bought one that was a light blue/gray combination. It seemed the best choice since the only other one they had that was similar was a puked up sweet potato color. Upon our arrival home, I checked online only to discover that there was a black/taupe/brown version of the stroller that was much more pleasing to the eye, only you could only order it on the internet. So, I did. The blue/gray one was returned the other day. I drug the box out of the garage today and brought it to the living room floor. After spending a little time attaching the wheels, snack trays and basket, I put the baby seat in the back and then showed Josiah how the "baby" (otherwise known as Rexie) would ride in the back. Then I put Josiah in the front and we went for a ride around the house. Apparently Josiah really likes the stroller, since after our ride, I asked him if he wanted to get out and he said "Nooooooo" in his little Josiah way of saying it. He played contentedly in it for another 30 minutes or so before he was ready to get out. Here is a cute picture of Josiah and "baby" in the stroller.

"All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful...." Hebrews 12:11

2008-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, the verse is very true. But last night I found discipline to be downright funny! We have been trying very hard to be consistent with Josiah letting him know where it is okay for him to explore and what is hands off. He often gets a "pop" on his bottom or his hand for going or doing something that he shouldn't be doing. Last night, Steve was at a seminar and I was home alone with the mister. For some reason, he was really into turning the Direct TV reciever on and off. After a stern no, he began receiving his "reward" for disobeying. After about the third time over a period of a couple of hours, when he turned it off, he saw me coming and turned around and held out his hand for the pop. I about busted out laughing. Who says these little boogers don't understand what is going on??

"lisio"

2008-01-24T18:06:00.000-08:00

Tonight we made cupcakes for our cake day tomorrow. Steve was gone to a seminar in Greensboro, so no matter what I was doing around the house, Josiah was right there to watch. This was the case with the cupcakes. When I was mixing them, he wanted to be right there and watch it all. So, when I finished, I thought he should experience licking the beater. He thoroughly enjoyed it. As he would say, it was "lisio". (His 18 month version of the Spanish "delicioso").

Busy day and big boo-boo

2008-01-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

Since yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Steve was off work. We decided to tackle a bunch of things that we had on a list that needed to be accomplished. First we headed to Lexington to Hayes Jewelers. The diamond fell out of my ring during our Christmas visit to Indiana, so we dropped it off so it could be repaired. Then we headed to High Point to look at some furniture places for a bunk bed for Josiah and a recliner for Steve. We didn't find either. Then we headed to Greensboro. We had a gift certificate for Smokey Bones (my favorite restaurant) and wanted to use it up. After a HUGE lunch of BBQ, onion rings, cole slaw, broccoli, crab chowder and a bag of donuts, we headed back toward Winston-Salem. We then made a quick trip to Babies-R-Us to look at double strollers. We bought a Graco that was light blue and gray. It seemed the best choice compared to the other one that was the color of puked up sweet potatoes. (Of course, after I got home, I discovered there is a black and taupe version of the stroller that is available online only, so I ordered that one, and we are taking the blue and gray one back). After Babies-R-Us, we headed to the hospital to visit our friend Heather who is there on bedrest until she has her baby. Josiah was in an unusually good mood, which was surprising since he had only a quick 20 minute nap on the ride back from Greensboro. He was really into entertaining Heather and her family who were there visiting her as well. He was saying his numbers 1-10 and then doing them backwards, singing songs, and giving everyone high fives. After a bit, he tripped and fell. That is when it happened. His first big boo-boo ever. He hit his head on the trash can (which was made of really hard plastic) and ended up with a cut on his eyebrow and a cut on his nose. It took a couple of minutes to console him and to try to keep the cut from bleeding. It wasn't long though, and he was back to his old self, singing and high-fiving. He sang after we left the hospital all the way to the furniture store in Mocksville. Once there he was counting out loud and laughing and having a good time entertaining the sales people. What a tough little kid! I thought maybe he would end up with a black eye, but fortunately he didn't. Here is a couple of pictures of the brave boy and his wound.

Cake Day #2

2008-01-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

Today we had our second cake making day. Last Friday we made a cake for Heather's baby shower. Today we made a birthday cake for PJ's birthday party tomorrow. I think it turned out really well! Here are the pics. For more, check out Sarah's blog. :)

He said "Me!"

2008-01-17T08:04:00.001-08:00

I know this is probably not a big deal, but to me, it was. So here goes....yesterday I posted the pictures of Josiah and Grace on the blog. When I was finished, I called Josiah over to show him the pics. I pointed to Grace and asked him who it was. "Rrrace" he says. Then I pointed to him and asked him who it was. He said, "Me!" I thought to myself, there is really no way that this little 18 month old just said "me." Most kids his age (I think) still refer to themselves by their own name. So I just brushed it off as a fluke. Then last night after life groups, I showed Steve the pictures and once again asked Josiah to identify the people in them. Once again, he said "Me!" Again this morning, I get the same response. I know it isn't a big deal, but I just love to see him learning new things and recognizing how to use words. It just warms my heart. I guess seeing him learn is probably my favorite thing about being a mom. I can't wait to see what new thing he comes up with today. Off I go...

Sleepover

2008-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Last night, Josiah's friend Grace's parents went to a concert. They asked if Grace could spend the night. We agreed. Steve had a seminar at the library in Clemmons, so most of the evening I was here alone with the two little ones. They had a great time watching Noggin, playing with the toys, playing the piano and eating their bedtime snack while in their pajamas. Here are a few cute pictures of the evening!

Occupation Prediction

2008-01-06T16:27:00.001-08:00

Based on this picture....I would say our son is destined to be a plumber!!

Second children...

2008-01-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

You know what they say, the second child end up with fewer pictures of themselves than the first. The third one is supposedly even worse. I am beginning to believe it. I am 24 weeks pregnant and tonight is the first belly shot I have taken. By this time during my pregnancy with Josiah, I had taken several. Sorry Zoe! I will try to do better. Anyway, enjoy. It is only going to get worse! :)

First Haircut

2007-12-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took Josiah for his first haircut. His hair was getting a little bit long and from the back it looked like he had a mullet. So, we took him to the Clemmons Barber Shop. We were met there by my parents and my brother Sam. Larry, who has been my dad and brother's barber for over 20 years did the deed. He put a booster up in his chair and we set Josiah on it. We decided this would be a good time to give him his first sucker. It worked. Of course, by the end of the haircut his sucker was covered with hair and we had to trade it out for another one. He looks really cute with his new do. Here are some pictures of the big event...

It's a girl!!!: Part Two

2007-12-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone thought by my lack of comments in the last post that I was not excited about having a girl, I thought I would recount the events of my day. It started off with the doctors appointment this morning. The ultrasound showed that everything is fine with the baby and that she is a girl. We were very excited to hear that. We were hoping that this baby would be a girl. Her name will be Zoe Elizabeth. We like the name Zoe because it means "life" in Greek. My parents were able to go with us to the ultrasound which was kind of special for them. They had never seen one before. Since all three of us kids were adopted, all of this pregnancy and birth stuff is new to them and I like to have them share as many experiences as they can to see what it would have been like.
After I got home from the doctor, I had to get busy making four green bean casseroles. Yes, I said four. We had all the teachers from Salem Baptist over tonight for their Christmas dinner. I was responsible for making the main course which consisted of beef stroganoff, glazed carrots and green bean casserole. Other people brought the desserts, rolls, jello salad and drinks. It was quite fun. They played the "naughty santa" game and then a game that included charades, pictionary and Don't forget the lyrics with Christmas carols. I successfully drew "Silent Night" and my team guessed it in just a couple of seconds. Our team won, and I am now a proud owner of a three meal ticket for the cafeteria. Guess I won't have to pay for lunch the next three times I sub! :)
It was an exciting day, but very tiring, so I am off to bed. More later....

It's a girl!!

2007-12-03T08:12:00.001-08:00

Self-feeding boy

2007-11-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Our boy is now self-feeding, at least when it comes to certain foods. He has already been doing "finger foods" for a long time, but Thursday he progressed on to foods that he can eat with a spoon. So far he has been successful with oatmeal, yogurt, and applesauce. I am very excited about this although it means I will be doing much more laundry in the days to come! I have posted some pictures of his new feat for you to check out. Kudos to Steve (in the last picture) who has also been working on his self-feeding skills as well. Notice there is hardly any applesauce on his bib! :o)

In other news, Josiah's vocabulary is increasing at an exponential rate. He is now saying things like "You're welcome", "Please", "Love you", and "umbrella". He can also count "Two" and "Three". He always manages to leave out the number one! :o) I cannot believe how quickly he is growing up. At the same time I am so excited about all the new things he is learning!

It's been four years...

2007-10-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been four years since what I consider to be one of the greatest days of my life. The day went something like this.

Saturday, October 18, 2003

Steve and I had been dating all of five weeks at this time. Last night I met his mom and stepdad for the first time. They are down visiting for the weekend. Steve and I are getting together with his parents and my parents for dinner tonight so that everyone can get acquainted. It is early afternoon and Steve calls me to ask me if he can pick me up early so I can go run errands with him before dinner. I told him I could as long as we could stop by the grocery store and get the things that I needed in order to do my part in contributing to Sunday lunch the next day. He said that would be okay. Around 4:00 he comes to my apartment and picks me up. We drive around for a little while, and I was totally clueless of where we were or where we were going. Suddenly, I realize that we are just off University Parkway by the Coliseum. The next thing I know, Steve is turning by the Coliseum and headed towards Groves Stadium. My heart stopped. This is where he took me for our first date. And then, he turns in there. There is no football game on that day and the stadium is eerily quiet. Steve said he needed to get something from there and that he was told one of the gates would be left open. And surely enough, it was. So we get out of the car and walk into the stadium. I see no one or hear anything. He then takes me up to the place where we sat on our first date. "This is the place, isn't it?", he says. I agree, shaking my head wondering exactly what was coming next. I soon found out. He said that he wanted to ask me three questions. I agreed to listen. He proceeded.
1. Will you make me the happiest man in the world?
2. Will you do me the profound honor of being my wife?
3. (He gets down on one knee) Will you marry me?
And he holds out a box with a ring in it. A ring, that the single Christian school teacher that I was never imagined would ever be put on my finger. It was so amazingly beautiful that I was in utter shock. So it took me a second to answer because of that shock, and Steve thinking I wasn't too sure about it all said, "Please !?!?"
Of course I said "Yes!" and when we embraced he secretly gave a thumbs up sign to his friend Jeffrey Griffin from WSJS who was up in the sound booth (and who also had conveniently left the gate open for us). Jeffrey then began to play "Spoken For" by Mercy Me over the loudspeakers of the football stadium. Both of us when hearing that song at separate times in the earlier weeks thought immediately of the other one and our relationship.
After the song finished, Steve said, "There is more". He took me down to the front of the field where on a music stand he had a Bible waiting for me. It says in the front cover "Presented to The Love of my Life. By your adoring man. On this, the day of our engagement, October 18, 2003". He told me that he always wanted Christ to be the center of our marriage.
After this final presentation, Jeffrey emerged from the sound booth for hugs of congratulations and picture taking time.
We met our parents later at Longhorn. I kept the ring hidden in my pocket until we were seated at the table at which time I began to flash it around pointing at things on my mom's menu. It took her a little bit, but finally she grabbed my hand and said, "I didn't get a good enough glimpse of that flash." At this point in time everyone started crying tears of joy and the waitress was caught in the midst of an emotional time.
That was four years ago today, and I still look at that ring on my finger and my heart stops. Not so much because of the beauty of the ring, but because of the love that is behind it and the wonderful man that I can now call my husband!

cute pictures

2007-10-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

To appease my blog checking friends who complain that I don't update frequently enough, here are a few cute pictures I have taken of Josiah recently. To fill you in on the recent news. He went to the doctor today and is 34.25 inches long (97+%) and 26.2 lbs (75%). He is saying a bunch of new words like "off" and "Eeyore". The word of the day is "yes" which he said at least a billion times. He is such a joy and we are so thankful to God for such a wonderful gift!!

Daddy's little helper

2007-10-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

Steve was in our bathroom tonight folding the basket of laundry that he did the other day. Josiah decided that he wanted to help daddy with the laundry. His idea of "helping" was taking all the underwear out of the basket and throwing it in a pile on the floor. Every now and then he would lay down on it and laugh. I caught a few pictures.

I don't even know what to title this....

2007-10-01T16:30:00.001-07:00

What a day! I am glad it is almost over and that I can go to bed soon! The day didn't start off too bad. The boy, being overtired from a lack of naps and being out late yesterday, slept until 12:20. He might have stayed asleep longer, except I had to get him up for a doctor's appointment. I went upstairs, and when I opened the door, there to my surprise is my son standing in his crib with his pacifier in his mouth and just his shirt on. (Last night we were at a friend's house until late, so when we got home we just put him in bed with his shirt on.) As I neared the crib I noticed that off in the corner was a diaper. I also noticed that the smell of the room got remarkably worse as I neared the crib. Apparently, Josiah at some time had figured out how to take off his diaper. He also managed to wet and poop in his crib, all over his blankets and toys that were in there. He also got poop all over his hands and wiped it up the sides and top of the crib when he stood up. And, to finish it off, he stepped in the poop....with his socks that were left on from last night! I managed to very carefully pick him up and take him downstairs for an immediate bath. A couple of small pieces of poop fell off of him and onto the carpet along the way. I laid him down on the changing pad while I filled the tub, which then had poop smeared all over it. I somehow managed to get his soaked shirt and disgustingly filthy socks off of him and into the washer. I then put him in the bath and scrubbed him down using an unusually large amount of bath gel. The diaper changing pad was then thrown in the washer before the boy was taken out of the bath. I managed to get him clothed and then fed. I gave him some grapes to eat to occupy him while I ran upstairs to take care of the bedding. Upon further inspection of the bed, I realized he also got poop on the bumper. So I removed the sheets, blankets, stuffed animals, bumper and anything else that was in there and ran downstairs to the washer. I decided this was a good time to try out the sanitary cycle on our washer! Three hours of cleaning and super hot water!
Steve spent some time this evening scrubbing the mattress pad and crib to try to remove the poop scent that had been ingrained from the earlier episode. When he dressed the boy for bed tonight, he made sure he put on tight PJ pants!
I just don't understand how these things managed to happen to me and only when Steve isn't home to help!!

Astronauts

2007-09-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Steve in his other life would be an astronaut (or a professional poker player) if he could. He is kind of hoping that Josiah will become interested in space and fulfill his lifelong dream. Steve was very excited yesterday to hear two astronauts on WSJS, Charlie Duke and Scott Carpenter. He was so excited that he stopped by the station to meet them on the way to his own live broadcast at Big Shotz. The astronauts were meeting people yesterday afternoon at Windsor Jewelers on Stratford Road, so we packed up little man and took him there to meet them. We waited in line for about an hour and finally were able to get Josiah's picture with them. Here is it! Maybe one day he will be a famous astronaut too!

Not a lot...

2007-09-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Not a lot happening around here at the moment. At least not anything too exciting, so in an effort to keep my blog reading friends happy, I have posted a couple of pictures of Josiah in his outdoor walking adventure from the other day. He had so much fun just walking up and down the sidewalk. I was finally able to get him to stop long enough to pose for a picture with daddy and the dog! Anyway...that is all for now. More news when something exciting happens! :)

It's on!

2007-09-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

After walking a bit last Thursday night, Josiah, being his usual "I am going to do it how and when I want to do it" self, decided that he wasn't going to walk again anymore. Finally, on Monday night he gave in and walked back and forth from the couch to the television a couple of times. Then yesterday, he took off. You would have thought he had been walking for weeks. He walked from the bedroom down the hall to the kitchen, from the living room to the front door, and everywhere else in between. He was so proud of himself, even clapping for himself by the time evening rolled around. The cutest thing was him chasing his soccer ball around the living room and kicking it while saying "dit, dit", which when interpreted means "kick, kick". I can't wait for him to wake up and get started again today. We must give a special thanks to Sarah and Isaac for the grippy socks they bought us at Old Navy. Josiah wouldn't have been able to walk on the wood floors in socks without them! :)

Big day all around!

2007-09-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

First of all, today is the four year anniversary of my first date with Steve. For those of you who don't know, we were set up by his 13 year old nephew that was in the youth group that I was working with at church. His nephew Ben along with a couple of his friends who also knew Steve kept telling me that I needed to meet "Uncle Steve" and go out with him. I asked them to tell me about him. They would say that he was about 40 and I would tell them to stop right there. I wasn't about to go out with a guy that was 40!! After all, I was only 29. When I hit 30, my feelings changed. I finally agreed that they could give him my phone number and a few days later he called me. That was September 6th. We talked on the phone for over an hour and by the time the conversation ended, he had scheduled a date for the following Saturday. I was pretty impressed. I had been talking to another guy on the phone for a month who had yet to ask me to meet him! The next Saturday came, and Steve picked me up around noon. We went to the Wake Forest/Purdue football game. I spent a lot of the time talking to Steve rather than watching the game. When the game was over, he took me back to my apartment and continued talking to me outside the door. It was really hot in the stairway, so I invited him in to visit with me and my roommate some more. He talked with my roommate Nicole and I for another hour and a half or so. Then he asked if we were hungry. When we said a little, he proceeded to convince us to let him take both of us out to eat. We agreed. (Free food!) He took us to Cities for dinner and then to his house to play with his game tables. I beat him soundly at foosball. He says that I sandbagged him. That is another story for another time. After beating his head against the wall because of his loss, he took us home. That is how it all started. It is hard to believe that we are where we are today! Absolutely amazing!!

To continue on about this great day......Josiah is walking!! Finally! He officially took his first steps on his own on August 30th. He has taken a couple steps here and there since then. But tonight, for the first time, he has officially branched out on his own. He walked from the refrigerator to the pantry and back three times. He also took several steps on his own while we were at dinner at a friend's house. It won't be long. I can hardly wait! I know everyone says that I will regret it when he is walking, but I think it will make my life easier. For one thing, he doesn't like to wander off on his own. He likes to stay where you are, so I don't think I will be chasing him everywhere. Also, he is getting so very heavy, and I am having a harder and harder time carrying him. It will be nice for him to be walking since I have an ever increasing belly size in front of me over the next few months. Now if we could only get the potty training done..... :)

Grilled Panini

2007-09-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have been watching an awful lot of television lately because there isn't too much else to do while I am sitting/lying in bed. I know, I could read, but that takes work. I keep seeing this commercial for the grilled stuffed panini from Lean Cuisine so it kind of starts sticking in my mind, and before you know it, my pregnant self thinks that it sounds like a really good idea. So last night I am at the store and decide to get a couple to try. Today for lunch, I took one out of the freezer, followed the directions on the package to get it all set up and then cooked it in the microwave. I was a bit disappointed because my panini did not come out with the cool grill marks that are on the front of the box. I ate the sandwich and it tasted pretty good. When I was finished eating, I decided to check the back of the box to see if maybe I did something wrong. That was when I discovered in bold print, albeit it wasn't that big, that for better browning you should take the panini out of the freezer five minutes before cooking. So, now I know. I thought I would share this bit of knowlege with you in case you decided one day to try one of these paninis. I will probably eat the other one tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes...

It's Triplets!!

2007-09-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just kidding. I am only having one baby. For those of you who actually read my blog and notice that there has been an absence of posts lately, it is due to the fact that I have been battling a pretty bad case of morning sickness. Only, in my case, you can call it morning, noon, and night sickness! I have found that drinking lemonade and eating sausage dip (thanks, Heather!) makes me feel better. So after chugging a huge glass of lemonade, I am able to sit here an update my blog.
Steve and I went to the doctor today for our first visit. They did an ultrasound and the hearbeat looked good! What a relief! They said I am 8 weeks and 3 days along. That makes my due date April 18th. According to my friend Becky who put my information in on the chinese calendar, I am having a girl! I will let you know at the next ultrasound in 12 weeks whether or not she is correct.
Now for a funny story. When I was pregnant with Josiah, we went for our first visit at the doctor's office. When they were weighing me in, Steve being the silly man that he is sometimes, decided to make a joke and say that if I got past a certain weight it was all over with and he was going to leave me. I knew he was kidding but the nurse didn't seem too amused! When she was in the room giving us all the pregnancy information and finding out our medical background, Steve kept up his silly joking. Finally, when she hadn't responded to his humor, he leaned over to me and said out loud, "I don't think she likes me very much!" To which the nurse replied that when he was joking about leaving me over the weight, she didn't find it very funny. That was exactly what had happened to her. When she got pregnant and had her baby, she was unable to lose the pregnancy weight and her husband left her. Guess who felt like a shmuck! We were getting ready to leave the doctor's office today when this same nurse walked into the room with the prescription from the PN. She said that she had recognized my name on the prescription! I am sure that she wouldn't have remembered me if it hadn't been for Steve!! Don't worry, he didn't make any weight jokes this time!
Well, that is all for now. I think I am going to go lay back down on the bed and watch more tv.

Cute Picture

2007-08-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

We were at Tanglewood today with the family for a picnic. I took some pics of the boy and this one is my favorite!

Alaska Trip Overview

2007-08-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

Alaska was incredible! Don't think we will be able to top that trip for a while. Here is a brief overview of the things that we did.

Day 1 (Sat.) - We flew to Anchorage. On the way to our ship in Whittier, we took a quick tour of the Alaska Wildlife Center. We boarded the ship and got settled in. After dinner, we went to bed early. (Party poopers, I know!!)

Day 2 (Sun) - I got up around 6 am to see the glaciers as we travelled through College Fjiord. It was absolutely amazing. We filled the day with activities on the ship - ping pong, a show, ice carving demonstrations, fruit carving demonstrations, and of course, lots of food. It was the first formal night.

Day 3 (Mon) - We were still at sea. The ship stopped to view a glacier for an hour or so. We saw it cavving. Pretty cool! Today was Grammy Sue's 70th birthday. We all celebrated her birthday together at dinner. The chefs made her a chocolate cake and it was fantastic!!

Day 4 (Tues) - We arrived in Skagway. Steve, Josiah, and I walked around in the morning and did a little bit of shopping. After lunch on the boat, we and everyone else (all 38 of us) took a train ride on the White Pass and Yukon railway. We went all the way to Canada and back. The whole trip took about 3 hours. Steve and I and two of our friends, Scott and Deb, ate at Sabatinis which was a specialty Italian restaurant on the ship. It was phenomenal!! They brought us tons of food and kept bringing it. I topped off the dinner with an expresso creme brulee which was probably my favorite dessert of the whole trip.

Day 5 (Wed) - We arrived in Juneau. It was a bit misty this morning, but it cleared up before noon. That was the only bad weather we had on the trip. We stayed on the boat in the morning to make sure Mister had a good nap. After lunch, we were picked up in a van and taken to Era Helicopters. My friend Kristy arranged for us to be flown up to the Norris Glacier where she works on the deadhead flight. If you don't know what a deadhead is, it is an empty flight going up or back that is for the purpose of picking up or dropping off a group. But it only has a load one way. So we flew up on the deadhead helicopter and met Kristy on the glacier. She then took us on a three mile mushing ride. Then we spent some time visiting with Kristy and the dogs before our return trip back to the boat. We had our second formal night. Josiah wore a tie for the very first time! He looked so cute!

Day 6 (Thurs) - We arrived in Ketchikan. We went to the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show. It was pretty cool. They threw axes and climbed up poles. Overall it was very entertaining. I spent the afternoon shopping with our friends Scott and Deb, while Steve stayed on the ship with a sleeping Josiah. That evening, we went up on deck and watched the sun set. It was beautiful. Then we hung out in the lounge on the 18th floor of the ship. There were windows all around. It was pretty amazing up there!

Day 7 (Fri) - We were at sea once again. I went to a cooking demonstration with Deb in the morning. After lunch, we packed a bit, then spent the rest of the afternoon up on the front deck of the ship. It was a gorgeous day and the view was once again amazing! We had dinner with everyone. After dinner, Steve's sister took care of Josiah for a while and we had a little "date night". We finished packing, and then went to bed early.

Day 8 (Sat) - After an early rising and a very quick breakfast, we disembarked at 7:45 and took a bus ride to the airport. There we gathered our luggage, checked in, went through customs and found our gate. We flew from Vancouver to Chicago and then caught our second plane to Charlotte. We arrived home in Mocksville at approximately 10:30 pm. It is great to be home!! :)

If you want to see the pictures from our trip, you can check them out here.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030033&l=cd0b0&id=141302360

http://cedarville.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030038&l=fa430&id=141302360

(I had so many pictures I had to put them in two albums!!)

Time to Leave!!

2007-07-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

It is 3:57 a.m. and I am just waiting for the alarm to go off so Steve will wake up and I can take a shower. I am so excited that I woke up over a half an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep. We have to be out of here by 5:00 so we can get to the airport at 6:15. Our flight for Chicago leaves at 7:40. We will fly to Anchorage from Chicago and get there around 1:15 p.m. their time. This is exciting!! Somehow we managed to fit all of our stuff for a week into 3 suitcases and 3 carryons, one carryon which will be eliminated once our human garbage disposal disposes of the food we are taking for him! Pray that we will have a safe trip. I will try to keep you updated!!

So long for now!!

Alaska...here we come!

2007-07-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning bright and early we are leaving for Alaska. Steve's stepmom is turning 70 next week and for her birthday they are taking everyone one a cruise! How silly is that?? I thought we were the ones that were supposed to buy the present!! I am not complaining though and I am very grateful for the opportunity.
After much time spent shopping for the right formal dress, backpack, pants, etc. I think I am finally ready to start putting it all into a suitcase. So far, my piles of clothes aren't that extremely massive. My goal is to take just one big suitcase, even if it has to be the biggest one!
As for the boy, well, I spent the morning pulling out his winter clothes for next year and trying them on him to see which ones may fit for the trip. Some of them are a little big, but they will have to do since all of his other pants are a wee bit small! I am definitely not investing in pants that he will wear for a week and then outgrow! He is eating almost all table foods now.(He had pizza last night and loved it!!), so that is a good thing. I don't know how we would carry enough food for him to eat for a week. We do have to take food for the trips up there and back, and that is enough!!
Well, it is back to laundry and packing....there are computers on the cruise ship so I will try to update every now and then!! (Just for you Sarah and Kim!! Kim, that means you need to leave me a comment!! haha)
Ciao!!

Strawsipper

2007-07-22T17:06:00.001-07:00

After an incredibly busy week that started off with two doctors appointments on Monday, with a little bit of time at Steve's office answering the phones squeezed in between, buying a new washer and dryer (and this is just Monday), followed by more work at the office, an eye doctor's appointment, a playdate with an old friend and her four kids, dinner with the pastor and his wife, dinner with a friend, shopping for formal clothes for the cruise, and getting ready for my parents retirement party and actually having the retirement party....
... I was able to sit down with the boy tonight and feed him some steamed broccoli and carrots. It was rather enjoyable. I could relax and sing him silly songs and make faces at him without having to worry about what was the next thing on my list. After a while, he got tired of the broccoli, so I decided to make his meal a bit more interesting by giving him water from a straw. We learned a while back that he loves it when you stick a straw in water, put your finger on top of the straw to hold it there, and then let it go into his mouth. I did this a few times, and then I decided not to take my finger off the straw and see if he could figure out how to get the water out by sucking on it. He did! So, the next step was to put the straw in the cup and see if he could drink from it. Sure enough, after a few seconds of just chewing on the straw, I felt the coolness of the water go up the straw. Josiah had so much fun and you could tell he was so proud of himself! By the time he was finished he had consumed a whole glass of water!!
Of course, afterwards we had to put him on the potty to see if he would go. Let me just say, he got a treat tonight!! :)

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

2007-07-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Josiah turned one today. We had such fun. Steve's parents have been here since Saturday so they could be here for the special event. We decided to have a small party today to celebrate his birthday with just us and the grandparents. He is having his big party on Saturday. He was being quite the ham today. I almost think he understood that today was a special day.

We started off with a his cake that I made for him. It was a almond cornbread pound cake with a mascarpone cream filling and strawberries on top. (No, Sarah, it was not from the Food Network. It was MarthaStewart.com!! haha) Basically, it was just a fancy strawberry shortcake. And it was very tasty!! We did manage to get a quick picture of Josiah with it before he decided to dig in. It is the only picture I managed to take of it whole and it is a little blurry

His favorite part was the strawberries on top. There were five whole medium-sized strawberries. He picked them off, one by one, and ate them whole. Here is a funny picture of one stuffed in his mouth. (Once again, it is blurry.)

He did eat a bite or two of the cake, but he wasn't too interested in eating it.

It was more fun to take the cake, mush it up, and smear it around on the high chair tray. He was pretty hard to get cleaned up after this. I think he is still a little greasy feeling!

After a quick cleanup, it was on to the present. My parents already had give us his present - a toybox. We had it set up in the living room. He loves to open and shut the lid. It is amazing how the littlest things can entertain them for the longest time.

Here is a picture of Josiah with Nana and Papaw and the toy box.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown (Steve's mom and stepdad) gave Josiah a book and some big legos. They were a hit too!

Here is a picture of Josiah with Grandma and Grandpa and the amazing lego tower he built.

Oh wait, were the legos really for Josiah, or were they more for Steve?? :)

Steve and I gave him a little grand piano. He loved it!! I am so excited and hope he will be interested in music someday.

My little Schroeder!

And, yes, I did take all the pictures and that is why I am not in any. But I am on the video that Steve took! :)

Success (times two)

2007-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

After the peeing incident, I went out and bought Josiah a potty. It is really cute. It is called the Royal Throne. When you pee in it, it rewards you with music. At first he realy didn't like to sit on it, but now he really seems to enjoy sitting there. He sings songs to himself and makes the "sssss" sound. (We are actually making that sound to try to get him to pee, but he just repeats it back to us. What a copycat!)

Monday night, we put him on the potty. I told Steve he should turn the water on. That is what they always do in the doctors office when they want you to pee in a cup. So Steve turned the water on, and ta da....there came the music. I was so excited. I am sure Josiah had no idea what was going on.

We tried it again yesterday, without the water. Success once more. This time he heard the music playing. I think after a few times he might get the idea of what he is supposed to do. I am sure he will not be potty trained in the next couple of months, but maybe this will help heighten his awareness of it.

Well, I am off to work on birthday dinner....the mister is one today! Unbelievable. More on that later....

Overambitious. Maybe just a little.

2007-07-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

So you know those mother's that try to get their kids to learn everything and do everything early. Well, typically, I am not one of those. I do try to teach Josiah things and help his development along, but I am not obsessive about it. Usually. After talking with a friend the other day who had two little boys, I decided to try to start making Josiah aware that he is going to have to use a potty. She said that if you start using the language with him and then show him how to sit on the potty, it makes it a lot easier. So, that is what I started doing about once a day. Yesterday, I was feeding Josiah breakfast when I realized that he was using the bathroom in his diaper. I quickly grabbed him out of his high chair, ran to the bathroom, whipped the diaper off and sat him on the toilet. I was concientious enough to make sure that Mr. Winky was pointed down.

Josiah used the bathroom in the potty.
It successfully went between the seat and the toilet and all over me.

We bought a potty chair yesterday with a guard.
That is what I get for being overambitious.

"Tish!! Tish!!"

2007-07-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

The monster has come and gone and my sweet son has finally returned. For those of you who know Josiah, you might be thinking that he is always a sweet child. Well, I wish I could say that was true, but for a couple of very LONG days I wasn't sure I would ever see that sweet child again. You see, I made a BIG mistake. I have been trying to convert him over to eating table food. We are going on an Alaskan cruise at the end of the month and didn't really feel like lugging eight days worth of baby food in my luggage so that he would have something to eat. (Just so you know, on a typical day, Josiah can eat 8 containers of baby food, not including snacks.) I figure, if I could get him eating table food, there would be plenty of options on the cruise to pick from. So, I did what every normal mother does, give their child different foods to try. He has had tomatoes, mushrooms, peas, green beans, and all kinds of fruit. He absolutely loves spaghetti! Then I gave him goldfish. You know, those little cheese crackers that are shaped like fish. All kids eat them, and they are fine. There must be something in them that affected my son temporarily. They turned him into a fish eating monster. He refused to eat his meals. "Tish!", he would say and fuss until I gave him some. "Tish!", he said when I went to get him up from his nap. There were wails and tears when he ran out of them at the swimming pool. In between his anger and frustration, you could clearly hear him calling, "Tish!!" Enough is enough. We could not take it anymore. Steve banned me from giving him anymore "Tish" until he got over his addiction. After a couple of days in rehab, I am happy to say that our son is no longer a "Tish" addict. He now eats his meals and when he is finished he gets some "Tish" as a reward if he eats all of his food. He doesn't scream when they are gone, but just makes the all done sign and smiles. Look at this smiling face. Who would have known those little crackers could make someone so happy(or turn them into such a terrible monster!).

Enough is enough!

2007-07-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, it has officially been over two weeks since I last posted something. I know I have driven Sarah nuts as she checks often for an update and there is....nothing! So here goes. Quick update and quick look ahead. The last couple of weeks has been a blur. Lesson plans. Cleaning house. Trip to the mountains. Swimming. Steve's birthday. With that all in the past I now have to look forward to the following over the next couple of weeks: Cleaning house. Mother-in-law and Stepfather-in-law visit. Sister-in-law and brother-in-law and nephew visit (x2). Josiah's birthday. Josiah's birthday party. My parents retirement party. Getting out invitations for the aforementioned parties. Poker party. ("I'm all in!!") Cleaning out the pantry. Trying to catch up on Josiah's scrapbook. It is just crazy.

Hopefully in the midst of all this craziness I will find time to post some new material, much more funny and interesting than today's. But for now, I am off to try to knock some tasks off my list. Time is short. I have to make the most of it!

Beach Pics!

2007-06-17T18:31:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the beach. We had such a great time. Our boy is going to grow up to be a beach bum just like his mommy!! The last picture is the one I had printed out and put in a picture frame for Steve for his first Father's Day. It just seemed appropriate to me! Hope you enjoy them! :)

Beach...here I come!

2007-06-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

We are leaving today after church to go to the beach. I can't wait. I will post pictures when I return. That's all for now.

Josiah and Isaac Pictures

2007-06-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

Isaac came over today to play with Josiah. It has been a whirlwind of fun including Baby Einstein, playing with toys on the blanket, eating and napping. Here are a few pictures of all of their fun!

Inside Picnic

2007-06-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to have a church picnic today, but it rained. So we got some of our friends together at our house for our "indoor picnic." I had made a whole bunch of cookies and Steve was just looking for a way to get rid of them! It turned out to be a lot of fun. Isaac came over and played with Josiah (sort of). Here is a pic of the two of them. I really think they will be best friends when they get older.

On another note...we leave for the beach next Sunday. I am going to try to eat vegan until at least Friday night. Hopefully it will go well!

Contact Crisis

2007-06-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

We are going to the beach a week from tomorrow. (I can't wait, btw!) I realized this past week that I had put the last pair of contacts in my eyes. I definitely need to get more because if I go swimming in the pool and accidently open my eyes in the water, there will be no more contacts and I will not be able to see. I would be subjected to wearing my glasses the whole time. Something I would not enjoy very much. So, to remedy the situation, I got on 1800contacts.com to order some more. I had a little over a week, so that would be plenty of time to get them here. I put in my prescription and billing information and hit send. They called my optometrist to verify the prescription only to find out that my prescription had expired. (Funny thing, I still had so many contacts when I got my eyes checked last that I never ordered any new contacts off that prescription. I had gone mainly to get glasses. The glasses prescription is still good. Ha!) They told me that if the doctor would give me a written prescription that they would be able to fill my order. So Steve went by there after the radio on Thursday to get the prescription. The doctor also gave him an extra set of contacts and also sold him a pair of a new kind that he wanted me to try. I was so relieved. That would be enough to get me through the beach trip and I could go get my eyes checked when I got home. When Steve brought them home, I looked at them and realized he had given Steve the wrong prescription. He had both of my eyes as being -3.0 and I know that each eye has a different prescription. So, I went back by there yesterday around 1:00. The sign on the door said, "Closed, be back at 2:30". So I went and wasted an hour then went back. The sign was still on the door. The lady in the optical department told me that the doctor was not in and that he would not return until today!! Arrgh! I had wasted the hour and a half for nothing. So FINALLY today I went by there. The doctor was in. I had to wait about 30 minutes while he finished up with a patient that was talking so loudly that I heard every word. She was telling the doctor her life story and every one elses. (It was actually kind of interesting.) When he was finished with her, he was able to help me and I got the right prescription and right contacts!! Yay!! Steve tells me I should just get Lasik so I don't have to worry about it....but I am not quite ready for that yet. I will take this contact hassle over them cutting the cornea of my eye anyday!! :)

No more Army crawl....

2007-05-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

...it's on to the big boy hands and knees crawl. Steve has been working with Josiah on this because someone told him that it is vitally important for a child's brain development to learn the back and forth motion of crawling on their hands and knees. And out of the blue, just last night, he started doing it on his own. He has been doing it a little bit, just one or two steps, but now he can go across the entire room that way. If you ever saw him do the army crawl, you know that he pushed off with one leg while he kept the other one straight. He does a similar thing now, using one of his legs to push. It is kind of funny. Soon he will be up and walking and we will really be in trouble!!

For Sarah's enjoyment....

2007-05-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

So, I was taking some of Josiah's new clothes up to put in his closet. (We don't keep the clothes he is currently wearing upstairs in his room. Those are the clothes he will grow into. The clothes he wears now are kept downstairs in the laundry room. Anyway...that is how it is.) Back to the story......I was taking the new clothes upstairs and I started looking through the stuff that is in the closet to see if there is anything that would fit him right now. And here is what I found. I took a picture of them. Of course he has to wear them. We always have a PJ's shortage in this house. I knew you would get a laugh! Oh, and P.S. I didn't buy them. Someone else gave them to me.

Coming up for a quick breath...

2007-05-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, it has been another week of being submerged in one activity after another.

Monday: Chipotle with Heather while Steve went to Kimono with Gardner. We ended up at Coldstone. What a great way to finish off the evening.

Tuesday: Took a family friend to Saratoga Steakhouse for a graduation gift. Had a little bit of Steve's filet and a ceasar salad. Topped it off with a Nutter Butter shake from Marble Slab. (I am beginning to see a pattern here!)

Wednesday: Shopping at Concord Mills with Jen and Jack. I FINALLY found a dress for the wedding. We found some good deals. Very exciting!! Ended up the evening at Life Group. Great night with a great group of people! Kudos to Jen for the homemade pizzas!

Thursday: Went to Derek and Sarah's and babysat Isaac while they went out for their anniversary. He was perfect!! Drank his bottle and went to sleep. (I don't really know why she says all that stuff about him being a monster and all!! Haha.....love ya, Sarah!!)

Friday: Went to the wedding rehearsal for Grace and Jeff's wedding. Finished the night off with a buffet at the Forest Oaks Country Club in Greensboro. Yummy!

Saturday: The wedding. I played the prelude and for her dad to sing to Jeff. I messed up just a little bit in the prelude, but apparently I covered pretty well. It was a beautiful wedding. The southern gospel group Valour was there and they sang. INCREDIBLE! I don't listen to southern gospel but I almost want to after hearing them. They gave me goosebumps.

Sunday: We were in the nursery at church. It was pretty good today. Only four kids. Only one really needed constant attention. After church we went to the Greek Festival and ate souvlaki and those loukomades (I think that is how you spell it!) Yummy! I crashed and took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. I am going to need it since the next two days are going to be a marathon!

I have to go in early to school tomorrow to help some of the kids get their aprons done. Tuesday is my last day. I am kind of excited!! I am really looking forward to summer, the beach, Alaska, and just some time to relax.

That's all for now....I will be back again in a week. Nah, hopefully it will be before then!!

Whirlwind Update

2007-05-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

This past week has flown by. I don't know where it went. I didn't have time to stop and look. Here is a brief summary of what I can remember:

Tuesday: Went to Greensboro for my friend Andrea's last high school soccer game. They lost. It was sad. But we went to Smokey Bones for dinner so that almost made up for it.

Wednesday: I spent the day at the mall looking for a dress to wear at the wedding I am in this coming weekend. No luck. Everything is black and white or too wild looking. Life Groups in the evening. Jen McKie made great dessert!!

Thursday: My parents are retiring. The kids they teach had their last ever Spring Program. We went. My dad cried some. It was also kind of sad, but happy at the same time. I am glad they are retiring. They have worked hard for a very long time.

Friday: We hosted the rehearsal dinner for a wedding here at our house. New record - 50+ people were here. It was a good time.

Saturday: We went to the wedding. Then we had the teenagers over for make-your-own pizza and guitar hero. It was a lot of fun! Matt left GH here so I could play it the weekend. Great times and sore wrists!! :)

Sunday: My first ever Mother's day!! Went to church and then to Applebees for lunch. Came home and Steve gave me the gift from him and Josiah. The card from Josiah was so sweet it made me cry. Then I cried when I saw the gift. It was a Kitchen Aid mixer. I know, how dumb to cry over an appliance. But if you knew all that was behind it, you might have cried too!! I just love my husband and my son so much!! What blessings from God that I don't deserve. Sometimes I am amazed that God chose to bless me this way. What grace! I am so thankful!!

Monday: Well, that is tomorrow. I am not sure all that it will bring, but I do know that it will involve lots of piano practice (I am playing for a wedding next weekend), dinner with Heather and Coldstone Creamery!! It will be a great day!!

P.S. Josiah turned 10 months on Friday. Here is his 10 month pic!

He's pulling up....

2007-05-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

Josiah can now pull himself up on the couch. He gets pretty excited when he does. I think our life is going to be over soon. We will spend all of our time chasing him around everywhere. Hmmm....maybe I will lose those last couple of pounds that way!!

I did it!

2007-05-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it. I am not proud of it. But be assured, I am not alone. There are many more of "Us" out there. (I can say "Us" now!) We are embarrassed by what we have done, but what can we do about it?? Nothing. It cannot be changed. What is the big deal you say? What horrible thing have you done? Okay, I confess. I accidently walked into the men's room. I was at Applebees with Steve and I had to go to the restroom. I am not sure where my mind was, but when I woke up from whatever state of dream I was in I was walking past the urinals thinking to myself in kind of a haze, I don't remember seeing those in here before! Then, I quickly woke up, turned around and headed back out the door, trying to keep my laughter inside as not to draw attention to myself. I am not sure if anyone saw me. I tried not to make eye contact with anyone as I returned to my seat. Fortunately, there were no men in there at the time or it really would have been bad. If I had not felt the need to confess at this moment, no one would have ever known. (Except for Steve...I had to tell him, of course!)

*Deep Sigh

2007-04-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

All I have to say is this-
I got up at 6:15 this morning and walked 3 miles. After that, without taking a shower, I went to Walmart and bought a deep cleaner for our carpet. The carpet in the living room looked really bad where the boy had spit up on it several times and the dog always rubs his body on it. So, I cleaned the carpet this morning and it looked really good. I left it to dry while I went to school. Now, it is early evening and Steve set the boy on the carpet to crawl around while we are getting ready to go to Walmart and Lowes, and yes....the boy spit up! *Sigh*

Ping Pong balls and Flip Flops

2007-04-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

So Josiah's new favorite toy, believe it or not, is a ping pong ball. He will roll it around on the floor and go flopping/scooching after it. Once he has retrieved it, the ball ends up....yes, in his mouth. It is the funniest thing. It is a bit too big for him to hold in his mouth, so after a couple of seconds it goes shooting out and across the floor and the cycle starts again!

Steve and I had a great time on our date tonight. We ate at Chipotle and then we went to the mall. We were looking for a belt for the little man. We looked in two different stores. No belt, but we came away with a pair of pajamas and two pairs of flip-flops. (One for now and one for next year.) I have decided that baby flip flops just have to be the cutest thing ever.

Date Night Tonight!!

2007-04-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight is a date night. I am so very excited. We are dropping the boy off with my parents and Steve and I are going out for some one on one time. We are going to eat at Chipotle (mainly because I am eating vegan this week and can get a vegetarian burrito there). We might also go to the mall and walk around. I don't know what all else....I am just happy to have some time with my sweetie. Don't get me wrong, I love the little mister, but I don't mind a break from him every now and then. Especially when Steve gets a break too at the same time and we can focus on our own relationship. Steve had better watch out, because I am going to be focusing on him A LOT tonight!! :) HAHA!!!

My kid does tricks

2007-04-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Like it or not, my kid does tricks. Well, they might not be tricks, but my friend (we will call her Jane) thinks so. She was here at my house on Saturday and it came time for my son to get his bottle. As always, I made him say please before I gave it to him. He doesn't say it with his mouth (he can't talk yet --duh). He says it in sign language. The proper way to say please in sign language is to rub your hand on your chest. I tried getting him to learn it that way, but he consistenly puts his hands together as if he were begging. Anyway, I know what he means and when he says please, I give him his bottle, puffs, or whatever other food item he is asking for. My friend Jane was appalled at this and told Josiah that before long we would be teaching him to roll over and bark. Not so....our child is not an animal. He is a human being. One that is going to know his manners. And yes, I will teach them to him, and yes, I will make him practice them even when he doesn't want to. He will grow up to be polite.....like it or not!

And for his other trick, my mom showed him this one. She taught him to wave bye-bye. He doesn't do this correctly either, but it is terribly cute. He waves goodbye to himself. Just try it the next time he is around. It will definitely make you smile!

Worn out...

2007-04-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am just plain worn out. I have had a really busy week and I think it finally caught up with me. We had company Friday night and Saturday afternoon/evening. We went to another church tonight to see a play that our friends were in and then to friends' house for pizza afterwards. Since the house is basically clean, I am going to try to sleep in tomorrow, as much as the boy will let me. I am hoping that since it is 10:00 and I just put him to bed he will sleep in a little bit.
Other than that, no exciting news. I will try to find something better to blog about in the next couple of days. I just thought I had better put something up here for Sarah to read. She probably has been bored when she visited my page this last week.
Goodbye for now....

Forward motion

2007-04-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, he did it. Josiah actually moved forward today. It wasn't a complete crawl, but he pushed himself in such a way to propel himself in a forward motion. Up to this point he was only moving backwards and spinning around in circles. It won't be long now and he will be mobile. Are we ready for this?? Probably not. :)