Race Car and New Play Set

Our neighbors, since their daughters had outgrown it, gave us their gigantic swing set. I thought it was going to take an army of strong men to move the thing. But, Howard arrived Friday evening with one of the large towers attached to a lawn tractor having put wheels on the tower. There is a photo of the scene. I video taped it, too, it was so comical. On Saturday, the rest of the play set made it into our yard. The kids in the neighborhood helped bring all the pieces down and also helped swing on the swings. Joshua is so excited. Sunday morning he didn't even want breakfast. He just wanted to go and play. So, we did.





Jason's new Mini Cooper S arrived on Saturday as well. Now we are all set for the mini meet in July. He just needs his helmet so he can do the auto cross.

Mira is on a smiling kick. She'll smile at anyone that talks to her and she loves to be talked to. She'll through an oooh or ah in periodically, too. Yesterday she started really reaching for her toys while sitting in her swing. Today she reached up and touched my face while I was talking to her.

Videos

We have some videos up now. You can access them through the links to the right, "Family Videos".

Mira is smiling now, a lot. She 'talks' to you and is starting to hold on to items placed in her hands. She was already grabbing Nettie's hair and my necklace and holding on tight! The other day she even laughed in her sleep :-) So cute.

Joshua is getting a new swing set tomorrow. Our neighbors, whose girls have both outgrown the set they have, are giving their old one to us. We can wait!

Happy Easter

Joshua loved Easter! With all that candy, what's not to love! We tried to talk about the meaning of Easter but all Joshua heard was, 'The Easter Bunny brings candy.' We did have a fun time. We dyed eggs on Saturday and colored Easter pictures. He used his new 'cutters' aka scissors from Aunt Jill and Aunt Tara to cut out the pictures we were coloring. On Sunday, we had an Easter egg hunt at home when we woke up. The Easter bunny brought Joshua a new foam airplane that was huge! We went to church at my mom's and they had an egg hunt there, too. After church, Jason and the kids played in the field behind my parent's house throwing the airplane around. Then it was time for Easter dinner, naps and MORE play. Joshua got his exercise that day.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Ray came out to visit this week, too. We were so happy to see them. Joshua was asking when Uncle Ray was coming all morning on Tuessday before they arrived. He called Aunt Beth, "Memaw" even though he knew there was something different.

Yesterday, I took the little ones out to my parent's library for storytime with Stephanie. It is so nice to see Josh and Stephanie playing together now.

Mira is smiling now and really playing attention to what is gong on. She likes to be up where she can see the action. This morning she was batting at the toys hanging down from her play mat. With all her chubs she is quickly out growing her 0-3 month clothing. I think she weighs 11-12 lbs now but I don't know for sure. Her next dr appt isn't for a few weeks but she will see the specialist about her hand in the mean time. We saw the OB who delivered her for my 6 wk checkup today and she got a kick out of how chubby my little girl is. Looks like Mama's milk is working!

Milestones

Today, Mira had two firsts! She found her hand to suck on this evening and then tonight she SMILED! I am sure it was for real. She was looking at a little bear dangling from her bouncy seat and she gave a big grin, then did it again :-) Too bad my camera was downstairs. But I guess there will be lots of smiles ahead.

Last Thursday, we had a visit from Aunt Jo. Mira loves the Peter Rabbit soft book that Aunt Jo brought and will stare at the pages for a long time. She likes you to turn the pages periodically so she can see what comes next :-)

On Sunday, she went to church for the first time. Another baby that was born just 3 days before Mira was also in church for the first time. It was fun to see them together. Miss Mira definitely had Piper beat in the chubs department!

Monday, Aunt Jill and Aunt Tara arrived for a visit. They were at our house 'til today and then Mira, Joshua and I followed them out to Mom's for the day. Stephanie and Noella were home from the sitter's and we took all the kids to a local Nature center. Josh and Stephanie loved all the critters: turtles, snakes, frogs, fish and birds that they could see live and up close. The kids even got to pet a rabbit. It was a lot of fun.

Frisbee

Jason, while out shopping the other day, picked up a frisbee to play with. Joshua love s it! He and Jason have been out every evening tossing it back and forth. To our amazement, Joshua is very good at frisbee. His throwing is great and he can pretty much get it to Jason. He almost caught it tonight, too. We also introduced him to bubble baths. You can see his first bath below. He loves it and looks forward to bath time even more now.



Mira is starting to get out a few 'ooo's along with her grunts and squeaks. She intently stares at toys and faces now and grasps hair, shirts, necklaces or whatever she can find to hold on to.

Alert Time

Mira is having more and more time alert during the day. She likes looking at her toys, being carried around the house and listening to her 'sleep sheep' when she is awake. Joshua has been interacting with Mira more, too. He gives her kisses and touches her. He has to know where she is at all times as well. I asked him what his baby doll's name was and he said, 'Mira Jean' so I guess she already has a name-sake.

Mira had lots of visitors yesterday. My friend Jessica and her boyfriend, Chris, came up to see us and brought a delicious lunch. Then Ron, Christine, Yanna and Val came over in the late afternoon and brought dinner. It was a yummy day :-)

Just the three of us

Joshua, Mira and I have been surviving without Daddy home for the past couple of days. Today we will attempt story time. Thank goodness Mira likes to sleep! I still have time to play with Joshua throughout the day and he has been good about the time I need to spend tending to Mira. We try a good outside to run around for a while each day. I am glad that spring is coming. I don't think I can handle being couped up much longer. The crocuses are peaking through, one has started to bloom and the temperatures have been in the 40's instead of the 20's.

2 week check up

Mira saw the dr today for her 2 week check up. She weighed 10 pounds :-) Taking after her brother and gaining a pound a week. Joshua kept it up for 5 weeks from birth. We'll see how long little Mira sustains her trend :-) The dr was impressed with how she held her head up and tracked faces. She is very strong.

We also had a great visit from Grandma and Papa this past weekend. I'll post photos once we get them downloaded. Joshua was sad to see them leave this morning. He liked the way Papa read books and played games and he liked how Grandma pushed him in the stroller and played puzzles. Mira snuggled with Grandma most of the weekend and was quite content to be held and sleep the entire time.

Photo Shoot

Before Mira was born we had a photographer come out to take pregnancy photos of me with Jason and Joshua. Today, the photographer was back out to take pictures of Mira with all of us and by herself. She was a trooper through it all. She was awake for the beginning and then fell asleep about halfway through. She had just had enough stimulation. The photographer took shots of her naked with her little tushie up in the air and we Jason holding her cradled in his hands. I am sure they turned out great! We'll see in a week or so. We are all pooped from the event. It was a challenge to get Joshua to behave long enough to have his photo taken and then to coordinate that with Mira. Jason and I both needed a strong drink by the time the photographer left.



Joshua received a set of 4 puzzles from Kim, Ryan and Ellie for Christmas that he has really taken an interest in lately. The puzzles each have 12 pieces and no 'frame' to put them in or match the parts to but he can pretty much put each one together on his own. It is one activity that keeps him quiet for quite a long stretch of time.



We went out to dinner the other night with my parents. The meal took about 2 hours and both little ones did great through it. I was very impressed with Joshie's behaviour since he has been a challenge of late. Mira slept through it and Joshua played and ate his chicken and fries quietly.

Time to do a few bills and head to bed. Mira wakes up every 1-2 hours to nurse through the night but twice a night for about 1.5 hours she is up eating, burping and being changed. Usually it is right when we go to bed and then once more about 4 am.

Snowy Day

It snowed a little bit more last night so schools were closed and the library didn't open until noon. Storytime was canceled but we ventured out after nap to try and have Joshie's hair cut and return library books. The barber shop was closed, too. So, when we came home we made snow sundae's with lots of fun toppings. Joshua is enjoying his now but eating everything except the toppings he put on, funny boy.

Mira is sleeping. She was awake and alert this morning for a while and then again after nap. She is already 'tracking' faces, turning towards sounds she recognizes and holding her head up. We had 'story time' at home for Joshua and she enjoyed the books as well, ok so she slept through them but she will enjoy them later :-) Her umbilical cord stump fell off this morning so we will give her a little bath tonight, probably.

We are hoping that Aunt Jill and Aunt Tara will make it down to visit tonight but the weather may prevent that. We'll see!

Mira's First Dr. Appointment

Mira saw our pediatrician yesterday (I think Joshua was thankful it wasn't his turn!) and weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz. She has already surpassed her birth weight. I imagine today she weighs even more. She is a very good eater and I already notice her becoming less wrinkly and more filled out. Her cheeks are getting bigger. She did great at the dr's and was pronounced, 'Healthy'. :-)

She is a very agreeable baby so far. She had a busy time between 10pm-2am when she likes to eat, poop, eat, eat, spit up, change her clothes.... You get the picture. During the day when she is not eating or pooping, we either hold her or put her in the pack n' play bassinet. She loves it and either looks around or sleeps. I think she likes the noise of the house. We have gotten a couple of 3 hour stretches of sleep from her and have hopes that she will be a better sleeper than her older brother.

Joshua is doing great as a big brother and adjusting really well to the change. The toughest time of night is bed time when he asks for a laundry list of things (more kisses, hugs, stories, water, blankets...you name it). During the day, however, he is most helpful bringing toys and other items, asking about Mira, playing nicely, etc. Daddy and I are doing our best to give Joshua one on one time throughout the day. Visitors have also been very good about saying hello to Joshua first, coming to play with him and bringing him gifts. I think he may think all this fuss is about him becoming a big brother.

Sounds like the boys are ready to go, better sign off!

Joshua has a little sister!

Mira Jean, our brand new beautiful baby girl, was born February 15th at 12:39a. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz, is 20 in. long, and ended up with 11 fingers :-).



Joshua is not quite sure what to make of her, but he knows he's the "big brudder" and carries the little baby doll Mira gave him...

Daddy and Carie were there helping through the whole thing and experienced the amazing event first hand. Kimberly and Ellianna visited first thing Friday morning; Memaw and Joshua came Friday afternoon to visit shortly (since Joshua's attention wanders easily); Granddad stopped by after work on Friday on his way to join Joshua and Memaw; Christopher (aka The Godfather) came later Friday night (bearing much-needed survival supplies); and Tia Amy and Tio Omar visited with Dylan, Stephanie, and Noella Saturday afternoon.

Mom is still at the hospital with Mira, since the attending doctors want to keep an eye on the baby since she "lost so much weight." Ummm... it's quite normal to lose up to 10% (which is what she lost). Nevertheless, she eats like a fiend (absolutely no problem breastfeeding or taking a bottle), and poops like one too :-) We think they are over-cautious, but they put up a fight so we yielded (at least until tomorrow.) Daddy took over Joshua's care (Memaw had him since Thu. night!), and is now back home with him; hopefully, we'll be on our way to pick Mommy and sister up in the morning.

I posted a few pictures on Flickr, check 'em out!

Bit of a Cough

The sickness Joshua had last Monday seems to have just been car sickness so that is good. Now, he has picked up a cough that is going around. His appetite is a bit less and he is coughing a lot in the middle of the night but last night was better. He is a bit irritable but still active and playful. Looks like we have to just wait this one out.

Today, we are venturing out for some 'stock up' grocery shopping. It is REALLY cold out so I hope we don't freeze!

I picked up the book, 'Happiest Toddler on the Block' from the library. I haven't actually gotten a chance to read it yet but I hope it has some insights with how to help Joshua through this hitting and kicking stage. We had to leave story time on Friday because of his hitting and kicking. He is such a bundle of emotions right now that things escalate very quickly from happy, playful child to Tazmanian Devil faster than you can blink. But, I guess that is the age.

On the flip side, Joshua is really looking forward to being a "Big Brodder" (Big Brother) and likes to tell you about it. He is also really helpful now and likes to pitch in with just about every activity. He sets the table, feeds the animals, picks up his clothes and toys, lets the dog in and out, stirs when I am baking and wipes the table.

For updates on the baby progress check my pregnancy blog nettieann.blogspot.com

Chunks

Joshua and I went this morning to take Godfather to have his wisdom teeth pulled. Just as we were about 15 min from the dr. office Joshua threw up all over the place. It was a mess. Chris hopped in back and cleaned up as best he could but the smell and mess were bad. Josh wasn't acting sick so we continued on our way to the appointment. Chris had his teeth pulled and we made our way back home. I spent the afternoon cleaning up the mess. Ick! Joshua called it 'chunks' and talked about the event for the day but again seemed to be in pretty good spirits. He ate and played and so we figured that it was probably car sickness or something since he only had milk in his tummy.

He spit up a little more right before bed tonight so we will now be monitoring him. I hope it isn't a bug! That is just not something we need to pass around right now!

Zero Tolerance

Joshua has been getting more and more unruly. He has been hitting and kicking when either frustrated or just because. We had been counting to 3, giving time out and then giving a quiet time in his room if the time out didn't work. None of it was working. So, we have turned to 'zero-tolerance' policing. If he hits then he gets two minutes in the time out chair or on the step or whatever happens to be close by wherever we are. The ironic thing is that I was discussing this and suggestions with another mom when Joshua walked up and kicked me in the shin. It is hard not to just shake your head and stare in awe of the audacity. He got a time out.

Other than the normal ups and downs, today was relatively good. He didn't get a nap (he went to bed and just wouldn't sleep) but was very good about walking with me around Ikea this morning. He held my hand and explored all the fun things there were to see. His bathroom issues have been pretty under control recently, too. I got the book 'deceptively delicious' out of the library and have been having fun incorporating more veggies in our meals. We are all eating more vegetables and I think that is a good thing. I can even get Jason to eat squash and cauliflower now (unheard of!)

Finger Update

Joshua's finger, although still a little swollen, seems to be healing fine. The Dr. said that kids have an amazing ability to heal themselves and it is true. We had to stop taping Joshua's two fingers together because they were rubbing and causing sores which were very uncomfortable. He seems to be using that hand again for the most part and we are just keeping an eye on it.

Joshua is deep in the throws of the terrible twos. We love the creative things that he comes up with like tonight when he told us he had 'ice cream face' and then when I asked him how he knew he had ice cream face (he hadn't seen a mirror) he replied 'cause you just know!'. But then, he very defiantly answers no to everything else you ask him driving us up the wall. He is just chock full of emotions that he doesn't yet know how to handle and we are trying our best to help him with that without going crazy ourselves. :-)

A week in review

Last Saturday, we enjoyed an afternoon at Memaw's house celebrating Nanny-Grandma's 88th birthday. Joshua had fun playing with his cousins. Tuesday & Wednesday Memaw was out to visit/help again. Jason has been off Friday-Monday. He and Joshie went to story time Friday and read books about cowboys. They boys also had fun shoveling snow and sledding. It snowed last Thursday and Joshua got to use his new sled from Santa. He loved it! The pictures are already up. This weekend, since Daddy has been around he and Joshua have had lots of time to play, read and hang out together.

Never a dull moment

We went out for my dr appt this evening then out to dinner as we have been doing since the beginning of Nov. It was a nice dinner and Joshua ate really well. Then, when we were cleaning up and Jason was taking Joshua to the bathroom to wash his hands Joshua put his hand in the door to the bathroom on the hinge side. I heard them coming back to the table before I saw them as Joshua was screaming a scream I didn't recognize and Jason was sure he had broken his middle finger on his right hand.

We drove to the nearest hospital's ER which also happens to be the hospital Joshua was born at and the one I will be delivery this baby at. We were in and out in less than an hour and a half and received confirmation that the finger was indeed broken. Joshua had calmed down before we even left the resturant's parking lot but all of the interactions he had with hospital staff (weight, temp check, blood pressure/pulse, wrist bracelet, x-rays, application of splint) sent him into hysterics.

We are home now and Jason is up putting Joshua to bed. He is already adapting and using his left hand. He is back to his antics of running around, climbing and just getting into trouble. Nothing slows the child down! We'll be following up with an orthopedic dr in the next day or so since it is a fracture to see how to best ensure the finger heals properly.



And no, this event didn't send me into labor although it is funny that it should happen within the first hour of me getting off of bed rest. But I guess it's good that we were in the right place!

Onyx found a new home

Today, we adopted Onyx out to a new family. The father in law of our pet sitter. We had always known that this day may come and recently she had been getting along less and less with Joshua. We thought about the decision a lot and prayed over it. The man that will be her new parent is a single, older person who can devote all his attention to her. I think she will be happy and I hope that we will receive updates periodically. We sent her off with her bed and some treats. She got right into the car of our pet sitter, which she usually does not do without assistance. It was very hard to see her go. I hope that this makes the care of the animals easier, especially with the new baby on the way.



We told Joshua about Onyx leaving this morning over breakfast so that there was not a lot of build up to the event. As she drove away, he asked, 'Where is Onyx going?' and we explained again. Then he, Jason and Jack went for a walk. They are just getting in now and Jack seems to be touring the house looking for Onyx. It will be hardest on Jack, I think. But I worry that Joshua and Jack both will feel that that are next.

Legos

Joshua and Jason have played legos the past two nights while I cooked dinner. They sit at the kitchen table, Jason with his Star Wars Death Star Destroyer and Joshua with his Thomas Duplos. Last night, they built for about an hour and a half. Tonight, Jason had Joshua help him find the pieces he needed for his project and Joshua helped him place them together.





Although the testing continues on a 24x7 basis, I feel like the past two days have been calmer. It is so easy to react with "NO" as the first response but that quickly escalates into lots of time outs and quiet times and frustration on everyone's part. We have been redirecting, giving Joshua the opportunity to make the right choice and helping him remember the rules. It seems to be working better but requires a lot more thought at the time.