two legs not four

Yesterday Anna Ruth decided to get up from her chair and walk across the room.

I'm not sure she realizes that she is walking but it is fun to watch her.

you've got to stand for something...

Anna Ruth is growing up really fast and I wanted to make sure I wrote a few things down.

She has 12 teeth (the front 4 on top and bottom and 4 molars).  She does not have her canine teeth yet so she has gap on each side of her smile between teeth.  It is really cute.  

Anna Ruth took her last bottle yesterday.  (side note: Anna Ruth never held her own bottle.  She realized that is she acted like she didn't know how she could cuddle up with someone and they would hold it for her.  So while she was fine to independently drink from a cup she never would give herself a bottle...princess!)  She is eating anything we give her.  Right now I think her favorite foods are goldfish crackers, ice cream, green beans and carrots.  

As for talking, Anna Ruth says, "mama", "da", "uh oh" and "bebe" for baby.  She loves to bark when she sees a dog, or any animal for that matter.  

Anna Ruth loves dogs.  Our neighbor has 2 dogs that she lets out often during the day and Anna Ruth loves to sit at our backdoor and watch the dogs. Tonight she yelled, barked, waved and blew kisses at the dogs.

Last night Anna Ruth went from sitting to standing on her own.  She has been cruising around the house on furniture and walls for a while but all of the sudden has gotten brave and started standing up.  She was quite pleased with herself.  

Anna Ruth LOVES Joshua.  Whatever he does is funny and gets her immediate endorsement.  

She is still a good sleeper and is down to one nap in the afternoon.  

Anna Ruth loves music and loves to dance.  

When we are out places, Anna Ruth likes to find someone to flirt with.  She will first smile then wave.  If she gets a response that person is now on the hook for 5 minutes of constant waving and smiling from the cute baby.

"look mom, no hands!"

a wide stance helps with balance

Such a sweet girl!

There are no words...

I received the following text from Nana the other day:
"They (Joshua and Abigail) are playing mom and kid.  I just heard Joshua say, 'Abigail, just pretend I am the cutest three year old in the whole world.'"

I received the following text from Aunt Glo the other day:
"Overheard Abigail and Joshua playing; he is the dad and she is the mom.  She says, 'hey we need a baby.'  He says, 'just pretend we're poor and can't get one.'"

What is there left to say?

Fourth Fun

We enjoyed unseasonably cool weather on the 4th of July and had a great time at the pond of campus.

laid back and loving the outdoors

The tiny circles in the water to the right of the tree are turtles that Joshua was trying to not scare.

Joshua fed crackers to the fish but was rooting for the turtles to get the food before the "greedy fish" did.

Later in the day Joshua and Dave shot some firecrackers in the driveway.  To say that Joshua loved it would be a gross understatement.  Several times his excitement sent him running circles around the front yard.  We enjoyed being together and celebrating our freedom...also eating hotdogs.

Desperate Times...

When the Boy Wonder's intellect and imagination outpace his emotional maturity leaving him unable to go to sleep for fear of monsters he has read about or conjured in him mind him mom has to get creative and crafty. So in these desperate times we called on desperate measures and last night we up stuffed animals on guard around him room and activated an imaginary force field.  (Neither worked and there was just crying a wailing involved in a very late bedtime.)  So today I "crafted" a chart (Dave's idea) to track progress and hopefully eventually reward positive step toward good rest.

In the mean time, the Happy Baby has been sick and not sleeping.  (Notice a theme??)  She ran fever last week and was diagnosed with a throat infection.  We started medicine and she made it to sleeping through the night one night and then last night woke up throwing up.  As soon as I walked in her room I had flash backs to last months Puke-a-Palooza that we all participated in and got desperate.  So this morning at dawn's first light, I made a trip to the grocery store and bought 2 bottles of 100% grape juice (see this website for more info on the grape juice) and some Gatorade for just in case.  As I laid in the floor of Anna Ruth's room last night waiting for her next round of sickness I couldn't help but laugh at all the names you can come up with for kids with the stomach virus...Pukahontas (Dave's favorite), Sleeping Pukey, Pukerella, Puker Bell, Puker Pan, Captain Puke...the list goes on and on.  Again you can see the effects of lack of sleep starting to affect us all.

So with grape juice in hand and many prayers for God's mercy on our family I thought I'd share/reshare some older pictures of the kids.