then and now...

Before reading further please go to this blog entry from October 2010 and watch the video from that day.

Now here are Joshua and Dave nearly 4 years later...

and one more

Joshua has grown a lot in 4 years!

Picture Grab Bag

A bunch of pictures from the last few weeks:

Splashing in the rain...

his boots were so full of water that it took days for them to dry out.

Swinging at the park...

Anna Ruth points at a swing and says "weee!"

(I love the expressions of their faces in each of these pictures.)

"Come on Anna Ruthie, let's go play."  -Joshua

Eye safety is important when your fine motor skills are in process!

Art center in Room 2!

Anna Ruth colored part of the page and then chewed on her crayon.

check-up check-in: Anna Ruth 15 months old

I never thought this baby would be described as "small for her age."

But it happened today at her 15-month check-up.  Anna Ruth's doctor said, "well Mom, it looks like your baby is on the small size for her age."  Anna Ruth weighs 21 pounds 11 oz. which is in the 32% and is 29 inches tall (although I think she is an inch taller) which is in the 12%.  

Anna Ruth is perfectly healthy and received the last of her baby immunizations today.  She handled it like a champ.  She cried for 15 seconds max after her shot...she truly is our Happy Baby.

She has started napping on a cot at school.  The first week has been difficult with very short naps but today she took a near 2 hour nap on her cot.  WAY TO GO GIRL!  Her teacher sent me and excited text to share the news of the good nap.  

Anna Ruth's walking is coming along well.  She still prefers to crawl if she needs to get somewhere fast, like away from her brother but is walking more and more each day.  

If you ever need a pick-me-up come by and we'll try to get Anna Ruth to blow you a kiss.  

First Day 2k14

Brother and sister hugs before heading to school

"I'm a Kindergartner!"
Joshua handled his first day of school like a pro.  I think he was a little overwhelmed on the way to school this morning and said, "Mama, I think the inside of my head where my brain is has started hurting a little bit."  But he was super excited to wear his uniform and new school shoes.  He admired himself in the mirror for a few minutes before leaving the house.

"I'm in Room 2!"
Anna Ruth is such a happy baby that she didn't seem phased at all by moving in to a new room today.  She just smiled.

Before leaving home Anna Ruth had to get one more look at the neighbor's dogs and bark her "good-bye" to them.

Walking into school this morning Joshua saw 2 ladies that work at his preschool.  Both of them hugged him and told him how proud of him they were.  I could see Joshua relax and become a little more confident after that.
After school he bounced into the car and shouted, "IT WAS AWESOME!"
Outside of that declaration he said, "The line in the cafeteria was crazy long!" and "We didn't have time to eat our snack."
So here's hoping that day 2 brings a shorter lunch line and a snack...school may be off the charts awesome if that happens!

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.

Vacation

Our vacation to the beach ended with Joshua announcing, "I wish I could stay here until I was old and needed a wheelchair to go to the pool."  All Dave and I could say in response was, "we know, us too."

Anna Ruth's chariot to and from the beach each day

Most days she was fine on the beach as long as she was in her own personal pool and nowhere near the ocean.

We indulged in much seafood eating!

This picture sums up most days at the beach.  Joshua wanting to get in the water and swim to the end of the horizon and Anna Ruth screaming bloody murder whenever she got close to the water.

The pool became tolerable to the princess but she was happiest when being held.

Rarely to our kids get to sleep with us or really anywhere besides in their own beds.  But I think both of these 2 enjoyed a snuggle nap that day.

Anna Ruth's favorite part of the beach was chewing on the sand toys

Joshua's "cannon ball"

dolphin in the water... not shark

Joshua in the water...not shark

She finally got in the water the last day there and actually seemed to enjoy it.

This is the first family vacation we have taken with just the 4 of us.
We had a great time and can't wait to go back...soon!