most wonderful time of the year

This year for Christmas and our holiday break, we decided that we'd stay around here instead of travel to see family.  We decided this back when we first found out that we were pregnant, because last Christmas it was a little overwhelming driving over 2,400 miles in 2 weeks.  So, we enjoyed our very first Christmas with just our little family and I'd say it was fantastic.  A little weird to not be surrounded with family, but we enjoyed having our own little traditions here.  So, to start out with the fun, here is what we did:

I had heard from a friend of mine here that the Coca-Cola Semi-truck comes driving around near Christmas Eve and is completely lit up with Christmas lights and plays music.  After she told me, I knew I had to watch out for it because I'm sure it would be cool not only for Josh to see but for everyone.  So, two days before Christmas Eve, I kept hearing this loud honking (almost like a train honk), so I kept dismissing it because I can usually hear the trains here on a regular basis.  But then it kept going.  About 10 minutes in I decided to run outside just to see if I could find where it was coming from, and sure enough the Coca-Cola parade passed right in front of our house. 

So, I went back inside and grabbed Josh out of the middle of eating dinner and we ran back outside to catch it.  (Jake was gone running errands at the moment, so he wasn't there, which is why you should picture me running with a toddler in my arms 30 weeks pregnant in my pajamas and slippers. NICE!) 

I ran all the way out the street, so that I could see where they were headed.  Luckily, they were in a neighborhood nearby and we didn't completely miss it.  At just about this moment, Jake came home and I ran back to the car telling him to stay in, then ran inside, took dinner out of the oven so it doesn't burn, grabbed Josh again and we all hopped in the car (Josh on my lap wrapped in a blanket).  It was so funny!  I'm sure that Jake thought I was crazy, but after a little driving, we found it!  It was great.  I'm so glad that we didn't completely miss it.  Josh definitely did love it and kept responding once he heard the horns.  Every time, he'd make a noise back.  Too cute!

On Christmas Eve, we have made it tradition in our family to have the opportunity to open one of our gifts.  We also have the tradition of having Christmas PJ's for the kids.  We were pretty excited to have Josh start opening gifts, and it turned out he was more into it than we thought he would be.  His Christmas Eve gift was the Semi-Truck/Car Hauler.  As soon as he started ripping paper he was so excited.  Kept ripping more and more, and as soon as he saw that it was a car, he wanted that car out right that second.  He played with that car for the rest of the night, and carried it up to bed with him.  He bawled the second we took it away.  Too funny! So glad to see that he was excited to open gifts.  It made our anticipation of the morning even higher. 

Jake and I had a lot of fun being "Santa" this year.  Joshua is a very spoiled boy and we could have ended Christmas with his car he got the night before.  We knew that we would have to take Christmas in stages because Josh would be preoccupied with other things before we could move on.  So we took the day in about 3 different stages with him and he really enjoyed opening all of things that he got.  Between all of the gifts and getting the skype with all three families, we are continually grateful for our supportive families and the blessings that we enjoy in this life.  We were grateful to spend some time at church Christmas morning reflecting on the blessing of our Savior and remembering the reason for the season. 

Christmas morning on the stairs

my sewing adventure

Between being busy with working for my friend Laura and her bearded beanie business, being a mom, and preparing for the holidays, I've been starting up my own little business like I mentioned here. 

Since that post, I've created my facebook page and my etsy shop and am awaiting my first customers.  I think that this is something that could grow a little, but not go out of control, which is just what I want.  

It's been a lot of fun thinking up ideas of how I can grow my shop and coming up with different ways to customize my superhero cape.  Because some things have been sent out as Christmas presents and I don't want to spoil any surprises, I will get pictures of the changes up shortly. 

In the mean time, spread the word about these sweet little things! They are definitely fun to make and to watch the little ones play in.

thirty weeks

Not the greatest picture, but it was on my mind and that's the only time I would have gotten it done.  Maybe I can get a better one out soon.

Anyway, I've just about reached 30 weeks! I can't believe that it's been going by so quickly.  Seems like the first 20 weeks crept by, but the last 10 have zoomed by so fast.  It scares me, because I'm not feeling ready by any means for this little one to come. I'm excited for her, but scared/nervous, etc. etc.  I still feel like there is so much more to do before she arrives. 

Doctor says that everything is looking great.  She's a big mover and it has just started to reach the point where it's no longer little kicks, but big rolls and pushes.  It's been a lot of fun to watch this progression.  I'm always surprised by her strength!



I'm still feeling really great.  I've just started to get uncomfortable and limited in my movement.  This will be interesting to experience this time around as I'm taking care of a toddler.  I hope that things continue to go just as well.

Joshua - 19 months

This little man is fantastic!! I love him more than I could ever imagine and he has been so much fun to have around lately. He's been learning so many new things and has been a joy to watch. He can certainly be a pill, but he's fun.

He enjoys playing hide-and-seek and getting surprised! He has started "jumping" which consists of him squatting down really low and then popping up as he takes a step or two, but not leaving the ground. He loves to make all of his animal noises. He enjoys reading books, playing with cars, and has a blast at nursery on Sundays.

He can say "bye-bye", "mama", "dada", "wadizit" (what is it?), "wazatt" (what's that?), "wow", "wishe" (where is she?, often times while shrugging), and understands just about everything that we tell him. Pictures on the wall are all "mama" and he likes to unload the dishwasher and put everything in just one of our drawers (where the measuring cups & spoons are).

He is going to be an excellent big brother! I definitely hope that I can give him the attention that he needs when that time comes. That is one of my biggest worries as her due date approaches.

Besides being the pickiest eater on the planet, he's a great child! He's happy, adventurous and playful. I'm looking forward to what's ahead for him. I'm looking forward to hearing him talk and watching him learn even more.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

It is time for a much needed update! I can't believe I've let it go this long without any sort of update.  But it's funny because it seems like yesterday that I just posted something on here.  It's amazing how quickly time flies, especially when you are busy with holidays, final days before school is out, being a mom, and work. 

Right after Thanksgiving, we went to cut down our Christmas tree with some friends (Robins & Heals) We had  a great time hiking through the woods looking for that "perfect" tree.  We've wanted to cut down a Christmas tree for the past few years, but because of circumstance either haven't been able to or just didn't.  So we've been used to really full trees that you buy from Home Depot or Lowe's.  It was a change finding one in the woods, but we had a great time.  Joshie enjoyed hiking around in his pack, and I know our friends' children were the same way. 

Over the next few days, we decorated the tree.  Joshie has done a great job with not touching it very much.   He's taken off some of the ornaments, throwing them like they are balls, but I've been surprised by his good behavior when it comes to the tree.  It has been fun to watch him get excited and say "Wow" when I turn on the lights every night. 

 
We've also enjoyed our advent calendar.  This is a tradition that I loved having around growing up, and so last year my mom purchased an advent calendar for our little family.  Joshua has loved putting the ornaments on the felt tree and getting the candy every day.  We've also added in reading a scripture about Christ each day.   I know that reading that has definitely invited the Spirit more into our home this Christmas Season. 

I've always loved Christmas and it will be a lot of fun to celebrate at home this year.  It's starting to feel a little weird not being around family, but I'm sure that we will enjoy our time together as a little family a lot.

We've also enjoyed incorporating traditions into the family.  One of which has been making sugar cookies to give out.  Using Jake's mom's recipes, we have made over 180 sugar cookies to distribute among our friends.  It has been a lot of fun making them and even more delicious eating them.  Joshua especially enjoyed it!  

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the Season!

Video Update

Josh's weird noise plus the animal noises he knows thus far...

Experimenting with Christmas lights...

My little daredevil.  Loved running across the room with his eyes closed. 

To get Josh out of wearing aprons...

Jake told me about a cape that his mom made him when he was younger and that I should make one for Josh for Christmas to avoid him turning into a "girly man" and wearing the apron around the house all day.  You remember from this post right? 

Well as Jake explained it to me, it was a little hard to understand.  So, after some coordination with his mom this is process that we went through...

picture text from Sandy

drawing up of measurements

choosing color scheme

And then we got this...

Josh's reversible Batman/Superman cape with chest piece and belt.    Super fun to make.  Trying to decide if it's something that could be made and sold.  Possibly change color scheme/symbols to different characters (flash, captain america, wonder woman, super why, etc.)  Hmmm... I'll have to think about that possibility.

Side note:  Tried it on Josh, he hated it.  :(  We'll see where it gets by the time Christmas is here.  I can't decide if I should wrap it and wait or just let it lay around.   One thing I know, I'll need to start hiding the apron so he'll stop pulling that down to wear.

sweet joshua dan - eighteen months

I can't believe that this kid is already 18 months old.  It really boggles my mind at how he grew up so quickly and how time just seems to run out the window.  He's growing so quickly and so much of it makes me sad because it was just yesterday that he was my little "baby". 

We had a bittersweet kind of Sunday last week with his first time in nursery.  It was nice not having to watch over him during lessons, but I also kind of missed doing that because that's what I was used to for so long.  I walked past the nursery room to give a check on him and they had put him up to the table to color.  It was so odd seeing my little boy now being such a BIG boy.  Almost brought tears to my eyes watching him grow up before my eyes.  But, he definitely loved nursery which was no surprise to either me or Jake because we were in there for so long before with him when it was our calling.

I feel like I haven't updated anything on what Josh is doing in such a long time and I feel bad, because I hope I can remember what he's up to. 

He can now clearly say:

Mama
Dada
Bye Bye
Pup-Pup (dog)

He likes to jabber, but he's not much of a talker. He can also make the noises for these animals:

Cow (buzzing his bottom lip)
Lion
Sheep
Dog

He can also do these signs:

More
Ball (same as more)
Eat
Drink
Milk (snack is also the same sign for him)
Fish
Bird
Car

He loves to play outside always.  It doesn't matter what time of day or how cold it is, he loves to be out there.

He still loves cars and plays with them often, lining them up in the window, which is too cute to watch.  He tries to line cars up in the windowsill everywhere that we go, which can be a hard thing because he tries to line them up, but gets mad because there is no where to put them.

He loves his friends and is a very social kid.  He gets excited to have others come over and play.  He is a little show off for our visitors and definitely isn't shy about taking other people's food. 

He loves music and singing.  His favorite song is Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.  He follows the actions well.  I'm sure that this is his favorite part in nursery.

He loves to play chase and is still such a rough house.  It'll be interesting having a girl around the house to see if she'll play like he did.  He loves to wrestle and get thrown around.  Too fun to watch him and daddy together. 

Even though he's fairly tolerant of things, I've noticed that lately he's a bit more sensitive.  He likes to cuddle more and give hugs and knows how to give kisses (which is so fun!).  But if he's hurt (physically or emotionally) he'll let you know more often.  Which has been an interesting change to watch in him.

He really isn't too much of a climber (which I'm grateful for), but if he does end up climbing on something (standing on my little file box or his "friendly" dinosaur) he is so proud of himself.  I'm glad it hasn't progressed to getting on the counter and getting in to things.

He holds the phone up to his ear now and starts talking.  It is too funny to watch.

He loves to watch me cook.  I often get him up on the counter with me because it's easier for me to have him watch then to be hanging on my leg while I maneuver around the kitchen. He loves it.  Don't forget that little helpers are the taste testers too and boy did he love it when we made chocolate chip cookies the other day.  :)

Oh and if you couldn't tell by the pictures he LOVES to dress up in my apron.  Jake has issues with this one, which is why I'm planning on making Josh a cape for Christmas.  Get back into being a man-child.  :)




Joshua is such a blessing to have in our home.  Even though many times being a mom is tiring and tests my patience, I couldn't be more happy to have Josh as part of our family or his little sister joining it soon.  He's going to be an excellent big brother and I'm so proud of him already!

Here are some videos as of recent:

Playing in the fort daddy made






Our future little skier ready to hit the slopes with dad






Chatting with mom

Halloween 2011

This Halloween was a lot of fun.  Josh was older than last year which I think always makes it more fun, but he's still not at the age to where he understands what's going on.  So next year will be a lot of fun, but I still enjoyed time together this Halloween weekend.
 

On Saturday we went to the PNWU-SAA (Student Advocate Association) Harvest Social.  There was good food, games, pinatas and great company.  We wore our costumes there:

We went as the Paul Bunyan clan.  Josh luckily kept his beard on for 2 minutes so that we could snap some pictures.  Everyone seemed to like the costume and we had a lot of fun with it.  I made all of the hats.  The beards my neighbor makes for her business and so I got access to the pattern from her.  I bought the cow/ox hat pattern off of etsy.  Sure made for a fun costume idea. 

Yesterday, on Halloween we went out to breakfast for my birthday, which I think is what we'll make tradition because from here on out I'll have children old enough that Halloween evenings will be full of making memories with them.  We had an enjoyable time.  Later for lunch, Jake's school had a potluck and costume contest.  That evening we had a total of 4 groups of trick-or-treaters which made for a quiet night of eating coconut cream pie and playing Super Mario together.  Turned out for a nice and relaxing birthday and holiday.

A week ago, I finished up my cake decorating classes.  It was a 4-week course and I really enjoyed myself.  Since it was Halloween season, I did my final cake to follow the season.  I thought it turned out pretty good:

I will be taking Course 2 (Wilton) starting in November.  I'm looking forward to learning more decorating.  It's been a fun hobby for me.

Family Pictures: Blue Bird Photography

Thanks Jackie (a friend and fellow med-student wife) for taking our family pictures!  She did an absolutely wonderful job!  You can see more of her work on her website and if you're in the Yakima area, I highly recommend her.