Happy Halloween!

Princess Peach not pictured.  (She refused to make an appearance except as a bat.)

spellng bee

Julianna loves reading The Berenstain Bear's and the Big Spelling Bee.  She is fascinated withe the concept of a spelling bee and as she learns to spell more and more words she has been quizzing me at night spelling-bee-style. 

She'll pick up an object with words on it that are also illustrated (such as her V-Tech ABC Apple) and call out words to us along with made up definitions.  Then we have to spell the word back to her. 

It's downright hilarious to hear how she describes things.  And the funny thing is that it's a unique definition every time, but here is tonight's version for your reading pleasure.

Ambulance - a way to get when your hurt or emergency

Bus - a way to go to school without a car

Clock - a way to tell time

Dentist - a way to get your teeth looked at or not rotten

Exit - a way out

Fountain - a way to make a wish without having a birthday

Garden - a way to smell flowers without going into the house

Hospital - a way to make you feel better

Insect - a little thing or a bug

Jewelry - something sparkly or something beautiful

Kite - a flying thing or a thing that to get caught in a tree

Library - a way to look at books

Museum - a way to look at cool things

 Newspaper – a way to look at what is happening

Onion – a plant that makes your eyes water when you cut it

Park – a way to swing without going to your house

Quail – a bird that whistles

Railroad – don’t walk on the tracks or you might get run over

School –a way to go somewhere and do writing and work

Train – a thing to carry animals or people on big machines

Umbrella – a way to not get wet when it’s raining outside

Van – a vehicle

Window – a to look out of the house

X-ray – a way to look at your bones

Yoyo – a way to go up and down

Zoo – a way to look at animals

if it's not one thing, it's another

This week...?

Is going to be the death of me.  True story.



Josh broke out in hives all over his torso, thighs, and back of his neck yesterday.  Is it from his first flu shot which he got the day before yesterday?  Is it from the Augmentin he's on for his double ear infection?  Is it from a random virus?  Or could it be the other 4 vaccinations he got at his one year well-check the day before yesterday?  Or is it from the dandruff shampoo I got in his eyes while bathing him the night before?  (giant parenting FAIL)  Who knows?!  They want us to bring him in again today to look at the rash and probably/possibly stop the antibiotics if his ear have cleared up.

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Yesterday at school a girl took her shirt off in my class.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

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Monday I had a mentor/mentee meeting after school and then Julianna gymnastics.  Tuesday faculty meeting followed by taking tickets at the football game.  Wednesday is preschool Halloween costume party and trick-or-treating, plus we have early dismissal for the end of the grading period and I have to make sure I get my grades in for report cards.  I can't see past that so I'm not sure I'll make it to Friday.


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I lost my flash drive somewhere last week in between the pediatrician, Target pharmacy, and the preschool.  I'm feeling the repercussions of that now.  Ugh.  You would think a technology teacher would back up her work.  You would be wrong.

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So... how are you?

then sings my soul

I am not skilled to understand

What God has willed, what God has planned
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior

I take Him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I
Before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives
My Savior's always there for me
My God He was, my God He is
My God He's always gonna be

-My Savior, My God by Aaron Shust

monday notes

Happy anniversary to the most beautiful bride I've ever seen and the most adored uncle Julianna has ever played Ariel and the SeaWitch with.  I hope you have a marvelous day celebrating and nice quiet dinner together tonight.

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You may remember that when Julianna was 3 years old we went to Raleigh to watch my sister run a half marathon. It was there that Jules lost her first tooth prematurely and after talking with the dentist we had her tested for hypophosphatasia which is a really scary condition so don't google it.  She tested fine and all was right in the world.  We thought it was just a random rare occurrence that her tooth would fall out so early.

Anyway, this weekend we discovered that the exact opposite tooth is now very, very loose.  Jonathan took her back to the dentist and the pediatrician this morning and no one knows why she keeps losing teeth.  They looked at all of the lab results from last year and everything looked fine still, nothing that seemed abnormal.  They said we could get her in to see a periodontist and/or an endocrinologist but after talking with the ped she saw no reason to send her there.  Niether the dentist or the ped felt the need to do any additional testing and then the dentist asked her if she'd like them to pull the tooth or let it fall out on it's on.  She chose to leave it.  I'm still very concerned and not sure what will happen.

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Poor Joshua had his one year well check today.  He is growing just fine.  He got four shots (vaccines and flu) and was overtired, hungry, and just feeling yucky.  He's still on antibiotics for his ears and the doctor said they looked great.  Nothing to worry about there.

It's times like these that I HATE working full-time.  I wish I could be home with my baby.  But a big thank you goes out to my mom and hubby for running the kids around this morning.


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This is random, but does anyone know if there's an email address that you can use to send a status update to your Facebook page?  I've played around in the settings and I can't find it.  Next I'm going to google it, but I thought I'd ask here too.  I know how to update your FB status through Twitter but I don't really want that.  I'm mainly just looking for a way to update my status from here at school where FB is blocked.  ;o)

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I just found out that first year teachers don't get annual leave to use.  I have a half day of personal leave.  So should I take a half sick day so that I can take all of Friday off?  Or should I just use my half day?  It's a workday for the end of the quarter and I suspect that there will be no one around.  What say you, friends of the interwebs?

x marks the spot

Julianna has a game she likes to play.  She'll get Jonathan to draw a "map" of our house on a dry erase board and then he hides an object somewhere in the house.  He marks an X on the location of the object on the map and we see how fast she can find it.  This requires her to demonstrate map-reading skills, including following directions, judging distances, and reading a legend (if he includes one).  I thought I'd share it here in case any of you wanted to try it out.

We actually haven't played it in a while, but I saw something here that reminded me of it.  We might hit up the Target dollar bin for some prizes and break out the dry erase board again soon to see how she does.

playroom

Ever since my parents moved out we've had some extra space to play around with in our house.  We turned one of the rooms they were using into a downstairs playroom for the kids.  It won't stay this way permanently but for now, while the kids are young, it's a great solution for what to do with the extra space.  I don't want to do anything to decorate in there since I know it won't be that way for long, but I think it's turned in to a great play area.  Excuse the mess in the pictures; it's a room that obviously gets lived in.

We added a kid sized table and chairs, plus a bean bag for seating.

We moved the train table down here and put it in the middle of the room so the kids have plenty of space to walk around it.

There's a small TV in there that doesn't ever get used.  There's also an art center which rarely gets used.  It's hard to do arts and crafts unless brother is asleep.

Along one wall I turned my craft cubbies on their sides and bought some cheap plastic shoebox containers to use for toy storage. Jules and I took pictures of various groups of toys and put them on the ends of the boxes so that the kids can clean up and organize their stuff appropriately (even if they can't read).

And probably the thing I like the most about the room is that we took the extra twin mattress we have and put it on the floor in the corner.  It makes an excellent "reading center" as Julianna likes to call it and it's the perfect height for Joshua to crawl on and off whenever he likes.  This area of the room gets used the most.

Of course, everyone who comes over notices that my craft/scrapbooking room is no longer there.  I guess I can hope for the future. 

Happy birthday, Joshua!

Untitled from c525600 on Vimeo.

Groupon

If you haven't jumped on the Groupon bandwagon yet, now's the time to do it.  New accounts get a $5 credit added to their account.  This offer is limited so make sure you sign up fast.  I've gotten some great deals through our local Groupon lately, such as half off leaf removal services, 3 for 1 bounce house sessions, and half off photo books.  Check it out!

365 days or 525,600 minutes or 1 year old

Dear Joshua,

Tomorrow you will be twelve months old.  I believe the word I used to describe Julianna's first year was "whirlwind" and if that was truly the case then your first year should be described as an intensly vigorous cyclone.  I am amazed at how quickly time has flown by.

You are seriously the most precious little boy.  You can wave bye-bye, blow kisses, show me your foot and sometimes your ear; you can sign "more" and "milk" and sometimes "night-night." 

Bless your heart.  You've had another double-ear infection this month.  Fortunately, you're so good natured that we hardly even noticed anything was wrong.  You just seemed to have a cough that wouldn't go away and you had middle-of-the-night wakings again.  As soon as you started taking antibiotics you started sleeping through the night again.  You love the flavored medicine though.  You point at it and grunt as if to say, "Give it to me now, please!"

When we took you to the doctor we found out that you weigh 24 pounds 4 ounces.  Your temperature is always low though.  It was only 97.6.  You must get that from Daddy.

You still love to walk around with your beloved spoon and you get very excited when you see your blanket hanging on the side of the crib.  When we're outside you can't seem to get enough of Simon or Light.  You will follow the two of them anywhere.  It's either the pets or Daddy with the leaf blower.  You are such a boy.  Other things you love include big sister's bedroom (with lots of choking hazzards spread across the floor) and brushing your teeth (when you see us with the finger brush in our hands you come running).

Your favorite foods are all things white or yellow. You especially like corn, bread, cheese, yogurt and you always prefer fruits to vegetables.  You almost never eat beef, only chicken.  You are a MUCH more picky eater than your sister was at this age. 

You're going to have to get your first hair cut soon.  It hangs in your eyes and covers your ears.  We've seen you pulling on it a few times the last couple weeks.  It's the most gorgeous shade of light brown and it shines like your sister's.

We're still having trouble being consistent with your sleep schedule and I'm sorry for that, Buddy.  If you had it your way you would still be taking two naps a day for about an hour and twenty minutes each, but that just doesn't always happen.  About half the time you only get one nap each day or one long nap in the crib and another short one in the car sometime.  I hate it because I feel like it makes you a crummy sleeper when we are home but there's not a lot I can do about it.  Between work and all of the other running we do we just can't be as rigid as we were with your sister.

We went to see Veggie Tales Live this month and I totally didn't expect you to love it as much as you did.  You stood up on my lap and clapped and smiled.  Then you would get down on the aisle a little bit and walk around and then dance and dance.  You will even try to sing sometimes when we sing the Veggie Tales Theme Song now.  It's so cute.

This may sound odd but, I am still so thankful for God's plan to bring you to us later than we had hoped.  His plans are so much more perfect than ours.  If we had had you a year earlier your sister wouldn't be the mature helper that she has become and she wouldn't be as willing to share with you and teach you the things that she does.  Just last night I saw her teaching you how to hold your cup so that the milk would come out easily and many times she helps keep you from getting hurt when she sees that you're about to do something dangerous.  God put the four of us together for a purpose and I'm so glad that He did.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Thank you, Joshua, for loving us.  Thank you for being the unique, delightful little boy that you are.  I hope all of your years are as fun as this first one has been.  I love you, baby.

Love,
Mama

364 days old

Joshua's birthday party was a lot of fun.  Saturday we had friends and family over for a cookout and we celebrated the life of a sweet little boy with a pirate party. 

We had Pirate Pick-Up Ducks, chocolate gold coins, pirate tattoos, and pirate cupcakes.  Here are some pictures from the party.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

363 days old

20 Characteristics of ONE

1. One gently bends his knees and bounces up and down when asked, “Can you dance?”

2. One hates having his diaper changed.

3. One swishes up his nose, squints his eyes, and smiles big when he is excited.

4. One arches his back and falls backwards when he doesn’t like what you have to offer.

5. One twists his torso back and forth, swinging arms in a gentle wiggle when he gets in a hurry.

6. One loves being chased.

7. One honks noses.

8. One can say, “Dada,” “Mama,” “bye,” and “ball.”

9. One loves to hold out objects until you reach for them and say, “thank you” and then quickly snatch them away before you reach them.

10. One throws food on the floor when he’s done eating.

11. One loves pushing buttons.

12. One loves carrying the baby monitor around.

13. One signs milk, more, and occasionally please.

14. One knows how to get off of beds quickly without getting hurt.

15. One pushes cars around while saying, “vrrrmmmm, rmmmmm.”

16. One buries his head in his parents’ legs when strangers talk to him.

17. One doesn’t like to wear socks but does like to hold the spoon and feed himself.

18. One sticks his face in the water in the bath tub and comes up dripping and smiling.

19. One tries to brush his hair and pretends to talk on the phone.

20. One waves bye-bye and blows kisses.

362 days old

Then and Now:

361 days old

Things I Didn't Know a Year Ago

• I didn't know this much happiness.
• I didn't know you HAD to buckle boys into strollers or else they WILL climb out.
• I didn't know it was complete instinct for a boy to pick up a ball and hurl it across the room.
• I didn't know Julianna could have such a servant heart.
• I didn't know how difficult it could be to make a phone call.
• I didn't know I was going to have to learn to leave the house even earlier for every little appointment
• I didn't know I could bathe and put to bed two kids at once.
• I didn't know exactly how quickly I could run down the stairs.
• I didn't know I could miss my husband so much for so long.
• I didn't know boys really wouldn't sit still long enough for you to read them a book.
• I didn't know I could carry a purse, two bookbags, a diaper bag, three lunch boxes, two pairs of shoes, a newspaper, the mail, and a toddler all at once.
• I didn't know I could love two as much as one.

here comes the rooster

This reminds me of the fancy chickens I saw last week at the Dixie Classic.  The ones with the pouffy hair feathers.  Quite the similarity, don't you think?

360 days old

When Julianna turned one I did a series of posts celebrating her first year.  Now, my mama always said you can't always be fair because life's not fair so I know that my blog won't always celebrate my children equally.  That being said, you're going to be seeing a lot about Joshua over the next week and not a whole lot about Jules. 

Things I Love About Being a Mother:

• I love open mouthed baby kisses
• I love falling into bed at night and being so exhausted that I have no trouble going to sleep
• I love picking out clothes for the day since it's no longer fun to dress myself
• The pure joy you get over teaching your baby a new trick
• I love folding little baby socks
• I love pressing my cheek up against chubby baby cheeks
• I love having *certain* children's music playing in the car without passengers thinking I'm weird
• Before I had kids I didn't always know about free community events like I do now
• I have to admit that I love the precious, excited face I see when I come home from work
• I love pushing a stroller through the neighborhood
• I love knowing what my body is capable of
• I love how people out in public watch my children and smile

just the three of us

Last Saturday while Jonathan was at a car show in SC, I took Joshua to the doctor for his cough.  Turns out he has a double ear infection again.  The cough and drainage running down his throat caused an infection because of his immature ear tubes and now he's on amoxicillian.  I hope that clears it up.  He's been waking up from all the coughing for several weeks now.  He's been on the antibiotics since Saturday and he's already sleeping better even though he still has the cough.

Julianna had to get her flu shot that day as well.  As usual she took it like a champ.  Then she told everyone about it for the rest of the day.

After the doctor's office and Target run to pick up the meds, we went to Pump-It-Up so Jules could get some energy out.  It was a special glow-in-the-dark event there and they gave out glow necklaces to all the kids and turned the lights off.  She had fun but was certainly a little wary of the dark.  Funny girl can take a shot like an adult but gets scared in the dark. 

Then we stopped by the pumpkin patch at the Piedmont Triad Farmer's Market.  I got a few pictures but of course, Josh started playing peek-a-boo through one of the cut-outs and I couldn't ever get a picture with both kids looking through at the same time.

Apparently the pumpkin is more interesting than Mommy behind the camera.



This weekend is Joshua's first birthday party.  I cannot believe my little boy is already one.  Doesn't time go by about twenty times as fast with the second kid?

i remember

I fondly remember last year this time.  I am thankful to be on the other side of that now.  To have a rambunctious little boy to chase around and keep out of the fireplace, off the stairs, and out of the toilets.  To be planning a pirate party celebration and icing cupcakes on my day off.  And to only have aches and pains from pure exhaustion instead of from contractions, leg cramps, and walking... walking... walking...

Thank you, God for my baby boy.

the boy and the girl

Jules just before she turned one:

Josh just before he turns one:



Very different, yet eerily similar at the same time.