St. Augustine

We recently went to St. Augustine for our annual vacation. It was a great trip. Joshua actually made it through the entire time without getting sick, which is a first for us. Yipee!!! Thank God for healing powers!! He loved the beach. When he first saw it he said, "Look Mommy. A sand box. A BIG sand box!" His awe and amazement was great to watch throughout the trip. As usual, he was fearless. He jumped into the water both with and without his water wings. He actually managed to kick his feet and bring himself to the stop of the water when he went under. It was pretty cool to watch him this year, and loads of fun, I might add! These are a few of my favorite pics from the trip!

Perspective

As many of you know, Lee and I have been trying to get pregnant since October of 2008 with no success. In the beginning it was so hard for me. Each month I'd get my hopes up only to be devastated when Aunt Flow arrived. I felt pity and heart ache for myself. Now, almost 11 months later, God has used this journey to give me a new perspective. Instead of devastation I am thankful. I look at Joshua with renewed wonder and amazement. I am so appreciative for each day that I am able to spend with him. I revel in each new connection he makes, each funny thing he says, in each way he amazingly melts my heart. He is the coolest, most amazing little kid that I've ever seen...not that I'm biased or anything. For a while I was so caught up in needing to get pregnant again that I forgot to be thankful for the amazing gift I was already given. I thank God for using this experience to renew my spirit and restore my joy, and for helping me to remember what a precious and wonderful gift I already have!!

On a lighter note, I have got to share a quick story. A couple of nights ago Lee, Joshua, and myself were sitting in the living room doing our nightly routine of watching one television show before books and bed. Lee's phone range, and he walked out of the room to talk to a friend. Joshua promptly got up and said, "Daddy, go sit wid my mudder." At that very moment I could have melted! The way he said it with such conviction was just too cute for words. This post simply doesn't do it justice!!

From diapers to "underwears"

It's official, Joshua has overnight made the transition from diapers to "underwears". We've been one week and one day with only one accident...an accident that was partially mommy's fault. My once cuddly little love bug is turning into daddy's big boy. I knew this transition would come. It's a milestone that all children go through and parents every where celebrate it's arrival. I thought I would be celebrating, but instead find myself with mixed emotions. On the one hand I am so proud of the independence he is achieving. I see his confidence soaring, and I see the beaming smile on his face each team he "feeds the pot". On the other hand I see so many changes accompanying this transition. My once chubby cherub is now losing his baby fat. His rolls and creases are quickly giving way to muscle and a thinner stature. The absence of diapers is one of many signs that baby days will soon be a distant memory, and mommy's baby will soon be mommy's little man. Here's hoping my heart can take it!

Time Flies

Sorry to have been MIA for so long. Things have just been busy, and I find myself choosing sleep over blogging! Joshua is growing so much...I just can't believe it. I've heard people say that the time you have to raise your child goes by as quickly as sand filtering through your fingers. I think it's even quicker than that. I pulled out Joshua's 1st year memory box this past weekend. (I keep a small box for each year of his life with little trinkets and what nots in it.) I pulled out one of his newborn diapers...unused, of course:). As I looked at that diaper I had such a difficult time remembering him at that size and age. He's currently 42 pound toddler who runs and plays and jumps, all the while clearly assserting his independence and lack of need for his mommy. The days when he was dependent on me for pure survival seem such a distant memory. Sure, I have every minute clearly documented with photos and video, but I just can't believe that my baby, who less than 3 years ago couldn't hold up his own head, much less feed himself, now counts to 10, knows his colors, and recites at least five songs from memory. I'm amazed, simply amazed at how much can happen in just a few short years. It makes me want to hold him tighter, watch him longer, and love him harder than I have in the past two and a half year!!

Terrible twos

It's official. I moved past denial and on toward acceptance. If the constant stream of "NO!" coming out of his mouth didn't give it away, then certainly the tantrums are a clear indication. Joshua his finally done it...he's entered the terrible twos, which leads me to question my parenting skills on a daily basis. Perhaps a visual would be of use? When he begins it's like he has a comorbid diagnosis of Autism and Seizure disorder. When the tantrum first starts he begins violently jumping up and down while flapping his hands at a fervent pace. After about 10 or so seconds of this, he drops to the floor on his knees, and then violently crashes face first into the floor. His body then starts convulsing, so you think that surely he's swallowed his tongue at this point. But no, not at all. If you just give him a little time (that could be any where from one minute to one hour), then he'll sit up, on his own and without prompting say in a calm sweet voice, "I torry mommy. I wanna listen." All the while I'm left dumb founded thinking WTF?!?!?!?! Mind out of the gutter people...I'm saying freak.

Don't know how I got off on this little rant (I mean tangent). It just seems that my child spends more time with his face plastered to the floor and voice echoing off the ceiling than he does playing with toys or even eating. Now I must admit it's quite entertaining, except when we're out in public, of course.


Just to be clear, we have an AWESOME kid. He does sweet things all the time. Lke when he kissed me today for no reason. Or when he told me "toes er eyes mommy" and then handed me a peppermint. Or at night when he says "Hold my body mommy, hold it tight" when he wants to cuddle. At times he is so darn cute that I could just eat him with a spoon! He tries to help me clean and brings me a bandaid when I get hurt. He really is a sweet kid...I'm just hoping his self-induced seizure espisodes end soon:)!

Snow

I know this is a bit late, but I thought I would add some pictures from the snow that we had. Joshua is sick today, so I am at home with him. While he's taking a nap, I thought I'd do a little updating.

He absolutely loved the snow...he even got excited about the flurries. Each time it snows he asks to build a "no man"... I love that toddler talk!! At any rate, mom and Robbie came over, and we all went out and played in the snow. Lee and Kathy were actually the best at building the snow man. Hope you enjoy the pics;)!

Joshua and Mommy catching snowflakes and giving kisses.

The boys with Nana and Lee's little snow dude!!

Our house in the snow.

Talking to Jesus

Okay, okay...I know it's been forever since I've posted anything hear. I have no excuses. Life is just crazy!! Joshua is sick AGAIN...it appears that the wonderful tonsilectomy isn't performing miracles for him. Poor guy is hacking so hard I think his lungs are going to launch out of his mouth at any moment. At any rate, I wanted to share a funny with everyone out there.

I print the bulletins for our church. I'm a bit of a slacker about it, so I usually don't get around to printing them until Sunday morning. Let me preface by saying that Joshua is fascinated with the printer. Every morning he goes by and hits the power button to cut it on. He's been told many times to keep his beautiful and pudgy little fingers off of it, but still he pushes the buttons. Anyway, this past Sunday I had the bulletins all ready to print, but the printer wasn't working. Each time I tried to print the only thing that came out was blank pages. Frustrated, I turned to Joshua and said in my best 'mommy's not playing' voice, "Joshua, mommy's printer isn't working. You need to go to your and talk to Jesus and ask Him to fix mommy's printer. If mommy's printer doesn't get fixed, then you're getting a spanking!" He looked at me with those great big eyes and said, in his 'I got the message mommy' voice, "O-tay mommy!" He turned and walked out of the room. Now I assumed that he had ignored every word I had said. I assumed that he had run off to the play room to have a jolly good time. Boy was I wrong!!!

A few minutes later Joshua came running in our bedroom with such gusto that it seemed he had to be on an extremely important mission. He had his black toy cell phone open and clutched in his little hand. He shoved the phone at me and said, "Mommy. Mommy. It's Jesus. He talk to you. Here!" It was all I could do not to roll on the floor laughing to the point of tears as I sat and talked to Jesus. What more, when Joshua closed his cell phone it was silent for a couple of seconds and then rang back. His eyes got HUGE, he took a deep breath, and he said "Mommy! Mommy! It's Jesus. He got more!!" and shoved the phone back to me. How precious that was:)!! The best part...the printer began to work within seconds after our "talk" with Jesus!! Gotta love our God:)!! He's pretty flippin' awesome!!

Life...crazy life

What a weekend!! Debby is in the hospital having multiple tests run, Joshua has fluid in his lungs, and I have a bronchitis like cough. Fun times I tell you, fun times! Not been much to share lately. Just life, which I am certain could not be too terribly interesting for others to read. Though there are some things that a 2 year-old does that are worth mentioning. This afternoon, for example, as we were walking in the hospital parking lot to go see his Meme.

Joshua had an apple clutched in one hand, while his other hand was plastered to his ear. He was pretending to talk on the cell phone. I could not understand the majority of his conversation; however, the salutation was quite clear. I told him I needed him to get off the phone and hold my hand as we walked through the parking lot. Did I mention that one of his new found joys in life is talking on the cell phone? Any way, he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and let out a little sigh as he almost rolled his eyes away from me. Without hesitation I heard him say in the phone, "Gotta dough. Talk later. Bye." He then took his little hand away from his precious ear, and graped my finger. Obviously I had interrupted his plans, but how nice of my darling son to be willing to end his all important imaginary conversation and allow his mom to prevent him from running into traffic:).

Joshua's new phone interest spiked about 3 weeks ago when we were sitting in the "big chair" one night. Out of the blue he leaned over and asked to call Adin. Adin is I guess what you would call his best friend, and the only child his age that Joshua has spent time with on a regular basis. I pretended to call, and he had a fit until I finally dialed the number and asked if Adin could talk. They shared about a 5 minute conversation of only God knows what (I couldn't interpret the gibberish at that speed) before saying bye and getting off the phone. I thought it was hillarious. His daddy thought it was less hillarious when I called him a drama diva:)!!

Anyway...I need to help get Joshua to bed and get ready for work tomorrow. I was just feeling that guilt that mommies and women every where sense when we feel we haven't done our "jobs". I just felt the need to write something, even if it was nothing:)!

The Holidays

I know I haven't updated in a while, but things have just been crazy. I trust that everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that you all had an opportunity to spend time with family and close friends and remember the real reason that we gather and celebrate the Christmas season!! On that note, Lee and I have started a new tradition in our family.

After seeing how commercialized Christmas has become, particularly with children who believe in and worship Santa Claus more so than they do Jesus Christ, Lee and I decided we wanted it to be different for our children. We started by scaling back on JLee's ghifts this Christmas. We even went so far as to ask our parents and relatives not to go over board with their purchases. We told him the nativity story daily, but were really just searching for a way to help him understand in his two year old brain why we celebrate...why we give gifts, why we get together with family, why everything. It occured to me that Joshua gets the whole birthay thing. He knows that at a birthday we celebrate one person, have cake, and give presents. So, we had birthday party for Jesus. Each time Joshua was given presents we made sure to talk to him about why he was getting the presents...that it was Jesus's birthday and we give each other presents to celebrate that day. I don't know if he got it completely. I'm sure he didn't understand all that I hoped he would. But it's a start at least. We even baked a cake for Jesus and sung happy birthday to Jesus. I think we'll do it again next year as well!!

On another note...seeing so much of our family this holiday season helped Lee and I to reflect on how blessed we are and what things we would like to chang during 2009. We have family nearby that we can count on. Family that we are very close to and love dearly. In that respect we are so blessed. But, we also have family that, for what ever reason, we are not quite as close with. We're both a bit sad about it, but have decided to do what we can over the next 12 months to see if it's something we can change. We're going to try to do more on our parts to initiate and maintain interactions, whereas in the past we just let it go. We'll see what happens, and we'll keep ya'll posted;)!

What follows is a picture tour of our favorite Christmas moments. Sorry, there are no pictures of Jesus's birthday party:(. We were all so involved in pulling it all together, that we completely forgot the pictures!!!