Fall Style

Rubber boots!!! Josiah got several comments at the store today. Aliza's were wet from jumping in puddles yesterday. Josiah jumped in the puddles too, but he was wearing his crocs.




I guess it has been a pretty quiet week around here. I can't decide if I have a cold or Eastern Shore Crud as they call allergies around here. I'm congested, but don't feel quite like I have a cold. I'd like for it to all go away because there is a little nephew around the corner that I haven't seen for a week that I'd really like to go hold.

I worked really hard today. I took the children into the bank today so that they could deposit money into their accounts. Then we went grocery shopping. We played outside and cleaned up the yard. I made supper and then cleaned the whole house including ironing. It will be fun to wake up to a nice clean house in the morning. There is a reason for my madness, but I'll save that for later.

Random Thoughts Today

It was the cutest thing when Josiah blew kisses to Jeremy when he was leaving for work this morning.

All of Josiah's canine teeth are through! Now it is time to reduce the pacifier dependency.

It is so fun to watch him become independent.


Grocery shopping is SO much easier when Aliza rides in the cart. Recently she has been sitting in the front and Josiah in the back. He is willing to sit down and she is contained.

I'm trying really hard not to be paranoid about swine flu.

Aliza asked twice today when she was going to see Gideon again. So sweet.

It is most lovely that Josiah can walk past Aliza without being hit, pushed, scratched or bit.

I called Jeremy at 12:30 because I thought I could benefit from a moment of adult conversation.

Does Sesame Street have some sort of subliminal addiction built into it? At least it is educational for the most part.

We got to visit with a couple who has older children than us and is more mature than us. Encouraging. And they didn't mind that my children are not shy and make themselves at home very quickly wherever they are. Aliza got to play piano, bass (cello), guitar, and listen to saxophone. She did not want to come home.

I'm scrapbooking on Saturday. Can't wait!

Aliza is currently playing very happily in the bathtub. The water finished draining quite a while ago. Recently she wants to take baths by herself--with the door closed.

My self-esteem was increased tonight. Jeremy took the children for a walk and I organized an area that has been bothering me for quite some time. There is no organizing when Josiah is in the vicinity!

I have lots of thoughts. I should stop now!

Gideon

Jeremy and I got to sneek over to Brian and Meghan's to meet Gideon. He is just perfect. So small and snuggly. Jeremy put Gideon to sleep. He was teasing me on the way over about getting the "baby bug." I think he is the one who got bit this time!

Lots of Good Stuff

I have a new nephew! Gideon Luke was born at 3:40am this morning. He weighed 6lbs 15oz and 21.25 inches. Meghan and Gideon are both healthy and I can't wait to get to hold him. We had plans to visit Jeremy's family this weekend so I will hopefully get to see him tomorrow. Thank you, God, for Gideon!!

Josiah is a worker. Last week after church he stretched out the sound system cord and started wrapping it around his arm (the best he could) like he has seen his Uncle Jeff do week after week. That skill has been transferred to a really long extension cord in this video. He actually did get a shorter extension cord wrapped in his hand later today. He tries so hard and then gets frustrated.



Aliza recently learned to pedal a tricycle. We only have a gravel driveway so the only time she had to practice was at Grandma and Grandad's house. Grandma brought the tricycle to our house the other day so that she could ride on the road we like to walk on. Aliza also got to ride on Grandma and Grandpa's driveway this weekend. She is so proud of herself!

Super Easy Yogurt Pops

I know summer is over, but my children are still loving Popsicles. We made these yogurt pops the other day. It was so easy that I had to pass on the idea.

Blend equal parts fruit (fresh or frozen) and vanilla yogurt. Pour into small dixie cups. Add a craft stick. Freeze.

Aliza made them and Josiah ate them! Next time we'll try a fruit other than strawberry and I think Aliza will like them better.

Too Many Childhood Vaccinations?

By the time Josiah was 15 months old he had 24 vaccinations recorded in his immunization book. Additionally there is blood work ordered at 1 and 2 years old to test lead and iron levels. Flu shots are offered and there is the new swine flu vaccination being made available. Where does a parent draw the line? Is there a point where we cross over from acting out of responsibility to making decisions based on paranoia?

Are vaccinations being used for convenience? My children have received a chicken pox vaccination. I had chicken pox as did everyone else my age. Sure, it was uncomfortable and a bit inconvenient for parents especially working parents, but does it really warrant a vaccination?

How much medicine can those little bodies process?

Why should a Mom have to prepare a 4 year old to receive 5 immunizations at one time?

Doctors have to pressure us, so to speak, to follow the regiment to cover themselves. But given the authority they have, it leads this Mom to feeling guilty is I don't follow their orders completely.

End of Summer

We celebrated the end of summer with one last trip to the beach. It was a little chilly, but that didn't keep the children out of the water. Josiah has changed so much. At the beginning of the summer he wasn't sure about walking on the sand and now he is running in the sand and not afraid of the water.

Somersaults

After watching her cousin, Caleb, do somersaults Aliza has been practicing. She still has to work at it, but she can do them now. Josiah watched Aliza do them and after a while he tried too. He rolls on his shoulder a bit, but it's not too bad.



There is some sun in the forecast for tomorrow! Finally.

Too Much Rain!

Last week the weather could not have been better. This week we have had 4 straight days of clouds and rain and tomorrow is predicted to be the 5th day. I'm afraid that I have exhausted all rainy day activities. I don't know how I am going to fill up the day tomorrow! Somehow days have a way of filling up so I'm sure we will survive. Here's how we filled some of our days.

Painting with Cool Whip (so that Josiah could eat it since everything still goes in his mouth!)


Listening to e-books. Aliza would do this all day if I let her! She has learned to navigate herself so she loves picking out which children's book she wants to listen to.
Climbing, climbing and more climbing. Still not quite sure how he managed this one.
And our house turned into a gymnasium a couple nights. This video is nothing special--just the children playing.



Aliza and Josiah learned a new trick this week too. I'm hoping to get a video of that tomorrow.

Family Memories

At the beginning of the summer I had the idea of taking Aliza and Josiah to a big zoo where they could see elephants, pandas, chimpanzees and other more exotic animals. We set off this week for 2 days in Alexandria, VA and the National Zoo. Without any planning on our part, it worked out that Jeremy's parents were also vacationing in Alexandria that week and so they got in on the zoo fun.

The first evening we arrived we decided to take the free trolley to the Potomac River, walk around and find a place to eat. I think we were glad for some extra hands getting two children and a double stroller on the trolley!

It is fun to be in big cities. I like visiting, but I'm happy to go home to the country! After striking out on locating a restaurant that appeared to be child appropriate we asked a local for an idea. Thankfully the lady pointed us in the direction of a cute French restaurant that was perfect for us. Aliza enjoyed picking out a special dessert. After dinner we took the trolley back to the hotel. We had to wait 20 minutes for the trolley and Josiah was too tired. He threw an all out screaming fit for most of that time. Always fun to have every person walking by look at you--A LOT of people walked by!
Jeremy and I have good system for exploring now. He navigates on his iphone and I take directions and drive. It works out well. We only missed one turn going in to D.C. and that led to us having to drive around the mall. Thankfully traffic was very light! The first thing Aliza wanted to see was the tigers and it happened to be the first exhibit we came to. Unfortunately she had a hard time locating the tiger and the lion because it was pretty far and away and camouflaged with the landscaping. She sortof went downhill from there. The highlight for her was looking at the map and deciding which animal she wanted to see next (of course she didn't care if that animal was at the opposite end of the zoo!). That map kept her busy! When we got home she did tell Grandma about the big fish, the orangatans, and the panda.


Honestly the hotel room brought about as much pleasure as the zoo did. We had a whirlpool tub and an outragously huge shower. We filled the tub and turned the shower on and the children had a blast. There was a whole lot of squealing and splashing going on. When our pizza was delivered Jeremy thought it might be a neighbor wondering what was going on!

And, my oh my, bedtime that night! First of all we heard a chair scrape across the floor. (Surely it had to be upstairs so we ignored it.) Then I went and checked. Aliza had helped herself to a cookie off the counter and was enjoying it in bed. A little later she came in our room to inform us that she was talking to Josiah. She had pulled up a chair to the end of his pack n play and was entertaining him (he had been sleeping). Even later we heard all kinds of giggling and chattering. Aliza had decided to get in the pack n play with Josiah. This was positively amazing to me because there were absolutely no tears. That means that these two were in that small of space and there was no biting, scratching or hair pulling! Apparently miracles do happen at least on vacation.
I know Jeremy and I were pretty tired when Aliza woke us up at 6:30 Saturday morning. Judging by the sleeping that occurred on the way home I think the children were pretty tired too.

Climber

My insanity level has just been increased again! I tell him about 10 times a day that he may not climb up on the table. Now I found him on standing on the counter.