What's Happenin

Not a whole lot to report. We've battled more illnesses than we're used to lately and we've also celebrated both of the kids' birthdays. Both birthdays went well. Emmy turned four a few days ago. Can't believe she's already 4. Insanity. It was by far her best one so far because she actually understood what it meant and had a great time playing with all her new stuff. Aside from all the birthday excitement she keeps busy. I think she will be very ready to start school next year. But because of the birthday cut off in NC she will have to wait an additional year. We'll just have to put her in preschool. She loves learning and pretending. She has a very active imagination. Her imagination reminds me of me when I was a child. I was constantly pretending and imagining. The words she comes up with are quite entertaining. She has also pretty much overcome her fear of vacuums. She's still a little apprehensive with them but works through it without getting too upset. She also overcame her fear of showers. I have no idea why she thought they were so scary but she did and now she loves them. With old fears disappearing comes new fears appearing. She is now afraid of the dark and has bad dreams some nights. I know she understands more and more all the time and so I guess some things scare her more than they used to. So I guess it spills over into her dreams. In other news, she has been doing a little better with staying dry through the night. Lately she has been having more mornings where she is dry. She still wears a pull up at night and still pees most nights but she's showing some progress. Baby steps. Speaking of vacuums, Joshua is now afraid of them. Woo hoo. He's not afraid of much of anything else though. He keeps us on our toes. He is constantly getting into things he's not supposed to. Luckily he understands the word "no" and has started to respond to it. It may take a few times but he eventually gives up. He's also quite happy,silly, and entertaining. If he makes you laugh by something he does he will repeat that something a few more times to make you laugh. He's still into playing with balls (he can throw them and play "catch" with us) and has started to enjoy putting stuff into things (i.e. objects into a cup). He also enjoys water (he's discovered the toilet),his sissy (he still thinks she's hilarious),his doggie Mattie,his doggie blanket,being tickled, being upside down, and peekaboo. His vocabulary is limited to 2 words. He only says "ma ma" and "da da." And he understands "more", "bye bye" (he'll hold his hand up), "high five" (he'll slap you some skin), "no",and "doggie" (if you ask him where doggie is he'll look for Mattie and point). He's still not walking. He has taken a few steps but hasn't consistently done so. He has been standing without holding on to anything more and more for longer periods of time. He now has 6 teeth and eats everything you put in his mouth. We call him our bottomless pit. I guess that's all there is to report for now. I'm out.

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Boy!!

July

I can't believe it's already the end of July and Joshua is almost 1. Just two more weeks and he'll officially be a toddler. Anyway, we have been keeping slightly busy with doctor appointments and a week long beach trip to Emerald Isle. Joshua didn't know what to think of the cold ocean and the sand (the sound of it soothed him though) but Emily had a blast playing in the sand and ocean. Prior to this trip she was nervous about water that went higher than her knees. She loves baths and playing in shallow water but non-kiddie pools and lakes made her think she was going to go under the water. So I didn't have high expectations for her liking the ocean. But about 2 days into the beach trip she wanted her aunt Laurie to take her out deeper in the ocean. And she loved it. Go figure, the scariest body of water she has ever been in is the one that she loves the most. She is no longer so frightened of the lake either (we went a few days after we got back from the beach) and had a good time "swimming". Josh and I are both thrilled. She also had a good time playing with her cousin Aubrey (who is a year younger than her) at the beach. It's nice for her to have a girl cousin kind of close to her age that lives nearby. Playing with her two 6 year old boy cousins isn't always possible since she's a girl and she's 2 years younger (they often don't want to include her). Anyway, she keeps busy being creative (she comes up with so many made up words,games,and activities) and playing with her brother. They are usually cute to watch together. He often finds her very amusing and just laughs and giggles at her. Joshua is busy, busy, busy. He is into everything. He has a particular affinity to the white caps that cover the screws on the toilet base. If he manages to get into the bathroom he bee lines it for those. We're constantly snatching them from him. I joke that we should get him a bunch of those from Lowes for his birthday. He is also still very much into balls. He could chase those around for a long time. He cruises very well and sometimes stands unassisted (until he realizes it and grabs onto the closest stable object). He hasn't taken any steps yet. I don't think it will too much longer. I'm guessing by 13 months or so. Emily didn't walk until she was 17 months and so who knows. I doubt he'll take that long though. He's such a sweet and happy boy and soooo easygoing. As long as he's not ready for a nap or wants to eat he's good to go. He's also a good traveler. He cried maybe a minute on the way to the beach and about the same on the way back. Hopefully he hasn't changed his mind about it since then because we're heading to Pittsburgh in a week for a family reunion. That's 10 hrs and so I'm expecting some protesting. He went for his 2 month post op check up and the surgeon said he's healing wonderfully and if he hasn't had any complications by his 6 month post op check up he shouldn't ever and so that should be his last appointment. So, hopefully he doesn't and won't later either. Well, that's about all we're up to. Just getting ready for a long trip and both kids' upcoming birthdays.

Crap Load of Pictures

May 2011

We've been a busy bunch around here. We've all been taking turns going to the dentist for different reasons, I've had to take both kids to the doctor for eye issues, Joshua had surgery etc. And May is only half over.
Emily went to the dentist for the first time a little over a week ago. I had Joshua with me and so I asked the hygienist if she needed me to come back with her. She told me that it was up to me. So, I decided just to wait out in the lobby with Joshua. She went back with her with no fuss and I didn't see her again until the hygienist brought her back to the lobby. She said she did great and everything looked good. Emily was actually excited about her visit and about all the stuff they sent her home with (tooth brush, tooth paste, kid's floss,a sticker,and a prize). She loves to floss and she is looking forward to going back to her next cleaning. She's such a trooper. While we were with Joshua at the hospital for his surgery a couple of days ago, she had to go to a staff meeting with my mom at the doctors' office she works for. My mom said that she was so good and quiet, her coworkers didn't even realize Emily was in the room with them. This is a far cry from about 7 months ago. She used to be very scared of all things medical because she was convinced they'd give her suppositories for constipation (something we often had to give her for potty training issues). She's come a long way. She also goes with the flow in most situations and makes friends quickly (i.e. at church and the playground). She is such a curious and fun loving kid. Sometimes that curiosity can drive me bananas but I know it means she'll probably do well in kindergarten (which isn't for 2 more years since she missed the cut off for school).
Joshua has also been a busy boy. He now crawls very well,has started pulling up on things,and can clap. He can also feed himself small snacks such as Goldfish crackers and puffs. He's not an expert yet but he's getting pretty good at it. He is pretty fond of all things food. Since about 8 months old I have not found anything he won't eat (including baby food with meat). A few weeks ago he got his first two teeth on his bottom gum. He can also clap. Which makes me smile every time he does it. He just started making the sound "ma ma" after being able to say "da da" for a while. I know he doesn't associate these sounds with me or Josh yet but it's still nice to hear. He is such a fun little guy. Since learning how to crawl, he has been even more easygoing. I guess since he doesn't have to rely on us to bring toys to him. He recently battled some viral pink eye while his sister battled a swollen eyelid (apparently it was from a bug bite but I think it was more that the doctor eliminated every other possibility and went with this). They've both battled some colds too. They were sick on and off for a few weeks. Hopefully that's it for a while. Joshua also had surgery to correct a birth defect. It is called hypospadias and he had a mild form of it. The opening of his urethra was in the wrong spot and so a urologist had to perform a 2 1/2 hr procedure on Wednesday to correct it. One surgery is supposed to correct it and once the area heals (which looks absolutely gnarly right now) we're not supposed to be able to tell anything was ever wrong. The urologist is supposed to be one of the best in our area and so we are fairly confident he won't have to have any surgeries to correct any possible complications that can occur after this procedure. I had been dreading the day he would have to have surgery since the day after he was born (the day we learned he'd need surgery to correct it). I thought of routine surgeries that went horribly wrong because of issues with anesthesia and so I was very anxious. I thought I'd be a wreck the day of the surgery but I wasn't. I was still anxious but I knew that incidents of complications with anesthesia were rare and so I just prayed for his safety and tried not to think about it. We were finally updated an hour and a half into the surgery that things were going well. About 3 hours after they took him to the OR, the surgeon came out to the waiting area. He kind of gave us a weird smirk and told us to follow him into a private room to discuss how it went. It unnerved me because it made me think something might have gone wrong. I just kept telling myself this guy is kind of weird and socially awkward so maybe he doesn't realize the way he is approaching this is off putting. I was right because once we closed the door he told us that nothing was wrong and that he just didn't like talking about private matters in front of other people. I understood and appreciated that but he could have told us that when he first approached us. Either he doesn't have kids or he's just completely clueless to the fears others have when a loved one has surgery. Anyway, he said it went perfectly and told us how to care for his sensitive area. We finally got to see him about 10 minutes later. He looked groggy but wasn't crying or anything. Keep in mind he hadn't had anything in his stomach since 6am (it was around 2pm at this point) and what he had at this time was some apple juice (not exactly filling). And he had just had surgery. He was just chilling. The surgeon had joked that the medical staff might not give him back because they thought he was so cute and good. It always does a parent's heart good to hear that. :) He has been a trooper ever since. He has hardly fussed since and he's back to crawling around and having a good time. He amazes me. If this had happened to an older boy or to a man, the story would have, more than likely, been very different. They'd probably be whining and moaning on the couch and I wouldn't blame them a bit. They say babies are more resilient and get back to their normal self by the 24 hr mark. Joshua went back to normal at about the 5 hour mark. In my very biased opinion he is awesome and I'm so proud of him. I can't wait until he's fully healed and this whole experience is just a memory. Now I must get back to my regularly eventful schedule.

Well, let's see. What's been going on around here? Well, Joshua has been battling a couple of colds and I think teething. It looks like his 2 bottom teeth want to poke through any time now. I think he's also battling a case of frustration. Frustration over wanting to crawl forward but not being able to yet. He can crawl (actually scoot) backward and can shift his body sideways to get to toys or whatever suits his fancy but going forward is alluding him. He has finally made some progress but it's pretty slow going. So, I think he's getting frustrated because it seems he wants to move around more efficiently but just can't. He tries to get things going by rocking back and forth on his hands and knees all the time. It's so cute to watch. Anyway, other than that he's just hanging out. He's now tried puffs and some yogurt bites that melt his mouth. He has successfully grabbed both with his thumb and index finger and put both in his mouth a few times. We're working on that skill.

Emily just spent a little over a week in Sick Land and has finally returned. Even her voice was affected by a small case of laryngitis. So, the mixture of her different voice and her uncharacteristic crankiness made me feel like I was living with a familiar stranger. I missed her so much and I'm glad she has returned. The other night she went all night without peeing in her pull up. I was hoping it would be a new trend but I think it was just a fluke. But now I know she can do it so hopefully she's on her way to not needing a pull up at all. She has also been successfully peeing in public bathrooms. Which I am thrilled about. The girl used to scream when we entered a public bathroom. She was deathly afraid of the hand dryers. It was too loud for her. She's still nervous but not to the point that she can't use the bathroom. She just makes sure she leaves the bathroom stall before I flush the toilet. Apparently public bathroom toilets flush too loudly for her too. Emily has also picked up a habit I'm trying to break. A few weeks ago I noticed that she was biting her fingernails. It is now a daily habit. I don't know if she learned this from watching her daddy do it or if she just picked it up randomly. I don't know if I will be successful but I'm gonna give a shot.

We've just been hanging out around here. Playing outside, getting a used swing set broken down and moved to our house (it was a pain...for Josh. But it was free so it was worth it) and setting up Emily's first dentist appointment. Let's see how that one goes. Other than the everyday mundane activities, we've gone to the NC Museum of Life and Science with grandma to check out the Animal Grossology exhibit (Emily had a good time and I thought it was pretty cool too) and taking an overnight trip to Charlotte to see Josh's parents. Emily was so excited to see them.

We're happy about the warm weather. It means getting the swing set set up and a new play area set up for the kids, going to the beach with my family, Emily getting to add to her expanding rock collection (she is a rock nut) and doing other fun things outside. It's nice to get out of the house after being cooped up for the winter.

My Itty Bitty Baby Boy

I can't believe Joshua is over 7 months old already. As usual, time is flying and he's growing quickly. He's been an independent sitter for over a month now and has been trying out solid foods since he was 4 months. He's tried his green and orange veggies and most fruits. Of course he prefers fruits but he'll eat anything you put in his mouth with the exception of meat. He does not like meat so far. Can't say I blame him because that pureed stuff is grainy. He's rolling all over the place and scoots backwards while on his belly. He's finally getting used to being on his belly and doesn't hate it so much. He loves his exersaucer and his jumparoo. He can jump around contently for a long time. He's already had his first haircut. I tried this tricky task in early February because his hair was getting long around the ears. His doctor also thought she saw a tooth trying to make its way through when we were at his last check up. He certainly acts like he's teething with all the chewing and drooling. But he's been doing that since he was about 3 months old. He's such a sweetie and so easygoing. I always thought no baby could get much easier than Emmy was. But Joshua has proved me wrong. If he's not hungry or tired, he just hangs out,plays, and smiles. He LOVES his sister and no one is funnier to him. Baths and his doggie blanket are also tops with him. He's sleeping well at night. For a while there, I was getting up 4-5 times a night just to put his pacifier back in but he's gotten much more restful since he was about 5 months old. Now I occasionally get up once in the wee hours of the morning to put it back in. He also has a bit of a 'tude. He'll grunt like Tim Allen (only way I can describe it) while flexing his arms downward. He also makes a face that involves him snorting. Which causes him to scrunch his nose and squint his eyes. I have tried to get a picture of it but he always looks dumbfounded when I put the camera in his face. Just like his sister did. I am enjoying him and this stage in development so much. I know it's the calm before the storm because my itty bitty baby boy (as I like to call him) is going to be crawling soon. I think I'm going to have to up my coffee intake.

Potty Training Success

After almost a whole year of potty training, I can finally deem Emily officially and successfully potty trained (when she's awake anyway). After months of going number 2 in almost every pair of pants she owns, she quit this nasty habit cold turkey about a month ago. I didn't want to make any announcements until I was sure it wasn't a fluke. She might backslide at some point but a whole month without having to get out the latex gloves to clean that icky brown stuff out of her pants has been a great big step in the right direction. And a wonderful reprieve. I was getting really tired of cleaning that crap up (and yes that pun was intended). So proud of her and so happy for myself.

They've Got Skills

Emily has been full of surprises lately. First of all, she LOVES books and learning. I guess the knowledge was bound to stick. Anyway, she brought me "The Little Bears" book the other day. Some of the pages have trees drawn in rows on them. She wanted to count the trees with me. She proceeded to count and I assumed she would count to the typical 20 (that's as high as I thought she could count)and be done. Well, she got to 20 and kept going. She got all the way up to 29 and then went to 20-10. I then had to teach her 30 and so she went on to count all 37 trees on the page. I had no idea she could count that high. Granted she skips 14 and 15 almost every time she counts now. For some reason she used to know these numbers but now has something against them because she almost always says "13,16." I was proud of her anyway. Another surprise came when I wrote out her name. I then asked her to tell me the letters in her name and she could tell me each letter. She also can recognize her name when she sees it. She also knows 20 of her letters. Since I didn't know what she had rolling around in that noggin of hers, I wonder what other skills she has hidden. Maybe she knows how to speak Chinese too. We did used to joke that her baby babbling sounded like Chinese. Anyway, Joshua is developing some skills too. He can now hold his bottle very well and get it back in his mouth if it comes out. He can roll pretty well and has started sitting a little by himself. He has to lean forward to do so. I usually put his boppy pillow behind him and so haven't tested his skills completely. So, we'll see how well he does without it behind him (not that I won't be there to catch him when he topples over, I just want to see how well he can support himself). He's also doing really well eating his baby food. We're up to orange veggies now. He's such a curious little guy and has become a wiggle worm. He wants to touch everything and of course taste pretty much everything. When I hold him and face him towards me, it's hard to get him to focus on my face because he wants to look at and touch everything around us.

Green veggies and vacuums

Last week I discovered two things about my kids that kind of surprised me. One, Joshua likes green veggies. I wasn't expecting him to dig them since they aren't the most tasty when mushed with no detectable seasoning. But he actually likes almost anything you put in his mouth. The kid is very interested in food. So, I guess he's not too picky. And surprise number two, Emily laughed at the vacuum while I was vacuuming her room. She has been extremely afraid of the vacuum since before she was one. I mean blood curdling scream afraid. So, I have had to limit vacuuming around here and when I do vacuum, I have to make it quick and make sure the door of the room I'm vacuuming is closed. Well, I threw caution to the wind the other day and just went for it. Leaving her door open and everything. I was doing my thing when I heard her approach from behind me. I had started in her room while she was playing in the living room. I had decided not to look at her when I heard her come into her room because I was convinced I would see tears streaking down her face. But as I was vacuuming away, I heard joy in her voice and turned to see a smile on her face. Was that laughter I heard? She was laughing? I couldn't believe it. Don't get me wrong, she and the vacuum are not bff's. She was very thrilled to see it go back to its home in the closet. I think she was just trying to deal with her fear of it by laughing at it. Even if she's lying to herself and telling herself that the vacuum isn't scary, I'll take it over the blood curdling scream thing any day. It's progress and I'll take it.