She's a toddler!

Brielle is spending more and more time each day walking, and less and less time crawling. She'll really be keeping up with her brother soon!

What to be when I grow up

When we ride in the car, I try to keep Josh entertained by looking for buses and construction trucks. The other day we saw some construction trucks doing work and he got pretty excited. I asked him if he wanted to be a construction worker when he grew up. Josh replied, "No...play football!" What a perfect little boy response...how in the world did he know all boys want to be professional athletes when they grow up. Too funny!

See him in training below:Not football, but practicing his throw - even stepping with the opposite foot!

Building his core strength

Doing dips!

Workin' 9-5....or not

We've been talking a lot recently about how to make Dan's schedule work best for our family. He actually doesn't work an insane number of hours (we calculated <40/week when averaged out), but he works nights, weekends, and holidays and the rest of the world is organized around a M-F 9-5 lifestyle. This has been really hard for me - I hate it when he works on the weekend, and doing dinnertime/bedtime alone is sometimes a lot at the end of the day! He loves the emergency room environment though, and it is nice having 3-4 days off at a time...so rather than looking for a new job, we've been brainstorming things we can do to make it work better.

As part of this we wanted to get some input from people who have been where we are. Amazingly, at almost the same time Daniel became interested in the PA profession he found out his new college bible study leader was an emergency medicine PA. John, and his wife Sharon, have been great friends and mentors for Dan (and now me too) for over ten years now. We were able to spend about 48 hours with them last month and it was great. They are just the kind of people that are refreshing and encouraging to be around, and it was especially great to get their input into our circumstances since they've been there too.

They didn't have a lot of suggestions for things we could change, but said we're thinking about the right things. Things we're considering are: setting up a regular sitter to come one morning a week, trying to be better about planning out our days in advance, seeing if Daniel can get more Sundays off to go to church regularly, figuring out a way for us make exercise a priority. Sharon helped us realize that some of our stress doesn't necessarily come from Dan's schedule, but from having a 2 year old and a 1 year old...no matter what our work situation was, life would be crazy right now, but that it's for a season. The next season won't necessarily be easier, but it will be different. It's easy to think the grass would be greener if Daniel had a 'normal' schedule, but it's not necessarily true - there would just be different challenges.

Also, as Dan told John about his job, John was really impressed with the experience Dan is getting, the way the docs run the group, and the compensation/benefits...what we've started to take for granted, he reminded us is really a pretty sweet deal! I mean really - Dan works half the days of the month and makes enough for us to live on one income - pretty amazing gig!

It was also the first time for us to get to introduce John and Sharon to the kids. They have 4 grown boys, and I think they really enjoyed having some little ones around. Amongst all the serious talk, we had some fun too. The first morning the guys went out fishing and the women and kids headed to a really cool playground. We also took some walks down to the dock, ate yummy food, and visited the beach (St. George Island) where Daniel and I first met!

All in all, it was a great trip. We were challenged and encouraged by John and Sharon's generosity, servant hearts, and loving way of living out their faith in their neighborhood.

Our Little Helper

Joshua is really into 'helping' right now...which is great! He helps take the diapers to the outside trash can, dustbusts, cooks, and brings us stuff we request. If we neglect to invite him to participate in one of his self-appointed tasks, he comes running up saying, "Helper, helper!"




(Notice Brielle spends a lot of time in her high chair - not only does she love to eat, but it keeps her safe from big brothers rambunctiousness!)

Vacation

Last year's family vacation, a trip to the Smokies with a one-year old, was challenging, to say the least. We decided soon after that trip that with two kids under 2, our next vacation would be for adults only. We figured we'd be needing some down time by the end of the year, so we decided to try a cruise and see if that style of vacation suited us.

Enchantment of the Seas

We took a 5-night Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean. It was perfect for what we needed. The first day we were at sea and spent the day getting into vacation mode. It took about 24 hours for us to decompress, stop talking like Joshua, and find our way around the boat. We had a great table assignment for dinner with a window view. We enjoyed chatting with the other couple at our table, John Vyn and Amanda.

Formal Night

Day 2 we were in port at Grand Cayman. We took a catamaran charter out to Stingray City were we were able to hold and kiss stingrays. On the way back, we stopped at two snorkeling sites. The coral was amazing! Day 3 was spent in Cozumel, Mexico. I think this was our favorite day. Perfectly relaxing without being boring. We took a cab to a local beach club called Playa Corona. You could walk out from the patio into a great snorkeling spot. Then, when you wanted to take a break, just hang out at the tiki huts and have a snack. Delicious guacamole and excellent snorkeling were enjoyed!

Abuelo Gerardo Restaurante

After snorkeling, we went back to town and ate lunch at a restaurant our dinner server had recommended. It was sooooo good! Then we did a little shopping for souvenirs and headed back to the boat. The last day we were at sea again all day. We started gearing up for the return to the real world!

Daniel got a kick out of our towel art

First time eating lobster - he ordered two!

It was so good for Daniel and I to have this time away to focus on each other and get rested. It felt strange to only have to worry about myself - to shower whenever I wanted to and for as long as I wanted, to eat my food when it was hot, to have uninteruppted conversations. We really had a good time. Of course, we missed the kids and were excited to see them when we got back, but not so much that we couldn't enjoy our time together.

Speaking of the kids...my parents watched the kids and they did great - both the kids and grandma and grandpa! When we got back into port in Ft. Lauderdale I called my mom to check in and warned her that we were so relaxed we were moving pretty slow. She replied that they were starting to move pretty slow there too, but for the opposite reason! When we got home, Josh was just waking up from his nap. Daniel and I went in to get him, and he just started laughing. It was priceless.

I thought the rest and relaxation from the vacation would recharge me enough to feel different for a few weeks, but it was right back to the daily grind - no saintly levels of patience or endless energy, but many great memories!

Our Sweet Pea

Sometimes I call Brielle 'Sweet Pea', and Joshua has started to call her that too. I love the way he says it. Here's some recent pictures of our silly, pretty girl and some videos of her improvised 'walkers'.

Such a sweetie

Classic Brielle

Eyes glued to the TV
She starts panting when the FBI warning comes up on the screen!

She LOVES this frog that my parents brought her. Everyday she picks it out of the toybox and gives it kisses and squeals at it!

Love this one

Joshua's Birthday Part III!?

This kid has more birthday celebrations than anyone I know! Poor Brielle, will we ever match the number of parties big brother had? As if she wasn't already going to have a birthday complex due to sharing it with Christmas. Oh well, let the Joshua party continue - we'll make it up to Brielle somehow! She does get to have the same birthday as Jesus, after all!

Since my parents came to town just a few weeks after Joshua's birthday, of course, another party was in order! Complete with cake, candles, singing, and presents. Josh has definitely gotten the hang of presents now!

A pro at blowing out the candles!

There was enough frosting on that cupcake to even share some with sissy!
(Disgusting, I hate frosting!)
Apparently Josh finds it delicious!

(Sidenote: This is a good view of his missing tooth - which is actually coming back in now...apparently it didn't get knocked out, but pushed all the way up into his gum and is coming back in now! That explains why we never found a tooth. We had decided he must have swallowed it, but that seemed a little unlikely. We've been back to the pediatric dentist, but won't know if any damage to the permanent teeth has been done until he's old enough to sit still for an x-ray and possibly not until the permanent tooth comes in.)

The choo-choo was a hit!

Connor's Amaizeing Acres

In October the kids and I joined Dave, Erin, and McKenna for a morning of fun at Connor's Amaizeing Acres, a combination pumpkin patch, petting zoo, hay ride, corn maize, and beyond. Basically, all the fun fall necessities in one place. Josh's highlight was the 'cow train'. The first time we rode it, he rode solo in his own car!
Notice his death grip on the cow! The ride was surprisingly rough and fast and about halfway through, Joshua started saying, "All done". I was so scared he was going to try to get out while it was moving, but he did a good job of listening to mama. The fun must have outweighted the fear, because he wanted to ride a second time. We played it safe the second round and all rode in one car.
Josh also got in touch with his farm boy side and really enjoyed the hay bales.
Both kids enjoyed the big bin full of corn kernels. I enjoyed it as well because it was like a much cleaner version of a sandbox. Brielle couldn't stay in long though because she was determined to eat the corn! Funny girl - her appetite is never lacking!
There was also a petting zoo. Brielle really enjoyed the animals and kept 'talking' to them.All in all, fun times and lots of new experiences were had. We'll definitely plan to go back next year when daddy can come too.

Attempt at Christmas Card Pictures

Lady in Red and Forlorn Lad

Needless to say, this session did not produce the desired photo! Gave up on a pic of them together and used individuals for this year!

Welcome to my world

Classic - thanks for the pic Anissa! Why are my kids always lookin' so crazy and hers look calm and collected? I guess they're the spirited children I wanted! No lack of personality here!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Joshua

Happy Birthday, Buddy Boo!

Joshua got to celebrate his second birthday over a period of days as visitors and presents arrived one by one for several days...we were afraid he'd start to think everyday was his birthday. The celebrating began the weekend before his birthday, when Papa, Gigi, Aunt Janelle, and Uncle Jeremy came to visit. Uncle Marc (a new Jacksonvillian) joined us for lunch and cake.

The fire truck from Papa and Gigi is a new favorite toy

Josh is really into choo-choos right now, so I wanted to make a train cake. I was fully prepared for him to not notice the cake at all, but he loved it! For days after, whenever anyone said, "Happy Birthday", Josh's first response was, "Eat...choo-choo...cake."

Joshua got to start out the morning of his actual birthday with a banana split. Daniel fondly remembers doing that growing up, so we're continuing in the tradition.
For dinner that night we had Josh's favorite food - HOT DOGS! (Whenever he's pretend cooking and I ask him what his making it is ALWAYS hot dogs!)
Opening his gift from us - the wrapping paper is Elmo in a fire truck, does it get any better for a 2 year old boy?
The gift is not as cool as it looked in the store, so it will be getting returned for something more worthy. Thankfully he's not really old enough to miss it and has lots of other new toys to play with.

This second year of life has been an eventful one for Joshua - learning to run, gallop, jump, TALK...getting a baby sister...losing a tooth...first stitches...and many more things I'm sure we're forgetting. We love our little guy and delight in how much of a BOY he is...he loves to be outside, make VROOM, VROOM sounds, play trains, get dirty, go to the beach, and explore. There's new challenges now as he begins to assert his own desires (demands?), but we are so blessed by our boy...his sweet kisses, reminders to pray (especially for Gigi), zest for life and all the extra laughs he brings to everyday. What a great 2nd year, BIG boy!

Brielle - 9 1/2 months

On the Move

This is such a fun age! Brielle is sweet, smiley, and on the move! We love getting giggles out of her...and it's easy to do these days. It seems like she's really grown up a lot in the past few weeks.

All Dressed up for MOPS

Brielle's now crawling on her knees rather than her belly, pulling up with ease, and beginning to cruise around the furniture. She also got her first two teeth this month. She's still a good eater and delights in getting table food - most nights she's able to eat what we're eating - baked ziti, black beans and rice, lasagna, chicken casserole. We've gotten good use out of our food mill this time around. Meals can be stressful though as we try to keep everyone's mouths full. Sometimes it's hard for mama to get a bite in here and there. But, now that Brielle's getting some teeth, hopefully she'll be able to eat more finger foods and need less spoon feeding.

Her Pose (especially to flirt with daddy)

Brielle waves and seems to say a form of "Hi" now. She's also started giving the sweetest, wettest kisses ever! I love them and can't get enough. Joshua and "Sis" continue to get along well. She doesn't miss a thing that he does, and they love to chase each other around the house. She giggles when he rubs his hair on her skin. It's sweet to watch them interact. We've seen the first signs of jealousy in Joshua lately - maybe it's him hitting the age of 2 - he wants to be held now when I'm holding Brielle. All in all though he's a terrific big brother and is great with all babies.

Sweet Kisses

Brielle needs less sleep than Josh did at her age. This has its pros and cons. She can go without a morning nap when our day's activities demand it or it can be postponed and she holds up pretty well. This has allowed us the freedom to do some morning activities with Joshua, like walk with friends, library storytime, etc. But, the down side to Brielle needing less sleep is that she's started waking up between 5 and 6 am most days (she goes to bed around 8pm, so not super early). Sometimes in the wee hours, she takes a bottle and goes back to sleep and other days she's up for the day. Dan and I are having a hard time deciding how to handle our early riser - is it just a phase or are we reinforcing the pattern of waking early by feeding her? For right now, to keep my sleepy boys happy, we're going with it, and hoping she'll outgrow it.

Sis is starting to really be interested in toys. She can entertain herself for a long time on the floor. She doesn't really have favorites, just likes turning things over in her hands, shaking them, banging them on the ground, and of course, tasting them. Papa and Gigi brought her a doll this past weekend, so it will be fun to see her learn to play with it.

Loving her dolly from Papa and Gigi