Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival

I have seen the pictures and been hearing about it for several years but had never made it out to the Daffodil Festival until this past weekend. Rain was in the forecast for Saturday but we woke up to sunny skies that morning so I twisted Brad's arm and convinced him that we should make the drive. Emma was so excited when we got there and she saw all the daffodils. I think one of the first things that she noticed after the flowers of course were all the people having their pictures taken so she plopped down in front of some flowers and said "cheese". After that, the race was on. She literally ran all over the field and every once in a while, Brad could convince her to sit down for a picture but he had to be quick on the draw because she pretty much gave him one shot at it. I never did get a picture of both her and Josh because she had too much to do. Emma had a great time and wore herself out as evidenced by the three hour nap that day!










Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...!









Once he was finally feeling good, Josh decided that it was finally time to show the world that he could indeed roll from his back to his tummy and he hasn't stopped since. It's funny though because it really was like he knew how to do it all along and was just waiting for the right time. Whereas, I remember Emma struggling to finally get over in that direction because she had to learn to get that arm out of the way, Josh made it look so easy. Maybe it was all that practice when Emma would run over to him and roll him. Now that he is a rolling machine, nothing is safe including Emma's toys, which she is slowly figuring out. He is quick too. Last week I put him down on the floor so I could go help Emma put her shoes on. He was several feet away to start and when I turned back to look, he was right at my feet. Time to think about baby proofing (i.e. making Emma put away all of her small things) again.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

This Time Last Week


At this time last Wednesday, I was home to spend a few minutes with Emma, shower, change my clothes, and try to put Emma down for a nap before heading back to the hospital and leaving Emma in the hands of Papa and Mema. I accomplished three of my four goals! When I got to the hospital, Brad reported that Josh had been giving some big smiles and even laughing a bit, which was good to hear. At this point, he was still on 0.5 L of oxygen but by late afternoon, he was weaned off the oxygen completely and never looked back. Thankfully, by this time last Thursday, we were walking out of the hospital on our way home and Emma was so happy to see Mommy and Josh or was it the balloons she was happy to see? At this time today, both Emma and Josh are feeling good with clear ears for Emma and clear lungs for Josh. The sun is shining, temperatures are rising, flowers are growing, and trees are budding! Looks like March is finally shaping up right!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Go Daddy Go!

Brad with 2 of His Biggest Fans

This past weekend Brad ran the Little Rock half marathon for the first time since 2006. The course had changed slightly over the past four years with the start and finish now at the Little Rock River Market rather than at the Capitol. I must say that from the perspective of a spectator, the Capitol was much better for watching and snapping photos of your favorite runner finishing the race but I digress. The other difference from four years ago is that Brad's fan club has grown from one to three. Emma was excited to get out on Saturday morning and say "Go Daddy Go!". She also practiced "Go Tucker Go!", which is the person that Brad was running with although by Sunday morning, she forgot about Tucker and was convinced that Mr. Hank (our neighbor) would be out on the course. Once she got out there though, I am not sure she knew what to think of all of the runners. She did yell "Go runners go" at one point although it was on the way between miles 6 and 8 and there were no runners around. On a side note, it certainly felt like I was running a half marathon too getting between those points with Josh strapped to me and Emma in the carseat but I have to say that the Ergo is so stinking comfortable and even after having my little chunk strapped to me for > 2 hrs, my back felt fine. I did finally get her to clap for the finishers while we were waiting for Daddy to cross the line. She was definitely excited every time she saw Daddy though. Poor Josh didn't get to see much of the race as he was facing me in the carrier but he was warm and comfy if nothing else. I'll speak for Josh and say that all three of us were very proud of Brad and enjoyed getting out and watching him run.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

6 Months



Emma loves to read her big sister book that Joshua "gave" her when he arrived. It starts out with "There's somebody new at our house", which I guess isn't really accurate anymore since our "somebody new" is now 6 months old. At 6 months, Joshua weighs in at 17 lbs 15 oz (52nd percentile) and is 26 1/4 inches (50th percentile). He has stayed right on his growth curve for height and dropped off a bit for weight but is still a little bruiser! He's getting real close to rolling over from his back to his stomach and can sit unassisted for a short time. He can really talk a blue streak when he feels like it and has put together the correct syllables to say both "Da da" and "Ma ma" this last month. Of course they were only said once each and obviously not in context but he is working on his language skills. Within the last week, Joshua has gotten to branch out and try something other than rice cereal or oatmeal. He has now had peas, green beans and sweet potatoes. The peas were tolerable, the green beans a little better, and the sweet potatoes were definitely the best of the bunch. He has lots of favorites as I noted in Things I Like - By Joshua but three things that I failed to mention are his big sister, his Mommy and his Daddy. Joshua loves to watch Emma and just her presence causes him to light up with his 100 Watt grin. He also loves his Mommy and Daddy so much to the point that he has to tell us one, two, three...ten + times throughout the night; we need to work on that one! We are all so happy to have this little man in our lives and we love him just as much as he loves us! Happy 6 months Joshua!!!