Joshua is 2 Months Old

It hardly seems like enough time has elapsed that I should already be writing Josh's two month update. We headed off to the pediatrician this morning for his check-up and first round of vaccines. Our little big man weighed in at 12 lbs 5 oz (75th percentile) and was 22 3/4 inches (50th percentile). He has 3 lbs 5 oz and 1 1/4 inches on Emma at the same age. They asked whether he was starting to vocalize other than crying (yes), smiling (yes), and following people/items with his eyes (yes). The doctor said he looked great and he is right on track. He wasn't terribly pleased with getting his shots but he recovered quickly. He is definitely becoming a smiley little man although they are not easy to catch on camera. He loves to watch his big sister and gives her smiles. We are definitely starting to hear some little coos especially when he is laying on the floor looking at the heat exchange, which also gets some big smiles. He loves the swing, which is good since Emma could have cared less. Of course, it is just one more thing around that gives Emma fits since she really wants to sit in it. However, when Josh is swinging, she likes to make sure that he has a stuffed toy or two or three or four... Josh has started giving us a 4-5 hour stretch at night, which we'll definitely take at this point. Overall, he is generally a content little man and just keeps getting cuter every day.

Pumpkin Patch

We took advantage of the beautiful weather last weekend and headed out to the pumpkin patch. While the pumpkins were definitely not so plentiful since we waited so long to get out there, they still had some great pumpkins to choose from. The first stop was the animals, which included some goats, ducks, and chickens. Emma didn't mind watching from afar but she did not want to get too close to the fence. I am not sure where this new found fear of animals has come from but hopefully it will pass. After checking out the animals for a bit, we headed down to the patch. Emma caught sight of the pumpkins and went running. Then she spotted the hay bales and was off again. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the hay when she first touched it but they it was okay because all the other kids were doing it. After some photos and a little play, it was time to select a pumpkin. Emma was funny, going around and thumping them like you would a watermelon. We finally settled on a pumpkin and then played a little more before catching the pig races and heading home. Josh pretty well slept through the trip but I am sure that he'll really enjoy it next year. Here are a few photos from the day.

23 Months

I can't believe that we are one month away from Emma's second birthday. Brad put it best last night when he said that he wished we could slow down time a bit and enjoy this age even more. She is becoming quite a little character and on the one hand can be such a little girly girl and on the other hand, hang with the boys. She absolutely loves her friends and is always ready to give them a hug and a kiss.
Emma's vocabulary continues to explode and every time we see a Starbucks, she has to yell out "Barbucks" (please note that we don't go there as often as you might think based on the fact that Emma recognizes it right off). The other morning she handed Brad one of her pacifiers and then asked him "Where's the other paci?". Emma had a huge revelation over the weekend that she is in fact, Emma. It is not that she hasn't known who she was and responded to her name but she would never actually say her name but now when you ask who she is, the answer is "Emma".
We introduced her to Sesame Street this past month and she loves Melmo (Elmo) and Abby Cadabby. While she has dropped most of the signs that she learned, she will still use the more sign especially when she wants more Abby.
We are working on potty training but not with a real concerted effort. She definitely recognizes when she needs to or has gone so things are moving in the right direction. We are thinking about trying out the big girl bed in the next few weeks so we'll see how that goes.
Emma loves to "help Mommy" with everything these days, from baths for Josh to making dinner and grocery shopping. She still loves her brother and for the most part is so good with him. Her one trouble spot is that she likes to steal his pacifier since she only gets hers for sleeping. We're still working on being gentle but she'll get there. I am sure that she'll continue to awe us over this next month.

Just Because It's Friday

Brad spent most of the last week in Chicago or "Cago" as Emma referred to it. I would love to know what she thought "Cago" was. She did get to talk to daddy on the phone every day and was so funny. She now insists upon holding the phone by herself and would walk around the room giving Brad the play by play of random things. A typical conversation would go:

"Hi Daddy"
"Choo choo train"
"Josh swing"
"Melmo"
"Hi Daddy"

Of course, Brad loved every minute of it. Thankfully, I had an extra pair of hands in Brad's mom all week and his dad was here the first weekend. We were certainly glad to have Brad return on Wednesday evening.

Wordless Wednesday

Overdue Post

Ah, the long neglected blog! I say neglected because it has certainly not been forgotten. One week ago Sunday, Joshua was baptized. We had a full house that weekend with Brad's family. Unfortunately, it was too short of a visit with everybody. At 8 months old, Madison was much more fun for Emma to play with this time although it also means that Madison is more interested in Emma's toys, which wasn't what Emma had in mind. Fortunately Emma is good about sharing once you ask her to. We had some big excitement that Saturday night. We were all hanging out in the living room when I looked out the back door and saw a huge blaze on the street behind us. I said something to the effect of "Oh my gosh", which prompted several people to look out the window but it would seem that I was the only one with the correct angle because they all looked and then went back to what they were doing. At that point, I made it clear that there was a huge fire burning. Brad called 911 and based on the response of the dispatcher and the time it took to hear the fire trucks, it would seem that we were the first to call it in. With all the pine trees in our area, we were greatly relieved to hear those trucks and see them working to put out the fire. We drove by the next day and saw that the house was a total loss.

Now, back to the point of this blog entry, Josh's baptism. He was baptized Sunday morning and sponsored by his Aunts Lesa and Michelle and Uncles Chris and Dale. He slept through the entire thing so it was up to Emma to provide the excitement. It should be a fun video to watch one of these days. After church, we came back to the house for lunch and some cake although Emma started in on the icing before lunch. I had the cake opened on the table to cut some for Dale, Michelle, Thomas, and Garret since they had to get on the road before lunch. As I was standing there preparing to cut some slices, this little hand appeared up over the table and then little fingers were digging away at the icing. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend especially since Joshua celebrated the rite of baptism.