Everyday Fun

We had fun with paint earlier this week. Olivia tested every color and every brush. It's neat to see her experiment. Sylvia needed a bit more encouragement. She doesn't like getting dirty, so every time a smudge of paint got on her finger or arm, I'd have to clean it off immediately.

Inquisitive kid-ism: While checking the internal temperature on my pork roast the other evening, Olivia inquired, "Why are you checking the meat's fever?"

Touching moment: Olivia noticed flower stems poking up through the soil. Don't ask me why that touched me so, but my eyes welled up with tears as she pointed them out to me.

Daddy-daughter funny: Sylvia had Matt holding her swaddled "baby" and insisted that he sing a song. Picture Sissy making such a command to her Daddy, directive pointer finger and all..."sing". We all busted up laughing as Matt swayed around the living room, snuggling a make-believe baby, singing a lullaby! (Doesn't actually sound that funny all typed out. Maybe you just had to be there to see the humor.)

Mommy's Little Man

Yes, he's already 7 whole weeks old! Joseph's smiles are few and far between, but when we finally solicit one, it is so beautiful. He's going to be quite the heart-breaker! Other praises...Joey's taking to the bottle a little better. Tonight he went through the entire bottle feeding without choking, coughing, or sputtering. Also, Joey has taken some decent naps lately, falling asleep calmly after being swaddled and laid down while drowsy. He has his 8 week check up with Dr. Jill next week and I can't wait to see how much he weighs! It feels like such an accomplishment to see him growing and putting on the pounds.

Doesn't his color finally look normal? (not sun-kissed)

Happy, Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!

This weekend was Joseph's first out of town trip. We went to Mt. Vernon to my brother Nick's house to help celebrate our niece and nephews' birthdays. Between our kids and our nieces and nephews, we have 8 birthdays in about 4 months!! So this weekend we consolidated the older kids' birthdays into one weekend. Happy 15th birthday Cody! Happy 13th birthdays Drew, Jack, and Ashley!

Oldest and youngest. Cody and Joseph

Cake, cake, and more cake.

The rest of the pics are here.

Super Six Weeks!

Happy Six Weeks Joseph!! Lookin' pretty handsome, don't ya think??

Click here for the rest of the 6 week pics.

A Time to Remember

As I prepared to receive communion this morning in church I reflected and prayed. I thought of how awesome it is that I am receiving Christ even though I am so unworthy. I thought of last year at this time when I accepted Christ into my heart after denying Him for most of my life. I thought of this special season when we remember Jesus’ journey to the cross. I thanked God for sending His Son to die so that I might live. I thanked God for redeeming me and allowing me to receive Him even though I don’t deserve it.

"They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him."
-Matthew 27:28-31

Easy Mac

We have started letting Olivia play computer games on the Sesame Street website. She loves playing them and has caught on to running the trackpad on my Mac (so easy a 4 year old can run it!). We tried letting her use a mouse, but it was too big for her hand. She would much rather use the trackpad. I guess it's time to start looking into some educational software!

Sleeping on the job

Our pediatrician, Dr. Jill, has suggested doing at least 15 minutes of "tummy time" each day so that Joseph's neck muscles grow stronger. He generally doesn't care for this ritual, but was quite complacent today...falling asleep on the job! Olivia needed some screen time too, so she jumped in the pic:) Joseph's been sleeping this way for almost an hour now. We've had time to get both the girls dressed and hair in piggies, play a game of "Go Fish", and have snack! Olivia just asked me why I'm still in my PJ's, so I'd better wrap this up.

5 Weeks

Happy 5 weeks Joseph!

For our March pics click here.

It's OOBLECK!

The girls helped mommy make some oobleck.  It's a crazy mixture of glue, borax, and food coloring.  The girls really love it! They like taking their socks off and squishing it between their toes and making shapes out of it using cookie cutters. It's fun for all ages! We got the idea from this blog. Enjoy!

Mixing the ingredients.

Our visitors Lewy and Louise get in on the fun too.

Watch it drip!

and SQUISH!

SMOOSH!

The Sickness

We just can't seem to get and stay healthy around here. A month ago, when we brought Joseph home, both the girls were hacking, snotty messes. Not a great environment to bring an "at risk" infant into, but what were we to do. Thankfully Jojo has fended off the crud they had and now his little immune system gets to continue fighting. Matt and I both got the cold the girls had, but it was short-lived and recovered quickly. Then Sylvia got double ear infection, causing both her little eardrums to rupture! I was feeling like Mother-of-the-Year that day...NOT. So 10 days of drops and antibiotics, we were back in the office with painful ears again. Turns out her tympanic membranes had sealed back over, but were still bulging and infected. Those darn ears bought her another 10 days of antibiotics. The severely snotty nose and smoker's cough is probably a nasty virus at work. Now Olivia is running a low-grade fever and has the same snot and cough as Sylvia. Meanwhile Matt has been re-infected, and is sick again. Will the cycle ever end??? As much as we love Dr. Jill, I can't wait for the week that we don't have 1, 2, or all the kids in the pediatrician's office.

With all the illness in the house, I've let the girls have limited access to their baby brother, so Sylvia was thrilled to jump in a picture with him yesterday:) (I then quickly shooed her away...in a loving way of course)

Happy 4 weeks Joseph!

Our growing boy, weighing in at 9lb 11oz already, is such a sweetie! He loves to be swaddled (we're not fighting that anymore), hates the "nuk" (at least when Mommy's around), refuses to burp like a typical baby, and only pee-pees on clean clothes. I'm completely smitten with the child!!

ps. Don't adjust the color/contrast on your computer screen after looking at the latest pictures of baby J...he is still jaundiced!

Gerdes Clan Comes to Town

The Gerdes family came to visit us this weekend. It was their first chance to see Joseph and actually hold him! It is nice to have visitors and share Joseph with our family. The girls of course had a fantastic time with their cousins. Activities from the weekend included playing with the Barbie house, playing Wii, watching movies (and eating popcorn), playing outside, playing Play-Doh, playing Chutes and Ladders, Memory, and Ponyville, and putting together puzzles. Needless to say it was fun-filled! Olivia was sad to see her cousins leave, but thanks to iChat she will be able to see them again really soon!




Click here to see all the pics from weekend.