Gratefulness

This past week has made me truly thankful for my family.  I am so thankful for my kids and my incredible husband.  I am truly blessed beyond measure by the grace of God.  Thank you, Lord, for my salvation and the beautiful gifts you have given me. 

Cousin time.  They play really great together!

Big bows!  A friend made them for Claire.  So cute!!

My boys watching the storm and drinking hot tea.  Only, Josiah’s was not hot.

 

Thanks Laura for the hat!  She is wearing her brothers shirt, because at Wal-Mart the only sweat shirts for girls had silly glitter and puff paint all over them.  I figured robots were better.

Trying to walk.  She is getting close!  My guess is by Dec. 1st.  Daniel says Nov.29th.  We shall see…

Sweet daddy time.  She is really falling in love with him these days.  It’s so adorable!

I LOVE them!!!!

A New Post

Creative, huh?  Daniel is out-of-town and I am doing laundry and I’m bored so I am going to do a quick blog while Josiah plays peacefully by himself  and Claire is taking a nap.  We went to the fair a couple of weeks ago and Josiah rode rides for the first time, ate funnel cake and petted a lama.  He had a blast.  I think he could have ridden rides all night long.  He was too short to ride by himself, so Daniel had to ride with him on everyone.  So cute, to see my two boys on the Dragon Wagon!  Daniel was a trooper!  He said Josiah was soooooo excited the whole time.  Claire and I watched from the sidelines, waved and ate yummy food.  It will be fun to watch them ride together one day.

Speaking of sibling love, I walked in the living room last night after I finished washing dishes and Josiah was on the couch and Claire was standing by him and he was leaning over with his arms around her neck giving her kisses.  When I walked in the room, they both turned and looked at me with HUGE smiles on their faces!  I am trying to store memories like that in my mind, so that when I am overwhelmed with the other side of sibling love, the hitting side, I won’t totally lose hope.   I pray so often for them to truly love each other and encourage each other and be to each other what my sisters are for me.  I know God will honor that prayer, and I can’t wait to see those things take place.  In the meantime, I will have to keep disciplining and training in that area. 

There has been some drama while Daniel has been gone…  I only work one half day a week and the day I had to work this week is when all the drama takes place.  Seriously.  Isn’t it funny how it all seems to happen at once?  Josiah always helps me cook breakfast in the mornings.  He sits on the counter by me and stirs stuff, and cracks eggs and usually does awesome.  Well, yesterday he helped me scramble some eggs.  Daniel called to check in and say good morning right as the eggs were done, so I took the eggs off the burner, turned it off, went to get a plate (while talking on the phone) and I look back at Josiah sitting on the counter… and he reaches out his tiny hand and puts it right on the burner that I had just turned off!!!!  Because he helps me cook all the time, I have told me him a HUNDRED times not to touch the burners, and I have even let him get close to touching it to demonstrate just how hot it really is.  Well, he got to experience it first hand. He scorched his second, third and fourth fingers pretty bad.  I put them under running cold water until the screaming stopped, gave him some Tylenol, and got some ice for him to hold. There were no open n wounds just HUGE blisters. We put some Dermoplast on the burns and turned on a movie.   My mom thankfully, came to babysit that morning and she did AWESOME with him.  She held him and got a glass of ice water for him to put his hand in.  I am not sure how, but Claire slept through the whole thing!!  I finish getting ready for work, go to my car  to leave, in the pouring rain, and my battery is dead.   ARGH!  I left the door open a bit and the light was on for like a day and a half.  So I had to drive my mom’s car to work, which is a stick!!  EEK!  I haven’t had to drive one of those since I was 16!!  But it turned out pretty good, I only died twice on the way to work and none at all on the way home!!  Needless to say, it was a crazy day!!  I have a good pic of Josiah’s hand to show you guys.  It is doing really great now.  The blisters are still huge, but the pain is WAAAYY down, Thank You, Jesus! 

Here are some pictures for you guys…

Playing outside and eating dirt before the rain set in.  Her eye is watery because of allergies.  Poor girl.  This isn’t the prettiest picture of her ever, but I just wanted to share how dirty they get while playing outside!!

To the fair we go.  Like our new/used double stroller?

Petting goats, sort of.  I don’t think he wanted to touch them really.

On a ride.  Josiah was too small and Daniel was too big.  Haha!  So cute!

Blisters.  Poor baby. 

 This was taken this morning (10.17.09) 

Pictures for Jamie

Hey guys!   Well, there is really nothing new going on here.  We are all trying to avoid the swine flu.  The kids and I have had a cold the last 12 days or so.  I think it is all over, now.  Claire is about to have a mouth full of teeth.  Which is making it a little hard to tell if she is still fighting a cold or if her runny nose if from teething.  Time will tell!  She’ll get it over it one way or the other, though, right?   

Well, a few weeks ago, my cousin Jillian took some pictures of us.  She is starting a photography business and needed some people to practice on.   She did a rocking job!  She was so full of energy and made us feel super comfortable and did great with Josiah.  Sadly, though, Claire was horrible.  She is never horrible, but for pictures, she was.   She wouldn’t sit still, she cried the whole time, and she wouldn’t even take a nap!  So I had to take some of her later myself and I sent them to Jillian to edit for me.   I hope you will like them as much as I do! 

Oh!  and we decided to call him Aaron Mann!  We ordered our Christmas cards already and had his name printed on them, so we are committed.  I really like it.  I got him some new baby clothes for winter, and I have been imagining him.  I think Aaron will fit him perfectly. 

I don’t think we have any other news right now, so enjoy the pictures!!!

Didn’t they turn out so good!!?  She is awesome!  This is her website http://www.jilliangarza.com/ if you guys want to see more of her work.

An Update…Finally!

Hey everybody!  I know most of you know all the details of my life already without having to blog.  But I will also post some pictures!  

We are having another boy!  We are super excited!  I was really hoping for a boy so that Josiah would have a brother close in age to him and so that Claire wouldn’t have a sister that close.  We are still trying to decide on a name we are about 90% sure it will be Aaron Mann, but Judah Steven and  Aaron Judah are still on the table.  I am waiting for Daniel to decide.  My favorite pick was Judah Steven, but Daniel had doubts about Judah.  Then he got me kinda hooked on Aaron, now he is back to thinking about Judah.  SOOOO… who knows but it will be one of these names for sure.   Mom and I went shopping in Dallas over Labor Day weekend and got the new boy some clothes!  It made it all seem so real and it also made me really excited.  I know my life will be absolutely crazy and so busy, but I am so thankful to the Lord for new life!  I have been feeling the blessing of the Lord over this baby and my personal spiritual life during the last couple of months, and it has been amazing!  I know not only will Christ sustain me, but poor out His mighty Spirit on me to overflowing  joy!   I know I will have my, “I think I might die.” moments, but I feel as I look over this period in my life I will always remember it being marked by joy unimaginable!

In order to accomodate the new baby, we have sold my car and gotten a used, excuse me, a preowned, minivan!  What?!   You heard me right, I am so not cool anymore.   But much to my surprise, I actually like it.  I think it will be a huge blessing and help.   Automatic doors are AWESOME!  Also, we are either selling our house or remodeling.  I think it will end up being a remodel job that will add a room and bathroom, and make the kitchen bigger.  We don’t have anything definite yet, but hopefully one or the other will have happened by December, before the kid gets here.  One day at a time, right?

In the mean time, Josiah has moved to a big boy bed!  He has done AWESOME  not a single problem so far!  So proud of him.  He is growing up so fast.  We left his crib in his room in case the new baby gets here before we have remodeled or found a new house.  If that happens, Claire will sleep in the room with Josiah and the new baby will get Claire’s room until he can share with his brother.

Claire is crawling and pulling to standing and cruising!  I know it will be just a few more months and she will be walking!  Crazy!  I did not expect my daughter to do things before my son!  It makes me wonder what this next one will be like.

Thanks for reading and catching up on us.  Here are a few pictures of my kids from the last week or so.

 

 

This is Claire.  Standing in her high chair.  Josiah never did this!!  I am having to train on a bunch of new stuff with her.  Thankfully, she is a fast learner!

Before CBS.  I had just woken her up to go.  Thus, the serious face.

 

After CBS.  Thus, the happy face.  My kids LOVE CBS.

SOOOO BIG!!!

Isn’t he changing so much?!

 

Josiah loves to feed Claire.  She just opens her mouth in total trust.  He tells me now, ” Just one at a time, Mommy.”!!  So funny. 

Being silly in his new hat.  He actually will wear it!  This is new for him.  I took a bunch of pics of him in the hat and this was the best.  He tries to pose for the pic and it usually turns out pretty bad.  No offense, Joey.

This is Josiah’s new friend Jack.  He is two weeks older than Josiah.  He talks as well as Josiah does, so they get along really well.  He is a super happy natured kid.  This was their second time to hang out.  They are also in the same CBS class and Sunday School class.  They play really great together!  Josiah’s first real friend!!  YAY! 

Baby Update

Well, I finally got my ultrasound!!  There is just one baby in there, so yay and boo at the same time.   Although, it might have killed me to have twins, it would have been nice to be done with one last pregnancy.     So, as I guessed, I’m not as far along as the calender said.  My new due date is Jan 8th.  You can all start praying that this baby will grow fast and come in Dec.  Daniel and I would REALLY like to have this baby under the same deductible as Claire.  It is, of course, in the Lord’s hands.  I still don’t want to induce, even though the incentive is HUGE this time.  Everything looked great and the baby is super healthy so far!!  I even have a couple of pictures!!  My next apt. isn’t until July 28th.  I think I will be able to find out what it is on the apt after that!  Here are a few pictures to reward you guys for reading!!  Oh, we are going on our 6th year anniversary trip this weekend!!  Yes, that means I am leaving both babies with my parents.   EEEK!  I’m not worried in the least about Josiah.  And I only worry about Claire, because she has just learned to take a bottle and is still waking up in the middle of the night.  I know she will be just fine, I will just miss my little sweetie.  On the other hand, I am TOTALLY psyched about our little trip!!  Yay! for wonderful reasons to celebrate with your best friend in the whole world!!  I love you, Daniel!!

 

 

awww…

Washing dishes!! 

So happy!  I wish the love for bubbles would last until he can really wash dishes!

Potty-Trained and Crawling

Hehe.  Josiah is potty-trained!!! Claire is crawling!!!  Fun times at our house! 

Sorry, it has been so long since I have posted anything.  We have been traveling and a million other things.  The kids and I went to Arkansas to visit my beautiful Laura Day and her kiddos.  Both of our hubbies were out of town, so we had to take advantage!!  But let me tell you it was CRAZY!  Three boys, 3, 2 and 1, and my sweet baby girl made quite a handful!  It was so crazy that we didn’t get any pictures!  We tried the very last morning we were there, but the boys would not stand by each other at all!!  It was funny.  We had an awesome time, though!  Laura is an AMAZING cook!  I’m hoping she will post her recipe for the waffles and pork chops (not served together…) we had while we were there. And this is me asking, Laura.   You guys can check out her blog here http://www.ohboydays.blogspot.com/.  We went downtown, such a cute square, to eat and look at all the cute shops.  I had the BEST chicken salad I have ever had!!  Wow.  I have actually been craving it since we have gotten home.  I’m thinking about trying to make it, if I can guess all the flavors in it.   We also took the boys to a park and let them run wild.   My favorite part was after all the kids went to bed, Laura and I got to stay up late talking, watching movies, folding clothes (which is way more fun with a best friend to fold with), and I watched Laura finish sewing me a FREAKIN’ awesome bag!  I need to take a picture of it and post it.  I LOVE IT!  There, seriously, isn’t anything she can’t do!  Laura, we had a great time!  Thank you for being such a great hostess!!  Josiah is still asking for Miss LaYa!!  We love you!

Laura was my inspriation for potty training Josiah!  She gave me lots of tips and assured me that he would catch on very quick.  She was right!  We started on Monday and by Wednesday he wasn’t having any accidents at all and telling me in perfect time that he needed to go, plus waking up dry from both nap and night time!  I don’t fully trust him at night or nap time, yet, so he is wearing pull ups for a while.   He loves it and looks so cute in “big-boy underwear”.  I have a picture, but he only wants to be silly in pictures these days! 

Claire is not officially crawling, by definition, but she is fully mobile.  She just goes where she wants.  I have a few pictures of her.  The other day I gave Josiah a graham cracker to eat and somehow it ended up in the floor (yuck, I know).  Before I found it, Claire did, and had eaten half of it before I found her!!!  I kinda freaked out; she is only  5 months old!!!  I had barely even started her on cereal yet.  Josiah didn’t have a graham cracker until he was probably 10 months old!!!  My poor third child!!!!!

Last night before Josiah went to bed, we were reading a Bible story from a new Bible we just got for him, Read-Aloud Bible Stories Vol.1,by Ella K. Lindvall.  It is awesome by the way if any of you parents are looking for a good version of the Bible to read your kids.  It takes several scriptural references and tells a story and the illustrations are really interesting.  Josiah is MESMERIZED by it.  We have several other versions of the Bible that we have read to him, but this is his favorite!!  ANYWAY, we read the story of how Jesus got in a boat with his disciples and while they were out on the water a big storm blew in.  Jesus was asleep on the boat and all his friends were afraid and woke him for help.  He asked them why they were afraid when He was there and then calmed the storm.  Well, as “luck” would have it, that night a HUGE storm came through town.  I’m telling you it was crazy!!  Some of you may have been through the same storm.  Daniel was driving home it for like two hours.  There was lightning and thunder and crazy hard rain.  Josiah usually sleeps through these with ease, but last night he woke up crying and scared. I went and got him out of bed and got to talk with him about the storm and how we just read that we didn’t need to be afraid, because Jesus was with us. I reminded him that Jesus told the storm to be still and be quite.  Then we prayed that Jesus would calm the storm we were in.  It was amazing the change that took place in my little boys countenance.  He was immediately calmed down and unafraid!!  By the time Daniel got home the storm had calmed down enough to put Josiah back to bed.  Josiah didn’t even cry!!  Thank you, Jesus, for being who you say you are!!  Thank you for loving us and being so faithful.  Thank you for calming our storms and when you don’t calm them, thank you for giving us the ability to walk on the water! 

I go back to the MD this coming Tuesday.  Hopefully, I will get an ultrasound and will have a more acurate due date.  If I find out anything good, I’ll post it.  I hope you guys are all doing wonderful!! Love you!!  Thanks for being interested in our lives!

Here are some pictures.  We haven’t taken many lately.  Sorry.

My Claire. Crawling!!

Later that day… after using her new found skills!

My big boy!!!!!

On the way home from Arkansas.  He just recently decided he likes sunglasses!

Shock and Awe

Well, guys, I am blogging to announce that we are going to have another baby.  Yes, that’s right, another baby.  Yes, Clarie just turned 4 months old May 2nd.  No, I don’t know when I’m due.  Yes, it could be the same due date as Claire. No, no way, were we planning this.  Yes, I am still nursing full time (it’s supposed to help keep this kind of thing from happening…).  Yes, we are beginning to be excited (we truly believe children are a blessing).  No, we aren’t sure where this baby will fit in our house.  That’s all I’ve got to blog about today.  Pretty big topic with not a lot of words.  I will end with this… YAY! for babies!!

For Joyce

So we went back to my mom’s today to take pictures of the duckies.  Mom was glad that she didn’t have to get all the way in the water.  She only had to wade out with her rubber boots on to get them to come in.  They went CRAZY with swimming.  Every once in a while one of them would dive out really far and then all of them would start squawking and splashing like they were applauding the brave one.   Daniel asked Josiah this afternoon what noise the ducks make and Josiah started squawking just like them and flapping his arms.  Daniel said, “Wow! Those ducks are crazy.”  as if Josiah was exaggerating.  But it was pretty close to the truth.  They are so funny.  It is amazing to me to see how God ordered the world.  Even down to the tiny ducks who always stay in a group and will “magically” follow around their care giver, even if she is human!!  If He loves ducks so much to put that in them, how much more does He love us!?  Thank you, God, for telling us of your MAJESTY through nature!

Here are some of the best pictures I took of the duck tales. hehe:)

A little introduction, first.  This is Sumo.  He is a Peking duck and he is, my mom says, the leader of the pack. 

Mom had just gotten them out of their pen, and they were being a tad disobedient at first.

 Momma duck encouraging good behavior.

A change of heart!

 

“Momma, wait for us.”

Mom kept syaing, “Come on, Babies. Come on.”  And they listened!

Adorable, right?

They finally made it to the water.  Josiah had to go in too, of course.

Sumo being a stud!

Mom wanted them to move to a new swimming spot and they followed her yet again.

This is Mary.  Well, at least mom thinks she is a girl.  This Mom’s and my favorite duck and Dad’s least favorite.  Mom thinks Mary has a crush on Sumo.  She usually sees them together.

Big splashes!

Claire enjoying the view from the wagon.

Coming back from the pond. They love her!

A happy family.

Bath time before bed time!!

A funny picture to reward you for looking at all the duck pictures.  Daniel and Josiah decided to make faces and take a self-portrait.  I was surprised Josiah understood!!  I LOVE these boys!!

 

Joyce, Mom said to tell you that her internet is down (that’s why she hasn’t emailed in a while) and she lost your phone number.  If  you will email or facebook it to me I will get to her for you!  I hope Savannah and Caleb enjoyed the pictures.  They would’ve loved to see the duckies, I know!!  We miss you guys!

Thumb Sucking is Awesome

Well, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.   Yes, despite my best efforts, Claire is sucking her thumb.   I was trying to pull it out every time I caught her doing it, but there is nothing I can do at night.  So, as a result, she has totally stopped taking a passy.  I am hoping I can get her to stop before I did.  I sucked my thumb until I was in 1st grade!!  My mom told me I was totally level headed about quiting.  She just told me I had to stop and I did.  Maybe Claire will be that easy, and maybe I can tell her before she is in the first grade.    But in the mean time, I have to admit it is kinda cute.  

SOOOOO glad that summer is on its way.  It was 91 degrees here the other day!  Daniel says it is going to be a hot summer.  I think, though, it is always a hot summer in TX. I let Josiah go swimming in the back yard the other day.  It was a last minute thing, so I let him go in his birthday suite!!  Don’t worry, Jamie, he had on PLENTY of sunscreen!  He is already about 10x darker than me.  It is crazy how fast the boy tans.  Poor Claire, she will be like me, probably.  I only show signs of a tan at the very end of the summer, and then it is gone in two seconds when fall comes around.  Maybe she will be like her Aunt Gracie, who tans really well despite being white.  ANYWAY…  Here are some pictures of my little duckies.

Oh, speaking of duckies, my mom is raising about 6 ducks for the lake at their house.  My mom has been their primary care giver since she got them, of course.  Well, they LOVE her!  They will actually follow her around outside.  She walked all the way from the barn to the little pond in the back yard to let them have a swim, and they followed her all the way there!!  They wouldn’t go in the water, though.  Most likely because she wouldn’t go in first.  She is actually thinking about going in just for them!! I will have to take some pictures of that if it really comes down to it.

Take one of a brother-sister picture.

Take two.  This was the best it got. The little boy wouldn’t sit still.

Sucking the right thumb.

And the left!!!! We’re doomed!

Silly shot with the mouth open!

Bringing the trash back with daddy.

Swimming!!

EASTER!!

We had an awesome Easter!  We had a lot of family come to town on Saturday, and we had a big egg hunt, and pinata, and GREAT cupcakes, and boat rides and and and…. It was a blast.  Josiah had so much fun that he skipped a nap that day!  We tried to put him down Saturday afternoon for a little nap, but he was too excited still to go to sleep.  He was having too much fun playing with all of his cousins and second cousins.  Claire did what she does best right now, eat and sleep!   Here are some of the pictures from the weekend.  Although, I know you will all be shocked, I didn’t take as many as I thought I had.  Daniel was in a golf tournament in Saturday that he had had planned for a long time, so I wasn’t very good at taking pictures and taking care of two kids. But, as usual, there are some on my Dad’s camera.   Also, I know my cousin, Jillian, will blog about this weekend and post some amazing photos.  You can check her blog out http://garzapeeps.blogspot.com/ to see  more pics.  On Sunday we went to church and ate at Lugi’s before totally crashing at home from all the fun!  It was so good to see my sisters and family!! I LOVE FAMILY!!!

 

At Mom and Dad’s house on Saturday!

  

Josiah on Sunday at Luigi’s, in his tie.  Sooo cute. By this point the hair was starting to get crazy.

  

  “Seesters!”-as Kelsey would say.

 

My easter bunny.

 

This is Claire in her easter dress.  This was right before I took it off to put her down for a nap.  I had volunteered to work in the church nursery during the 8:00 service, so didn’t get to take any pics of the kids together.  Next year.