Monday, April 16, 2012

0.5 Years

Getting acquainted with Kenji
"What is going on back there? Where are you sniffing?"
Oh Josiah, in spite of all the sleepless nights, time is flying. Josiah's already 6 months and here are some of the tricks he is learning: to grab people's hair and noses; to pinch; to roll and roll, and then turn and roll and roll the other way; to giggle and cackle; to take good naps; to keep his eye on the dog and cat; to stand up straight and tall with his strong legs (when supported and balanced); and to try and sneak in a glimpse of the TV whenever it is on. Josiah's still having difficulty sleeping through the night. Though right up to his doctor's appointment he was sleeping a good 6-8 hour stretch until 2 or 3 am. Then the night after his doctor's appointment, he and Michaela both came down with colds and have not been sleeping well ever since. I keep my fingers crossed that upon their recovery, the goodish nights of sleep will return. The doctor says that he's now old enough to "cry it out" so we can train him to sleep 12 hours at a time through the night. It should only take a couple nights of screaming... I mean crying. But seriously, this boy screeches like an adolescent pterodactyl when he is mad.



Out for a walk on a sunny spring day
Josiah's eating his solid foods like a champ, and I feed him solids twice a day, sometimes three times if he is sitting up with us during lunch and is begging to be fed. His foods to date are: rice cereal, barley cereal, sweet potatoes, avocado, carrots, green beans, applesauce, and bananas. He seems to prefer the orange foods so far. But who doesn't like bananas? I also started him on water from a sippy cup last week. He was initially very excited about it, until he discovered that it did not contain breast milk. That was a big letdown, apparently.

At his doctor's appointment, Josiah weighed in at 16 pounds, 11 ounces (33%) and was 27.5 inches long (83%). This explains how all his pants have been becoming 'highwaters'.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

 We're in the heart of crazy busy tax season for Adam. Since we really don't see him that much and I do enjoy adult interaction from time to time, I took the kids during the middle of the week for a trip up to my in-laws. Michaela got to play with Grammy and cousin Greyson, Grammy taught me how to make chicken-fried steak (never done that before), and I enjoyed getting my toes done with Abbey, in celebration of her upcoming baby #2. Our tradition has made us think whether it is worth it to continue getting pregnant in order to get a guaranteed pedicure. We've been getting one each year for the past four years. It was also nice for the kids to get to see great-grandpa, who came out to the house for a little visit, as well. We hope that for our next visit, Adam will be done with busy season and will be able to join us!
Jus' lookin' at my great-grampa

I could post all the other pictures we took while trying to get a good one of all four of them.
But you don't have time for that. Really.

Spring = Snow

At least here in the Portland area, we thought it would be fun to wait and have our first snow once the calendar officially changed over... to spring. It was the first time Michaela has seen snow on the west side of the mountains. She wasn't the hugest fan of it to begin with, but when one of the neighbor kids came into our yard to play with Kenji and demonstrated throwing snowballs, she decided she could really get into that. I had to stay out of the way, though, because try as she might, Michaela could not hit anything she was actually aiming at, and almost always got me. So I finally started telling her to aim for me in order to maintain a snowball-free zone. What great fun for an otherwise mundane Thursday morning.

She didn't want to leave the safety of the driveway at first.

Check out the "smile" - it's all we're getting these days for posed pics

Kenji loves, loves, loves the snow!

"Look at me! I just threw a snowball!"

Josiah at arm's length. Taking in the snow while riding on mom's hip.

Look at my snow-covered garden beds.
And I had so wanted to start sowing  snap peas and lettuce.