Don't Flush Emily!

Emily has gotten to be big enough to share bath time with Josh.  To me, this is one of the great things about siblings - fun bath times.  And they really do enjoy it.

Typical practice has always been that when the bath is over, Josh pulls the handle to drain the tub.  And now that Emily joins him, we typically take her out of the tub first get her all squared away then Josh gets out. 

For whatever reason, one time Josh got out first and I pulled the drain while Emily was still in the bath.

Josh says: "Don't flush Emily!"

We're so lucky he looks out for her!

Pragmatic

Today's Word of the Day:

PRAGMATIC

Glamorous Life

Josh has started asking what songs mean.

This morning the radio was playing Glamorous Life by Sheila E (remember her??).  Josh asked what the song was about.  I said "glamor".  So then of course he asks what glamor means.  I said "being beautiful or pretty."

And this kid - this smartest kid in the world - says "like Mommy."

Awwww!!  I have raised him well (wink, wink).

Preschool Begins

Funny that I came to write this post and see that the last time I posted was about my search for a preschool.  So maybe it's obvious that things have been busy since.

We picked our school, got our last summer fun in and prepared for the new adventure.

I gathered some really good ideas from friends about how to make this time special.  As I Googled ideas, I saw a lot of creative things, so I just had to pick some of my top favorite ideas.



The first was to make a special breakfast of whatever Joshua would want - even if it was chicken nuggets.  His first request was peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but then he changed it to Mickey Mouse pancakes.  Voila!

I also have been seeing a friend post monthly pictures of her baby with the age written on a chalkboard.  I thought it was so cute and wanted to do that to mark school years.  And I was surprised to find tons of photos of kids with chalkboards (I guess I'm not so original).  After a frustrating search for the right chalkboard I realized I could make one.  Voila!

It was recommended to me that we pick a spot to take the school photos in every year.

Another friend talked about making a banner.  Voila!

He saw this when he came home.

We tried to get Joshua to crash through it, but he was too hesitant.  Jim helped him tear it down.

We did finally have the PBJ for lunch (and pizza is on the menu for tonight).

I also found a couple variations of asking your child specific questions each year to see how they change.  Here is today's interview:

Favorite color: Red
Favorite character on TV: Mickey Mouse
What do you want to be when you grow up? First answer: "Up to the sky."  Second answer: "Mickey Mouse."

As for school itself, it all went really well.  We had a visitation day last week for Josh to meet his teacher and see his classroom.  Today was a short introductory day from 10:00am - 11:45am.  Normal class time is 9:00am - 11:45am.  He will be going on Mondays/Wednesdays.

We've been talking about going to school and trying to get him excited.  He seemed fine going in, but as we started to say goodbye, his eyes started to tear up.  I was actually surprised and wonder if it was more reacting to someone else being upset.  But we gave him a hug and said goodbye and he seemed fine.  And he was perfectly fine when we picked him up.  And thankfully he's excited to go back.

We are now the parents of a preschooler.  It definitely felt weird walking up to the school along with all the other parents.  And the mom-mobile brigade makes me laugh every time we pull into the parking lot.  We're looking to get a minivan pretty soon so I'm going to really fit right in. 

PreSchool

Who is supposed to be more prepared for preschool, Joshua or me?  If it's me, I'm not sure I'm there.

Regardless, we are officially in the phase of researching preschools.  I might be a little late to be starting, but I will blame that on my denial.  While I have had the intention of starting Josh around the time he turns three, I have been putting off actually pursuing it.  At first I blamed it on the coming of the second wee one, but now I think it was just because I didn't really want to be in this phase yet.

So I've been looking around and asking people for referrals.  I've discovered that there is a specific order of steps for me to decide.  1) Does the school offer the schedule I want?  2) Is the price acceptable? 3) Check out the school to see if I like it.  4) Will it work for the grandparents?

I met with the first school today.  I knew going in that they won't have any opening for another year, but I still wanted to check them out.  And I am know officially on their waiting list should things change.  Other schools I have spoken with didn't mention anything about space issues, so hopefully this is a solitary problem.  I'm aiming to find a good Christian preschool.

This past week as I have been compiling my list I've been excited.  But then today after being at the school, the reality of him being in that environment hit a little bit.  It will be weird.  My plan is for two half-days a week on the same days I go to work.  This will more than likely mean that the grandparents will need to take him and pick him up.  That makes me a little sad that I won't be the one interacting with the teacher on a regular basis. The following year my plan would be to switch to three days on the days I am not in the office.  But we will see how things go.

Somebody hold my hand...

Josh's Numbers

This is how Josh counts:

one
two
flee
four
five
six
eleven (then I correct with seven)
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
etwelve
ethirteen
efourteen
efiveteen
esixteen

Emily: 5 Months

Look who's five months old already!!!

It's hard to believe she's five months, but at the same time, it seemed to take a really long time to go from four months to five months.  I'm not really sure why; maybe because that month was just ridiculously busy.

I have decided that she is a "happy baby".  This probably sounds strange, but that is her general demeanor.  Not that Josh wasn't a happy baby, but I would say his general demeanor was (and still is to a degree) serious.  But Emily loves to smile, easy to laugh, loves being around people and getting attention.  And not much upsets her.

So here are some of Emily's accomplishments so far:

Rolling Over - she seems to be pretty good at rolling over.  I don't have a lot of first hand experience with this simply because most of the time she rolls over, no one is around.  She does it mostly during nap time and it tends to make her mad!  So there are naps where I have to go in multiple times to flip her back.  But I have actually only witnessed her roll over while not in her crib once.  Thankfully she doesn't seem to do this rolling act during the night time, so we still have peaceful nights.  (And, yes, we are happy to report that she has been sleeping through the night for several months now.  Yay Babywise!)

Standing - We started putting Emily in her saucer about 3 weeks ago and it's amazing how quickly her legs have gotten stronger.  She can support her weight on her feet for good stretches before collapsing.  In this video you can see a glimpse of her wildness in the saucer.  She is definitely a more physically active child just as I suspected from her movement in my tummy.  I have high hopes for molding her into my new thrill-ride buddy.

Sitting Up - She is also getting stronger at sitting.  She can stay upright on her own for a couple seconds.  She went on her first stroller ride out of the car seat a couple weeks ago.  She loved it!  I'm sure part of her joy was all the attention she got from people we passed.

Emily continues to be a joy and Josh is still in love with her as ever.  We are so blessed!

Emily's Baptism

On Sunday, June 24th we had Emily baptized.  Jim and I were both baptized as babies and we are doing the same with our children.

My mom had made a very special baptism dress for Emily which she had given to me at my baby shower.

My sister, Susan, flew in and Jim's Aunt Patti drove in for this special day.  It meant a lot to have them both here.  During the actual baptism our family joined us up on the stage.

Pastor Doug presents Emily to the congregation.

The funniest thing was Josh's reactions to everything.  During the sprinkling of the water, he watched very intently.  Then when Pastor Doug walked down the steps with Emily, Joshua got very protective and concerned with where she was going.  You can see I am now holding him in the picture above because he was getting pretty upset.

Our congregation surrounds us in prayer.  Here, too, Josh was in the moment and laid his hand on my shoulder (Jim was holding him) and bowed his head during the prayer.  Of course he kept looking up to make sure he should still be doing it.

After the service we had everyone come back to our house for a little lunch.

Emily with her Aunt Melanie

The boys having a great time together

Aunt Su-Su

Aunt Patti-Patti

BabyPalooza

Last Spring / Summer...uhm...apparently love was in the air.  Big time!

How do I know? Well, by the baby boom that has been going on around me.  I know a lot of people that have been having babies, and I know people who know people who are having babies.  Of the people I know personally, I was the first to kick things off in February.  Since then, I would bet I could easily list at least 10-15 people who have given birth since then and several more who are still expecting.

One of my circle of friends is women who all met at work.  Not everyone still works there, but we still get together for lunch as often as we can.  Of the seven of us, five - yes, five! - added children to our families between February and May.  Sounded like something that needed a celebration to me.

So last Saturday we got together at my house with the new babies and adjacent kids.  There were seven adults, six kids between the ages of 2 and 5, and five babies 5 months and younger.  And there were four kids missing of the moms who were here.

 

Natalie, Gina (Emily), Stacy
There was oogling galore! 

I was hoping it could just be some relaxing time to all be together.  So I ordered food in and we just hung out.  It was so nice.

Michelle and Liz

There were car seats every where! 

Emily and Ethan were just hanging out with each other.

The Gaggle:

The Babies:

Emily (4.5m), Brynn (3.5m), Sofia (3m), Ethan (2.5m), Kayla (1m)

The kids played along very well too.  There were no injuries, fighting or even crying.  It was a good day.

And there were also a lot of dirty feet...

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful women to share mommyhood with.  They are all life savers!!

Disney/California Blitz!

As you may have figured out from before, we have annual passes to Disneyland.  We selected the pass that is blocked out Saturdays, holidays, and a good chunk of the summer.  Pretty much all the days you don't want to go anyway because of the crowds.  Our passes are about to be blocked out for the summer so we've been trying to squeeze in a few visits before that happens.

We received an email a few weeks ago about the opportunity to register to get in the park an hour before it opens.  Today was the day we made that work for us and it was really awesome.  We hit four rides in 30 minutes, walking straight on to each one.  The only bummer was that some of the things we wanted didn't open until the normal park opening.

 

Josh loves the carousel.  He always asks for the "horsey ride."

The Matterhorn Bobsled ride has been under renovation and just opened.  Below are the new sleds for those of you familiar with what they used to look like. 

 

No more awkward canoodling.

For anyone even remotely paying attention to what is going on at the Disney parks lately, you know that Disney's California Adventure has been under major renovation.  One of the biggest pieces is the new Cars Land.  It had its grand opening last Friday.  We are so lucky to have been able to get in to see it so soon after the opening and before our passes are blocked.  Here is just a glimpse of our experience.

  

Welcome to Radiator Springs

Three new rides premiered in Cars Land.  The biggest one is race cars and Josh is not tall enough yet to go on that one.  There is also a ride of flying tires.  We didn't make it near that ride, so I don't know yet if Josh could go on it.  But he was tall enough to go on Tow Mater's Junkyard Jamboree...

 

It's a similar concept to the Tea Cup ride.  Also kind of like a common fair ride which I think is called the Scrambler.  The Tractors move in an almost figure-eight pattern while pulling a cart behind it which swings back and forth as the tractor turns.  The music playing has a square dance feel as Mater sings some silly songs.

 

Can you spot Jim?

 

I think they liked it.

I have video of the ride, but it will take me a while to get the videos edited for sharing.  I'll try to get them up soon.

And now for a little tour of "the cutest little town in Carburetor County."

 

Cozy Cone Motel

Each of the cones sell a different concession.  There was ice cream, pretzels, popcorn, churros, etc.  This is also where Mater and Lightning McQueen come to visit the park guests.

  

Luigi's Casa Della Tires

Flo's V8 Cafe

 Can't forget Stanley.

Here comes Lightning McQueen.  It's such a cool little mini-parade when each car shows up.  At this point, Mater had been out for a while, so here comes McQueen.  As he pulls up, Mater takes off.  (Again, I'll try to post some video later.)

Josh really wasn't as miserable as he looks.  He's just so funny with pictures.  He's so shy when meeting characters, but then talks about it at length afterwards.

On the other hand, I felt like I was eight years old again today.  This new land was so much fun, and the character cars were a kick!

We could tell Josh's mind was about to explode from all the stimulation, so we headed over the Hollywood area of the park to do some calmer activities.  We watched the Muppet 3-D movie.  Then we headed to a Disney Jr. show.  This was brand new to me.  I don't know how long it's been there but it was just awesome.

It's basically a puppet show of the biggest hit shows on the Disney Jr. channel: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It's about 25 minutes long, hits the main songs from each show and is just totally awesome.  It's exactly where we are with Josh right now as he watches all those shows all the time!  I think my head was going to explode this time.  Jim and I both loved the show and watching Josh enjoy it. (Video...blah, blah, blah)

Overall the makeover of California Adventure is pretty impressive.  We only saw a sliver, but the all-new entry is gorgeous!  We look forward to seeing more of the park in the future.

How do we know it was a good day...?

 What do you think?

Caption This...

I don't have any time to write these days, and I probably won't get much chance for another week or two.  So I'm giving the job to you instead.

Caption this picture.  Or write a story about. Get those creative juices flowing!

 

You can post it in the comments or send me an email if you have my address.  Depending on what I get, we'll see what kind of fun we can have.

Disney Date

Now that we have two kids, Jim and I want to be intentional about giving each kid special times one on one.  Of course Emily is too young yet to feel any impact from this, but it needs to be a priority with Josh now.

So Josh and I had a date night to Disneyland the week before I returned to work.  I scooped him up from his nap and we headed out for fun.

I really enjoyed our time together.  He has so much fun at Disneyland and is so good waiting in the lines.  We went on a Wednesday afternoon/evening and the lines were pretty short.

We always make a stop to see Mickey Mouse.  This time as we exited, Josh noticed the roller coaster and said he wanted to go on it.  I was surprised and didn't think he really knew what he was asking.  So I suggested we watch it for a little bit, and he still wanted to go.  I found the height requirement and he was so barely was tall enough.  The minimum height is 35 inches and he is just between 35-36.  Whew!

Here is that adventure...

His eyes are comically wide open the entire time.  But his eye were open the entire time!!!  I may have a new thrill-ride-buddy in the makings!  Hooray!  He so serious and just taking it all in.

After we got off, I thought he was asking to go on again.  But it seems he just wanted to watch it.  It's the second time that might be more fun to watch his reaction. 

Daddy's Train

The Grand Canyon Limited

The locomotive Jim helps maintain, Santa Fe 3751, is making a special excursion to the Grand Canyon.  Jim will be gone for six days as part of the crew.  If you want to know more specifics about the trip itself, check out Golden State Rails.

Jim is so happy because Josh is finally at the age they can share the train experience and excitement.  Josh understands enough to get excited and that just tickles Jim to no end.

Saturday the engine was on display at Los Angeles Union Station, so Josh, Emily and I drove up there to meet Jim and see it.  This morning the consist left L.A. at 9am.  It was coming within just a few miles of our house so the kids and I found our spot to see it pass by at about 9:30am.

As you will see, Josh was pretty excited...

Jim was on the back platform of the first passenger car.  So if you watch, there is the engine and its tender, then two Amtrak engines, then the first car.

It's been fun to me to watch all the chatter on Facebook and Twitter.  There are people all along the line watching for it and giving updates of where it is.  Videos were posted on YouTube pretty quickly as well.

Let Them Be Little

Below is a song by Billy Dean called "Let Them Be Little".  I have loved Billy Dean since I first started listening to country music (he was even my first country concert!), and I have always liked this song.  I have been hearing it again lately and love it so much more now.

It's a good reminder to balance raising, disciplining and guiding my children with also allowing them to be the little creatures that they are and embracing all that entails.

Happy Mother's Day!




I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand.
You felt so good in it; no bigger than a minute.
How it amazes me you're changin' with every blink.
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I never felt so much in one little tender touch.
I live for those kisses, your prayers an' your wishes.
An' now you're teachin' me how only a child can see.
Tonight, while we're on our knees, all I ask is:

Please, let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

The so innocent, precious soul:
You turn around, an' it's time to let them go.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give 'em praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let them sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

Let them be little.

Emily: 3 Months. Josh: 2 1/2.