Asa's Talking Skills

-Asa was standing on a little step stool next our bed. He said "Ready, set, go" and then fell off the stool. I think he was trying to jump or step off and failed to succeed. And I laughed!
-Pizza is the word for anything coming out of the oven.
-"Hold you" means "I want you to hold me."
-Asa loves holding hands with people while he sucks his thumb. He has been holding Judah's hand lately.
-Today at the doctor's office Asa was working on a puzzle. He started singing the clean up song. He also sings the ABC's and "Deep & Wide."

UPDATE!

Again, I am so very behind. I don't even remember what has been happening recently. The Stonebrakers came to visit the weekend before Christmas. Melinda (my sis), Zoe (niece) and I went to a Holiday Gift Fair and the grocery store on Saturday morning. Zoe insisted that Price Chopper was not a grocery store. That is, until we went inside. We could not explain to her that there are grocery stores other than Fareway. Saturday evening we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation which Ryan had purchased from the Wal-Mart for us. Mel and I had never before seen the non-TV version of this movie. We had missed a lot of really good parts. Just kidding. Sunday was Lea's first birthday. Mel dressed her in the nice Christmas dress James' mom bought for Asa before he was born. (We didn't know if he was a boy or girl.) The girls and kids went to church. The boys were heathens and went to the KC Chiefs game. Ryan is a sports editor at a newspaper in Iowa and had requested press passes. Instead of sitting in the -12 wind chills, they sat in a press box and ate lots of free food! Meanwhile, Zoe was making a new friend, Melinda was in Sunday School by herself making new friends as I was in the nursery with Asa, Lea, Judah and several other babies. Mel and I did get to go to the regular service together. It was a great Christmas service with the traditional Christmas hymns sung in a non-traditional style. I loved it! After church we took Lea to Burger King for her birthday. Zoe brought her friend Emma. I am good friends with Emma's parents, so it wasn't totally random. We chose BK because of the play land. Asa especially enjoyed crawling around in his limited area.
Just to let you know exactly how cold it was, Asa knocked over my soda in the van and a little spilled on the floor right by the door. When I opened the door at home, the soda was frozen. That's right, frozen. I couldn't believe the coldness!
Anyhow, we didn't do a whole lot Sunday afternoon. I took Emma home and wrapped presents. When the guys got home, we started making dinner. After dinner Lea got her Happy Birthday Pumpkin Pie. She loved it:

Then she opened her present with a little help:

One of my favorite things about having my sister in town is when we just sit around, drinking coffee and eating random snacks and play games. So much fun! And we did that some more Sunday night.
Oh, in the night Sunday, James and I woke up to a funny sound. Someone was in the shower and Lea was crying. As it turns out, Lea got sick and had thrown up on Melinda. Lea ended up throwing up several times. They still left Monday morning, but later than planned. After they left, I had a lot of laundry to catch up on and did my best to kill the germs left in our house.

Tuesday I went over to a friend's house to stay with her daughter while she was at work. The only inconvenience was that I kind of needed to be home packing for Christmas in Iowa. The weather Tuesday wasn't the greatest. We were watching the forecast and it looked like it would be worse for travel on Wednesday. We decided to drive up to Iowa Tuesday night after James got home from work. Our original plan was to head up on Wednesday morning. James and I got home about the same time and started packing. Our van was full of stuff that was just thrown in. We took both dirty laundry and unfolded laundry with us. I'm glad we were just going to visit family since we were so unorganized! The trip was pretty good. It only took about 15 minutes longer than normal. James said that he drove extra fast when the roads were clear since we would probably have to drive slowly later in the trip. We did find some adverse driving conditions took it slow. The boys were very good; we didn't have to stop for them. It helps that the drive was only 4 hours. Much shorter than our previous 19 hour trip to Arizona!

Finally getting it done...

This was started Tuesday, December 16. I'm not doing so well with this blog thing...

This is going to be random...
Click on the slide-show to the right to see our latest pictures. I uploaded a lot this morning!
Pop quiz: I cleaned the bathroom sink (not the whole bathroom) on Monday. What did James do Tuesday night? The answer is: shave. It always happens the day after I clean the bathroom.
Saturday we were very tired but went to the house of our friends the VanDrunens. They made coffee for us as I requested since it was 11:00 and we had gone to bed around 1:00 the previous night. We had a great time talking, eating Papa Murphy's pizza, drinking coffee and playing Guitar Hero. I was super impressed that they invited us over since Lt. Guy was getting ready to go back to Kosovo the next evening. I've said it many times, but people like this family make living in Lee's Summit awesome!

I don't know what else I wanted to be in this post, so this is it.

Salt

Asa and I were just eating lunch. I added some salt to my soup by shaking some into my hand and then dumping it into my soup. I didn't want to get too much. Asa asked for some salt so I closed the salt shaker and shook some into his hand. He in turn held his hand over his peanut butter sandwich and turned it over and then rubbed his hands together, just as I had done. If that's not learning by imitation, I don't know what is!

Since We've Been Home

A LOT has happened in the last 10 days. It truly has been a whirlwind. I'll just try to give you the hilights.
Wednesday, December 3: Asa was sleepy. I woke him up a few times during the morning and he fell right back to sleep. I was concerned because he had been sick and I had done some reading about dehydration. I got him an appointment that afternoon and it turned out that he was fine. I guess the trip and sickness really took a toll on him. We missed going to church that night. I was sad to miss seeing friends.
Thursday, December 4: This was the day that I felt like I did a lot of work during the day but the house didn't look any better by the time James got home. I had a bit of a melt-down because I felt my efforts were wasted. Now I see that there are more important things than the clutter in my house after vacation.
Friday, December 5: After James got home from work he got a call from his dad that Grandma Light passed away. I knew right away that he had to go back to Arizona for the funeral but I didn't know how that was going to happen. After dinner we went to see Christmas in the Park at Longview Lake. If you're from Iowa, think Jolly Holiday Lights. We drove around and looked at the light displays, and it was free! The boys sat in the front with us. The best part was free chocolate at the end.
Saturday, December 6: I had an open house for Tastefully Simple at someone else's house. She was having a "One Stop Christmas Shop" with a lot of different vendors. I was up late Friday and early Saturday preparing food and materials for the day. It wasn't the best day for sales, but I met some interesting people and had a pretty good time. The boys enjoyed their time with Daddy. Asa ate a lot while I was gone. I guess he was hungry since he hadn't had much to eat all week!
In the evening there was a party that we went to. I think I have mentioned our friend Dawn from church. She came and stayed with the boys when I went to the ER with mastitis. She has offered several times to watch Asa and Judah and always seems to love taking care of them. Her husband Guy has been in Kosovo with the military for a while and was home on leave. It was great to spend time at their house and get to know him better. It's funny how you can see someone's personality through their family. I felt like I knew Guy because of things I had heard and the lives his wife and kids lived. It was really a great evening!
Sunday, December 7: Of course, we went to church. What else would we do on a Sunday. The nice thing was that we are doing something different during Advent. Instead of having several adult Sunday school classes, we are all meeting together. They have chairs set up in little circles and we are encouraged to sit with people we don't know very well. The lesson is discussion oriented so we get to know the people in our circle as we discuss and answer the questions. It's really a lot of fun. I will admit that we are friends with everyone that sat in our circle. I sat next to a friend when I went in because I needed to nurse Judah and didn't want to plop down by a stranger for this delicate task! After church we went to Culver's with some friends and then home for nap/cleaning time. The boys took naps while James and I cleaned in preparation for our Christmas tree. After nap time, we went out to cut down our tree.

We even got to ride on a hay rack. Which was called a wagon. I felt like a city slicker because we were making a big deal of this hay ride over to find our Christmas tree.

We got home and James set up the tree while I fed Judah. I was signed up to be a driver for the Women's Ministries Christmas Tour of Homes. I probably would have skipped if I wasn't going to be a driver since we had just gotten our tree. I've had more fun on similar outings in the past, but I did get some really good food! And a yummy cold coffee drink. Mmmmmm.
Monday, December 8: James went to work and worked extra hard to get caught up before being gone another three days this week. He is flying out to Phoenix Tuesday after work. In the evening we had two meetings at church. James went to one, I went to the other. After the meetings we went home to pack James up and decorate the Christmas tree. Packing took longer than normal. I say packing but really James picked out his clothes and I packed them on Tuesday to save his time. He tried on his suit to make sure it looked OK, so that took a while. By the time we were decorating the tree, it was pretty late. We ended up having fun and getting into the Christmas spirit. And the tree looks great. It's always so much fun to get out the ornaments and remember hanging them on the tree as a child.
Tuesday, December 9: I spent the day getting things ready for James' trip to Arizona. I had to be careful to pack according to airline regulations since he wasn't going to pay $20 to check a bag. It also snowed pretty steadily all day. I had to leave extra early since I didn't know what the roads would be like. It seems like they don't do much plowing when the snow falls. They just wait for it to melt off the streets. It's really pretty annoying. We (myself and the babies) picked James up and made it to the airport in plenty of time for him to catch his flight. It was pretty sad telling James goodbye. Asa wanted out of his car seat and wanted James to hold him. I was just sad because we couldn't go with him. Then the interesting part began. Since it was 5:15 when we left the airport, we were going to be driving home is rush hour traffic. And it was snowy. Let's just say that the normal 45 minute trip took over two hours! The boys were crying a lot but I didn't know of a safe place to stop. And if I did stop, I didn't know what to do by myself with two unhappy boys. Amazingly I had an overwhelming sense of peace during the drive. I wasn't stressed out. It was weird. By the time we got home and Asa ate dinner, it was bed time. James made it safely to Phoenix and ate at his favorite fast food joint: Jack in the Box.
Wednesday, December 10: I made puppy chow for the teens and went to church. James and his sister drove up to Winslow from Phoenix for their grandmother's visitation. James said it was pretty quiet and he was able to talk with some people he hadn't seen in a long time.
Thursday, December 11: This was the day of grandma's funeral. I heard that James did a great job on the eulogy. I was very sad that I couldn't be there with the rest of the family. Meanwhile back in LS I went over to Justin & Amy's house for dinner. Justin is our youth pastor. They have a son a year older than Asa and one 4 weeks younger than Judah. Asa had fun playing with his friend "Baybub."
Friday, December 12: Today I am blogging.... And cleaning up the house since James gets home tonight. At 7:00 I am going to the youth Christmas party. The boys are going to Brad & Janelle's house. I am pretty excited to see James!

Thanksgiving Road Trip: part 3

5:49 PM December 1
We left Winslow around 3:30 after a quick snapshot at the famous “Standin’ on the Corner” corner. We just had to take a picture there since it’s the popular tourist place. Asa danced around a little to the music that was playing.
Both boys are currently sleeping. I took a little nap. James has been eating his sunflower seeds and driving. He is a little sad leaving Arizona because he didn’t get to eat some his favorite food from Jack in the Box.

8:29 PM
We made it to the other side of Albuquerque. Our plan was to stop on the west end of town at the Flying J. There was construction and we missed the exit. I was on the phone with James’ mom so we asked his dad where there was another good place to stop. We got gas at a Love’s for $1.69. There wasn’t anywhere there for us to eat. We also missed the turn to get back on I-40 and drove a few blocks through some very questionable neighborhoods. We drove a little further down the interstate and got off to look for a restaurant. We found Carl’s Junior down a couple blocks. We went inside to let the kids stretch but got our food to go. The only problem with this stop was that we couldn’t get back on I-40 there because of construction. We attempted to follow the detour, but I think it was wrong. James pulled out the map and found a route back to the interstate. We were starting to think we would spend all night in Albuquerque. It only ended up being an hour.
About 20 miles from Albuquerque I was giving Judah a bottle and it didn’t agree with him. He threw it all up so we had to stop and clean him up. It went pretty well. It seems like every time we have to pull off there isn’t a decent place to park. I was afraid someone was going to sneak up on us in the dark or something.

That's all I wrote on the way home. I will tell you that the boys did a lot better on the way home. I drove more on the way home also. I guess they feel safer when I am driving! We stopped in Oklahoma City to see the memorial at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In case you don't remember, on April 19, 1995 a bomb was detonated inside a Ryder truck which was parked in front of the Murrah building. 168 people were killed in the attack, over 800 were injured. 30 children were orphaned. Over 300 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were arrested for planning and carrying out the attack against the United States government. McVeigh received a lethal injection in 2001 and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison. The memorial was dedicated on April 19, 2000. This is engraved over an entryway to the outdoor memorial:
"We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."
I'll admit that I stopped so James could see the memorial. I was there with my parents in high school. It was around 6:00 AM so it was pretty quiet. I fed Judah and changed a poopy explosion while James looked around. It really wasn't very exciting.
On our way out of OK City, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for some grub. Our waitress was, well let's say she was more awake than we were. She was pretty impressed with our cute kids.
Probably the worst part of the drive home was about 40 minutes from our house. Both boys were screaming and wouldn't stop. We pulled over at a gas station and held both of them. They were happy just being out of their car seats. We decided they would just have to suffer through the remainder of the drive since we were so close to home. They finally fell asleep a few more miles down the road.
Oh, the happiness when we got home. It was so nice to relax in our home! James was a little concerned that our electricity had been turned off since he couldn't get the TV to work and the clock on the microwave was out. I had unplugged a lot of stuff before leaving home to save at least a few pennies. James was relieved that he just needed to plug in a few cords to get things back on. I got a good laugh!
Asa was happy to sleep in his own bed and play with his toys. Judah was happy to be held. I think we will take the long drive again. Just not for a few months!

Thanksgiving: part 2

Well, so much has happened since Thursday! We've cooked, eaten, cleaned up, played with kids and then done it all again! We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday afternoon. It was fun making all the food with James' family.
This is James' mom and Aunt with all of their grand kids. They're all boys:
Dawson, Asa, Judah, Grandma, Dylan, Drew, Aunt Shirley, Aden

Yesterday I helped Janeille and Sandy set up the tree for Curves at the Festival of Trees. I think our tree is the best looking tree there, despite what that lady said as she walked by... "Oh, my tree is better than that one." I didn't really take her opinion to heart since she said she really liked this cheesy white tree with bows and balls on it. Our tree was entitled Christmas Flowers and had poinsettias and gold balls on it. It was classic.
James has been to the nursing home to see his grandmother who isn't doing very well. It's always hard to see someone who used to care for you unable to care for themselves.
Saturday afternoon was when the real excitement began. Dylan (James' youngest nephew) started throwing up. I won't share all the details, but it happened several times. We thought the other kids would be fine as long as they didn't have contact with Dylan. Shortly after getting to Janeille's house for our dinner of hours devourers, Asa threw up on James. We undressed both of them (I know, exciting!) and put Asa in a big plastic tub. It's a good thing we did that since he threw up a few minutes later.

After that happened, we decided we should go to James' parent's house and put Asa to bed. We were up several times in the night changing Asa's jammies and bedding. At one point, James said he was glad that Asa didn't have diarrhea. Guess what? A couple minutes later I smelled a terrible stench. We've had four of those since about 3:00 AM. I can't count the number of times Asa threw up. This morning he asked for a drink but threw it up a few minutes later. That's how the rest of the day has gone. I thought he was over it a a couple hours ago, but he was just holding his drink in a bit longer.
Here are the boys on the couch. Notice that Asa is sitting on towels and plastic to protect the couch and the two boys are on opposite ends of the couch!

Well, you're all probably ready to puke yourselves! We really are having a good trip. It is so good to see family. It's only been bad for the last 20 hours. I just hope Asa is better by the time we leave for home tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Road Trip: part 1

This is my journal from our little drive from Kansas City to Arizona to visit James' family this Thanksgiving.

9:30 PM

We are about half an hour away from Oklahoma City. The trip hasn’t been the greatest, but we still are optimistic. I type to the sounds of Christian music on our satellite radio and Judah crying.
I left around 3:30 to pick James up at work. Poop leaked out of Judah’s diaper and Asa was screaming by the time we got to NPH. It was 4:30 by the time we left. I drove the first leg. I think James might have fallen asleep for a little bit. Asa watched a Baby Einstein movie a few times on our computer. And I think Judah slept. After about an hour James had to sit in the middle seat to entertain Asa. We ate our sandwiches and Asa was happy a little while longer. Around 6:30 we got tangled up in a traffic jam. There was a truck with a sign that said “accident ahead” but we never saw an accident. We were going 10 mph for about a mile then we sped up to 30 for a few more miles. Things finally cleared up right after the place where a trooper was taking inventory of people’s speeds. James said he hoped we weren’t slowed down because of him.
Shortly after that mess the kids got fussy. We were on the Kansas Turnpike and stopped at a McDonald’s. It was packed with people also! We let Asa walk around for a while and changed Judah’s diaper. When we got back in the van, I sat in the back with the boys and James drove. It was about 7:30. I held a bottle for Judah with one hand and Asa held my other hand so he could fall asleep. I think it’s sweet that he likes holding his Mom’s hand. Don’t worry, I cherished the moment because I know it won’t last forever. Judah was happy for a while after he finished his bottle, but was soon pretty fussy, as he is now. I think I might go back and hold him for a little bit.

10:45
We’re getting gas in Oklahoma City. ($1.47) I got Judah to calm down and fall asleep. Asa has screamed out a few times because he can’t roll over in his car seat. Poor kid. I’m just glad he quiets himself. I also slept for a while. And now I’m going back to sleep!

2:30 AM Thanksgiving Day
Gas stop in Amarillo, Texas. ($1.56) James pulled over about two hours ago to let me drive. (I was begging….) Asa was awake watching Veggie Tales for these last two hours. For a while he was watching the menu and was entertained. He started asking for a drink so James gave him a water bottle. He drank a lot and then played with the bottle and got all wet. We changed him at this stop. Judah also woke up and had some milk. He is quietly sitting in his car seat.
I’ve seen these signs many times before, but it still is interesting to me. There’s a fold down sign before every bridge in the southern states that says “Icy Bridge.” That’s all I have to say about that.

3:41 AM
Boys are sleeping, I should be too.

7:29 AM (Mountain Time Zone)
I really can’t remember what happened the last several hours. There was crying, sleeping, driving, switching drivers and lots of climbing from the front to middle seat. We are on our way out of the Flying J here in Albuquerque. (Type that ten times!) Gas was $1.63. We also stopped by the McDonald’s for a sausage biscuit. As we were leaving, I realized that the McDonald’s was open on Thanksgiving day. I should have ordered a turkey biscuit.

11:30 AM
We have arrived in Winslow! We had to stop twice to change diapers. A car actually stopped to ask if we needed help as we were sitting on the side of the road. That was pretty thoughtful of them. Asa is pretty happy to see his Grandma and Grandpa, even though he has just woken up from a nap.

Exercise Update

Well, last week I successfully didn't ignore my ball once for about 20 minutes. I also used it for a chair a few times. Bouncing on it makes Judah happy. I put forth a little bit more effort than the previous week. I'm currently in the middle of a work-out. Feel the burn!

Bath Time

Here's Asa's routine when he takes a bath:
1. Open both doors of the bathroom cabinet.
2. Get out basket of toys.
3. Shut both doors of cabinet.
4. Throw toys one by one into the tub.
5. Open both doors of cabinet.
6. Return toy basket to its home.
7. Close both doors of cabinet.
8. Get in tub and sit for a while.
9. Play, splash, get soapy, etc.

He's a little obsessive-compulsive!

Patty Cake

Just a short note today.
Last night I was doing patty cake with Judah. Asa was also doing it on his own. This morning Judah was sitting on my lap. Asa has been very loving this morning. He has cuddled with me a lot and wanted to hold Judah several times. He only has enough patience to hold Judah for a few seconds and then wants out. Anyhow, Asa came up to Judah and grabbed his hands. He started gently clapping them together and said patty cake. It was so cute!

A Great Memory

Today marks two years since my dad went on to be in heaven. I am so sad but also very glad for my dad's life and the great memories I have. One of the more memorable moments was one summer walking beans. I was the only kid left at home and sometimes these times working with just Dad could get boring and uncomfortable, that akward silence. The day I remember Dad asked me if I could live anywhere where would I choose. I had some friends in Arizona and thought that it would be pretty cool to live closer to them. But in the end, I said that I would want to finish school here with my friends. I didn't know at the time, but my parents were close to making the decision to quit farming. My dad wanted me to have some input to where we would live. I look back at that and really appreciate my dad having that conversation with me.
Another fond memory is Dad playing with my nieces and nephew. I never liked doing "tricks" with Dad when I was little. I was always afraid someone would get hurt as Dad flung them high in the air on his feet. As an adult, I loved hearing the kids giggle and squeal when they jumped on their grandpa or were lifted high in the air. I think I am most sad because I will never get to see my dad play with my kids.




PS: If you ever hear me laugh when one of my boys appears to be choking on something and makes a hacking sound, it's just because Dad was always making that sound. It's a nice little reminder of my dad!

Another Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend. Friday night I went to a sleepover for the teenage girls from church. I stayed until 12:40. It was actually pretty fun. The boys stayed with James. He said they did a pretty good job without me. Right after I left, he saw some liquidy brown stuff and thought Asa had diarrhea. Turns out it was just M&M slobber.
Saturday I had to go to two grocery stores. I went to two because of selection and prices. I don't think we've ever had less food than we had in our house so I had a lot of things to buy. I actually went in two different trips. I think James was glad because Judah wasn't exactly being a good baby while I was gone to the first store.
Saturday night we had a Sunday school party. It wasn't really for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Just a time to get together, eat and have some fun. While we were getting ready, Asa decided to look at a picture that was on our dresser. He dropped it on the floor and broke the frame. It was a really heavy glass Mikasa frame we got as a wedding gift. It broke into a lot of pieces. I was surprised that Asa didn't get hurt. He was sad that he had to play in his room while I cleaned up all the glass. In his defense, I had just let him hold a frame with a picture of my mom and dad.
Once at the party, Asa spilled his plate of lasagna on the carpet. I felt bad, but we cleaned it up and I don't think they will ever notice where the spill was. Other than that, our boys were pretty good. Asa got rather tired towards the end of the evening and Judah wasn't wanting to eat, so I was concerned about him. I think sometimes he gets upset when there's a lot of noise. He must not have been hungry because he finally ate a little and then slept the whole night.
Sunday we went to church then to our pastor's house for lunch. We had a Thanksgiving dinner at church in the evening. Last year I made a few dishes and ended up taking most of it home. I decided that I would just make one thing this year. It was much easier. Asa was still pretty tired when we went back to church. He had a short nap since we were later getting home after church. Let's just say that we didn't have a relaxing meal. We were glad to get home and put Asa to bed.
It was a busy weekend, but we had a lot of fun!
Asa suddenly is saying something like "where did it go?" And he holds his hands out to his side gesturing. It's so cute. Sometimes he just says "where." It's cute.
Asa also knows what letters are! He has been pointing at our shirts with words and saying different letters, or at least different sounds. He also was digging our magnetic letters out from under the fridge this morning and saying "letter" and some individual letters. His favorites seem to be h and p.
Meanwhile, I am trying to lose some of the flab on my legs and stomach. I had the goal of working out with my exercise ball three times last week. I didn't do it once. I had ample opportunity but never remembered my goal when I had free time. I have the same goal for this week. I also read last night that fiber helps burn fat. Or something like that. You also need to drink a lot of water when having a lot of fiber. So three goals this week: don't ignore the ball, drink water, eat fiber. I'll report next week on my progress.

Too Much TV!

I have been thinking recently that I let Asa watch too much TV. Actually, we all watch too much TV. It hasn't been as bad in the evenings recently since we've been busier. I have been turning the TV off during the day unless I really want to sit down and watch something. But Asa has been watching a lot of kid shows. He loves Sesame Street and Blue's Clues. The BC one is a bummer because we just have one video and I don't like hearing it all the time. Anyhow, last night Asa was having trouble sleeping again and we were listening to him talk. At one point, he said this: "movie, Clifford, Blue's Clues." That's when I decided we really have to limit him. It was pretty funny listening to him, though. He was also listing off other things he knows. I can only imagine the thoughts going on in his little head. Here is another sentence: "Judah? Mommy? Daddy? Work."

Update

Well, by the time I finished blogging last night, Asa was not happy. I got him out of his bed and let him sleep with us. I don't think I mentioned that I wasn't up late just for fun. I was having trouble getting Judah to sleep. He fell asleep once but woke up when I laid him down. I was holding him while typing last night. OK, so Asa fell asleep pretty well in our bed. I woke up once and tried to lay him down in his bed but he woke up and cried. Back to our bed. I saw him several times in various positions between James and me. James finally took Asa back to his bed when Judah woke up to eat. Asa wasn't happy, but he did fall asleep in his bed after a while. I guess the night wasn't too bad, but it wasn't ideal either. Three cheers for a king size bed!

Glorious Sleep

We have finally set up our second crib. Judah has been sleeping in a cradle in our room since he was born. A couple weeks ago we decided that it was time for Judah to move into Asa's room. James carried the pieces of the crib (a hand-me-down from some friends) and started to assemble it. There was one little problem: he didn't know where the bolts were. He looked several places and had no luck. I looked some as well, but I'm thinking that I was focused on something else and didn't look very hard. I can usually find things that are lost. And I usually remember where I've stashed the lost item. Anyhow, we couldn't find these bolts. Friday I was doing something in the garage and started looking around for them and I found them! Yeah! They were in a baseball glove that was on the "tool shelf."
Saturday James set up the other crib right next to Asa's crib. We decided to move Asa into the new crib since it's really nice and much more sturdy than the one he was sleeping in. He really likes it. He wanted to get in it as soon as James had it set up.
Last night was the first chance we had to put Judah down in Asa's room. Saturday night he was having trouble falling asleep and we let him sleep in our bed. I was so afraid last night that we would all be awake in the night, but everyone slept the whole night. I am still happy about that! This morning when Asa woke up, he pointed into the other bed and said "Judah." I think he likes having his brother in his room.
As I type this, I am pretty sure tonight will not be as great as last night. I don't think Asa is feeling very well. I guess I'll back up to this morning with the story. He was watching a movie and fell asleep on the couch. I didn't move him up to his bed since we were going to have lunch with some teenagers from church an hour later. When I went out to put some things in the van, I think the sound of the door made him fall off the couch. When I got back in the house, he was on the floor crying. It took a while for him to be happy again. Later when we got home from lunch, he had trouble falling asleep and didn't have a very good nap. I had a Tastefully Simple party tonight and James put Asa down a little after 7:00. That's early for Asa, but he was tired. Then when I got home around 9:30, Asa woke up. He's back in bed now (11:12) but is awake and saying "Daddy, Mommy, Mommy, Daddy, Daddy, bear..." I'm not sure if I should leave him there or go get him.
All that to say, tonight won't be as great as last night!
Did I mention that on Halloween Asa ate about half a tootsie roll with the wrapper on? I actually was able to dig it out of his mouth. He was a little upset after that.

Pictures

I really don't have anything to say today. I put new pictures on flickr. (See link to the right.) I would like to mention again how much James and I love our boys. It is amazing to watch them grow up right in front of us. We love looking back at pictures and videos from when both of them were younger. Asa knows so many words. He amazes me every day with his vocabulary. One of his new words is icky. We have a book with animal pictures and we read the sounds they make. Asa knows 17 of those animal sounds. Asa also does a really good job playing by himself. I was just reading last night that boys tend to play by themselves more than girls do. He will play in his room or toy corner for half and hour by himself. It's nice for us to have "time off" while he is still with us. Judah is doing great too. He pulls his legs up and leans over to the side. He is close to rolling over. He loves holding a blanket and chewing on it. He also likes holding toys and chewing on them. He lays under his gym for a long time batting at and holding onto his toys. It's great to see him content for hours (not all laying on his back under the toy, don't worry).
Well, that's all of my meaningless ramblings. Enjoy the pictures!

Halloween

Here are our costumes. Can you guess what we are?

The boys are salt and pepper. James and I are chefs. James specifically is a fry chef. I think that's what he said. I think he just got off a shift at McDonald's.

Here is James on Friday. He got to dress up in his dad's old suit. We thought it would be funny and add to his costume if he shaved so that he only had big side burns and a mustache. After this happened, we realized that he probably hasn't had a naked chin since we got married. Let's just say that I laughed A LOT!

Trunk or Treat tonight was fun. Judah slept about half of the time. Asa's favorite part was probably playing with golf balls and the put-put course. He had a few melt-downs. The biggest was at the end when he couldn't have anymore candy and we put him in his car seat. He didn't really understand going around and asking for candy at first. Then he realized what was in his bucket and wouldn't let go of it. Oh, Asa also enjoyed watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" with his daddy. The boys won "funniest costume." The prize was a Frisbee with two candy bars. Hooray for the mom and dad! I guess it was our idea...
We are very thankful that we get an extra hour of sleep tonight!

Dedication

I forgot to mention that Sunday was Judah's dedication at church. Our pastor said some really great things. I don't remember most of what he said because we were passing Asa back and forth. Asa was a ham. He did something that made the congregation laugh. He smiled and realized what he had done and then laughed back at them. We got a lot of comments that Asa was very cute and funny. I have to admit that when we were walking back to our seats, I told asa to say good-bye. He obeyed, saying bye-bye and waving.
Here's a pic afterwards with our pastor, Shane:

And here is Judah at home in his cute jeans and sweater vest:

We will have a video to share with you soon.

Our Week

It doesn't seem like anything very interesting has happened this week. Wednesday Judah did this:

(That is in Asa's bed)
While Asa did this:

And then Asa did this:

I'm working on getting a video of Asa singing. He's pretty good at part of one song. You'll have to wait and see what that is.
I put the boys in similar red shirts and tried for a photo shoot. Judah did very well. Here are some of him:

And this is the best of them together:

We also have been working on our Halloween costumes. We have Trunk or Treat at our church Saturday night so there wasn't a rush to have the costumes finished for the actual day of Halloween. However, James asked if we would visit him at work for lunch today. I thought that we could get the boys in their costumes so everyone at work could see them in all their cuteness. It was successful, really not too difficult. James and I are still working on our own costumes and tying that in with what the boys are. And we'll try to decorate our van to go along with the theme. Stay tuned for photos and the unveiling of our amazing costumes!

Playing with a Pan, etc.

Judah really likes playing with blankets. He holds them and brings them up to his mouth so he can chew on it. He also is starting to like holding toys. With Asa we made the mistake of giving him a hard toy to start with and he hit himself on the head with it. We're smarter with Judah and give him soft toys with a ring on it. Those are pretty easy for him to hold.
We had cookies in a pan earlier this week. It was empty so I let Asa take it off the table. He had a lot of fun playing with it for quite a while. He finally was sitting in the pan. It was pretty cute. Later as I was washing it I read "Roasting Pan" on the bottom. I guess I could have roasted Asa if he would have laid still in the oven.

Feet, etc.

I was just changing Asa's diaper and he was holding onto his feet. That's not normal since he usually is trying to get away or is turning the light on and off a million times. I had to laugh because he said "Yeah" and was clapping his feet together. Then he had them up to his mouth and was trying to talk. It sounds so different when there's something right by your lips! Then I asked Asa to take his jammies to the hamper. He gladly did it, saying "heeper" the whole way there.
Asa also has his eye teeth coming in. They're so little and pointy. I think they look like little dog teeth! Are they called the canines? I'll have to ask my dentist friends.
Judah is really growing up. I do believe that he will be as cute as Asa.

Asa must be growing. Suddenly his 18-24 month jeans don't fit. This morning he ate a bunch of beer bread that was left from my Tastefully Simple party last night. He also had a scrambled egg and now is eating a peanut butter sandwich.

Can we be healthy and bored again?

It seemed a few weeks ago that we had a pretty mundane life. We had fun as our little family, but nothing too exciting happened. We usually would end up getting a Redbox movie on Friday nights and falling asleep half way through it. All day Saturday we would sit around trying to think of something to do. We would watch the grilling shows on PBS and long for those beautiful steaks and lamb chops.
Now all of that has changed. Not only is our schedule busier, but we're now taking turns being sick. I had mastitis last week. It has cleared up and I'm feeling so much better. I was really only sick for about five days. Saturday I did a 5K walk with some friends. James stayed home with the boys who didn't wake up until 11:00! Can you believe that? I've never been so lucky.

Tuesday Asa was hanging out like normal and then suddenly he was throwing up on me. I wish we could get kids to communicate with words we understand at a younger age. "I don't feel so hot" would have been a nice sentence to hear when Asa woke up (at 10:00). I called James and asked if he could come home. Luckily it was a day that he didn't carpool, so that was actually an option. It really wasn't that bad of a day. Asa threw up twice, although there are several spots on the carpet that are a darker color now. Once I knew he was sick, I stopped feeding him and we cuddled a lot and I made him hold an ice cream bucket. That made everything better. By the time James got home, Judah was sleeping and Asa was watching a movie. I snuck out of the house to get some supplies at Target late in the afternoon. It was nice to shop by myself. Asa was pretty normal by the evening.
Here is my to do list for this week:
Monday: Tastefully Simple party (I have another one next Monday)
Tuesday: meeting with an insurance lady (canceled)
Wednesday: make snacks for youth group, go to rehearsal for women's retreat music team, go to Wednesday night church, get together with friends from Indiana
Thursday: call people to make sure they know what they're bringing to the retreat, set up for women's retreat at church, buy remaining supplies for retreat
Friday: make scones for retreat, go to retreat
Saturday: go to retreat
That's a pretty conservative list of the things I've done this week. You can see that it's much more exciting than our normal week.
But wait, it gets better...
Today James called from work and said he was getting sick. He ended up throwing up before he left work. I would have driven to pick him up since he carpooled today, but by the time he called it was too late. I would have gotten there about the time he normally leaves. I think James has thrown up three times since he got home. I had to take the boys to the church with me tonight since he couldn't take care of them. They really weren't a problem since there were some older girls there who played with them. When I got home, well I'll just say that it didn't smell so pretty in my house. I won't explain what happened. (Melinda, I'm sure you remember the story from when James was sick last time. It wasn't that bad.)
James is currently sleeping on the couch. I just got Judah to sleep and I'm trying to decide if I should go to the grocery store. We have no bread.

Where Have I Been?

For the hundreds of you who regularly read my blog, I believe I owe you an explanation about my absence from blogging this week. I think I can sum it up in one word: mastitis. For those of you that have nursed your babies, I'm sure you understand. For the rest of you, mastitis is an infection typically caused by a clogged milk duct.
Here's my story:
Saturday we went to the Nelson Atkins Museum (pictures and the story will be posted sometime). In order to avoid nursing in public, I took a bottle for Judah and pumped when we got home. I was feeling rather full by the time I pumped and was starting to feel a little pain. Saturday evening we had girls/guys night. I had the boys at my friend Wendy's house for a movie. While we were there Judah wasn't wanting to eat for some reason. The pain increased. When we got home, I was cold and my back was aching while Judah was nursing. I asked James to take my temperature, fearing the worst. I wasn't running a fever so I figured that I was just super tired and went to bed.
Sunday morning I felt a lot better. I had a headache so I took some Tylenol and went to church. After church we went to someone's house for lunch. We cut out early because I was starting to feel feverish. By the time I got home, I definitely had a fever.
James was on the phone talking to nurses and doctors, my sister, someone to watch the boys and he was also taking care of me. It was pretty hot in the house but I was freezing. I ended up with four blankets! I talked with a doctor and she told me to go to the emergency room. As soon as our friend Dawn got here to watch the boys, we headed for the ER.
I won't share all the details from the emergency room, mainly because I can't remember all of them. I was mad that they didn't give me a blanket since it wouldn't have helped lower my fever. The most interesting thing is that I was loopy. I said a lot of silly things and I knew it but couldn't stop. James was a little scared since I wasn't acting like myself. If you want more details about the things I said, you can ask James. He's much better at telling the stories. My fever finally broke after a couple hours. Our pastor and youth pastor and his wife came. We're good friends with all of them so it was comforting to have them there.
Once my fever was down and I was diagnosed with mastitis, we went home. We were shocked to find that Dawn had made some chicken noodle soup. She took such good care of our boys. Anyhow, James drove to Independence to get my prescription filled while Dawn stayed with me. My mom and sister Melinda got in late Sunday night. They have been a huge help.
I have felt a little better every day. Monday I had a huge headache. Tuesday I think I had more pain, but less headache. I also went to the doctor. She said I was doing all the right things and told me to see my normal doctor on Friday. Melinda and little Lea also went home on Tuesday. Wednesday I felt almost normal, but would get light headed when I tried to do things around the house. Today I feel a lot better. I have a little bit of a headache, but I've been trying to cut back on the Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
On another note, Asa has a new tooth. We thought he was getting close to cutting some new ones. It's the left eye tooth. He also threw up in his bed at nap time today. I don't know if it happened before or after he fell asleep. I think this is his first experience really throwing up. And James wasn't home to see it. Asa isn't acting sick now so I don't know what's wrong with him. Maybe I'll blog again next week...

Swinging

Asa suddenly thinks it's fun to sit in the baby swing. He turns it on and sits down. Then he says "wee, wee." He's too heavy for the swing to actually swing him, so he just rocks. I think he needs a chair of his own to sit in.

Messy Play

Parents as Teachers is an organization run through the school district in Missouri (and other states) where teachers come to your home and talk with you about your child's development and give you lots of ideas of how to teach your child things mostly through play. They have a lot of activities you can go to, play times, music classes, classes about parenting, baby massage... Last night they had messy play. We took the boys. James was very excited. There wasn't much for babies although they said it was for kids birth through age five. Judah did sit in a tub of shredded paper:


There was shaving cream, clean mud, silly putty, play dough, finger paint, pumpkins to draw on with markers, face paint crayons, bubbles, rice & pasta and a bunch of other things. Asa didn't really like being messy. We had to force him to touch the shaving cream and later the clean mud. By the way, clean mud is a mixture of soap, toilet paper and water.
Here's shaving cream:

Clean mud is funny:


See Flickr (link to the right) for more messy play pictures!

Funny Pictures

Sitting in a basket with the pillow and teddy bear, eating breakfast.


I can't believe he fell asleep with his legs hanging off the couch like this:


Here is Asa after nap one day. He insisted on getting all the blankets and animals out of his bed: a pillow, State Farm bear, a dog, tags blanket and a regular blanket. Yes, he's still wearing his pajamas after an afternoon nap. He wore the same jammies to bed that night!

words

We need to learn a new word. Asa has "more" down. When he wants something, he says "mo" and touches his fingers together, the sign for more. When I ask him if he wants some peanut butter toast, he says "no." I know that he means yes. We just have to learn to say "yes." It reminds me of the phase when Zoe said, "Want sumpin else."

Rejoicing

Last night I was blogging while waiting for Judah to get tired so I could rock him to sleep. He was in his cradle watching his mobile and he fell asleep! I couldn't believe it. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the mobile, he loves it! I did flip Judah over on his tummy since he really likes to sleep that way. And he didn't wake up until around 5:30!

Random

Here are several random thoughts:

I have wanted to take Asa to story-time at the library for a while now. He is just now old enough to go to the story-time that's at the library we frequent. We have successfully attended each Monday morning in September. It's not so easy to take a baby and a little boy who doesn't sit and screams when you yank on his arm to come back. Yes, he screams like a girl. I can't believe it! Today I left Judah with a friend and took her little boy and Asa to story-time. It was so much easier. The boys were pretty well behaved. Asa kept giving Caleb hugs and kisses. Caleb ignored him. They also got to "make" a craft. It consisted of gluing two eyes on a dog face and taping a stick on the back to make it a puppet. Asa did like putting the eyes on. I'll have to take a picture of the "puppet" to share with you.

I love the time of year when you can leave the air conditioner off all day and not die from the heat! Similarly I like the days when you can turn the heater off and open the windows.

I also like staying up later than everyone and getting things done. I remember right after Judah was born I would fold laundry and clean up the house after everyone was sleeping. I seemed to have an extra boost of energy. I guess it was just the only time I had to do those things. Now there is usually some time when both boys are sleeping and I can do my laundry then. (I don't know why there is so much laundry! It drives me nuts!)

I love sneaking in and covering people up. It's pretty easy to do to James, but it's risky to do with Asa. I am always afraid he will wake up, but I sneak in sometimes despite the risk.

James and I got some bug bites a couple weeks ago. Mine are pretty much gone, but James' bites are a big problem. He has itched so badly that he stands around and scratches and can't do anything else. He went to the doctor Thursday and got an antibiotic for the infection. I don't see that it has worked yet. The red spots around the bites are getting so much bigger. James has taken cold baths, oatmeal baths, put ice on the bites, taken Benadryl, used ointments and a million other things. I think if he's not better tomorrow he will have to go back to the doctor.

He gets it! Any time we are getting ready to go somewhere, I have to ask James to get things ready. It frustrates me that I'm the organized one who knows what we need in the diaper bag. We were talking about it one day after we walked out the door. I said that it would just be nice if he knew what needed to be done. I hate telling him what to do all the time. I feel like his mother instead of his wife. (No offense, Sandy.) Tonight I went to the grocery store (no bread in the house) while James put the boys to bed. (Judah actually had to get up later to eat again.) Anyhow, a couple minutes ago I noticed that there is a container of wipes and some diapers for Judah on the bookshelf in our room. James brought those things out of Asa's room so I don't have to go in there in the middle of the night to get supplies. I am so happy that he thought of that. I want to wake James up and thank him, but I know how tired he is.

I also like reading the blogs of my friends.

I think that's all the random thoughts... at least for now!

Breakfast

I'm sitting at the table watching Asa eat his waffle and I'm amazed at his skills. Just a few months ago he was a baby like Judah. Asa said thank you without being prompted when I got him a fork and again when I gave him a drink. He does pretty good with his fork. If he can't successfully poke the food, he will pick it up with the same fingers as are holding the fork. If he can't get it all the way in his mouth, he uses his other hand to shove it in. Oh wait, now he's just using his other hand to pick up the pieces of waffle. I'm glad he doesn't stuff his mouth full of pieces of food and gag like he did a few months ago. A bit ago he dropped a piece onto his seat and was quick to pick it up and eat it. I guess he treasures his food! I also am surprised how much he is eating. He is almost finished with his third section of a Belgian waffle. He ate this much yesterday as well. And he is quick to say more when he finishes what is on his plate.
Judah on the other hand is starting to be very content playing. He really likes the play gym we have and the mobile in his cradle. He lays and talks to the toys and screams and kicks his legs.
I realized something inconvenient this morning, or maybe it was in the middle of the night. We have another crib, but no mattress. My mom has an extra crib mattress that we should have brought home with us in August. Judah is starting to outgrow his cradle, but I don't think we have another option until we get that mattress. When we have the crib ready to set up, we'll have to face our next hurdle: the boys sharing a room. Will Judah wake Asa up at night? I don't know if I'm ready for this.

Fallout, Final Game and Coffee

Saturday a few minutes after we put Asa in bed, we heard a thud in his room. I knew instantly that he had fallen out of his bed. There is a problem with the crib that should probably have been fixed by now. The side that goes up and down doesn't lock up all the way on one side. We had never had a problem before; I guess we were just lucky. So we ran upstairs and found Asa on the floor. James thinks he was standing up and leaned on the railing when it went down and flipped him out. He really didn't cry for very long, so I'm thinking he didn't fall straight on his head. We have a newer crib we got from some friends for Judah. I think we'll get it out for Asa in the next couple of days.
Sunday after church we went to the final Royals home game. We had pretty good seats. Someone had given tickets to one of James' co-workers who in turn passed them along to James. We had a good time at the game. After wards we waited in a long line to run the bases. Asa really liked that. As with a lot of other things, I think he mostly liked watching the other kids and imitating them.
Asa, Mommy & Judah running:
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Asa running:

Today I had a cup of iced coffee with a straw in it. Asa has recently learned to drink from a straw and wanted a drink. I let him have some, thinking he wouldn't like it. He drank a lot, took a break, giggled and then said "more, more." I guess he likes coffee.
Also, Asa can remove the safety plug-in covers we have. I guess they're not working so well. I'm not sure if I can get any that will work because we have pretty loose plugs.

Talking

Asa says a lot of things. Most of them only make sense to him. For example, yesterday he was taking a bath. I realize that it's not safe, but I don't stay in there with him. I do listen closely to make sure I can always hear him. During his bath there was a bump and splash. I assume he was standing up, or at least on his knees, and he slipped. I ran up and asked him what happened. He told me all the details of what he was doing, I just had no idea what he was saying.
His latest new word is drum. He says bum. Just a minute ago he was walking around saying "zhoo, ba doodle bum." I guess he was looking for his drum.
Another thing Asa does that is really helpful is putting things in the trash and hamper. It's cute because as he is walking, he says "trash, trash, trash" or "hamper, hamper."
Here's a picture of Judah and Asa wearing matching outfits. It's just luck that they had something the same that fit at the same time.

Dancing King

Here's some video of Asa dancing. He's so funny! I love the head nods and when he dances with the book.

New Look

I have finally figured out how to do some different things on my blog. I hope you enjoy! It's a little embarrassing because James is so good with technology and I have to ask him all the time to help me with things. I'm going to be terrible when I get older. Our kids will be in high school and they'll say stuff like "Mom, I can't believe you don't know how to use this ______. It's so easy." I'm going to be dumb. I'll just take classes about the latest technology from Margee and Melinda.

Stupid but Lucky

This weekend is James' grandpa's birthday. I got a card ready this morning and decided to order some pictures to send as well. Since I waited until the last minute, I had to make a special trip to Wal-Mart to pick up the pictures. Did I mentioned that it has rained most of the day? When I got to the store, I put Judah in the snuggly and let Asa walk inside since all the carts outside would be wet (even though there weren't any carts nearby). I was hoping that Asa didn't run away and get hit by a car. I was also hoping that everyone would be driving carefully. We got inside safely and I saw that ALL of the carts were wet. Since I was just picking up pictures, I figured that Asa could walk with me to the back of the store and get them. For some reason I thought it was unacceptable to put Asa in a wet cart. When I was halfway to the photo counter, I was thinking that I was totally stupid. I was just waiting for Asa to run away. He actually kept walking with me. We got to the photo counter and picked up our pictures. Asa handed the lady a dollar. He was so proud. I let him hold another dollar until we got back to the van. I couldn't believe it, Asa didn't run away or have any melt-downs. He did trip once in the store, but he got up quickly. I was so proud of our big boy! Looking back, I think that next time I won't risk it and I'll just put Asa in a cart, rain water and all.

Labor Day

We went to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead Labor Day weekend. Here's a short video.

Asa & a goat:

Judah while Asa was playing with the goats:

Asa and James by an old John Deere:

the Lights and the Terrible, Horrible, no Good, Very Bad Day

Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but Saturday didn't go as we had planned.
It all started on Friday. James went with a co-worker to Cosco to get some diapers for Asa. When he got home, he remembered that he left the diapers at work. We only had a few diapers left for Asa so we had to decide if we would drive to Nazarene Publishing House Saturday or buy some over the weekend.
We had tickets for the Royals Game from NPH for Saturday night and were planning to take the boys. So we came up with a plan. We would drive to Independence, return something at J C Penney's, go to Family Christian Stores, get the diapers from NPH and then go to the Royals Game. We had done some figuring so we knew what time to leave home so we would have time to do everything and make it to the game.
We started out at about 2:00 and made our way to J C Penney's. It's in the mall in Independence, about 10 minutes away. The area is always full of people on Saturdays. We had to wait through a couple red lights just to get onto the street that goes by the mall. When we pulled in the parking lot, I was trying to remember where the J C Penney's is in the mall. Then it hit me. It's not in the mall, but a couple blocks in the opposite direction. I broke the news to James. We were both glad that I remembered before we got inside the mall. We made it over to the actual J C Penney's and James found a pair of pants that fit and was on clearance.
When we were loading up the van, I remembered I had forgotten the gift certificate for Family Christian Stores. James asked if I happened to grab the tickets for the game. The answer was no. So we had to drive home to get them. Meanwhile Asa was frustrated to be in his car seat. He was happy if he could hold my hand. So I sat with my arm uncomfortably in the back seat holding Asa's hand.
We drove home to get the tickets and gift certificate and then back to the Family Christian Store. I went in with Asa to get the Superchick CD we wanted. Everything went smoothly. We drove over to NPH to pick up the diapers. It was raining a little bit, but James had told me that it was supposed to clear up. We didn't have umbrellas or anything to shelter us from the rain at the game. We got to NPH and James couldn't get in the building. His key card worked, but he still couldn't get in. We drove around and tried every single door. So we drove out of our way to get the diapers and couldn't get in. Totally inconvenient.
Next we got to the game. I sat in the van and fed Judah while James changed Asa's diaper and got him bundled up for the game. We didn't have the snuggly so I carried Judah and James carried Asa. That was probably the worst part of the game, carrying the kids around. They did pretty well during the game. Asa especially liked the occasional fireworks and videos on the big screen. He also enjoyed eating peanuts. Judah pretty much sat around and was happy.
When we got home, I went to Target to get diapers. We hadn't really eaten dinner, so I stopped by Taco Bell to get something. I couldn't remember what James liked and none of the items on the value menu jumped out to me. I got James a rice and bean burrito, thinking it was what he liked. I got home and gave him the surprise, then realized that's not what he would want. I felt so stupid because it should have been obvious to me that he wouldn't like something with beans. It really wasn't that big of a deal. It just seemed like if something could go wrong all the day, it did.
Looking back a couple days later, I don't think it was all that bad. We were able to laugh at the irony of our bad luck on what we had carefully planned to be a fun day.
Most of the family at the game:


Asa likes holding Judah:

Exercise

Last night I went to Borders and found a kit with an exercise ball, resistance band that attaches to the ball, book and video. I really think and hope that I will be able to exercise during the day at home. I haven't been successful at getting out to walk with one or two kids. Previously that was my only hope for exercise. We'll see how this works out.
Today I put on the DVD and started the warm-ups. They were pretty intense for someone who hasn't really done anything in months! Anyhow, I did a lot of stuff but I did end up just watching some to see what it was like. I had to take a break to comfort Judah and never had time to pick it back up. I'm guessing I'll have to break the 70 minute video up into at least two days.
Here's to a six-pack!

End of Summer

Editor's note: this draft began two weeks ago and I'm just today finishing. Oops!

It is August 18 and teachers and kids are going back to school. I can't believe that summer is over. However, since we aren't really involved with the school system, summer continues for a few more weeks. As I think back over the summer, we have made a lot of changes and memories along the way.
In April we went to North Carolina to visit James' sister for our vacation. We decided to take a real vacation and go early since we would be having a baby in the middle of the summer. The highlight was probably going to the ocean and playing on the beach.
In May my mom was watching my oldest sister's kids while she and her husband were in Florida. We got a call early one Sunday morning that Mom was having some trouble breathing and was being taken to the hospital. I drove up to Cedar Rapids with Asa that afternoon. As I was driving, I remembered the last time I had driven to Iowa in my seventh month of pregnancy. It was for a wedding but we ended up staying for almost a month because Dad was nearing the end of his life. I was glad that this trip didn't have the same ending. It turned out that Mom had a heart attack. She only needed a stint put in one place in her heart and was released after six days in the hospital. That weekend was Mother's Day and I was glad to get to return home on my second ever Mother's Day. James had made a beautiful book full of pictures of Asa and our family. The other gift James had for me wasn't exactly a physical gift. He had finally refinished the dresser for Asa's room. It was such a blessing since we had more room for clothes and a changing table!
In June we had VBS at our church. Asa liked the singing at the end. The kids would cheer and scream for the music leader to come into the sanctuary. Asa also learned how to scream like this. For a while, every time he heard applause, he would throw his hands up in the air and scream! In June we also met the man that would become our new senior pastor at New Beginnings Church. He and his family joined us in Lee's Summit at the beginning of July and they have been a big blessing so far!
The most exciting part of June was the Friends Reunion. James' parents have been friends with three other couples for about 30 years. Everyone from three of the families were able to come to the Kansas City area for a weekend. It was great to see our family and the others that seem like extended family. We even had the chance to show James' family around KC and Lee's Summit. I was glad that Asa isn't afraid of "strangers." He knew that these people who loved him so much were family, even if he didn't remember them. And he loved playing with them.
The end of June marked the beginning of our journey with two kids. We took Asa to our friends Brad & Janelle's house the evening of June 29. The next morning we went to the hospital to have our second baby. Of course, Judah didn't help us move things along very quickly and he wasn't born until July 1. He was a big boy with lots of dark hair. We loved him instantly, well it took me a little longer. He was pretty goopy when he came out! Asa did well without us and we enjoyed his visits to the hospital. Asa liked giving Judah kisses from the very beginning and he still does today.
I would say that life with two hasn't been too bad yet. We actually have been in and out a lot and have had a lot of visitors. The first night home was the worst. Judah had trouble sleeping and Asa was all out of sorts. We had both boys in our bed for a while. And Asa wouldn't sleep with us; he just rolled around. I finally laid him back down in his own bed and he slept fine. The other terrible thing that happened is that Asa somehow contracted hand, foot and mouth disease. That was no fun. My mom changed some plans and came down for a few days. Thank you so much Mom! I would have died without you.
In August the Stonebrakers came for a visit. A week later we celebrated our fifth anniversary by going on a picnic and just spending quality time together. Judah joined us; Asa stayed with a friend. I spent a week in Iowa with the boys. It was great to see some long lost friends and my sisters and their girls. James came up for the weekend and we went to my friend Abbie's wedding in Pella. We had a great time: dancing, eating, laughing... it was so much fun!
The Crawley family came down for Labor Day to mark the end of summer. I am so glad my family lives near enough to visit occasionally. I love you all!

quiet

Asa was being quiet again today when I thought he was playing. What was he doing? Playing in the trash. What was in his mouth? Kleenex. Yumm.

Prayer

For a few months we have been eating dinner at the table all together and we pray before our meal. James and I would try to hold Asa's hands during the prayer, mainly so he wouldn't be eating at that time. Most of the time Asa would scream no and push our hands away. Recently he has been excited to hold our hands for prayer. And in just the last couple of days, I've seen him bowing his head a little and he seems to mutter something quietly. I think he's praying on his own. Only God knows what he's saying!

This Week

Judah is getting so big. It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. He is looking around and smiling at us. And we don't have to work too hard for smiles either! He is soothed sometimes when we put him in the swing or under his barn-yard play gym. I'm so proud of my little baby!


Asa is also getting so big and learning so many things. He truly does understand more than what we give him credit for. He can say a lot of words and he can point to a lot of his body parts: teeth, nose, eyes, head, hands, feet, tummy, etc. We're trying to capture him talking on video. It's rather tricky because when I pull out the camera, he says cheese and tries to touch the camera. Here's the best I've been able to do:


Saturday we were at Larry and Carol Anderson's house. The worst thing that Asa has done to Judah happened while we were there. Asa was walking around with his sippy cup when he suddenly threw it. And it hit Judah right in the head. So of course, Judah started crying and Asa had no idea what he had done. That's where I struggle. I know we can't punish him for doing that, but how do we make him aware that he was the reason Judah cried? I'm just hoping that Judah lives to be a year old! Later in the evening, we were playing Wii bowling. Asa liked cheering when we knocked over the pins. Here's some video of that:

Judah's Personality

Judah is now seven weeks old. I'm not sure that he has a personality, but he has some things that he does a lot. He seems to sneeze more than I remember Asa sneezing. Hopefully he's not allergic to everything like his aunt Melinda or cousin Zoe. He is really starting to smile a lot. When he's awake, he looks around mostly with a blank stare, but he will smile when we talk to him. He also is doing the happy baby noises. It's cute to hear the coos. Ever since Judah was born, he has been a grunter. He makes various grunting noises when he is squirming around in our arms. When he nurses, he makes a lot of gulping noises and high pitched squeaks. It's hard to describe. And the final little personality trait he has developed is hacking. My dad was a hacker. He would get a cough and hack and cough up stuff. The first time Asa coughed and hacked, I laughed instead of being concerned as most new mothers would be. Judah has only done the hacking thing twice. And I haven't been concerned either time.
Here's Judah happily swinging with no expression on his face.

Here he is sleeping at Grandma's.

Smile!!

Yesterday I was at the missions convention at our District Assembly. I accidentally wandered into the meeting about the district budget. Boring! It was late starting and I didn't want to leave and go to another workshop and be even later getting to that one. So I stayed and actually learned something useful. Judah started crying so I took him out. After a while, he was no longer crying. I sat down on the floor in the hallway with him. He talked a little bit to me so I started smiling and talking to him. After a couple minutes, he smiled at me! It was his first purposeful smile! That makes a happy day for a mom.

Asa the Nanny

Who needs a nanny when you have Asa. He is very helpful with Judah. If Judah is crying and James or I am holding him, Asa will pick up a blanket or pacifier and bring it to us. He doesn't, however, do a very good job of bringing a blanket if we ask him. The other day he saw a dirty diaper on the floor and took it to the trash. Today while I was taking a shower and Asa was in the bathroom playing with toys, Judah started waking up in his cradle that is in our room. I heard Asa run off to check on him. He came back to the bathroom and checked on Judah another time while I was finishing up my shower. (How long until I can take a shower in peace?) He's just a helpful little boy.
But then I was drafting this post in my head while I was nursing Judah a few minutes ago. Asa was looking at books in my room. He shut the door and was unable to get out. After Judah was finished eating, we went to free Asa only to find that he had found the opened package of toilet paper. He had taken out several rolls and unrolled half of one roll. He was ripping up the toilet paper into tiny little pieces. It was cute, but mischievous. Just when I was thinking he was such a big helper, he goes and makes a big mess!
And a few minutes later Asa fell asleep on the couch next to me. He's back to being an angel again!