Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cute Comparison...

The first photo is Josiah when he was 6 months old. There is an even funnier shot of him from this Christmas with the bow on his head, but this one reminded me of Caleb in the next picture below minus the mouth expression anyway.





Here is our sweet little Caleb boy looking reflectively upward. I really think Josiah and Caleb's eyes look similar in these photos. What do you think?

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Funny Josiah Moment

In the car on the way to church today, Josiah kept looking out the window saying, "That's cool," to just about everything that he saw. At one point, David and he had this conversation:

Daddy: Is Mommy cool?
Josiah: No...she's pretty. (Good answer, good answer!)
Daddy: Is Daddy cool?
Josiah: Ummm..he's little bit cool. (I am sure he will enjoy this response more when he is a teenager!)

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Tigger Bouncy Fun

My parents came over the other day and were reminiscing about how I used to love my "Johnny Jump-Up" and wanted to see the baby boys have a go at it. We have this lovely Tigger version of the Johnny Jump-Up. It has a tail in the back too! Caleb was a little tired I think when we put him in it, but he was smiling when my mom bounced him up and down in it. He stiffened up his legs and didn't really do much jumping himself, but that may change as he tries it again in future days.

Daniel seemed to enjoy it too, but he was more amused with Josiah jumping up and down! He was laughing so hard every time Josiah started jumping. As a side note: when Josiah was little, his older friend Sean used to jump up and down around him and he too had the biggest laugh about that. Josiah and Daniel seem like two peas in a pod as far as their development and temperament are concerned! We have noted though that Josiah had a bit more of a will than Daniel did. Daniel is very soft-spoken and very rarely gets upset about anything.

I would like to also add this picture of Josiah when he was almost 5 months old in the same Tigger jumper. You can see that he was a bit more of a chunk! And considering in the above pictures that Caleb and Daniel are almost 8 months you can see how much of a chunk Josiah really was!


I included this picture of Daniel because it was just too funny! David put this cloth on his head and he just wore it that way until I came and took it off. As I said, he is very laid back. He looked so cute though and he has a similar expression to that of Josiah in the photo above.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Visitors Galore

To use the cliche when it rains it pours would describe last Sunday at our home. We had made plans have Jee and Craig over for lunch(David works with Jee) a while back, but also had a friend from Spokane come to town stop by (she told me she was coming, but I didn't know which day of the week) and then my brother and his friend also came over as well.

As a side note, we went to church on Sunday and Josiah was in the nursery from 10:00am to around 12:30pm and he didn't have an accident!! Yeah for that! We were prepared though, we had 3 changes of clothes and a number of pull ups in his bag just in case. It is that one time that you DON'T have the bag that you have the accident, right moms out there?


We had a nice time chatting with Jee and Craig about all things baby and kid-related. That is a warning to all of you who want to come over, it is very hard to get off topic of the kiddos when they are so demanding of your attention at every moment. Josiah asked Craig no less than 20 times (probably more) "Can you go outside with me?" As usual he latched on the man visitor and wanted him to be his playmate. Last time Craig and Jee visited, Craig graciously went back to Josiah's train table and played with him a good while. And this time, Josiah proceeded to climb into Craig's lap and rough-house with him a bit. Jee was scared half to death with all of Josiah's vigorous boy moves, and our firstborn had to be exited from the room (time outs) for his overly aggressive behaviors. One time he gave Jee a swift kick to her stomach...ouch! It was an accident of course, but we still want him to understand not to get too excited in such close proximity to our guests!

It was nice to see my friend Janeen too and if I hadn't been half-asleep after church, I would have remembered to get out my camera and take a picture of her feeding little Caleb boy. Janeen was the one who threw my baby shower for Josiah's arrival. You can read about that event in the June 2005 archives. http://dhjcarpenter.blogspot.com/2005/06/baby-shower-at-janeens.html We had a nice time chatting though and she and two of her boys came to church with us as well, which was also neat.

My brother and his friend Bona were here briefly as I mentioned above because they were picking up Bona's luggage as he was headed back to Holland that day (he visited for a month here in the U.S.). In case you are wondering why we had his luggage, it was because he and Brent went to Wild Waves (nearby our house) and Bona wanted a safe place for his luggage to be since Brent has a hatchback car and not a full sized trunk. Nonetheless, it was nice to see my brother also!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

And so the potty training begins...


Today we began the potty training process with Josiah and it started off pretty rocky, but by the end of the day he was doing much better. We went through no less than 6 pairs of underwear in the morning as he had lots of accidents, but once he figured out how to successfully pull his underwear up and down it went a lot smoother. For the sake of giving him some dignity with his future wife someday, we decided not to post the one of him on the potty, but instead I have this one of him playing at the kitchen table which is less revealing. He can thank me later for that one.

When he had a successful go at making it to the toilet (and not peeing through his underwear as he did a couple of times), we gave him some M & M's to enjoy. Here you see him eating his M & M's after one of the first successful attempts.

I discovered early on that we had to do "practice" sessions every 15-20 minutes or so in order to not have accidents. Many of these practice sessions were also successes, so that was great. When he didn't want to practice, we just took away the toys he was playing with and that worked great to motivate him. Some methods advocate for not having any toys around all day, so as not to distract the child from potty training. My question for that is, "Then what in the world do you do with them all day without some form of toys?" As one of my twin mom friends pointed out, many of the "experts" that write about these things don't necessarily have kids.

After his nap we had two more accidents, one was that he peed in his bed as a wake up call (no fun I am sure) and then we had a "poop on the kitchen floor incident." Josiah was really shocked and worriedly yelled, "Poop on floor!" He was concerned we would be mad, but we told him it was an accident and where the poop should go next time. Anyway, that was pretty funny. I asked Josiah if he had a good day and he said, "Yes" and I asked him if he liked potty training and he said, "Sometimes." When I questioned him as to why it was "sometimes" he tried to tell me in his own way that he didn't like the messes he made. It was cute, but hard to remember exactly what he said though.

Friday, July 18, 2008

PBSR??


Josiah attended the VBS at the church down the road as I mentioned in the previous raisin post. The same day as the raisin incident there was a performance at night for the kids to sing the songs they learned and they also had an ice cream social afterwards for the families that attended. I thought it would be fun to see if Josiah would make his first musical debut, but as you can see here, he hid underneath the pew instead. He stood up in the front at first, but when he realized all the people were watching him and the other children, he came back down the aisle to me (as I was filming) and said, "I'm scared." I should have known that he wouldn't do it as it usually takes him a while to get used to an idea before he tries it. He is like that with most everything else and he just started going to that VBS on the same day as the concert.

And now to explain the funny post title. This morning I kept saying to him, "If you want to go to VBS, you need to come back and get dressed." Later on he was saying weird stuff like, "I want C R O T W," or some variation of letters thereabouts. At first, I did what many of you are probably doing and was thinking he was trying to spell something to me. Then he said, "I want to go to R T S B," and I realized he was trying to say "VBS" and was just putting letters in there thinking they were random or something. At night, when we asked him about his day he said, "I went P B S R today."


As you know a post wouldn't be complete without our cute little baby pumpkinheads making an appearance as well. The other day, we all went to McDonalds as a treat for Josiah and the boys had a blast too as well as you can see. Daniel is on the left and Caleb on the right.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Raisin Runs Amock

ADDITIONAL NOTE: My mom informed me that my brother at the ripe age of three also pulled some mischievous boy antics. He put a button up his nose that "whistled" when he breathed and got everybody laughing at the doctor's office and also managed to chew up and swallow my mother's hard contacts. I vaguely remember this incident as she was yelling, "Cough them Up!!" Hard contacts are much more expensive to replace than soft ones as you may recall. Apparently this sort of behavior runs in the family!

So I found out a little too late that the church down the road had a Vacation Bible School that accepted 3 year olds (most only start at age 4) and so Josiah could have been enjoying some VBS fun all week. We did start him today though and he will go one more day tomorrow, but today he had a rather interesting adventure that I thought I would share.

I got a call from the church about 2 hours after he arrived saying that Josiah had told them that he had a raisin up his nose. They said that they checked and didn't see anything and that he blew his nose and nothing came out and thought he was fine, but wanted me to know. I asked if anyone else had said something like that thinking he was just mimicking them. Another boy had put some raisins on his eyes to be funny and apparently Josiah made the logical conclusion that they should be put up his nose to be funnier yet. We concluded that he was probably just saying that as he didn't seem to be uncomfortable and was breathing fine.

She called me back again and said that his nose was now running and that he was acting a little more perterbed. I prepared to come and get him and started to put the twins in their seats when she called again to say that they had him blow his nose again and a raisin came out.

Ugh...and so the mischievous boy pranks begin. Thankfully this one didn't end in an emergency room visit. Praise God!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Escape Artist Echo

Yesterday, I needed to make a quick trip to Costco for some things and as usual I prepared the boys for the trip, and when it was time to go I opened the front door and loaded everybody and everything into the car (quite a venture really). Usually our dog Echo stays put in the house and we rarely have problems with her jetting out the door, so I don't even really worry about that too much.

Apparently this time, she sneaked out the front door without my noticing and we all headed off to Costco. When we got home, I noted right away there wasn't a doggie dog to greet us as usual and got to looking around the house and of course she wasn't there.

Josiah and I walked a little ways down the road together (leaving the babes strapped in their carseats in the house briefly) calling for the dog together, it went a little something like this...

Me: Echo!!
Josiah: Echo!!
Me: Echo!!
Josiah: Echo!!
I am sure you get the humor here.

I walked with the boys (babies in the baby bus) down the road to question our neighbors and when I talked to this one gal she said that she had seen our dog (though she didn't know she was ours) down the road quite a ways away about an hour ago. I thought we had lost her for sure as this same gal also drove around down where she saw her last and didn't see her.

We walked back to the house and I got the boys in the car again and then as I was getting ready to leave, our Echo came sauntering up the walk panting vigorously. Silly dog! I guess she decided to grace us with her presence after her super secret doggie mission. We are glad she is back though. Perhaps I will take more care in the future to not leave the door open while I am loading up the car. Lesson learned.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Momagenda Desktop Review

At my MOPS group last fall, there was a gal named Tricia Novotny who came to talk to us about organization and ways to “de-clutter” the home, and it was through her that I learned about an online group that she started called 24/7 Moms. www.247moms.com It is a neat resource for us mom-types. I also keep up with her blog at www.247moms.blogspot.com to get cool Mom-related resources and helps.

As part of this group, they have asked me to write a review of a “Mom” product they have found to be helpful and I agreed to do so. So to take a quick departure from the typical Carpenter updates, I am writing a review on this product called the “Momagenda Desktop Calendar.”
www.momagenda.com

Above I included two of the beginning pages of the calendar that show how you might use it. The page you see pictured there is the more extended daily version of the calendar, but there are a few other versions of it for easier viewing (typical monthly, 4-month list version as well). The extended calendar section is big enough for mom’s activities and has room for four kids and their activity schedules as well. If you don’t have 4 kids, you can use any extra spaces for lists, errands, etc. Click on the picture to get a bigger view of the pages and you can read the little suggestions that they gave in the book as an example.

Here are some other neat features of this desktop calendar:

  • Color Coated Pages for different sections
  • Two place-marking ribbons for quick reference
  • Removable (but attached with a ribbon) address book

Different Sections:

  • PINK: resources including favorite web sites, online resources, toll-free numbers, and holiday dates for the year
  • BLUE: all the calendars including monthly, daily and 4 month at-a-glance
  • GREEN: pages for recording good books, movies, music, fashion, restaurants, wines, health, fitness, gift records, entertaining resources, parties, vacation ideas, and vacation planning.
  • PURPLE: blank lined journal pages

Removable Address Book: Along with the normal tiered address/phonenumber section in front it also has pages for family member’s information, important phone numbers (with lots of different categories to fill out for ideas of what to record), web sites and passwords, adult’s medical information, children’s medical information, & birthdays and anniversaries at-a-glance.

The cover I have is pink and is this water-proof like material (good for mom’s with toddlers), but there are lots of other colors and styles as well.

I reviewed the desktop version, but I also noted they have this “Kitchen Folio Planner
http://www.momagenda.com/products.cfm?cID=10&pID=29 that has pages that you can download online and type in your information and print out for your book (I like this since my handwriting is crummy). Some of the downloadable lists include: all the important information pages from the desktop version, plus grocery lists (pre-made lists that you can type in what you need or add additional items) Click this link to view the lists they have available for download. http://www.momagenda.com/blog/downloads.htm

Let me know what you think of this product in the comments section and feel free to visit the 24/7 Moms site and blog as well to learn more about this fun group of moms!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Outing in the Park

Today we went to meet some MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) moms from my group, but it turned out that I was the only one that showed up. They set up a bunch of park times for the summer, and either I missed out on where they were meeting in the park or I was the only one that came.
I made the best of it though. I actually fed both babies while Josiah played on the toy equipment (much to my amazement) and then afterward we went on a walk around the lake. When we entered the area where it was forested, Josiah said, "Look it's a jungle!" He does these cheesey smiles now when I ask him to smile for a picture. I tried to get a more normal smile, but it is still kinda cheesey here.
There were numerous places to get near the water and Josiah took advantage of this to throw rocks in the water.
We also saw a bunch of geese that weren't all that afraid of people. And by the way, this isn't my zoom, we were actually this close to the geese.

Funny Baby Pictures


This is a typical Caleb move of late. We have to be sure and strap him in to any chair up off the ground or he will find an escape route! The funny part is that while he is finding his escape he is really quiet, so you wouldn't know he was about to fall unless you had your eye on him. Of course he was safe in this picture, but it was too funny not to capture in a picture.

My parents came over the other day and we got this adorable shot of Daniel in Grandpa's hat. This is a great example of how blue his eyes are. Such a cutie pie!!
Caleb wouldn't be outdone in the cuteness competition and so he donned the hat as well.

Friday, July 04, 2008

4th of July Fun!!

Our 4th of July boys: Daniel on the left and Caleb on the right. For the 4th, we went down to Eatonville (where my parents live) for their annual parade. My Dad's church had a float in the parade to evangelize to the public, and so he and mom were on the float while we sat on the side lines watching. Josiah loved all the vehicles in the parade of course!
Josiah is trying to dodge a picture here. Daddy was attempting to get him to sit on the steps like he was with his legs crossed, but Josiah wouldn't have it. Incidentally, Daddy had a fun conversation with Josiah about fireworks that went like this.
Daddy: Did you hear fireworks last night?
Josiah: Yes.
Daddy: What do fireworks sound like?
Josiah: Like airplanes, and racecars, and fans...
Daddy: Like airplanes huh?
Josiah: yeah! and cranes and exavators (excavators)
Daddy: wow they sound like a lot of things huh?
Josiah: yeah and dogs too!
This is when Great Grandpa first saw Josiah (since he was a baby) and was talking to him. Josiah has his "shy face" on at the moment.
This sums up what the babies thought of the parade...no likey! Daniel pretty much lost it at the first loud sound and got progressively more annoyed as more loud noises kept scaring him half to death. Caleb didn't like the noises much either and they both had to go inside my Dad's church (thankfully it was right behind us and was open) to get away from the noise. Great Grandma is here holding Daniel's ears, but as you can see it didn't do much good.
Here is Great Grandpa holding Caleb for the first time. He was thrilled to see the baby boys!
My cousin Jordan lives in Seattle and at the last minute decided to drive down and watch the parade with us and he was just delighted to hold the babies. He even fed Caleb a little later also. We have lots more pictures, but I just put a few here on the blog.

SMILE!! Happy 4th!

Our sweet Caleb giving a huge grin!! His shirt says "Little Slow Poke Driver's Academy" with the appropriate turtle pictured on the front.

Our sweet Daniel giving a huge grin too! Daniel's shirt has a froggie on it with the appropriate title "Prince Charming."

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Fun Summer Pictures

Look at our number one son! I love this picture of him as it accentuates his beautiful blue eyes! We have three fruit trees in the backyard (cherry, apple, & plum) and he enjoys picking up the non-ripe fruit off the ground and playing with it. Now that he is older he doesn't take bites of the fruit he finds on the ground, of which I am thankful! Josiah proudly displaying his cherries!

Josiah and his fruit!

Here is our very freaked out dog, Echo. She is usually in this exact state of panting constantly in this lovely season of fireworks. At night, she is usually awake so much that during the day she is zoned out from her sleepless nights of worrying about firecrackers.

And of course the post wouldn't be complete without some cute twin boy pictures to add to the mix. Caleb is looking up into the sky and Daniel is worried he is going to get bonked in the head by a falling Caleb or something.

This was the closest I could get to them both giving me a big grin. It is so hard to capture a good shot of both of them at once! I still try though!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Summer Boys

I was attempting to get some pictures with big smiles and wasn't able to keep the camera at a good enough distance away to not chop their heads off. Whoops! This was too cute of a Daniel smile though to delete off the camera, so here you go!
This was as much of a Caleb smile as he was willing to give at this time. He has a lovely smile though and shows it off quite a bit! He was a little tired though when I took these photos.

Last, but certainly not least, is Josiah in the front window. I was out taking pictures of the roses and he said, "Take picture of me too!" and so I did. Another funny Josiahism of note is that the other day I came into his room in the morning and said, "Come over here so I can change your diaper." He said, "Not, yet...I am feeding blankie bear," (as he puts his blankie bear up his shirt to "feed" him). Speaking of diapers, we are getting to a point where we are going to attempt the potty training thing officially soon. Hopefully, we can schedule a weekend to start working with him, as I really can't devote all my time to working with him with the twins to care for also during the day, so I will need David's assistance as we will tag team the potty training weekend with Josiah. Wish us luck! We have been preparing him all along and he is definitely ready, but sometimes he isn't always willing to do new things. This is where your prayers for his willingness will come in handy! Thanks in advance.

Summer Rose Garden

When we moved into this house, we inherited the beautiful roses that bloom every summer. It is neat that whoever it was that originally planted them chose to plant all different colored roses to enjoy as well. Both David and I (and our landlord commented on this one also) like the light pink & white rose bush on the end closest to our cars (as pictured in a close-up below). These particular roses really have a beautiful bloom.
On the day of Josiah's party, my Mom at some point snuck out in the front and weeded the rose garden for us. To my surprise, I went out the next day and wondered if a garden gnome happened by and weeded our garden in the night or something. It was a nice surprise as it really needed to be done. Thanks Mom! Here are some more close-up shots of the various roses below for you to enjoy.
As pictured in order are the red, orange, white (or are those light pink?) and hot pink roses. I don't know the "actual" names of the roses, so maybe one of you green thumb type people out there can "edumacate" me on the roses actual names. I just think they are pretty and am glad they grow without much help from me because I do not have a green thumb at all. David pruned the roses a while back, so we do take care of them in that way, but notice I said that David pruned them and not me. He is a better with the outdoor stuff then I am.