Early 2nd Birthday Card

So for those of you who watch the TV channel called "Sprout" you will know why I made a card like this. However, most of you probably have no clue, so I will fill you in.

On the Sprout station (TV channel for toddlers) they have various little kids shows that run 24 hours for those of us who need a babysitter in a pinch to do household chores or whatnot. They have a show on it called "The Birthday Show" where this guy named Kevin reads cards that Mommy's and Daddy's send in for their little Pumpkinheads.

I had this vision for a card for Josiah a while back and when I discovered that the deadline for June birthdays was April 30th I whipped out a card the day before to send in time. They may or may not pick his card, but I think they should because it is awfully cute!

Josiah really used to love the Teletubbies, but only for the little baby that was in the sunshine, hence the front cover. He now absolutely LOVES Thomas the Train and every time even when they introduce Thomas is next on the show he breathes in and gets a big smile on his face in anticipation.

The picture of him on the front of the card is when he got spaghetti sauce all over his face (I thought an appropriate color for a "son"shine) and the picture inside the card is a very recent shot of him (just last Friday) at Billy McKale's restaurant in the little riding train toy they have there.

Josiah Bed #2

Josiah and Mommy have a new ritual where before he takes his nap or goes down for the evening, we sit in the rocking chair together for a bit. For nap time this means, I usually rock back and forth and read him a story until he drifts off. At night, we sit in the dark and I rock him and sing two songs: "Baby Mine" (from the movie Dumbo) and "Stay Awake" (from the movie Mary Poppins). Then after the songs I say, "Let's pray" and Josiah folds his hands with me while we pray for him and our family together. It is a very sweet time! Sometimes when he wakes up prematurely from his nap or at nighttime, he makes his way back over to the rocking chair and sleeps there. I think he feels safer there or something since it is where he and Mommy sit together.

He has been saying some new words lately, but we find that he really doesn't like to be coaxed to say things. His usual communication is a varying supply of "What's THAT?" in all sorts of volumes, tones of voice, and intensities. Ever so often I can say, "What's that?" back to him and he will tell me what it is. This only seems to work when the object being discussed is a car however. Many times he just starts saying a certain word seemingly out of the blue and most often he pronounces the word very precisely when he does say it. Some of the new additions are: book (with a very pronounced "K"), kite, dog, uh-oh, and juice (on occasion with this one). He likes to pronounce most all his letters as well and the latest he broke out with the other night in the bathtub was the letter "X" of all things. He also says a mighty fine "Q" and "S" of late as well.

Family Dinner

Josiah has recently taken to wanting to eat dinner with the big people rather than sit in his highchair. This has been fun because he models us as we eat and even when we pray beforehand. Just last night, we were reading a book that had little goodnight prayers in it and without seeing a picture or being prompted, he folded his hands and closed his eyes. It was so cute! Today, when I said a quick prayer before our spaghetti dinner, Josiah again had his hands folded. What a sweet little boy!

We have had quite a bout with sickness (as my previous post indicates), but I think we have finally turned the corner!
Now that both Josiah and I are on antibiotics, there has been a noted difference. It turns out that I took Josiah BACK to the doctor last Saturday and he had developed an ear infection. We are thankful that the doctor caught this and we could get him on some medicine. Of course, he HATES the medicine we give and so I hide it in his yogurt in the mornings and pudding in the evenings. This works great because he loves to eat both and always eats the entire container!

Today, I even got back into the gym! It has been a LONG time since I had been there. The good news is that from all this sickness I lost some weight. Through the sinus stuff for a while there I lost most of my sense of smell. It is funny how not smelling the food makes it so you aren't as interested anymore. I can smell now, but I think my stomach has shrunk, as I tried to eat the same sized portion as I used to tonight and felt ultra full! My brother-in-law Jon came with me to the gym today and helped me start a new routine (he is a certified fitness trainer) and so now I am excited to turn a new page on both my health and my overall fitness. I have really worked to make our meals and foods here at the house better. We have gotten rid of most all the high sugar items and replaced them with better alternatives and it has been going great. Please pray that it will continue to go well as it has been a long term goal of mine to get us eating better and for me to lose the weight I gained during pregnancy.

Sick, Sick and More Sick

Hello All! Sorry for being delinquent at my post as blogger of the family! It has been a very trying few weeks since my sinus surgery on the 13th of March. The surgery went well (to all who hadn't heard). They corrected my deviated septum (crooked nose passageway) and essentially cleared out all the gunk. Apparently, I had a chronic sinus infection that wouldn't go away. The surgery helped to get rid of the residing gunk as well as make the passages more able to receive blood flow, which will in turn (hopefully) make it so that it will be possible to get over sinus infections in the future by more manageable means (taking antibiotics, etc.). We will see if that holds true though because currently I have yet another sinus infection! The doctor told me not to be discouraged though, that this does happen and (see above) I should have a different result now that I have improved piping.

Incidentally, this picture of Josiah represents how he and I both feel around here...wishing we lived in a bubble away from all the germs! Josiah has had it pretty bad too, this is hands down the worst illness he has had thus far. He got a fever almost every night and sometimes during the day and was coughing a lot, and got this thing where his eyes produce mucus that made his lashes stick together (espcially in the morning) to the point where he couldn't open his eyes. He has an eye drop for that though now, which he really hates. And as a side note, he passed that lovely one on to me too, oh yeah!

This picture below is of Josiah with what I call his "three precious possessions" for that moment. His drink, an empty Diet Pepsi can (with the flippy lid removed for you concerned Moms out there) and his half eaten apple. I put these up after we had pizza at the big table together and he was very disconcerted and cried until he got all three things back. Hence, the tears in his eyes in the picture. You can probably see too that his nose is pretty raw from all the drippy nose stuffage. Oh and by the way, we DID take him to the doctor last Sunday. Guess what they said? I got the 98% of colds are viruses speech. Have you heard that one before? Well, then at my doctor I was given the antibiotics because of my previous condition and because of the surgery. I said, "Wouldn't it make sense that my son ALSO has a bacterial infection if indeed I do?" He said that only if he gets a high fever again should I worry. We will see how he does in the next few days though if I need to trek him back in to the doctor. I just don't understand how they can magically tell you if you have bacterial or viral when they all seem examine you in the same way? Have any of you figured this one out? Maybe I should go to medical school myself! In my retirement years perhaps....ha ha ha!

And for those who were wondering, David did get sick initially, but got over it a little quicker than Josiah and I. I am thankful for that as he really is needed at work. Please pray though that the month of April will bode health for our family. Thanks in advance for your prayers!