Quick Update

Okay so it's been a while. Let's catch up. Currently Darrin is in the middle of his basketball season and we don't get to see him as much as we would like to. At the moment though, he is stuck at home with strep throat. He plans to return to work tomorrow so he can coach his game tomorrow night!

The rest of us are relatively healthy, just a stuffy nose here and there. Jaycob has Cubbies tonight and he's excited to recite his new verse, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Jordan likes to repeat verses too. She has been doing fairly well sleeping in her bed. We removed the crib from her room entirely so when we have a rough bedtime we can't toss her in the crib and forget about it. That definately makes things harder. Especially during nap time when I'm trying to nurse the baby and she won't stay in her bed. But she's cute so we forgive her. The baby is still huge. Now he's really starting to interact with people and smiles all the time. Such a sweet guy.

We put our kitty, Simon, on Craig's List this past week and he was adopted the next day. I'm so relieved not to have another being to care for. It's a relief to our grocery budget too, not having to buy cat food or kitty litter.

That's about it for now!

Big Girl Bed

Jordan got a toddler bed for Christmas. I finally put it together yesterday and she slept in it for the first time last night. I checked on her several times in the night and found her sleeping soundly right where I left her. This morning I went to get her up and she was playing quietly in her toy box. That's a pretty good start! Right now she is taking her first nap in the bed. Let's see if she stays in it!

Jaycob's Technicolor Dreamcoat

I just love Jake's Sunday school teachers. They work with the kids during both church services and they always have an adorable craft to go along with their lesson for the day. This is one of my favorites. It's Joseph's colorful coat! He glued all the little strips on. Too cute!

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, Darrin had the video camera all set up to capture those first reactions. We actually got up about an hour before the kids because WE were so excited! When we heard Jake make his way up the stairs we started recording. We had talked the night before about how Santa was coming and there hadn't been a single present under the tree before now. How would he react? Well, we were half disappointed and half amused. The only thing Jake noticed was the camera! He kept asking, "what's that for?" We just kept pointing to the tree. Finally, he looked at the tree, pointed to it and asked, "What? This?" He had a look on his face like, "what's the big deal? This thing has been in here for a month!" A few more minutes passed and he finally realized what all the pointing was about. And that was the beginning of the day when Christmas barfed all over our living room.

Christmas Eve

We tried and tried but this is the best we could come up with for a family Christmas picture! This was on our way to Sunday night church on Christmas Eve.

Happy New Year!

Well, Christmas was a blur! The kids got lots of fun stuff and have been fighting over it ever since. For New Year's Eve we went camping in the snow with some friends (and the kids). We actually slept in a lodge down the road and hung out at the campsite during the day. We had a fabulous fireworks show and Jake and Jordan actually stayed up until midnight to watch it! Then they cried and were scared during the whole thing. Jordan fell asleep in someone's lap at about 12:15 and Jake made it back to the lodge and fell asleep pretty quickly. Joshy slept pretty much the whole trip!

Josh rolled over from back to front on Dec 31st. I think it was an accident though. The bed was kind of slanted.

Kiddie Update

Here's a quick rundown on what the family is up to these days...

Jake: I think Jake is suffering from severe cabin fever. We had some attitude problems last week but this week has been much better after a busy weekend. He loves playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine toys and he has recently started creating "tunnels" for his trains using whatever he has on hand. A box or pillows or other toys. His imagination cracks me up. He also likes to refer to us in the family by our Jake-assigned Thomas train names. Jake is Thomas of course. Jordan is Percy, Daddy is Gordan and I am Emily. This took some convincing because he originally called me Diesel 10 (the mean one). When he decides that we are playing this game, we have to refer to everyone by their train names. Even when I'm scolding them he will say, "No, I'm not Jakey! I'm Thomas!" Or, "that's not Jordy, it's Percy!" Sometimes it's annoying, but mostly it's cute.

We are trying to explain the concept of Christmas to him but I think he's getting more and more confused. He thinks Santa's name is Christmas and will argue that point until you just give up and agree with him. He says Christmas and Jesus are coming and putting toys in our socks.

Jordan: Jordan is 18 months old this momth and the biggest copycat right now. She mimics everything her big brother says. The loves her "baby" which is an ugly blue teddy bear that says, "Worlds Best Dad" on the chest. She sleeps with it every night. We got her a real baby doll for Christmas but she'll probably still prefer that blue bear. Like I said in a previous post, she is learning to count and sing her alphabet. It seems like she picks up a new word or two every single day. Today she started saying, "broken" after Jake tattled on her and told me that Jordy had broken something he made.

Joshua: Joshy is 2 and a half months old and such a little fatty. He's just a big teddy bear. He's very happy, smiles all the time and loves to cuddle. He sleeps from 10pm until 8:30 or 9am now. Plus he takes several 2 hour naps during the day. He recently outgrew his 0-3 month wardrobe and it has been fun pulling out all the 3-6 month outfits. His flailing hands and feet are starting to discover their purpose in life but he still hasn't tried to grab at a toy.

That's about it for now. I'll keep posting pictures as I take them.

How cute is this?

Jordan is taking classes from Jake

In the past couple of days I have realized that Jordan can count to 5 and she knows her alphabet all the way to "G." Now I wonder, where was I during all of this? I honestly think Jake is teaching her.

Smiley Baby

Little Joshy is full of grins for everyone now. And he is quite the chub-o-lub. He just turned two months old and he's busting out of his 0-3 month clothes!

Little baby Jayhawks

Aunt Raychel and Uncle Rusty came over for Thanksgiving and we did Christmas with them while they were here. Jake and Jordan each got some new Jayhawk gear so you know I had to dress them all up and take a hundred pictures.

Sleepy Boy!

Baby Joshy is sleeping 9 hours at night now. What a super star.

Joshy Update

I forgot to update everyone on Josh's condition. Turns out he's perfectly fine. He does have a hernia but it is very common and will probably go away on it's own in a couple of YEARS. I have to check it periodically to make sure I can push it back in even if it just pops right back out. He got his voice back now that we have taken measures to help with the reflux. Jakey's eczema has returned full force now that the weather is so dry. He has alligator skin over his whole body. We got a prescription for it and he has to be rubbed down a couple of times a day. He absolutely hates it of course. Jordan is not suffering from any type of malady at this point in time. I hope everyone has a fabulous week.

It's been a while...

I guess I haven't posted in a while. That's what happens when there is either nothing going on, or too much going on. We happen to be experiencing the latter. Darrin has been coaching a couple of different basketball teams and they all have random schedules and various games. I think I saw him last night for a minute...
Our friend's kids have been staying with us this week while mom and dad and big sister are out of town at a youth rally. The kids have been so good and such a big help just keeping my kids entertained.
Baby Joshy is suffering from "grunting baby syndrome" which is a condition (usually caused by reflux) which causes him to grunt like a pig while he's asleep. And he does it for hours on end. It has gotten so bad that he has lost his voice (and now he cries silently) and he gave himself a hernia under his belly button (which now sticks out like a ball). Things have improved slightly because we have implemented some preventive measures we found on the internet. This coming Wednesday I will take him to the doctor to see if she want's to prescribe any medication for the reflux. In the mean-time, please pray for our little guy because this condition is very uncomfortable (read: painful) for him. And I've decided a silent cry is more heart-breaking than a loud one.

Halloween

This was Jake's first year trick or treating. He had so much fun. He just couldn't believe people were handing out candy! He looked so cute all bundled up in his winter gear with his costume on top. People couldn't stop commenting on his cheeks! We unbundled later for the church carnival and he was able to wear his costume over regular clothes, which he preferred.

Jordan was an adorable ballerina and she just loved to shake her booty and dance in circles. She had to stay home for the trick-or-treating but she handed out candy with Grandma and she loved seeing the kids in their costumes.


Joshy was a sweet little lion. RARR! He tried sleeping through Halloween but he kept waking up every time someone rang the doorbell. He had a rough night!

Joshy is one month old!

Today Joshy turned one month old and we celebrated by having a fun photo session. Isn't he a ham? Check out more pictures in the photo album on the left. It's the button with the camera on it.

It's Winter

Winter has offically arrived. Despite my silent chagrin, I chose to embrace it with an outing to the front yard. It's not easy dressing these two in all there gear, undressing them for potty breaks, redressing them and having them want to come back in 2 minutes later, hence, more undressing. All this with baby crying in the house. And it wasn't even good snowball snow. And Jordan can barely walk in her hand-me-down snow boots. Hmm, this post makes it seem like I'm not ready for winter!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I recently celebrated my 29th birthday. I can't believe how fast time flies. I can't believe I've been married for over 7 years and have 3 kids! The nice thing is, back in high school when we had to write an essay on where we wanted to be in 10 years, this is exactly what I wrote. How blessed am I?

Today Darrin had a half day at school. We spent the afternoon playing "fort" in the playroom. Aren't they cute?

A couple of pictures of my boys