Just a little random silliness

Emma wanted a photo with Little J.



Trying to take a few steps



We were trying a group portrait.



Me and E



Strike a pose, baby!



Little macaroni head



He was making his little cheese face, where he scrunches his nose.



One day the girls donned their leotards and asked me to turn on the classical music, then they proceeded to perform. It was so cute.







Josh made it home safely. The kids were so excited to see him (me too, of course). In fact, J will hardly let him put him down when Josh is in the house. He crawls after him and wants him to hold him too. It's really sweet.

The girls played house in the living room today. It was so cute, listening to them, making plans, designing each room. They got along very well. Of course, earlier in the day there was some screaming at each other. It's like they love each other and play so well one minute, then can be at each other's throats the next. Ugh! I just love seeing them playing well together. I try to remind them how nice it is. I know though, when push comes to shove, they will be there for each other. That's what matters most, I guess.

The weather was really nice today so the girls played outside a long time before lunch. It was good for them to get some fresh air. MJ had today and tomorrow off of school. But, she's already asking to go back.

Tonight when I tucked Emma in she told me she had a guy in her mouth. It was a little guy. And I needed to take him out and put him in the garbage. What?! So, I pretended along with her and took the little guy and threw him away. She just giggled. And said, "one more time." So I did it again. And she giggled. And she said, "one more time." Usually one more time means about five more times. I just love bedtime with my kids. Sometimes it does seem to take awhile, especially if we're late with dinner and baths. But, when I think about, it is some really great one-on-one time with my kiddos. We usually read together, then I tuck the girls in separately. And sometimes they get more books. And we pray together and read a Bible story. And sometimes we through little men in the garbage. ?!? MJ and I have had some good talks at bedtime too. I hope we can always talk like we do now.

Little J was walking around even more today, even getting across the room before falling. He also loves pushing his little walking toy and gets a little rough when he's trying to move it around. He just jerks it back and forth until he gets it turned around. Glad he's learning to figure things out. Here are just a few things I want to remember about this stage:

-he loves to take baths. He enjoys the balls that came with a bath toy and likes to reach and dive for them.
-he loves to eat. This kid can pack away a lot of food. He eats about anything-all kinds of meat, veggies, fruits, breads, pasta, crackers, eggs. He is drinking well out of his sippy cup.
-he usually nurses when he wakes up in the morning then before his nap around 10 a.m. and before his afternoon nap. Then again at night and once before bed about 8 p.m. He's sleeping about 10-11 hours. He doesn't take a bottle really at all and doesn't like formula, so when he's away from me, he just drinks water, but seems fine. Fortunately, we'll be switching to whole milk soon. Not sure how we're going to get him weaned, but we'll do it gradually. MJ weaned herself at 10 months. Emma was finished by 14 months. I have always enjoyed being able to breastfeed my children. It's been great having that special time to share with each of them. I'm sure I'll miss it once we're finished, but I will just be grateful I was able to do that.
-J may be trying to cut out his morning nap. Some days he still take two-if he wakes up around 6. On days where he sleeps later til 7-8, then he's not really ready to go down at 10. Today he ate a late breakfast, so he went down at 11 and slept until 2. I'm not quite ready to push him to only nap in the afternoon, but I think it was around 12 months when the girls moved to one nap a day.
-each day he's taking more steps and getting into more things. We are seeing how babyproofed our house is not. We've purchased the babylocks, but have yet to install them. Need to do that soon. Very soon.
-he's a joy, such a joy. As are the girls. They all seem to grow and change each day. It's always something new. Makes me happy. Makes me a little sad. But it's good. Life is good.