Though it is a day late, I can’t forget to mention that yesterday, June 28th, was our 3rd wedding anniversary. So much has happened in three years! I’ve got such sweet memories of our wedding day… you can recap the whole event – even watch it on video – here: http://www.toonesalive.com/wedding/.

It’s been an amazing adventure alongside you, Brian. You’re an awesome husband, father, and friend, and I’m so very blessed that God brought us together. Thanks for staying up half the night to make me a beautiful anniversary present. I love you so much!

Yes, it’s that time of night AGAIN. But I couldn’t let today, June 29th, pass without posting a birthday wish for my sweet Analise. My little girl is two years old today! I can’t believe it… Seems like just yesterday that Brian and I were celebrating our first anniversary in the hospital in Davis, waiting for Analise to be born. She’s grown up so much! I can’t believe what a little girl she’s turning into! We celebrated this evening with Brian’s parents and brother. We have some cute pictures that Brian was in the middle of resizing to post, but I think sleep deprivation has caught up to him, as he’s asleep on the couch with Josiah. Anyway, I think Analise had a lovely day. I know we had a wonderful day celebrating her. I know that looking back on how time has passed on your own birthday is fun, but it’s a whole different perspective when it’s your child. You can’t believe how much “life” has happened, how much they’ve grown, and at this age, how much they’ve changed into a little person. It’s amazing. It definitely tugs at your heart.

I’ll sign off, but hopefully Brian or I will get some pictures up tomorrow. Oh! And the professional pictures from Tuesday turned out great – you’ll see them soon as well. Blessings!

It’s that time of night again… I should be in bed now that Josiah is calling it a night, but I’m going to post a few tidbits before I forget them.

Bwackas and Boppas
As we’ve mentioned before, Analise named Brian’s mom, Beverly, “Bwacka”, and Brian’s dad, “Boppa” in liew of Grandma and Grandpa. When my mom arrived, she started calling her “Grandma Sandy” and sometimes, “Bwacka Sandy”. She’ll even call Beverly “Grandma” sometimes now. My dad arrived last week, and Analise immediately named him “Poppa Dale”. She took an immediate liking to him, which was so sweet. Since he left yesterday, she’s been asking, “Where’s the Poppa Dale?” (She has a fun way of asking where people are, for example, “Where’s the Mommy? Where’s the Boppa?” It’s very, very cute.) Anyway, she’s missed Poppa Dale. Last night was a first: We always say our prayers before she goes to bed, and we ask her who she wants to thank Jesus for. She’s only ever said Boppa and Bwacka until last night. Her first request was Poppa Dale and Grandma Sandy. My heart just melts. I wish my parents lived closer to enjoy her more!

Mothering a little boy
I’m a slow learner. I’d been warned of the ability of boy babies to “spray” at any time that they were diaperless. But our first 5 days with Josiah were event-free, and I got a bit lax. At the doctor’s when he was 5 days old, I had just taken his diaper off and was lifting him from the examining table to the scale when I got wet. All over me, the car seat, the floor and the examining table. Ag! The nurse chuckled and told me she’s more surprised if it DOESN’T happen. I was cleaning Josiah up on the changing table, thinking I had a minute before the doctor came in, I got sprayed AGAIN, just as the doctor walked in. I was so embarrassed, covered in pee and trying to keep from getting wet. Our doctor couldn’t believe this was my first “incident”, and he related that he was sprayed when his son was 5 minutes old!! I’ve since been sprayed countless times, and I don’t feel like I’m getting any better preventing/avoiding. Brian doesn’t understand why I can’t keep from getting wet or keep things covered, but he’s only changed a fraction of the diapers since we came home from the hospital. His time will come, I’m sure. I’m hoping I’m going to get better at this. Any suggestions from the moms of boys out there? I know you’re reading this!

Growing!
Today was Josiah’s 2 week appointment (at 16 days old). He already weighs 8lbs 11oz! He was 7lbs 11 oz when he was born, dropped to 7lbs 3oz when we left the hospital, and at 4 days old, he was back up to 7lbs 9oz. That means he’s put on 18 oz (1lb 2 oz) in less than 2 weeks! It’s no wonder, given that he wants to eat every 1 1/2, or even less. We’ve had a couple days of fussiness, and it’s been hard to make him happy… except when he’s sucking on me. Today’s been better, so we’ll keep taking things one day at a time.

Sweet and Sour
This is the best description of my Analise. She’s as sweet and snuggly as ever, funny and lively, full of chatter about any and everything. But she’s had a few sour moments that we’re thinking are the “terrible twos” starting a few days early. She’s still been very sweet with Josiah, and I’m so thankful she’s been so good about sharing us and adjusting to him. She seems to have woken up with a new concept yesterday, though… “Mine!” In the last two days, she’s been telling us quite strongly that things are hers. Hopefully, we can gently learning about sharing and move onto the next fun phase. Tomorrow should be a good day – we’ve got an appointment for 2-year photos! I hope we’ll be able to catch some beautiful Analise smiles, and I’ll get a chance to post them tomorrow.

Purses and Diaper Bags
I just realized something. You know that you’re moving up in the parent ranks when there are more diaper bags than purses in your house. Our “purse/diaper bag” table has 1 purse, 3 diaper bags and 1 kid activity bag. The sad thing is that the purse doesn’t have anything of value in it… it’s all in the diaper bags. Makes life very confusing when you’re trying to grab the kids, the bags and lastly whatever you need!

My Public Service Announcement
Lastly, I’ll share my little lesson from the past week. In the hospital, the pediatrician noticed that Josiah has a small birthmark on his low back over his spine. Sometimes birthmarks like that can indicate a problem in the spine, like spina bifida or a “tethered cord”. He didn’t think that was the case since this wasn’t a birthmark typical of that, but we scheduled an ultrasound of the lower spine just to be sure. It was a simple painless procedure last week, and Josiah slept through it. I, though, had a feeling things weren’t right. Something my untrained eye saw on the ultrasound made me very worried, and the ultrasound tech said that we’d have to wait to talk to the doctor (today) about the results. This was Wednesday, and today’s appointment felt like ages away. I normally don’t stress out very easily, but I was STRESSED out about this. I spent the entire weekend preparing myself for the bad news. I was already blaming myself, too, thinking about the times I hadn’t taken my prenatal vitamins due to my miserable morning/all day sickness, and how that could be the reason something was wrong. (Prenatal vitamins are especially important in the first trimester, when the spinal cord is developing. Folic acid has been shown to decrease the number of spinal cord defects.) Needless to say, everything was just fine at our appointment today. The doctor said that everything had shown up as normal on the ultrasound, much to my relief. I’m embarrassed to admit that I let myself get so consumed by worry. I know God has things in control, and whatever the outcome was, He would have walked with us. I was reminded firsthand how much believing God is a mental battle in the face of our circumstances. We have to CHOOSE to believe that God is God and He is good. The other lesson to take away from this is TAKE YOUR PRENATAL VITAMINS… no matter how queasy you are with morning sickness.

I should really be heading to bed right now. Josiah has had a long day, and we all had a long night. It’s almost 10pm, and he just finally drifted off to sleep (or rather, sucked himself to sleep, after eating nearly ever hour since 4pm). He’s been crying quite a bit like his tummy hurts and he’s only dozed off and on all afternoon. Hopefully, he’s sleeping soundly for a few hours now, and as soon as I post these few pictures, I’m going to sleep while I can.

I know that there are people checking in for pictures, though, and we want to keep the blog-faithful happy! Here’s a few from the past week for you!

The first is the little handsome man on the softest fleece blanket EVER. My sister, Anna, and her husband, Hal, made it for Josiah. I just love fleece blankets. The next two are my parents and their cute grandkids and Brian’s parents and grandkids. We were lucky to snag these 2 pictures (the best of about 15 tries each!) after a dinner out last night. The last is one of my new favorite pictures, taken just today. Enjoy! Hope I get a half an hour or so tomorrow to blog some more!

Well, you can probably imagine since neither of us have blogged in a few days that we have had our hands full this week. It is definitely a lot more work have “children” instead of just having a “child”. Kristine has been amazing doing everything from hosting our family guests to keeping the house in order even with our baby boy pretty much attached to her what must seem like 24 hours a day!

We had a small birthday celebration for Analise on Wednesday at Chuck E Cheese’s. It was fun, and we hope to post more pictures from that soon. In the meantime, here is Analise afterwards wearing one of her birthday presents — a bicycle helmet! Woohoo!

I’ll apologize in advance that this blog might not be as interesting as the one I wrote in my head during my shower 2 days ago (yesterday was too busy for a shower!). But every time I get a moment I could blog, I decide maybe I’d be better off snagging 15 minutes of rest on the couch before Josiah decides he’s hungry again. He’s one hungry little boy, eating every 1 1/2 hours or so. But he’s great at night, sleeping 3 1/2-4 1/2 hours, so I can’t complain. Anyway, now that I’m sitting here in front of the computer, I can’t quite remember the interesting blog I had created in my head, but I’ve got a few tidbits to share.

Hide and Seek – sometimes fun, sometimes not

Analise has been enjoying hide and seek lately. Brian’s great about playing with her, and she usually hides in the laundry basket or under a table or blanket when she plays with him. Occassionally, when she plays with Grandma, she’ll hide in the closets. She’s a good hider – very quiet! This morning, though, as I was checking email and my mom was in the kitchen working on breakfast, Analise was playing in the other room. Brian and Josiah were still asleep. It got very quiet, so after a couple minutes, I went to see what she was up to. No Analise. Mom helped me look, and we called all around, not finding her. The doors were all still locked, so I KNEW she couldn’t have gone anywhere, including downstairs. We started checking the closets, but still no Analise. By this time, Brian was slightly panicking with us and searching. Finally, my mom looked underneath the changing table, which has a curtain hanging around it. There she was, thankfully, quietly hiding. *SIGH* Already too much excitement for my morning, and it’s only 9:30am!
Sleep Jealousy Disorder

Ok, I’ll admit it right now. Yes, Brian, I have Sleep Jealousy Disorder, or SJD, as you call it. It’s a painful condition brought on when one spouse is getting more sleep than the other. Key symptoms are extreme fatigue and crabbiness when the spouse is sleeping and the affected person is not. Quite often, the affected person unreasonably would rather the spouse not sleep, just so they can share in the misery. I am the affected person. I think, personally, I’m doing pretty well at managing it and minimizing my crabby moments. And I will admit, Brian rarely shows signs of SJD, even when he’s up at 5am for school and we’re not. He’s a better man than I. Hopefully, our sleep deprivation will be short lived and little Josiah will be a better sleeper in the long-run than his sister. *fingers crossed*

Outings

I’m proud to say we’ve been out and about several times in the 10 days since little J arrived. I’m feeling FAR better than I was at this point after Analise arrived. I’m sure that’s due to the fact that this labor was 4 hours, compared to Analise’s 32 hour marathon. And breastfeeding is 100% easier with Josiah, thankfully. Saturday, we visited the Blue and Black Festival, at a farm south of Birmingham. Fresh blueberries and blackberries, a petting zoo, ponys and homemade desserts made it worth it, in spite of hot weather. Our outings, though, are interesting, in that our mid-size Nissan Altima makes fitting 3 adults and 2 car seats nearly impossible. Brian biked to the farm, and we just barely all squeezed in for the ride home. Sunday, little Josiah experienced his first bike race. We had a great time cheering Brian on. Yesterday, we visited Aldridge Gardens here in Hoover to see the beautiful hydrangeas in bloom and look at the turtles and ducks. (See pictures at the end).

Visits

It’s a busy month for us… my mom is here for another 2 weeks. She was scheduled to arrive on Thursday before Josiah was born on Friday, but her flight was cancelled, and she didn’t get here until 10 minutes after he burst into the world. It’s still wonderful to have her here. My dad is flying in today for 5 days, and we’re excited to show him our home and the beautiful city of Birmingham. There’ll be pictures of our adventures later this week!

A little bite of heaven

We’ve gotten some great baby gifts this month. But I have to note one of the sweetest gifts, literally. My dear sweet friend Dena sent us a chocolate-chocolate-chip cheesecake from Cheesecake Heaven in Green Bay. YUM! Cheesecake Heaven provided the cheesecake for our wedding, and Dena brought them all the way from Green Bay to the wedding. What a sweet treat to be surprised with this week!

Earlier today, I raced in a bike race here in Birmingham. It was HOT, and Josiah slept through the race, but was still worn out after the race. Here’s a picture of him sacked out on our sofa.

Finally, Analise enjoyed our dinner at Backyard Burgers. I snapped a picture of our country girl chewing on a straw, and I thought it turned out pretty well.

Last night, my parents invited Analise and I to go watch our local
Triple-A team play at the Hoover Met. The Birmingham Barons were
doing pretty well, but we were only able to stay four innings because
Analise (and me) were hot and tired. Nonetheless, we had lots of fun
especially because the San Diego chicken was visiting. He also brought
along four little chickens (see bottom right picture). Perhaps the most exciting part, though, was when my dad scrambled to get a foul ball which Analise is proudly
holding in the top left picture.

Today was the annual Homewood Criterium. This was the first bicycle race (not counting the UCD Sprint Triathlon a couple years ago) I have ever been able to bike to and from my house in order to get there! It was an exciting race and I ended up getting 10th by winning the field sprint. My parents, Kristine’s mom, Kristine, Analise, and Josiah were all there. I think Josiah slept through the whole race, but Analise was cheering whenever she wasn’t running around with Bwaka.

Afterwards, my friend Timmy raced and did very well for his first road bike race. Way to go Timmy!

For all of those who have successfully logged in, your reward tonight (or whenever you read this!) is two more pictures of my beautiful children.

I took Analise to her first day of school yesterday. It was her
first time at school, so it was an exciting day for her. We hiked
over through the woods together to Lakeside Baptist Church. When
we made it to her classroom, Analise looked inside, saw all the toys,
and ran over and started playing. I think she did way better about
being left than most of the other kids.

Her first day went really well, and when she got home she was warming
up even more to Josiah. I think this picture shows the ultimate sign
of acceptance: “the Analise rub”. When Analise gets tired, she likes
to rub any patch of available skin she can find. Here she has found
Josiah and is rubbing his hand and arm while sucking her thumb.

And here Analise is sharing all of her stuffed animals with Josiah. I
can’t believe he stayed asleep the whole time she was piling animals
around him!

Finally, I’ve been taking Analise downstairs and playing with her
in my office area. Here Analise has created a “choo-train” and is
riding in it with some of her stuffed animals. Choo-choo!