Featuring...Joshua

Well since all we blathered about last week was Ellie, it's only right to give Josh the spotlight this week. And it's not like there's a little to report - he's been a BUSY guy this month! On Tuesday Joshua turned 11 months, and suddenly he's leaving his "babydom" behind at the speed of light! And I'm being honest when I admit that I'm enjoying every moment of it. So far I have not found myself to be a mom who cries at every new stage my babies reach because of what's being left behind. Both my children have become happier and more content with each milestone they reach.

Happy baby = happy mom.

Anyway.

The most exciting thing in Joshua's life this month was when he discovered how to walk along furniture. It seems as though one day he was just standing there...the next he was taking hesitant steps, and now he's nearly running along anything that's solid.

Like the window frame, for example:

Or the kitchen table (here he is on his way to beg Ellie for a piece of her bagel):

But as you all can guess, this means he also gets into a lot more trouble than he used to. I went downstairs to get something for Ellie one evening, and when I came back upstairs he had somehow managed to make it to our bookshelf...

...and he looked more than pleased with himself!! Some baby proofing is in definite order! We never really had to babyproof with Ellie because it took her so long to become mobile that she understood (and obeyed, amazingly) most verbal reminders. Joshua just tunes us out and goes for the gold. This could get interesting!

Well, another day I came upstairs and found Joshua like this:
And it totally warmed my heart because again, Ellie wasn't adventuresome enough to go into cupboards. I spent a lot of time enjoying Ellie's language development. With Josh, for some unknown reason, I am completely eating up his mischievous explorer side. Which makes it hard to know how to deal with him when he gets into trouble.

All that to say, Josh seems to be starting to say 3 or 4 words, though we always look at one another and go, "Did he just say what it sounded like he said?" Sort of like when you're pregnant and you begin to feel your baby kick, but you don't want to believe that's what it was, just in case it wasn't true. So we'll see.

Anyhow, other favorite new activies for Joshua include:
Climbing THROUGH the exersaucer instead of around it...

Scootching backwards on his scooter...

Eating (well, this has always been a favourite past time, which is probably why he looks like a four year old in this photo! :)...

And his newest hobby - playing with the Christmas decorations:

And after all that, this is one tuckered out little boy.

Happy 11 months, Joshua...I love you more every day you exist!

p.s. We tried to take a video of the boy, but the battery died at that moment. Woe to all the poor un-videotaped second-born children out there who can relate to Joshua! :(

Featuring...Ellie.

We've recently noticed that Ellie is beginning to morph into a 3 year old. It was around this time LAST year that we noticed her morph into a two year old (although her birthday is in March), so I guess we shouldn't be surprised. For instance, Ellie is learning the art of talking back to her parents(!) Again, I suppose I shouldn't be stunned or anything, seeing as words are Ellie's strength. But I am, because Ellie is primarily a sweet kid. In the car the other day, Ellie was going on and on about a certain book that she thought we should take back to the library (even though it's our own book) and I, not being in the mood to hear any more said with a sigh, "Ellie, please just hush." Which is what I say when I am at my "Ellie chatter" capacity. Ellie scowled her biggest scowl at me from the back seat and said, "YOU no tell ME to RUSH, MOMMY."
WHA...?!? I didn't even know what to say. I'm going to have to figure out a 'back-talk' un-training strategy (any ideas are welcome!)
But along with the more colorful sides of turning into a 3-year-old, there are also some perks. Like Ellie's new passion for story-telling, and listening intently to us making up stories, and most of all, playing 'school'. The other morning, still in our pajamas, we were playing school with Ellie when I pulled out the video camera. Surprisingly she decided to keep going and this was the story she told us (it's kinda long, but it's mostly for Grandma Balfour that we posted it, so feel free to skip if you're bored!):

Shortly after she decided to read/sing us one of her favourite books, "The Three Little Kittens", and we decided to post that one as well. Again, kinda long. Sorry. Didn't feel up to editing the footage.

But one of things I enjoy the most is when Ellie starts to talk about God. Obviously, it's a priority for us to live out and teach her about how incredible God is...but when it starts to come out of her lips, "3 year old" style, we can't help but smile. Here's a few of her recent thoughts about God:

This morning Ellie had Shreddies for breakfast. As always, she stopped eating them once they crossed the invisible 'too-soggy' line. So I tried feeding them to her myself. Suddenly she closes her mouth, lifts her face to the ceiling, and says, "God?.....God?...You feed me my Shreddies?" Then looks at me and says, "I'm talking to God, Mommy. God is going to bring me new toys for Christmas!" To which I say, "He IS?!? Well, that'll be fun!" And she says, "Yup! God is going to bring me new toys for Christmas and we're going to DANCE together. I'm SO excited!"


The other day, I think also at the table, Ellie said (out of the blue), "Mommy, God will take care of you."
Me: "Thanks, Ellie. I needed to hear that."
Ellie: "Candy (that's one of her favourite stuffed sheep who was sitting nearby), God will take care of you too, and he lubs you VERY MUCH. Lord Jesus, please help Candy not to be afraid of Jesus. AyyyyyMEN.
Me: "That's a great thing to pray for Candy, Ellie."
Ellie: "God is eberywhere, Mommy. He's at church, at the hostible (hospital), in the sky, and in our house!" And ON Ellie's mind, I'd say! :)


A while back I was reading a stranger's blog (something I don't do often) and they wrote about a conversation they had with their 4 year old twins at the dinner table. They had been playing a little 'opposites' game with them and would say one word, like "cold" to which the twins would respond, "HOT!" Well the dad tried to stump the kids and asked them, "What's the opposite of heaven?" After a few moments of thinking the boy's face lit up and he responded, "NO COOKIES!" :) I told Rob this story, and a few days later we found ourselves baking a huge batch of white grandmother's cookies (my FAVOURITE!) to decorate for Christmas. We let Ellie help us for a little bit, and as she was squishing her little fingers in to the dough she suddenly pulled them out, folded them together and prayed emphatically, "THANK YOU, God for YUMMY COOKIES! AyyyyyyMEN!" Rob commented later that cookies must be one of the closest thing to Heaven on earth for children.

Probably on my top 30 list of closest things, too. :) That, and parenthood.

...Except for when the sass flies from the back seat.

A different sort of Christmas...

Miscellanea

Well, another pretty non-eventful week just passed. Unless, of course, you think a baby's first hair cut is exciting! Check it out:

Joshua BEFORE:

Joshua AFTER:

Doesn't he look OLD? And like he's from the 50s??

I thought he'd throw a big huge fit, but I am learning that Joshua responds really well to new situations (as opposed to his sister, who is more cautious at first) - he loved every minute of it!

In other news, we got snow! Ellie is in love, which makes it less depressing for everybody!

Speaking of Ellie, her crazy antics never cease. This afternoon she broke her own record for quietest quiet time (she doesn't nap, but has to quietly play in her room.) After an hour and a half I decided to go get her. I go into her room and find her sitting on top of her upside down toy box with a HUGE grin on her face. She proudly says, "I hab a quiet quiet time!!" (you see, she gets to watch a video and pick something from her treasure chest if she stays in her room quietly). There was only one thing amiss:
Vaseline. ALL. OVER. HER. FACE. And hair. And shirt. The picture doesn't do it justice at all! And then my camera battery died. Apparently I left the vaseline within her reach. The jar was smothered in this MASSIVE thick layer of slippery goo, but surprisingly that was the only damage that was done (that I know of). I had a goood laugh. Especially when she kept blinking as though she had a twitch (because of the vaseline in her eye) and repeating herself with this big fake smile, "I hab a quiet quiet time, Mommy!"

Speaking of making me laugh, the other day Ellie was flipping through a pile of Macleans magazines which she does from time to time. She likes to find the silliest pictures she can, fake laughs till her face turns red, and then looks for more. Well, I was playing with Josh when suddenly I hear Ellie gasp, "Mommy! It's YOU!!" Needless to say, I was very curious just who it was in Macleans that Ellie thought I looked like (she often says this about people and it really does look like them!) So the picture on the left is, according to my daughter, me:

HA! I can actually do that face!! But rest assured, I'm not a 'drunkorexic' like they say Lindsay Lohan is.

Another day Ellie came up behind me with Rob's measuring tape while I was doing my hair in the bathroom. She proceeded to measure my bottom.
"How big am I?" I asked.
"Three o'clock!" She declared! I'll go for that!

Ellie seems to be a bit perplexed by the fact that it gets dark so early now. One evening she asked to stick her head out the patio door. She took a loooong sniff and then asked, "How smells, Mommy?
Me, "How DOES it smell, Ellie?"
Ellie, "REAWY DARK!"

Okay one more. A few weeks ago I was going for a walk with Ellie and Josh and asked her, "What should we do tomorrow Ellie? We have no plans!"
Ellie: "No plants? No flowers?"
Me: "No, I mean we have nothing to do. No PLANS. What should we do?"
Ellie, all matter of fact: "Buy new plants and flowers!"
Some things just don't get through...:)

In other news, Rob was gone this past weekend to visit his Grandpa in Vancouver - a really quick, 2 day visit (not even enough time to call Jed and Elly!! Sorry guys!). Boy, did it ever make us all realize how much we love that guy. Ellie had an especially hard time with it, and manifested her emotions in all sorts of interesting ways (including potty ways). Here she is talking to him on the phone. She kept telling me that Daddy was at "MCC" (our local thrift store) with Grandma (confusing it with BC).

And Joshua got his first Christian history lesson this week, the first of many, I'm sure.

Other than that, nothing exciting happened here! I'll leave you all with the cuddliest sibling moment of the week:

An Update for Y'All

Well, nothing terribly exciting happened this week, but life did move on, as it always does. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Ellie FINALLY got her big girl bed!

She had been waiting for this for a long time. And boy, is it ever big. We actually ended up getting a white metal frame bed that my SISTER slept in when she was a little girl (my cousins had been using it). I absolutely love old beds, so I was pretty pumped. It's so big that I usually find Ellie sleeping in it sideways in the morning. Plus we found some decent (though not quite what I had in mind) bedding at Liquidation world on sale for $25.99 that just so happens to match her room! A bed and ensemble for under $30! You all know by now how these sorts of deals stoke me. :) So today we Ellie-proofed Ellie's room so that she can play in there freely during quiet time...and this afternoon she lasted and hour and a half - quietly!

2. Joshua turned 10 months (and weighed in at 22lbs!)

This has been a month of ongoing colds and grumpiness, to be perfectly honest. I sure am growing in the patience department! On his really rough days I tell myself, "There's no one else on earth that loves this boy more than I do, so I better love him unconditionally! Grumpy or happy, he needs me to shower him with love!" And you know, I start to think the Lord has allowed this season on purpose, because I'm not great at unconditional love. I'm trying to learn fast so we can move on to another season! :) Anyhow, here's a couple of things to know about our 10 month old little monkey:

10 things Joshua LOVES:
1. Slapping "high fives"
2. Reading books...okay, turning the pages in books. Books are definitely his favourite toy at the moment, much to our delight, being nerdy readers and all.
And he seems to have a thing for cats, because he can point out the picture of a cat among other animals on demand every time.
3. Brushing his teeth - he giggles the whole time like it's a big joke.
4. Standing at the coffee table, especially when I turn on a baby Einstein video (apparently I've ended up with two video-loving children). He can stand there entertained for up to half and hour at a time, movie or no movie. He usually has this look on his face as though he's very cool and very grown up.5. ARMY CRAWLING! That's right folks, he learned to army crawl this week and often goes missing around the house now. He is so much happier because of this skill! It's wonderful.
6. FOOD. The guy is eating almost as much as his sister, who eats almost as much as me. We'll be needing to up our food budget soon!
7. SLEEP. You never see the guy quite as pumped as when you start getting him ready for bed. Another blessing!
8. CHURCH. Stick him on the floor and he dances (wiggling his torso) and sings.
9. Undoing the zipper on my hoodie. Over. And. Over.
10. GRANDPA. They truly have a special bond.

10 Things Joshua HATES:
1. Nose wiping.
2. Face wiping.
3. Ear cleaning.
4. Mama walking away.
5. Daddy walking away.
6. Anyone walking away.
7. Sitting him on his bum (can't pull up on furniture yet or get down on his belly)
8. Having the paper he's eating being taken out of his mouth.
9. Waiting for dinner.
10. Being sick. I hate that too.
Joshua discovered the joys of sticking out his tongue and spraying his food all over the place this month. We 'reward' this behaviour by wiping his face. (see number 2 on his HATE list) Our first real battle of the wills! Life could get interesting...

3. Sibling rivalry has begun!

Although I'm planning on doing my darndest to promote love between my kids, it is going to get a bit more difficult now that Joshua is moving. He likes to move in and steal Ellie's toys, which she's not used to at all! So although they still usually have oodles of fun together, we are now going to have to learn more conflict resolution skills!
4. My dad retired! (sorta...)
After 35 1/2 years of faithfully working at Co-op (many of those years as General Manager) my dad has thrown in the towel...part way, at least. He's stepped down from his position of General Manager, is taking the month of November off to hang out with my mom and repaint the inside of their house, and will go back in December with an accountant's position. This will free him up to move on to whatever God has for him in the future a lot easier than if he stayed on as manager. I'm excited to see what happens in this next chapter of his life!
I have many wonderful memories of hanging out with my dad at his office as a child. We went to visit him on his last day at work, and as usual, the kids were showered with attention from a bunch of lovely (wanna-be Grandma) ladies, and came home with a bunch of Halloween candy and Co-op paraphernalia.

When we left Ellie said, "I lub those ladies. They're my friends." It's already been nice having my dad around more.

5. Ellie keeps getting brighter...
This is true of all toddlers, I know. They often blow your minds with the amount of information that just...STICKS in their brains. There are some benefits to this:

1. They can assist you as your memory fails: Two days ago I brought home a baby book from work for my nephew Drew. Ellie glanced at it for a moment, asked what it was, and went on her way. I put it away in the closet to bring to my sister whenever I remembered. Today, two days later, we were about to leave for Regan's house when Ellie stopped short in her tracks and said, "WAIT!" And I said, "What is it?" And Ellie said, "We need the animal book for baby Drew!" I would have completely forgotten (probably several trips in a row) if she hadn't remembered.
2. They can teach you new languages: I was putting on Ellie's jacket to go out the other day when she started saying, "Abajo. Abajo." And I said, "What does Abajo mean?" And Ellie smiled at me and said, "Go down the stairs!" (I figured this was probably true, but thought to myself, "Okay, Smartie pants, let's really test you!") So I asked Ellie, "Well then, how do you say "Go up the stairs?" And she shouted, "ARRIBA!!!" (I had to check on the computer. It's true. Thank-you, Dora the Explorer. :)

Adios, Amigos! :)

Celebrating Rob

This last week Rob caught up to me yet again and turned 28. I think this is the first time I didn't throw him some sort of surprise party. He was such a poop last year trying to figure it all out (and he did) that I promised I'd lay my superb surprise party throwing skills down indefinitely. And I remained true to my word! But that didn't keep us from celebrating our favourite man in the world, no it didn't!

On Thursday night was Ellie's turn to celebrate her Dad (Josh mostly just observed). Her and I went shopping together in the morning for a 'secret present' for Rob that she picked out all by herself...from the Dollar Store, of course. As we were strolling hand in hand to the store I asked her what she thought Daddy might like for his birthday. Her answers ranged anywhere from "a big, wide door", to "a big white dog", to "a big pink dolly". :) Anything big, I guess! In the afternoon her and I baked Daddy's "fabrit" (favourite) cake - "a big pink one!" She was so pumped about her gift for Rob - and I think he was pretty pumped too: A huge rubber beetle and a bag full of cheap plastic golf balls. Immediately after he opened the gift Ellie responded as any two-year old would - she stripped off her shirt so that she 'wouldn't get hurt' and proceeded to whack golf balls with a broom all over the house.

There's the 'big pink cake'. Thank you, Betty Crocker.

Friday was my turn. My mom and dad took the kids for the afternoon/evening and I whisked Rob away to the city for an afternoon at (drum roll please!)

the MUSEUM!

Yeah, we ARE nerds, but being a nerd is quite fun. Take a look for yourself:

We hung out with the dinosaurs...

Played on a big ship...

Bonded with some caribou...

And even had a near death experience with some buffalo and a dude with a gun!

But the highlight of the museum was definitely the poop drawer. What is a poop drawer, you ask? We were wondering the same thing. Ironically, I was taking a little washroom break when I decided to take a closer look at the map I had in my hand. It highlighted the best attractions of every section of the museum. In the grasslands section we were about to go to, it had a bullet point that said, "Poop drawer". So Rob and I set out to find out what this was. Sure enough, we came to this glass display case with all sorts of stuffed carcasses inside, and below it were oh, I don't know, 30 drawers? So Rob and I began opening these drawers one by one and found everything from dead birds (displayed under glass) to tiny bugs and seashells. Finally, in the second-to-last drawer we looked in, we hit the jackpot. Ladies and gentlemen, the poop drawer:

That's real poop, folks! Isn't that disgusting? So fun.
Anyhow, by the end of our tour, I felt a little like this lady here:

Dead tired! But there was more to do. I actually did have a little surprise for Rob up my sleeve. Or, more accurately, in a little envelope. A couple weeks ago I stashed away some money I made taking someone's family photos and didn't tell Rob. I knew he wouldn't be all that excited about it right away (and I was right) but I took him shopping for a new hoodie (shopping ain't on his top 10 list of things to do on a date):
And we found a really great one almost right away! This is Rob looking giving me an 'I'm too cool for my shirt' look in the mall. I don't actually have a picture of the hoodie, but I'm sure you'll all see it soon enough, because when he gets something he really likes, he wears it pretty much every day. I think it's a guy thing. It'll be in the photos. Just keep a look out. :)
Anyhow, then it was off to the Old Spaghetti Factory for supper, reminiscent of our honeymoon in Victoria. The food was a little average, but the price was AWESOME! Apparently if you tell your server that it's someone's birthday, their meal is free! And you get a song!
How fun is that? Look at the happy birthday boy, twizzler and all!
Here's Rob enjoying his complimentary ice cream. Eye-bulging deliciousness.

Here's my eye-bulging enjoyment of the free goodness.
We got home surprisingly early and watched a movie together. A super wonderful day with a super wonderful guy. I'm so thankful God picked him for me!!
Happy (belated) Birthday, Hun!

Oh. Before I forget: Susan, I took this photo at the museum JUST for YOU!
The SNAKE PIT!!! hehe

Anyhow, I so enjoyed all your input last week as to which family photo to print (and I think I'll go with Lisa Moser's suggestion and print some of both!), I thought I'd ask for input once again. I have been humming and hawing about whether or not to cut this boy's hair. What do you think?

Cut it short and style-able, or let it grow and see what happens?
It's at the 'drivin' me nuts!' stage. Do tell.