Update

Update on Sarah... She gets to go see a doctor today who has dealt with intrahepetic cholastasis before. She does not yet know if this is what is causing her problems, but is pretty sure. Keep praying! We won't know for sure if this is what it is until she gets her tests results, which may take a couple weeks. itchymoms.com

Babies...

I must say that having a baby is a blast. They really are great. I'd recommend having a baby to almost everyone. Actually, I know quite a few people who are pregnant. I'm surprised how many pregnant ladies I know of. I can think of at least nine.

1) My cousin Tara is expecting her 2nd.
2) My blog friend Jessica is also expecting her 2nd in July (? correct me if I'm wrong).
3) Jenn C, my friend Liz's sister-in-law, is due on Oct. 6th with her first.
4) Sarah W. is due on May 10th. Read the post below to see how you can pray for her and little Ella May.
5) Sarah M. is due in August with her third and forth.
6) We'll count Sarah M. twice cause she's having two. :)
7) Sarah M.'s sister, Bekah found out on Valentine's Day that she was expecting her third.
8) Adam's cousin Jenn N. is due in October.
9) My co-worker Lyndsay is due April 19th (or 22nd) with her first, a little boy.
10) My friend Melissa is due in August with her first. They are finding out what it is on Friday.

Babies, babies and more babies. I suppose I'm at the age where all my friends get married and start their own families. It's rather fun to see little families.

Urgent Prayer Request

I have a prayer request for all of you. A friend of mine, Sarah, is expecting a little girl in early May. For the past several weeks/months she has been suffering from terrible, non-stop itchiness. Recently a friend of hers suggested that she may have intrahepetic cholastasis, which causes all of her current symptoms and is also very dangerous for her baby. The only thing is that this disease is extremely rare and is only found in one to two pregnant women out of one thousand. Not many doctors are very familiar with this disease and it takes up to weeks to diagnose. The blood tests are, in and of themselves, rather complicated. Sarah told me that if she doesn't deliver her baby by the 37th week, her baby has a very high risk of dying. So, if you could, please pray for her, safety for little baby Ella May, and that Sarah can get in to see a specialist as soon as possible. For more information on intrahepetic cholastasis, check out itchymoms.com

Sawdust

Sometimes there are people who are extra special to you and have a special place in your heart. One of these people just happens to be my Daddy. He is insightful, gentle and very wise. He also thinks that I only blog about Josh. How could I overlook blogging about my Dad? I don't know, but I did. My Dad and I used to do everything together. He would take me to work with him, I would run errands with him, hang out in the garage keeping him company, and just about do everything. For some reason he enjoyed having me around. Maybe cause I was his little girl. The other day, when I stopped by to pick up Josh after work, Dad was home and he made me lunch. He's always doing things like that. My Dad is a pretty nice guy. And he typically smells like sawdust.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!!

The Uncomfortable Blues

Jeans. Why do we do it? They just look so awkward and uncomfortable. They sag and bag and are just plain unattractive. Our poor kids. Overalls are a completely different story. Jeans, on the other hand, should be off limits for any child under one. They should be dressed in soothing fleece, cozy knits, and other "cuddle-worthy" fabrics. Take the jeans off your shelves you baby clothing stores. Us Moms are fed up with your uncomfortable seams and itchy waist bands.

Can you tell I am unhappy with my clothing choice for Josh for the day? I hated wearing jeans when I was a kid. Give me my stretchy knits any day.

The Life of the Party

Today we are "celebrating" Adam's birthday. His birthday is really tomorrow, on St. Patrick's Day. His family has come over and we are going to eat corned beef and cabbage for supper. His Mom made supper and I made dessert (hopefully, if it turns out). The guys are having a great time and the party is in full swing now. And Adam is having the time of his life...

An Exerpt from the Life of Josh

This week Josh has been sleeping in his "big boy" bed. We decided on Monday night that it was time for him to sleep in his own crib. I expected myself to be sad and have a hard time leaving him all by himself. But I was ready for the change. Josh must've been too because he slept all night and didn't cry when we left him. He has also been taking all his naps in there.

Josh is doing very well and I still enjoy watching him learn and grow. He is now four and a half months old and often gets tired of "just lying around". Josh does like to lie on his tummy for a bit, if he has something colorful to look at like his book or rattle. But he eventually tires of that and gets whiny. Then I'll roll him onto his back and the whining stops. A bib is now Joshua's constant companion as his drooling never ceases. He'll sog up your shoulders in seconds if you let him. His Uncle Ben finds slobber quite gross, so Josh gets fewer hugs from Ben now. Poor Josh... Actually, Josh gets plenty of hugs from his other Aunts and Uncles to make up for the ones lacking from Uncle Ben.

Joshua is also developing quite the personality. He might laugh if you do something silly and he'll scream if you take too long when he's hungry. I try not to succumb too easily to his demands. For example, when he has boogers in his nose that need sucking, I will suck them out even if he insists that they should stay. Or if he does not think it is cold enough outside to require a hat, but I do, he gets a hat on whether he likes it or not. Lately Josh has decided that bundling up is no fun and neither is sitting in his car seat. But, once again, I am the Mom, so I have the final decision. But along with his increased desire for "independence" is an increased fascination with the new, the exciting and the familiar. It's so nice when I notice him wanting me or when he recognizes Aunt Hannah when we see her at church. Life, for Joshua Adam, is just getting more and more exciting. And it is for me too. :)

Most Beautiful Snow

I'm sure you all heard about the storm that swept over the Northeastern states this past weekend. Everyone was saying "how much snow" and "all that ice" and "blah, blah, blah". Not many people were saying how utterly beautiful the snow and ice covered trees were. The ice covered every branch and when the sun's rays struck the topmost branches, how they lit up like glass and shone like the most beautiful of diamonds. I have never seen anything as beautiful. I wish I could've captured it with my camera, but these photos do it no justice. Every single tree, every single branch and twig shimmered in the sun light. The backdrop was a perfect blue winter sky. I'm not sure why I have been so excited about our wintry weather the past couple weeks, but I feel like a school girl who has just been waiting for a snow day. I was tempted to throw myself into the snow drift that collected around our deck in the back yard. It must've stood three feet high and was just asking for me to jump into it. But I sadly refrained because thoughts of cold snow around my neck and ankles reminded me that I was no longer six, but 22 and I must act somewhat like a lady. At least for today. If the snow bank is still there tomorrow I might feel otherwise. But if the sun has it's way today, the bank will not be big enough to jump in by tomorrow afternoon. Deep snow has been strangely lacking around here for the past few years and maybe it is because I am growing up, but I find myself wishing I could go out and play in the snow like I could when I was younger. Where are the times when we would have snowball fights with Dad and rush up the biggest hill in town to go sledding? Am I really too old for that stuff? I think not. So why don't we enjoy the snow while we still can. Come on, let's get our sleds and go!

More Snow and Ice?

Rochester, NY is expecting 5-14 more inches of snow this weekend, mixed with sleet and ice on Saturday. Oh, March weather is so much fun! One day it's almost 60 degrees, the next it's two feet of snow, after that it's 1/2" of freezing rain, back to thawing out and then it's another foot of snow. We must live in NY or something. I must say that the past two weeks have been the most exciting, weather wise, in several years. We'll see how we manage this weekend. Anyone up for hot chocolate?

An Icy Morning

There is still ice covering everything. Little icicles hang off every available edge. But the sun has now come out, and I can hear the icicles breaking off and falling to the ground. Soon they will be gone for good.

The Prince and the Pillows

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who loved to play in his Mommy and Daddy's big bed. He would snuggle under the covers and get all cozy like. One day he was playing in the pillows and one of them tipped right over and covered him all up! No one could see him or knew he was there. Soon Mommy and Daddy climbed into bed to go to sleep. They put their heads down on the pillows."Hmp! My pillow is too lumpy," Daddy said. "Mine too," said Mommy. "What is going on here?" It reminded Mommy of The Princess and the Pea story. The princess could not go to sleep because her bed was to lumpy. Now they couldn't go to sleep because their pillows were too lumpy! Mommy checked under the pillows and do you know what she saw? Her little boy had been hiding under there all along! His chubby little face looked up into his Mommy and Daddy's eyes. They were very surprised to see him! The little boy was very glad that his Mommy and Daddy had finally found him. Daddy scooped him up into his big strong arms and kissed his cheeks. "It was you, our little prince, who was hiding under our pillows, making us so uncomfortable!" Then Mommy and Daddy slid their boy under the covers between them and they all went to sleep. The End

Laden with Ice

This morning the world is heavy laden with ice and snow. The branches sag downward under their burden. But the beauty of the snow clinging to every branch and needle is always so beautiful. We didn't get as much ice as was predicted, but the local school still shut down for the day, I think. My neighbor is home, so I am assuming that the school was closed. Last night, I was visiting my parents and when I left for home the icy rain was pelting down. My cheeks stung every time a piece hit them. I hurriedly scraped the ice off my car so I could see on the way home. I drove extra careful, even though it seemed the ice was turning into rain the further I got from the lake. Upon arriving home, I moved all the meat from our upstairs freezer into the basement chest freezer, just in case we lost power. That way we would be less likely to have lots of spoilage. But needless to say, we didn't lose our power and I'm happy to say, it was all an unnecessary precaution. Last time we had an ice storm, the power was out for nearly a week. I was still living at home where we heated the house with a wood stove. We ended up heating everything with the wood stove. We cooked meals on top of it, boiled water for our dishes on it and I don't remember what else. But our wood stove was a "life saver". That ice storm left so much ice that we scooped it up off the ground into our coolers so we could keep the food from the refrigerator cold. We were quite the innovative family, don't you think? If the power had gone out today, I don't think I would've been able to do quite as well. After all, we ran out of fire wood for our wood stove last month and you just can't boil water quite as all on top of a gas furnace. We might've had to move back home for a couple days :)

Adam, Champion Dish Stacker of the World

It's usually pretty difficult to get some hubby help when it comes to cleaning the house. But on occasion, he chips in and washes dishes or cleans the living room. He may do things a little different than I would, but I'm not complaining about having the help! For instance, when he washes dishes he leaves the water running the whole time, puts soap on every dish, doesn't empty the dish drainer first and gets water everywhere. That may not be my way of doing things, but my man sure does know how to stack the dish drainer! I came into the kitchen one night after Adam had been helping and I had to laugh at what I found. The dishes looked quite haphazardly stacked, but nothing was falling out. He is the champion, I must say. I'll take his help any day.

It's Been Growing on Me

So this is my haircut. It has been "growing" on me. I have found that is it not quite as boring if I part it to the side, though still not as exciting as I was hoping for. And I believe that it is too short to do anything else with now, except for maybe some sort of bangs. But it'll do. Please, excuse the mug shot too. It was the best one that turned out as far as showing all of my hair. Now I'll also note that I have one squinty eye AND and a crooked smile. Suppose Wanda's heard that squinty eyes are sexy too?

Like Father, Like Son

This past weekend, I started Josh on his very first cereal. He turned four months old on Friday and had been showing a little interest in what we put in our mouths. I had been given some rice cereal and figured that was a good thing to start with. Josh really surprised me with how easily it was to feed him. Daddy held Josh on his lap while I spooned the cereal in. Joshua, naturally, let some of it dribble on his chin, but it was rather fun watching him figure out what to do with this new food. He caught on very quickly and soon was getting upset if I took too long with the next spoonful. For the past two days, I have only been feeding him a couple teaspoon fulls, if that. But this evening, when I fed Josh again, he wanted more when the rice cereal was gone. So I mixed a little cereal with a teaspoon of banana baby food. Oh, he really liked that and he cried once again when it was gone. Actually he threw a fit until I made a little more. I must say that Josh takes after his Daddy and loves to eat!

Josh goes to the doctor tomorrow for his four month check-up. I'm hoping she won't say that he is too fat, because he is such a big boy! He has grown out of his 3-6 month clothes and is now wearing his 6 and 9 month clothes. He is also growing out of his car seat and it is getting too heavy for me to lug around with him in it. So, Adam and I are looking into getting a convertible car seat that can "grow" with Josh. There is a couple of them at BJ's which both seem to have pretty good reviews, so we will be investing in one in the very near future. My only concern is that then I will have to carry Josh differently when I go grocery shopping, as he cannot yet sit up entirely on his own. We shall see how this whole thing develops. And I wish I could get a picture of him smiling so you could see his two little teeth. He is the cutest little boy ever!

(In this last picture he's saying, "Don't take my cereal away yet!")