Letter of the Week - H

So this week, for Holy Week, we learned about the letter H.

Memory verse: "He is not here. He has risen!" (Matthew 28:6)
Words: happy, hat, heart, helpful, hair, hug, hot
Songs we listened/danced to: The Hokey-Pokey, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, If You're Happy and You Know It, Ho-ho-ho-Hosanna, Hallelujah
Books: In a People House, How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?

Isabel chose to decorate her letter H with hearts that Mommy painstakingly cut out for her!


Early in the week, Isabel and I were able to go on a special breakfast date to Perkin's. In honor of H week, Isabel got to order hot chocolate with her meal. We also must have had hearty appetites that day because we both cleared our plates, something that rarely happens! Hooray for us!

And on Friday, we got to join our friends Jenna, Megan, Camille, and Levi for a field trip to Fairview Ridges Hospital where all four kids were born. The hospital staff were very gracious to us as we wheeled around with two babies in strollers and two three-years olds walking with us! We tried to get a nice photo of the two mommies and all four kids. Despite the fact that only the mommies are smiling, they really are a happy bunch (you'll just have to take our word for it)!

Next we went up to the floor where there were babies in the nursery to look at. We talked to the girls about how when they were born and we mommies needed a little bit of rest, we would send them to the nursery where the nice nurses would rock them, or let them sleep in their bassinets under the warm lights.

And finally we went down and visited the NICU where Josiah spent his first 44 days of life. We told the girls that Josiah was too little to go to the regular nursery with the other babies, and had to come to this special nursery. I reminded Isabel that she was able to come and see her new baby brother through the window a few times, and how she would always say we were at "Josiah's house" when we would drive up to the hospital (she came up with that all on her own just after age 2!)  The best part about our visit was that three of the nurses who took care of Josiah were there and came out to see us. They all marveled at how big he has gotten and said they would never have recognized him as the same baby.  They took a new photo of the two of us and showed us the comparison between that and the photo of us on his discharge date (3/15/10). The difference is remarkable!

They were sad to know that he developed hydrocephalus but were glad that he is doing extremely well post-surgery. And the highlight of our field trip was running into our wonderful family pediatrician just outside the NICU. Dr. Williams is an amazing doctor and has always taken a special interest in our family. She just adores Isabel and Josiah, and was even willing to be in a picture with us!

And we topped off H week with church at Hosanna! on Saturday evening, Josiah happily posing for a photo on the Easter Bunny's lap (Isabel opted out of the photo this year), and a wonderful ham dinner with our family at our house on Sunday.

Big-girl bed

Yesterday, a champion sleeper in a crib.... 

Today, a champion sleeper in a big-girl bed! (though we have not risked taking a picture of her sleeping in it yet!)

You might be thinking, "isn't she a little old to still be sleeping in a crib?"  We held off on this "milestone" longer than many families, which is consistent with our child-sleep philosophy of keeping what works for as long as possible, to encourage continued good sleep habits. Isabel was happy in her crib and has never once tried to climb out.  When Josiah was born, she was just over 2 and we were not ready to move her into a big-girl bed to hand her crib down to Josiah. Instead, we bought her a new crib that has the ability to convert to a toddler bed and then eventually to a full-sized bed frame, so the expense of a new crib was worth it since it will be the bed she will have until she leaves for college someday! I was the holdout on converting it to a toddler bed, as I am usually more worried about these types of things than Luke is.  Even though she has likely been ready for months, I wanted to be 350% sure that a) having no crib rail would not cause any bedtime battles, and b) that Josiah was very consistently sleeping through the night because I did not want to be dealing with two children in the wee hours of the night! :)

So for the past couple of weeks, we have gotten her very excited about her big-girl bed, and actually used it as a "reward" on the sticker chart we have been using with her (she gets a sticker for having a happy drop-off at school in the morning and another sticker for getting herself all ready for bed at night, only asking Mommy and Daddy for help when she really needs it).  She earned the big-girl bed reward prior to this weekend, so when Saturday rolled around, we knew that when she took her afternoon nap, it would be the last time she slept in a crib!  After she woke up, Luke started the process of taking the outer crib rail off and putting up the guard rail that will prevent her from falling out of bed (I am thankful for the guard rail).  The most fun thing about this part (in Isabel's mind) was using her mattress as a trampoline as it was sitting in the middle of her bedroom floor!

For the last part of the project, we shooed her out of her room so it would be a surprise when she came in and saw the finished product (side note - I just love her girly room and the bed turned out so cute!).

The wall emblem says
 "Small in size, but destined for big things"
- perfect for our petite daughter!

She was so excited when she saw it (she even cooperated by shrieking at a hushed volume so as not to wake her brother)!  She promptly ran over and hopped up into bed, proclaiming "I don't need any help. I can get up here all by myself!"  When it came time for actual bedtime, Luke reported back that she went to bed just as well as she would have, had the crib still been up. And now we have had three nights of her sleeping in her bed, so I am officially declaring it as a smooth transition!  The first two mornings, she was sitting up or standing up in bed when I came in, but this morning, she was on her floor reading books, and she looked up at me to see how I would react with her being out of bed. I was totally nonchalant, and she got this funny grin on her face and looked up at me, saying "Mommy, I got out of bed and am on my floor reading books. Is that funny!?!?" I said it was funny, and that was that. I am perfectly fine with her entertaining herself in her room in the morning as long as she doesn't start getting up too early. If that starts happening, we are going to get her a digital clock and tell her she needs to stay in bed until she sees the first number is a "7"!

Our little girl, one step closer to big-girldom.
Mommy has mixed emotions about this (~sigh~)

We love you too, sweet girl!

                    

Springtime...the snow is (almost) gone

Recently, those of us who reside in Minnesota have watched our igloos turn back into houses, our glaciers turn back into yards, and we are finally able to take our children outside without dressing them in 85 layers of warmth.
Welcome spring!

How to pray like a child

Isabel and I read another chapter in the Jesus Storybook Bible that I was really impacted by. The chapter was from Matthew 6 and included a child-like paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer. The Storybook Bible quotes Jesus as saying to His followers, "So when you pray, pray in your normal voice, just like when you're talking to someone you love very much. Like this...

Hello Daddy!

We want to know you.

And be close to you.

Please show us how.

Make everything in the world right again.

And in our hearts, too.

Do what is best - just like you do in heaven,

And please do it down here, too.

Please give us everything we need today.

Forgive us for doing wrong, for hurting you.

Forgive us just as we forgive other people when they hurt us.

Rescue us! We need you.

We don't want to keep running away and hiding from you.

Keep us safe from our enemies.

You're strong, God.

You can do whatever you want.

You are in charge.

Now and forever and for always!

We think you're great!

Amen!

Yes we do!

I know that I could really benefit in my walk with God, by remembering that I can talk to God very conversationally, throughout the day, using my own normal voice, talking to Him as I would talk to someone I love very much. It is so amazing to me that as a parent, I am learning so much and growing in my own faith journey, by introducing Isabel to Jesus and seeing Him and His teachings through the eyes of a child.

Look out, he's crawling!

About a week ago, it happened. Our sweet boy, who has been trying for months to crawl, managed to get his body coordinated enough to figure it out! Over the course of last weekend, we noticed him crawling two, three, or even four steps at a time. So I decided to take one of his favorite things in the world (Cheerios) and give him enough incentive to crawl across the room. And by golly, HE DID IT! Enjoy the video I was able to capture.



Ever since then, he has been crawling all over the place and even pulling himself up to a stand next to things (the Noah's Ark rocking chair in his room, the couch, his Exersaucer, etc.) He also has been reveling in the fact that he can crawl himself over to drawers, which he is obsessed with opening. And tonight, sadly, he had his first experience of closing said drawer on his poor little finger. :( But he was a trooper, as soon as I rescued him, he stopped crying. He is less sensitive than his big sister is when it comes to owies!

We are so proud of you, buddy!

The Lord is my Shepherd

Every night before bed we have been reading a chapter out of The Jesus Storybook Bible to Isabel as her third bedtime story. We hope to instill a habit in her of reading God's Word every day (a habit we still aspire to ourselves as very busy working parents of young children!)  This Bible was a wonderful gift from Josiah's godparents Jenna and Aaron for Josiah's dedication this past April (we actually prefer it to the Bible that we gave Isabel for her first Christmas!). We love the way that it tells the Bible stories in all their accuracy, in childlike language, and that it interweaves the character and story of Jesus through every story, even the stories that are not actually about Jesus. 

Last night we read the story of David, which includes a paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm. Something about the way this paraphrase was written just struck me, and it brought tears to my eyes as I was reading it to Isabel. This Psalm has held a special place in my heart since I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age 19, and I pray that Isabel will also feel the love and provision of God, as described in this Psalm, throughout the ups and downs she will undoubtedly experience in this life.  Oh, if only we could have the heart of a child and remember the following truths each day. It would truly change our lives!

God is my Shepherd
And I am his little lamb.

He feeds me
He guides me
He looks after me.
I have everything I need.

Inside, my heart is very quiet.
As quiet as lying still in soft green grass
In a meadow
By a little stream.

Even when I walk through
the dark, scary, lonely places
I won't be afraid
Because my Shepherd knows where I am.

He is here with me
He keeps me safe
He rescues me

He makes me strong
And brave.

He is getting wonderful things ready for me
Especially for me
Everything I ever dreamed of!

He fills my heart so full of happiness
I can't hold it all inside.

Wherever I go I know
God's Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking,
Always and Forever Love
Will go, too!

Babble-box

For his first year of life, Josiah was a pretty silent dude (wellllll, unless he was crying). He had started babbling a tiny bit back before he had his shunt placement surgery, but had regressed in this milestone due to the hydrocephalus, and had not gained the milestone back until just a few weeks ago, when all of a sudden he found his voice in a big way. Our days are now filled with the joyous sounds of his baby babble. And, to my chagrin, he started with dadadada, and still has not managed to make a mamamama sound. :( Either way, it is music to our ears!  Listen closely...