Thursday: grades

I spent most of the day grading.  But they're done!  Grades are in!

I only had two people upload the wrong files (the temp files).  Sigh.  You'd think that after a semester of me telling them to make sure they have the right file they'd know.  Especially since I stressed that it gets harder for the exam since they might not be on campus.

Luckily, they both found a way to get access and got me the files.

Wednesday: exam

Well, all the exams have been given.  Now grading.  I spent a significant amount of time grading today and have 20/50 exams complete.  Blah.  I'm still hoping to finish tomorrow and put in grades, but don't expect to have a bunch of extra time.

Also, Isaac figured out how to snort today.  It was hilarious.

Tuesday: pictures and swimming

We put up some new pictures on the picture wall today.  Joshua LOVED playing with the envelopes and several times cried when I picked him up to do something else.

Isaac had his first swimming lesson.  He had fun doing the games and wants to go back next week. He did let go of the wall once when they were hand walking on the wall, giving me a slight heart attack, but the instructor quickly got him.  I went up to him and he was surprisingly unphased and went right back to the lesson.  He told Ben about it later, so it was a memorable experience, but "the teacher got me".  So I think the whole incident scared me more than him.  The class size was also a bit bigger than I was hoping for considering that they need a lot of personal attention.  

During the whole lesson Joshua just cuddled on my shoulder and it was really nice.



Below he is the second kid from the top and is putting his ear in the water.

(Side note: the life guard had to rescue a child that wasn't part of the group.  Hooray for life guards, who really have a hard job.  I think that all the time.  Most of their work is really, really boring, but then there are thirty seconds where it is really, really important.)

Monday: 9 months old

Joshua is 9 months old!  A three quarters of a year!

Sleep - he's slept through the night (11pm-7am) a few times.  He takes two or three naps a day, depending on how long the second nap is.  He seems to be a pretty light sleeper as he wakes up shortly after Isaac does most days.

Eating - this is going so much better.  Sweet potatoes seem to be his favorite (and they also seem to help him sleep through the night the best).  But puffs and rice crackers are a big hit too.  Yogurt and peas are eaten pretty easily.  I haven't been giving him a ton of new foods this month, trying to just get the eating thing down.  It doesn't help that summer produce isn't here yet.  But he has a good tenish foods that we rotate through.

Moving - he can (and does) roll to get somewhere, but it isn't continuous rolling until he gets to his destination, so it might take him a bit.  He's been pulling himself onto his knees.  He can eat his finger food by himself  (puffs, sweet potatoes, peas) and gets most of it in his mouth.  He still enjoys his jumper.

Attitude - still pretty mellow.  Usually he's happy to play with his toys, especially if someone else is in the room.  Most of the time he's ok being with people that aren't Ben or me, but there are issues sometimes.

Talking - he does quite a bit of babbling.  I hear mama and dada a lot, but I'm not sure if that's just what my ears pick out.  He knows to holler if I'm not feeding him fast enough, unfortunately.  He doesn't like to be put in the excersaucer and have you walk by it a lot without picking him up and he lets us know.

Saturday: Critter Barn

We went to the critter barn today with another family.  We had been planning on going to the zoo, but it was just a bit too cold.  The critter barn was nice as it still got us outside, but there was a lot of stuff out of the wind too.


Getting ready - we had to find Joshua a hat.  Apparently we like raccoon hats.

Petting bunnies

Feeding sheep.

Feeding a goat.

Friday: silliness

This morning we were waiting for the library to open and Isaac wanted to know what Ben was doing at work.  Maybe jumping or exercising or a game?  

We got an Amazon shipment today.  It included an attachment for changing high-up light bulbs.  (Side note: high up light bulbs are dumb.  We had one in the NY house too, but it was under a fixture.  So we didn't use that light.)  Anyway, I put LED light bulbs in so we can use these lights now.  And I really, really hope they never ever burn out.

(Below is the stick still sticking to the light bulb, but it came off pretty easily when I tilted it.)

The other thing in the shipment was ultra-washable markers.  Roommate used them with her kids for face drawing.  Isaac wouldn't let me draw on his face (although he drew on it himself a bit).  But he was happy to draw on mine.  He gave me a mustache and a goatee.

Thursday: last day

Today was the last day of classes.  Exams are next week and then summer!  I'll miss it and I won't.  It's probably a good place to be.  I will be teaching again next semester, so I can look forward to that.

Tonight Isaac starting putting this bag on everyone's head and called it a party hat.  It seemed appropriate!

Wednesday: snow

It was snowing today.  I tried to get a picture of it because there were huge flakes.

It didn't work.  So I had an impromtu photo session with Joshua instead.

Then it was time for Isaac to get off the Ipad, so he joined us.

But he didn't want to look at me so I turned Joshua around too.

And Joshua wasn't thrilled with that.

In other news, Joshua slept all night last night!  I woke up once as I heard the pitter patter of little feet go to the bathroom at 4am, but luckily he was dressed in easy pjs and so a few minutes later I heard the pitter patter go back to their bed.  I didn't have to get up!  But I was still sleepy in the morning.  I probably need a few more good nights.  I'm also not sure how tonight is going to go as he woke up early for his 11pm feeding.

Tuesday: male conversations

Joshua: mamadadaba
Isaac: Are you telling us a story, Josh-E-a?
Joshua: dadmabraamm
Isaac: I'm not a broom!

Ben: I'm going to give you a hug.
Isaac: I don't want a hug!  I'm going to give it back to you!
Isaac then hugs Ben to give it back.

Also, Joshua only cried for 15 minutes last night before going back to sleep.  I only had to go in once to tell him that he needed to go back to sleep.

Monday: 38 weeks

Joshua hits a milestone this week...he has been alive longer outside the womb than inside.  Hooray for not being pregnant.

Last night we started having Joshua not eat during the middle of the night.  He was rather unhappy for about 40 minutes.  But it was a good night to decide to start...he woke up really early (about 1:30) and he doesn't need to eat then, so it helped my will power.

He also seems to have discovered that he can make loud noises and get attention or food.   It makes being quiet in the morning a bit hard.

Joshua also ate sweet potato pieces by himself today. He did a really good job with them.

Sunday: Isaac speak - video game edition

If Isaac wants to play a computer game, he asks for it by name.  However, the names aren't very conventional...

Up game: a flash game where you play soccer
Down game: a flash game like whack-a-mole
Boring game: I forget the name of the class of games, but basically it's only numbers on the screen.  One that you do a little bit and then have to wait for a while before you can do anything else.
Time Clickers: this is the only one he gets right.
Stair game: Diablo 3 (no, he doesn't get to play or watch very much.)
Farm game: World of Warcraft
New Farm game: Brawler's guild in World of Warcraft

Saturday: outside

It was a beautiful day today.  Isaac took advantage of it to its fullest.  Part of it might have been his shirt; it gets color on it outside but is only black and white inside.

He started by riding his bike on the deck, followed by breakfast.  (We hadn't gotten any chairs out yet.)

Ben left mid-morning for the day and Aunt C came over.  I needed to get a lot of cleaning done as people are coming over tomorrow and the house has been a disaster all week.  They, along with Joshua, went outside and an hour later the house looked so much better.

Isaac also convinced me to have dinner on the deck, but it was rather short lived.  It was windy and since we were sitting in the shade not all that warm.  He did go back out a bit after dinner to ride his truck though.

Then it was bath time.  Joshua has been getting baths in the normal tub, but he freaked out today.  Wowzers.  So his bath was all of about thirty seconds.  Maybe we'll go back to the infant tub for a bit longer.

Friday: green alarm clock

Joshua has been waking up rather early the last few days.  He's been waking up earlier and earlier ever since he was born.  I know, 6:30 isn't that early.  But it feels so early.  However, if he does it again this weekend his schedule is going to change; I'm not going to get up to feed him in the middle of the night and wake up early with him.

Anyway, I probably said something to Isaac about getting up too early with Joshua, who realized that the problem was that Joshua didn't have a green alarm clock.  (Isaac's turns green when he can get out of bed.)  A little bit later he said, "We should call grandma and see if she has a little green car for Joshua."  What?  Um, ok.  "Which Grandma?"  "Grandma Pat."

So we did.  It took me most of the conversation to realize that he wasn't saying car, he was saying clock.  And that we had called the wrong grandma as Grandma Cheryl had gotten the alarm clock for Isaac as a Christmas present.

That little boy sure is putting a lot of pieces of information together though!

Thursday: sharing

Isaac got two small bars of chocolate today at school; I think it was someone's birthday.  All the kids were rather excited about them.  Err...very excited.  Anyway, at school I said he could eat them at home and he said I could have one too!  I said I'd be happy to share, but that he didn't have to.  It seemed to make him pretty happy to say he was going to share, so I went with it.

At home he got them out and unwrapped one.  Then he remembered that he was going to give me one too.  He unwrapped it for me and we sat down to eat our chocolate.  However, I only got to eat about half of mine because he kept wanting to share it.  (To be fair though, he offered me some of his after he had eaten all of mine.)

It was cute.  Trying so hard to share and not quite getting it.

Wednesday: scooting

Isaac took his scooter outside for just a bit today.

Such form!

Joshua and I watched from inside...it was a bit too windy and cool.  He wanted to show you his jingle ball.  And mohawk.  It always stands up.

Tuesday: dinner

I realized at 4:10 today that I needed to deal with dinner.  Again.  It happens every day, yet I'm surprised by it at least once a week.

We had spaghetti.  But it was with rotini because we were out of spaghetti.  So was it really spaghetti?

Monday: 37 weeks

Joshua turned 37 weeks old today.  It marks the first time I put him down for his picture and he immediately rolled over.  After I put him back on his back he stayed there for a few minutes though.

 He really likes sweet potatoes.  They have been eaten really well the last few days.  Pears were refused.

 And he's rolling more.  Have I mentioned that?  I can't remember.

My current goal is to have Isaac wake up in the morning, go to the bathroom and then get himself dressed.  We have the first two down.  He can't quite remember that he needs to get dressed next, and even after I tell him it usually takes about a half hour.

And we end up with silly outfits like this.  I'm pushing getting the underwear and pants on correctly, so gave up at the shirt.

Sunday: Furious 7

Ben and I went to see Furious 7 today.  It was fun - there were many unbelievable things, but, as Ben said, if you pretended they were superheroes it all worked a bit better.

It was nice to do something just a bit different today.

Saturday: things

Let's see...

This morning Isaac came into our bedroom with a game.  Ben and I were both going to play it with him.  He got it set up.

I: The people climbs the ladder, sits down for the whee, stands up, sits down for the whee.  You do it!
B: ok, there's two slides?
I: No, there's three.
B: Where's the third?
I: Right here. [Points to the red piece, lower middle]
A: Who slides down it?
I:  Nothing.  It's a support.
I: Mama, you do it!
A: He climbs the ladder, sits down, slides down, stands up, sits down for the slide.
I: Dad, your turn.
B: He climbs the ladder, sits down for the slide, then does the next slide.
I: No.  You did it wrong.

Note - Ben never did get it correct.

************************************************************************
Joshua ate so much better today.  And napped well too.  I'm hoping it is the start of a new trend.  Also, he really likes to bounce.
 

And Joshua is getting big enough for his rocking ship!

Friday: forgot

I kind of forgot to blog today.  I had some pictures and video taken of random things, but now it's getting late and I don't feel like dealing with them.  So instead I'll leave you with a conversation.

Isaac, looking at a map: We should go see the airplane!  And that thing [the blimp]!  But not that.
Amanda: The compass rose?  Well, we can't.  It's not really there.
Isaac, ignoring me: It's too sharp.

Thursday: why I blog

I blog to share.  It's an easy way for other to keep up-to-date with our lives and know what's going on.  That being said, I try not to over share; it is viewable by anyone that know the address.

I blog to remember.  Lately this has been one of the main motivators.  Isaac says so many silly things and Joshua is growing up so fast.  It's fun to look back and remember the minutea that would otherwise be forgotten.

I blog to be remembered.  There is a part of me that wishes I had more primary resource material from my mom.  Sure, I have lot of treasured memories, but I would love to know what those memories look like from her perspective.  I remember one day when I was rather young saying I wanted tomato soup for dinner.  Mom made it.  I realized I didn't like it and she started crying.  What else had I done that day that I was blissfully unaware of?  What were her struggles while raising two young children?  I know; I could ask my dad.  But it just isn't the same.  I wish that my children could remember her in ways that are not just my memories.  All that being said, should my children or grandchildren have no interest in my life I'm ok with that too.  It probably means nothing untimely happened and that is wonderful.

So on this day when I remember her death I do not feel the pain of missing her that I sometimes feel.  Perhaps because it has been a busy day and I have chosen not to dwell on it.  But I do deeply wish there was a better way to remember her by than just a child's memories.

Wednesday: car wash

Isaac's been asking to go through a car wash for quite a while.  So we went through it today.  I think he's inherited his love of car washes from me.

Yesterday I put Joshua on the floor in the middle of his room and a bit later he was in the hallway.  Most of it was through rolling, but there were a few crawling like motions.

Tuesday: NT

Around the end of February I finished reading the New Testament.  That means I've read the whole Bible (for sure).  (Versus just expecting that I've read all of it in bits and pieces.)  (But I'm pretty sure there were pieces that I had skipped.)  It only took about five years.

I did a devotional during Lent...it was pretty good.  But then it ended and I was at a loss as to what to do next.

So I decided to read the Bible again, this time in The Message.  I'm hoping it will make some of the minor prophets more interesting.  What I really would like is a Bible app with lots of notes...maybe I should look for one.

Monday: 36 weeks

Joshua is 36 weeks old!

He has been enjoying rice crackers this week.  (Like puffs, but bigger).  Avocado has worked pretty well too.  Everything else is still pretty much refused.

While I know he's been rolling back to front for a while, today was the first day I saw him do it multiple times without any type of assistance.  (I think he uses the crib slats when sleeping.)

Joshua also gave a me a lot of smiles today.

Sunday: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  He is Risen!

This morning Ben and I were the substitute leaders for 3s church.  While it wasn't really something I loved, it wasn't too bad either.  Play time/color time for 30 minutes and then a movie.  The kids do give a lot more feed back than in nursery though.  So someone mentioned that jump started with J and suddenly everyone is showing us how they can jump.  And how they can jump like a kangaroo.  Also, you know you're strong if you can carry and bus and an airplane to Florida.

We had lunch with Ben's side of the family (it was delicious) and then after a brief stop home we went to Dad and Pat's.  There we had just a light meal and a laid back atmosphere - but it was perfect.  Isaac had another Easter Egg hunt that his cousin made for him (and he got a lot more than one M&M per egg). :)  And there were a bunch of other toys to play with.  Including an organ.

We also saw some definete clapping from Joshua.  (This isn't the best showing of it...but he was!)

Saturday: Easter activities

The day between Good Friday and Easter...such an odd day.  Relief that the pain of the cross is done, but the joy of the Risen Savior isn't here yet.

So we did some of the secular, but very fun, Easter activities today.  First we set up an Easter egg hunt for Isaac.  This was my favorite hiding place...Isaac had put the clothes pin on the light switch yesterday.

Isaac with his finder (the finger).  He did a much better job this year than last year.

Amazingly, he also did a wonderful job sharing.  There was an M&M in each egg...but instead of eating all of them he shared equally with Ben and me.  Joshua got to enjoy some empty eggs.

Isaac made a hunt for us.  Several of the eggs were in the same spot that we put them and several eggs were all together.

Since he had done such a good job sharing, we put another M&M in all the eggs and hid them again.  Jerusalem helped.

Isaac's last attempt at hiding eggs.  They were all in plain sight on the floor.  We hid them one more time with coins ($1.38 to be exact) and then ended up playing with the money for longer than I expected.

We also dyed some eggs.  We found a white crayon, but it didn't work well on the eggs.  So we just dyed them a solid color.  Next year I'll know we need different supplies.  But it was still fun.  The yellow and green eggs turned out the best.

Friday: nice day

Today was a nice day.  Ben was home for work due to Good Friday.  We didn't do much during the day.  Nice, but we might need to figure something out for tomorrow because "do you want to play with me?" got rather old pretty quickly.

In the evening we went to Travis and Allison's to play games.  The kids had a wonderful time together...Isaac kind of plays with the girls, but also really likes the new toys.  The girls love to play with Joshua and kept coming out with more toys for him to play with.  A doll hat went on his head pretty early and stayed there for quite a while.  And we had a fun time playing a new game...the rules were pretty straight forward once you got started, so that helped.

Thursday: 39 months

After another rough night for unknown reasons, I am finally feeling better...hopefully for good this time.  Anyway.  Isaac turned 39 months a few days ago.

 Sleeping - sleeps very well at night, going to sleep usually between 8 and 9.  Naps are about 50/50, but he always gets rest time!

 Eating - still a pretty good eater.  Peanut butter and nutella is a lunch time favorite along with chocolate milk.  He also likes fruits and eats some vegetables.  He still gives us pretend treats all the time.

 Potty training - continues to go well.  I think he only had an accident four or five times last month.

 Animals - His favorite stuffed animals have changed slightly.  EE and Jerusalem are probably the favorites (pictured above) but Snowman is needed while we read Jesus stories and sometimes to sleep.  EE and Jerusalem also show up to help him eat his breakfast sometimes.  After realizing the camel's name was Jerusalem, Isaac decided that Bethlehem is also a name.  I'm not sure how the two got connected together.  Pretend monkeys also join us at our daily activities.  White monkeys (they're the big ones), brown monkeys, and black monkeys.

Toys - His favorite books are still XYZ and we found some Chico Bon-Bon books.  They have monkeys and traps in them...what could be better?  He also plays with Dulpos a lot, especially his train track.

 Joshua - Isaac often will get a toy for Joshua, even when Joshua isn't fussing.  However, Isaac also regularly takes toys from Joshua.  Isaac enjoys doing tummy time (and back time and side time) together with him.

Outside - Isaac loves to be outside, even though it sometimes takes a bit of convincing to get him there.  Maybe that'll change with warmer weather.  Here he is running the lines, as he also loves to run.  It included a place to say hi to Joshua, a zig-zag, a U-turn, and jumps.  Isaac often asks what turns we're going to do when in the car, and U-turns are his favorite.