Monday: 23 weeks and Real Life

Joshua turned 23 weeks old today.

 

And a few pictures to show what life really looks like around here:

Laundry has moved to the couch because the table is full.  It's been here for about two days, although most was gone by this evening.  BUT I have another basket full that is waiting.

The table has a bunch of legos that Ben gave me for my birthday.  Isaac loves playing with them, but lost a piece.  I'm annoyed, but expect that I could find a similar piece in the basement if needed.  It'll probably show up eventually.

We have a balloon forest from Isaac and Larry's birthdays.  It's kind of fun.  Most of the time.  Isaac cried for the last seven minutes of rest time because he didn't have a balloon to play with in bed.  I don't mind giving them to him at the beginning of rest time, but not in the middle.

I took down all the Christmas decor and put up "winter lights".  Also, it snowed a lot today and is supposed to continue!  Yay!  Also, the high chair is usually farther back but it still had yesterday's dinner plates on it so I moved it mostly out of the picture.

School starts for everyone tomorrow.  Isaac was so excited about it today and tried about every two hours to convince me it was time for school.  Most of the reasons were that he was older now, but once I heard that Elmo was there and so he should be too.  I hope it lives up to his expectations.

The kitchen.  Just as I get it cleanish it becomes messy.  I'm blaming Christmas...I'm almost done putting everything away and then maybe I'll have time to keep up with the kitchen.  Maybe.

Sunday: traps

Today Isaac seemed to be in an extra trappy mood.  I finally got some pictures.  Ben and I both usually play along, but if the trap takes too long to open we've been known to jump over them.

Closed trap:

Open trap (I forgot the flash...but you get the idea):

Saturday: resolutions

Last year's New Year's resolution was to have a baby.  Check.

I think this year it will be to not take more toilet paper than I really need.

Friday: the good and the bad

This morning was great!  First we had this conversation:
Amanda: Grandma won't be there.  She's on the other side of the world.
Isaac: When she goes out, will she fall down?

So we got out the globe.

Later in the morning the trains came out.  I'm rather proud of the track.

And Joshua decided to smile for a picture.

Then we got to the afternoon.  Trains might have messed up Joshua's schedule, because I couldn't get a decent nap out of him.  Isaac decided he couldn't do anything by himself, but wouldn't really concentrate on anything either.  I finally said that I had to do work.  (Which was true...the kitchen was a disaster.  But it is also an excuse I frequently use when I need a break.)  Isaac was whining about that, so I told him he could do his puzzle in the kitchen.  It's only 12 pieces; he is fully capable of doing that on his own.  However, he wouldn't even try.  Then Joshua woke up screaming from his short nap and I was about to pull my hair out.  We got through the next fifteen minutes by my rocking Joshua and handing one semi-random piece to Isaac at a time while I read the quilting blogs I follow.  Then Isaac was done with the puzzle and Joshua was screaming again.  Urg.  But I put Joshua down to blow my runny nose and he calmed down again.  Isaac invented some game that involved bouncing puzzle pieces on squishy blocks into a tub.  And then Ben came home...we made it.

Thursday: Happy New Year

It was a pretty low key day for us.  Isaac and Ben flew a lot of helicopters.  Isaac took a much needed nap.  Joshua almost managed to roll from back to front but didn't quite make it.  It snowed!

I'm all mixed up with what day it's supposed to be.  Having Ben home for a single day in the middle of a holiday week is just throwing me off.

Wednesday: last day of the year

Today went better than yesterday.  Isaac and I still had a few moments, but we do most days.  Isaac enjoyed playing with his new birthday toys, so that took up a nice amount of time.

Isaac also told Joshua the story of Jesus' birth.  It was so cute.

To celebrate the New Year, we watched the Netflix countdown at 7:45 and had sparkling grape juice.  Isaac said it tickled his tongue.

Wednesday: year in review

While thinking about this past year, I've sadly decided that it ties for second place in my list of worst years.*  Ben had several major health issues throughout the year.  I was sick while pregnant.  Ben had a really busy streak at work right after Joshua was born.  There were many days when Ben and I just looked at each other, so tired, and told each other that we'd make it.

To be honest, the year could have been much worse; I have not had to face many hardships or heartaches.  And there were several wonderful things that happened.  Joshua came into our lives.  Isaac is usually a lot of fun to be with.  We connected more with friends.  We spent time with family.  God showed himself to me in different ways.

So, over-all, I'm hoping for a better 2015 and am not very sad to say good-by to 2014.



*I couldn't decide what was worse: minor health problems, moving, selling a house remotely and a job I disliked or major health problems and a few very busy streaks at work.