Do your ears hang low?

I have often wondered what inspired this funny song; apparently it is debated. All Joshua knows is that it is fun to listen to it! We have a cd of nursery rhymes that he has been thoroughly enjoying lately. It is a little painful to listen to some of it as an adult, but Joshua has been requesting this music every day after lunch. He points to his head to let me know he wants to listen to "Do your ears hang low?" and he throws his hand over his shoulder... well, as best he can! Other Joshua favorites are "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." I think he likes that one simply for the motion you do when the rain "wash[es] the spider out." I am glad there are no video cameras around when we do our little sing along times!

Roll over! Roll over!

I recently told you about how Ellie has been rolling over. She is doing great except for this one little detail... getting stuck. Over the past few days, whenever it is nap time, our former champion sleeper gets to rolling in her crib while she is supposedly winding down to sleep. She talks and plays a little, no big deal... until she wants to return to her back to fall asleep and is unable! Our days are now filled with listening for the frustration, checking on her, turning her to her back, and repeating. Oh, and when David is gone, Joshua loves to accompany in these little moments and turn on noisy toys in her room! Yikes!

Gotcha! (the good kind... not the scorpion!)

I finally did it! I captured one of Ellie's precious, joyful grins. I think they should make infant-friendly cameras. Ours has a little orange light that lights up when you push the button to take a picture. Ellie sees the light and immediately stops smiling because of her curiosity. I began to cover the light with my finger; I am not even sure of the purpose of it. Then I noticed the little beep that happens the split second before the picture is captured. Well, I can't cover that with my finger!

Table for four!

Yesterday, we took a big step. Ellie had her first food! I was hoping she would make it to six months, but she has been unusually wakeful at night, so we will see if this helps. Ellie made her spoon-eating debut with a whopping tablespoon of rice cereal. She pushed some of it out with her tongue in a futile attempt to eat in the only way she really knows how, but all in all, it was a successful first meal. An especially interesting part of the meal was Joshua's reaction. This sweet little person is actually starting to do stuff, and he notices the difference! He thinks it is fun, but he also wants in on the attention!

Hmmm....

The priceless face

Pause to clean the floor... Ellie was so excited after her first bite that she kicked the bowl right out of my hand!

Joshua decided to act like a monkey so that we would take his picture, too.:-) Don't worry, honey, you are still cute!

Playdates

We have really enjoyed wayching Joshua "make friends" since we have been back in Texas. This is Caleb. He is in Joshua's class at church, and we like to go to the museum with him and his Mom. Caleb likes to pray for Joshua to eat vegetables. :-)

getting ready

High five!

You might like to know: Some more help deciphering the language of Joshua

Joshua loves to say the word "duck", and it sounds pretty similar to "quack". He can now sign juice, fish, horse, where, cookie, diaper, and potty. Joshua roars like a lion when he wants to go to the zoo. He understands the word "knock," so he knocked on the tower of blocks when David asked if he wanted to knock it down. It is fun to "learn Joshua" more every day, and I am thankful that he is patient with us!

Happy 5 months, Ellie!

Ellie's 5 month pose

Point A...

...Point B! What a work-out!


Ellie turned five months old yesterday! I can't believe that she is soooo old!:-) However, when I think about all that has happened since she was born, it seems like maybe she should be five years old. To celebrate her birthday, Ellie rolled over! I thought it was a fluke, but she did it several times in a row. I went to work in the kitchen, and when I returned, she wasn't even on her blanket any more! Unfortunately, Ellie isn't quite strong enough to handle her new skill in her sleep, so she has cried the last couple of mornings because she gets stuck with her arm underneath her. (On the other hand, maybe she knows Daddy is up getting ready for work in those wee hours of the morning, and she is sympathizing...!)

Loving Lily

Bathtime fun

A little parallel play at the museum

The girls

Giving kisses

Last week, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy, and Cousin Lily came to visit for a couple of days. We had so much fun together, and I, for one, was surprised at how much the kids wore me out!;-) Joshua enjoyed showing Lily his favorite Waco spots, including the zoo and the museum. In fact, we were so busy that we hardly took any pictures!

Mah-mah, Dah-dah, Bah-bah, Nah-nah, Unh-unh

Joshua's verbal skills are improving these days. We started to teach him some sign language about a month ago just to ease some of the frustration, but he is starting to pick up new words here and there. David and I were thrilled when Joshua started calling us by name. Most of his syllables have multiple meanings, but I don't care as long as I can understand him for now!

Mah-mah: Mommy, more
Dah-dah: Daddy
Bah-bah: Bible, male grandparent (They each have different chosen names, but I guess this is what it will be for now!)
Nah-nah: night-night, female grandparent (see parenthetical note above)
Unh-unh: (a vast myriad of meanings, this syllable takes on the inflection of the correct words) thank you; "Yes, Mommy;" okay, etc.

Sleeping Beauty

Ellie has been an expert sleeper since she was born. Some people think that all newborns are sleepy, but I can tell you that they are not! Joshua hardly slept during the day in his first two months of life. Ellie, on the other hand, could not be bothered to keep her eyes open... no matter what we tried! I thought that the sleepiness would subside, but she has continued to be terrific at falling asleep and at staying asleep during naps as well as through the night. Her bedroom door in our house does not close all the way, and I actually love it because I can peek in at her from time to time. I have learned that she isn't always sleeping in there! She lays quietly wiggling around; sometimes she is grabbing her face in a desperate attempt to get all of her fingers in to her mouth in order to soothe herself back to sleep. Most often, she is laying completely still with her eyes cracked open. Now I know that babies sleep with their eyes open sometimes, but it seemd like hers are hardly ever closed!

Family vacation

I realized as I typed the title of this post that last year we spent several days in Beirut for our vacation when David's sisters and brother-in-law were here. My sources of refreshement included air conditioning and coffee shops. This year, things are a little different.

Many of you may have heard that David got a job. We are so thankful for the provision of God in our lives. One enormous blessing was that David found out he had been hired two weeks before he has to report to work. We are making these two weeks count! We knew we wanted to spend lots of quality time together as a family, and we decided that the best way to do that with our kids' ages was simply to stay home. What it looks like is this: we do something fun together each day, and we try to spend some time outside each day. David and I take turns during the kids' naps going running, running errands, and continuing the unpacking process. Today is the beginning of week #2, and David will start his new job next Monday!

Time marches on

I am finally running again. The past 6 months has been my longest hiatus from consistent running since... 8th grade! It is funny because these days, when I run, I have to remind myself how much time has passed. I still enjoy running on the Bear Trail, a 2.4 mile loop on Baylor campus. Since I started running that trail in August of 2001, life sure has changed! I have a lot of history there. I ran that trail when it was mostly runnner-friendly gravel; I ran it as I watched monstrous buildings go up. I have run the Bear Trail five or more times in a row to train for marathons; I have run it with my double jogging stroller. I have run the trail with friends, by myself, and with my kids... both in utero and in the jogging stroller. I have run the trail as a freshman in college, single, dating, engaged, married, and pregnant. I have run the trail in the dark hours of the morning and in the wee hours of the night. When I set out to run the Bear Trail for the first time this season, I enjoyed watching students go about their lives. I wonder, when I am not with my kids, how old I look to those students. They sure look young and little to me! For me, it feels like hardly any time as passed since I ran my first lap.

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

This is one of my favorite books that we read to Joshua. (Actually, I still haven't found it since we returned from Lebanon, but one day...!) Ellie has discovered her fingers and toes, or at least her hands and feet! Joshua never really sat and stared at his extremities as I heard he might, but Ellie has definitely entered into that phase! She began by staring at her fist which she would extend like a cheerleader frozen in the middle of a cheer. In the past few days, I have caught her tracking her hand as she waves it around. She also grabs her feet and watches them move around. One day, in her carseat, she kept lifting her foot, looking at it, and then lowering it. She must be experimenting and realizing that she has control over those things! (Or maybe she just thinks it is a cool toy that keeps moving back and forth.)

Houston

We recently went to Houston for my cousin Laura's bridal shower. It is so fun to be able to participate in these celebrations again! While we were there, we stayed very busy. Joshua swam a lot in Grandmom and G-pa's new pool, and he went to the park with his cousin, Lily. We also got to meet my cousin Julia's new baby, Claire. She is about 2 months younger than Ellie. What a fun weekend!

Throwing technique

Joshua loves to throw things, especially balls. He likes to play catch, it just requires a whole lot of effort for his partner. A few days ago, David was lying on the floor on his back, and he was tossing a stuffed animal in the air. Joshua thought this looked pretty fun, so he decided to try. He got the small stuffed lamb, raised his hand up waaayyyy in the air, stood sooooo high on his toes, looked at the ceiling, and then threw the lamb down on the ground with all of his might. He continued with the same technique, determined that he could throw the lamb down and still get it to go up by looking up and standing tall.