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We went to visit my Mom at work and see the farm all decorated up for Christmas. Grandma gave Leah a gingerbread cookie and we got to go on a horse drawn wagon ride.

The farm seems so peaceful with a blanket of snow.

We went to back to my mom’s house where Leah played outside with my mom in the snow. The following week Morgan and I were teaching Sunday school and telling the story of how an angel came to visit Mary. There were wooden blocks to build Mary’s house, some animal costumes for the stable and playdough to make angels out of. When asked what an angel looks like, Leah immediately went on the ground and showed her friends how she made her snow angel and explained that that is how angels look. There isn’t a lot of talk about angels around our house I guess. I struggle to explain how angels look as I’ve never seen one.

Leah and Joel have been interacting more since he’s found new freedom in crawling. Joel looks across the room, sees something he wants, gets really excited (breathing faster and making excited noises) and then starts crawling with great anticipation. He isn’t upset yet if you take something away from him.

He puts anything and everything into his mouth. On the second picture, Joel has just the end of the string in his mouth. Joel got his second tooth a week ago Wednesday.

Leah and I have been working on some Christmas cards. This is her smile for the camera.

Joel puts these fridge magnets in his mouth a lot and then crawls all through the house. A few of them have been dropped down the stairwell.

Leah had her November presentation at preschool on Tuesday. She was very serious and made sure she followed everything the teacher was doing and saying to them. I love to watch her and her whole class perform.

Attempting to get a nice picture of Leah and Joel.

The other day, I was hanging out in the kitchen with Leah and Joel putting together some gingerbread houses. I had Joel’s chair next to me (which has been deeply coveted by Leah) but had put Joel on the floor to crawl around. Leah wanted to go in it so she asked Joel if she could. She continued this conversation, answering for both her and Joel, with Joel’s voice being very high pitched. It continued like this:
-No
-Joel, but I really want to sit in your chair.
-No, I won’t let you sit in my chair.
-Mommy, Joel won’t let me sit in his chair.
I answered saying I do not break up fictitious arguments as I lifted her up into Joel’s chair.

Last Wednesday Joel rolled from back to front a few times. I also made him cry for the first time (kind of intentionally but not really). He bit me and I said in a rather stern, loud voice, “no!”. His face scrunched and he teared up and my heart broke. He didn’t seem to impressed by attempts to be consoled by the one who just scared him which tugged at my heart strings all the more. On a happier note, he also rode in a shopping cart for the first time. It was a ‘car’ shopping cart so he was Leah’s passenger and happy as a clam to go along for the ride.

On Thursday he was practicing his crawling skills and ended up with his stomach on the floor. I was waiting for him to politely ask for help express his irritation on being stuck before I helped him as I was cuddling a newborn and didn’t want to disturb anyone else. I guess he realized his predicament in being stuck and figured out how to get back up on all fours and then return to sitting.

A first for me this week was being up for long periods of time in the middle of the night with a hurting child. That’s not to say my children have never kept me up at night but just not due to sickness. I’ve been so blessed by the health of our children (which I take very little responsibility for). I’m not sure if it was teeth or an upset stomach or some other random cause, all I know is that he slept much better once Tylenol was administered and that I should have given it to him five hours earlier.

I very rarely give my kids medication of any kind as they rarely are sick and I don’t like taking medication however, it didn’t even cross my mind in my weary state till much too late. I still feel like a first time parent with Joel occasionally. Sometimes in learning the hard way like this and other times in my great excitement for new milestones (e.g. new tooth). Anyways, once he was sleeping, I heard Leah was awake so I got her from her room and we went on an adventure first thing while still wearing our pajama tops. We put on some lounge pants and went off to the store for some more Tylenol as it was all gone and a snack as Leah hadn’t eaten breakfast. I was amazed at how many people were out and about at just after eight in the morning. My kids sleep in (as do I most days) which I’m very grateful for. Funny how life goes on even when your not up to see it go round.

Leah quotes:
“Is it tomorrow yet?”

When asking about who is Grandma’s mom, I explained that she had died and was no longer around. Leah said that was sad and asked why she had to die. I told her that Grandma’s mom was very, very old and was sick. Then, not sure if she knew the meaning of death, I asked her what does it mean to die and Leah responded that it meant going to the doctor.

I was going to pick up something off of Craig’s list and Leah asked if I was going to take it. I said I was going to and she replied with that wouldn’t be nice. I explained that I was going to pay her for it but Leah still wasn’t too convinced. After I returned to the car when I picked it up, Leah asked if she said yes, meaning that we could have it and she was pretty happy about that

I can’t think of any more but I’ll keep adding them as they come, because there is lots of good ones these days.

The baby gate is up now full time as Joel is getting around in good time these days. He usually naps just once a day for a couple of hours in the afternoon but will have a morning and afternoon nap if he falls asleep earlier. He is also starting to babble away, mostly saying ba, ba, ba. Joel is growing up quickly these days and I’m reveling in his achievements.

It has been a very busy month with me preparing to get my daycare licensed as well as Morgan working hard on his business as well. Here is an update of the past month.

At the end of every month, Leah’s preschool invites parents to a small presentation so the teachers and kids can share a little of what they have learned that month. Leah has done great during the presentations, doing the actions and participating and following directions to a tee. She rushed over, passing a few kids in line so she could put her feet on the performance line.

Leah was invited to a princess party so we decided to dress her up a bit. Morgan put ‘blobs’ in her hair after her bath the night before.

I felt a bit like a pageant mom. I’m so not a girly girl but Leah loves all things girly. She loves rings, sparkly shoes, make up and all things pretty.

Cinderella came too.

Morgan spends time with Joel in his office so I can have some time to get things done. A few activities they do together include spinning on the second office chair.

I guess sitting on the floor playing with toys wasn’t exciting enough.

Morgan and Leah carve their pumpkins together every year. Morgan let Leah use a sharp knife for the first time but she was quite hesitant.

She had a lot of fun helping though. After Morgan was done carving his, he cut it up to cook it to make the pumpkin ready for pie.

Joel has been up like this for a little bit now and in this past weekend, he has been moving purposefully across the room. He keeps his one foot still under him most of the time so then he can return to sitting up. When he is up on all fours in the crawling position, he ends up on his stomach once he gets tired, which happens pretty quick.

He loves his food and is eating about three baby food cubes at every meal.

On October 27, Joel’s first tooth popped up. He is going down to bed at 8:30ish and getting up around 5 am to eat and then back to sleep until 8ish. He is eating breakfeast, lunch and dinner with us. Joel is still a happy, laid back babe most of the time. Leah is awesome with him and will sing patty cake or other songs to keep him happy for me if I need a few more minutes is he is fussy.
Leah is loving preschool and cubbies, her church preschool program. She is learning a lot. Leah is very much a mother hen with Joel and when her friends come over. She likes to correct and instruct everyone.

We had lots of fun with friends at the pumpkin patch this year. Leah enjoyed the petting zoo as well as hanging out with her buddies. She was a little nervous about the hayride but once we talked it over, she was excited.

Leah would not sit on the tractor this year but at least Joel was happy to comply. The picture of Leah is from last year. I don’t think it moved an inch.

The hayride dropped us off at the corn maze where we let Leah lead us through to the pumpkin patch.

Leah enjoyed the hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

The field was hard to walk through, so Leah hitched a ride and smelled the sunflowers.

Just like last year, Leah would pick up a pumpkin to check it out and then proclaim that is was dirty. This year we could easily explain to her that it grew in the dirt and we could clean it off, unlike last year, where she just kept trying to pick up other pumpkins that looked clean regardless of what we told her.

Leah decided on a nice, little pumpkin. Morgan also picked out a larger one to take home as well.

After the hayride back, we had a picnic lunch where Joel had a short nap on the picnic table.

I’ve started feeding Joel three times a day this week even though he doesn’t totally have the hang of it. He usually eats better during breakfast and lunch as oppose to his dinner. Joel doesn’t open his mouth intentionally for food yet so I try get him to smile or he grabs onto the spoon and helps me guide it into his mouth just like he grabs his toys and gives them a good chew. He has had rice cereal, banana, apple sauce, potato and carrots, with no apparent preference yet. He needs a good bib as food tends to get all over. The bib above looks like he is wearing football gear under it.

He loves his sippy cup though he doesn’t really get any water from it.

We went for an evening fall week one night last week and collected fall things to help decorate our home. I think Joel looks like a bushman with his awesome winter hat. Leah was chasing me down the road while I ran backwards with the camera. I love her real smile which can be hard to capture.

Joel has been able to stand holding onto things for at least a couple of weeks now. He has also learned how to swivel himself on the floor in order to get something he wants.

On Monday, we went to the park and I put Joel in the swing for the first time. At first he was a little unsure but there were lots of smiles in between the perplexed faces. Once he was more confident in the swing, I pushed him higher and higher as his smiles grew.

A dress I made for a precious one month old little girl. I got lots of snuggles too. I can hardly remember Joel being that young. Time flies.

As much fun as dresses are on little girls, there are lots of handsome things for the boys. I’m enjoying dressing Joel as much as I did Leah. Love the sweater vest.

On Wednesday mornings while I attend a teaching and small group time with moms, Leah goes to a Christian preschool program called Cubbies. She adores the vest she wears and wore it all day long. Leah even has a little bit of homework. She and I have been practicing her memory verse all week and she has it fully memorized now. It is “God is love. 1 John 4:8”.

I was trying to go over the activities with her and she was really tired from all of the excitement of the week and I had bad visions of what homework time might look like in a few years. Life is very full of new activities for Leah right now along with the regular play dates and such and I need to remember and intentionally plan downtime for our family, especially as she gets used to the new routine.

This morning after researching a new car seat for Leah, feeding everyone breakfast, putting a roast in the crock pot and bathing and dressing the kids, we were finally ready to run some errands. Just before we left, I paused amidst the mental list of things to pack and the physical list of places to go and items to buy and reflected. I pulled out the camera, delaying the trip I had carefully planned and embraced the time.

I’m unbelievably thankful for my kids. Sometimes I let them drive me to my wit’s end and I require some time to myself before I can come back to being the patient, attentive mother I strive to be. But, for the most part, especially when proper sleep has been attained and they have been fed recently, I look at them with awe and wonder and consider myself extremely thankful that they are mine.

Joel is just shy of six months so we have starting feeding him some rice cereal. He was super eager to grab the bowl and spoon.

I don’t think he is too crazy about actually eating it. I tried a little bit and I don’t blame him.

Leah had her first day of preschool last Thursday. Her preschool does gradually entry so her first class was only an hour. She did great and seemed to really enjoy it. Leah didn’t want us to leave but didn’t put up a fuss when we left. When I peeked in the window, she was playing with ponies happily with one of her teachers. Morgan was able to walk to preschool with us to see Leah off to her first day.

When I came to pick her up, her face lit up and ran over to give me a great, big hug. So precious!

We went to Oroville for the long weekend and had a blast. The long car ride can frustrate Leah but this time she did awesome. She consumed Cheetos happily for at least an hour as I praised my purchases of junk food for helping the time fly by. It also helped that Morgan traveled with us this time and could walk around with Leah when we stopped to feed Joel along the way.

My aunt and uncle were up with their kids along with some of their extended family. One of the moms brought some paint for rock painting. It brought out the artist in all of us.

Joel tried out a cowboy hat but decided it looked too much like a sombrero on his head. Give it a few years buddy and it will fit you just fine.

Leah had fun hanging out with everyone and had a lot of fun with my cousin. She played with Leah for quite awhile in the water and got her prepped for a tube ride behind the boat. Here they are relaxing at the end of the dock.

There was no hesitation this time around the water. She copied the boys who were a few years older than her, running off the dock and jumping onto the tube. Leah had to start right at the beginning of the dock though and would always come to a complete stop before she jumped.

All of that fun led to this:

That’s Leah sitting in front of Morgan with me next to her going for a tube ride behind the boat. She screamed just like she heard her cousins do while going tubing because that is what you do when you are having fun. We were at an almost idle for the first minute or two but gradually brought up the speed and even went out of the wake a few times to Leah’s delight. An eight year old boy came along with us on the tube as well which helped Leah’s confidence. After a rather sharp turn he said, “That was awesome” which Leah promptly echoed with the same amount of enthusiasm. When he fell off, Leah was so eager to make sure we went back and picked him up.

She didn’t want to go for a boat ride this time around but I was a proud mom riding along beside her as we went tubing. Grandpa is going to be so proud.

On Wednesday, we went to Vancouver International Airport to pick up Grandma and Granddad. There were many, many questions leading up to this adventure. Leah wondered why couldn’t the plane just come to our house. She checked for the plane looking out the front window several times that morning. After we drove, parked and found a great look out, we saw the plane Grandma and Granddad were on.

There was so much to see while we ate our lunch and lots of explaining. Leah kept asking if Grandma was on the planes she saw taking off. She also wondered if she would be able to go on a plane.

While Leah watched and ate, Joel had fun playing with Sophie the giraffe on a bench.

I promised Leah one day we would take her on a plane. Probably not anytime in the near future and that it might not be as exciting as she was hoping for. For now, just visiting the airport is exciting enough for me.

Morgan had talked about wanting to go camping with Leah in the backyard. I thought it was a great idea for them to do something special together so I reminded Morgan right before I went out for a run with two friends of mine.

Morgan was still enthusiastic about it and wanted to do it that night even though nothing was set up, it was already past seven o’clock and for the next forty five minutes he would be on his own with both kids and when I would get home, I would need him to look after both of them while I had a shower.

I was surprised to when I got home from my run to see this.

When I got closer, I heard some voices.

Morgan had set up the tent, brought out everything necessary for the evening and then hung out with the kids in the tent till I got home and showered. They lasted the whole night and Leah thought is was great. What a great way to make happy childhood memories.

In other news, while celebrating a birthday with our neighbour’s Joel figured out to sit up all by himself. He can last for quite a while and even reach for toys and not fall over sometimes.

He doesn’t mind the grass on his feet at all. Joel is one easygoing fellow.