Picture Post Palooza

You won't believe how many pictures are in this post. So let's get to it.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2007

Elijah's first Christmas.


Judah's turn -- which included a real boomarang from Australia!


Momma and Daddy's turn. My new Willow Tree Family and the necklace from Australia were two very special gifts to me! Matt got a guitar which he is currently strumming -- I love to hear him play!


Despite what the sticker says, he's NOT for sale!


Jesus' birthday party. There is alot of symbolism in this pancake birthday cake. It tells the Gospel story...and it's tasty, too!


ARKANSAS FAMILY

Now tell me who he looks like. ;-)


Hailey, our sweet niece.


Hope, me, and 'Lijah.


My beautiful older sister, Autumn (who took many of these family pictures because she wanted to play with our new camera). Thanks!


Linus...I mean...Judah.


Hope playing with Matt's Christmas gift.


Gramps, whose Sugarbear I forever will be.


My beautiful older sister's handsome hubby, Andy. Now you know why their kids are knock-outs. :-)


Erik, our oldest nephew.


I have a feeling that someday these four will keep us all on our toes when they are together.


Sick in Arkansas, but still smilin'. Update: Judah had a follow-up appointment yesterday. Right ear looked semi-better, left ear was still pretty bad. Pink eye has hit again, therefore another round of eyedrops is underway. He will go on a new antibiotic for his ears on Saturday for long term (same thing as last winter/spring). I'm assuming if his ears have not improved by his next check-up in two weeks, then we will really be discussing the possibility of tubes. I won't be surprised. He is becoming my "pay-back" child. ;-)


'Lij and his Nini.


Doesn't he just melt your heart?


Me and my boys. ::sigh of bliss::


PLAYDATE WITH HANNAH

Yesterday, Tara graciously came over to watch Elijah while I took Judah for his check-up. She also brought dinner! It was heart warming to be with Nathan and Tara again and to see adorable Hannah. God's goodness can be seen in how quickly we made dear friends here. Thanks again, Tara! Judah tried to play ball with Hannah, but she wasn't quite sure what to do. She's cute even when she's crying. They made good music together!



EATIN' FUN

Judah has recently gotten to try Daddy's favorite cereal, Lucky Charms. He's a natural in that he picks out the marshmallows and leaves the cereal. The second picture is evidence that he would even take the cereal pieces out of his mouth if they happened to tag along with a marshmallow. Kids will be kids. A bowl of those sounds good right now, actually.



We started veggies this week with Elijah, debuting with Sweet Potatoes. He was quite shocked when they first hit his tongue, but he gobbles them up. It might be hard to see, but in the first picture you will notice the spoon laying on the coffee table with a little smattering of sweet potatoes. That's because I let Elijah hold the spoon for a second and before I knew it, somehow he had LAUNCHED the spoon all the way over there. Hilariously cute! We're gonna have to stop the sweet potatoes and oatmeal thought because something is not sitting well. Trial and error can be so tough sometimes!



PART OF YESTERDAY'S HARDSHIPS

If you read my most recent post, you found out what kind of day I had. Here are two pictures from it -- Elijah crying next-to-non-stop and the chenille blanket after it's second time in the dryer. Note the lint trap, how packed full of fibers it is. I took the blanket outside and shook it off well, lint rolled it, and placed it back on it's designated chair. I THINK it survived the dryer.



A LOVELY WALK IN...JANUARY

The weather has been beautiful the past couple days, so we went for a walk today. We walked around our building to our "backyard" where there is enough grassy room to run around (even though Judah doesn't really do that). I love our camera. I love the weather (for the time being). But most of all, I love my boys!



WHEW! GOODNIGHT!

Is it really only 11:00?

Judah still has a fever and is developing a gunky eye and dry cough.

Elijah is very fussy today and won't nap.

Matt has had four rounds of throwing up since 4:30 and now has a fever, currently passed out in bed.

I found out a dear friend from college now has complications with her already complicated pregnancy (24 wks) and that she is having another boy who's name will be Silas.

My washing machine is putting off a weird rubber-burning smell when it is finished with its loads and the molding around the pipes has completely popped off the wall for some reason.

There are layers of dust EVERWHERE because some sanding work was done while I was away. It's gonna take forever to get everything dusted.

And on the note of the previous two, are you not supposed to machine wash a chenille blanket? I had to wash it because of the dust. I opened my dryer to find chenille fibers falling out all over my carpet, enough fibers in the lint trap to make up a baseball, fibers embedded in all the special blanks, and purple burp rags. And I can't vacuum the carpet because Elijah refuses to be put down.

I spilled my cereal all over an important document that we need for replacing the chairs that got broken in the move -- and that was the second document sent to us since we lost the first. Hopefully the property office won't mind some milk stains.

I am tired.

And it's only mid-morning???

More on Judah

Well, right after my last post, the boys woke up. We ended up taking Judah to the doctor because his fever is high again today. Turns out, he has ear infections in both ears; but our doctor does not think that explains what is going on with the long-term fever and such. So poor Judah had blood drawn again today for a more intensive screening. I should be hearing back today and in a few days about the various tests. I gave him some Tylenol a little while ago for the fever, and he hasn't thrown up yet. And I actually got him to eat some apple sauce. He's just a lump on the couch today. :-( Pray he gets better soon and that we will settle back in quickly.

And get some much needed sleep.

Do I really live here?

After 35 days away...I woke up several times last night thinking "Where on earth am I, and what is that huge white thing on the wall?" Then I'd remember that I am home and the white thing was my closet door. And it's kind of strange to remember that we are our own family and have our own home filled with our own stuff. It is easy to quickly become kids with grandkids when you are home for the holidays! Instead of typing out story right now (considering I have almost a month's worth), I will just post some pics. It's almost 9:00 and the boys are both still asleep. Wonder of wonders! And, no, Judah didn't throw up on the plane -- praise the Lord!

We got a new camera. It's awesome! In a coming post, I will show you how good it is at detail...even when taking a pic of a Christmas tree from another room!

Christmas PJ Brothers. It still amazes me that my first son's First Christmas PJ's became my second son's...one Christmas after the other.

One of Elijah's gifts from my mom was his very own special blank. We found a fleece blanket with a monkey on it that says "Snuggly," so I did some work on it to put a satin boarder (which is what qualifies it as special!). This was one of the first few pictures we took with our new camera. Later, I'll show you a close up of my hands. It's pretty cool detail!

Bathtime with sick but happy Judah. For those who don't know, Judah was pretty much sick the whole time we were gone. Colds, pink eye, high-fever & vomit virus, almost ear infection. Judah's trip to the doctor involved chest x-ray, nose swab (which Matt say was more of a brain swab), and blood drawn out of his little arm. It was quite an eventful vacation for Judah.

Sleeping Bouncy Baby. Who loves Nini's hands

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the four of us!

This is it!

Today is a busy day -- finishing several gifts, hemming new pants, packing for IN, family December birthday party. And Matt gets here TOMORROW! Has it really been 2 weeks? Seems like so short and yet horribly too long. I get to have coffee with Beth and Thea tomorrow morning...and meet Bella!

Judah and I made cookies together for the first time last night. It was more of an introduction to cookie making since it was precut cookie dough. But I let him stand on a step stool and watch me do it, let him taste the cookie dough (which of course he loved), and explained to him the basics of baking. It was such a precious time alone with him!

Waiting and watching the goodness bake up!


Look who really does have Momma's eyes. ;-) Although, his seem to still have a touch of green because they are not as dark amber brown as mine.

Autumn just gave us a LOAD of boy clothes. I am so thankful! And they are all adorable, of course! I also found some new jeans for the boys at Target. They are the bomb! They're dark denim and more fitted than most baby/toddler jeans (which are the baggy straight leg type.) I love them! Elijah is wearing them in his full length photo; but I cropped it close, too, so you can see his cute face. :-D

Thoughts on a Friday Night

Happy Birthday to Brenda, Matt's mom!

We're pretty much over our colds...but Judah now has pink eye. So he's on eye drops every four hours for the next week -- lemme tell ya. If you've never tried to get eye drops into both eyes of a 19 month old, you've never really lived! :-P Just pray he gets better soon and that no one else in the house will get it.

Matt should be taking off pretty soon for his trans-Pacific flight. He's probably gonna write more on his book, sleep, and take in all the movies they show on those long flights. He'll live Saturday twice, arriving home in MD around 9:30 cst. Only one more week go without my Love...Europe for a month is gonna be a humdinger. I just try to keep perspective by remembering all the soldiers wives who live life without their hubbies for much longer than a month, their hubbies are in peril, and their hubbies miss ALOT more of their kids' lives...some even miss the births of their babies. A month will be hard, but God gives grace to meet the need.

We just watched The Nativity Story. It really is a great movie -- you should rent it! Or just buy it and save yourself several trips to Blockbuster. ;-) I had two deep, amazing thoughts this time around:

1) If we were alive during that time, Herod's soldiers would murder BOTH of my boys because they are both under two. Not only would I grieve loss twice over, I would also grieve being made completely childless. It made me relfect on all those mothers who lost their precious boys because of one man's greed, pride, and fear. So much sorrow surrounds the story of Christ, and yet He came to bear those very same sorrows. I am blessed to have two sons, and I pray even more tonight that they live up to their names -- "Praised Hero of God" and "My God is Yaweh, Exalted and Strong."

2) One of the greatest analogies of Jesus Christ is that He is our Great Shepherd. He came into the world humble and unnoticed, just as shepherds lived their lives. He is a picture of gentle strength as He lovingly guides His Flock.

And who were Baby Jesus' very first visitors?

Humble, lowly shepherds who lived their lives unnoticed lovingly caring for their flocks...until a whole host of angels gave them notice of a baby who was born to save them, their Messiah and King.

Remember why we celebrate!

We All Made It

The boys and I are in LR. Matt is on the other side of the world. All are safe. :-D

The boys and I have bad colds. Matt has no jet lag. :-)

The boys and I are chilly and ready for Christmas. Matt is in gorgeousness. :-P

Four nights down, twelve to go. 8-|



Getting used to each other. Dune is warming up to Judah...I think. At least Judah still has all his fingers and toes.


My fun, new yoga pants and the Nikes my Momma gave me -- I love them! I have seriously wanted pink and grey tennis shoes for quite some time. Thank you, Momma!


Merry Christmas. Everyone!