My middle child

They say a middle child is a mother's comfort.
Asher fits that (most of the time... he is 2, after all!).
Thanks, Elisa, for this sweet photo - from last spring in Phoenix, we've got snow on the ground here now.

The Third Child

Joshua and I often felt like we were not anxious enough about the welfare of our first child for future children to survive, given the predicted deterioration of our vigilvance with each successive child.
And, well, Asher has made it past his second birthday (I hold him responsible for all accidents that befall him from this point on :)), but he's made of pretty tough stuff. Josiah may be the real test case...
First, let me confess that I did leave him, at 2 weeks old, on the changing table while I went into the bathroom to wash my hands. But he wasn't unattended - his 2 1/2 year old brother was standing next to the changing table. And I did say, in a casual, make-him-feel-included kind of way, "Watch your brother." I heard a little bit of mild fussing from Josiah when I was washing my hands, but that in no way prepared me for what I would find when I returned to the bedroom (about 1.5 minutes later).
Asher was standing on top of the changing table (having scaled the side), arms wrapped in a tight hug around the baby so that Josiah was dangling from his embrace, about 5 feet above the floor. "Here, mommy," Asher said, turning toward me, "I pick Josiah up for you!"
Josiah was fine. Asher got a little reminder not to ever pick up the baby. And I'll make sure Joshua's awake before I leave the room next time.

thank you card

Serena was writing some thank you cards earlier in the day today, and then his afternoon she spent quite a while making, with stickers and crayons, a card that she told me would be for the new baby when it was born.

When she had finished her masterpiece, she wanted me to write on it for her:

For Baby,

Thank you for coming out of Mommy's tummy. I love you.

Love,

Serena

I think we'll all be thankful and excited, come October.

Fairy "Four"est Party

We celebrated Serena's 4th birthday with a fairy picnic in the park with a few of her friends. Everybody got wings and glittery fairy dust, a picnic fit for a princess, and fairy-sized finger foods.

We were lucky enough to have a beautiful, cool afternoon at the park - perfect for flying around!

It's hard to beleive there are 4 candles on that cake!

Asher had a great time, too, of course :). Here he is with his favorite little fairy, Audrey. Serena's dollhouse has been a huge hit - and she even lets Asher play with her sometimes.

At four years old, Serena is a lot of fun - she has a great imagination, plenty of vocabulary for good conversations, and an infectious laugh. She's definitely strong-willed and determined to get her way, but learning to compromise and reason some. She plays well with her little brother, and is glad to include him in her imaginary play. They seem more and more like friends as they giggle and converse together. Serena still loves books and has quick letter recognition but not much patience for learning more yet. Recently, we've noticed that she's become really good at coloring, which she also enjoys.

We feel blessed to be her parents, to watch her grow and learn, and to laugh and learn with her.

The Danger of a Nickname

While I call my kids a variety of cute or silly little names on a regular basis, I really have one main nickname for each of them. Serena is "Bean" (a simplifying of "Serena - Beana"), and I've called her that (not exclusively) most of her life. Asher didn't get a rhyming nickname - "smasher," "basher," "crasher," etc, didn't seem like good values to promote. Instead, early on, mostly because of his sweet newborn roundness, I started calling him "Squish." I will admit my mother warned me from the beginning that this might not be appreciated by Asher later in life. In spite of the warning, I've kept calling him Squish, enough that he answers, if I ask "Who's Squish?", "Me!"

Now, 2 years alter, Asher's still a pretty sturdy guy but he's thinned out a lot on his way to kid-dom from toddlerhood. He's long lost his baby rolls and developed tough little toddler toes - though he does still have pretty sweet little cheeks and fun to pinch, ticklish thighs. Still, entirely squishy or not, I call him Squish.

Last night after dinner the kids were enjoying a little bit of ice cream and I remarked to them, "Ice cream twice in one day! You'll get chubby." Serena's response was, "Asher's already chubby, I might get chubby."

"Asher's not chubby," I quickly corrected.

"Uh huh. He's Squish." Serena responded.

Maybe it's not a great nickname choice. And he's definitely not going to like it later in life.

Squish - beach pose

Favorite Floss Flavors

Serena was flossing her teeth with flavored floss this morning.

Serena: What kind is this, mint?
Daddy: (seeing that is was red) It might be cinnamon.
Serena: I think it's mint.
[pause]... Is yours broccoli?

Broccoli-flavored dental floss. It's an idea.

Baby makes Five

She/He looks so innocent... and yet by the third time around we're fully aware of how much disruption one little life can cause. We're still four months away (we hope) from the arrival of our third child, but today is one of those days that I'm not entirely sure we're up for it.
Just arrived home from a fun but exhausting weekend away at a friend's wedding. Mostly exhausting for the kids - lots of late nights and missed naps makes for kids a little more high-maintenance than usual. Which translates into exhausting for mom and dad too. They are, thankfully, sleeping peacefully at the moment. And it only takes me a few seconds to remember all the reasons I adore them, to recall all the times they made me smile or laugh out loud today, and to feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of two healthy, happy children.
But still... 3?

Asher's 2!

We celebrated Asher's 2nd Birthday in the park.

Enjoying cupcakes - the icing at least.

The theme was "puppies in the park" - so we had "pupcakes" :)

and hotdogs, of course...

Asher at two is as fun as ever - laughs with absolute delight, loves to be "gickled," eats everything, especially fruit, LOVES puppies, throws, kicks and catches balls, rides a tricycle, chases his sister, has the cutest smile, still has his raspy little voice, can throw a great fit but is usually easy-going, agreeable, and peace-making and a great cuddler. We've been so blessed to have him in our lives and look forward to watching him grow and learn in the years to come!

Baby Moses

Serena came out of her Sunday School class carrying a picture she had made of Baby Moses in a basket.

"Oh, did you learn about Moses today?"

Serena answered, "Yeah, Mary put him in a basket in the river to keep him safe from the mean fairy."

Pretty close. I heard from her teacher that she was pretty concerned that the alligators might eat Moses when he was in the river. Her father talked to her about the fact that crocodiles, not alligators live in the nile.

21 months old

Asher's closing in on 2 years old, and I really think there is no cuter age. He's even cute when he says "no," no matter what you ask him. He's finally decided to talk more, although that doesn't mean he's real chatty. Mostly still a quiet kid, but he is saying more and more words, and we are trying to learn to understand them all. "Up" "cup" and "help" all sound an awful lot alike, as do "cookie" and "dirty." He loves to smile for the camera and say "cheese" (food words are some of his clearest) - as you can see above. This is the position he assumed when I told the kids they could watch a movie. It didn't last past the opneing credits, though, before the pillow was on the floor so he could jump off the couch onto it.

We Survived Christmas

We expected the last two weeks of 2009 to be a little bit crazy. All of Joshua's family came for a Christmas visit - 14 people all together! But that kind of crazy is a good kind of crazy - the fun, the crowd, the kids, the noise. And it was as wonderful as we thought it would be; we're so glad they came!


However, the was also a significant amount of not-so-good kind of crazy that filled our holiday as well. Broken microwave, leaking (through the second floor) washing machine, broken refrigerator (as in not functioning, have to keep holiday food for a dozen people in ice chests on the porch), broken heater (but rigged to function after one VERY cold night), Christmas tree fell over... twice, sinus infection, ear infection, respiratory infection, stomach virus passed around, and all-night travel delays for multiple parties.


We're just hoping 2010 brings a new trend. (I'm counting Joshua's mom's bout wiht food poisoning in the '09 casualty tally... after all, the food came from 2009, which was precisely the problem, in addition to inconsistent refrigeration temperatures - see above).


This family "Christmas" photo was taken 4 days after Christmas, when the little ones were done puking and some sanity had returned.