Enjoying Spring!

Well, on a lighter note...an update post. Steve and I are leaving for a trip soon, that's just the two of us. It took a lot of convincing for me to really be on board with this idea. I am just one of those moms that is not comfortable leaving for more than a few hours at a time. But I realized that we really need a few days to be alone and decompress. We've had a very hard year. I lost my grandma almost exactly a year ago. Then we got news of Joshua's condition in the womb and then of course the 105 day hospital stay with surgeries and ventilators and lots of not fun things (I'm planning a huge "Joshua's story" post soon), then another month or so of home healthcare. It's been a very trying year to say the least, and we got through it, and I know we're stronger for it. But I think it will make us better parents to take a few days to focus on our marriage. I'm a firm believer in the fact that the very best gift you kids is a healthy marriage with their parents. It's also the best parenting move you can make. So I'm taking the plunge. We will be gone 4 days. We're going to Disney World!! We've never been by ourselves and we're very excited about it. We're staying in the very fancy Grand Floridian which we would never do with the kids and we're flying, which we haven't done in several years. We planned a backstage tour which we're very excited about. I think it's going to be fun. Joshua and Noah are staying with my mom and dad and Abby is staying home with Jasmine and Grammy!! I really put a lot of thought into how to divide up the kids. I didn't want anyone to have all three. It's a lot of work!! Noah is a huge help with Joshua, so I thought they'd be good together and I thought Abby would love some one on one time, plus she is the main caretaker for Jasmine these days, so I wanted her here with the dog. I think it'll work out. I hope so!! Joshua still doesn't sleep through the night, so I'm feeling bad for my mom!! At least it's only 4 nights! We'll see!!

Speaking of Joshua, he's getting so big already!! He'll be 8 months old on the 10th. He has just the two front bottom teeth, yet. He's very good at rolling all over and is now making diaper changes quit the challenge!! He has gotten very good at sitting up all by himself!! He loves to play with toys, and if he has thrown all his toys down from his chair during a meal, he will resort to just slapping the table. He loves that noise!! He's very vocal and his blabbering is starting to sound more like real sounds. He can do a great bababa sound and an mmmm sound. Everytime you feed him something other than his bottle, he makes this funny face for the first couple of bites and then he's all into it!! Everytime he makes that face!! He definitely loves his mama!! He prefers me to anyone else, although he does occasionally reach for daddy too. When he wants you to pick him up, he puts both arms out straight ahead and then turns his wrists over and over. It's so cute. I love that little one!!

Abby is becoming such a big girl too. She is and always has been such a sweet girl. She amazes me everyday with how well she speaks. The words she uses are so grown up and "smart" sounding!! I remember when she was still a toddler, people used to be amazed with the words she would use. I guess that's one of her many talents!! She is definitely our family daredevil. She LOVES being outside riding her bike or scooter, or playing on the swingset, drawing with sidewalk chalk or playing with Jasmine. But everyday she comes in with a new injury. Every single day!! I'm just praying it's always minor injuries!! She loves to write and draw pictures and uses those talents to make cards for us all the time. It's so cute. She gets frustrated sometimes with math or detailed writing assignments, but if you just take one on one time with her and encourage her, she does really well. She also loves cooking with me and never complains when I ask her to help me with something. I love that girl!!

Noah is quickly becoming a man before my very eyes. Why is it, when they hit double digits, suddenly they start maturing exponentially??? I only have about a head left of height over him. He is a very strong boy in spirit. Just like his dad. I can already tell he's not going to be one of those "video game" boys who live at home in their 20's with no job in perpetual childhood. He already talks about being a man with a job and providing for his family. He even has picked a name for his first daughter (I love that it's a daughter and not a son, he's going to have such a sweet father/daughter relationship!!), but I won't share in case he doesn't want anyone to know. He's one of those no nonsense, play by the book kind of kids. It infuriates him if you don't play a game exactly by the rules. I'm one who says, oh well, let's just do this and makes him crazy!! He also hates it if I "let" him or Abby win a game. He wants to either win or lose by his own merits. I can respect that, but as a mommy, it's hard for me to not let them win!! That no nonsense attitude is already doing wonders in his commitment to the Lord. He already amazes me with his apologetics. I love hearing him talk about it. He too, loves to cook with me and has even expressed an interest in pursuing that as a career. Both kids really want us to open either a full restaurant or a donut shop!! Maybe someday!! Yesterday he made us a crock pot roast with carrots and potatoes. He did all the work, I just told him what to do and because it's pretty easy, I think he can do it again on his own. While I desperately want him to stay little forever, I'm excited to see him grow to be a man. I still have several years to share with him and I can't wait to see how they turn out!! I love that boy!!

Well over the past few weeks, we finally got back into the swing of things and made it out to a few "field trips". We got our passes for the zoo renewed and made it out while the tulips were still in bloom. I took more pictures of the tulips than the animals!! Here's the kids buckled up and ready to go, I love that they can sit together in the same row.

My favorite were the purple ones. I love purple. I love the kids too!

A couple of brother shots. Noah absolutely adores that baby. I can already tell that he is going to be a much better father when he grows up just by having that baby around. Both kids love Joshua, but Noah is just over the moon with him!! Joshua loves his Noah and Abby too. Whenever either of them tries to entertain him, he just laughs and laughs. They're all blessed to have each other!

My baby boy!! You can really see his two little teeth in that picture. He's such a sweetie!!

And my beautiful baby girl. My only daughter and my partner in the house!! She will stop playing to go grocery shopping with me. She loves "girl time" and when we get in the car to go someone without the boys, she says ok let's have "girl talk"!! She is such a sweetie!!

And my handsome big boy!! I love that little face!!

Joshua fell asleep just before we left the zoo. Abby had found this tulip on the ground and we posed it with him. I thought it was cute!

This was from our visit today at the Creation Museum. We also got passes for there. We are just crazy about the ministry they are doing there. We really wanted to support them, so we decided to get 5 year passes. We're going to grow so much in our walk by visiting there regularly. Here the kids found a few familiar men.

Abby was giving crazy eyes to a dinosaur!!

Noah and Abby worked together so beautifully on that puzzle. No one shouted about it being "my turn", no, they just cooperatively did that puzzle together until it was finished. It warmed my heart to watch them!!

Two Noahs!!

We went outside to the petting zoo and found these guys. I thought they were so cute!! They were all business though. If you weren't feeding them, they didn't want anything to do with you!!

Noah has always loved animal interactions since he was tiny. He just smiles and giggles.

Abby was not a fan of the camel!! He would wrap his lips all the way around her hand and she would scream and jump when he did it! It was so funny!

Joshua just wanted to grab the noses of the sheep! I wonder if he thought they were more Jasmines!!

This feller has his head poked out through the fence just begging for a treat. He's so cute!

I carried Joshua over to the see the camel before we left. He got really close looking for some lunch, but we didn't have any!!

The grounds outside are just so beautiful. There's bridges, waterfalls, creeks, ponds and tons of flowers and trees. It's so peaceful and calm.

Well that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this crazy long post. I'll really work on posting more often!! Please pray for our safe travel!!