Christmas Horses

Joshua & I were at Target this morning & decided to walk through the Christmas section since he was getting fussy. He loves Christmas trees....we are in for an interesting time at our house this holiday season. While I was looking at ornaments, he started pulling up on his hair. I wasn't sure what he was doing....I looked around & didn't see any hats anywhere. I said, "I see your hair," but he kept pulling on it. We walked around & he pointed up to the large light-up designs that you put in your front yard....snowmen, reindeer, even a moose that moves its head. As we turned the corner & he was facing those things again, he started putting his hand on his head again & playing with his hair. Then I understood....he was trying to do the sign for horse. I laughed & said, "Oh, horse!" He smiled really big. I told him they were reindeer but that they do sort of look like horses. I think those may be his favorite decorations this year (he loves horses)....but he did try to pull on every tree we walked past. Maybe I should take a poll of how many times people think our Christmas tree will be pulled down this year? John & I are still debating on where to put it this year to minimize disasters.

"Airplane, please"

I really do need to post an update on Joshua. There have been many doctors appointments & therapy sessions & there are a couple of upcoming tests. He has made tons of progress. I will try to get an update posted in the next few days. But for now...

He has learned a ton of signs to communicate....probably 50 or so. He has been putting 2 together to ask for things (cookie please, eat more, more cracker, etc). Today he even put three together...more cookie please. Anyway, a few days ago we were playing in the playroom & I heard an airplane. Airplanes are one of his favorite things & we see them all the time when we are out walking & even from the front windows in our house. I asked Joshua if he heard the airplane & he ran over to the window. During the 3-5 minutes or so that we sat there we saw 6 airplanes fly overhead. After the last one was gone, Joshua looked at me & signed "airplane, please". All I could do was laugh. Too bad I can't make airplanes appear!

Four Years

We celebrated our four year anniversary this week. Life has changed alot since this picture was taken. We actually spent a couple of hours at an attorney's office taking care of some business & then an hour and a half at the doctor's office with Joshua....not the ideal way to celebrate your anniversary, but that's just the way it works out sometimes. Looking back, we have really gone through alot of things we never expected to have to face. John summed it up well when I brought Joshua downstairs the morning of our anniversary..."Buddy, today we are celebrating 3 years of bliss....and this last year." That wasn't a complaint...just a statement of fact. While we have faced a lot of difficult situations during our fourth year of marriage, we are sure that although things aren't always good, they do work together for good, and we know that our faith & our marriage will be stronger because of the path we have travelled thus far. We are thankful for all of the blessings of the past 4 years & are looking forward to many, many more!


November 2004

A Second Loss

I think many of you already know this, but I wanted to take a moment to let everyone know what we are going through. Last week, we went through our second miscarriage. It has been very difficult, and yet we are very much at peace. For some reason, I thought it would be easier to go through if it happened again....and I guess I didn't really think it would happen again. I was wrong in both of those thoughts. It wasn't as scary to go through the second time since I knew what to expect but the loss was every bit as painful. I was only 5 weeks pregnant this time, so there were no ultrasounds...only lots of lab work. I have learned many things through this process, but I will wait until later to share that, when I have more time. Thank you to all of you have continued to pray for our little family throughout this year!

Second Birthday

Its hard to believe that our little one is two already. It has not been what we expected, but he has been such a blessing. We had a great time at his birthday party.

Playing in his tent.

Checking out all of his gifts.

Loving his cupcake!

I actually made him panda cupcakes. They were far from perfect, but I was happy that you could tell they were supposed to be pandas!

Happy Halloween!

Confession: This picture wasn't taken on Halloween. It was actually taken a couple of weeks ago when I first bought his costume. I had intended to take a picture last night before our attempt at trick-or-treating, but it just got hectic. We went to all of the houses on our street & only found two families at home. Our street never gets trick-or-treaters, so we were kind of expecting that. Joshua sat in front of everyone's door & was upset that he couldn't go in! Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween with your little ones.

I will have birthday pictures posted in the next day or so! Its hard to believe he turned two this week!