Happy Birthday Daddy!

I think one of my favorite things is watching Jason and Amos play together.  So it is easy to understand why this has been such a great week!  The whole week we've had Jason at home, just enjoying summer break.  We didn't have anything planned and enjoyed every minute of it.  That doesn't mean we didn't do anything, we just took the days as they came.  We hung out with friends and family, read, visited the park, went to the drive in, and played... a lot!

Most of Amos' mornings consisted of this routine, on repeat.

We had lots of climbing and practice climbing going on.

 Also, this is Amos' new favorite face!  Come over and you are sure to see it.

Love his BIG BROWN eyes!

Don't mind him, he's just doing a little reading.

With this week has come teeth and bug bites.  Amos got into a whole lot of chiggers some how as well as a mean mosquito.  He's been a trooper through them because we all know how bad these things itch.   A few evenings ago, he was walking around shirtless, just rubbing his big belly - his attempt at scratching.

And as far as teeth go, he's finally getting some on the top.  Actually, all four at once.  He's been a little whiny, but as far as I can tell, they are not bothering him too much!

Here's a few pictures from our evening at the park.

 This is how Dad likes to push him.  Ha Ha!

We were practicing "on your head" and "off your head."  He really got into it!

Can't believe the first year is almost over.  But the best is yet to come!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Over the Hill

We've had quite the week.  Some were major, others minor.

The week started with Grammy and Gramps bringing Uncle Joseph over for a visit.  Uncle Joe just got back from college and hadn’t seen all of Amos’ new tricks.  As always, Josie and Amos had fun “playing” together.  

Amos had a fight with a stomach bug.  This involved two major vomit incidents.  The first one was in his crib.  Gross, yet easy to clean up.  The second was on Thursday, headed to drop him off at my sisters for our Dr. appointment.  And it was in is brand new car seat.  Luckily, we were early and quickly gave him a bath, changed his clothes and cleaned up the car seat best we could.  We weren't  the most pleasant smelling to or from the appointment.

After making it through that, we had the ultrasound.  After going back and forth on finding out the gender, we decided to go ahead a find out this time.  It didn't take long to tell that boy #2 was coming our way.  The doctor said that everything looked perfect.  That was great news, especially after our morning.  It's fun knowing that I have two little boys.

As I mentioned before, Jason’s job with the school fell through, which led to him spending most of this week applying for jobs.  On Friday, he got a call from the director of special ed. in Joplin, asking if he could come in and talk about some possible openings.  He came home with a smile on his face.  He has a job for next year, and I think it’s going to be better than what he had to start off with.  He will be working in a functional skills classroom at the 11-12 center.  His kids will spend half their day at jobs and the other half with him.  He's had the chance to shadow another teaching this week and has enjoyed it!

Amos has been quite the climber this week.  Here he is showing off his new dare devil moves!  He's getting good at sitting down in and climbing out of his blue chair.  I couldn't help snapping a picture of him in his cute matching pajamas.

His dare devil moves are not without consequences!

For Father's Day, we celebrated with my parents and grandparents back in Kansas.  It was quite the treat!  After Amos took an extra long nap, we headed to the local pool for some swim time.  He took everything about the pool in and thoroughly enjoyed himself.  

The latest news is that we have two new top teeth, with a third following close behind.  I can't wait until those come in all the way and he's better able to handle some tougher food!  He sure gives apples and corn on the cob his best go though.

I have a few more look-a-like pictures for you.  It will be fun to see if son #2 takes as much after Jason as Amos does!

It's time to spill the beans...

I've got a story for you.  Some of you have heard all of it.  Some of you have heard part of it.  Some of you haven't heard it at all.

Back on March 9, after spending one evening feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach, I decided to take a pregnancy test.  I fully expected to see "Not Pregnant" appear on the screen, and just wanted to rule it out.  But I was mistaken.  And shocked.  Jason wasn't home, so it was just Amos and I hanging out while I let out my initial tears.  I'm a planner, and this wasn't in the plans, at least not for a while longer.  Jason got home and was shocked, but mainly thrilled.  He was more than ready to have another one.  It took a little while for me to accept that I was actually pregnant.  For quite a while, it didn't feel real, so we held off on telling people.  I've become more and more excited as the pregnancy has progressed!

Today, we are officially announcing the arrival of our second baby BOY!  We couldn't be more excited!  I'm expecting him November 1st!

The Pointer

Amos has been so much fun this week.  I think it helps that Dad’s around most of the time too these days.  With his new freedom, Amos follows us around wherever we go.  If we enter our bedroom, he makes a mad dash for the treadmill.  He loves climbing on that thing.  We have to remember to keep off limit room’s doors closed, because he is a little explorer. 

Early in the week, I finally washed off these ball pit balls that I picked up at a flea market.  We filled Amos’ playpen and let him have at it.

Amos’s new favorite thing is finger pointing.  He points at things in books.  He points at buttons and anything circular.  He points or pokes at people’s eyes.  He points at himself.   So if you see him pointing your way, take it as a compliment.

For the last two weeks he’s been working on standing up on his own.  As of now, he’s mastered it.  He can officially stand up with no help, from anything.

Another neat thing he’s started is answering his play telephone.  I’ll make the ringing sound and as if cued, he puts the phone to his ear and says, “Haho!”  I think that’s hello.

Check out the awesome Dwight hair!

 He does this new thing where he sniffs at everything.  He thinks it is hilarious.  Here he is mid sniff.

We turned around one day to find him sitting on top of Jason's guitar case.

This weekend was filled with family as Jason’s parents and brother and his family came down for the weekend.  They watched Amos Friday night so that we could go to a wedding in Springfield and then we all headed down to Grand Lake on Saturday for some fun. 

After getting on the interstate, I realized I forgot my camera, so you will just have to imagine the fun pictures we would have if I hadn’t.  It was a beautiful day on the water.  Amos spent a little time riding in the boat and swimming with Daddy, but most of his time up in the cabin with Grandma and his cousin Emma.  My parents came down too, so Amos got to see both sets of grandparents. 

In other news, after coming back from vacation, Jason found out that he does not have the job he was offered before leaving.  This leaves him with a contract with the Joplin school district, but no position.  He is looking into possibilities here, but he is also applying for jobs in other areas.  We don’t really know what is in store and ask for prayers of wisdom and guidance as we seek the Lord with our future.

Bonus: New curtain pictures.  We bought a shower curtain from Target and I made curtains.  Jason hung them up!  

He's always changing

So much can change in 8 days.  Since arriving at home, Jason and I have been noticing differences in Amos from the time we left.  Being gone allowed us the opportunity to see the very small and large changes that happen in a week. 

The first thing we noticed was how big he was.  This one is a given, but it sure seemed like he went from a baby to a little boy in that short time. 

Then it was obvious to see how much better he had become at walking.  He was choosing to walk rather than crawl and covered large distances. Check out these dirty, walking feet.

While watching all the walking, we saw that his feet, which were previously very duck footed, were turning back in.  The doctor said this would happen as he began to walk more, and he was right.

Less noticeable things were the fact that he was talking to himself a lot more.  Once we got him home, he was constantly having conversations with himself while he played.  We were not allowed to interrupt though.  Also, he seemed to smile more.  We think this is because he is more aware of what’s going on, and when he is “expected” to smile.  It’s funny to see our little guy break out into a sympathy smile while Daddy is trying to make him laugh.  Like this one:

The last small thing I noticed was his control over individual fingers.  He’s had pretty good hand control for a while, but now he can suck things off individual fingers or he will stare at them and move the ones he wants to.

As far as nighttime sleep and naps, it was like we weren’t even gone!  I appreciate that everyone who watched him helped him stay on schedule.  I think he naps better now than he did before.  He definitely eats more.  At dinner the other night, Jason thought he ate more than me.

This week, Jason and I have been getting back on schedule ourselves.  We’ve actually been pretty busy this week.  My parents came a visited on Friday evening.  Then, Jason ran in the 10K War Eagle Trail Run on Saturday.  His goal was to not finish last.  This is funny considering his actually place was 33 of 150 some.  He said it was perfect weather for a run and he’s ready to do another.  Sunday he lead worship and I taught Sunday school.

Amidst all this, we’ve baby proofed the majority of our house.  I put Amos’ barricades away and he now has free reign of everything except bedrooms (minus his) and bathrooms.  The major task was putting stops on the cabinets.  I think it’s going to take me a while to get use to this.  Amos loves his new freedom. 

We love being back home, especially since it is still summer break here!  And Amos is more fun now than ever.  However, along with his blooming personality come mini fits.  He can burst into sobs one minute and the next be laughing.  He’s always changing.

He sure is fun!

11 Months - I can't believe it

I don't want him to be 11 months old.  It's too close to 12.  But I guess its going to happen sometime.  I think this picture does a good job of showing how he has become such a little boy.  He's got a lot more freedom around here, but a lot of times he just wants to be where we are.  He testing all of his boundaries and fully understands the word "no."

One of Amos' new favorite places is the window.  He goes over and stands by it to watch anything happening outside.  Too bad for him that one car might drive by each hour.  However, sometimes Dad is out there or comes riding up on his bike and he gets so excited.

Amos still eats everything put in front of him, but his all time favorite thing is cottage cheese.  I have to save it for dessert, or he won't eat anything else.

He is getting where he mimics sounds we make.  He thinks it's the funniest thing.  Falling down no longer phases him.  I would think he would get frustrated, but it's part of walking.  He just gets back up.  Just yesterday he stood up from the ground on his own.

Can't wait to see what this month brings.  The best is yet to come!

Week 47