Playdate at the Park

We had several beautiful days this week, and tried to spend as much time outside as possible! On Monday we had a great time at the park with Janelle & Ella, and Kristin & Laney. It was Laney and Ella's first time to swing and they loved it!




They also discovered how much fun it is to play with rocks and they each tried to sneak one in their mouth before a mom could get to them. We had a few close calls and had to do a few finger sweeps to remove rocks. We finally wised up and moved to the grass to play for a while.








Just about every time we are together we acknowledge how good God is, that he would allow us to raise babies so close in age. That is just another way that He shows us how much He delights in us. We are blessed mommies!

Jackson's Birthday

Jackson turned one year old on February 17th. What a sweet and incredibly happy boy he is! It has been so fun watching him grow during this last year and seeing what Joshua might be doing two and a half months later. Here are some pictures from Jackson's birthday party. Jackson was the perfect birthday boy...so excited, and I think he really knew that was his special day. The party was at Gymboree...we had never been there, but it was so much fun. I have never seen Joshua so stimulated. It would be hard not to be stimulated, because there are so many colors everywhere, things to play on, and songs being sung.

Birthday boy!

Daddies playing with their babies with bubbles.

Ella's Birthday

It is hard to believe that Ella is already one year old! I am a little late in posting about her birthday, but it was on February 15th. One year ago on her birth day, I remember feeling so much anticipation about finally meeting sweet Ella. It will always be a special memory to think of when I first saw Ella when she was rolled out of the operating room and into the nursery. All we could do is just stare at her through the nursery window, talk about what a beautiful, tiny baby she was, and take a million pictures.

Joshua and I, and Kristin and Laney were able to celebrate with her on her actual birthday. The babies wore precious birthday hats and were not too sure what to think about them.

Ellas is the famous pacifier stealer...since Joshua didn't have a paci in his mouth, Ella decided to steal his hat!

Is Joshua's hat floating?

Ella's birthday party was a lot of fun. It was Joshua's first birthday party to attend for one of his friends. He was very excited to eat puffs, crawl around, play with his friends, and watch Ella open presents and eat cake.

Joshua also played with Caleb. Caleb was so sweet to make sure Joshua didn't hurt himself when he was pulling up on things. After about 10 minutes of them playing together, Caleb proclaimed, "Joshua rocks!" I agree, Caleb!

He loves to read!

Joshua loves to read books...I think he equally loves to pull all the books off his shelf. He has just started to do this, but we can hardly escape it happening if he is playing in his room!

Joshua on strike!

I had a sad day this week when Joshua decided to go on a nursing strike! He absolutely refused to nurse, and I immediately thought that he was weaning himself. It's not that it would be the end of the world if he weaned, I just thought that I would decide when that time was...and I thought I would have a little more preparation time to get used to the idea! It was a very long day with lots of fussiness involved. My friend Amanda told me that her son also did this when a very painful tooth was breaking through his gums. I decided to pry Joshua's mouth open and found that he was getting a new tooth on top. The good news is that the next day he was back to normal!


These pictures are from the end of that hard day. He has never fallen asleep in his high chair before...his eyes were closing in between each bite and then he finally gave up!

DBU Basketball

This is DBU's inaugural season of basketball, and we managed to go to a few games. I love basketball, so it was so fun for my alma mater to have a team finally! They are really doing good this year also! Joshua enjoyed all of the action and loud music. Kristin, Janelle, and I took the babies to the game on Tuesday. It was so fun to have them all there together. Maybe one day they will all attend DBU together!

Lots of babies!

On Friday afternoon Joshua went to a playdate at Ella's new house with his friends Keegan, Ella, Laney, Jackson, and Ava. It was so fun watching them all crawl, scoot, or roll to get around the living room floor! Here are some fun pics.

The feasting table...













All six babies in one picture...that's a feat in itself!










Joshua's favorite toy to play with at Ella's house.

Keegan comforted Joshua when he was upset...what a good friend!

Six cutie pies! From Joshua going clockwise are Laney (9 1/2 months), Ella (1 year on Thursday), Ava (11 months), Jackson (1 year on Saturday) and Keegan (7 months).

Joshua's Super Bowl Prediction

Joshua spent hours this week watching game film and studying the stats of the Colts and Bears. Not really...Mom would not have been on board with that! Watch the video to see who he picked to win the Super Bowl! For some reason, the video is pushed over to the right so it is hard to clearly see his pick. If you want, you can click on the link to see the original video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6DvGNZVUEg

First Playdate with Laney!

Tuesday night Joshua, Ella & Laney had their first playdate! It was a long-awaited play time, at least long-awaited for their mommies. We had so much fun watching them interact and play together. They were definitely all over the place and into everything!


Joshua and Laney seeing each other for the second time.

The babies playing in Laney's cute room and discovering all of her toys. (Zilla was enjoying Laney's cracker)










It used to be so easy to get the babies to lay still...not any more!

We each took our turn snuggling with Laney!