The GREAT Toy Swap!

Have you heard of the concept of swapping your children's toys out so that they don't get bored with them? I was aware of this concept long before we ever had children... in fact, there is even some company that you can join for 200 dollars that sends you new toys every month and at the end of the month you send all the toys back... thus, always having different things for your children to play with.

Might sound extreme, but it is something we've often done. Once the children stop being entertained by the toys we have out... we would make the swap. However, it was always time consuming as we tried to figure out what we should put away, what we should bring out, and where it should go. We noticed that sometimes after a swap the children would still seem extremely bored with the new selection. It ended up being something that was more frustrating than helpful.

All until last month! In the midst of a nesting frenzy... I decided to tackle the basement. Okay, not all of it, but some of it. Our basement is completely unfinished and so we use it only for storage. Anyway, Jason and I spent several hours one day going through every single toy in our house and sorting them into categories: baby toys, riding toys, "little people" toys, stuffed animals, electronics, puzzles, books, games, etc. We ended up creating five piles (the four corners of the room plus a pile in the middle of the room) and would put one to two things from every category in each of the piles. This created 5 rotations for the toys and each rotation had a little of everything (I think one of the reasons the children were sometimes bored with the new toys is because they were all too babyish or something). We then boxed up each pile of toys and have them spread out across the basement. This makes our toys swaps easy... we end up taking everything that was upstairs to its assigned spot in the basement and pick out the next box and bring all the toys in that pile up.

We decided in order to lengthen the life of each rotation we would keep it upstairs for only a week. Friday is our day of choice to swap out the toys. A process that used to take days to complete now takes less than 15 minutes. Today we brought up the fourth (out of five) of the piles and it has been a wonderful few weeks. The children seem interested in the new toys all week long which helps them to entertain themselves. In the few weeks we have been doing this we've seen a very big difference in our children - they are reading the books, playing with the toys, and using their imaginations instead of looking around the playroom and seeing the same toys they have played with all month long. A week seems to be a great amount of time because it keeps everything fresh!

New Toy Friday!

This post really has no point other than to share with you all this wonderful tip... I don't often feel like Jason and I come up with great ideas to help make this parenting journey smooth, but this one I'm really enjoying. It makes the swapping of the toys easier and it helps to entertain and stimulate the children throughout the week. Jason and I joke that it is like Christmas morning once a week! Anyway, just thought I would share this idea if you all are feeling in a "rut" with any of your current toys.  :)

Havana Escaped...

Okay, so escaped might be too strong of a word, but Havana got out of her bed tonight. To be completely honest she did get down yesterday, but that was a little different than tonight. Yesterday was a hard day for both her and I. She was very disobedient and I was low on patience. When I put her down for her nap I could tell that she was going to get out simply because that is the type of day we have were having. I was right... I watched her slip off the right side of her bed and climb up on the left side. She did this about three times. I wasn't sure what to do, but decided that as long as she didn't open her door I was going to let it slide because I didn't want to open the door and have it become a game.She ended up putting herself to bed without ever trying to get out of her room.

Tonight was a different story. First let me say that today was a much better day for the both of us. It made me appreciate the truth of the promise that the Lord's mercies are new every morning. I was refreshed and Havana was obedient and sweet all day. In fact, I can't think of a time I corrected her once... which for a two year old little girl is a big deal. She was practically perfect. :) Then it came time for bedtime. We did our typical routine and I exited her room with the normal routine and conversation as always. I take Jonah into his room and begin his night time routine. I hear Havana call out for me and Jonah. Then I hear her get down and I hear her moving around in her room. Havana is very particular about her bedtime and everything in her room has to be put away and in place... I heard her messing around with where we keep her Bible and if it isn't in it's normal spot... that would bother her. So, in my head I wonder if she is putting it where it "goes" and reminded myself of my plan to only discipline her if she tries to get out of her room. Well, about 15 seconds later, I hear her door open. Before I can see her or she can see me I say in a very calm, but stern voice, "Oh no, Havana, Oh no... we do not get out of our bed." By the time I finish the sentence I can see her and I see that she is crying. Havana's normal response when getting scolded is NOT to cry. As soon as she sees me she reaches up, gives me an open mouthed kiss, and then runs and puts herself back in bed... all while crying. I think I stood in her doorway for a few seconds simply because I was so thrown off guard by what just took place. I had imagined her trying to get out of her room, carry on a conversation with me, play with Jonah, etc... I didn't really expect to see her so upset. Was she upset because I scolded her? Was she sad because I overlooked something in our nightime routine and that mean a lot to her? Did I jump to conclusions? Did she "play" me by acting sad?

Acting sad isn't her MO... she had other ways she tries to get out of trouble or handle discipline. I also know that when I put the children to bed on nights Jason is working (like tonight) it can be so hectic of a time that I might have overlooked a part of our routine that is so vital to how she has to go to sleep. I know for sure I gave her a butterfly and a eskimo kiss, but did I give her a real kiss? Why was that the one thing she wanted to do when coming out of her room? I realize it is important not to discipline or correct a child until you know the entire situation... I scolded Havana the moment she opened her door. I did so with the mindset this was her first time to try to escape out of her room and i wanted her to know this was not acceptable, but perhaps I should have showed her more grace because it isn't normal behavior for her?

After being flooded with emotion (guilt) I walk over to her where she is laying back in bed still crying. I stroke her hair and told her that it was okay and I was sorry that I had forgotten to give her a kiss. I thought about laying down in bed with her to help comfort her, but I am sure that would start a bad habit (me having to lay down with her every night and I certainly didn't want to start that... when I go to wake her up in the morning and after naps she will always say, "mama, sit please." and I always take the time to lay in bed with her and we talk about what she dreamed about and all the animals in bed with her... but I want to keep our night time routine where I simply put her in bed and leave the room.) I asked her if she was ready for me to leave and she said yes. I walked out of the room telling her I loved her. Through tears she told me she loved me too. She ended up whimpering herself to sleep. Needless to say, it was a hard night for me. I felt guilty and confused. I know her well enough to say that I'm pretty sure she did not get out of bed in an act of disobedience. Her heart was pure. I'm not sure what her motivation for getting out of bed was... was she scared? Did I miss a part of her routine that caused her distress? I'm not sure, but all I know is that I'm praying for wisdom.

I was feeling so bad about how everything transpired that I called jason at work... I told him the entire situation and he said that he would not have done anything differently and that she'll be just fine in the morning. He agreed that it seems (based on her actions) that some part of her routine was off and she needed it completed in order to go to sleep and so we are hoping this won't become a new pattern. Of course, if it does, we'll deal with it so that she will learn that she must stay in bed. But, hopefully it won't come to that. I'm thankful for my sweet girl even with how rigid she can be sometimes. I'm also thankful for my wonderful husband who is not only a great listener, but a great encourager as well!  And even though this blog post has nothing to do with Jonah or the baby in my belly... I am extremely thankful for both of them as well!

So Sweet... So Sad...

Dear Havana and Jonah,

I hope you know how much your daddy and I love you both! I know we've been busy lately getting major projects around the house completed and talking a lot about "the baby in mama's belly" but seriously, you all make our day and we love spending our days playing together. You both have been doing some pretty sweet things lately... and a few sad things... let me explain.

Cinderella! There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "Cinderella" and Havana, your daddy loves to dance with you while he sings you that song. This is nothing new... in fact, he has been doing it since you were born. Well, lately your love to dance with him has increased and you often ask for it by name. You will go up to him and say, "Havana, Dada, Cinderella?" He will pick you up.. you will wrap one arm around his neck and with your other hand you will hold his hand and he will spin and dance while singing the chorus of the song. You simply love it and always call for me to watch you as you dance. You are such a princess and I pray that you won't settle in your quest for a mate, but that you will wait patiently for the man God created for you!

Jonah, since you are getting to the age where you want a turn with everything, daddy does Cinderella with you too. You laugh as he spends you around and don't worry... daddy changes the words so that it is appropriate for a boy! He'll sing, "Well, I will dance with big prince Jonah while he is still in my arms. For I know something the princess never knew..." You are such a prince and I can't wait to watch you grow in purity and in chivalry as you follow in your father's footsteps.

I often ask him how he can get through those dances without crying because I cry almost every time. He says it is hard, but that being asked to do it 400 times a day helps him overcome the emotion of it all. :) 

Havana, your imagination has really taken off lately and it is so much fun to watch you play with your toys. The other day we were all in the playroom... I was reading my book and you were playing with your little people and they were all sitting around a pretend table. You ran into the kitchen and grabbed the Lucky Charms (your snack of choice these days) and brought it in for them to eat. You had them carrying on lots of conversations, most of which I couldn't really understand, but then you broke out into a song... HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I asked whose birthday it was and you told me it was the octopus' birthday and that he was now two years old. It is so sweet watching you play.

Jonah, you have always been so good at playing by yourself, but lately you've turned into a cuddle bug. You are constantly wanting to snuggle with me and well, I'm always okay to take a break from anything to love on you. Your hugs make my day! The other day you crawled up on daddy and put your head on his shoulder. Daddy looked at me with tears in his eyes as you just sat snuggled on him... we love you!

Speaking of fun snuggles, Havana, we recently taught you all about butterfly kisses and Eskimo kisses and you have really enjoyed learning how to give and receive those. They have made it a part of our nighttime routine to give each other three kisses (a butterfly, an Eskimo, and a regular) before putting you in your bed. You actually started that little routine by asking for them, but the one stalling tactic I give into is snuggles... so you win. ;)

There have been a few sad moments lately. Mostly with you, Mister Jonah... I don't know what little phase you are entering, but you've started not doing so well in the nursery at church... we have even been paged out for you which isn't normal at all. :( It breaks mama's heart to think you aren't enjoying it anymore, but I'm hoping it is merely a phase.

You also had a nightmare the other night. You are my first child to have one... you woke up crying around 2am. I tried to get you to go back to sleep, but you continued to cry so i went in to check on you... that's when I noticed you were trying to crawl and that you were still asleep. It took me a minute to wake you up, but once I did, you gripped my neck so hard and it took you several minutes to calm down. I ended up rocking you for almost 30 minutes simply because I felt so sad that you were having a scary dream! We had acted out the story of David and Goliath that day, which is a story that always scares you, so I'm not sure if that was it or not, but I think we won't revisit that Bible story for a little while.

And, last night, we moved you into your new "big brother" room. Your daddy and I spent a lot of time planning and painting and decorating hoping to make it a room you would like. We put you in your new bed and you immediately stood back up screaming. I had a soft heart and quickly picked you back up and snuggled you for a little bit. Finally, it was time to put you down again and you once again began crying. I had to be strong and so walked out. You cried and cried your little heart out. Broke my heart, but eventually you overcame it and fell asleep and I was so proud! I'm sure you'll adjust in no time, but goodness, I don't like the transition periods that seem so hard at times.  I will admit it was a little sad for me too... I felt like you were far away since your old room was right next to ours. It reminded me that you (both) are growing up so quickly!

I hope you both know how blessed I feel to be your mommy. I look at you two and I look at your daddy and I am overwhelmed with how wonderful and almost magical my life is. The Lord has been so good to us and I pray that we will strive to be a family that seeks to do things His way. I pray that as you all grow up you will never doubt our love for you, but more than that, you will never doubt His love for you because it surpasses our love! We can't wait to watch you grow in Him!

Love,
Your Mommy! 

Father's Day!!!

We had a fun Father's Day! We went to church in the morning and then told Jason he could pick where he wanted to go for lunch... he said Skyline. We didn't know it at the time, but dads eat for free, so that was an added bonus!

After lunch we took Jason to Willis Music to buy another harmonica (he has three but wanted one in a new key) and I managed the kids in there while he picked one out and looked at keyboards (a future purchase). I was a little sad I had not been able to go to the store and pick one out for him, but Jason didn't seem to mind (surprises like that are more important to me than him).

We got home and enjoyed a quiet afternoon while the kids napped and then spend the evening playing. The children gave Jason a card and a new electric shaver and I had another card waiting for him as well. I made a nice dinner and we just enjoyed family time.

It wasn't the grandest celebration I've planned, but it was filled with sweet family time. Daily I watch Jason with the children and I'm amazed at what a great father he is. He gives so much of himself and his time... in fact, the only time he is not spending with the children are the days he is working. Outside of work, he is home and playing with the children. He doesn't go out golfing or watch TV... while I know he would like to do that... he chooses to pour into his children 100% and that makes my respect and love for him grow daily. He shows me so much of Christ's unconditional, faithful, and passionate love and I can't wait for the children to learn about Jesus through the example their father sets. I pray that Jonah follows closely in his footsteps and I pray that Havana will not settle for a man less than who her daddy is. Jason is not only an answer to prayer for me, but he is truly my dream come true... the best husband and the best daddy... I am undeservedly blessed!

Havana's Transition, Jonah's Tests, and Mommy's Hurt Feelings

On Wednesday afternoon, I put Havana down for her nap in her crib! It was somewhat of a sad moment for me because I knew we were going to transition her from a crib to a bed after she woke up. During her nap I ended up taking a picture of her because, well, she is just so cute. :)

her crib.

her last nap time in her crib.

The plan was for Jason to begin the transition shortly after nap time while I played with the children downstairs. However, I asked him if he wanted to work on it himself or if he wanted H to be a part of it. She doesn't always handle change very well and while we have been talking to her for a while about saying "bye bye" to her crib and "hello" to her big girl bed... I thought that perhaps her playing a role in the transition would help.

I'm not sure if that was it or if she was more ready for the change than I realized, but she has done excellent. She was okay watching Jason take apart her crib and she enjoyed watching him put together her big girl bed. She even rushed to put all her toys (that are normally in her crib) on the box springs before we were even able to put the mattress on. That made us think she was grasping the concept that what we were assembling would be her new bed. As we continued to make the bed we kept talking to her about how that was going to be her new bed and that she was not allowed to get in or out of the bed without one of us giving her permission... we also said that she was not allowed to jump on the bed.

That night we tried to make her night time routine as close to normal as possible... one of her favorite parts of her night time routine is to be put into her crib and then we hold Jonah up to her for a goodnight kiss. We made sure everything from Bible story time, to prayer time, to Jonah's kiss was all the same. We also warned her again that she is not to get out of the bed. We always close her door at night and this time we added a baby gate on the outside of the door to make sure if she did get out of bed that she would be limited to her room.

giving Jonah a goodnight kiss. 

We quickly put Jonah down and then we watched our video monitor the rest of the night. She played with her toys, tossed and turned, and rearranged the pillows, but about an hour and half after we put her down... she was asleep! I can't even begin to express how proud of her I was. She did not get out of bed once.

She normally wakes up around 9 or 9:30 in the morning, but on Thursday morning we heard her talking and shifting around in her bed around 7:45. Normally, I would have just left her in there, but since we didn't want her to be tempted to get out of bed, we quickly went in there and kept praising her for how well she had done falling asleep. We also pointed out that she could not get out of bed until we had come to get her.

We were both a little nervous about how her nap time would go because she is normally quite active in her crib for the first 30 minutes or so after I put her down. We did our normal nap time routine and again stressed the rules that she was not allowed in or out of her bed without our permission. She was even more squirmy than the night before and there were several times we held our breath (while watching the monitor) thinking she was going to get down... but she never did. She ended up taking a great nap! Whew.

The same patterns have continued since. She is right now laying in her bed for the third night and has had two successful naps. At dinner she was even talking about how much she likes her "big girl bed" and when you ask her the rules she can say "no jump. mommy and daddy" -- which means 1) no jumping and 2) can't get in or out without mommy or daddy's permission. She also has been ASKING to go to bed (vana's night night time?) when we are downstairs which is a change from last week when she would say, "no, night night times" or "all done night night times." The transition has gone a lot better than I thought it would and I am so incredibly proud of her! I don't think we are necessarily "out of the woods" as I think as she grows more and more comfortable with the new routine she might be more tempted to test the boundaries, but for now, I'm happy for the progress.

Regarding Jonah's health... we talked to his doctor on Thursday. She was very concerned about the white stools and said she has not seen that in regards to a milk allergy. She wanted to look at some blood work to see if there was a risk for cystic fibrosis. In Indiana they do a test for CF before the baby leaves the hospital, but she couldn't find our results (he was born in Indianapolis and we saw a DR up there once and then moved down here and began seeing a doctor before switching to the one we currently have and so somewhere in that process his newborn screening test was lost...). We did find out this afternoon that his screening test came back normal! We are thankful for that news. The doctor suggested we switch to soy milk (not soy formula) and cut out all dairy in his diet. She said it would take a week or so before the milk would be out of his system, but that if his white stools continue after a week then we need to bring them in a stool sample and they will run more tests that way. I'm still a little "nervous" but I actually feel a lot more comfortable with it now. I'm really optimistic that after a week or so on soy that he will improve and then we'll just have to worry about a dairy allergy and nothing else.

Tonight we went to the zoo (a favorite activity of ours) and we had a wonderful time until we were walking out. Havana and Jonah were both in the stroller and as we were approaching the exit there were three older kids (I would guess between the ages of 6 and 9) and they were a few feet in front of us. As they walked out the girls were screaming "bye bye zoo." Well, as we approached the exit Havana thought she would join and so she yelled at the top of her lungs "bye bye zoo" -- and she kept repeating it and laughing. The little boy who was with the girls said, "do you hear how she said that?!" then the three of them would repeat "bye bye zoo" just as Havana said it. This BROKE my heart. Havana thought they were playing with her, but I  could tell they were making fun of her and snickering at how she was saying it. I stared at their mom who did nothing. Whenever they would repeat what havana was saying I would try to talk to Havana in order to cover up their comments. I wanted to start crying, but figured if Havana didn't realize what was going on I didn't want her to see me upset. So, I stayed upbeat but told her a million times how much I loved her and how special she is (Jonah too as he was there... :). Still, now, a few hours later, I'm not sure how to process all of that, but I do know there is nothing that can prepare a mommy's heart for that moment. Wishing I could delete it from my memory. I'm sure this will not be the last time someone makes fun of Havana, but goodness, it makes me want to keep her in bubble and surrounded only by people who love her and are kind to her. If only, right?!

Whew, a much needed update...

Well, my to-do list is over a mile long, but I've been slowly chopping away at it. On my list is to write this general update of what the past few months have been like on this journey called life. I also want to redesign and rename the blog... but one thing at a time, right? :)

US:

The past few months have flown by! January-April 1st we were busy with the Easter Pageant. Jason and I still aren't sure how we managed to be at church every night for three weeks with his work scheduel and our children, but it all worked out and our kiddos were such troopers! We were looking forward to some much needed "low-key" family time, but it seems that we're tackling one big project after the next. Shortly after pageant was over we celebrated Jason's 35th birthday, bought a van, and went on vacation. Yes, vacation was nice... busy... but nice. :) We arrived home and had less than a week to plan Jonah's first birthday party (pick the theme, plan the menu, set the time, buy the supplies, print of pictures of the past year to track his growth, etc). After his birthday Jason and my dad made plans to build a new playset in our backyard. It is wonderful and the children love it, but it was quite the undertaking from tearing down our old set to building the new one, clearing the old mulch, buying and laying new rubber mulch... all together it took about 2 weeks to complete (not daily, but off and on) and as I said before... the children LOVE it and we do too, but that project swallowed up most of May.

We had these grand plans to potty train Havana during Jason's 11 days off in May, but between the play set and working on other projects (planning, painting, and purchasing things for Jonah's new room, buying Havana a new mattress for her new big girl bed, clearing out our basement, sorting through and organizing toys, and having a massive yard sale - no easy task) potty training didn't happen! Oh well, perhaps his next few days off. :)

I think my nesting is in full gear because I can't... I mean I can't sit still for a minute. I'm going through old boxes throwing stuff away, organizing closets, and making a list for every room of things that need to be done before the room can be considered "complete." I know that realistically some of these things won't be done for several more months, but I can't help it... I need to know what I'm looking at in terms of having this house decorated and put together the way I want it. Although I know this is all futile because by the time we get around to doing some of those things my ideas for how the room should look will be drastically different. :)

As I made mention of earlier, we did finally decide on Jonah's "big brother" room. He is currently sleeping in the nursery which is the same color/theme/crib set that we've had since Havana was an infant. It is a gender neutral color of green with a Noah's Ark theme. In our current house Jason did paint an accent wall blue for Jonah, but he says he will repaint it pink if this new baby is a girl. Anyway, we have decided to always keep that the nursery and so we need to move Jonah to a new room. We have an extra bedroom upstairs which has been used as the play room for the past year... it took me a long time to decide on what to do with his room. With havana, I knew I wanted to do a pink and giraffe theme and that is what she still has and will have for a while. it is super cute with pink stripes (same color pink, but different finishes) and it is so "her."

Anyway, I didn't know what I wanted to do for his room. I considered buying a toddler bed and skipping the need to buy a third crib. Then we thought about going with a cheap furniture set, but when we read all the reviews they were all bad. So, we made the plunge and bought him an expensive bedroom suit that looks "boyish" and the bed transitions into a full sized bed so hopefully he can use it for the next several years. Anyway, while buying the furniture we stumbled across a cloth hamper that is light blue with a navy trim and has a baseball, football, and basketball on it. Jonah LOVES balls and we were thinking a sports theme and this seemed like something we would like (it is Little Boutiques Sports brand from Babies R Us)... so we bought the hamper, a matching basket, and a matching photo frame. We decided that we would paint his room the light blue (Jason did that last week) and then we are going to do one thick horizontal stripe of navy blue about 3/4 of the way up the wall (that still needs to be done). We bought navy curtains and a navy bean bag that has a baseball and football on it as well. I then bought new crib sheets (sports themed, of course) and a blue "breathable" bumper (my favorite type) for his room too. He already has a light blue changing pad so once his furniture arrives and we paint the blue stripe  his room will be complete! One we came up with a theme I became much more excited - although a little melancholy -  about his growing up!

We purchased Havana's new mattress and it was delivered last week. We plan on making the switch tomorrow. This is something I am very nervous about because 1. Havana doesn't handle change very well and so I'm worried this will greatly upset her. 2. We are skipping the whole toddler/twin bed step and going from Crib to full sized. I'm not sure if this is very wise, but it is what we are doing. Her crib transitions to a toddler bed,  but we didn't want to have to pay for the rails twice (once for the toddler bed and once for the full bed) nor did we want to buy a third crib mattress so we are going to take her current mattress and give it to Jonah). 3. Havana stays up late and sleeps in... I'm okay with that because I put her down in her crib by 8:30 and she'll sing and play in there until 10:30 or 11... I can carry on with my evening and she is contained in her crib. She has never once tried to get out of her crib and so I don't know if she'll be happy to sit in her bed for 2.5 hours if there aren't any crib bars to hold her in. I'm seriously looking at losing my evenings. Okay, I know not forever as I'll train her that she can't exit her room, but until she learns that lesson, it might be a rough few nights of her getting up and out of bed. I'm honestly considering locking her in there. I've had several friends do that and they say it works great. We'll see... I'm sure I'll blog more about that process which will begin tomorrow. :)

I think that about covers it for all the changes and transitions we are in the process of making. Our community had a huge yard sale last week and sold a lot of stuff! Our guest room was filled with old furniture and things and so I'm looking forward to having that room to decorate and paint now, but that will happen after the baby is born. We have an unfinished basement and Jason and I have spent a lot of time down there organizing it and setting up different areas (a play area for the kids, a scrapbooking area for me, a workout area for him, and a storage area). Like I said, I think my nesting is in overdrive. :)

Now onto the kiddos:

Havana:

She has really been making a lot of progress with her speech and in fact I would say a true breakthrough. It is so much fun to actually be able to carry on a conversation now with her! This all started around the time of our vacation in April and she has been exploding ever since. Sure, a lot of her chatter is still hard to understand,  but she is becoming so much more clear and is beginning to learn how to express her feelings, desires, and dislikes. :) It is now to a point where she will say, "drink milk please" and I make her go back and repeat after me, "May I have a drink of milk please?" And she'll repeat each word and she is very clear. It takes a lot of patience on my part because it is easier to hand her a milk cup instead of making her use her "big girl" words to ask for it, but when I am faithful in making her use sentences she does really well repeating them. She has gotten a lot better with some of her sounds as well. For the longest time she would say "gaga" for daddy. Now, she clearly says "dada" and she would say "gygy" for "bye bye" -- but now she can say "bye bye" with a true B sound. I believe this really has to do with us working with jonah. As jason says, a little competition never hurt anyone. :) At dinner we ask jonah to say the d sound, the b sound, the m sound, etc. and while we are prompting him to say it she will say it. I think this approach works a lot better with her because her speech had become such a stressor in her own life and if you ask her to repeat something correctly she would get very flustered. But ask JONAH to say something and she'll try to say it on her own as well. It seems to have taken the pressure off. Something else we started was having HER say her prayers. I will say her night time prayers, but make her repeat each word. She enjoys doing so and I try to throw in different words so that she gets practice saying different things. This also seems to be a very nonthreatening way to introduce vocabulary into her day. I assume that she is still "behind" but she has improved so much. It is to the point we can have conversations, she can say "vana sad," she can ask for specific things, and she can answer things. There was also one day she started singing a song... I realized she was singing the B-I-B-L-E song which I had yet to teach her. I asked her where she learned it and she said "Ms. Rita" (her nursery teacher at church). Now it is one of her favorite songs to sing, but she was the one who started us singing it here at home.  Another example is she is very into all her scrapes and bruises... she'll see one (no matter how old) and say "uh-oh" and so I will then ask her, "what is that?" She can answer with either "scrape or bruise" - I will then ask her where she got it and she will tell me (there was a bruise she got at church, but one scrape she got here at the house... for that one she will say, "Play outside" (meaning she got it when she went to play outside) and I will ask, "What happened when you went to play outside?" "Tucker" "Tucker what?" "Tucker knocked you down" "oh, that's okay because it was..." "An accident." I think to most people conversations like that (which that same conversation happens at least 4 times a day) would either get annoying or not be that impressive... but to me... it is something that captures my heart. I am communicating with my daughter! Gosh, I have tears in my eyes just thinking about it.

Through her communication I have been able to see some really tender parts of her life... she loves the expression "hold you" -- She'll say, "Dada, hold you" meaning she wants Jason to hold her. Well, one day I went in to get her up from her nap and she was playing her a stuffed cat and she said, "kitty cat, vana hold you." I just loved how she wanted to snuggle her animals. She can also be pretty... let's say manipulating... when we go out to swing she'll say, "mama push baby" meaning that she thinks I should push Jonah so Jason can push her (he is a much better "pusher" than I am apparently :). But still, communication is key!

Along with her growth there has also been the addition to whining - something she's never really done before. If she can't get her way or you tell her no she'll whine the words of what she is wanting and say please in a very pleading voice. I will admit this has been a little testing at times because I hate to see her so upset over something so little (for instance the other day she melted down because she asked to listen to music and I said no and she whined "music, please... vana listen to music, PLEASE." However, I have to stay strong. I have to communicate that her whining does not change my decision and my "no" is a "no." Even if i second guess my decision in my head - I never want her to know about that. I read in a book once that when children manipulate to get their way they are acting foolishly... when mom rewards the child for giving them what they want, SHE is responding foolishly. I have to sometimes quote that to myself to make sure I don't respond to her foolishly. I don't want her to think that she can whine and get her way. On top of that, for the most part, she is looking out for only what she wants which is selfish and a sin... I must make her aware of this. We were in the store the other day and she asked for my phone ( which she calls "mama's hello" - she likes to play games and sometimes make phone calls :). I told her no. She began crying, "Mama's hello, please." Her tone grew louder and she was suddenly "that kid" in the store throwing a fit. I quietly told her... Havana, mommy does not respond to whining. You need to talk to mommy in a self controlled voice before I will talk with you." She gained self control and then asked in a calmer tone, "Mama's hello, please." I looked at her and said, "I'm sorry, honey, I love you but I already told you no... so, no you cannot play with mama's hello right now, but good job gaining self control and using your big girl words." You know what... it worked! She didn't cry or ask for my phone the rest of the shopping trip!

Not that I'm always that calm. Actually, I've been struggling the past 48 hours with Havana because she has become very aggressive with Jonah. At first, it honestly started out sweet... she would go to give him a hug. However, she learned that if she pushed on him while she was giving him a hug... he would fall to the ground. This has become a favorite game of hers despite my constant correction to "be gentle" -- it is getting to the point that I can't really leave them in a room by themselves because I end up hearing a bang, Jonah crying, and I rush in to find havana sitting on him or holding him down. I will say this has truly tested me. Jason and I have made an agreement never to raise our voices to our children. We do not believe that scolding has a place in parenting and while yes, we correct them, we do so in a calm self controlled voice. How can I be telling Havana to gain self control if I don't have self control myself. Up until now, that really hasn't been a problem. Sure, occasionally I will say her name a little louder than I should, but Jason usually gently reminds me of my tone and I try to bring it down. Anyway, it has not always been easy these past few days to keep my voice low. It is to the point that I sternly, but quietly, will tell Havana that she needs to go sit on the couch and then i don't come to talk to her about the issue until I've calmed down. It is so frustrating to see her take joy out of being aggressive with Jonah and she KNOWS it is something she is not supposed to do. Once I've calmed down (and snuggled Jonah for a minute) I will go over to her and very sternly, but quietly ask her why she was being mean to Jonah. She can't really answer that question yet and so usually she just repeats "why" and I tell her again that I want to know why she is being mean to Jonah. I talk to her about why she needs to be nice to him and then I ask her, "Do you remember what mommy said she would do if you were mean to Jonah?" "yeah" "what?" "spanking" "yes..." and then I give her a spanking and make her apologize to Jonah and give him a gentle hug. All is good for a few minutes, and then she is being rough with him again. Which is why I have really been tested to not raise my voice. I mean, didn't we just have this conversation?! I have found that making her sit somewhere is the best for me, but I don't think it really does much for her. If we're watching TV then I'll turn the TV or music off and after she says she is sorry to Jonah she'll ask for it to be turned back on and I tell her no because she was mean to Jonah. But even that doesn't ever bother her. The spankings, the time outs, the no shows... nothing seems to make her truly sorry for what she has done. Not that I want her to be a basket case, but it would be nice to know I'm getting through to her. All I can hope is that through being consistent and calm... it will eventually sink in. Guess we'll find out! :)

Outside of speech and behavior: she is doing excellent! She is very much into playing with her little figurines or stuffed animals: she'll have them take turns, do ring around the rosie, or eat a snack. She loves learning, puzzles, reading, playing outside, and helping. Whenever Jason goes to get the mail or take out the trash she will run and say "vana help you" -- I was cleaning out the bathtub the other day and she got herself a wash cloth and started wiping it down with me. It was very cute. While we do things like that she will sing the "clean up" song. :) Other than being aggressive, she is a very good big sister. She has been much better about taking turns with Jonah and allowing him to play with her. I think she is realizing that he has the potential to be fun. :) She is also in love with the baby in my belly. She calls it 'baby in mama's belly" and she'll walk up to me and ask to see it. I'll raise my shirt and she will poke at my belly button and then kiss my stomach. She also includes it when talking about our family. When Jason is leaving he'll give me a kiss, Jonah a kiss, Tucker a kiss, and then Havana a kiss... well, now Havana will remind him to say goodbye to the baby in mommy's belly and so he will kiss it as well. Jason even said the other night in the bath tub (he gives them their baths most of the time) that she made up a song about the baby in mommy's belly. I thought that was really sweet. I often ask her if she thinks it will be a boy or a girl... she usually says girl. :) 

Jonah:

Well, my big man is amazing! He truly is such a gift. He now has 6 teeth and can crawl (even up the steps) and cruise, but he has yet to take a step by himself yet. He still loves his bottle and hasn't become a huge fan of the sippy cup, but hopefully we'll work on breaking him of that soon. He could play by himself all day and be happy, but he does also like to play with whatever Havana is playing with. It has been a balance of teaching him he needs to wait his turn and teaching Havana that she needs to share. There are those times when they can be doing things together and I almost can't breath I'm moved by the sight. When did they get big enough to play with each other? I also look at him in such wonder... he can do so much that we never let Havana do at his age (he tries to feed himself with his spoon, he colors in coloring books, we can play this fishing game we have...). I guess it is the whole second child thing where they are trying to do everything they see their older sibling do... but I'm sometimes shocked with how good he is at certain things that Havana is only just now learning. For example, for H's 1 year birthday she got this giraffe ride along thing (basically a tricycle) that she is just now able to ride and maneuver around the house. Jonah, at 13 months, can successfully put himself on it, ride it around, and take himself off of it! Big Boy!

His verbal skills sort of freak me out! He says so many things that I kind of wonder if he can really be saying them... I mean Havana is just now talking so to hear this one year old say things makes me wonder if I'm making it all up in my head. He can say dada, mama, vana, tucker, bubble, water (wa-wa), lion, kitty-cat, wow, go, bottle (ba-ba), and up. The only signs we have really taught him are "all done" and "more" but I hope to work with him on colors and such too! I feel bad, sometimes I realize all that Havana knew at one.. she knew her body parts and such... poor Jonah, I don't think I've stopped long enough to teach him nearly as much. I told Jason that I need to make a better effort and teaching him things instead of just hoping he'll pick things up from Havana. Poor kid, he's truly a middle child! :)

Jonah's firs time to crawl up the stairs by himself!

The only issue we've been having with him is physical. When he turned one we transitioned him gradually from milk based formula to whole milk. He seemed to handle the change fine (as long as it was in his bottle and warmed up). About a week or so after he had been drinking milk he began having major blow out diapers. Yuck! They were the kind you could smell two rooms away (no joke) and covered EVERYTHING. At first we thought it was a little virus or something... there was just one odd thing about it, his stool was white. I mean, white. We noticed around the same time that his appetite decreased a little and so we continued to suspect a virus. However, it never progressed (never had a fever, never spread to anyone else, etc.) and we ended up putting him back on formula. A few days after he was back on exclusive formula... his appetite increased and his stools were hard and brown! We used up a whole can of formula and then gradually added in whole milk. We tried to make an even longer transition period this time. However, a few days after switching back to whole milk... the white explosive diapers came back! :( We're not really sure how to take all of this and we've been talking to different doctors (sadly, his doctor has been out of town so hopefully we can talk to her soon!). Apparently, white stool is not good... it is a sign of no bile which can be a sign of something seriously wrong with his liver or gall bladder. They also said it is a sign of cystic fibrosis. So, on one hand I can read all through google on how a milk allergy/intolerance will NOT cause white stool and that it could be something very serious. That concerns me... sometimes to the point of tears. But then I take a step back and think that it points to a milk intolerance because it is directly in relation to when he drinks milk. So, I don't know. The doctor on call wanted us to bring him in, but Jason didn't want to do that. He said, "I get that all the time in the ER... parents bring in a child that has a weird symptom but acts/looks normal." He didn't want to do that to another doctor. They are going to look at Jonah and see a healthy kid. We just want someone to answer, 1. Does a lactose intolerance ever cause white stools even if a person has handled milk based formula, yogurt, and cheese just fine for months?  2. If so, how do you re-introduce milk? Continue half-half for a longer period of time? Try soy milk? (We tried soy formula, but the boy wouldn't drink it!). Etc. 3. Could this be something more that we need to be concerned about? We are hoping to talk to HIS doctor later this week. We don't mind coming in to see her, but we didn't want to see a new doctor who would look at Jonah and just see a tall/good weight boy and wonder why we were so concerned. So we will see what she says, but I'm praying nothing serious!

All of this did bring to my attention that I often pray for my children's health. Pretty much daily I'm praying for them never to get cancer, have a serious illness, etc. The thought of it is so unbearable that I simply pray my fear away. However, I'm not nearly as diligent about praying for their spiritual health... praying that they fall in love with Jesus at an early age. I told Jason that I need to be equally aware of their spiritual health rather than simply focus on their physical health!Always so many lessons to learn being a parent!

Baby Number 3:

The baby in my belly is doing well! Poor kid puts up with a lot of bending over and lifting! I haven't had too many complications or pains and so honestly can't complain! I will say that I'm getting more anxious about the gender. At first I was fine not knowing, but now it is eating at me. I've had so many dreams - some it is a girl and others it is a boy! I guess I think it is a girl, but I don't know... argh! :)

We have a boys name picked out... a name I'm in love with and really hope we get to use!!! We have no girl names picked out. There is a somewhat funny story, the other day I was reading my Bible and came across a girl's name that I really liked. I mentioned it later to Jason in the car and he really liked it. He immediately started saying what he liked about it. I was excited... had we found our perfect girl's name?! That evening I showed jason the passage in the Bible so he could read it for himself and... apparently I had misread the name. The name we both really liked is actually not in the Bible at all! To some extent that is funny, but to the other extent it is kind of sad. We talk about if we should still use that name that we both liked, but it would be void of any significant meaning... can you follow up Havana and Jonah (two names with two very deep meaning for us) with a name that "oh we just liked it"? -- I don't know. We have about 6 weeks left to come up with the perfect girls name... so we shall see.

Well, I think that is a lengthy enough update for one night! As always, thanks for letting me share about my family... I am so blessed to be married to jason and the mother of his children! God is so good!

Jonah's First Birthday!!!!!

May 3rd was Jonah's first birthday.  I have been falling behind on my blog and so all the "stats" I write for this post were accurate as of his first birthday... I'll update them in a future post to be more relevant. ;)

It is still hard for grasp that one year has already flown by since he entered into our beautiful family. He is an amazing little boy and my heart is full of pride for him. He has always been a super content and flexible baby and that is still the case... he's pretty much up for anything or content to play by himself all day. I have always said that having Jonah as my second child makes having two children easy... he's just an easy-going boy. :)

When he was born he weighed 8.7 which was smaller than his sister and so we said he was scrawny. He had really skinny legs and lost some weight at first because of his jaundice. However, he didn't stay scrawny for long... he beefed up and at his one year appointment he was 23 pounds and 31 inches long. It is hard for us to believe that our "scrawny" baby who had a terribly bruised face after birth is now this incredibly strong and handsome toddler. He is very much into sports and loves all sorts of balls. In fact, "Ball" was his first word after "dada" (he did say mama before he said dada, but it only happens when he is crying and I don't think he means it for me, but he certainly says "dada" for Jason. He can also say "vana" .. he knows the signs for all done and more). Anyway, in my opinion (unbiased, I'm sure :) he is very good at throwing, catching, and rolling balls. He loves to play catch with us or just by himself... he'll throw a ball and then crawl after it... it keeps him entertained for hours.

He also loves doors or anything with hinges. He can simply sit and open and shut a drawer for at least 30 minutes. I joke that maybe he'll grow up to be a doorman to which Jason says, "wow, you have really high aspirations for him." :). It is fun to watch him play by himself... he likes to push little match cars  stack things high. He also loves to be involved in whatever Havana is doing. He will follow her around from toy to toy simply wanting to be a part of whatever she is doing. There are moments he gets frustrated that he can't quite do everything she is doing, but that doesn't keep him from trying. I love that he wants to be involved with her because I want to teach them that they are siblings and God hand picked them to be best friends... they will always have each other and that relationship is to be valued and important. I have friends who still get together weekly with their siblings and I want to foster that kind of relationship with my children.

Jonah has the funniest laugh! It sounds like a scream and it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between when he is crying and when he is laughing. He enjoys being tickled, playing peek-a-boo, and being thrown up into the air. When he was younger he didn't care for dancing or being spun around and I always thought he wouldn't like roller coasters, but now he enjoys the flips and spins and other rough plays and so I think he'll handle them just fine.

He is still a great sleeper... sleeping about 13 hours at night and 2 naps a day. The first one is only 45 minutes to an hour, but the 2nd one usually lasts 2-3 hours. He has never been much of a snuggler, but he's starting to get better about giving actual hugs and kisses (open mouth, of course) when asked so that is fun for me. :) He really lights up when all the attention is on him (which honestly doesn't happen too often, but we do make an effort for it a few times a day). He loves swinging on swings which is something he also didn't like so much when he was younger, but now he gets excited when he sees a swing.

He's a great eater! Eats pretty much anything you put in front of him. He wants to use a silverware, but hasn't quite mastered the art of it yet. He is a determined little fellow. :) He also has 5 teeth... which is certainly more than Havana had at this age. :) He still does not walk, but he can take a few steps if he is holding on to something.

It is funny, though, he seems "all boy" to me at times and yet he also gets pretty fearful and things. He hates the vacuum... just the sight of it throws him into terror. We also have a DVD that has a puppet show of David and Goliath... it is meant for babies and is rather harmless, but Jonah thinks it is very scary and will cry and cling to us during the 2 minute puppet show. Take him on rides at Disney World - no problem... leave him in the nursery on Sundays  - no problem... the only thing that scares him is a little puppet show and the vacuum. :). He also has a few "sensitive" moments. He doesn't get sad or fussy very often, but whenever anyone leaves our house- he always cries. It doesn't matter who it is or how long they have been there, but once it is time for our visitors to go, he gets really sad (for only about 2 minutes). I think he just doesn't like the idea of saying goodbye no matter who it is. That strikes me as pretty endearing.


For his birthday party we had a CARS themed party with the family on May 1st. It was a fun event. I was excited about him trying cake, but honestly, he "smashed" it more than he ate it. I don't think he really grasped the concept that he could eat it and so instead just kept hitting it. For his actual birthday we spent the morning at Chuck-E-Cheese and then gave him a chocolate cupcake which he enjoyed. :).  We bought him a little people car track thing and Jason and I were talking about how we hope he can sense that it is "his" verses something of Havana's that he gets to play with. We ended up putting it up in his room and he enjoys racing the cars at night before bed. 

He is such a special boy and I look forward to what God wants to do in his life. I can't wait to see what talents and abilities he is gifted with and what his purpose is. All I know right now is that I'm madly in love with my little boy. He makes me smile and I love each and every moment of being his mommy. I still can't believe how blessed I am to have little Jonah as my son! He is a special man indeed!

Florida Vacation

Last month we took our second family vacation since becoming a family of four. When we only had Havana, we went out of town a lot... sometimes as often as once a month. However, when the 2nd baby came along, our travels became quite infrequent. Last August, when Jonah was 3.5 months old, we took a trip up to St. Joseph, MI and had a great time, but have been unable to get away again until this past trip.

We knew we wanted to take one last trip before baby number three makes his/her appearance this summer and we ended up decided on taking a road trip to Orlando, FL. Jason ended up having a little extra time off and so we decided we would leave on a Friday and take a slow drive down there - stopping to see Jason's grandmother who leaves near Tallahassee, FL. We had been needing to buy a van for a while and so the Tuesday before we left we took the plunge and bought a new Honda Odyssey to help make the drive easier. We put almost 3,000 miles on it during its first week of life and I can say that we loved every minute in that car. I'm convinced that car does everything for me except fold my laundry... it was roomy, comfortable, and the perfect road trip car! :)  

We wanted to leave around 9am on Friday morning, but we ended up leaving around 11am. Sadly, it was rained hard our entire drive which made our pace even slower than we imagined, Not to mention that it made our desire to stop and get the kids out the of car almost non-existent since we would be getting them in/out in pouring down rain. But, none the less, we were on vacation! :) We stopped a few hours south of our house for lunch where we ordered some warm water to make a bottle for Jonah. Well, they brought a min-tea pot of scalding HOT water. We quickly poured some into his bottle and then put the tea pot on the floor behind H's chair so that the kids wouldn't knock it over on themselves. A little bit later, Havana starts rocking her chair backwards and tips the entire pot of water over all over the diaper bag on the floor. Jason and I became side tracked with picking up the water that we didn't see Havana who reaches for Jason's full cup of iced tea... she tries to take a sip out of it and ends up dumping the entire cup on herself, Jason, and the floor. Even as I write this I am laughing out loud because it was so funny. Granted, Jason didn't think it was as funny since he was the one who had to wear wet shorts the rest of the day, but it really was a sight to be seen. I quickly took Havana to the bathroom and changed her clothes and came out and had her go up and say, "thank you" to the man mopping up her spilled water/iced tea.  We made a quick exit and continue our drive south.

The children did great through the entire drive down. In fact, we didn't even have to start a show until 8.5 hours into the ride. The kids didn't know we had a DVD player in the car and so when a show started they were quite happy. Jason and I both noticed that Havana was really trying hard to sing along with the songs on the radio (her children's cds) and she said "Baby Sad" when Jonah began crying. We both were very pleased because we felt she was really making a breakthrough in her speech.  We ended up stopping again around 8pm for dinner in Alabama... I think the kids were so loopy at that point that anything would have been funny for them, but Havana started making Jonah laugh and I've never seen such a sight. The two were feeding off each other and sending each other into deep belly laughters. It was so much fun. We packed up the car and headed a few more hours south until we could not push the children any longer. We found a hotel close to midnight. As we were unloading the car, Jason dropped something, and Havana shouted, "Oh Nuts, Daddy." Jason and I looked at each other -- where did she learn that expression?!



The hotel that night was nice - we got a suit so that the children could have their own room away from us. This was really Jonah's first time in his pack-n-play since last time we traveled he was not yet rolling and so we just slept on a regular bed. Anyway, he did not like the pack-n-play... not one bit... and so he had to cry it out for a little while. It was a good thing it was midnight and he was so tired because he didn't fight it for long. Jason and I slept great on our temperpedic mattress that the hotel provided. I'm a believer in those now. :)

Saturday morning the children awoke a little earlier than normal, but we all got up, had some breakfast at the hotel, and hit the road again. We were about two hours away from Jason's grandmother. We got to her place a little before lunch and had an enjoyable visit with her. This was her first time meeting our children and so it was very special. We ended up going to a little music festival where Jonah was able to crawl around and Havana was able to show off her dance moves. The weather was sunny and warm and we finally felt like we were on vacation. :)

That afternoon we took the children back to the little hotel room we had rented. His grandmother lives in a small town and the only hotel they have does not offer any suit rooms. Jason and I were a little apprehensive about how it would go because we've never, ever shared a room with havana and didn't know if her being able to see us would be a distraction. We set up the children's pack-n-plays and then stacked our suitcases high on the bed. We put them down and then we both crawled into bed behind the suitcases hoping they would hide us from the children. That part worked... Jason and I laid perfectly still, texting each other in order to avoid talking, and neither of the children really noticed us. Jonah was very mad about his pack-n-play and kept standing up and crying extremely loud. All of a sudden havana stands up in her pack-n-play and looks over at Jonah and says, "It's okay baby. Mama, dada, vana, and baby night-night." -- Our hearts melted as we realized that she was trying to comfort baby and she was telling him what was going on... that all of us were taking a nap time. So sweet. Jonah did end up falling asleep after about 20 minutes of crying and both children ended up taking a decent little nap. That evening we spent some more time with Jason's grandmother and the hotel worked out for us to sleep in, but again, Jonah had to spend a while crying himself to sleep. Poor guy.

Sunday morning we woke up and went with Jason's grandmother to church. I think there were about six people there other than us. It was an interesting experience... their minister said in his sermon that the fall of man happened because Adam desired fellowship with Eve. Not really how it happened... oh well, Jason and I spent most of the time trying to keep our children quiet. We ate lunch with his grandmother and then took off for Orlando!

It took a few hours to get to Orlando and Havana was growing hungry. We stopped an exit or two up from where our rental house was to get a snack and buy some groceries. Well, I guess Havana was more hungry than we realized because as we were walking through the grocery store, I look down at her in the cart and realize that she had poked her finger through a yogurt package and was eating it with her fingers. Poor girl! We finally made it to our home and enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I made a pasta dinner and we gave the kids their baths. Havana stayed in a princess themed room and she was immediately captivated by it all. We have never watched a movie with her - the only shows she watches are 30 minutes in length - so she had no idea who the "princesses" were, but we told her about them and she loved playing with the figurines and sleeping with them. It was actually beautiful to see as I believe girls are made my God with natural princess desire. We want to be a princess and get naturally caught up in fairy tales... I believe this helps us find our true romance in Jesus Christ and helps us not settle for less than Christ's best in a husband. Anyway, it was fun to watch Havana get wrapped up in the magic of it all. :) Jonah's room was a pirate theme... so very boyish. He continued to struggle with his pack-n-play, but after about 20 minutes of crying he put himself to sleep and Jason and I were able to enjoy some quiet in the house.

Monday we woke up and decided to Gatorland. We had a good time walking around, feeding the gators, and playing in the splash park. It was Jonah's first Splash Park experience and he enjoyed it and Havana, who loved splash parks last summer, continued with her love and ran around like a crazy woman. That evening we spent some time at a local park and swimming in our back yard. Jason suggested we call in some Indian food since he knew it was my favorite and there was a menu on our fridge. We called in an order of 30 dollars worth of food and when we went to pick it up we had trouble finding it. We called them back to ask for directions and found out they were located in Jacksonville, FL... about 2 hours away. So, sadly, we ended up getting pizza for dinner since we were going to drive all that way for food. Jason was so sweet and kept saying he was sorry because he knew I was looking forward to the food. He's so sweet. :)

Tuesday morning we packed up and drove to a beach about an hour away. The beach has to be one of my favorite places of all times... even though going with two small kids is anything but relaxing... it was still so nice simply to "be" on the beach. Jason had packed some beach chairs for us to lay out in and neither one of us were able to sit down even for a minute. He laughed and said, "what was I thinking packing these?" Yes, going to beach is so much work, but it makes the work more fun being in sunny Florida. ;)

This was Havana's fourth trip to the beach and she has loved it each and every time... this time was no different. She enjoyed going out in the water and playing in the sand. This was Jonah's 2nd trip to the beach and he really enjoyed it. His favorite thing to do was to crawl into the waves without any awareness that he could drown. It was stressful and funny all at the same time.

We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then walked back to our car. That is when Jason and I came to the realization that we had no way to clean the sand off of ourselves, our children, or our things and neither one of us wanted to get sand in our new car. We ended up walking a few blocks and tried to use a hose at an apartment complex... however, it was not working. Then we walked a little while the other way and Jason found one, but he needed to use a pocket knife to get it to work. Ha. It was an adventure and i was nervous we would get in trouble, but it all worked out and we were able to get everyone cleaned up and a minimal amount of sand was brought into my new car. We stopped at a Cuban restaurant for lunch and enjoyed some great food and music. At lunch we asked Havana where she learned the phrase, "aw, nuts" (because she had said it a few times during the trip) and she answered with, "mommy." That made us both laugh because I have never used that phrase before.  As we were driving home, Jason slammed on the breaks and the stroller bounced against the back of Havana's seat. In an annoyed voice Havana said, "Oh, Man, Daddy." Again, we both started laughing. I have no idea where she is coming up with this stuff.

We made it home in time to put the children down for a late nap. While they were sleeping Jason and I enjoyed some time at the pool. We decided that we would try and do dinner with the children at Downtown Disney. Well, that ended up being a horrible plan. It took us 30 minutes to find a parking spot and perhaps we should have taken that as a warning. To say it was crowded is an understatement. It was packed. It took us almost two hours to walk from one end to another because it was a wall of people. We were not able to find anything to eat because the shortest waiting time we found was an hour and 45 minutes. I was hoping to stop by a certain store and buy something, but we couldn't even approach the front of the store and the children were getting impatient and so we walked back to our car and left a little disgruntled. We ended up just calling in some take out at a restaurant by our house and skipping all the original Disney plans. My cousin arrived on Tuesday night and after we put the kids to bed I went to pick her up from the airport. She flew down to help me out (Jason had a conference Wednesday-Friday) and because she can get us into Disney World for free.

Wednesday AM I woke up early and took Jason to his conference. I made it back to the rental house before anyone else was awake. Allison, my cousin, and I got the kids up and took them to the Animal Kingdom resort to try and view some animals. We didn't see too many, but it was still neat. We then went to Downtown Disney again because I wanted to buy Havana another Pluto. She picked out a Pluto the year before when we went down there and she has "loved" it so much it is very ratty. We thought we would buy her a back up one and Downtown Disney was a lot less crowded! :) After running that errand we picked Jason up, went out to lunch, and spent the afternoon at home. We, again, did the pool while the kiddos were napping. When the children woke up, we got them ready and went to have a character dinner at the Swan Hotel. We kept telling Havana about having dinner with Pluto and she was so excited. She even gave him a kiss on his nose. Jonah really enjoyed Goofy! It was a fun dinner and I loved watching Havana light up. I'm writing this re-cap almost two months later and she still talks about having dinner with Pluto! Clearly, it was a highlight.

On Thursday Jason decided to skip his conference and so we spent the morning around the house and playing in the pool. That evening we went to have dinner with friends of ours from Cuba. That evening was so much fun! Havana and Jonah enjoyed playing with our friend's children and Jason and I enjoyed the fellowship and Cuban food. As we were eating, Jonah was eating everything we put in front of him (which is normal for him) and Josue said that he would make a good missionary for that reason. Sure, it was a funny comment, but still, I really liked Josue "speaking over" Jonah like that. I believe the words we speak over our children are very important and so speaking over Jonah that he'll make a great missionary someday was a moment I won't soon forget.

Friday Jason went to his conference for the last day. Allison and the kids and i spent the morning at a petting farm and then we dropped Allison off at Disney (she had to work) and we picked Jason up. We decided to find a place to eat out for lunch and came across a greek place. It was one of those places where you sit on the floor and use your hands. It was a fairly nice place and while it wasn't super crowded, there were a few other people there. Well, our children aren't always the most quiet kids in the place and Havana was saying, "Dada" pretty loudly. We tell her she needs to whisper and so she stops yelling his name, but the very minute she stops, Jonah screams, "Dada" "Dada" -- it was so funny -- at least for us. ;) Friday night we ended up driving up to the World's Largest McDonald's playland... yes, sounds horrible to us too, but whatever you can do to keep the kiddos happy. :) After our date with the playland - Jason took me to an Indian restaurant so that I was finally able to eat my favorite food. :) 

Saturday was our last full day of vacation and was the day we chose to go to Disney World. I do think it is one of the World's Happiest Place! :) There was a show taking place at Cinderella's Castle that had all the Princesses acting in it. Havana was captivated and loved singing and dancing along with them. It was so sweet. After watching the show for a little while we made our way to our first ride. Havana's first ride last year was "Small World" but this year our first ride was "Peter Pan" -- Havana enjoyed it last year, but not this year. She was a little scared during that ride. Jonah, on the other hand, enjoyed it. Next we went to "Small World" and again Havana was scared and Jonah was happy. We ended up riding several more rides, but found out that Havana really doesn't like the indoor rides. Jason even had to take her out of one of them. However, she did great on the outdoor rollercoasters like Dumbo, the tea cups, the merry-go-round, and she even drove a car in the racers. Jonah enjoyed everything and Jason even was able to ride on Space Mountain. We stayed for several hours and it was such a fun time of meeting characters (Havana actually never got scared meeting the new people, which was nice) and enjoying family time. We went home for the children's nap and then went back for the parade. It was such a joyful day! I was thankful for my husband taking us all on vacation and for my cousin who came to help us out.

Sunday morning we woke up early and started the LONG 18 hour drive home. The drive down certainly went a lot smoother than the ride back home. Jason and I were both exhausted from staying up late packing and so we were trading off between driving and sitting in the back with our eyes closed. At one point Jason made the joke that we were the picture of what NOT to do on a road trip... Jason really had to go to the bathroom and so we pulled off and EVERYTHING was closed (even the target) and so he finally found a Krogers and he ran inside while I gathered the kiddos up to change their diapers in there. The changing table in the bathroom was full of some liquid and so i attempted to change the kids in the cart! It was a rough stop for us all. We look on our phone and we saw that there was a park up the street and so we tell the children about the fun park we're about to stop at... however, when we get there... it is a "memorial park" -- a cemetery!  So we had to keep driving even though Havana kept asking for the swings. It broke my heart. We finally did find a park, but that was more than 20 minutes up the road. We finally hit a streak of luck when we found a nice deli to eat lunch and then let the children play at a McDonald's playland. They ate well and we changed their diapers and withing 3 minutes of being in the car... they were both asleep. They only slept for about an hour, but it was the best hour of the drive. Around the time we hit Nashville, Jonah was really struggling... poor guy had a stiff neck and couldn't move his head for about 15 minutes. We let the children play at a park for about a half hour and then we grabbed some dinner and headed for the 2 hour drive home. By the time we crossed over the bridge from Kentucky to Indiana Jonah was a mess... poor guy was screaming. I took him out of the car seat and held him for the 10 minute drive from the state line to our house. As soon as I got him out he fell asleep on my shoulder. I felt so badly for him... 18 hours is awfully long for an 11 month old. Other than the stressful and long drive home... our vacation was wonderful!

It seems that every vacation I take is the best one we've ever had and this was no exception. I loved every minute of being with my family and the memories we created. It is sweet to me that Havana still remembers her Princess room and eating dinner with Pluto. I can't wait until our next vacation! :)