I did not expect to take a sick day today.

Although it is nice having the occasional 3-day weekend, today was not what I expected. After cleaning up vomit for the 8th time today, my house is clean and the kids and I are tired. Thomas went down without a whimper. Joanna is asleep on the couch and just sat up and dry-heaved in her sleep and laid back down like nothing ever happened and without opening her eyes. She was dozing off while watching a "The Land Before Time" with me when I took off to the bathroom and made myself a mess you wouldn't believe. The whole bathroom had to be cleaned. Sorry if this is gross, but I had to say it. Anyway, I felt a lot better, and cleaned some other stuff too. Today has been exausting. I pray I can get some good sleep through the nausea. I'm thankful that I've been capable of taking care of myself and the kids the whole time. God is good.

Thomas really was the first one sick. He woke in a mess he threw up sometime in the night. How awful.But after his bath he was pretty much fine for the rest of the day with the exception of a few whining spurts. His mattress has a different story: it is out of commission as it continues to dry. Joanna got sick about 9 a.m. and has been puny all day. She threw up 5 times...and counting I guess. I hope I'm done at 2, but I am not that optimistic. I still feel queasy.

I'm going to cart Joanna to bed and hit the rack myself. Here's hoping for a nice restful night.

Kids update

Thomas was stomping around the house in a size 3T T-shirt that has a
picture of a dinosaur wearing boxing gloves. He looks like a little
man in his boy clothes. He's wearing 24-months sized pants and some
tops too, but the 3T fits with the sleeves rolled up. He's so handsome
and sweet. Just exactly like his daddy. He ate his first strawberry
today. He liked it, but he made the same kind of goofy faces that he
made when he ate his first tomato.

Joanna has a stubborn streak to her. I don't know where that came from...
She is absolutely precious though. Last night, she grabbed my fork
from dinner and took it with her little red chair to the kitchen sink
and washed it off (water only) and laid it on the counter top. Does
she watch every move I make or what? It is so neat to see her do
things herself. This morning she went to "school" aka "Miss Kristie's
Castle" and I mentioned to her to tell Miss Kristie when she needs to
pee and poo in the potty. She said, "I need to go pee in the potty,
now." So I went ahead and took her. She did it! I'm so proud. She went
poo a little in the potty tonight as well. I gave her the "two
chocolates" except they were little chocolate chips instead of big
Hershey kisses. I mean, it was like 9 o'clock! She didn't say anything
about them not being big (didn't even hint at complaining), they were
still "two chocolates."

Not a Brown Hot Dog

Recently, Joanna has stopped adding her just-one-snake-not-two-snakes request when she wants a hotdog. Now asks for a hotdog and adds, "not a brown one" and I have NO IDEA what she is talking about. Aren't all hotdogs brown? Well, there are those red ones, but she has never had one that I know of. So, here's to a new mystery to figure out!

She also has started asking for other ways to prepare things. Again with the hotdog, she's started asking me not to make it too hot. Sometimes, it ends up being a tad too hot so she has to wait until it cools. I'm still getting used to only needing to microwave something for 15 seconds.

This morning, she looked at the hotdog (yes, a hotdog for breakfast) and asked "Is that a brown hot dog?" I asked, "Why don't you taste it and tell me if it is brown." (I mean, obviously it looks brown, so there must be something else to this.) I promise a post if I figure it out.

This girl loves hotdogs!

Kadie's 3rd Birthday Party

Kadie's 3rd Birthday Party: Scooby Dooby Doo!
Joanna and Thomas and I attended Kadie's 3rd birthday party last Saturday.

Joanna carried in Kadie's gift bag and (prompted) said "Happy Birthday" and gave her the bag. Kadie said (prompted) "Thank You" and (unprompted) gave Joanna a big hug.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with the balloons and chasing each other. Everyone enjoyed the cake. Joanna utilized the Scooby-doo cupcake pick as a utensil to scrape off and eat the icing from her cupcake. I guess it's obvious it can serve a purpose other than decoration...How cute!

Thomas will have to wait one more month before he gets to have cake. Carrot cake, that is! He ate a teething biscuit and had some cherrios and took in all the sights and sounds.

I enjoyed spending time and talking with friends from my church and watching Kadie open some presents. I liked seeing how the kids interacted with each other and they understood the concept the party. The kids all were basically happy to watch Kadie open the presents. Kadie didn't mind to let the other kids hold a toy. (Joanna got interested in a white dog with pink bows and was slightly reluctant to give it back. But she did once she lost interest.)

Remembering Ed

Today, Joanna woke up and said Jesus is happy to see Pappy and Chris and Tracy. She is so loving and thinks of people all the time. She talks about people she hasn't seen in a while, brings them up on all sorts of contexts. But, it was weird being the first thing she said when she woke up.

Earlier this week, Joanna said to Nana: "Pappy sees me taking a nap on Nana's bed." Aww!

Tonight, I was showing Joanna photos on Facebook and someone had added my name to a photo of the Letcher family and friends but I wasn't in it. I was so glad to see the picture, though. A heavenly "mistake", I'm sure. Joanna saw the picture and her face lit up. She said "Hey! That's Pappy! That's my Pappy. I'm going to grow up just like Pappy and just like Mommy."

I can't help but be a little sad today. I miss Pappy, too. I sure love his family. What a wonderful blessing. It makes me really grateful to God for putting our families together. It is truly a gift. I can't even put words on it.

Feeding the Hotdog to "this mouth"

This is just the kind of cute stuff I get to take part in on a daily basis. The memorable moment happened a few minutes before the took this snapshot: Joanna said she wanted to feed the hotdog to "this mouth" referring to the Rolling Stones logo on Jason's shirt. This got a few chuckles out of all of us. Thomas laughs because we are all laughing. He's laughing at us, I guess. We are a corny crew.

Here is the video I took right after this picture:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amyjokidd/July2010#5502892912633380834

"Not 2 Snakes"

Joanna asked me for a hot dog for breakfast today. She said "I want a hotdog--like a snake. Not two snakes. Just one snake." Exact words. Here's the story. I used to cut up the hotdog for her. But not anymore. The first time she described the way she wanted to have the hotdog whole, she asked for a hotdog "like a snake." This went on a couple of times. I thought "How observant and smart she is!" Jason and I went out on a date and Granny watched the kids. Joanna asked her for a hotdog like a snake. She called us to find out what that meant. (This was really thoughtful and funny at the same time.) She warmed up the hotdog and got it a little too hot so she cut the hotdog in half, longways, to help it cool off. She told Joanna it was two snakes. (Sounds reasonable, right? Joanna ate the hotdog. Now, though, Joanna adds more specifics to her request for a hotdog. "I want a hotdog--like a snake. Not two snakes. Just one snake."

I Luze you, too.

Joanna says "I love you" but it sounds like "luze" and it's cute.

spittoon

Joanna just gave Thomas a spittoon. She handed him a cookie tin without the lid and said, "Here you go. You can spit-up in here." We were hanging out in the office with toys in the floor and me working on the computer the best I could. It's hard to do stuff these days on the PC with two kids needing my attention regularly.

Yard Sale and Joanna Milestones

Today was a huge day. I am incredibly tired. I am going to bed at the
end of this note.

We had our first yard sale. It was pretty successful. We had a nice
time visiting with those who joined us in the sale. I got some new
clothes out of it too.
It was fun preparing, sort of. Our house is a little less full now,
though you can't tell it. Surprisingly, several items we thought would
sell did not.

Joanna had a milestone day. She let herself in and out of the back
fence by herself, more than once. She not only opened the gate, but
she closed it, too. AND, the dogs did not get out.
The gate is not latched with a regular latch. It is a bungee cord that
hooks on to a nail, okay. That is one reason this amazes me--it's
simply hard to do!

She also opened the door by herself. And unlocked it too. This is bad.

She washed her hands by herself in the bathroom sink. She dried them too.
She had paint on them and I reckon she washed her hands before I saw
that she had paint on them. She painted me a really nice picture with
a handprint on it. I'm so proud my heart just melts.

I ran into a friend from high school who has a 10-yr-old they don't
get to see much. I was truly saddened to hear this.

Jason took Joanna on the back porch after dark to water plants. He
said she saw the stars and raised her hands and sang the "Twinkle,
twinkle" song in it's entirety, twice. He wished he had it on tape,
but I hope that by writing it down, this lovely memory will be
preserved. So many of these wonderful, tresaured moments go
unrecorded, but I hope my children know how much I enjoy every single
magnificent day that I am with them.

I am most wonderfully blessed by our Lord and Savior! I have eternal
salvation, a spectacular husband, a beautiful family, and great
friends.

Last month, our neighbor passed away. Ed Letcher, you may have met
him, has been our friend since he moved here. He died suddenly of a
heart attack while hiking. Ed was a great guy and he took to Joanna
like she was his own grandchild. He left behind his wife and his
14-year-old adopted son (grandson). His son is doing o.k. but is
really heartbroken. It's my understanding that Ed didn't even know he
was dying, he thought he was out of breath and was going to sit down
and rest. He died as he was sitting down of a massive heart attack.

Ed was Joanna's "pappy." She saw him nearly every day and he loved
her. She has finally realized he is not coming back. It has been tough
explaining to her, but I decided to keep it really simple. I tell her
"When you go to Nana and Pappy's house, Pappy won't be there. He is in
heaven." Sometimes, she says, "No. Pappy is at work." (just
matter-of-factly). A week ago, Sheryl had Joanna in the car and Jacob
got in the car and mentioned Pappy's name. Joanna said, "Pappy is in
heaven." and they were stunned. Sheryl told me that Jacob asked her
"what did you say?" so that she'd repeat that because he couldn't
believe she said that. A few days ago, she asked for Pappy and Sheryl
overheard her. Sheryl asked if she could give Joanna a photo of Pappy
later. When she gave the picture to Joanna, Joanna threw it down and
said "No" (but not mean). She asked for him again today after I said
something about being "happy". I just said, "Yep. I want to see Pappy
too. He's in heaven. I know you miss him. I miss him too." She said, "Yep"
back and "Oh, I'm sorry." I know she doesn't fully understand, but I'm just approaching
the situation like I want her to learn about death. Death is a natural
part of our lives. It is unexpected, but it is not the end.

I'm still sad about him being gone and my heart breaks for
his wife and having lost her partner of 40 years. Wow! She's doing
o.k. though. Ed loved the Lord Jesus, though so it helps knowing we
will all see him again. It also helps knowing that he died doing
exactly what he loved, hiking. Ed's funeral was awesome. It was one
that I had never seen the likes of before. I will have to write about that!

My children are my joy

My children are my joy, and of course, my husband is too. I can think
of many blessings in my life, and my husband is at the top of this
list.

Joanna is now two and a half. She is so delightful to be with. She is
two, and with that comes the boundary testing and temper tantrums, but
those begin to subside as she learns our boundaries and her own. It
helps if we are consistent as well, I have realized.

Thomas is really showing his personality now. He can sit up for a
little while on his own and he grabs at toys and holds them in both
hands. He's sticking things in his mouth and is happy to bounce and
swing and jump and be tossed around in the air. He is truly a happy
baby. He will be six months old soon.

Joanna talks in whole sentences, paragraphs, chapters, even! She can
tell a story, relaying details and opinions, if you can catch it all.
Sometimes, it takes a trained ear to catch those context clue words to
figure out what she's saying, but she is genuinely clear in most of
her words. We have caught her counting into her teens! Today, I
noticed she bounced her monkey on the couch and sang the alphabet song
like Daddy does with her. She also put the monkey in her shirt so that
his head stuck out the neck of the shirt and she walked around with
him like that for a while. She is so sweet.

I found her in her cave (Uncle Andrew built this for her) laying down
and sucking on a toy today. I sure hope that was a one-time thing.

Thomas is really watching Joanna and you can tell he really likes her
and is interested in all she does. This morning I gave him a bath and
she walked around in conversation back and forth so that she was going
in and out of his line-of-sight, though she didn't take notice of him
paying attention to her. He watched her this whole time and I could
see his expression change on his face from delight--an open mouth
smile with his eyes twinkling. to disappointment or not-so-excited
face. That was neat to see. He also peed on me as I was bathing him.
What is it about that warm water!

Joanna got a bath too. She is really getting better about letting me
wash her hair. I run a bath about 3 inches or so and she lays belly
down for some soapy suds. I got her a pink pouf a while back with some
special kids bath soap. It was for Valentine's day. Anyway, she lets
me put this soap all over her and even on her head. Then, we get out
some bath toys. I put in some "slippy bath" or baby oil so that her
legs don't turn into "alligators." I've started pointing out the hands
on the clock too and telling her that bathtime will be over soon. That
doesn't help much, though. The princess towel seems to help!

Joanna's Potty Adventure

Joanna went to the potty last night at about 8:15 p.m. She just took a notion to go and went in the bathroom, shut the door, and went potty. I walked in and saw that she did it. I was so amazed. Later, she went again and when I walked in, I saw she was even using a little toilet paper. I broke out the "pull-ups" and we cheered for her. This morning, I asked her if she wanted to go potty and she said yes and shooed me out of the bathroom so she could go potty. I don't have my hopes up that she has just instantly learned, but that is sure what it looks like.

On Thanksgiving, Jason, Joanna, Thomas and I were at my dad's and Joanna said she needed to go potty and my aunt took her to the bathroom. Joanna didn't want to go on the potty once she got in there, but I think it was the first time she genuinely wanted to go potty in the bathroom.

Joanna almost ran out into the road.

Joanna almost ran out into the road yesterday. It was terrifying. I caught her by the hood of her gray hooded jacket about 4 or 5 feet from the road. A car was coming and Joanna was toddling at high speed straight to Nanna's house saying, "Nana, bop bop, slide" and seeming to completley block out my ever escalating screams of "Joanna stop!" As I jerked her up, I popped her on the bottom several times and hugged her tight. I don't ever want her to do that again.

I feel 10 years older now. No wonder my mom said I gave her gray hair.

Joanna said "I love you, Thomas"

I took the kids out to work today. Before we left the driveway, just after Joanna and I managed to buckle her seat belt, she said "I love you, Mommy. I love you, Thomas." That was so cute! She was a doll all day.

Joanna says "mine, mine, mine!"

Joanna really likes the word "mine" now. She figured it out a short while

back and everything is "mine!" She says, "No, Mommy, that's mine!" and
wants me to get off of the chair. It's kind of cute. With the new baby
coming, I'm sure that she'll say everything in the house is "mine" when he
comes home.

We got her "Tinkerbell" sheets and beadspread for her big bed. She really
likes them. We wanted her to have something clearly her own. And we are
moving her into the full bed. Maybe this will be fun for her. We read
stories in the bed last night and will do it again tonight. Perhaps
tomorrow we will put her to bed in her big bed.

Joanna Hollers "Daddy, Drink"

Last night Joanna and I were reading "Llama, Llama, Red Pajama" and got to the page where "Baby llama wants a drink" and Joanna says,"Drink?" and starts hollering, "Daddy, drink! Daddy, drink!" She climbed down out of the bed and went to seek out Daddy and her drink. I just thought this was so funny that she was hollering for Daddy to get her the drink when I was sitting right there with her!

Joanna was cute this morning.

Normally, when I drop Joanna off at Nana's, we go through a routine and say goodbye at the door. Joanna usually waves to me and watches me go across the lawn to the road. This morning, she was interested in playing on the couch when it was "time for mommy to go to work." So, I just waved and said "bye bye ... I love you," and she waved to me and said "bye bye, mommy" from the couch. I stepped out the door and Nana spoke to me from inside the screen door for a few moments. She asked if Jason was upset that Joanna was in time out when he came to get her yesterday. I said that I didn't think so. He did mention it, but he did so with more of a matter-of-fact tone.

I turned to walk away and Joanna came up to the door to see me as I walked past the flag and said "bye, bye mommy" and blows me a big kiss! That was really nice and made my day.

Joanna at the Movies

Joanna went on her first trip to the movies with Nana and had a good time at the movies yesterday. It mayhave been because there were so many children there. I'm really glad. I asked Joanna if she liked the movie and she smiled and nodded her head yes.

I hope that her recent teething is finally over because she slept like a log all night long and did not wake up early and woke up in a good mood.

She's such a good girl.

While she was taking a bath last night, I got her to put the bath bubbles on my face. She did this repeatedly until all the bubbles in the entire bathtub were dissolved (that didn't take too long, though) and she had a blast, laughing the whole time!

She really has a good time rough housing with Daddy. He lets her jump all over him and off of him. They do pile ups with Joanna and the pillows and stuffed animals and she lays really still and Daddy says "Where'd Joanna go" and hunts all over for her until she pops out of the pile with a big smile on her face.

Joanna talked to Nena on the Phone

Last night, Joanna talked to Nena on the phone. I held it up to her ear and she listened and talked and everything. She even said, "bye" when she was done talking.