More pictures

Some pics of the kids playing today :-) 

Isaac was given a tent with a tunnel for his birthday, and the kids have had a lot of fun with it.

Elizabeth in the tunnel

 Isaac looking out the door

 

Sometimes Daddy's just a big kid, too!

Daddy, Isaac, and Elizabeth in the tent.

Kisses!

Hmmm....

Three kids coming down the slide with scary glowing eyes

Some pictures from the week :-)

Sunday:  Trying to get pictures of the boys in their matching outfits.  They wore these for Easter, but they work well now, too. 

Isaac looks like such a big boy!

 Handsome Josiah

Our "trunk" for our church's Trunk N Treat.  Gotta find some use for the giant airplane pool float ;-)

Beautiful pink rock star!

Josiah and Isaac were there, but we didn't get picture of them until it was late and the lighting wasn't so good.

 Friday:  Elizabeth dressed up for her school costume parade--she didn't decide what to wear until she saw the headband at Target yesterday.  She is a snow fairy/princess.  Oops, I didn't even get pictures of the cool hair that made us late for school.

Isaac watching the parade.  He's Baby Jaguar to go with Josiah's Diego costume.

Stopped at Chick-fil-A for breakfast after watching the school parade.  Josiah's in partial costume.

Aren't God's creations amazing? 

He's ONE!

My Baby Baby turned one on Saturday.  I'm still trying to adjust to that fact.

Isaac is now about 22 lbs and over 30 1/2 inches tall. He has his front eight teeth and one molar fully in. The second half of his second molar and his third molar finally broke through yesterday.

He eats everything we eat, sometimes out-eating his siblings. Fruits seem to be his favorite foods. We had to stop nursing almost a month ago because of a medicine I was taking, but he adjusted well; we are finishing up some formula before switching to whole milk.

He is all boy and completely fits the nickname "Tank". At the same time, he is a great snuggler still, and loves to hug and pat stuffed animals, baby dolls, even blankets or clothes.  He is so curious, and wants to figure out how everything works.  His favorite way to move is on foot.  He's been walking pretty steadily for over a month.  And any thoughts of this one being our quiet one are now out the door.  He has added new words to his vocabulary:  uh-oh, up, baby, and an occasional hello.  This week he added the kissing sound when blowing kisses and started waving to everyone we passed in the store.

We celebrated Isaac's day at home with some family and a special friend!

Elizabeth used her Easy Bake oven to make Isaac his own special cake.

 

He enjoyed his new presents!  His favorite was a new play phone.  He just couldn't understand why Daddy kept taking his toys away and giving him another box or bag instead. :-)

The big kids decided to have a Mickey Mouse themed party.  So we cheated and used Oreos to make Mickey shapes on the cake.  I forgot to buy ingredients for the frosting, though, so Grandma ran to the store and then quickly decorated the cake as the party was starting. 

(If you read on Facebook about the cake drama, the cake turned out surprisingly fluffy and yummy!)

Isaac thought the cake was fun to smash, but he really enjoyed eating/wearing the Oreos. :-) 

 Praising God for the blessings this precious one brings to our family! 

We can't wait to see what God is going to do in his life!

Molars!

Isaac had been working for weeks on a molar.  It finally broke through last week, probably on Thursday, the 7th.  It was on the lower left side of his mouth.  I've been watching the lower right side, thinking that would be the next to come in.  Well, I was surprised this morning to feel his upper right molar had broken through the gum!  Hopefully, this explains the fever and miserable day he had yesterday!  I can feel one of the other molars pushing against his gum.  We'll see which comes in next.   Will they all arrive before his birthday?

Attracted

Each night during prayer time, we take turns saying positive things about one family member.  Tonight was Isaac's night.

Josiah:  I like that Isaac is attracted to his toys and to me.

Elizabeth:  Josiah, do you know what attracted means?

Josiah:  No

Elizabeth:  Attracted is when you see something, then you really look at it, and then you think it's SO cool!

Josiah the photographer

A sampling of Josiah's photography with his new camera:

We'll add some more of Josiah's photos soon.  His discovery of the timer setting made for some fun pics! :-)

Two Years!

We arrived home with our first son two years ago last week!  In honor of the day, Josiah received a Go, Diego, Go! digital camera (I'll share some of his pictures later :-)) and chose to go to Sakura for dinner.



He looks so grown up in this picture!

 What a blessing it has been to watch him learn and grow!  Josiah is 38 1/4 inches tall and 29 pounds in weight.  While that is definitely small for his age, he is finally on the growth charts!  :-)  He has grown 8 inches since coming home, 5 in the past year!  He's gained about 9 lbs., 4 of that in the last year. 

Josiah continues to progress with his development.  He can say the letters of the alphabet.  He can verbally spell his name, and recognizes those letters in written form.  He is working on recognizing the rest of the alphabet.  He counts to twelve on his own and can count to twenty with a little bit of support.  He knows the names of colors. 

Physically, Josiah is developing well.  He has abundant energy and uses it to run, tumble, jump, and continually move. His coordination is improving.   He is learning to ride a bicycle.  He has been learning about throwing and catching a ball.  It took us a while to find a left-handed glove in his size, but he is really enjoying playing catch with Daddy!

 Josiah is a great helper.  He is growing more and more to see Isaac as a friend.  He loves playing with Elizabeth, and is still a bit lost without her right now.  Josiah does get into his fair share of trouble.  We are really working on listening skills and thinking before acting.  He is more open about disagreeing with us and saying "no."  But while these acts can be frustrating, I really feel that it means he is comfortable with us and trusts us to love him no matter what. 

In one of his favorite places...Grandma's Mustang!

We celebrate Josiah being a part of our family; we are so blessed to have him!  We celebrate the bonding and growth over the past two years.  We celebrate that our family is forevermore part Ethiopian.  We also remember Josiah's Ethiopian family.  We remember that it is only through loss that Josiah is here.  We look forward to growing and learning together.

Mine

Usually hearing the kids say the words "That's mine!" or "Give me my...." drives me nuts.  Do we really not have enough toys, books, etc. for you each to choose something different?  This morning, I heard those familiar sounds coming from downstairs.  I started to sigh, then heard something a little different.

"Elizabeth, he is MY baby!  He sleeps in my room!  I'm playing with Isaac."

I just had to smile.  Josiah has claimed Isaac when it comes to people outside of our family saying they want him.  "That's our baby."  But it's never been about him.  I guess Isaac is slowly working his way into his big brother's heart. 

A few other things about my two boys that have made me smile:

Yesterday, Josiah held the gate open for Isaac to go upstairs with him.  I didn't realize it until I heard Isaac crawling around on the floor above me.  After the inital panic passed (we don't have a baby gate at the top of the stairs because we haven't spent much time letting Isaac crawl up there), I listened to Josiah tell me that he let Isaac come up because Isaac wanted to be with him.  We did talk about not letting the baby go upstairs without someone with him, though ;-)

Today, Josiah was including Isaac in his imaginative play.  He used the porta-crib mattress as a car, and was happy to have Isaac sit up next to him.  He asked Isaac where they were going, and when Isaac stood up, Josiah said he was filling the gas tank for them.

These are all the more sweet because Isaac just has a special affection for Josiah.  He loves Elizabeth, and she clearly dotes on him and plays with him a lot more.  But he loves Josiah just a bit differently...maybe he just knows he has to work a bit harder to win this one over. :-) 

I'm excited to see how they are going to change in the next year as Elizabeth is at school and Isaac becomes more of a playmate.

The First Day in the First Grade....

(to the tune of Billy Joe McGuffrey)

Now Elizabeth Grace Baber was a really pretty kid

On the first day of First Grade, I'll tell you what she did

She woke early a time or two before the alarm
Took some pictures with her bros and showed us all her charm.

First day in the first grade
First day in the first grade
First day in the first grade
She wore clothes, chosen at Kohl's, for which Great Grandma paid.

Now Elizabeth Grace Baber was a really eager kid
On the first day of first grade, I'll tell you what she did

She rode the bus for the first time, bounding up the stairs.

She went off for her first day with really cute hair.

First day in the first grade

First day in the first grade

First day in the first grade

Glad we had some extra time to put her hair in braids

Now Elizabeth Grace Baber was a really friendly kid

On the first day of first grade, I'll tell you what she did

She met a friend with her same name, just in the reverse (Grace Elizabeth)

Then she came home, jumped off the bus as if she had rehearsed

She had a great day in the first grade
A great day on her first day
It was a great day in the first grade
She will have some fun and learn with the new friends she made.

Ten Months Old

Isaac is ten months old today!  Our littlest man is growing and changing so fast!

Good Morning, Sunshine!

At his 9 month appointment last week (OOPS!), he was 20 lbs. 6 oz., and the nurse measured him at 28.5 inch.*  But I think he'as actually over 29 inches.  It's hard to get a good measurement on a small table with a wiggly baby. :-) 

Isaac is a mover!  He will attempt to crawl through or over anything in his way--leading Daddy to employ the nickname "Tank" for him.  (Thanks for the idea, Auntie Max :-))  Isaac easily walks with a hand just skimming over furniture or holding someone's hand.  He lets go while standing, and can crouch down and stand back up.  So far, he will try one step, but then goes down to crawl.

Helping Daddy put his new dresser together

He is becoming more independent, so we're starting to see a bit of a stubborn streak in him.  He wants to hold his own food and take bites rather than having his food cut up into small pieces.  He insisted on holding an ice cream cone upside down the other night.  But he ate the whole thing!

Some of his favorite things to do:

Eat

Drink anyone else's drink

Take toys out of the toy box

Take trash out of the trashcan

Take silverware out of the dishwasher

Dump the dog's water bowl
Follow his siblings
Laugh at his siblings
Clap
People watch
Give open mouth kisses

Snuggle (the last two are my favorites, too!)

We're so blessed to have Isaac in our family! 

*It was a bit of a strange feeling realizing that Isaac, at ten months, weighs more and is probably within an inch of the size Josiah was when he came home at 28 months.  Looking at Isaac and Josiah now, it doesn't seem possible that Josiah could have only been that size! :-)