Jumpin' Into July

Well, July 4th came and went and we have yet to see a fireworks show. Turns out Jed is terribly afraid of fireworks and ends up in hysterics if he hears them. Ugh . . . Everyone is assuring me that he will grow out of it. I sure hope so, because I love fireworks and miss them! On to the pictures!
Our first family photo together. I still can't believe that Jed has a "nice" smile rather than a big, goofy, open-mouthed grin. Being a housewife/stay-at-home mom is great! Until they both start crying at the same time. But moments like this one make it all worth while. I had run into the house to get us a drink. Came out to see this . . . so I had to run back into the house for the camera. By that time Jed figured out that I had seen him being sweet with Stella and had gotten up. So, to be honest, I made him pose for this one. It's still perfect!
This one was all him! What a little stinker!

Jed's still enjoying his basketball hoop. Jarrod has had to raise it twice all ready this summer! He does a great job and makes lots of buckets, even though he missed here. I thought his expression was too good to pass up!
What a helper Jed is! He was very interested in Stella's bath time so I asked if he wanted to help. He did a great job keeping her warm by continually pouring water over her. We did need to remind him a few times not to pour the water in her mouth.
Stella is just too cute! Honestly, I would love to have a picture of her cuddled up in her towel like we have with Jed. Soon she'll have enough neck & head control to do so! She's getting so strong.

We have been in search of a good sprinkler. This happens to be our third. The first was good for first time/summer in the sprinkler - it was Elmo shaped and would either mist or shoot one stream into the air. The second is a lady bug one that looked like it had a ton of potential - lots of streams in all directions out from the middle. Turned out that it couldn't get the water higher than about 10 inches off the ground and was not exciting at all! This one is great! It shoots water in all directions, has great water pressure - you can get the water quite high in the air and it has one super bonus feature (other than serving as a good drinking fountain). Notice the orange spiral tube - you put balls into it and they roll to the bottom and get launched by the water out of the green center tube. If you have the sprinkler standing straight upright, the ball will suspend in the stream of water (yea for Bernoulli's principle! [yes, I once taught Physics]).
Here's a synopsis of the conversation happening for the next picture:

Jed: Nose!

Mom: Did water go up your nose?

Jed: Yeeaaaaahh (slightly embarassed)

Kinda got a cute bath towel pic at the next bathtime. I just missed a smirky smile.

After church on Sunday, I thought I'd try to get a few cute shots of her in the pink polka dot outfit that I absolutely love! What a profile! What an adorable button nose!
It is difficult to get a good picture of the Stella. She's either wiggling too much or making a frowny or serious face. This one turned out pretty well.
Pretty girls in pink!

She changes so much over short periods of time . . . I'm sure this is not new to most of you . . .

I can't get over how precious she is.
Last week I was washing Jed's sheets which meant that he got to nap in the big bed. I was pretty pooped too, so after reading books, I think I fell asleep first. When I woke up I was sandwhiched between my precious babies. I hope I never ever forget how great that felt - to have them so close and so sweet. Since no one was around to take a picture for me, I have to just imagine myself inbetween the two.

She's a Month Old Already!

Can you believe that June 14th was just this past Saturday? And that marks Stella's 1 month birthday. Wow - does time go by quickly. I'm so glad that I'm staying home now so I don't have to miss a thing! Stella is smiling and cooing now - mostly at Mom. Dad doesn't get it so easily. I don't remember Jed having such a preference. Funny. Jed is still a great Big Brother - more on that later!
Aunt Pam came up to visit us with Grandpa Tut and she made Thomas move! I thought that would be sweet fun for Jed. But he said "uh-uh, no," all the while shaking his head. Wow, was I wrong.
A few days later I was getting laundry done. I had the clothes folded & in baskets, left the room to tend to something and returned to find a child in one of them - watching one of his favorite shows - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It's his favorite because it flashed blue as they get ready to ask the question, yellow if it's a correct answer and green for the correct answer when the contestant is wrong. He proudly yells out the correct colors. It's quite amusing to watch.
Jarrod and I finally set up his train set. We've been collecting items for it for quite some time. We have track & trains from Grandma Tut, extra track, trees, house & animals from garage sale-ing and a few "specialty" items that Jarrod & I hand picked. Can you see the railroad crossing in there??
We put it all together while Jed was napping and after waking up & snack time, we brought him in to see it. Wow - he was a bit overwhelemed, but quickly went right to work, making the crossing arm move up and down. He loves to go "UP!" to play "choo-choo" all the time. He'll even 'disappear' and I'll hear a tiny voice chatting away upstairs with a few "woo-woo" or "ding-ding-dings" thrown in.
I can't say enough about this window. We love it! I'm going to put a baby gate in front of it when I'm not upstairs - just to be safe. But how precious - he's watching the birds outside in the yard pulling up worms.

Dad and Jed have lots of fun "hopping" on the bed together. They also play "Spider-Jed." Jed loves to crawl along the ceiling to be dropped onto the bed unexpectedly.
We went for a family hike last weekend in Hixon forest. We all loved it. It was a bit buggy - even with bug spray. Jed was a hoot! And he did get tired after awhile and needed a piggy back from Daddy.Jed admired the really big trees in the forest and I discovered what he thought tree trunks were for - scratching your back! (That's why the picture is blurry.)
Stella slept the whole time in the babybjorn. Jed was always making sure that Mom and Baby didn't get left behind.

It can be hard at times to put down the baby to play with the toddler, but Stella made it easy this time. She really seemed to enjoy looking at Jed's Thomas pillow and I even caught her cooing and smiling at it a few times. How precious.
Jed found this camera and loves it. He'll walk up to you and tell you to say "cheese" and snap your picture. I just happened to have the camera with me at the time.

He had to take a portrait rather than a landscape!
Stella's bathtime is so enjoyable for all - she doesn't cry! She is so alert and attentive during her baths and quiet! Here she couldn't take her eyes off me.
First off - can you believe this red, curly hair?? I love it!

Jed & I were out walking with Stella and he fell and scraped up his knee pretty good. He handled it really well until we got home and I was trying to clean it up. It all started when Stella woke up mad (which is rare) and was screaming. Jed was more concerned that I take care of her than his knee. Since I, being the all knowing and wise mommy that I am (not), continued to care for his knee while telling Jed that Stella was OK and could wait, Jed got upset and started crying - hard. It was a catastrophe! Next time, I'll pacify the baby first. Here he is kissing his own owie.

Here's a "pouty" face that has a hint of giggle to it.
Now for the "Awe, how cute" pictures:

Jed asked to hold Stella. They were so cute together - each with their paci that I just couldn't not take a picture. In the 5 seconds it took me to run & grab the camera, Stella had fallen asleep and spit her paci out on Jed's lap.
Then she woke up and was very content cuddling with her big brother.

Then she started fussing, so Jed helped her with her paci. And she fell asleep again. The two of them sat that way for at least 15 minutes before Jed started pushing her off of him. Now I just need to teach him to ask me to take her back.
Stella just loves to be swaddled. I swaddled her the other night and she was so angelic looking on our bed I could hardly stand it.

I am continually amazed by my kidlets. They each grow and develop in their own unique way. Just yesterday, we were playing upstairs with the trains. Stella was content hanging out on Jed's bed (only with his permission) while I ran downstairs to get some water. I heard Stella start crying and hurridly gathered my glass, Jed's sippy cup and some pretzels to snack on. Before I even got to the stairs, the crying subsided. I peeked around the corner to see Jed with his chin resting on his hands gazing at Stella saying, "OK Sessa, OK" and when she would spit her paci out, he would put it back in her mouth as gentle as a toddler could. My heart melted.

I just love being a Mom. I love how God can reveal more about his heart for me through my role as Mom. Just the other day, Jed was off a ways playing. It was time for him to come by my side. I called to him a few times before he began making his way toward me. He moved slowly but I kept encouraging him that he was doing the right thing. A few steps later, he stopped, looked back then started crying. Immediately I thought of how God will be asking me to do something and I ignore his request or move slowly - while kicking, screaming or complaining about it. I thought about how God responds to me in those moments. He doesn't yell or call names. He keeps requesting and sends encouragement my way when I take steps toward him. So, in desiring to love my son in his disobedience, I told him that he was being a good boy coming to Mom and to keep walking toward me rather than telling him to stop crying or angrily calling out to him or just snatching him up and telling him he was being naughty. I was amazed at Jedidiah's response. His crying didn't stop, but he kept walking toward me, knowing that what he was doing was right, even though he didn't want to do it. When he reached me I gave him the biggest hug with lots of kisses and lots of praise and thank yous. His tears quickly disappeared and proud smiles decorated his precious face. Sometimes, it is difficult to do what God is calling you to do, but if you act in obedience to Him, you won't be disappointed.