The Flood

The flooding in Nashville definitely left it's mark upon our house, but wow, it could have been a LOT worse! The following videos show how deep the water was around our house. Front yard first, then back yard. Both videos were taken prior to us figuring out how to prevent the water from getting into the house.

As it was, the neighbor whose wood fence you can see in the backyard video ended up tearing down part of his fence due to the pooling it was causing in his yard. Once the fence was down no more water came into our house. We ended up with about an inch or so all along the wall we share with the neighbor - the entire length of the house (in one of the bathrooms and both bedrooms). I'll post pictures when we get them off of the camera.

I won't lie, it was scary because we felt so helpless. The water just kept coming and it kept raining. We received 13 (some areas got 19!) inches of rain in 2 days. Thankfully we live on a hill, so we only had to deal with the water as it flowed down to the lower spots, but the pooling in the backyards due to privacy fences is what got us.

Snow! ...well, a sprinkling

The kids played in our first snow of the year! They loved it, and Katie ran around until she got cold. Josh played with Sarge (see video) and enjoyed every minute of it.

oh yeah, blame Miguel for Katie's dirty face.

Monkeys in my House

The other night hubby and I were sitting around talking, and my kids just started doing silly things. Yes, this is normal, but we'd never seen them do these particular things before. Enjoy...

This one isn't great, but it's the first time we ever saw this. I have no idea how she thought of it. She also likes to swing her legs from chairs, or stand with her hands on two tables (one hand on either side of her) and lift herself up and swing her feet.

Josh joined in because we were laughing so hard at Katie. Even better - I think Josh has his shorts on backwards...I'm not complaining, it's hard enough to get him to put his clothes on after he goes potty, so I'm very grateful he's not naked.

And here we were trying to get her to do it again and get a good shot of it, but by this time she was tired . It is still quite silly. Enjoy.

Silly Kids

I originally took this video to showcase Katie singing the theme from Super Why. She sings it constantly. Of course, per her norm, she stopped singing it and started singing more nonsensical things once I turned on the video. Instead, listen to Josh. He's talking about the playdoh man he smashed. I didn't notice at the time, but I watched it again and found it to be pretty cute.

ABC...Spaghetti-os?

We recently were given some canned goods, and with it came 2 cans of Spaghettios. My kids have eaten spaghetti, but never from a can, so I decided it could be amusing to see how Katie and Josh reacted. Josh didn't really care, he ate it because it was dinner. Katie doesn't care what she eats, so long as she gets food.

While we were eating, Josh starts singing the ABC song and Katie starts singing and dancing along. We thought it was funny so we captured it on camera. Josh was quite irritating as he attempted to be the only star of the show (as usual).

Disclaimer - Katie does usually wear clothes while eating, but since it was a spaghettio experience we were trying to save on cleanup work. She was tossed directly into the bathtub after she was done.

The Goofy Kid Turns 1

It has arrived. Katie is 1 year old. We don't do parties right now, but we always are sure to buy cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday. Thursday night we all sat around the kitchen table and turned Katie loose on her first cupcake. It was very fun and a very nice bright point amidst our current trials. We all had a wonderful time and I must say, those cupcakes disappeared quite quickly.

I took this week off of work and it has been such a blessing. Amidst struggle, we have managed to pull together as a family more closely than ever. I am eternally grateful for my loving spouse, my beautiful children and the Gospel in our lives which allows us to grow together and feel more joy than I know how to express.

Our Little Rock-Star

A little background. Josh is recently potty-trained (YAY!!!!) and received a "microphone" as one of his goal rewards. For the most part, he walks around the house singing ABCs and "Tink-o Tink-o It-o Star" into it, and his voice echoes out of it.

The other night we were sitting on the couch and he grabs his microphone and starts singing. I suggested he get up on 'stage.' The kid knew immediately what I meant, and here is the result:



He stopped performing the complete songs by the time I grabbed my camera (I should be more prepared), but you heard him right, he says, "Thank you! Thank you!" at the end, followed by what we think must be a "closing prayer."

Legos

Josh loves his Legos. He goes on these kicks where all he does is play with his Legos every day. He loves monsters, dinosaurs and cars and usually builds something along those lines. Here's one of his creations. He was quite pleased with himself.

Below is a random, Josh-playing moment. I like this video because Josh is concentrating on building a Lego-creation, but you catch a normal, Josh-talking moment as well. Miguel was playing with the cable on the TV, causing the screen to go to static. Josh had been listening to a hockey game...

And the embarrassment continues...

I've been trying and trying to find a good picture or video of Katie smiling or laughing and this is the best I could do. This is the first time I put Katie in the tub with Josh and let her look around. Don't worry, the bubbles cover everything...

Katie has arrived

Kathryn Elizabeth was welcomed into this world after an uneventful labor. I will spare you the grisly details (though there aren't many).

She weighed a healthy 9lbs and 7ozs and is 21 inches long. She was 4 days past her due date, arriving on October 16th. She is a bit jaundiced-looking in one of these pictures, but we are hoping we don't have to deal with a return hospital-stay like we did with Josh. So far she is nursing healthily and is much more alert than I remember Josh being.

And yes, she has 2 chins and no neck...

The most common question we have been posed is, "How has Josh reacted to her?" Here is the answer:

Introducing....Sherman

So Miguel did it. He got himself a puppy. Wait, before Miguel gets defensive, Miguel got Josh a puppy. A little boy black lab puppy - very possibly a pure-bred. We found him on Craig's list and they wanted $50 for each puppy. I guess the dad is pure-bred, AKC registered, and has no family history of hip displaysia, thank goodness. The mom they aren't so sure about. She was a rescue who was supposedly spayed - HAHA - and also supposedly pure-bred. Regardless of blood-status, I wasn't about to pay for a puppy. Haven't you heard the saying, "There's no such thing as a free puppy?" So I said no. Miguel eventually talked the guy down to $30 and Miguel is paying for everything - shots, neutering, etc - out of his own allowance (yes, our budget gives each of us an "allowance").

Anywho - after 3 days of namelessness, I suggested Sherman. Miguel wanted something which started with an S to go with the other dogs (Sarge and Sadie), but we couldn't think of anything we both liked. I remembered Rocky and Bullwinkle and the "Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman" cartoon. I thought it would be funny to have a puppy named Sherman, and Miguel agreed. His reasoning was different from mine, though. He wanted to name him Sherman after General Sherman, as a slap-in-the-face to any Southern-pride rednecks. This makes me laugh, at least. Regardless of our reasons, we finally decided on a name and it's Sherman.

Sherman follows Josh around and pulls at his clothes. Josh thinks it is great to have an animal smaller than him. It hasn't taken Josh very long to learn to be gentle, so he hasn't tried to pick Sherman up by the hair (yes, hair, not skin) recently. Josh pets him nicely and loves it when the puppy "plays" with him, though the little needle-teeth come out sometimes and Josh occasionally ends up crying...oh well. They'll both figure it out. It's fun to watch Josh carry the dog toys around and the puppy chasing him with his little puppy run.

Sadie loves the puppy. She licks him and makes sure he is safe. She comes and gets us when he cries. She plays with him and lets him play with her. Sarge, on the other hand has taken awhile to warm up to the puppy. He would growl at him at first, but has since started playing with him and even allowing him to sleep next to him, so long as it isn't on his bed. He won't allow the puppy to take his toys either. It's pretty funny to see the 70lbs dog growling at the little 3.5lbs dog; and funny to see how stubborn the puppy can be. Sometimes it takes Sarge grabbing him by the neck and knocking him over before Sherman will belly-up.

Sherman is taking very well to potty training. As long as we're paying attention to him, we don't have any accidents in the house. He even lets us know he needs to go out sometimes, whining at the back-door. He's only 7 weeks, so we know we have a while of inconsistency to go, but we're pleased so far.

So no more dogs for us. At least, not until we have a bigger house...

Life at a Year and 5 Months

My son doesn't watch much TV. He is usually much too busy pulling all of his toys out of his toybox and spreading them about the part of the house he can get to. Occasionally he stops and will look at the TV - especially if he hears Elmo. In the mornings it is usually childrens' shows on TV or the news, depending on whether Miguel is watching it or not.

In addition to Elmo, Josh also likes a show called, "The Big, Comfy, Couch" which is about a clown and her doll who hang out on the Big, Comfy Couch and talk about various child-friendly, educational things - like having a bad day, or being rude, or sharing. There is usually a song (my fav being about your belly button), or dance routine of some kind and the main clown usually reads a story at some point. At the end of the show, she always cleans up after herself (my favorite part), claiming, "I made the mess, so I have to clean up, it's only fair!." But I digress...

This was the first TV show Josh ever showed interest in, so whenever we think of it we'll turn it on in the mornings. At the beginning of the show she always does a stretch routine on this big rug that looks like a clock. Recently, Josh has taken to joining in. When Loonette says she is going to do her clock-rug-stretch and lays down on her rug, he'll lay down and put his legs in the air. He doesn't really follow along, but when Miguel and I realized what he was doing we cracked up. I guess he does it whenever the show is on now. It makes me laugh. I have only ever seen 1 other set of kids "interact" with the TV and I don't remember doing it when I was a kid. He also will wave to her when she waves at the beginning of the show.

As for what he does the rest of the day - he eats 'Banananas' and carries his toys around the house. He usually has cars strewn everywhere. He talks ALL the time, in this Josh-gibberish that we can't understand. He practically runs everywhere he goes, which can be pretty entertaining when there are toys all over the floor because he trips and falls over things all the time. Then again, he trips and falls over nothing at times too...

Here is a little video of Josh just being Josh. Sorry it's a bit blurry, but he's talking and running around like he does every day, so I thought you might enjoy:

Josh Loves the Dogs

I'm very excited about this post - I'm a nerd, regardless of if I try and hide it. I love technology.

I found a way to post videos of my kid on my blog.

So here it is - the first one. This was last Sunday after church.

Josh has learned a few things about the dogs. He knows he can push them out of his way. He knows Sadie will just sit there and let him use her as a step-stool. He also knows the signal to get Sarge to speak. The other night I was changing Josh's diaper. He was not where he could see Miguel, but he could hear him; Miguel was telling Sarge to speak. What does Josh do? He started making the signal! I laughed pretty well with that one.

I laughed again today. Miguel took Sadie to the vet (her eyes have been weeping and we can't tell why, though she is not acting sick). Sadie barked while they were in the waiting room and Josh told her to, "Shut up!" What terrible parents we are that we have told the dogs to Shut up enough that Josh knows...And sadly, there was no way for any onlookers to know that we don't actually tell Josh to shut up! Thankfully he didn't say it again. I suppose we get to really start thinking more about what we say before we say it now, here we thought we had been being pretty good about teaching our kid manners. I'm sure this is just the beginning...