Popsicles and Standing

Jamie thought that it would be fun to give JJ a popsicle. We weren't sure how JJ would react because he is still very picky about the temperature of his bottles. It didn't take long until we weren't feeding it to him fast enough, so we gave it to him. I was very surprised at the coordination he already showed. He ate the popsicle all the way to the stick. He seemed to really enjoy it, but we could tell whenever he got a little on his teeth and the cold stuck around a bit longer. We are excited that he enjoyed it so much, it will help keep him cool this summer and help with teething.








JJ is living up to the baby motto of proving mom wrong. The day after I posted about him not climbing all the stairs, he did, and now we can't get him to stop. We are trying to be creative in blocking the stairs, but he is already showing great signs of being problem solver and more times then not, he has figured out how to get around our road blocks.

I have almost thought that JJ didn't seem to interested in pulling himself up yet. The exception to that was when he would use my hands for support. The day he started making it all the way up the stairs, he started pulling himself up. He even does it in his bed now. Of course, once he gets up, he doesn't know what to do. He is cruising a little bit along the sides of his bed.

Learning New Things

We have two steps inside our house. This first pictures is JJ on May 22, 2008. I could tell that he was testing the steps out, and wanting to follow the girls. It has been lots of fun to stand at the kitchen and see him sitting at the steps smiling back.









Today JJ learned something new. He figured out he can climb up one step. He is so proud of himself. He spent a long time rocking back and forth. It kept him entertained for most of the afternoon. But by evening, I could tell that he was ready to climb the other step, and started trying too.





They grow up so fast. Lots of times JJ will turn and look at me when the camera takes the picture, because of the noise or flash, but buy the time I can take the next picture, he has turned back around. Guess it was up to me to find a new spot to take a picture. I was rewarded with some really cute smiles. It is so fun to watch him grow up and learn new things.

We can't forget...

Here is baby boy Mason set to join our family towards the end of August.

Pictures

Here's Samantha coloring in the driveway. We bought this chalk three years ago (in Germany) thinking that when we got to Mountain Home we would be buying a house with a driveway to color. We ended up with a gravel driveway. When we started moving into this house after we sold our house, Samantha was quick to point out that now she and Andi can color in the driveway. Now every time the garage door opens, they are quick to add to the picture in the driveway.




Andrea enjoys posing for a picture. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it spoils the picture you are trying to take. But what can you do, she is just so cute when she does it!
Here's our little guy crawling around the kitchen. He seems to enjoy crawling and the freedom it gives him. He loves to explore the house.

I did it!

I have been asked a few times if I had a blog. I have been thinking about it for some time. I set up my account weeks ago, and today decided it was time to just get to it. So here we are, online, with pictures and stories for all our friends and family to see.

JJ is now seven and one half months old. He decided yesterday that crawling was something for him, and hasn't stopped yet. He is crawling all over the house now and Samantha has even gotten him to chase her. JJ thinks that Samantha is so funny. We have 2 stairs in the house that JJ as attempted twice, but it results in a fall to mom's arms.

Andrea is three years old. She is my thinker. She would love to spend all day doing puzzles, 56 piece puzzles. Or string beads, or even cut a piece of paper into very small pieces. But she also loves to play outside with Samantha.

Samantha is five years old and about to complete kindergarten. She has loved every moment of school this year. She is excited for the school year to end, but I am sure that after only a couple weeks of summer vacation she will be asking when school starts again.

Jamie is keeping busy at the fire department. He has recently been transfered to fire prevention. He is now doing an 8-hour a day job instead of 24-hour shifts. We are both enjoying it a lot more then we thought we would. Although, there are a a few times that having every-other day off would be nice.

I am keeping busy also. I take Samantha to school and pick her up every day. I also spend my days trying to get our house in order as we just moved not to long ago. I am also expecting our fourth child in August, a little boy.

Well, that should be enough to get every one caught up. I will try to write more as life happens. We shall see how this goes.