Pre-holiday Activities:

1) Spent Christmas bonus on a new camera- YAY!

2) Fun in the Snow! Josiah calls it ---"dnnooooow". He fell face first, which he didn't like. He actually stood at our back door and said,"Go, go," meaning that he wanted to go inside. Josiah has never made this request on that side of the door before.

(Unfortunately, this was on the way out the door. It is always a wrestling match, and here he is flinging his boots off (for probably the fifth time) before we went out this morning!)

3) Made a ginger bread house. Chris had never done one before, and has always mentioned that it may be fun. So we gave it a whirl.

The results kind of look like we drank a bit too much while we were doing it. Next year...I will make my own from scratch. The icing was too drippy!

4) Counting down.. this is a new advent calendar I got while we were on our trip. Josiah really likes the doors. He tries to climb up and reach it. I think it will be more fun for him next year.

5) Setting boundaries...that Josiah is pushing every day! I love his energy and 'life'...really, I do! I just have to remind myself of that sparkle in his eye when I am experiencing the negative side to his personality. I wouldn't trade his spunk in the good times, but he has been a bit hard to manage as of late. We wrestle with how to discipline without damaging his spirit and 'wild side'! Wish us luck! Oh, and he is cutting five new teeth all at once, which probably isn't making the behaviours any better!

6) Events: We attended my staff party a couple of weeks ago. It was the Allison Baptist dinner theater. Very well done! My mom came up to visit, so she babysat for us.  She also watched Josiah so we could shop for his presents.  I didn't realize how hard it was to not spoil your kid/s at Christmas! We did well, but it was hard to not buy two of everything we thought he would like (until I thought of how I might fit it all into our already overcrowded space). Chris went to his staff party on Saturday night. It was a house party. I made two pumpkin cheesecakes to send with him (without the usual candied pecans that go on top, because I burned them very badly!).The family festivities (on my side) begin this weekend, so that will be fun.

7) Decorating. Very minimal this year. Josiah is just at that phase where I can't be bothered to try and keep him out of even more stuff, so we kept it to the basics.  A tree with all non-breakable ornaments and lights, and a few decorations on some top shelves. Glad that Christmas means way more than how my place looks!

8) Listening to great Christmas music, and starting to watch those funny and sappy holiday movies...I just can't help it!

9) Finding ways to both quiet my heart and celebrate!!!

Today, I am feeling so thankful, and needed to share.

 In the midst of busyness (and sickness), God has given me a gift today.

He has allowed my heart to pause, and give thanks for these guys, and so much more.

It was two years ago around this time that I completely surrendered my dream of having a child to God. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. That fall, I had miscarried our third baby. I didn't know what God had in store for our future. It seems like such a long time ago, but really it hasn't been all that long since God has blessed us with Josiah. I was talking to my mom when she was up last, and we realized that if the other three pregnancies had worked out, there would probably not be a Josiah in our family today (Chris definitely didn't want 4 kids!). It made me that much more thankful for him!

Since that time, God has been slowly been restoring my hope. This Christmas season reminds me of that more than any other. I have hope that if God carried Jesus from the manger to the cross, He will see me through whatever he has planned...and even give me BIG, unexpected blessings along the way!

Blessings on you all as you prepare to celebrate this amazing season!

I decided just to post the recipe rather than emailing it out (sorry I don't have a picture, as my camera was not working before these disappeared the last time I made them!). These are really worth making if you like cranberries, cream cheese, white chocolate...not so healthy, but a very nice Christmas treat! I found this recipe on a copycat websight, wasn't entirely happy with it, and made my own revisions.
Hope you enjoy the reults!

Cranberry Bliss Wedges

Cake:

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup diced dried cranberries

1 heaping cup of white chocolate chips/chunks

Icing:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 cups icing sugar

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup diced dried cranberries

Drizzle:

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 Tablespoon milk

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

2 teaspoons vegetable shortening

Directions:
*Oven- 350

* Cake: Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger and salt and beat well. Add flour, stirring gently until smooth.

* Fold in diced, dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread into greased pan (9x13).

* Bake 35 minutes, or until brown. Cool.

* Icing: Blend cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla until smooth. Spread evenly onto cooled cake. Sprinkle 1/2 cup dried cranberries on top of icing.

* Drizzle: Mix 1/2 cup icing sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and shortening until well blended. Drizzle using a cake decorator or a baggie with a small hole cut in a corner. Zigzag back and forth over top of icing/cranberries.

Let it sit for a couple of hours before cutting. Cut these into triangular wedges for serving with coffee/tea, or cut into squares or bars for a platter.

Makes about 16 wedges or 24 large squares.

Here is an update:

- Josiah turned 14 months old yesterday! Unfortunately our camera is broken right now, so I don't have any updated pictures-we are camera shopping.

- He is now making a lot of animal noises, and saying many more words. Yesterday, I caught him up on the kitchen table, quacking at the ducks through the window. His climbing has reached a whole new level...literally!

- Josiah is learning to walk in boots. I didn't realize how much work this was!

- I am busy at work, and those reports are piling up like crazy. I have four of them sitting in my bag, and they take about 2 hours each to complete. I need to work out a new schedule!

-Christmas is quickly approaching, and I am much less prepared than I was two months ago. I bought several gifts when we were on vacation, but haven't done a thing since then.

- I baked a lot this week, because it was my turn to take snack to my mom's group. I will be baking a lot next week for a cookie exchange that I joined. It has been fun to have a reason to bake! If anyone is interested in a great new Christmas-y recipe, I have one for Cranberry Bliss bars. Starbucks serves these every year, and they are really good. Let me know if you'd like the recipe. It's amazing!

- We may go to the Santa Cluas parade tomorrow night if it isn't raining too hard. It's funny, because the last one I went to, I remember feeling parts of me freeze as the night went on. This mild weather is so nice!

- Not much else new with us! I'll post some new pictures when I can.

Recently, Chris has started a new blog, and he asked me to post the address on here for all of his friend and family connections who frequent my blog. It is very thoughtful and reflective. Check it out:

http://sacredcompanion.blogspot.com/

We had a playdate at the park yesterday afternoon. The mom I went with has three little girls. One is Josiah's age, one is four, and the other is six.  Josiah was enjoying being up high on the structure with the older girls, when one of them asked if she could take him down the big twirly slide. I agreed, since he is usually pretty daring; however, I regretted it when she started to go down with him on her knee, and I heard him yelling, "no,no,no,no...". 

Thankfully, he quickly changed his mind by the time he got to the bottom. I don't think he has ever been more proud of himself. He strutted like a peacock for a full ten minutes at least. His chest was stuck out, and he kept stopping to clap for himself. The girls invited him to try again, but he was too busy pacing the entire length of the playground.

When he was finally ready to go again, he climbed back up to the top of the structure, with the 6-year-old close behind him. All of a sudden, I heard her say, "He's going without me..."  This is when we all turned to see Josiah flying down the twirly slide all by himself! I caught him by the hood just before he landed, and you should have seen the victory dance that time around. It was shameless, at least for him! "Where do boys learn this strut?" I found myself wondering, until I saw Chris again...

After many hours, I think my blog 'facelift' is almost complete. I was just getting bored. Now that I know the ins-and-outs of blogging make-overs, I'll warn you...I love changes, so don't expect this one to last for long!

Anyways, we have been loving it outside lately- hasn't it been beautiful?! Unfortunately, Chris has been quite sick this past week, so he has been hibernating a bit. Josiah has been frequenting parks, and he now hollers when he sees one, "Maaaa, ma, ma...", just in case I missed it. 

We have been looking for alternatives to crowded indoor activities that involve a lot of kids.  We put our YMCA membership on hold for a bit, because we are not getting vaccinated, so we are trying to avoid 'germy' places just until some of this blows over.  The first day I almost went crazy, but I am starting to enjoy the pace. I think we have had some very fun and creative times in the past couple of weeks!   Thankfully the weather has been nice, which helps so much.  Here are a couple of our 'getting ready for outdoors' pics:

A couple of weekends ago, we got to visit this little guy. Wesley is my new little nephew. He's already two and a half months old. What a cutie he is!

We also had a visit from 'Grampie'. My father was down visiting from Alberta.  Josiah loved him! It may have been helped by the fact that he came with lots of new books, and a 'Larry' from Veggie Tales!

Here is a picture of him and Josiah together.

And that's a little bit of us!

We are under construction! Please bear with me as I make changes.

 It is is taking me a little longer than I thought!

This weekend, Chris and I got to go out...this is really big news,
as we don't do this as often as we should! Anyways, we went to the
Steve Bell concert in Sackville on Saturday night with some
 friends. The concert was so amazing. Chris has really
enjoyed his music for the last couple of years.
 I thought it was okay, but wouldn't necessary choose
 to listen to it myself; however, he is such an amazing
performer/storyteller that I actually loved it.

We even went out afterwards, and didn't get
home until after midnight. This is an extremely late night for us,
 as we are usually fast asleep long before this time.
But we didn't have to rush home.

Chris told everyone who asked that we had tried
the parenting thing for a year, and decided that
it wasn't really our thing...

But, actually, Josiah had his first sleep over at his
 Grammy and Grampy Mealey's house! It seemed to
go really well, except that he decided to get up at 5:15 am
and not go back to sleep. He must have just
been too excited- oh dear! He's always up at the
 crack of dawn, or before. It doesn't matter how
late he stays up, Josiah loves mornings.
Sleeping in for him would be 6:30/7:00, and this rarely happens.
Normally, he is up around 5:45-6:00.

I feel guilty that Chris and I actually slept in until
after 8:00 when all of them were up so early!
 But it was so nice to get caught up on sleep.
(Thanks Grammy and Grampy!).
We really needed it, as we are both recovering from colds/flu's, etc.
We probably should not have gone out, because
I think we are paying for it a bit today
(as I am typing this, my voice is almost gone completely!),
 but it was worth it!

Psalm 103

When I was a kid, I went to 2 private Christian schools. One was amazing...the other was not so much. One of the teachers/pastors there thought it would be helpful to threaten us into good behavior quite frequently. Actually, most of them did so. I was a kid who was already so desperately trying to follow the rules, and already scared enough. I remember this teacher telling us on many occasions that God had a video camera, and that he kept track of everything we did wrong. On judgement day, He would pull out all of the tapes, and play them in front of everyone. The major problem with his story is that he had not included any grace or forgiveness element. What a hopeless message.

I literally felt for years, that no matter how much I confessed, my tape would still be played. I still need to consciously remind myself that this is not the case for someone who is forgiven. What detriment that man caused to so many young people back then. As I parent now, I am trying to learn how to show God's grace along with teaching and discipline. This is not an easy balance, and one that is sure to grow more difficult with age (both mine and Josiah's!).

This passage is a constant reminder to me:

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, or rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him...(Psalm 103:10-13).

"As far as the east is from the west"...I love that!

The Tallest of Smalls, By Max Lucado (illustrated by Maria Monescillo)

I just recently got this book, and loved it!

In his newest children's book, The Tallest of Smalls, Max Lucado introduces us to a world of characters very much like ourselves. The streets of Stiltsville come alive at night with 'too smalls' who compete in order to see who is better. Some never get a chance at all. By luck, the main character, Ollie, is selected to be in the 'cool crowd', but things quickly unravel when he fails to meet the expectations placed on him by those in the group.

Max Lucado delivers the message of acceptance in a simple and eloquent manner. He offers hope to those who don't fit in, who can't keep up, and who feel worthless. It is the reminder that Jesus loves us just as we are. With beautiful and whimsical illustrations, this book is written for children; however I think it is a 'must-read' for anyone who has ever felt that they didn't quite measure up.

Update

What a busy fall this has been! I thought I would write and let you all know a few things that have been happening in our world lately.

We have been trying to enjoy the outside as much as possible. This was our last trip to the zoo. We had a season pass, so we went countless times throughout the summer. Josiah loves it, and knows so many of the animal names and sounds already. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet understand that the turkey, deer, and other prey don't really appreciate his roaring lion sounds! This picture is of Josiah and Chris sitting on the boardwalk at the zoo. He loves his dad!

Josiah turned thirteen months old yesterday. This picture is not from yesterday, but from a couple of weeks ago. If you really want to see what he looks like at 13 months,

you'll have to stop by! Or wait until I can post more.

Josiah is keeping us all busy. He is now running, and loves the park so much.

Here he is on a day we went with some friends.

I have been enjoying a couple of really great books. One is about raising boys. I have learned so much already, especially about Chris! I never thought that a parenting book would teach me more about my husband, but the book discusses how men's brains are formed/developed. Ahhh...
Anyways, I am in a book study that is dealing with the topic and learning lots. Although I must say that everyone has very strong views on this. Some are offended at the idea of letting boys be boys. I like it. Why work against their nature, to confuse them even more than they already are in this messed up world. Some of the liberal feminists in the group don't enjoy the book all that much! If I am honest, I have been finding these views quite draining lately, even more than usual. But, the book is great!! I hope that it will help me to be a better mom to my boy.

Other Highlights:

- We are strongly considering keeping our old car as a second...or maybe not! It has been so nice to not be driving around so much, and dragging Josiah out of bed at night to go pick up Chris. We'll have to see.

- My work has been slowing down this week, and we are trying to trust that God will work it out. We are extremely thankful that Chris' job has continued to be very steady.

- We have an amazing caretaker for Josiah on Wednesday mornings...his aunt Debie! We are so excited that she has agreed to watch him. Chris is hoping to get lots of paperwork done, as well as the study and planning that his counseling week does not afford him.

- Josiah had tonsillitis, but is starting to feel much better.

-Josiah has molars coming in. He has been very fussy...and so have we!

- Josiah is drinking goat's milk. I guess that means when we get our hobby farm, we'll be thinking goats instead of cows! I wonder if Chris would be open to trying goat burgers?

- Chris got a glint in his eye when I mentioned that I think the colour tube may be going in our old TV. I have never been able to justify buying something new just for the sake of having the new thing. Therefore, Chris has had a long wait for the large flat screens that he drools over every time we walk into an electronics store. He's thinking, "Just on time for football season!" Maybe the timing is not so coincidental?!

- My mom and aunt came up last weekend so Chris and I could get away. We rented a cottage in one of our favorite spots, and did nothing all weekend. It was so wonderful!

- We are looking for a babysitter..anyone in Moncton have a good name they would be willing to share with us?

- We are wondering what to do about the H1N1 vaccine. We are against flu shots (obviously these are extremely necessary for elderly, respiratory patients, etc..., but I mean just for normal people), but I know this one is different. Everyone has a different opinion. Our doctor advised us against it. It's just one of those things that it would suck to be wrong on either side of! Having kids makes these things so much harder to decide.

- I got a couple of really nice emails from friends.

- I think I was born in the wrong era, for multiple reasons. One is Facebook (I really dislike it!). The other is the drop-in visits. I miss them, and wish that younger people liked them, or that I knew more older people around here!

- Still trying to find God's peace about being in this place. Doesn't feel like home at all anymore, but everyday I ask Him to help me make the most of it. We are here for a reason, and for as long as God chooses it for us.
I have been working so hard to stay focused on today, and to be thankful in everything. Some days, I do better than others!

And that's a very long update on all of us!

What a night! We took Josiah into the hospital last night, because he had a really high fever (almost 40C when we got there). He's been a little under the weather lately, but we thought it was just teething because he is cutting his molars right now. But, last night he woke up crying and burning. He projectile vomited as I was strolling him in through the emergency doors...poor little guy (and poor security guard)!

They checked him out, and it is just a flu. His very first flu! Telecare had us (by us, I mean me :)) worried that he might have a gastrointestinal infection, which it does not seem to be. As we were waiting in the hospital room, and the fever started to come down, Josiah started very loudly saying, "tickle-tickle-tockle-tickle-tockle...". One of the nurses peered in and asked if I was doing that, but when she found out it was Josiah, they all had a laugh. This encouraged him. If you know Chris, picture him when he takes something too far just for the laugh...

Josiah's fever is much better this morning, after a very long night. Hopefully he will continue to feel better. If the hospital taught me anything, it is the fact that Josiah desperately needs a haircut. Three different people called him 'she'. Not good! So Chris wins (he's been telling me for weeks now that our son is looking rather feminine, and that he needs his head shaved). I'll post a picture of the new haircut this week!

As for the weekend, we are going to hang out at home rather than go to NS for the best Thanksgiving dinner ever (does everyone think this about their own mother's cooking, or is it just me?!).

I am still very thankful! For a great husband and kid, for all that God has given to us and done for us. I know that we can't always see the ways God is blessing us, especially when it comes in the form of trials (which are more blessings for eternity than for now)! But sometimes He gives us a little break, some room to breathe, room to realize what we have and what He has done. I hope you all can experience that this weekend too. Happy Thanksgiving all!

These are a couple of pictures from Josiah's birthday. We had a small family gathering at our place. It didn't feel very small based on how crowded it was in our tiny little place! I had decorated outside, and hoped it would be a beautiful day to sit and play outside. However, the mosquitoes are insane here this fall!! Really, it is probably almost like spring in Manitoba. So outside was not very enjoyable! But we squeezed almost everyone in and managed to make it work alright.

Josiah seemed a bit overwhelmed, and clingy. It was kind of unlike him, because he is so outgoing and loves people. But I guess having so many faces in his space kind of freaked him out!

Oh yeah, and one-year-olds (or at least my one-year-old) totally do not get the concept of presents. Josiah did have a ton of fun playing with some neat toys and reading new stories after everyone left though.

Cake/Cupcakes

Digging in...

I think Josiah had a fun day!

I love his smile in this last picture. It pretty much summarizes how much he enjoys life. I have a lot to learn from this little guy yet...

One Year Ago...

This little guy joined our family!

Here's a 12 month reminder of how much he has changed since that day:

One Month


Video- under one month old



Two Months


Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

One Year

(after his birthday party!)

Can't believe we have a toddler already!

Josiah had his one year check-up, and he weighs 30 pounds, and measures 32 inches long. His feet are size six, and he is wearing a lot of 24 months/2 T clothing now. He is officially walking now too, although he still looks wobbly and falls frequently. It's pretty cute to watch. I'll try to post a video soon. He is talking up a blue streak, and starting to say a couple of two-word phrases. And he is still very busy and curious, as you can see!

We are officially back from vacation. Our trip was great in many ways. I have lots of pictures and stories that I will share (as soon as I am unpacked!).

Just a quick post to let you all know that I probably won't be posting much in the next couple of weeks. Chris starts vacation tomorrow, and we have lots of plans!

Here are a few updates before I go:

Josiah is climbing like mad...nothing is safe. He gets up on all of our furniture now, and has had several tumbles in the last few weeks. He is very proud to be sitting on grown-up furniture! I, on the other hand, am pretty close to turning all of the living room furniture around backwards so he can't get up. If you come to visit, and are asked to sit on the floor,

it'll all make sense to you now!

My cousin Julie came up last weekend for a visit. Josiah LOVES her! We had so much fun. I think he got a little spoiled from all of the attention, because he was kind of cranky when she left!

While we visited, Chris went camping for the weekend. It rained, but he was happy to have some quiet time to himself. Literally to himself. Apparently the campground was pretty vacant because of the rain warning. Good news though- the new tent held up wonderfully,
and didn't leak at all!

In walking news, Josiah now takes five or six steps at a time to get from one location to another. He still prefers crawling, and hasn't started running yet (as predicted by several, due to his overabundance of energy!!). I think it seems like he walks when he forgets he is even doing it, but when he plans it, he psychs himself out!

We went to NS last weekend to visit family. Josiah got to meet some family members for the first time. I don't have pictures...I wasn't there! My mom took him for the day so Chris and I could have a much needed break! He also enjoyed riding in the wagon at his Grammy's house (pictures to follow at a later date- I am too lazy to download them right now!).

It feels like a busy month. I am starting to think about my baby turning one at the end of this month! My maternity leave is officially over the first week of October, so I am working two days a weeks at my job, and Chris will stay home those two days with Josiah. I think it will feel very busy for us to maintain these hours, but definitely worth the outcome!

I'll give you another update sometime...but probably not until after we are done vacation!

A New Face!

Meet Wesley...my newest little nephew! He was born on August 20, and weighed 8lbs. 14 oz., and he is doing wonderfully! Chris, Josiah and I went to Halifax a couple of weekends ago to meet him. I wish he lived closer!! He is so perfect. I love his nose! Here are some pics of our visit:

Wesley William

Andrea and Wesley

Josiah was not as pleased with Wesley as he will be some day.

Let's just say...

he was a little bit jealous!