Just a quick update to let you all know that Josiah has slept through the past several nights! I took him to our doctor, who said that he has a case of acid reflux (which he's had since birth, but we though it had gone away).  So we are temporarily treating him and it seems to be working. No more difficulty going to sleep, crying in the night, or random puking. 

We also had to ween him from all bottles/milk at the same time (he actually ate half of a nipple, which is an obvious choking hazard!).  I had been worried about him getting enough milk, and have been wondering if he has a sensitivity to dairy; however, our doctor also said that babies/kids don't need any milk of any kind after 12 months.  So we'll see how all of this goes!

Thanks to all of you who had been praying for us.
We are feeling much better now than last week.             

Here are some pictures of Josiah going sledding.

There is the tiniest hill in our backyard that is just enough for him...

 although I'm sure he wishes it were much bigger! It is delightful to hear him squeal and laugh.  Once, I was running so fast that I tipped the sled over and he did a nose-dive into the snow.  He stood up and laughed, then wanted me to do it again!

It has been so nice the past few weeks, so we have tried to enjoy being outside as much as we can.

Josiah now prefers to walk beside the stroller rather than be buckled in it. This is great, yet does not come

 without some annoyances...I'll let you imagine!

On the not-so-warm days, we have been trying to find indoor fun.

Josiah has been loving the rides at Crystal Palace.

Although he tolerates the baby rides, he has had his sights set on the roller coaster, but I think he has a few more inches to go before he is tall enough to go on it!

I have been busy shopping for size 3T clothes. It seems like we breezed by size 2. He is still wearing some stuff; however, he seems to be bursting out of many pieces.  Although I do enjoy shopping, I would be happy to replace my wardrobe once over before I have to replace his again!

We have been enduring some sleeping difficulties at our house lately.  For a good part of the past year, Josiah has been sleeping through the night. Lately, he is getting up many times, and having trouble falling back to sleep.  Chris and I are feeling completely exhausted and can't remember the last time we have slept for more than an hour or two at a time. It is so hard to go back to this! But we're hanging in, and hoping for better days ahead.

Highlights

Just wanted to give you some highlights from our Christmas. It was a really great break, even though it was the first year we haven't had a full two weeks off (because of our big fall trip).  I think it went well because everything was really spread out, and because I didn't kill myself to make everything perfect (or as close as I could possibly get!). 

Here is a picture of Josiah with his first gift. In my family, we always opened one gift on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas morning. That first one was always so exciting! 

This is Christmas morning:

We stayed in NB until Christmas afternoon, and then headed to NS to visit some of my family.

Josiah did really well for the most part, especially since his schedule was all over the place.  He did not always understand that there was something exciting behind the wrapping paper, but he sure is having a ton of fun with some pretty cool new toys!

This picture is of Josiah 'helping' Chris assemble his new set of wheels!

The funniest thing that Josiah did was take a broom to my mother's Christmas tree! He didn't really mean to do it, but when he saw all of us react to the broom knocking into the tree, he turned around and started swinging. Thankfully nothing was broken!

In the past couple of years, for various reasons, we have lost some of the traditions that we came to love. So I found myself rethinking things this year, and wondering how I can continue developing new traditions that we will come to love just as much as the old ones.

Although we have never really been big into celebrating New Year's since we've been married, we do think a lot about this holiday! And yes, I do make resolutions, and have already implemented 3 that are working out well. I find it a really nice time of year to have a fresh start. So here it goes! Happy 2010 everyone!

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.