Squishy goodness and smiles -- Joshua at 3 months

Without further adieu, and in no particular order, with no particular captions (just feeling fortunate to get the pictures on the blog tonight!).....the pictures are self explanatory!

Happy 46th Birthday Dave!

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers."  Psalm 1: 1-3

Our family is so thankful for a husband and father who loves the Lord  and his family and who prays and seeks wisdom from God's word each day.  He's also a very thankful guy, which we feel in how he relates to us.  He is absolutely the perfect husband for me and I love him and thank God for bringing us together!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Dave, these are the best years of your life....but I have a feeling the bestest best is yet to come! 

Grandma Coral's visit!

Grandma Coral's very FIRST meeting with Joshua ....it was smiles all around!

Then my mom came for a lovely 3 week visit!  Dave had a bad cold for a week of her visit, and then I had a nasty case of mastitis that kept me in bed for two days.  So that is why the lack of blogging.....during the moments when we weren't sick,  it was so much fun spending time with her.....much more fun than blogging. I do apologize to those of you few who have faithfully looked for updates!  We didn't travel but we did have fun at home just living normal life with two adorable little boys.


We celebrated my  mom's birthday and Mother's day early.  I realized it's probably been since high school since I was with my mom for her special days in May....so we had a party!

It's the big 60!  Not a grey hair on her head, though!

My mom is one of the most helpful people in the world.  She does dishes,  laundry, washes floors ....all in between lavishing love on Jonathan and Joshua.  Dave and I both had significant illness during her visit.... I don't know how we would have survived without her help.  Also, thanks to Grandma Coral, Jonathan made great strides in potty training and IS NOW WEARING UNDERWEAR full time, except for cloth pull-ups at night!  I'm so thankful God provided for her to be able to come at the perfect time. 

A sampling of some of the fun daily things Grandma did while she was here .....lots of making googly eyes at Joshua and a whole lot of reading out loud with Jonathan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching for the purple egg, with help from Daddy, on Easter Sunday.

I was so thankful Mom was here to share in our Easter celebration this year.  We had 12 days of preparation with the Ressurection Eggs at dinner time ....Jonathan had a lot of fun with them this year although he doesn't understand all of the symbols. 

Post Easter egg hunt smiles!

"I go 'merica too!"

Sadly, the 3 weeks came to an end.  When it was time for Grandma Coral to pack, Jonathan climbed in her suitcase and really would not get out for an hour.  At dinner we talked about Grandma leaving and all Jonathan would say is "Grandma, Daddy, Mommy, Jonathan, Joshua go 'merica too!"  He much preferred the idea of us all going together ....on a big airplane. 

Grandma is back home and we have already seen her safe and sound via Skype.  Mom, thank you so much for blessing us with your visit.

"How old are you?" and other silly stuff

 

"How old are you?" I ask Jonathan, age two, at dinner.   He holds up five fingers and confidently answers "I'm ten."  

We're working on teaching him how to hold up just two fingers (as seen above), but it's hard to get the right fingers bent just exactly right!  However, I do have to brag that Jonathan can count to fifteen and has even been able to count backwards from 10 to 1!  This is because David has a passionate love for everything Rocket and they frequently practice the blast-off countdown.  

I know this MUST be a toddler rite-of-passage .....the unrolling of the toilet paper roll.  I found this in my bathroom the other day, at a time when the guilty party was already napping.  The empty toilet paper roll was missing ....and later found in use as a tunnel for a little boy's choo-choo train.  I don't have a picture of that (unfortunately), but I was proud of the innovation!

 

It's fun to see Jonathan improving with his artwork skills.  He can now willfully color the sheep blue and the stars orange, as seen above!  (The candle picture in the background was mommy's artwork.)  

Both of our boys LOVE their baths!  Here's Joshua enjoying his!

Look who's 2 months old!

   Joshua is learning to smile -- big huge wide opened mouthed grins!   They are still a bit hard to catch on camera, but we spent a bit of time today to do just that because it's his 2 month birthday!

Here's another.  As my friend Stacey says "I love it when babies smile with their eyes."  I never thought to put in those words exactly, but she's right.  Here we get both....smiling eyes and smiling lips.

I'm including the above picture of Jonathan at 2 1/2 months old because people keep asking me "How does Joshua compare to Jonathan at this age?"  See for yourself.  I think they look like brothers, but not extremely alike. 

Here's the photographer(s)....Yep, Jonathan is still feeling rather clingy after the arrival of his brother.

So they say a growth spurt happens at 2 months.....a few days ago Joshua slept almost the whole day through and sure enough, the next day none of his size Extra Small diaper covers fit anymore! 

This week Jonathan and I were water painting at the table, and I had to leave him to go change Joshua's diaper.  When I came back I found a tattooed pirate with a full beard and mustache!  This is his reaction when I put him in front of the bathroom mirror and told him to clean himself up!

Dave has been taking Jonathan to our school playground everyday, so we must include a few pictures!  In many ways, it doesn't compare (especially in safety considerations!) to all of the fun playgrounds in Singapore, but it does have some impressive features!

So this day one of Jonathan's friends was in the sandbox with him, eager to smile for the camera.  I was trying to get Jonathan to look at the camera and smile, too ....but I think it was more important for him to demonstrate/document what he can do with his toy digger and dumptruck. 

Home Sweet Home! Sweet boys!

(Hang in there ....the cutest picture is at the bottom!)

We miss some things about Singapore....

.....The fun "cars" found at every mall where Jonathan could happily play and climb without ceasing!  We didn't even put any money in, until the last day Dave couldn't resist.   (Going to malls was a frequent occurrence, since that is where most of the grocery stores are located.)

....Amazing construction sites on every corner.  This site of a future condo complex features massive pile-drivers, tall cranes, and multiple cement trucks!  So exciting!

Our friends the Whittakers -- during our last week in Singapore we had to move out of Gene's place to the Clementi neighborhood, which is where they live!  We got to see them 3 times that last week!  We've "adopted" Aaron as Jonathan's Singapore cousin!

These are our new friends, Andrew and Adrielle, who opened up their guestroom to us during our last week in Singapore!  We think they are some the best people we've ever had the privilege to call friend! 

So here we are about to take off on our Air Asia flight to go home ...ah, Joshua's first plane ride!  It was kind of a blur, but as I recall the flight went fine, once we got in our proper seats.  The 2+ hour car-ride from airport to house also went well, except for the last 15 minutes when BOTH boys were wailing away in a total meltdown. 

When we arrived home, we found this baby swing!  It is our baby shower gift from our school and church community here!  The shower wasn't until the next week, so how nice to have it delivered early!  WE LOVE our baby swing!  We also found the temperatures to be much colder in our town than in the high rise apartments of Singapore!  Joshua finally got to wear his newborn size footed sleeper from Grandma Arlette!  Indeed, he's been wearing warm pajamas every night and even sleeping under Jonathan's fleece blanket made by Grandma Coral.  I can't tell you the exact temperatures, but in Singapore I couldn't even put clothes on Joshua without him sweating into a heat rash.


So, we've been home for just under 3 weeks.   It's SO good to be home and get back into our own routine -- or I should say, get started on our new routine, since we've added a new person to the family.  Dave is happy to be back at work.  Jonathan was very busy for the first 3 days getting re-acquainted with all of his toys .....that was fun!  Since then, he's been struggling with jealousy and  wanting to be the baby again and being fussy.....we're praying for wisdom how to help him adjust.  Tonight I got an idea and looked in his mouth to discover his 2 year molars are starting to make an appearance, so maybe his struggles have not been totally emotional.  I'm ready for him to be over this phase, though!

So now.....the cute picture parade!

First off, Joshua's funny faces!  He's as sweet as can be and seems to be gaining an ounce an hour.....although I haven't weighed him since our return. 

Now a funny face from Jonathan!  He's wearing his "robot" pajamas -- hand-me-downs from Singapore that were too hot to wear there but okay for here!  He was so proud of them, and of his "toy" glasses so he could be like Daddy!

Finally Joshua has grown a little tougher and Jonathan a little gentler for me to trust them to pose for a picture together, just the two of them!  Jonathan is now starting to be aware of his clothes and here is quite enamored with his now "crane shirt" from Grandma Coral!  And thanks also, Aunt Kristin, for Joshua's matching orange shirt!

Last Singapore blog entry

Wow!  It's February 10th already and we are leaving Singapore tomorrow after spending 2 months here!

It has felt like a long stay, and we are very eager to get home but we have made some fun memories here!

Joshua is a month old today!  He's doing very well and weighs over 4.5 kg already -- that's  almost 10 pounds for you Americans.

We're in the frenzy of packing and last minute preparations but I want to upload some pictures before we leave.  Just FYI, we'll be off line for a while after we get home.  We decided to change internet providers, so it will be a week or more before the new service is up and running.

Again, our dearest thanks to Sister Gene who shared her home with us, and her love. Here she is at the hospital holding Joshua.

 Here we are at my post-natal check-up with the very glamorous and proficient Dr. Irene, the doctor who delivered Joshua.

While we were in Singapore, the country celebrated 3 of the biggest holidays of the year -- Christmas, New Year, and Chinese New Year.  On Chinese New Year, our friend Jojo took Jonathan for the day to go visiting people and spread joy and good cheer to all according to her report.  It's Chinese tradition to give little red envelopes of cash to children at New Years.  Here is Jonathan's collection (a few were for Joshua.)

Dave took Jonathan to the nearby local public swimming pool quite a few times.  The entrance was less than $2 Singapore for both of them, so definitely affordable fun!  Here is Jonathan in his suit waiting for Daddy to get ready to go.  He is sitting in the front door.  Most Singapore flats have a big metal "gate" with big locks like this one at the front entrance.

 Here are Dave and Jonathan hanging out in the kiddy pool on a hot afternoon.

 I could never have done these last 2 months without my wonderful husband, AKA Superdad!  He's helped out so much with household chores and hanging out with Jonathan so I could rest, heal, recover, and care for Joshua.  Here's a another shot of Dave and Jonathan having fun at the pool.  I went with them twice.

We did make it out to one of the many Singapore malls a few times for treats.  Here we are at Wendys -- in honor of Dave's dad.

 Finally, he is learning to cheese it up for the camara!

This photo was taken on a day when Dave had to go out on business and I took Jonathan outside for his playtime.  Here he is with one of his playground friends, Freida.  It's the first time I had met her, although Dave had told me of meeting her and her Daddy several times.  This time she was with her mom and grandma.  Upon meeting Joshua, who was 3 weeks old that day, Freida's mom shared with me that she had recently had an abortion for an early pregnancy because her husband didn't want a third child.  This family is from mainland China, where I think such occurrences are quite common.  She said she was doing "okay" but I wished I could have visited with her more times to get to know her better and be a blessing to her.

Just some more playground pictures......so much fun, we have to share!