Finally!

Josh gave us some smiles for the camera today! Here they are:

Big yawn!

Heather has recently started pulling the couch cushions off and jumping on them. Yep! Takes after mommy...and daddy.

After all the hard nights, and long napless days, it all seems worth it when your baby looks at you and smiles! Or when your tot obeys the first time, and sings primary songs with you in their sweet, happy voice. That's what I love about being a mom. It's the little moments that make me smile, and make my heart happy, and make me feel that it is all worth it!

Lately...

Lately, we have been a little busy (as you can imagine). Heather has needed a lot of extra attention and has started acting out a little bit. Also, she has become a lot more emotional. For example, she used to always run into nursery and not look back. But now, she has been crying for Daddy multiple times a day. I was even in there last week with her, and she went to the door signing and crying for daddy. She also has a hard time when daddy is doing the bedtime routine (which he did on a normal basis before Josh was born) and cries "dit mommy, dit mommy!" It makes us crazy! Will it eventually go away after she is more used to Josh, or is it always going to be like this?

On a happier note, Heather has been learning so much! A couple weeks ago as she was coloring, she started saying "e" (sounds like "eh") over and over again. I went in to see what she was doing, and she had figured out all by herself how to draw/write an "e!" I was super impressed. I got it on camera, and posted it just for you grandma! ;) Since then, she has noticed letters in her scribbling, but she has not been able to reproduce them like she can "e." It's amazing, and I don't know what we did to teach her.

Although Heather has had her rough moments, she continues to brighten our days with her laughter and overall cuteness. Here is a video of her doing her new water trick. (There is also a snippet of Josh at the end.)

An explanation about the eye: We have no idea what happened! We got home from church on Sunday, Daniel and I were in the kitchen getting lunch ready, and Heather ran into the front room to play. Immediately, we heard a big bang followed by crying. I ran in the front room to find Heather lying on the floor crying. I am pretty confident she hit her head on the window sill going full speed. What it looked like to me is that she tripped on Molly (a little person, and the only thing on the floor at the time). Anyway, it looks really bad, and I'm a little embarrassed to take her out in public, as anyone that doesn't have kids will probably think I am abusive (those that do have kids will know that kids just have a lot of bumps and bruises a lot anyway...still it is pretty bad). Here's a close up:

Still our "happy girl"!

Josh smiled (for real) for the first time yesterday. I tried to capture it, but this is what I got:

"feed me"

"Who is this weird lady, and what is she trying to say?"

half a smile

I promise, I am done blabbing now. :) We love you all and hope that you are all well and safe!

Home again, Home again, Jiggety-jig!

Well, after a two day stay at the hospital, Joshua and I are home, and loving not being disturbed at all hours! We got home yesterday at 11am, and things have gone well. Heather has reverted to screaming instead of using her words. Probably because that's what Josh does, and he gets attention for it. I hope it doesn't last long. She is excited about the new addition to the family, but I don't think she quite knows how to handle everything.

Here are some more pictures :)

 I realized today that we don't have a single picture of just me and the baby. We'll take care of that today.

Josh

Well, I had hoped to write a blog post today about how much fun we had yesterday with π day, but I guess that's going to have to wait! Joshua Christian Standage interrupted our peaceful slumber last night and after a quick labor, he joined us at 6:31 am this morning. I've posted a few pictures at http://standage.public.iastate.edu/josh/...stay tuned for more over the next few weeks (...err, months...or years...)!

Shoveling

We recently had unheard of good weather for this part of the country in the winter. All of the snow from the huge storms melted away, and the highs were in the 40-50's. It was a lot of fun to be able to go out and play in the warmer weather (although it was VERY muddy). Heather loved splashing in all of the puddles, but unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

It snowed again yesterday (not much), and it is cold and windy again. Heather and I went out to help daddy shovel the snow...okay, I just stood there looking very pregnant, but that's beside the point. :)

An action shot of Heather "helping." This snow wasn't as heavy as normal, so it was a lot easier for her to push it around. The trick was getting her to push it in the right direction. :)

I love this one!

Making snow angels... actually, she fell in a hole in our neighbors lawn (where a tree used to be), and couldn't get up, so she just laid there.

Trying to get out of the hole. She sure got a kick out of slipping and falling back in.

The reason we went inside. Check out the size of her lip!

 We don't really have any amazing news. Life is life. Some days are good, some days are hard. Daniel is doing well at school. He is about to start his last research rotation, and we can't believe we are already more than half way through the first year in school. YAY!

I am doing well. I am experiencing all of the normal pregnancy symptoms for this stage...you know, backaches, fatigue, ravenous hunger, ornery for "no reason," nesting, swollen (not half as bad as I was with Heather), weird dreams about the baby, not to mention crying at the drop of a hat...or over spilled water (yes water, but it was for the millionth time!), over-exaggerations, jealous that Daniel can lay on his stomach...Yeah...all those things...and lets be honest, there's probably more. But sooner than we know, it will all be over, and we will have a beautiful new baby boy.

I know you all (ahem...Johannah...) keep bugging me about posting pictures of the pregnancy. Here we are at 37 weeks (and counting...).

I win! I didn't even have to puff my chest, hold by breath, and arch my back. ;)

We love you all, and hope you are staying warm!