Papa

For anyone who wants to keep up with how Papa's doing, his blog is http://lowellray.blogspot.com/.

quick update

I've been so busy with preparing for a work event coming up and taking care of two cute kids that I just haven't had the time I need to put the pictures and stories I have on here. I do have a lot of pictures of some fun we've been having with the snow, family, and ice skating. Hopefully in February I'll do better at blogging. So here's the quick update for now. Lazarus went to his 1-month appointment on Wednesday, and he weighed about 11 pounds and was 75% for height, weight, and head. Seems to be a healthy boy. Although he once in a while now lets me lay him down in the boppy and blanket on the floor for his naps, most the time he prefers to be held (and is cuddled napping on me right now). I had eliminated several foods from my diet when he had started getting fussy a couple weeks ago, and, with some food testing, I've so far figured out that he doesn't like wheat or nuts, and I still have to test soy and dairy. He seems fine with everything else, though, which is great. Evalana's still a wonderful, loving, and helpful big sister, and she's a lot of fun, sweet, and intelligent, too. Today Evalana is at Grandma Mo's house and Joshua is at work, so it seems strange to me to just be home with this one little baby. I'd better get back to work.
One other thing. Papa (Joshua's dad) is in the hospital today, so please be praying for him. He's been fighting a bronchial strep infection but now has something else going on too, although they've done some testing this morning and haven't yet figured out where this additional infection is. He has a high fever, low oxygen, and is disoriented, so we'd appreciate any prayers for him. Also, Kristen and Noah are sick now, too.

Cold Snap

We had absolutely frigid temps up here last Saturday, but Evalana and I (Joshua) got out to run a few errands that morning. God gave us the closest parking spot an able-bodied human being can get at Walmart, so we didn't have far to go on our way out to the Jeep. I snapped this photo right before we made the trek back.

Our Little Linguist

Rachel just called me at work and told me a hilarious little exchange she had with our daughter. Rachel and Evalana and Lazarus are planning to go iceskating later today at Aunt Michelle's skating rink and Evalana is very excited about it. Rachel was also trying to convince Evalana to go to Gymboree before hand. Apparently Evalana is only interested in the iceskating part. After what I imagine was quite a bit of cajoling on the part of Rachel to get Evalana on board with that idea, Evalana politely told her mother "Thanks for offering, but I not want your ideas."

I really have no idea where she gets it - God handmade quite a little girl for us, that's for sure.

diapers

Evalana's been such a great helper. She's excited to help me out with about anything I'm doing, especially if it involves taking care of Lazarus. She really likes to help change his diaper, but she gags every time I take off a poopy diaper. And she still sits there and helps while she's gagging. That's a dedicated big sister.

5:20pm nap in the rocking chair

P.S. Here's a picture of the girl who refused to nap

milk diet

Lazarus's tummy is getting fussy. I'm changing my diet again. Please pray that we can figure out the problem foods quickly. We'll start with eliminating dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, fish, and nuts, since those were the foods evalana had trouble with at first. And hopefully we can add them back in, one at a time, fairly soon. It's so sad to see my calm boy with an uncomfortable tummy, so I'll be glad to be able to fix it.

no nap time

2:30pm

2:30pm

5:30pm

Yesterday was our first day with just me at home with both Evalana and Lazarus. And it actually went really well. So far having two kids is much easier than I had expected. It's funny, too, to think how worried I was when I was going to be home alone with Evalana when she was a baby, and now being alone with just Lazarus seems like no big deal. Evalana and Lazarus are great together, so that makes things so much easier than if Evalana were jealous of Lazarus. And Evalana is also very helpful. We tried going to gymboree, but the car wouldn't start. I was excited that we were all able to get fed, dressed, and in the car. The car did eventually start. I think it had just been too long since we had driven it. Evalana was very excited to do school time, so she didn't mind staying home. This month we get to learn about prayer and winter. Our challenge, though, came at nap time. Evalana refused to nap, and my telling her to close her eyes and go to sleep wasn't helping. After 2 1/2 hours (and a quick trip to the bathroom, away from the frustration), we changed our plan. I told her we were going to have quiet time. She could stay in her room and read books, watch movies, or nap until the heartbeat on her sound machine stopped. She was very excited about the idea. She jumped in bed and turned on a Hermie movie. After a little while, she turned off the sound machine and came to tell me that quiet time was over because the heartbeat stopped. I turned it back on and put it on top of her dresser, and she went back to her bed. Awhile later, she came out again. This time the batteries on the sound machine had died. But she'd been in there, being quiet, long enough anyway. For the first time doing it, I thought it went really well. She had several crying episodes when things didn't go her way that afternoon--the way she acts when she's tired, but it wasn't horrible. Both she and Lazarus went to sleep at 7:30 that night! She slept for 12 hours. Today we were going to do quiet time after lunch, but right before lunch we were all three sitting in our chair, burping Lazarus, and Evalana leaned over with her head on my knee and just fell right asleep for half an hour. And she went to sleep about 8pm tonight. I think I've read that two year olds are supposed to sleep 11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day, but Evalana's always been on the shorter end of the normal sleep range, and she's just never napped that long, so I've just decided that if she's tired enough, she'll fall asleep. If she doesn't sleep during quiet time, she can stay up until bed time. I'm happy not to fight her to sleep anymore.

5:30pm

one parent, two kids

Joshua was home for Lazarus's first week, which was helpful and I think great for Evalana. Last week my mom came over and then Grandma Kidd was here. Yesterday was our first day without help while Joshua was working, although he works from home Mondays and Fridays, so he was still able to come up and be a huge help when we needed it. Evalana, who not long ago would go to sleep for nap and bedtime in a minute or two, is now fighting to stay awake much later than she should. Lazarus still won't be set down while he's sleeping. Finally Joshua came up and held Evalana, and she fell asleep almost immediately. Today, though, I'm the only parent here, so we'll have to figure something else out. Other than nap time, Lazarus, Evalana, and I have been getting along pretty well. I'm remembering, though, how difficult it is to get anything else done around here. Yesterday I barely ate breakfast, I don't think ever got lunch, finished the diaper laundry only just in time for bed, and I'm pretty sure Evalana did most of the dishwasher unloading for me. Last night we also had friends bring us dinner, which was a huge blessing and delicious. And Lazarus seems to be completely over his cold, so I am very thankful for that. Lazarus and I have moved back into our bed, although he still struggles with sleeping in the cosleeper but sleeps great when he's right beside me. Evalana has some nights that she sleeps the whole night alone, but most nights she calls for Daddy during the night. Evalana's calling me for a pretend trip to the zoo now, and they're serving donuts. And she says everything's free today and the weather's warm! We may attempt to make a real trip to real Gymboree later, so we'll see how getting out of the house goes.

daddy's birthday

Joshua's birthday was the 17th, but I got some pictures of the celebration. And little did we know that Lazarus would be arriving that night!

shower

At the beginning of December I got to enjoy a dinner out to celebrate Lazarus. I just got the pictures from it. We decided we need more reasons to get together more often. Jennifer and Nancy weren't in town, but my mom, Michelle, Bridgett, and Cindy all made it. I love that Lazarus was so loved by so many people before he was even born.

I'm looking forward to fitting comfortably again, rather than squeezing my belly in places.

In November I got to have lunch with Marcy, Heather, Mikaela, and Leah at a middle eastern restaurant, but I don't think we got any pictures.

iron

Reading the instructions for the melty beads craft Grandma Mo gave her, i said, "Turn the iron onto medium." Evalana said, "Is it going to be loud?" I guess the poor girl has never seen an iron in use around here.

Fortunately Evalana seems to show better housekeeping skills than I have.