Some Jonas updates

Jonas has been rolling for a while, but last night he began rolling back and forth in order to grab toys. Every time he rolled over he would have a huge smile. On a different note, in the last week we've had 2 great nights of sleep. On Saturday Jonas slept 11 hours straight, which allowed me to have my first 8 hours of solid sleep in about a year :) Last night he slept for two five hour stretches. Jonas has also been eating lots of baby food. He loves sweet potatoes and squash. Yesterday, I thought I doubled the amount of medicine I was giving him. I started to freak out that I had nearly killed the poor kid and was going to have to take him to the ER to get his stomach pumped. My mom was here and advised calling a pharmacist to see what they said. I called and he told me I had actually only given him 1/2 the amount I was supposed to. Something about different kinds of bottles and such. Anyway, thank God that was the case.

"Bad Example"

We have been talking with Sara about doing things that she know are right in order to be a good example for Jonas who will be learning all these things. So now, when she does something wrong she comes to us to confess and says, "I did a bad example." It's pretty cute :) We encourage her honesty and talk about doing the right thing.

Accountability

The other morning I was trying to get the kids out the door to go to a Dr. appointment. I was telling Sara to hurry up and grab her things and put her shoes on so we could go. She said to me in the nicest voice, "Mama, could you please try to be nice." Talk about stopping in my tracks. It really made me think about my tone of voice. I apologized for not speaking kindly. I didn't realize how quickly my kids would be helping me be a better mom/person. Thanks Sara :)

Aunt Arielle

My little sister, Arielle, and little brother, Brandon came over the other day. Sara and Jonas enjoyed having them around. Arielle had a lot of fun playing with Jonas and getting him to smile and laugh. She also helped Sara put on make-up. It's fun for the kids to have such a young aunt and uncle :)

Princess and Prince

Sara really enjoys dress up right now. Almost every day she puts on a costume. The other day she was pretending to be a princess and she put a "crown" on Jonas so he could be a prince. She also pretended she was getting married and said she was going to marry Jonas :)

Jonas, 8 months old

Jonas is now 8 months old. It is so fun to see how much more he interacts. He now says, "dadadadadada" in a conversational way. I'm trying not to be too concerned with the fact that he does not say "mama" :) He has had a rough month. He had a cold, double ear infections, and teeth that refuse to stop coming in. He is currently working on his 5th tooth. It makes life a bit difficult because he wants to be held a lot and sleeping is not so great. He loves books now. He is constantly grabbing things and seeing how they work. He is a pretty picky eater. So far, it is plain sweet potatoes. I hope his skin doesn't turn orange :) I recently started working part-time. I am doing some house keeping for a friend. It's a nice change of scenery. I do miss the kids, though. I can't believe how much I like being around them :) They seem to be doing good with dad, grandma TT and our friend Jessica.

A Birdhouse

Sara received a bird house for Christmas. She had a blast painting it and making a home for her bird friends. She (along with a few others) is very excited for spring, when we can put it out and let the birds enjoy. She was a bit concerned about the whole birds pooping on the house thing, but we'll figure it out when we have to...

Facebook ?!?!?!

The other day, I was trying to do something online and the page wouldn't load. I said something like, "oh, bummer." Sara wanted to know what was wrong, so I explained it to her. Then she said, "Oh man, I wanted to put that on my facebook." What? How does she know that? I don't even have a face book!

Christmas time

We had lots of fun celebrating Christmas. We are blessed to have lots of fam in the area, so we were able to see them all. On Christmas Eve, we celebrated Jon's dad's birthday with Jon's parents, his sister Beth, brother Mike and my mom. Then we all went to the Christmas Eve Service, and came back to our house to have dessert and celebrate Christmas. On Christmas day, we did our own family Christmas in the morning. That afternoon my mom, brother, and his girlfriend Kristina all came to do a family Christmas. That night, we were blessed to have our friends the Smith family, Mark and Rachel all come over. I love the fact that Christmas is about spending time with those you love, slowing down a bit, and just enjoying the people in our lives. Sara was so excited this year because she really got the idea of opening presents and didn't get weary of the amount she had to open :) In the beginning, she was telling people they didn't need to bring any more presents because she had so many, towards the end she wanted to know if there were more presents. She is blessed by a very generous family, including Great Grandmas in MS and CA. Sara received a sled as a present. Jon and Sara took advantage of the snow and went sledding around the yard on Christmas day. I am encouraged by the fact that Sara is somewhat cautious. She kept telling Jon to slow down :) Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and may the new year be blessed!

Sara the Lamb

Our church did a Christmas play. This is the first year Sara was old enough to participate. She was a lamb. In the picture you see Sara and her friend Elle. Sara did a great job. All went well - for the most part. There were a few songs where the kids got to hold candles and sing songs. There were not enough candles for all the kids. Sara didn't get one, but her friend Elle did. Elle was standing right next to Sara. It was pretty funny to watch Sara try to grab the candle out of Elle's hand while Elle tried to keep it away from her. In the end, Elle was a nice friend and let Sara have a turn. Oh, the memories :) The Christmas story has brought up a lot of questions for Sara about being pregnant. Whenever she sees a picture of Mary she wants to know if Mary is pregnant there and if baby Jesus is in her tummy. Pretty cute :)