He gets it from me...

Everyone is always asking me where Isaiah gets his light hair. He gets it from me. Also, Uncle Miles. In fact, I have been thinking that Isaiah looks a lot like his Uncle Miles lately.

So fast...

Here is a picture of Isaiah from last week:

And here is a picture from one year ago:


He is quickly changing from a baby to a little boy. He has a mind of his own and he likes to be in charge. He is D.'s and my son, so how could we expect anything different?

He said his first sentence yesterday: "I want it." At least he's assertive. That will be a good quality later in life.

Happy Birthday, pardner!

Today is my mom's birthday! I love my mom, and if there's one thing I know I got from her besides my stubbornness, it's my sense of humor.

At least I hope so.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, D.!

We are so glad you were born 28 years ago. You bring so much richness, beauty, and FUN to our lives. You are a gift.

Mama's helper

Here is a picture of my little helper and I making a pizza. Isaiah likes knowing what's going on in the kitchen, and helping us makes him feel so proud. You may be able to get a view of my belly in this picture. It has really gotten bigger in these last few weeks.

So I thought I had missed out on the stomach virus, but I was wrong. I got it yesterday, and it was really not cool. In the past 48 hours, I have eaten 2 saltines, a piece of toast and half a container of applesauce. I am feeling better, though. Once I get some more food in my stomach, maybe I'll be able to function again!

Since I've been laying down a lot and being still, I have felt little brother move around quite a bit while I've been sick. That's been a fun thing. Also, don't worry about me being pregnant and being sick. He gets all the nutrients he needs because they're stored up down there. :)

Sickness and Happiness

On Friday, Isaiah got a stomach virus. Yuck. But it was really not so bad. He was still pretty happy and playful for most of the day. On Monday, D. got the stomach virus. It was much worse. The poor guy was in bed all day and today he is still not himself. I have not yet gotten sick, and I hope it stays that way. But you can still feel bad for me if you want to because I had to take care of two people. D. is the worst one by far, but I still love him.

In other news, I cannot even begin to keep you up to date on Isaiah's vocabulary. He says so many new things every day. He has started saying "Corrie" all the time now. He talks to me on the phone, or he talks about me. It is really cute. A few new words from the last week or so include "yogurt," "mail," and "cantelope." I'm not lying.

D. and I have been working to follow the suggestion by our doctor and by the American Association of Pediatrics to not allow Isaiah to watch ANY TV until the age of 2. We did this for many reasons, including the fact that habits start early and we want our kids to be in the habit of exploring and learning actively. Watching TV is a very passive activity. We have done a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. :) All that to say, we decided recently that maybe he was ready to watch a little here and there with our permission. Today we watched about 10 minutes of a show I've never seen before--Word World. It is a really neat show and Isaiah liked it a lot. Each character is computer animated, and their body is the word that spells what they are--the dog's body is actually the word DOG. Anyway, Isaiah liked it a lot and even did a little dance. It's weird to see how grown up he is, and it's exciting to see him processing so many new things.

Finally, baby brother is moving around like crazy and doing lots of little dances for us! The doctor said he thinks he'll be another big baby since he was measuring big already, but he also said I can probably have an 11 pound baby with no problem considering Isaiah's size. I hope that is true.

Reflections

So everyone has been asking me if I'm disappointed that we're not having a girl. Here is the truth: no. I really did think it was a girl and I don't know why, but I always told D. I had about a 50% chance of being right. :)

I grew up in a house with 2 kids, one brother and me. We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of craziness going on, and we have always been and still are very close friends. I love my big brother. But I have always thought the bonds between brothers must be very different. Whenever I've seen two brothers who are close in age, I've always thought it must be a unique bond. So I am excited to see that happen between our two boys.

Our one issue is that we have 3 absolutely perfect and fabulous GIRL names picked out, and boy names are a little harder for us. This is not a plea for suggestions, but just a comment. We are sure that we'll find the perfect and fabulous name for our second boy that fits him just as well as Isaiah's fits. We have twenty more weeks to choose, and that is a long time. Yes, we still like to keep our names secret because surprises are good for everyone and because we don't need any negative comments.

We would love to have a girl one day, and we are not planning on stopping with two kids, so we may have the opportunity to use one of those girl names in the future. Besides, how fun would it be to have 2 big brothers? I loved just having one (most of the time).

It's a BOY!

Here are a few pictures of our new baby. We are so excited for Isaiah to have a baby brother! The first picture is the baby's profile, and the second picture is for the skeptics out there.

I Voted! Did you?

I'm pretty sure there are more than 18 people who read our blog.

Just a reminder for all you blog readers that there are only 2 days left to express your opinion about whether you think our baby will be a boy or a girl. Like many votes that are cast, this one won't change the outcome at all, but it will give bragging  rights to those who guess correctly.

Exciting Developments

Here are a few new words Isaiah has learned lately:

Cookie--we're not really sure about where he picked this one up. Maybe at the baby-sitter's house? He says it pretty often, and he knows what it means. There is no tricking this kid with cereal.

Choo-Choo--this is what a train says, just in case you didn't know.

Elmo--again, not really sure about this one either. We went to Square Books, Jr. today and he picked up the Elmo doll and said "Elmo."

Roll--this is strategic on our part as it replaces the action of throwing. As in "let's roll the ball, not throw it."

Pizza--we made our own pizza for dinner on Sunday and he's been talking about it ever since. Now that's some good pizza.

Pull--this is for pulling the chain on the light in his closet. He loves to hide in the closet. He also loves to ask his dad to hide in there too.

Puppy--as in "puuuupy" like he's calling for puppy. This is his special "lovey" toy. He'll just randomly call to it, like when we're driving in the car, for instance.

In case you didn't notice, we've got some nouns in here... a few verbs... we're mixing it up with the parts of speech. This gets pretty exciting! We may move on to adjectives next. I think adverbs will follow soon after.

A few more exciting things going on around here:
1. A box came today with two items that we are pretty pumped about. A potty chair! Yes, although it is really just for looking at and maybe contemplating for a while. A Diaper Shower! I may have mentioned that we have been cloth diapering a lot lately. We went hard-core over the summer, and now we do it when we're home, but we don't send them to the baby-sitter's house. Well, toddler diapers can get... icky. This thing is going to be so helpful. It's just a little nozzle for washing off those icky ones.

2. Even more exciting, if you can believe it.... D. felt our new baby move tonight! I'll be honest, we had some cookies and ice cream. I think the new baby liked them. He or she was doing some serious wiggling, and D. was able to feel it!