Happy Birthday Isaac!

I can't believe that our baby is one years old!  It just seems like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital.  Although I still consider Isaac my baby, there is not much "baby" left in him!  He is very athletic and can run, walk up stairs (w/ support), kick balls, and climb onto furniture.  He has also taught himself how to use a fork and to put dirty diapers in the diaper geanie (along with mom's cell phone!)  That ornery little smile tells it all! He keeps me on my feet, but is also such a joyful addition to our family.  I can't imagine life without the little guy!

My parents drove down from Nebraska for the birthday weekend.  Unfortunately Isaac woke up Friday morning with a high fever.  We had to reschedule his party to Sunday since he was still not feeling very good by Saturday.

Isaac & Grandma resting

Poor guy!

Time w/ Papa Jones!

Smile birthday boy!

Isaac felt much better after his fever broke and tooth #7 broke through.  Julia and Jared decided that Isaac needed a monkey party to suite his personality.  Here are a few pictures of the party:

The banner had pictures taken each month.  He has changed so much!

Add caption

Isaac with "the guys!"

"This is for me? Are you serious!?"

"Why is everyone singing and looking at me funny?"

"Is there any more of this stuff?"

Big brother, Kai, loved the cupcakes also!

Obviously, Julia did also!

"Mom, why did you deny me this for a whole year?"

The pictures do not do Isaac's cake eating justice.  Here is a video to show him in action!

We are so thankful for each of our children's lives.  Although many days are exhausting and full of challenges, we praise the Lord for answering our prayers for a houseful of children!

Happy Valentines Day a week belated!  Although we don't go overboard with celebrating Valentines Day since Jared believes that it is a Hallmark ploy to make money and that...."We can show/tell each other how we love each other in little ways every day, not just on the 14th of February!" he still was very sweet and made it a special day!  I think that the holidays are more fun all the time as the kids get older.  We enjoyed hosting a play date with kids and mommies from our church the day before Valentines day.  Then the kids had a little party at their Moms Day Out program with pink pancakes, Valentines cards and treats.  Jared and I went out to eat the day before and then I cooked a special meal at home.  I thought that the kids and Jared would be excited about steak, mushrooms, heart shaped biscuits, and chocolate fondue with fruit.  They were until they noticed the pureed broccoli and carrots in the biscuits!  Although, they never discovered the avocado and carrot puree in the chocolate!

Other highlights of the month include hosting a Super Bowl party, going to the zoo with friends, surviving a quick stomach bug and transitioning out of our cribs and onto mattresses on the floor!  We definitely have a lot of highs and lows through out the day.  The twins have become very competitive about everything including who gets to brush their teeth first, who gets to get their diaper changed first, etc.  We are praying about how to decrease the fighting and competing!
Here's a few other things that they are doing new lately:
Julia has started "reading" stories to her brothers, which is fun to hear.
Kai really loves his bed time routines, which includes doing "nosies" (rubbing noses together).  He insists on doing "eyes, teeth and hair" also!
Isaac is running everywhere!  He still falls though and often he lays down with his arms to his side and "planks!"

The 18th of every month in our house is a time for me to celebrate and to be sad.  It means that each of my children are another month older.  A month taller? smarter? more mature? more independent? more gentle and loving? (Ha!  Not always the case here!)  Isaac is now 10 months old and Kai and Julia are 32 months old.  While I will always love the baby stage, I'm sure there will be many new adventures and excitement as they get months and years older!

Kai has slowly been transitioning from being, "my baby boy," to being "all boy!"  His motor skills have made huge improvements and he uses them for wrestling his daddy and siblings.  One of his favorite things to do is to playfully bump into Julia until he gets a girly reaction from her.  (Squealing or yelling)  He often wants to rough house when the other subject is not in the mood!
As for the update on his doctors' appointments at the Spina Bifida Clinic, we are very thankful.  His MRI came back fine (which means his shunt must be working), and his kidney ultrasound came back good (which means that there is no sign of kidney/bladder damange since stopping catheterizing him last June).  Praise the Lord!  The doctors and therapists were very happy to see a patient who is walking and developing as well as Kai is.  Although they mention that he may have to use a wheelchair to walk long distances as an adult, we know that there are no limits for the plans that God has for Kai!  We pray that he continues to surprise the medical community by his abilities and determination!  Our main concern right now is his speech delay.  He has difficulty vocalizing the second syllable of words.  We will have an evaluation with a private speech therapist soon, besides the therapy he receives through the ECI program.

Dancing

Julia also is changing daily.  She loves to talk, especially for her brothers!  Some of her favorite phrases are, "What's that sound?" "I yuck this! (at the dinner table)",  "I love you ____ (mommy, daddy, train, etc)."  She is very busy and loves reading books, painting, coloring, pretending to go shopping, and playing with her brothers.  We've been seperating her and Kai for naps since she talks to herself so loudly and often gets Kai all hyper.  We plan on signing them up for a group swimming lesson (indoors) in February, which I am sure she will love.  Although she can be strong-willed at times, she is still a joy!

Isaac is ten months old going on three years old!  He thinks he is Kai and Julia's triplet and wants to do everything that they are doing!  At nine months he started standing up in the middle of the floor and taking a few steps.  I believe that he will be running soon.  This guy loves to eat and will often stay in his high chair eating a meal for over 30 minutes or as long as mom continues to offer it!  He also loves to crawl under the kitchen table and eat any scraps that were dropped by the other kids and himself.  Who needs a dog!  I just need to be very quick with the broom!  Isaac is very playful and will cover his eyes to play peek-a-boo and will raise his hands to "so big!"  His laugh is contagious as he lives up to his name (Isaac: He will laugh).  

Jared has been motivated by the nice weather to finish clearing out the yard.  When we moved into the house just over a year ago, our yard was more of a forest than a yard.  While the trees are nice, there was a lot of dead plants, weeds, and leaves to remove.  He estimates that he has spent over 80 hours outside working on the yard since August.  I'll have to get some before and after pictures posted.

Although I don't have a lot of free time right now, I have been wanting to start a new hobby.  I ended up buying a used camera from a friend here in Texas (early birthday gift from Jared).  I am still learning how to use it and hope to get some inspiration and lessons from my brother, Zach.  Here are a few more shots that I took while practicing the past few weeks.

Kai tickling/tackling Julia 

At the park

 My other hobby has been trying to prepare healthier meals for my family.  My goal is to get more fiber in their diets, especially to help with Kai's bowel issues.  The kids and Jared were brave and tried Green Smoothies with Spinach, Flax Carrot Apple Muffins, and Taco Soup with extra beans and hidden veggies.  I haven't noticed a difference with Kai yet, but Julia and Isaac's diapers have been epic!  This may make our potty training attempts with Julia almost impossible, but we'll give it a try!