Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Um, I just pulled out Josy’s 12 month clothes and they fit him perfectly, not even a little bit big. Apparently I should have moved him awhile ago. Oops... Also, this big boy got a covid test today and he took it like a champ! My baby is getting so big!

Gabe and I have been doing a lot of yard work this week. We decided that it was time to plant the flower pots, so we worked hard to empty the old dirt and dead plants. Then I got distracted by the neighbor and when I looked back, he’d taken one of the pots, filled it with dirt and put a flower inside. It was definitely not the pot I was going to use for that flower, but he was so proud of himself that I helped him finish up with the extra dirt. Now he considers it “his” flower. Today we were raking the grass, since certain little brothers think it’s a good idea to eat leaves and sticks and rocks and whatever random thing he can reach. I did most of the raking. Gabe was focused on an intensive worm relocation program and trying to figure out where the stumps came from. He was also concerned with figuring out where some fresh grass came from and made sure to examine it with his shovel (or spade, as he calls it). He also did a bunch of raking, which was helpful. Then when I was inside he ...

Josy is getting big enough to zoom cars around the house. Gabe and Emma (the nanny) went for their daily bike ride and did some rock weight lifting. Working from home isn’t so bad... This is the longest he’s laid on his back for a long time. It helps that he’s afraid of the grass. He is too cute. We pulled out the bubbles. He was not impressed. I asked Gabe to put away the shoes. I came out to this. Josy and Lucy are such good friends, even though one of them insisted on poking the other one in the eye... We let Lucy go outside. She loves it and is terrified at the same time. She was on the porch when the mailman came, so naturally she freaked out and ran into the house where it was safe. I also rescued her from under the porch twice. We watched the neighbor cut down a tree today. Is there any better entertainment for a little boy???

Gabe is devastated because “it’s going to be years and years until I’m a dad!” Um, yes. That’s how that works. I just discovered my cowbell from my big relay race in the middle of the hallway. I asked Gabe about it and he told me “it’s for when I’m a farmer and all the cows are mooing, I’ll come back to my old house and get it and ring it for them.” I can’t guarantee I’ll keep it that long. Gabe found a Star Wars DVD on our counter... G: Mommy, it’s Star Wars! M: It is. How did you know that? G: It had that girl on it. M: Yep. What’s her name? G: Wonder Woman. I’ve been fighting with Athlete’s Foot and Gabe saw me spraying my feet. G: What are you doing? M: I’ve got some germs on my feet and this is the medicine that helps them go away. G: Are they the big bad germs? M: No, this a fungus. G: Is it a Fungus Amongus? A few minutes later... G: Elephants are a fungus amongus. M: No they’re not. G: But they’re amongus. M: You mean humungous?

When you move into a new house, the easiest thing to do is paint the whole house before you move in. However, if you’re 7 months pregnant with a high risk pregnancy, that is not reasonable or realistic. So we didn’t. Now we’re a year later and it’s time to get started on painting things. Pat’s been doing a bunch of house projects, but he doesn’t like painting and he had to work all weekend. Luckily, Gramps and I like painting. So Gram watched the boys on Saturday and Gramps and I got to work. I don’t have before and after shots because I’m wasn’t sure that it would be super obvious in pictures, but I can tell you that it looks so much better. It’s nice and clean and all of the marks that someone put on the ceiling in order to put in our new lights are now gone. We also had the cutest little painting helper (who actually did a really good job and wanted to keep helping). By the time we were done, every one was exhausted. Josy refused to do an afternoon nap so he was a cranky mess. Pat e...

These pictures are a pretty accurate picture of Josy’s life at 11 months: into everything, can’t hold still and a big brother who loves him so much that he just might smother him. 😂  Walking will be coming soon as Josy is pushing furniture around the house and even standing without holding anything sometimes. Right now he just crawls everywhere, including exciting places like the bathroom, where he crawled yesterday, shutting the door behind him and opening the dryer drawer, locking himself in. It’s a good thing Pat was home to get him out and now the bathroom stays shut all the time. Diaper changes are nearly impossible as he refuses to sit still long enough to do it. He’s did pop a second tooth this week, although two more are very close. We made it an entire month without an ear infection, although it probably helped that we were in quarantine and not exposed to any bugs... And he definitely says Mamamama as he crawls for me when he’s upset, which I love!  How on earth has...

We decided to build a fort today. The boys thought it was wonderful. Josy has still been a cranky mess, but as long as he was playing in the fort, he was happy. Unfortunately, the first tent collapsed. This obviously meant that Gabe needed to dramatically rescue all of his animals that were now stuck under the collapsed tent, but I can confirm that all animals survived the event. Once we rebuild the tent (with a few structural changes so that the cat couldn’t knock it over again), the boys thought it was great. We even had a box of kleenex “in case someone has a booger on their thumb” and a collection of animals, toys and books. All in all, it was a good way to spend the afternoon.