Time Flies...

Be prepared for another novella: (Part of this is just for me to evaluate what is going on with everyone...sorry if it's TMI, or just too long and boring...if you don't get to be around us all that much, I hope you enjoy it.)

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since my last post.  I'm not sure if I've explained this or not, but anytime Emmaus sees the computer out, he wants to look at pictues, watch Leap Frog, or do anything other than let me try to post pictures on my blog.  This is one reason I will "blame" for not updating this on a more regular basis.  Fortunately I still have enought pictures to do a blog, just not the time or privacy to put them on here.

Imogen is almost 4 months old ..(in one week) and Emmaus is almost 2 years old...(in 17 days)...for that matter, I'll be 31 years old in 3 days!!! I do love birthdays and marking time

Jake's parents are in town...This is the first time they've been able to see the baby.  (They were here for the birth, but she was later than we had anticipated.) So we decided to have her dedication while they were here.  That was nice.  Imogen and Emmaus were very patient while Bob did his thing.  It was super cute when Emmaus interupted and said, "Let's Pray..."  My terri mom and gma Sandy came too.  Then we all went to In and Out Burger aftewards.  (Mike and Mary and Sandy had never been before, so we thought why not.  Emmaus loves any place with french fries.)

I started school up at the U last week.  I'm looking forward to being graduated.  I have 9 credit hours this semester, summer I plan on taking another 9, which leaves 7 remaining for the Fall, followed by NO MORE SCHOOL!  I like the things I'm learning, but it takes away from my time with the kids and jake and my sleep..haha.  I'm taking a Family Violence class, and Attachment Theory..and I'm TAing for a former professuer, just grading some papers...I'm hoping that one won't take up too much time...(fingers crossed.)

Emmaus is AMAZING...as always.  He's so tall, and sooo strong.  He will lift himself onto our coffee table with just his ams.  (Like in a pike position...it's hard to explain....)  I might have already said this, but this is waht comes to mind when I talk about Emmaus.  He knows his alphabet sooo well.  We have a Spiderman activity book that has a word snake type game.  He will say the letters in the square so fast, W, S, B, R, Q, E....It's neat that he can identify the letters, not just repeat what he has heard in the song.  It's really cute because we'll be doing something and he will just stop, and either point out letters on my shirt, or run to the recycling bin and point out letters and numbers that are on a box in there.  He's counting too...He can go from 1-10 and back to 1.  He can get to 12, then 14, 18, 19, 20.  We're still working on the thirteen...

He loves his books, but even more loves his shows and movies and our smart phones.  Mr. Technology. When I say I can't pull out my laptop to do anything, I really can't pull out my phone to do anything.  I shouldn't say anything, but for example, he was walking from our garage door towards his room...he's walking at a steady pace, glances over towards the counter, see's jake's laptop open on the counter, and he paused, and actually took steps backward and rerouted himself towards the counter.  It was funny.  He's doing okay when we tell him no, bt sometimes he throws such a fit...I feel bad for him sometimes, but wow...he gets so passionate about things...

He's doing better with his coloring too, more centralized and he likes coloring in the eyes right now.  We found an app on gmas smart phone where he can drag puzzle pieces together to make a picture.  Mary wasn't sure if Emmaus would be able to figure it out, other than not liking the touch/vibrate feeling, he was a pro.  To avoid the vibration (can't remember what that is called.) He grabbed Gma Mary's finger and was using it like a stylus to move the pieces around.  Such a problem solver. 

He's also doing really good with his potty training...It's been about 5 months I think since we introduced the idea to him.  Now he'll run to the potty sometimes on his own, pull down his pants/underwear, stand up on the stool, and sit down...Jake told me a story that Emmaus went poop in our portable potty, picked it up, tried to dump it into the big potty, some spilled, and he tried to clean it up with the cloth wipes we had.  Jake found him scrubbing the floor and about 3 wipes in the toilet...he's such a sweetie.

Imogen has rolled over a few times from her tummy to her back.  She slept 9 hours the other night (in a row...) that was a bit of a shock...She smiles non stop...well that's an exaggeration, but you get the picture.  She is such a happy baby.  We are super uber blessed. (that was for you jeannine.)  She's started laughing too sometimes. That is the most precious noise ever.  She seems to be teething too.  I don't see any white spots under her gums yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if hers surfaced soon.  Emmaus was around 7 months when his first came through.  we'll see what happens.

She's also showing some impressive signs of strength.  When on her belly she can straighten her arms underneath her...and she's been spending a lot of time in her exersaucer too..she likes the mirror rhino on there...and sucking on the elephant ears. 

Jake has a gig next week . It's a company that used him before, and specifically asked for him again by name, that was awesome.  It's during Sundance too, so this could be extra cool...or just normal...either way it's a good experience for him.  He bought me/us a steam vac for my birthday...and he's cleaned almost the whole house with it including part of the kitchen. (It does tile too.)  He's been submitting some of his short stories online...hoping someone publishes one of them...and I'm hoping he works on getting his murder mysteries revamped so he can set up a website with them.

We are all happy, healthy (thank God) and thriving.  Looking forward to going to Minnesota in June for Andrew and Becca's wedding.  Susanna's getting married in April, Shalom and Jake in May...Lots of fun things coming up...Hopefully I'll be able to post a few pics about it...we'll see.

as always...