August already?
By Jenny | August 3, 2009
It can’t be August already! Okay, so it’s been a LONG time since I posted anything. Rather than making excuses or apologies, I’ll just tell you what we’ve been up to! Hannah Ruth made her grand entrance on June 22 at 11:55 a.m. Josh was 19 days early, so I just naturally expected she’d be the same way….WRONG. We spent a night in the hospital at 37 weeks thinking I was in labor…but I wasn’t. So, at 39 weeks my midwife graciously offered to induce labor since we had family coming in town (they also expected Hannah to come early) and my induction with Josh (water broke, no contractions, labor induced) went so well. Hannah’s induction/labor was an hour shorter than Josh’s (5 hours compared to 6), and the delivery was great! She came into the world screaming and reminds us daily that she has a powerful set of lungs. She’s a beautiful little 6-week-old who has easily become part of our family. Josh is adjusting very well and only gets jealous occasionally when Daddy or Pop Pop pay Hannah attention. When I’m in the room alone with Josh and Hannah, however, I often catch him giving her kisses, showing her his toys (yesterday he was showing her some farm animals and demonstrating the noises they make), or talking to her. What a sweet pair!
Josh is almost 20 months old…hard to believe our “baby” boy will be two in December. He is such a delight – learning new words every day, understanding most of what we tell him. Nathan and I have really enjoyed having a newborn and a toddler. Hannah is sweet and cuddly, and Josh provides the entertainment. He does his fair share of cuddling, too, though. Josh has begun telling us when he’s ready for bed. We spent last week in Virginia with Nathan’s family, and Josh got to play with his older cousin Olivia. They wore each other out, and one morning, upon hearing me say that Hannah needed a nap, Josh ran upstairs to his bed and asked to lay down. Ever since then, he says “nap” or “bed” or “night night” when he’s tired. Nap time and bed time have always been fairly easy with Josh, but now it’s a cinch! Another sweet story about my boy – we’ve been trying to work on first time obedience with Josh – the idea that delayed obedience is disobedience. Up until now I’ve not been sure how much he understands about cause and effect or about the language I use when correcting him. I mean, I know he understands a ton, but I wasn’t sure how much information to hold him responsible for. Anyways, tonight, before bath time I asked him to clean up his toys. He shook his head no and tried to run to the bath room. I walked him back to the living room and instructed him to put his toys in the toy basket. This started a temper tantrum complete with screaming, etc. I grabbed his hands and walked him to the first toy and picked it up with him and we “together” carried it to the basket and dropped it in. More screaming, more crying. I told him he needed to obey Mommy and clean up. Screaming, crying, etc. As I tried to lead him to the next toy, very loud screaming. I knew he understood the command to “clean up” as he frequently sings the clean up song while picking up his toys. So I carried him to his room and explained that he needed to obey Mommy, but since he’d refused, he could lay on his bed until he was ready to try again. I closed the door and waited outside. After a few minutes of screaming and him trying to open the door, he quieted down and started saying “bey, bey” which is his version of “obey.” So I went in and asked if he was ready to obey Mommy. He grabbed his lovey and blanket from his bed, I carried him upstairs, and he immediately picked up the remaining toys and cleaned up. I cheered for him, hugged and kissed him, and then he had his bath before bed. What a sweetie! And how good of God to reassure this mommy that my efforts are worth it. Whew – that was a long story! Hope you’re not bored.
Well, my baby girl just woke up, so this mama is going to run check on her girl.
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