Bram = Nine, I mean TEN Months Old

I have to start with this video because it's just so cute and fun. As a baby, Jonah didn't like the swing too much, but Bram LOVES it. And Jonah loves pushing him!



Bram is a joy! He laughs pretty easily at Jonah, while playing peek-a-boo, and often giggles when you make silly sounds with your mouth. If he's tired he also laughs easily at many other things and recently even was laughing at pictures of Glenn. He loves to see Glenn on skype. (In real life too of course.) I think he actually says "dada" with meaning now, but I'm not sure.

This last week I am finally convinced that he understands some English. He knows 'fan' and 'smell' for sure. I'm drawing a blank on other words. Hmmmm...

Bram already has his first eight teeth, four on top, four on bottom. Jonah didn't have those eight teeth until he was 18 months old. Another interesting 9-month comparison of the boys is size. Despite being nearly identical in height and head circumference, Bram was nearly two pounds heavier than Jonah was at nine months.

Bram is definitely an active explorer like Jonah was though. He crawls fast and walks along things. He's always on the move.

He's pointing and grunting at a ton of things now, wanting labels for things I assume. He loves our ceiling fans and gestures a rough circular motion to illustrate its movement. He likes playing the piano and it's just cute to watch him stand there because he can barely reach the keys. He gets very excited at bath time. He is currently obsessed with his toothbrush and his spoons. He cries and is mad when he can't have what he wants.

Bram has started to show some separation anxiety, mostly if he's with people he doesn't know well.

He's a good sleeper, although every time I blog about it, I end up sleep-deprived for at least two weeks. Generally, he sleeps a total of about 14 hours. 11-12 hours at night and 2-3 hours worth of sleep spread between 2-3 naps.

Bram is a pretty good eater. He is starting to eat foods that aren't pureed now and enjoys bread and cooked broccoli the most. He also enjoys watermelon and cooked red pepper.

Anyway, here's a Bram picture montage....

Bram's second visit to Niagara Falls

He spent most of his time there in the stroller,
and got lots of attention.

He LOVED Jonah's foil
helium-filled birthday balloons

Gave my Mom a hard time for putting
Bram's pants on backwards. I then changed
his diaper and put the pants on backwards myself

Bram with his Grandpa on Father's Day

Bram's hair seems to be getting curly!!

Bram peers over the couch to see what
Jonah's watching on T.V.

Bram likes plain whole wheat spaghetti!

Jonah = Five years old

It happened. I became the mother of a five-year-old. You know you're having trouble coping with that when you nearly cry while looking at your cousin-in-law's blog about her five-year-old.

Jonah is just so big. He has really, truly, become a boy. He IS growing up. Here's the evidence:

-He can get onto a playground swing all by himself.
-He can jump off a playground swing while it's still moving
-He can climb a tree
-He can print letters and numbers, add & subtract and read a little
-He can play all sorts of games like Uno, Crazy 8s, and War and trash talks while winning
-He can get himself up onto the kitchen counter without a stool or chair to boost him
-He can cut his own Rice Krispies Squares with a butter knife
-He can help me prep supper by cutting the ends off the green beans
-He can draw a picture and print "To Mom" on it
-He likes minty toothpaste and minty chewing gum
-He prefers privacy in the bathroom
-He can assist in supervising his little brother
-Caterpillars are his friends and he likes to hold them
-He is learning how to play the piano
-He will run toward a slip 'n' slide and dive onto it face first









Fortunately there is still evidence that he's a little boy, for instance:

-He can get quite upset while losing a game
-He still pees on the bathroom floor around the toilet (when can I expect that to stop?)
-He's still only about 37 pounds and therefore still in a car seat, not a booster
-He still needs training wheels on his two-wheeler
-He still cries about little things ("What? I'm not allowed to play Wii until I'm done tidying?" As if that hasn't been a rule for months?!)
-He feels scared in bed if he knows I have gone outside immediately after putting him in bed, even though Uncle Mark is downstairs (at which point I know he's growing up because he has gotten out of bed, put on his sandals, come out the front door and found me in the backyard to tell me so)
-He is afraid of starting swimming lessons again (even though he enjoyed his last series of lessons)
-He can't tie a bow
-He's afraid of many bugs, especially if they're inside

Though I don't know exactly how to mother a five-year-old, and honestly, would prefer if he had stayed about three, I'm still enjoying many moments!

Photographic montage...

Loving a trampoline/sprinkler combination in Washington

Jonah held this snake!


Jonah loved this bird!
He's definitely an animal lover.

Has has always been and
continues to be obsessed
with water features

Including the natural kind!

Posing on a walk home from
school on his birthday

The boy still doesn't like cake
so he got want he wanted -
another jelly donut tower

Loving the splash pad near the house.
His big trick is putting his face right
where the water is about to shoot out.
He thinks that's hilarious.

Jonah loves our neighbours' dog Chilli
and was thrilled when he joined us
at the splash pad

Posing for a pic at a nearby field
I promise Jonah always wears a
helmet when he rides

Tasting our home grown buttercrunch lettuce.
He was excited about this but didn't like it.

Another love of his. Bubbles!
Now he can make his own!

Exiting school on his last day of JK

Drinking a Kool-Aid Jammer up in a tree.
He thought he was SO COOL doing this.
And he was of course.

One more shot of water fun. He is
more brave than I am when it comes
to slip 'n' slides!

I love you Jonah, and great news - Daddy is excited that you are growing up! And I suppose, if I have to be, I am too. After all, it beats the alternative.

Some sort of crisis!?

My title says it all. I think I may be in some sort of crisis. Seriously, these are emotional days for me, although I'm not actually crying as much as I feel I could. The last time I remember feeling this way, I had just turned 25. That's OLD you know! It doesn't help that Glenn has been gone for two weeks now. Just a couple more days...

It all started with our family vacation in May. A trip to Washington to spend time with my entire immediately family plus Glenn's parents. Despite the jet lag and sleep deprivation, it was great. Unfortunately the main conclusion I came away with was "I miss my sister!" We live so far away from each other that we play only a small role in each others' lives. We find it hard to keep tabs on each other because of our schedules. A 3-hour time difference and being mothers of young children (5 kids 5 and under) are the main factors. When my kids are finally in bed for the day, Carla is beginning the busy routine of supper. When her kids are finally in bed for the day, so am I! We occasionally chat over skype but it's mostly for the kids. They like to show each other toys and do silly things. And that's fun. It's neat to see how much they love/like each other despite having hardly spent any time together at all!

When we got back from vacation Glenn's bandmate Jeremy and his family came for a visit. Glenn and Jer took off overseas while Erin and I and our boys hung out. It was a great time of visiting and chatting and reconnecting too. The visit, like our visit in Washington, was too short. And it totally made me feel sad. Sad for my Tennessee friendships that are as hard for me to maintain as the one with my sister. Fortunately, they are the kind where you can pick up where you left off, if you know what I mean. The connection stays deep because of the depth to which you can relate.

But I think Erin's visit intensified the sadness I was feeling about my sister too.

My Mom's side of the family also took a tough blow recently when one of my mom's sisters passed away unexpectedly. My Aunt Mae was in a snowmobiling accident, needed an elbow replaced and had some cracked ribs but in a series of events, passed away weeks later. It's still so hard to believe. Did that really happen? I found it hard to hear my Mom and Aunt Audrey talking about it on the weekend. It's obvious they are still in shock and at a loss for my Aunt Mae.

Last Friday another one of my Aunts gave her kidney to her daughter. The procedure happened in Toronto so my Aunt and Uncle have been staying with my parents there. I actually got to see my Aunt and cousin barely 24 hours after surgery. That's just crazy! Things are going well. My Aunt is already out of hospital and last I heard, my cousin will be out shortly. But that definitely added to this emotional aspect of my life right now.

Also, I think visiting with so many family members last weekend that I don't usually see caused me to be more aware of the family relationships I miss. As children, we used to vacation with both Aunts I saw last weekend, and their families. Those were such fun times! I miss it.

And then there's Bram. He's 10 months old tomorrow and I just want him to STAY the way he is. He's just SO SWEET!

And finally, Jonah turned FIVE at the beginning of the month and he had his last day of Junior Kindergarten today. Five is such a different thing than zero to four. I knew this day would come. I 'get' young children. I feel like I don't know much about being a mother to a five-year-old. So, I ordered a friend's book and am anxiously awaiting it's instruction.

It's all adding up to equal sad.

Anyway, don't get me wrong. God is good. Life is great and I am so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. Did I mention that most of mine and Glenn's immediate families live within an hour of us? And we have good relationships with all of them? Yes, I even get along well with my mother-in-law!!! (If you know her, you're not surprised by that.) I've got friends and support and even a mentor. Between them all, I'm able to hold it together!

More scenes from my garden

We have plenty of these caterpillars around right
now and Jonah is loving them!

Our buttercrunch lettuce is doing well.
Everything else is sketchy.
And critters are eating OUR strawberries!

Our strawberry patch - each flower
represents a strawberry that
no doubt the critters, not us, will eat

We used to have grass, now,
we have clover!

Wigeila bush #1 IN BLOOM!

#2

Baby spiders!

First hosta to bloom

I don't know what this is.
I stole it from my Mom's garden
earlier this year.