The Beach

Phyllis blessed us by keeping Luke so Josh and I could take Rebekah to the beach. For you Iowans, the Texas beach is not beautiful! However, it was her first experience to see so much water and we all had a ball (besides squeezing my post-pregnancy body into my mother-in-law's swimsuit- side note- Rebekah asked me where I got my "swimsoup" and if we could bring the "sunscream")! Rebekah eagerly trotted in the water as long as she had a hand she could hold onto. She, Josh, and I dug for shells (well, I dug until I dug up a crab that crawled on my hand and then I retired as a digging encourager!) and not so shockingly Rebekah was quite picky about what exactly counted as a shell...My favorite part was holding her hands- Josh and I both had a hand as we waded out into the ocean- Rebekah started floating on her tummy and excitedly cried out, "I'm swimming!!" It was precious.

Potty training is up and down to be quite honest...I am surprised at how frequently R lies to me about not needing to go- she says, "I need to not go potty...I need to not tee-tee," etc...we are definitely making progress and the past 2 days she has verbalized almost all her needs, which is wonderful! I still love how excited she gets about what kind of poops she does (2 poopies vs little bitty poopy).

Rebekah has also begun to pray for our meals- it goes like this:

"Dear Ward, thank you for Daddy...thank you for Nana...(she's looking around to remind herself who's there)...thank you for Papa...(looks around, as if she can't remember me :)) thank you for Mommy...thank you for Nana's glasses...thank you for the food...Amen!!!"

She also LOVES bossing Duncan (my in-laws' Westie) around! She LOVES to walk him and he is little enough that she is able to hold the leash- she commands him, "Duncan, no! Duncan, stay on the sidewalk! Duncan, do you want to go poop?" It's pretty funny. Luke LOVES being outside- maybe more than Rebekah, much to my amazement! He will be fussy and if we go outside, he almost always immediately calms down...he loves going on the walks in a sling, all wrapped up like a baby frog, sweating madly. :) I am soooo delighted my children love being outside- so do I!

Luke really is becoming his own little man- he is starting to respond so much more, reach for and hold things, move more- he pushes off his legs like crazy- granted I am comparing him to noodle-leg Bekah! We are starting to realize he is more social than I originally thought- he will cry until someone looks at him, then break out in a huge grin- little faker! On his best days, I want another child, on his fussy days (yesterday!), I am glad we might be done! Rebekah is definitely a fan of no more- she happily suggested yesterday when she wanted to be chased, but I was holding him, "Mommy, put Baby Luke down on ground? (no) Mommy- (looks around for his infant seat) put Baby Luke in his seat- I go get it! (no) Mommy, put Baby Luke down for nap?" Bless her heart!

At the beach-





(for my dad's side of the fam- doesn't she favor Kendall here?)

This was her best attempt at a smile...

In Josh's hat...

Little man gettin' a little handsy...

So sweet with their Papa...

So sweet with Mama!!
Bekah-in-a-bag
Bekah-Burrito
Bekah-in-a-wagon

Our blue-eyed babies and their plugs

Well, Luke is getting more and more alert, but that does not mean he doesn't need to snooze all the time! He is the sleepiest baby I've ever been around- that's not to say he doesn't surprise me at times (like this morning!). Anyway, we are trying to make him do more while awake (5-6 hours total!) so he'll eventually learn to roll, hold things, lift his head, etc...Like most babies, he has always detested tummy time, so we got creative yesterday- I was shocked at his ability to hold his head up!
Happy Luke

Serious Luke

Rebekah decided to pull Luke's changing mat under the table so she could take a "nuh-night nap." She grabbed a towel to "cover up with" and a burp cloth to be her "bb" (her special blanket). She kept saying good night and pretending to sleep. As she does after all naps now, she gets up and says, "I'm not tired anymore. I just woke up," followed quickly by a "I want a popcicle!" That clever girl knows she gets a popcicle after naps! Needless to say, that did not count!!

Who knew a changing mat could be so fun?! (the blue thing is her swimsuit cover-up that she insisted on wearing over her shorts)

Touch Baby Luke?

With Aunt Sharon (Nana's sister), who visited to meet Luke and hear Josh preach. We had a great time visiting!


Rebekah learned about rainbows this week via an Eric Carle book (The Mixed-Up Chameleon). While outside, she asked about the bird on the "rainbow." Knowing it had not rained in a while, I curiously searched the skies for a wandering rainbow...she pointed to some power lines- there were 5 and she thought the stripes in the sky meant it was a rainbow! So cute! Similarly, she saw a tiny octagon-shaped yard sign (something or other about that house being alarm-protected) and said "stop-sign!" I am impressed at her shape observations.

Everybody (and stuffed animal) poops!

Today, Josh and I came home from seeing Batman (can I tell you how angry it makes me to see children at that movie????? Josh overheard a mom telling her upset child that it wasn't scary..seriously? Can't you get a babysitter?) and saw this set-up....apparently Lamby needed to poop and needed to hear a story from Rebekah in order to do so.



Potty training is going well. Rebekah is a stud and is using the normal toilet without the toddler seat! We are still establishing that poop really does belong in the potty and not in her panties. :) She has had some poop accidents mostly b/c she doesn't feel like using the potty. She seems shocked we don't rejoice as we clean out her undies...she also likes to see her excrement and comment on "Look at that big poopy!" or "Little bitty poopy!" or "2 poopies!"

Josh swung Rebekah around by her feet upside-down this morning and it was a big hit! R asked for more swinging...I got up to do it and she said, "No, daddy!" So, I sent her in to plead her case (he was working on his sermon for tomorrow)...she came in to see him, all grins, and said as she jumped in his lap, "Daddy, swing me!" Needless to say, she was successful. I told her he could swing her for a few minutes and then he needed to work. Josh swung her pretty intensely, after which she firmly said, "Daddy, go work....Mommy, swing me!"

Nana is infamous for her ability to make Baby Luke sleep and to hold both children at the same time!


Luke is now reaching for things! We are so proud!! He is particularly fond of his green elephant and his plastic ball...and his own left fingers, of course!






R helping Nana vacuum...

A couple pics

Potty Training: last few days :)

Okay- mostly good with a few setbacks again! R talks about pooping on the potty a lot and we are learning that she needs to keep trying until she actually goes! We have had a few minor accidents with that but much success otherwise!! Being mindful of her needing to be mindful of her urges has been more challenging than I anticipated, but with so many extra hands, we are doing great!

Rebekah keeps us on our toes to be sure! She quotes her books in and out of context, which is always funny! She lovingly tells me where I can put baby Luke down when she feels he has been held too long (anything longer than 30 seconds) and even supplies options, such as bringing him his infant seat or jungle gym. She grabs her bag and says she's going on a date. She offers to take extra naps just in case she might get a popsicle out of it. We love her so!!

Baby Luke is also wonderful- he is such a tender little guy, altho he is growing like a weed! He is starting to have that really solid, satisfying weight to him that makes picking him up pretty fun! He has the most precious grin that covers his whole face and is a sweet gift from the Lord! he is still sleeping thru the night, tho sometimes he needs his paci, but he is content to go back to sleep and not to eat! Yea! I am still astonished at his nap capacity, tho I am not complaining! Again, he might need a paci placement here and there, but that boy can snooze- and loves doing it! I will say my favorite part is checking on him and realizing he is awake, but content...I sneak in and peek over the side of the pack 'n play and there he is, just gazing up at me and as he registers that he is getting "gotten," he grins with his entire body in such a way that I can hardly grab him fast enough! My children are such a blessing!

As for us, Josh and I came to Dallas yesterday for my uncle's funeral. He died quite unexpectedly of a heart attack on the way to the ER with his wife last Wednesday. He was an amazingly godly man and the service was a beautiful tribute to a life well-lived. He was married to my dad's sister (my dad is one of 11!) and they have a lovely 13-year-old daughter. She recorded a poem and song for him, both of which were extremely touching. No one could think of single bad thing to say about Ralph....that convicted me greatly. Anyway, we head back today and I am eager to get my hands on my babies!

Luke and Josh at Chick-Fil-A

We took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch today. You may not know that Josh worked there and managed for a while (3-ish years) during his high school days! he was a model employee, I am sure, and still loves the food! We went to eat, of course, but also to visit with his old boss. Luke enjoyed chatting with the 3 brothers sitting behind us while hangin' out with Dad.

Potty Training: Days 4 & 5

Much the same with a few setbacks...woke up wet from a nap yesterday, but not today. She has awakened dry both mornings, tho! Yesterday we had a funny one- she went around the corner and sat on the potty and pooped...yea, right? Unfortunately, she failed to pull her panties down! She was sure she should still get M&Ms! That is our biggest hang-up- if she could be naked all the time, we would be in great shape! The pulling down of clothing is the biggest obstacle...not that I expect her to do it herself- as young as she is, she will need help for a while...she just prefers being in the buff...

Potty Training: Day 3

(Side note- this is sooo typical of R- "I will not look at the camera until I've made my brother cry!" She bonked his head with her own...reminded me of a certain Far Side cartoon of the satisfying sound of coconuts colliding...amazingly she was fine...)

Yesterday was another great day! She says she needs to go and she goes! Still very proud of herself! The only new thing today was PANTIES! Nana got her Dora panties and R sure looks cute in them! Rebekah has had a flawless day, including waking up dry from her nap! Yea, Rebekah!

In other news, my new favorite thing is her peekaboo game...she now hides and says, "Where's me?" It is adorable!! This morning she asked "Where's my brother?" We answered "Getting his diaper changed!" Then, she asked, "Where's my sister?" Nana replied, "Just a twinkle in your daddy's eye...or maybe just a puppy down the road!" Funny. :)

Rebekah has started asking, "Where's Grace? Where's David? Where's Miss Amanda...?" With tears in my eyes, all I could manage was, "They're in Iowa, we're in Texas." She solemnly remarked, 'Texas is hot." And that was that.

Luke has become the world's easiest and most handsome baby!! He hardly ever cries and takes amazing naps. We are astonished at the amount of sleep he requires- takes after me! He has been sleeping thru the night, but seems to still really need the partial swaddle we do. Nana experiments in the am nap by not swaddling him (which is fine with me)- this morning he spit out his paci and sucked his thumb! Then, an hour later, she had to swaddle him and he went right back to sleep. I am sooo glad he was not my first or Rebekah's astonishing lack of naps as an infant would have really thrown me! When Luke is awake (maybe 5 hours a day- seriously), he is a DOLL! He grins at us and has started laughing pretty regularly! Nana was giving him a bath this morning and while cleaning his neck (made R scream as a baby), he chuckled so loud I heard him down the hall! I am even more smitten with my son than I could have imagined- more sleep truly does make a HUGE difference!

Luke's bath- his best smiles showed him in the buff too much, so sorry!

Potty Training: Day 2

Another great day! Naked Jones still lovin' being naked! Same plan as day 1- have her tell us when she needs to potty...

How it worked-

Rebekah woke up with a wet diaper, but had no accidents other than that. She POOPED on the potty 2 times and initiated it herself!!!! She was delighted with the extra M&M's she got for going #2! You should see how proud of herself she is! :)

Rebekah woke up from nap and this morning DRY!! She immediately went to the bathroom and was successful!

I'll keep ya updated! You can pray that when we do big girl panties tomorrow that she will be able to recognize the urge fast enough to tell us in time to pull down pants and get to the potty w/o too much incident. :)

Potty Training: Day 1

[deleted cute pic b/c it shows Rebes in the buff!]

About 6 weeks ago, my mother-in-law asked if I would help out at their VBS...I told her I would do it if she would keep my kids and potty train Rebekah! ;) I didn't necessarily mean that she had to start while I was at VBS...indeed, she did! I got to go teach kids (yeah!) while she kept both mine and started doing what I have been dreading!

The plan- go naked as long as it takes for R to start telling us she needs to go...we have a musical potty that plays a song when tee tee or poop hits the bottom. When we hear that sound, we rejoice and she gets M&Ms. (side note- Rebekah was smart enough to squirt water in to produce music, at which point we had to clarify what exactly warranted M&Ms- i.e. bowel movements, not just the music!) We leave the house as little as possible so as to avoid reverting to diapers (except at sleep times)...once R has established that she can predict her physical needs and has successfully gone a couple days, she can wear big girl panties and we can live life again!

How it actually worked-

Naked Jones loved being naked! She trickled once down her leg and hated it. From then on out, she sat on the potty and tee teed! By this afternoon, she was already verbalizing "I need to go tee tee!" I swear, she is like an alpha dog- she holds some in just so she can go again and hear the music! She LOVES the music! So, it all went great until we decided to go to a restaurant- my favorite Italian place that had a special tonight, of course! So, we put a diaper on...she told me at dinner she needed to go tee tee, but alas she did not produce any until the way home in her diaper. She did go again on her potty, much to her musical delight, and surprised herself 5 minutes later when she pooped on the floor. I guess we'll work on that one! We knew it would happen and it was easy to clean, so no harm, no foul! Anyway, Rebekah's favorite part- almost more than the M&Ms- is to hear the music- she throws her hands in the air and shouts "MUUUUUSIC!"

I'll keep ya updated!

And, yes, Luke slept thru again last night!!!

Rebekah's 2nd 2nd Birthday

We are having a great time in south Texas with Nana and Papa! Rebekah's whole face lit up when she saw her Nana and Papa! It has been great to see how much she loves all 4 of her grandparents. Papa got to meet our sweet Luke for the first time and see Rebekah for the first time since Christmas...it was sweet to see him love on our kiddos.

We celebrated Rebekah's 2nd birthday yesterday here at the house. Nana made a precious ladybug cake and had lots of great snacks and some special friends over. Rebekah loved her presents and all the attention. She played and swam a lot!

In other news, Luke has slept thru the night both night we have been here! He has slept from 10pm past 7am!!! He has kept his amazing naps, too! I am shocked at how much this kid loves to sleep- he doesn't even cry when he goes down, almost just seems relieved!

The pictures are chronologically backward- sorry!!!

A Turkish dress from Aunt Sarah...

Playing with Baby Emily and Duncan
Playing with Papa

Luke lovin' his Nana
My precious babies (of course b/c I was holding Baby Luke, Rebekah climbed on, too!)

Wow!!! Isn't he darling?


Nana's ladybug cake
Rebekah loving her birthday crown
Luke LOVES this sleeping position with Nana

Our handsome baby boy

Rebekah with her Grandi
Watching her DVD player for the first time (a gift from Mamama and Grandi)


On the way to Victoria, we stopped by way of College Station and visited our best pals, the Mortons. It was wonderful visiting with our friends and having all 4 kids "play" together.

Baby Luke with "Aunt" Shannie

Rebekah with Baby Abigail