Timeless Moments

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Busy Life

Hi Friends and Family! It has been a wonderfully busy few weeks! We have had three back-to-back weekends spending time with family, and we have all LOVED every minute of it!

It started with Papa and Grandma Yousef meeting us halfway between our home and theirs in Fort Wayne, Indiana to go to the zoo! Jonas loves zoos. That seriously is an understatement! We went to the zoo with my family back in June, and he still talks about the animals, and now that we went again to the zoo, it is definitely a daily topic to be heard about! I think his favorite animals were the sea lions this time. We sat right up against the glass and watched the sea lions swim back and forth for a good 20 minutes. And every time they went by, Jonas squealed with Joy! And it made me smile every time he did! Joelle was still a bit young to know what was going on, but she enjoyed being carried around by Papa or Grandma, and then when she noticed that I wasn't holding her, she screamed for me to hold her!

We are definitely going through that crazy phase of separation anxiety with Joelle. If I set her down to play on the floor during the day, I intentionally face her away from where I will be working, because when she sees me, then she wants to be held. Usually I just put her in the baby carrier and get my housework done that way, but she is getting so curious, and those little hands sometimes won't stay put that it is becoming more and more difficult to do housework that way. I am thinking we need to switch to a back carrier!

The following weekend, the whole Yousef family, minus our Alaska resident, Simone, came down to have a late celebration of Jonas's birthday. He went absolutely nuts with all of the family around! So, just for fun, in Jonas's perspective we have: Bapa (Papa), Mahda (Grandma), Unco Weeoh (Uncle Leo), Aht Meeshall (Aunt Michelle), Unco Deen (Uncle Dan), and Aht Dohtee (Aunt Dorothy). I just love how excited he gets when family comes over!

And last weekend, my two sisters in Michigan - Alyssa and Sam - road tripped down to spend a few days. we played an giggled and just let Jonas explode with energy, and he is sufficiently tired :) Thank you aunties for wearing out my boy! He has slept better in the past two nights than he has in the past month! And to continue the trend, Jonas had lots of fun with Sissa (Alyssa) and Seemy (Sammy). And we really missed Mimi (my mom) and Deyda (Kayla) my other sister who live in Arizona now. For some reason, he won't keep the "Aunt" attached to their names. I tried several times this weekend, and it just wasn't sticking! Oh well, he will eventually get it.

I love when life is busy, but I also love days like today where we just chill out at home and build block towers all day while baby sister chews on the two that big brother lets her have. Those are the best days and I thoroughly enjoy them!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks! Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Jonas's Favorite Things

My little Jonas Malachi is growing up into a sweet little boy! In honor of his Birthday, this post will be all about him! Here are some of Jonas's favorite things over the past 2 years.

Jonas Malachi was born on August 21st, 2011 at 7:17pm. He weighed 7lb 8oz and was 20.5in long.

Newborn to 6 months:
Jonas enjoyed snuggling momma, sleeping in his crib, playing with dada, and chewing on any sort of toy that he could get his little hands on. He loved to spin around in his exer-saucer toy as fast as he could go, and he would jump for hours in his Jonny-Jump-Up toy. He learned to roll over at 3 1/2 months and had nearly mastered sitting up on his own by 6 months old. His favorite foods were sweet potatoes and bananas, but he also enjoyed squash, mangos, apples, and carrots. His first word was 'mama' at 6 months old.

6 months to 1 year:
Jonas enjoyed playing with toys, babbling about lots of things that we couldn't yet understand, and mimicking mommy and daddy's every move. He learned to crawl at 7 1/2 months, pulled himself to a standing position at 9 months and took his first steps at 11 months. His favorite foods were bananas, French fries, and hotdogs. He learned to say 'dada' around 8 months old.

1 year to 1 1/2 years:
Jonas enjoyed running as fast as his little feet could take him, tickling any bit of skin in sight, and singing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" nearly every moment of his waking days. He began running shortly after he mastered walking, tried jumping off the ground all the time, and wanted to snuggle as often as he could. His favorite foods were French fries, hotdogs, grilled cheese, cheese slices, and apples. Jonas became a big brother at 17 months old when his baby sister was born!

1 1/2 years to 2 years:
Jonas enjoyed talking and talking and talking, some of which was becoming more understandable. His first sentence was "Baby sister, diaper change, go outside." around 19 months old. I had told him that we could go play outside after baby sister got a diaper change! His favorite songs were "Twinkle, twinkle little star" "The A,B,C 's" "Old McDonald's Farm", "The Wheels on the Bus", and "10,000 Reasons - Matt Redman". His favorite foods were chicken nuggets, French fries (can't live without them!), carrots, crackers, and Lucky Charms cereal.

Jonas is a non-stop ball of energy, but we wouldn't have him any other way. He has brought so much joy into our lives and we are incredibly blessed to be his parents! My prayer for him, today, on his 2nd birthday, is that he will grow to be a sweet boy who Loves the Lord with all of his Heart and lives his life to serve Him.