Growing Fast

6 months!  Joelle is 6 months old!  When did that happen?  Our little girl is growing so quickly and is becoming a little goof ball!  Joelle's favorite discovery lately is her mouth.  There are just so many different noises that your mouth can make, and Joelle makes them all!  From the loud squeaks and yells, to the giggles and laughs, she is quite the little talker!  I have even heard her say 'ma' a few times!  Maybe she will follow Jonas's lead and say 'mama' as her first word too!  She loves to play in her Jumping toy, and even when she isn't in the toy, she is constantly jumping around on our lap.  I think she is getting close to crawling, too!  When she is playing on her tummy, I have noticed a few times that she pulls her knees under her and is able to support her body weight up on her knees.  She isn't able to stay put on hands and knees, yet, but I know she will get there!  Jonas was 7 1/2 months when he first crawled, so I think it will be another month before she is crawling.  It still seems crazy that we are already approaching the crawling stage for Joelle!  It seems like just yesterday was Christmas, and we were still anticipating her arrival!  Time really does fly by! 

Jonas is becoming a big boy too!  In about a month and a half, we will celebrate his 2nd birthday!  Yikes!  Every day, his speech is improving and he is learning more and more.  So far, he can 'sing' the ABC's.  He hasn't quite mastered the pronunciation of each letter, but he is pretty close!  He can count to 10, and sometimes tries to go higher, but usually gets the 'teen's' mixed up.  It is funny, though to hear him count: '1,2,3...9,10,16,13,14,16,10...'  He likes 16 right now.  And it usually sound like 'dee-deen', but it is so cute to hear him try!  Jonas has also started to recognize letters - which totally shocked me - but we are running with it!  I made him a magnet board last year, and he has probably 100 magnet letters that we like to play with.  He does really well to recognize maybe 10 or so of the letters in the alphabet!  I am hoping that he will continue to learn quickly and we will give him more and more things to learn!  When Jonas was a baby, I taught him a few baby signs, but this year, I am hoping to really dive into Sign Language with him and give him his first experience with a second language! 

We are officially potty training with Jonas, but I think it will be a long journey until he is ready for big boy undies.  He loves his 'poo-poo potty stickers' though, and is being really cooperative with potty training.  I'm guessing that by Christmas 2013 we will either be completely potty training, or really close!  Or maybe, if things aren't going so well, we will just wait until little sister is ready to potty train and they can learn together!  Since we use cloth diapers (most of the time) I am not too worried about him being in diapers for a while longer.  It doesn't really make much of a difference to me since Joelle will be in diapers for a while anyways! 

My favorite experience with my kids lately has been watching them interact.  Jonas loves to hold his baby sister, and sometimes asks to take her from my arms when we are walking... yeah, we are not quite there, Jonas, but maybe someday you can carry a baby around!  I do let him hold her often, though, when he is sitting down, and either Steve or I are close by to catch baby if he decides he is done holding her.  They love to talk to each other, though, and Joelle loves to hold onto his face.  Jonas thinks that is pretty cool and always gives a big smile and a giggle when she does!  I pray that they will be close as they grow up and that there won't be too many arguments or sibling rivalry as they get older.  They are quickly becoming the best of friends, and I want it to stay that way forever!

Here are a few pictures of the kids lately.  They are growing up way too fast! 

 

 

 

 

Trusting the Lord

We have lived in Indiana for a little over a month now and have finally settled into the swing of things.  The kids are settling in and Steve and I feel at peace with our move and our future here in Noblesville.  In the last month, we have joined an active small group from our church, grown closer to some good friends from Michigan who moved down to Indiana last fall, and met lots of new families in the area.   

We are currently attending Heartland Church in the Noblesville/Fishers area and we are so blessed to have a great church to go to.  The music is great, the preaching is incredibly encouraging and most importantly, biblical, and the people are very friendly.  We are looking forward to getting plugged into serving at church this summer! 

Joelle is now 5 months old!  She finally started to roll over and is quickly learning to sit up on her own!  A few weeks ago, she discovered her tongue, and loves to blow raspberries and drool and spit all over the place!  She is still our wide-eyed little girl, though, and every day I am more and more grateful for her.  She is teaching me so much and I thank the Lord for giving her to us!  We are so blessed! 

Jonas has reminded me of true Joy in life these past few weeks.  He can be feeling like poo, yet still give me a smile whenever he come into the room.  He is such a sweet little boy and he brings so much happiness to our lives!  The other day, I was listening to the radio, and the Chris Tomlin “God of Angel Armies” song came on.  We were in the car, so I started to sing along, and right in the back seat, Jonas sang along with me!  It was enough to make my day! 

Our house in Grand Rapids has been on the market for a little over two months now, and we are praying daily that it will sell soon.  Over these past two months, we have seen God's faithfulness work in many ways!  The times that we thought we would be short on money were the days we would receive a reimbursement check in the mail; the days that we didn't know if we could live with the stress of owning and renting at the same time were the days that a friend would call and encourage us to continue to trust in God.  We know that this is where God wants us to be, and we are trusting our home in Michigan will sell in His timing.  Please join with us in praying that it will sell quickly! 

Here are some photos of the kids from the past month!  Thanks for stopping by!