Videos

A few new videos of the kids: One is of Alex crawling and the other is of them playing in Alex's pack-in-play on the boat. It's really cute to see them interact together. Alex really loves Ellie and Ellie just likes to smash him or push his buttons. She does get concerned about him too, so that is sweet to see. I keep planting the seed that someday they will be best friends :).

7 Months--Ellie and Alex

Alex at 7 months. He is learning a lot of things right now and one of those is self-defense.



This picture says it all.



Alex is learning how to hold his own around big sister. He is pretty infatuated with her hair too.



Elianna and Alex are bonding. Elianna actually acknowledges his presence now and is slowly learning how to "love" on her brother in appropriate ways. Alex still isn't sure about all this new love he is receiving.

Grandma's Visit

Justin visited the states for 2 1/2 weeks to receive some training for his work. His mother, Momma Ruth, came to visit while Justin was away to help me manage the 3-ring circus of an energetic 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old. There is no way I could have done it without her. After 8 days of doing it on my own I was frazzled. At this age, both kids can need you at the same time and it can get overwhelming fast. This little experience gives me so much more compassion for the wives of our troops overseas. My heart goes out to them and I deeply appreciate their sacrifice for the safety of our country and the benefit of another.

Here are some of my favorite pics from "Grandma Time."





Aren't they cute?? Grandma with her grand kids that is.

4th of July

Some of our friends who work for the oil company here let us use their amazing home for a 4th of July party while they were in Scotland. These are some of my new favorite Alex pics. He looked so great in his pool attire. He was too cool for the pool.

Pool Time

Having a blog really is fun. During this season of my life I don't have much time to write long entries, but instead of getting overwhelmed I 'm just going to try to write more often, but shorter entries. They say a picture can say 1,000 words, so who needs text? Here is a video of our new pool for summer. It's small, but perfect for the kids. Yes, Ellie said, "Dance with me" and "We are P." Not really sure what the "we are P" part is all about. She had just watched a Sesame Street video that talked about the letter "P" so I'm hoping she is talking about the letter and not the liquid. Number one pool rule: No pee in the pool, but we can let the letter P come for a visit.

Potty Training

This is one of those blogs that Elianna is going be to so embarrassed about when she is older. Potty Training is a major accomplishment in both the lives of the child and mother! I can't help but write about it and the pictures are too cute not to include. We now have a Potty Princess in our household and I'm so proud of her. It only took about 2 days until she was basically trained.

She showed signs of interest last week so I wanted to "go with the flow." A friend of mine gave me a book, so I read up on the topic over the weekend and then we began on our day off: last Monday. I knew that I would need Justin's help with Alex while I focused on Elianna. The Sunday night before we went to the store so she could pick out treats for the following day. Of course it was mostly chocolate! She is pretty smart because when we got home she asked for some chocolate and I told her it was for potty training. I told her "when you stay clean and dry by using the potty I will give you some chocolate." Well, she went right into the bathroom and used the potty and then came out and said "Can I have some chocolate now. " Chocolate really motivates this kido!! She had to take her diaper off and everything to get that little piece of chocolate. Of course I gave her some for the amazing jump start.

It's so nice to have only one kido in diapers now. Talk about savings! If Ellie had her way, the extra money would all go to chocolate.




Ellie drinking juice because she was clean and dry. Juice was
another treat she was able to choose from on potty training
day. Oh what a conundrum: Do I choose juice or chocolate!

Trying to Roll

Ladies and Gentlemen, Alex is trying to roll. Being endowed with a more than healthy body including several fat rolls, I was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to do much more than sleep and eat for several more months. He must have some muscle in there some where, because he is attempting to roll over.

Friends Forever: Sister and Brother

So Elianna has finally accepted that Alex is going to be a permanent addition to our household. It was a really rough transition for her: lots of anger and mood swings. She even tried avoiding him for months, probably thinking he would go away eventually. Thankfully she has calmed down a lot. She has even been developing an interest in the little guy...maybe a little too much as the video will show :).

Maisy and Alex

Here is our bouncing baby boy. He is a big boy at that and you can see that most clearly in this video. He is sitting beside Maisy who is 7 1/2 months. Alex is 2 1/2 and almost her size. I think there is only 3-5 pounds difference between them. As you can see, Alex has great ears...at least Maisy thinks so!

This blog is dedicated to my mother-in-law, Ruth, who has not yet held Alex in her arms. We will never fully know the extent of the sacrifices families make when the Lord calls His people to work overseas. Most of all those who are left behind and feel the pain and joy of seeing your children do what they desire to do most--follow Him. We love you Momma Ruth and miss you.