Wide open spaces

Some of you may know that Mark and I have a dream of building a new home on the northeast side of town in the next few years. As our dream is now turning into reality, we've been venturing out to 'see land' a lot recently and the kids almost view it as an adventure now. Ian wears his fireman rain boots so he can 'walk the lot' without getting muddy and sometimes takes his tools so he'll be prepared to 'build a house' and Anna loves to just be along for the ride...and the wind.

We've narrowed down our search to a few select lots in two primary neighborhoods. Our realtor is working on gathering comparables for lot prices in those areas and we hope to be in the process of bidding on our first choice (a 1.4 acre partially wooded, hilltop lot in a nearly finished neighborhood) by early summer, if not earlier. Construction on the house itself will begin in about two years.

In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy searching home plans and discussing how we can merge multiple floorplans to create our perfect home. God willing, our hope is the house we build will be one we can grow into throughout the coming years and one that our kids call home into their young adulthood and beyond.

From babble to communication

It's hard to believe that when Ian was about eighteen months old we were worried he'd have a speech delay or long-term issue with expressing himself verbally. He reverted to grunting, pointing and 'acting out' what he wanted to communicate. He was tested by various professionals and the conclusion from everyone was his words would come but it'd happen in his time. It didn't take long. Shortly after his second birthday his words just "came" and he hasn't slowed down since. His vocabulary amazes us almost daily now. At almost 3-1/2 years old his most recent favorite phrases include words like...incredible, delicious, extremely, amazing...and so on. He's very descriptive, highly animated and quite intelligent. And he's big into making up words or an entire "language" - especially when doing pretend play. Mark and I will often look at each other and ask, "Where did he learn that word/phrase?" He is like a little sponge now - listening, learning...and eventually, repeating.

Anna is most certainly going to be our chatter-box. Her communication started with blinking, touching faces and smiling. She would press both eyes closed tightly and open them wide while flashing a big smile at whomever she wanted to greet. If she wanted to get to know a person, she'd reach out and want to touch their face. And then she began a fake cough that she mostly did just for her daddy. The two of them would have a conversation by blinking, smiling and coughing back and forth.

Within the past two weeks her verbal sounds and "words" have started to dominate. She was always our loud baby but now she's starting to use her sounds to express herself. She says 'da-da' and 'ma-ma' but not to specifically identify us just yet. She loves to wave hello/good-bye but she does it backwards so the palm of her hand is facing her. It's pretty cute. When she tries to show you her Monkey lovie blanket or a toy, she will hold it up and say 'pfff' as she presses her lips together and attempts to make a 'p' sound. Her one true word is 'dat' and she uses that to identify Coal. And she points a lot now but she uses both her index finger and her thumb together - almost like a gun.

It really is amazing to watch these babies grow into little people with their own personalities, ways of doing things, and sense of self and those around them. God has truly blessed us!

Spring came in like a snowman

Tomorrow our spring break comes to an end. Sad to say we did nothing truly exciting because we're still dealing with sick kids. So most of our time was spent indoors or close to home. And to top it off, today is the first day of spring and we have a couple inches of snow on the ground - after having sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s yesterday! Wild.

The snow didn't stop the kids. We have enjoyed a "pj" day today with a game of tackle (started by Anna), we built a blanket fort, and Ian and Daddy got out for some playtime in the snow while Anna helped me vacuum.

This winter has been an especially tough one for sickness in our house. It seems just as one of us gets over an illness, someone else comes down with something. The stomach bug went through our house in late February and then allergies set in for both kids. It took weeks for Ian to get over a virus that really took it out of him. He had an off/on fever for about four days and a really rough, dry cough. The doctor ruled out flu and advised us to just let it run its course. He enjoyed lots of bath tub playtime and more television than even he cares to watch, simply to try and keep him still enough to break the fever. He missed school the entire week before spring break (which was this past week). Poor little guy misses his friends and his school. I'm so happy he loves it so much!

Anna came down with a really tough allergy attack a few days ago and is now, thankfully, on the mend. She had such a rough cough that she would lose any food or milk she had in her tummy. We had a series of long nights without much sleep but nothing compared to night before last when Mark and I both were up trying to soothe her from 11:30pm until after 4am. I even attempted to drive her around the neighborhood at nearly 2am to see if that would soothe her to sleep...no luck. Exhausted from coughing, she finally fell asleep in my lap as we sat on the couch in the living room. We stayed there until morning because I didn't want to move and wake her up.

Both kids deal with allergies but Anna seems especially sensitive to tree pollen and mold. We attempted to go to the park on Friday and the entire left side of her face turned red and began to swell. Her rough cough and runny nose have both started to subside, thankfully. She still tries to keep up with Ian and play and laugh but sometimes you can just see the exhaustion on her face.

It is so tough to see your child so ill and so helpless but some good things did come of all the sickness this winter - further bonding and trust. Ian now loves to snuggle in the big bed with Mark and me while we read books or talk. And Anna attempts to give hugs and will just rest her head on our shoulder to show her love. Both kids have expressed a sort of appreciation for all Daddy and Mommy do for them...sick or not. And that is so sweet to see! Those moments fill our hearts with joy, pride and unconditional love.