Little Miss Chatterbox

Joy has been so chatty these past few months. I've been trying to take more videos of her talking because it is so cute and we don't want to forget these days.

 She also loves a puppet named "Chef" that we played with a lot when we house sat this summer for friends of ours in Newberg. Joy requests to watch this video often and will often ask us "where is chef?"

Simon's birthday song

Here is the cute video of us singing to Simon on his birthday! He was so stoic the whole time we were singing.  Sorry the quality is not so good, not sure what happened!

Happy birthday Simon!

We had such a fun time celebrating Simon's first birthday! We decorated the house in an airplane & vintage travel theme, cooked a bunch of food and tried to make our tiny apartment seem large!

 Highlights 

*Even though all 23 of us were very cozy we had a fun time.  It was fun to have so many of our friends with us to celebrate the fun day and it is nice that our friends have kids both our kids age! 









* Simon loved the cupcake and then ate a full lunch! 

* Simon loved all the balloons everywhere  but wanted to put them in his mouth 

* Joy wanted to hang out in her room with a few friends because in her words. "It is too noisy !"... Until we had some pool time and she was in her suit as quick as can be.

* We let Simon open presents when he woke up from his nap (while Joy was still napping) so he would get to play with them and Joy wouldn't snatch them away. 

 Dear Simon,
What an amazing little person you are.  We love seeing you grow and change every day. It seems like just yesterday you were born and Joy was trying to smother you with hugs and kisses (she still is doing this exact thing a year later). You love your sister so much and eagerly bang on her door in the morning when she is still asleep. Your eyes light up when mommy or daddy walk in the room. Simon " you are a chosen boy, a royal priesthood...God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). We love you to the moon and back.
love Daddy and Mommy

12 months...happy birthday!!

Wow time flies! I can't believe I have been able to keep the blog updated. Simon's  baby book has barely been filled in...whoops I guess I can't keep on top of everything. 

Somehow I feel like it is a big accomplishment for us to have made it through one whole year of having two little kids. 

Simon you are a joy and delight to us as parents. We feel very honored that God has entrusted you to our care. You compliment our family in so many ways. You love animal, food, your sister and anything to do with water. You can entertain yourself and are already sensitive to the emotions of others. We love you Simon Elias and can't wait to see the boy you will grow into. 

What Simon is doing

• Can walk behind things ( train push toy, garbage can , stool) 
• Screaches when he wants something (usually toys or food) or when sister takes away his toy)... We are eager for this phase to end 
• Modified bum scoot
• Can play by himself
• Clap 
• Always trying to wake up joy if she is sleeping and he is awake (he loves his sister!)

Teeth: 6 teeth and we are in a holding pattern ( both the kids have my gap in the front!) 

Eats:
Nursing: Nurses 3 times a day. But only does so well if he is sleepy (5:30am and 2pm). He crawls into my lap to nurse...some days I think he will be hard to wean and other days (like today) he isn't interested in nursing all day. Weaning us in full swing though. 

Solid food: Simon loves to eat solid food. He eats everything we eat. He loves all friut and bread the best! He also loves beans, lentils, cheese and yogurt and all crackers. He even has started drinking cow milk and is liking it much better than joy did at this stage. 

Sleeps: 7 pm- 5:30am. Although his wake up times keep getting earlier and then he wants to nurse and sleep until 6am. No no Simon! So no more nursing at 5am and no more nursing in the dark cozy room. As soon as we iron out one issue for him in the sleep department another one crops up! Brad goes in at 5 and quiets him down. The last week he has gone right back to sleep until 5:30 or 6am. 

Naps for an hour at 9am and 1 pm. This boy just doesn't love sleep in the same way his sister (and parents) do!

Weighs: 18 lbs (10th percentile) and 29.5 inches (90th percentile). So we have a talk and lean boy... But we already knew that 

Likes: loves animals, making noise either with his vocal cords or loud toys,  things that move (what a boy!), unpacking boxes (basket of books and the Tupperware cupboard), trying to nose dive off the couch or bed, crawling up the slide, loves being outside in the shade even if it is HOT. 

Dislikes: not a fan of books (although he got some for his birthday with real animals in it and likes it!), doesn't like being told no.... Usually erupts into tears,  the end of bath time or being far away from mommy 

Favorite event this month: turning one was so fun!! And that cupcake was amazing :) 

Joy's first story

Joy loves for us to tell her stories (or secrets as they somehow got the name). It all started on our trip to Malaysia and we had an hour taxi ride. Joy was 16 months and we didn't bring a car seat...Brad kept telling her stories about tigers, dragons and a little girl named Joy to keep her sitting down.  Brad uses the same tactic for take off and landings on airplanes. We have branched out and we tell her the story of when she was born, when simon was born and when Rudy was born, when mommy and daddy got married and when daddy proposed to mommy. Her favorites are still "when Joy was born" and "Joy going on an adventure with the dragon" (our year of the dragon baby loves her dragons).

This morning at breakfast (we were eating eggs and she was told she couldn't feed the dog her eggs) she told us her first made up story. The girl has an imagination! P.S. A "Mattress cat" is the name of an animal she made up. My sister and brother in law have coasters with animals on them and Joy picked up on and said "oh it is a mattress cat" (in reality it was a fox...and she knows that animal so we are not sure what happened but it cracks us up!).

"One day there was a mattress cat. Joy dropped her egg on the floor and the mattress cat ate it all. He got away in the street and Joy chased him with her shoes on her feet. The mommy mattress cat got away, the daddy mattress cat got away too. They goed away to their home. They ate their food. They eat macaroni and cheese. They got on the shelf and knocked over the Russian ladies and runned away."

more summer pictures

More pictures since I couldn't figure out how to add more to the last post. Reality starts tomorrow! 

 Sauvie Island farm animal zoo

 Chicago petting zoo...feeding the goats

 Beach camping trip Oregon Coast. Joy sat down and started to dig as soon as we said she could. It was really windy and cold but she couldn't be moved! 

 Simon wasn't so sure about the wind and the sand...

 Then...he started to eat it and thought..."hey this stuff is so delicious!

 Family picture fail...one of many. At least Brad looks good.

 family pic fail  number 2...Although Joy's face cracks me up! 

 Joy in the bushes while camping. She would stay in the bushes all day if we let her. 

 Joy and Simon's favorite cousins

 Grandma Lorna (aka Hokey Dinah Grandma) and Grandpa Tom (Hokey Dinah Grandpa)

 Joy climbing trees...no one had to show her how to do it...she was born with tree climbing skills!

 First s'more

 The whole Christensen/Gunderson gang

Su