The sweetest baby ever.....

...and no, believe it or not, I am not talking about either of my own children. I am talking about my friends' baby Kelsey. Many of you know Doug and Valerie Kurtz personally, and many of you have found your way to the blog about their daughter Kelsey (Our Sweet Pea) from the link on my blog. So many people have been encouraged by this family. I have known them for several years now, and our oldest sons (Caleb and Brady) are the same age. The Kurtz's newest family member is little Kelsey (7 months old). She has had numerous health issues - some temporary and some that will most likely last a lifetime (but we still trust that God can heal!). She was only a month old when we moved to Montana, so I never had the chance to meet her until this past weekend.

She is the SWEETEST baby ever! There were a lot of people at their house playing games and yelling and laughing (very loudly) and she just calmly took it all in, watching everyone and smiling away. I held her for a while and she lovingly looked at me as we talked, just so content. I asked Valerie if this was her normal demeanor, and yes it was! As I drove home that night I started crying - just praying for healing on her little body, and thanking God that he has blessed them with a beautiful baby girl who is truly an absolute joy to be around.

Thank you God that I had the opportunity to meet the little one I pray for. Thank you for giving her to the most loving parents in the world (ok -maybe that's a overstatement - but you know what I mean) - to parents that will pour into her every moment of every day to help her fulfill all that you created her to be. Thank you for the example set before us of parents who have true faith in you - and for giving them the desire to share their story so that others may be encouraged and see your love even through the difficult times.

Stuff Caleb Says

Caleb and I like to sing while I give the boys a bath. We often sing "ba ba black sheep". When we get to the part about the little boy we sing "One for the little boy who lives down the drain" (something my sister used to sing when we were little). The last time we sang it we got to that part and Caleb sang "One for the little boy who poops in the stream" - so hard not to laugh at that one :)
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So we've been having a lot of "talks" with Caleb lately about not saying poop and pee as a joke. I went to change Ethan's diaper tonight and this is how our conversation went:

JULIE: Ethan do you have poopoo? (sniff sniff) Oh yes you do, you have poop.
CALEB: Momma.....you can't talk about poop.
JULIE: Caleb, it's ok to talk about poop if you have poop in your diaper, or if you want to put it in the potty.
CALEB: No Momma....we don't talk about poop.

about 20 minutes later:

CALEB: Momma, change my diaper.
JULIE: Ok Caleb, I just need to pee first, then I'll change you.
CALEB: Momma you CANNOT talk about pee.
JULIE: Yes we can Caleb, if we're talking about putting it in the potty.
CALEB: No momma, you can't talk about pee.

So at least something we're saying is sinking in. I guess I'm going to have to watch the words I choose more closely :)
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This morning Jon watched the boys while I had coffee with a friend. Ethan loves to climb on our entertainment center which is a big no-no. Jon went to grab him and lightly tapped his hand as he told him no. Caleb came over and said "Don't ever hit Ethan again" and then punched Jon in the leg. Ethan climbed on the entertainment center again, so Jon tapped his hand and said no, and once again Caleb said "Don't ever hit Ethan again" and punched Jon.....so nice he's becoming protective :)

Christmas Spirit

We love the elf yourself videos, so we decided to finally do one ourselves. The expression on Caleb's face is perfect for the video :) Check it out:

Thanksgiving in Oregon

We just got back from Thanksgiving in Oregon. We decided to drive rather than fly, and with the recent drop in gas prices, it cost half as much as we thought it would....Thank you Lord!! The boys did pretty good considering. It was 15 hours each way, so we broke up the trip and stayed the night in Coeur D'Alene on the way there and back. Praise the Lord for portable DVD players!!! We went to the coast for a few days with Jon's best friend Vaughn and his family, then went back to McMinnville (Jon's hometown) for a few days. Here are a few pics from our trip:

Caleb is making sure the stuffed cheetah has a heartbeat:
Here's Ethan with Grandpa Gross who he met for the first time on this trip:

Caleb and I with Vaughn and his youngest daughter Ellie, watching the day after Thanksgiving parade down Main st.:

Believe it or not, that's Jon and Caleb up on the bridge at Multnomah Falls:

Jon with the boys at Multnomah:

We went to a small aquarium at Seaside where they had seals that you could feed. Here's Jon and Caleb with the fish:

We caught Caleb in action throwing the fish:

Here's a few of the very happy, well fed seals:

Jon and Caleb at the beach in Seaside:

Caleb and I finding shells in the sand:

Caleb ran at the birds and scared them away:

Caleb's favorite part about the beach - laying down in the sand and playing with sticks:

The Best Park Ever

On our drive to Oregon, Jon remembered this park that he helped build as a highschooler in Hood River. We thought it would be a good "stretch the legs" break. Caleb had a ton of fun, and so did Ethan in the swings:

cute boy

Here's a few random pics of Ethan:

Bathtime fun

Ethan has officially outgrown our baby bathtub. He LOVES taking a bath with Caleb now. Caleb is pretty good about not splashing him, although he does like to help wash his hair. Here are a few pics of the rare times Ethan is actually sitting in the tub. We fight every bath time to get him to sit. He insists on standing, and now more recently is determined to stand without holding on....definitely not the safest thing for a 9 month old to do in the tub! But he's just so darn cute and he is so proud of himself. Enjoy the pics:

Caleb cracks us up

We LOVE having a funny kid. He makes us laugh everyday. His latest catch phrase: "You Rock". If you tell him "Caleb you rock", he'll say "no YOU rock mommy"....and he'll go back and forth for as long as you'll play along.

Some things are super funny to him, but Jon and I are getting tired of them. For instance all the potty talk. He is ALWAYS talking about poop, penis, bobbins (bottoms)....ok so Jon and I still think it's funny, but we have to at least TRY to teach him that it's not ok.

And he's has a new favorite movie - He keeps saying "Can I watch Koo Koo Panda one more time?" (kungfu panda) I just love two year old "accents".

He is also becoming quite a good big brother. Lately when Ethan cries, Caleb will go to him and rub his back or head and say "don't cry Ethan, it's ok...it's ok, don't cry". Love, love, love it when he is sweet like that.

Can't sleep

I can't sleep so I figured I'd blog since it's too late to call anyone to chat. I'm about to write a novel, so prepare yourself. This has been by far the toughest week I've had as a mom. Sunday I got the nastiest stomach bug ever (I'll spare you the details). Seriously I can't remember ever being that sick before. Jon had a denomination conference M-W that he couldn't miss, so he could not stay home to help with the kids while I puked. Praise God!! for our friend Shay who came to the rescue 3 days in a row and took Caleb to her house to play with her son Gavin. So that left just me and Ethan, which was ok.

Then Tuesday night Jon starts puking....now he's got the same thing as me. Then Ethan decided he wanted to be sick too and was up half the night screaming bloody murder and refusing to nurse. 24 hours without nursing!! So obviously a very unhappy camper for all of today. That was the hardest thing for me. I felt so crappy from being completely emptied out for the past 2 days with a high fever and zero energy from the zero sleep I'd gotten. Then trying to take care of an infant who is screaming because he hurts too. What to do??

I cried hard this morning and asked God not to test me like this...that I wasn't strong enough...oh yes, I did. I was finally able to take Ethan to the doctor tonight who said he looked perfectly healthy, of course, and sent us home (this after just finishing antibiotics for an ear infection - so luckily it wasn't another one). I was finally able to spoon feed Ethan some milk, and he drank a few sips out of a cup, but that was it. I gave him one of Caleb's Otter Pops, just so he could get some fluids. Then I had the brightest idea of my life (may be a slight exaggeration). I washed out the Otter Pop sleeve, filled it with breastmilk and froze it. Ethan downed it like it was candy!! Finally I was able to get him to nurse tonight before bed, so fingers crossed he'll sleep ok. So tomorrow looks promising.

So after I gave this whole story to my friend Jenny this morning, she gave me an update on friends of hers that totally put me in my place, and made me ashamed that I had asked God not to test me like this. For those of you prayer warriors, please keep this family in your prayers. Jared and Shannon have a little boy named Kyle who is Caleb's age (about 2 and a half). I don't know the whole story but basically his head/brain is growing too fast or in the wrong spots or too much fluid or something. They elected to have a pretty risky surgery last week (I think) to try to help the problem. Well things did not go well and the docs say he now has permanent brain damage and may not be able to sustain life on his own. WOW!! This absolutely BROKE my heart - especially being that our kids are the same age (he was actually at Caleb and Allie's bday party). And here's the kicker, the mom Shannon is 7 1/2 mo. pregnant with twins. She's been put on bedrest because all the stress is causing premature labor. Can you even imagine?!?! So please lift their family up in prayer. I will post an update when I hear one.

That made me think about all the others I know that are going through much more difficult times that I, with my silly stomach bug. Friends who just lost a pregnancy at 5 months (while the husband was out of the country!), friends who's 6 month old sweet baby girl has been in the hospital for more days than she's been at home (seems like), 2 deaths this past week of church members....and then there's me....poor little me, pleading with God to not be sick with a bug that I know will only last a few days. Pathetic. God please forgive me for being such a moron!!

Well, thanks blogger.com, for giving me a place to clear my head. It's now 1:45am and I should probably try to go to sleep again. I'll post something cheery and fun next time, I promise :)

Halloween in Montana

Halloween was pretty fun. A local church did a trunk or treat and each of the cars had a theme that tied into a Bible story or principle. This first one was Prince Charming and his princess:

Here's the Wizard of Oz:
Here's Jonah and the whale:
Here's mobster Caleb showing off his tommy gun:
Cowboy Ethan:


More of Caleb the mobster:


Daddy and his boys:


stick 'em up:

Fall Fun

We went to the cornfield maze and pumpkin patch today with our friends Eric and Tiffany and their daughter Braylee. The corn maze was fun, although we cut through the stocks several times so I guess we didn't officially complete the maze. It was so windy that we had dried corn stocks, hay and dirt blowing in our faces the whole time. I got in the car to leave and licked my lips, only to taste dirt. Blown deep into the lip gloss I had put on an hour earlier. I was really excited to get some cute pics of the boys in the pumpkin patch like the ones I have of Caleb from the past two years. But I was very disappointed. Look at the picture below. Behind Caleb in the wagon you can see about 20 pumpkins on the ground. That was the "pumpkin patch" - that's it!! I was so bummed. Maybe we'll try to scout out another one before Halloween.

Our friends and Jon and Caleb in the "corn box":



The fam posing for a pic in the middle of the corn maze:

Catching up

So I've taken quite a few pics and videos over the last few days. I've posted a bunch here, so keep scrolling down, there's a lot of new stuff on here.

Look who's crawling

Ethan is really starting to move now....

Little Drummer Boy

This drum is our "go-to" toy when Ethan is cranky. He gets so excited when he's drumming.

Family entertainment

We were all entertained by Caleb's dancing and singing. Ethan was cracking up, so we tried to capture a little of him laughing at Caleb:

Playtime