Easter Shopping With Our Moseley Cousins

We met Mimi, Amy, Caleb and Jacob at the same mall in Greensboro for some family time, lunch, and shopping for Easter outfits for the boys.

Cutie cousins at the indoor playground. Jacob's doing really well at sitting.

Micah decided he was still a little wobbly, so he gave him some support.

"Isn't this thing amazing, Jacob? Here's how I spin it."

Mimi capturing the cuteness in action.

Josiah was lying on the floor, and Caleb came up and hugged him. These two are getting to be so sweet together.

Josiah hugged him right back. Caleb turns the big 2 on Monday! Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Micah stylin' in the golf hat. He seems alarmed at his own preppy-ness.

Jacob working it as well with the cutest smile.

As we headed for the food court for lunch I had the sweetest surprise blessing...

My cousin Tammy from Swansboro was calling my name! She and Jay were in town for a convention, and she happened to be there at the same time. What a treat it was to catch up with her! It was a visit coordinated by the Lord for sure.

Funny Naps

Josiah and Micah had really odd nap times the other day. I peeked in a Josiah, and he was sound asleep on the floor between his bookshelf and closet.

And Micah had managed to undress himself.

Micah's Struggles

I'm teething...

And it hurts!

I'm pretty good at standing, and it makes me happy.

But sometimes it's not so fun.

I'm getting up in my crawl position.

But I can't figure out how to go forward, and it's very frustrating!

Life is hard for a baby sometimes.

Josiah - Halfway to 4

Josiah is officially three and a half, and I think he's on the verge of some big changes. In the past few weeks, I've seen bits of confidence on his part: putting puzzles together, drawing, going down slides, trying his new scooter. He's not changed overnight or anything; he's still very timid, but like I said, I think his confidence is growing, and he's more willing to take on some challenges.

The biggest change in the past six months has been potty training. Praise the Lord! He is now in complete control of the situation. Around Halloween, a switch just flipped with him. Perhaps it was all the candy lying around that gave the incentive (we had broken down a month or so before that and started dangling sweet treats as a reward. It still didn't seal the deal.) I mentioned before that he seemed very much in control of the situation, but was choosing not to follow through. After he decided to change his way, he showed spectacular control. He was working the system! He'd push out the smallest little bit, enough to earn a treat, and then return five minutes later to earn another one. Overall, I've been amazed. He's had 2-3 accidents since October, including a bout with diarrhea. It's been so freeing for him to be able to know he needs to go, head there himself, dress himself, even get his own sanitizer. I'm so thankful to not be living under the cloud of potty-fear that I was in this summer.

He's also made big strides in self-sufficiency. He can mostly dress himself when we lay out his clothes for him except button-up shirts and shoes. He can put toothpaste on his toothbrush, and clean himself in the bathtub. He get into his car seat by himself, but not buckle all the way.

We also had our first parent-teacher conference last week. I was really curious how he was doing because I don't get lots of opportunity to chat with his teachers. I wanted to know if our perception of his strengths and weaknesses matched what happened in class.

The first thing his teacher said was, "Josiah is very smart." Well, doesn't that just make a Mommy glow? They had given him an aptitude test, and he'd done very well. I was also glad to hear he tried really hard. Many times when I try to teach him, he gives me wrong answers on purpose or stalls. I'm glad he's not doing that in school! She mentioned how wonderful his memory is, that he remembered each of their monthly Bible verses, and that he'll remind her if she's repeating a book she's read to them before.

I also wanted to be sure he was behaving well in class. She said he obeyed well and followed instructions. She mentioned that he doesn't really play much with the other children, and when he does he plays with the girls. Part of it may be his personality or age-related, but we want to be sure to encourage him to interact with other kids. He does play well with other friends outside of school. Part of the issue might also be that most of the boys in his class are little rough and wild, which the teacher admitted as well.

Speaking of playing with others, he is really cute with his brother. He's really good at getting Micah's funny bone. It's adorable to watch him giggle at Josiah doing something silly. Sometimes he'll be really sweet with him, comforting him in a "Mommy" tone ("Don't worry, Micah. Mama and I are here with you. It'll be all right"); sometimes he scolds him ("No, no, Micah; that's not what God says to do"); sometimes he encourages him ("Good job standing, Micah.") He did strike Micah for the first time, lightly, for snatching on of his toys. I'm sure we'll see more of these incidents in the future!

He's also been asking some intense spiritual questions and making good observations. For example, we were reading the story of Joshua and Jericho. Josiah observed the bricks were falling down without the "sticky stuff" (mortar). I told him there was mortar, God was just so big and strong that we knocked the walls down. Josiah asked, "But God's not a mean guy. Why did He do that?" Wow. Parent challenge! The next day, the boys were eating lunch, and I gave them both a kiss on the head and told them I loved them and was thankful for them. Josiah said, "And there's nothing that will stop you from loving us." I said, "That's right, nothing can stop me from loving you." He replied, "Sin stops us from loving." From a 3-year-old?

Dr. Shanx

The Moseley grandparents and Anna came in town for a quick, but sweet, visit on Sunday night.

Josiah (or Dr. Shanx, as he named himself) gave everyone a check-up.

This patient was so thankful that she smothered him with kisses!

Checking the heartbeat.

Wonderful Anna with Micah.

Hello, Sunshine!

We've missed you!

We had a gorgeous few days here. After a few days of fighting a stomach bug, we were glad to get out and enjoy it!

Our neighbor gave us her set of a bubble toys that her grandchildren had outgrown.

Remember these bubble pipes? I think they gone the way of candy cigarettes and Big League Chew, so as not to encourage tobacco use in children. I don't think Josiah even knows what a real pipe does, so this was just fun and easier for him than the wands.

But he did actually blow a few bubbles out this time. His first! It helped it was a windy day.

My sweet little ray of sunshine.

While Josiah was using his pipe, Micah kept trying to do some grass. Where have I gone wrong?

He tried to eat quite a few crunchy leaves as well.

Josiah also tried out the new scooter he got for Christmas. Our buddy Davis let him test-drive his first. I was about to keep it if he was going to put as much effort into it as he does his tricycle, but he did really well with it. It doesn't like going fast yet, and didn't play with it very much, but it's progress in my eyes.

Which ball is tastiest? Hmmm...

Micah - 8 Months

Micah turned eight months old on Valentine's Day. Boy, do we love this kid!

He's happy in all these pictures, but Micah has had a rough month. I mentioned he had an ear infection at his "well visit." The doctor also heard a wheeze as well. She prescribed an inhaler, but we waited to have it filled to see if it resolved on it's own. It definitely got worse and didn't improve with the inhaler. He was also way sleepier than normal and didn't have much of an appetite. The day he slept literally the entire day on my shoulder, we decided we should get him checked out.

After spending over 2.5 hours at the doctor's office, it turns out he had RSV (respiratory synctial virus), which means he needed nebulizer treatments. It's pretty scary for infants under six months, fairly scary for older infants, and normally not a big deal for older children. It took him a solid week to really recover.

Needless to say, we are really grateful to have our sweet, happy baby back! His smiles and giggles are almost addictive.

He's making new noises and faces, including a rousing motorboat impression.

No crawling yet, but he definitely gets around. He's fitting comfortably in 12 month clothes!

He's doing much better with solids! He's finally tolerating some baby food and loves puffs and bananas. I was truly starting to be concerned he'd never eat.

Sleeping. He's doing great at night, and normally nails one good nap per day, almost always in the afternoon. I can't seem to nail down a good morning nap for him, probably because we're very inconsistent. Oftentimes we're going out in the morning or driving Josiah to preschool. I have a hard time dedicating myself to this cause because the child is quite pleasant without a morning nap. When I do lay him down in the mornings, he cries for over an hour, and it seems counterproductive. He'll often squeeze in one around 11 or 12 so and then again at around 3. So it's not the norm, but as long as he's a happy content child, I might have to be content with it too!

Our Prayer Board

Part of our bedtime routine with Josiah is prayer at the end. We always ask him, "Who do you want to pray for tonight?" Almost every single night, he answers, "Mr. Steve and Mrs. Daria and Ethan" (our friends from our small group in Birmingham who are now serving in South Africa). We love praying for them, but we wanted a visible way for him to explore his options.



So here is our prayer board. It has several friends who are serving abroad and all four of our sponsored children. He loves pointing to the people he wants to pray for that night. We are so blessed that Josiah remembers most of these people. What a gift to get to expose him to what God is doing in the world.

On a side note, Josiah still asks Jonathan, "What else was it like in Haiti?" Jonathan's pretty much run out of things to tell him, but we are grateful that he gets to hear that there are people who don't live in houses or have running water.

The Boys in Blue

Sunday after church we headed to Chapel Hill to see the Tar Heels play Florida State. We decided to take the boys with us for their first basketball game.

Josiah did great! He cheered very enthusiastically for the first part of the first half. After a while he got a little bored, and it got loud for him (he kept covering his ears).

Micah did great too. He even napped on my shoulder! He did jump a few times when the crowd cheered.

Our Tar Heel family!

Book Avalanche

This is not an effort to show off my obviously stellar housekeeping skills, but to illustrate Josiah's love of books. We read three books at nap time and bed time, plus a Bible story for each as well. These books always get placed at the side of the bed, plus Josiah goes to retrieve some of his own after we tuck him in. So it starts to pile up!

I've been trying to point out a repetitive word in a few books and get Josiah to recognize it. He's very aware of me trying to teach him anything, and will point to every other word on the page in order to derail my efforts.
The other day though I wised up and offered a sticker if he could point to the word.
He pointed to it right away. "Egg. The one with two g's."