Mommy's Goggles

 

I went swimming the other morning for the first time in ages. Man, did it feel AWESOME! I love the smell of the chlorine, the feel of the water gliding over your face and between your fingers and toes...I really do love swimming. Unfortunately, my goggles weren't up for the challenge. I left them crumpled up in my swimming bag for far too long and the strap had basically disintegrated. I wound up borrowing these not-so-stylish blue goggles from the pool so that I could still take a dip. Upon my arrival home Isaac snatched them from my bag and had a blast trying them on.

 

Rubber Ducky

 

 

 

Here is Hudson in his little ducky bath. Man, I should have pulled this out a few months ago because Hudson has almost grown out of it! I think that he is going to be a tall boy like his daddy.

Cars

 

Daddy bought Isaac this match box car track a few days ago and or course Isaac loves it! Josh has found a variety of ways to put Isaac's track together, including my drying rack. I personally like having match box cars around the house. They remind me of home for some reason.

Teething?

 

I think that Hudson might be teething. It is kind of hard to tell because he always seems to have his hands in his mouth, but lately he seems to be sucking on them even more than usual...and I thought that wasn't possible. He has been sticking out his tongue at me as well, which is pretty funny. I will try to capture that on video or with the camera if I can. Lastly, he has been enjoying scratching his nails on the side of his bumper pads...he likes the sound that it makes as he runs his fingers back and forth over the pads.

Precious Memories

A few days ago I went in to put Hudson down for a nap and he didn't seem too happy about it. After a few minutes of crying Isaac and I went in to check on him and he was so excited to see us! He smiled so BIG. Isaac stood up on the bottom rail of Hudson's cot so that he could look at Hudson. He actually grabbed Hudson's little hand with his left hand and held it as he rubbed Hudson's tummy with his right hand. He kept saying, "Hi Hudson". Isaac and I stayed in Hudson's room and talked to him for a few minutes. He went right to sleep after we left...I think he just needed to know that we loved him and that we would miss him while he was sleeping. :) So sweet.

Hudson Bouncing

This video clip was taken about a month or so ago, but I thought you would enjoy watching the boys at play. Isn't it cute that Isaac really wanted to be a part of the video, so he started bouncing too.

A New Look!

Yeah, we finally figured out how to center my pictures/writing on our family blog. I like the new look...it was fun to be creative on the internet.

Sorry if my blog looks a little crazy right now...I am trying to spice things up a bit, but I ran out of time and need to head to bed cuz I am a sleepy head. :)

Hudson at 5 1/2 Months

 

Well, Hudson and I went to visit the Plunket Nurse this morning and Michelle said that Hudson is doing really well. He weighed in at 17.7 Lbs. which brought him up to the 75% for weight in NZ, and he was in the 80% for length at 42.8 cm. I thought he seemed like a BIG kid; especially since he is already wearing 9 month old clothes. He is a solid little baby and he can stand pretty well with a little help. He also loves watching his brother race around the house while doing his tummy time. His head is still pretty small, which cracks me up because his daddy has a small head as well- 50%. He is a very patient baby, pretty smiley and content, loves to suck his hands and grab toys, and he likes to talk a lot as well. That's it for Hudson, just wanted to keep the family in the loop since you guys don't get to see him.

Justin and Lacy are Engaged!

 

 

 

 

I am so happy for Justin and Lacy. We love them so much and we are thrilled that the Lord pieced together a special framework of celebratory events in which they were able to get engaged last weekend. Congrats to our little friends. Woohoo!

No more Isaac Jumpin' on the Bed

 

 

 

And yes, Isaac has enjoyed having frequent access into the guest bedroom to jump on Jaime's bed. Thankfully his fall a few months ago has not hindered his adventurous/playful spirit. Check out how much air he got in these pics.

Jaime's Here!

 

 

 

Several months ago we received an email from our NZ National AIA director about a girl from Ohio that needed a place to stay while she studied in Wellington for a few months. At first we scoffed at the idea of having someone board with us, but we agreed to pray about it. Well, low and behold, as we prayed about Jamie we sensed the Lord leading us to accept her request to live with us for a few months. Hmmm...interesting what God leads you to do when you actually pray. Well, Jaime has arrived! She landed in rainy Wellington two weeks ago and we have been enjoying getting to know her. Here are a few pics of her playing with Hudson. She is laughing at the strange face that he is making. :) Doesn't he look like an old grandma? I have only seen him make this face once and it was on this day. Enjoy!

Friends

 

 

 

 

One of the highlights for me at conference was sharing an apartment (4 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and living room) with Aaron and Connie Thompson. I actually went to college with Connie at Miami of Ohio! Aaron and Connie are currently leading the Dunedin ministry down in the South Island. They have two kids, Olivia and Elijah, with one more on the way. Connie is 6 months pregnant! Our kids enjoyed playing together in our apartment...the top two photos are of Olivia and Elijah. Isaac really enjoyed spending time with his friends all week. A few months ago I stayed with the Breckner family during a conference we attended in Christchurch (CHCH). Kevin and Tami have 4 kids and 1 more on the way. During our week in CHCH Isaac became good friends with the Breckner's kids and he enjoyed seeing them all again at the conference last week in Waikani. He would wake up from his naps asking for his "friends!" He actually just came into the room and saw the pics of his friends that I am blogging about and he almost started to cry...he wants to play with his friends. How sweet! Isaac is such a people person. The last night of conference the childcare workers put on a party for all of the kids. In the last two pics Isaac is sitting on the floor eating popcorn while watching the movie, "Ice Age".

Isaac's Gum Boots

 

I am so glad that we bought Isaac a pair of gumboots before heading off to conference because it rained quite a bit while we were there. Isaac LOVED splashing in the puddles and running around the camp grounds. I had to pack two sets of clothes for him each day so that he would have some dry clothes to wear if he managed to find some new puddles to play in. :) He had a great week and really enjoyed being in child care in the mornings with all of his little friends. Hudson was there with him too. He is such a laid back baby...he slept really well in his stroller during child care in the mornings, so I got a chance to go to all of the morning meetings. Yeah! Did you notice that Isaac has his pj's on with his gumboots in the pic. :)

Wellington dances to Thriller

 

 

 

 

One of the ways that I was able to connect more with our students in Wellington during the conference was by practicing for the Lip Sync contest with them. Each campus was responsible for creating a lip sync for the Hollywood dance party, so our campus did a dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller song. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was so fun to dance with the students...to rub shoulders, laugh and sweat with them. One of our staff, Kara, was the captain of her dance troop back in college and she coreographed the entire dance for us and taught it to us in 2 practices! We had soooo much fun! Check out some of our crazy pics. We wrapped ourselves in toilet paper and pretended to be zombies-our dance was quite the hit that night.

I love Parties!

 

 

 

 

Josh knows how much I like parties, so he watched the kids on the night of the dance party, so that I could go and dance the night away. Thankfully some of our students allowed me to be a part of their Hollywood costume because I did not bring a costume with me. Ooops! All I needed was a black outfit, which I had, so I was set. Here are some fun pics from the Hollywood night...yeah, one of my teammates dressed up as a girl and he was so wrong. Nice chest hair Steve!

Winter Conference

 

 

 

 

Yep, it is sure winter here. Josh and I have actually been sleeping at night in our sleeping bags! The boys rooms have bigger heaters, so they both stay nice and toasty warm, but our little heater in our room only gives off enough heat to warm a fly. I actually like sleeping in my sleeping bag...so warm and cozy! Last week we went to Waikani for a week long conference with students and staff from all of New Zealand, and Fiji too. It was fun for us to be at this conference as a family. We all lived in apartments on the camp grounds, which gave us the opportunity as a family to interact with all of the staff and students on a daily basis. It was really good for me especially as I am not around students as much as I use to be when I was single. God really used this week to encourage my heart, connect me with the ministry, and inspire and motivate me. The main speaker was so awesome!!!! God really used Rod to speak into my heart in a deep and powerful way. These first pics of Hudson are from the beginning of conference. A precious friend on staff in Dunedin has a little boy named Nathan. He is a few days younger than Hudson, so it was fun for us to hang out and allow our boys some time to connect. :) The second picture is of Isaac and Hudson. The last two pics are of Sarah and Hudson. More from the conference in the next post.