Isaac's Love Languages (3 years 9 months)

It has become more noticeable that two of Isaac's love languages are physical touch and words of encouragement.

1) In terms of physical touch, Isaac hugs me consistently throughout the day, he loves to wrestle and hug his friends, and the other day he told me this..." Mommy, Miss Best always hugs the girls at Kindy, maybe some day she will hug me too!" You can see that he feels very loved and encouraged when he gives and receives hugs.

2) Isaac also responds well to words of encouragement. He lights up when we praise him or acknowledge something that he has done well, and nearly every day he tells me that I am beautiful, or that he likes my shirt, etc. He is my little encourager. Just yesterday Isaac, Hudson and I made paper airplanes. After completing my first paper airplane, Isaac said to me, "Thanks for making planes with us mommy. I know that they are really hard for you." I know that he meant for this to be a compliment. So funny. The other reason that I know Isaac's love language is words of encouragement is that he remember the hurtful things that kids might say. He has a sensitive heart and he doesn't understand why anyone would say something mean like, "you are not my friend" or something like that.

Kissing

Hudson loved hanging out on Ashley's bed in the front room. In this picture he is making his little animals kiss (sound effects included).

 

Paper Air Planes

Isaac picked out a book on how to make paper airplanes from the library. We had so much fun learning how to make 5 new kinds of airplanes, then trying them in flight.

 

 

 

Dress up Party

Can you see why I enjoyed having these girls around? Ashley is making one of her classic faces...and I think Sarah was suppose to be someone from Jane Austin's era. Cute.

 

Hudson Loves His Cars and Trucks

 

 

Our Little Trooper

During our staff retreat to Napier Hudson over-heated on the first night and he itched the back of his legs raw! We noticed after this night that he was developing more and more itchy spots on his body, starting behind his knees and moving up towards the rest of his body. Long story short, after a week we took him in to see a Dr. and he was diagnosed as having chicken pox. We gave him oatmeal baths, used chick weed gel on his itchy spots, and wrapped his legs at night to keep him from itching himself raw. After 14 days of itchiness, I figured that he did not in fact have chicken pox after-all. We took him to a different Dr. and she agreed. Turns out that Hudson got a staph infection during that first night in Hawkes Bay when he over-heated, which is very common with kids that struggle with eczema as Hudson does. Staph (pronounced: staff) is the shortened name for Staphylococcus (pronounced: staf-uh-low-kah-kus), a type of bacteria. These bacteria can live harmlessly on many skin surfaces, but when the skin is punctured or broken for any reason, staph bacteria can enter the wound and cause an infection. His infection lead to itchy spots all over his body. These lasted about a month, and his body finally faught off the infection on it's own and the spots went away. Whew. Hudson was such a little trooper through it all. He stood on the counter each night and waited patiently while we wrapped his legs and bandaged him up. He is so precious.

 

 

 

Round the Bays Road Race

Ashley and I ran the Round the Bays Race together here in Wellington. I was so thankful that God allowed me to be healthy and injury free this year so that I could run with Ash. We all loved getting out in the sunshine and enjoying some fresh air and exercise with our fellow Wellingtonians. It was also special to have Josh and the boys waiting for me at the finish line. :) Good job Ashley!

 

 

 

 

Ashley is a Blessing

The Lord has truly blessed us this year with two new teammates, one of which is Ashley, who lived with us for a few months in the beginning of this year. Ashley is a fun-loving girl, she is silly, Godly, creative, energetic, passionate, and very easy to be around. The students already love her and she has brought so much joy to our team this year. I especially like the fact that she has nick-named me, "hot mama". :) Here are some cute pictures of Ashley and Isaac having a water fight!

 

 

Winery

We stopped at the Church Road Winery on our way home from Napier. The team enjoyed doing a bit of wine tasting and the boys relished the opportunity to get out of our car and stretch their legs.

 

 

 

 

Napier Team Retreat

Our team headed to Napier for a two day team retreat in the middle of February. I have always wanted to visit the Hawke's Bay area, so I was very excited! Our first day was filled with driving, settling into our holiday home, running, and hanging out as a team at night. Unfortunately, both Josh and I caught a tummy bug that lasted 24 hours, so we spent the entire second day in bed. Josh managed to make it out for the team dinner, but he was really hurting. Thankfully, we were able to watch some of the Olympics at the holiday home, so our second day indoors was redeemed a bit. All in all, it was good to get away and see a new part of New Zealand. Napier is known for it's Art Deco style and we happened to be there during the Art Deco Weekend. It was really special to see all of the older men and women wearing their 1920's outfits, and to see some of the cool old cars.

 

 

 

 

Boys Hugging

 

 

If you look closely in this picture you can notice that Isaac has a few strips of tape above his right eye. A few days before this photo was taken we went to a friend's house for a play date. Isaac was riding a scooter that was a little bit too big for him, but he took to it easily, so we let him ride it. He was doing quite well until his foot slipped and he fell and cut the skin above his eye on the handle bars. He handled everything like a champ- the cut bled quite a bit and it took about 45 minutes for the nurse to patch him up. I sat in the medical center with him on my lap and distracted him with a lot of made up silly stories, which was memorable. Thankfully his wound has healed and the scar is slowly disapearing, although I think he will always have a small scar above his eye from this accident.

Brentwood Manor for Valentines Day

Sarah and Ashley blessed Josh and I by watching our boys for a night so that we could celebrate Valentines Day at our favorite B&B. The Brentwood Manor is located in Upper Hutt and it is run and owned by believers. The owner actually claims to be the gardener, but during our visit he shared his secret with us. This is a very special place and we really enjoyed visiting one last time before we head back to the States. Thank you Sarah and Ashley!

 

 

 

Here is a snippit about the history of the Brentwood Manor:

The History

James Walter Chapman-Taylor is one of New Zealand's most acknowledged architects/craftsmen. Born in England in 1878, Chapman-Taylor spent most of his life in New Zealand. His distinctive building style influenced strongly by the English Arts and Crafts movement remains one of the most recognized today.

Brentwood Manor is the only classic Chapman-Taylor style house open to the public.

Built in 1931, the home was commissioned by Dr. and Mrs. Tweed, a local GP and his wife. In his report at the completion of the Manor's construction, Chapman-Taylor praised his client's determination to remain true to his design, particularly for allowing the extensive use of concrete as a construction material. The resulting sound structure will stand firm well into the 21st century.

The Manor features Chapman-Taylor's trademark roughcast concrete exterior, hand cast concrete roof tiles, plaster interior walls, rough sawn timber ceiling beams and his signature door latches.

Hudson at 2 years old!

We took Hudson in for his two year Plunket check up. Here are some of his results from our visit, as well as, comments about his personality and development.

Progress Physically: He is walking everywhere, very curious, starting to climb, enjoys eating at family meals.

Weight: 12.7 kg
Length: 89 cm

Mom's notes:
1. Hudson is a precious two year old. He is a delightful, peaceful child.
2. He is an observer; he enjoys watching people.
3. He doesn't talk as much as he understands.
4. He is considerate with others; shares his toys, loves other kids, and interacts well with them.
5. He is friendly, but cautious. When he meets someone new he checks them out and observes them.
6. He is running/walking a lot.
7. He enjoys trying to keep up with his older brother Isaac. :)
8. His favorite things to play with are cars, trains, water, and play dough.
9. He likes wearing specific shirts- dinosaur shirt, Santa shirt, and lizard shirt.
10. He LOVES his lamb! He uses his lamb at night as a pillow, or he lays in bed and rubs his lambs soft tail.
11. Loves his little bike and his cat. He will ride around the house with his cat that we call, "Rauw rauw" on the steering wheel, or he will put his cat on his stuffed motorcycle and make his cat drive around the house on it.
12. Recently said, "boogers are yummy!"
13. Sings a poo poo song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me. (I think this comes from potty training with Isaac and our emphasis on poo poo :)
14. Likes riding his little bike. He recently rode it down the driveway in front of the church and crashed into the church! He re-told the story to Josh at night by saying, "Riding bike, crashed, church" So funny!
15. He needs all of his animal friends at night when he heads to bed, and in the morning when he walks out into the living room. He even attempts to carry all of his animals in his arms, but he usually leaves an animal trail behind him as he walks down the hall.