Monday Madness

Wow it has been way too long since I have posted a blog entry. For all my blog readers and followers I apologize.

Things here in the Harrison Household have been a little crazy. We have been informed of a rent increase as our lease comes to an end. With the increase it appears we are going to have to move and it isn't always easy seeing eye to eye, but I know that it will all work out in the end with lots of patience, good communication, and God's direction.

Ok, it has been a month, so I better get caught up on here...hmmm, what is new??

Joshua took a tumble Memorial Day weekend while we were visiting Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house up north. He tripped with a plastic spoon in his mouth and boy did it bleed. We had him checked out at the dentist the next day and they said everything looked ok. He was such a trooper despite cuts to the inside of both of his lips and lots of swelling of his gums and lips.

Joshua has recently dropped down to 1 nap a day and I must say that it is bittersweet. I loved that he and Madelynn took naps at the same time, but it became very hard for Joshua the month before the switch to actually sleep his second nap. He would ask to go to sleep at 9:30/10am and would go down great and sleep for 2hours but then he would cry and cry for his second nap, which carried over to bedtime being a struggle. Joshua now goes down at 12/12:30 and sleeps until 3/3:30. He is much happier and so am I. Though, most of our naps start out like this, as I have 2 little kids (one being his sister) to get situated before I can rock with him as they are just waking up from their naps.

And then there's the Moo. Joshua calls her "MOOOOOOOOO MOO". He absolultely loves her to death. He loves to kiss her, hug her and play with her. He does not like for her to play with his toys unless he gives them to her, but he's generally good about sharing.

Madelynn is such a happy baby! Though I don't know if I'd consider her a baby anymore. She crawls, walks furniture, hangs like a monkey from her crib, walks if you hold her fingers, she can get from crawling to sitting and from standing to sitting no problem. She is eating more foods but does not like to pick food up and put it in her mouth, toys are an exception.

And Madelynn now takes baths like a big girl-sitting up. She loves to sit under the running water. She loves to lay on her tummy and kick and splash and crawl all around the tub. SHe is such a delight!

Another thing Madelynn loves is her TOES. This is a new discovery and her favorite time to chew on them is when it is time to eat. I guess we are going to have to start using the try on her highchair!

Isn't she cute? Well my blog time for the day has come to an end, but I wanted to share 1 last photo of the Moo. Stay tuned tomorrow for my "Ten on Tuesday" entry!!

Pesto Chicken Gnocchi

Ingredients:

1# cubed chicken

1 tsp minced garlic

bacon bits

1 pkg gnocchi

refrigerated pesto (1/2)

Instructions:

Cook chicken in butter with minced garlic in a skillet over medium heat.

In a separate pan boil water with salt and add gnocchi-cook according to package.

When chicken is cooked and gnocchi is done, add pesto and bacon bits. Mix well and serve.

Wordless Wednesday

Too fast!

Make it stop! I want my baby back! Now before you start going huh? What did I miss? Don’t worry, nothing happened really…just my baby is getting too big for her own good! Madelynn won’t be 7months until June 1^st and she is already sitting, rolling, crawling, pulling up and today she decided that walking the length of the couch would be her next task to check off her to-do list! Miss Moo has become such a little go getter and I have a love/hate relationship with this idea. I love that she is so independent, curious, and content learning about the world around her, but she’s so little!

I wasn’t prepared for my little 4month old to start crawling.

I wasn’t prepared to have to drop the crib down 2 levels for my 6month old!

I wasn't prepared to discover Madelynn's newest trick of pulling up on the couch today...Joshua didn't do this until he was 9months old (then within a week he was taking his first steps!)

This little girl is turning my hair grey, as if the 100 white hairs I have weren’t enough L Now don’t get me wrong, I love that she’s so independent. I love that she’s content playing by herself and she’s able to fidget with things until she figures out how they work. I love that she’s persistent and keeps trying after countless fails…I love all those things, I just wasn’t ready for my baby to grow up-this fast! I do not know if we will have more babies, so I wanted to be able to cherish all of these things with my little girl-but she has different plans it seems. Oh well, what can I do?!?

Sprinklers, Cousins and Parks-oh my!

This past Sunday was hot and humid (TOO hot and humid for my liking) and Joshua wanted to get outside and play! So we decided that the best was to spend the miserable day would be with the cousins!

We headed out to Monticello, MN (about 35mins away) and the kids had a blast! When we first got there, the kids wanted to run through the sprinklers, so we got Joshua suited and sun screened up and sent him outside from some fun! My sister’s kids couldn’t believe that this was only Joshua’s 3^rd time in the sprinklers-in his life!! Living in an apartment complex, sprinklers are not an option (plus they run their automatic ones at night) and when we head over to GaGa’s house, she has a pool so there is no need for a sprinkler!

The kids had a blast running around, the sprinkler, in circles until they fell over! Joshua just kept laughing and laughing and laughing. Everytime he fell down it took a few attempts to get back up because he was laughing so hard.

After the kids ran around in the sprinkler we came in for a yummy dinner (meatloaf, homemade garlic mashed potatoes, buttered rolls, and green beans)!. After dinner was over and all the cleaning was done we took the kids up to the elementary school and played at the playground. Oh the kids had a blast! Joshua loves his cousins! The boys (8 and 9) are so good with Joshua and I love it! I can’t wait to play again soon!

Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe was taken off of the Duggar's Favorite Family Recipe link from their website, though we add butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips! These are so yummy, and SO addicting...I can never eat just one! I hope you enjoy.

Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

Cream first four ingredients Together,

Now add:

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. flour

3 c. oatmeal (or just a little less)

1 1/2 c. butterscotch chips

Mix. Shape into balls on pan, then flatten with hand.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 min.

Meet the Roo

Let me introduce you to Joshua.

Joshua Daniel is 26months old right now. He's funny, smart, super lovable. He's a mama's boy, he loves baths and books. He loves to go outside, chase birds, pick up bugs.

He communicates about 90% in ASL and loves the Signing Time! dvds. He loves music, loves to swim, climb, and be a boy! He still sleeps in a crib, still takes a pacifier, still wears diapers.

He is a true delight! When you ask him where Jesus is he will do 1 of 3 things: a.) roll his eyes because you asked him a question you should know the answer to, b.) point to his heart and scream 'der' or c.) ask you to pray.

Every night I climb into his crib-yes INTO-and read him 3 stories. The last one is always Good Night Moon. He loves to lay on my chest while I read and on occasion he'll put his fingers over my lips to hush me, and lay there listening to my heartbeat and breathe. We always end our 'cribside cuddle sessions' with prayer.

Joshua loves to help me in the kitchen and around the house. He is not a picky eater, will eat almost anything green! He will only eat homemade chicken nuggets or the ones from McDonald's. He will dip any meat you give him into A1 sauce, and isn't a huge fan of ketchup. Joshua could eat Honey Dijon Mustard by the spoonful-and has on occasion. He is a milk-aholic! He loves ice cream and freezies (he made up his own sign for freezie) and knows how to get anything he wants from his GaGa. He is such a love-a-bug!

Today I gave him his first BIG BOY haircut! This was my first attempt of cutting his hair, and only my second time cutting hair (I cut Dan's-his daddy-hair a few weeks ago) and I think it turned out great. It makes me so sad to see how big Joshua looks now, I want my baby back. Luckily it is just hair and with a little bit of time, it will grow back...until then I'll have a BOY in my baby's body!

So there you have it-Mr. Joshua- my Little Mr. Roo!