Isaac can move, but certainly not in the traditional crawling sort of way. It's more of a scooting, leg dragging crawl. And if I'm completely honest, I'll admit that he pretty much looks like a lame dog trying to get around. Or a gorilla. Jared thinks he looks like a "foraging gorilla that is moving from one bush to another"...pretty specific, eh?

At any rate, he keeps us on our toes and torments his dear sister, who seems to think that if he moves so much as an inch in his direction that "he's trying to get my stuffffffffff". (Imagine this in the whiniest voice possible.) It's pretty funny (most of the time). I think Leah preferred it when Isaac just sat like a lump on the floor.

Our kids are so entertaining, I love it. :)

Joy to the World, the Lord has come!

Christmas seemed to come in a flash this year. I don't know how it's already over, but it is. I really tried to make a conscious effort not to get caught up in the frenzy that the holidays can bring, but instead to cherish the reason that we celebrate. Somebody had recommended reading the birth of Jesus in the bible every day until Christmas, and while I did miss a few days, I read it more in the past month than I ever have in my entire life. And while I obviously felt the extreme appreciation and joy over the gift that God gave us in Jesus, the passage that stuck with me the most was Luke 2:19. Maybe it's because I'm a mother myself, but in the past few years, my heart has been touched by Mary.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Merry Christmas everyone. May you all treasure the gift in Jesus, the gift of God with us.

Our house looks beautiful, don't you think?

Christmas Eve in their brand new Christmas jammies. I don't need anything other than these two under my tree to fill my heart with joy. (Ok, maybe I'd like to have Jared thrown in there as well.) :)

Christmas morning... Leah is anxious to open those presents!

Look at our new wagon!! We bought this wagon in pretty used condition, and Jared refurbished it. I think it looks great, don't you?

The new wagon in use! Poor Kate got squished in the back behind our two.

The 2010 Judy Family Christmas photo

Three little cheesers. They're so cute, I might burst!

December!

When December arrived this year, it arrived. It seemed like fall disappeared quickly, and suddenly it was cold, cold, cold outside! We welcomed it at first, until it got well below the
average temperature and was regularly in the 20s with extremely high winds. Jared still enjoyed it, but it was a bit much for me.
Isaac and Heidi helped Jared put up our Christmas lights this year. He did a great job and put them up on some bitterly cold days. I just stayed in the warm house and gave him a pat on the back whenever he came in. :)

I don't think I've ever seen a cuter little bear, have you?

Leah is showing Isaac how to build a proper train track.

Ta da!! I found the little potty! And a whole roll of toilet paper!

After dinner play time with Daddy :)

Mmmmm, snow!! After our first light snow, I took Leah outside to play and showed her how to eat the snow. Big mistake. She didn't want to do anything else. (And yes, those are my socks on her hand. We didn't have mittens yet.)

Isaac and his baby cousin Ryan wore matching outfits and we just had to capture the moment.

Isaac is so proud of himself now that he can stand. And he doesn't want to do anything that involves sitting anymore.

We spent a night at Longwood Gardens last week to see their Christmas display. It was pretty and Leah really liked the trains and the fountains that played to the music.

You'd be surprised how often people ask what I do all day. Aside from boring household chores, we do fun things like this! Building towers out of empty Christmas light boxes and knocking them down! And yes, Isaac is pulling up and beginning to cruise a bit. And no, he is not crawling yet. Go figure.

Leah was UBER-excited to decorate the Christmas tree. She pretty much did this the entire time that she was not holding an ornament in her hand.

Glass ornaments, wood floors, and a hyperactive two year old? With that combination, I'm surprised only two ornaments were broken in the process! Now that the tree is done, she likes to sit on the rug and look at it before she goes to bed every night, pointing out which ornaments she put up herself (Little does she know, we re-distributed most of hers. Sorry Leah, but I like my Christmas trees to have ornaments on more than two branches.)

November

I've started weeding out the things in my life that I thought of more as obligations than enjoyment (aside from the tasks that are obviously necessary to keep life going). Blogging, naturally, is one of those things. It somehow became more of a chore I dreaded doing than something fun... which it used to be. Then there would be this ridiculous backlog of photos and attempted posts that just seemed too daunting to tackle. Finally, I came to the realization that I didn't HAVE to blog about every event. I didn't have to blog every week, and I certainly didn't have to feel guilty about not blogging. So there you have it. Your updates may be sporadic, but know that I'm not dragging my feet to post them.

UD Homecoming weekend was Jared's first opportunity to use his last Texas purchase-- a giant smoker and grill. The results were plentiful and delicious!

Jared's first deer of the season, shot pretty much from our own backyard. Leah kept asking if she could pet it.

Isaac helped Jess eat some birthday cake when she came over to babysit... and by eat, I mean he grabbed a handful of it off her plate and smeared it all over the table.

My little baker, happily stirring the cupcakes.

We took a trip to Texas over Thanksgiving, and I literally took 4 pictures the entire time. I guess we were just enjoying our visits with friends and family too much to get out the camera. We're looking forward to going again, whenever that may be, and to having some Texas folks come visit us up here. (Ahem. Mom, Dad, Davenports [too many of y'all to list], Adde, and Laurie.)

My mom got Leah and I matching aprons, and it only seemed fitting to wear them while helping with Thanksgiving dinner.

And naturally, while the women-folk were in the kitchen, the boys in the house did typical Thanksgiving day activities.

Like take naps.

And watch football.

Leah fixed my dad a pre-Thanksgiving dinner snack.

Leah!

At 2 years and 2 months you...

• Are pretty much potty-trained. You generally have one accident a day, which is pretty darn good if you ask me. I marked the day on the calendar, and sometimes when you wake up you will still excitedly shout, "It's potty training day!" even though that was weeks ago.
• Told me the other day that my dinner was disgusting. You also tell me that it's disgusting when you poop your pants, but that doesn't necessarily keep you from doing it. (Unfortunately for me, this is the one accident a day I get to clean up. Yay.)
• M&M's are your favorite candy and whenever you see your Aunt Jess or Oma, you greet them with, "Can I have some M&M's?" (They carry some in their purses for this very reason.)
• Love Monster's, Inc and Babe. Elmo in Grouchland has slowly become less popular (thankfully!) on your movie list. When you watch Monster's, Inc, you just can't take the suspense in the opening scene and have to watch it with one eye peering out from behind a blanket. It's adorable.
• Are a big fan of dancing to music and will try to get whoever is in the room with you to dance as well. Unfortunately for you, you've only had your Mommy to learn from and so your skills leave something to be desired.
• Falling asleep is not an option without your mimi. But when you are feeling extra sweet and generous, you will let Isaac hold it.
• When Isaac cries, you respond with, "What's wrong, Isaac? What's wrong? I'll take care of you." So sweet.
• Tell Heidi that she smells "like stink".
• Don't like to go to bed without giving Heidi and Rowdy a hug and kiss. You also don't like Isaac to go to sleep without giving him a hug and kiss as well.
• Like to pack up your monkey backpack full of "essential items" and tell me that you are going to work just like Daddy.
• Surprise us every day with how much of a quick learner you are.
• Wake up by running out of your room and telling us "I wote up! I wote up!" As if the fact that you are standing there is not quite proof enough.
• When you try to sneak out of your room at night, and you don't want us to see, you will put your mimi over your head to make you invisible, I guess?
• Still drink a bottle of milk before bed. It's the last tie to being a baby that you have, and since it's so comforting to you, we just haven't gotten rid of it yet.
• Randomly come up and give me hugs throughout the day and tell me that you love me.
• Are growing up way too fast. Please slow down just a tiny bit for me.

Isaac!

At 7 months you...

• Have no teeth. On some days you seem particularly drooly and cranky, but other than that there is not a single sign that teeth will be coming soon. Really??
• Have no inclination to crawl and are content to just roll from place to place. Or have Leah bring you everything you want at all times (which she is pretty content to do).
• Can sit up like a champ, although you are a bit weeble-wobbley from time to time. You don't even cry anymore when you fall back and hit your head.
• Love, love, LOVE to bounce in the doorway jumper.
• Think Leah is by far the best person in your world. Mommy runs a close second, and unfortunately for him, Daddy is a close third.
• Are quite dramatic. You can get from 0 to hysterics in a matter of seconds, usually because Leah has taken the toy you were "playing with" (i.e. gnawing on).
• Still wake up at least once, sometimes twice in the middle of the night to eat. It's not that you are waking up because you are hungry, but more so that once you are awake you figure, "Why not eat?" (I can't say I blame you.)
• Don't care much for solid food at all. We struggle to get you to eat it 2-3 times a day, and you particularly hate eating anything other than milk before 10 am. If it were left completely up to you, you would live off of milk and puffs.
• Are an extremely jolly baby. Extremely.
• No longer need to take any reflux medication. While it was entirely necessary for the first 6 months of your life, we've managed to wean you off of it in the last month.
• Weigh 17 pounds and are quite long at about 28 inches. Oh, and your head is huge.
• Wear size 3 diapers and size 6-9 month clothes.
• Can't even think about sleeping without your paci and your mimi.
• Are definitely a hugging and kissing kind of boy. :)

The kiddos

Our transition here hasn't been the smoothest. Isaac obviously took it all in stride because let's be honest-- he really doesn't know the difference. But it was a little different with Leah. Let's face it-- when you are 2, moving really just turns your entire world upside down. Everything seemed to be going ok with Leah until about two weeks in when she stopped sleeping well. We had bought her a new bed to go with her new room and though she slept in it fine at first, she suddenly began claiming that she didn't like it. She would repeatedly come out of it at night and it would sometimes take up to an hour and a half to finally get her to fall asleep. An hour and a half of crying, firm voices, spanking, more crying, etc. It was brutal. When the same thing started happening for nap time, I was spending 2-3 hours of my day, every day struggling to get her to fall asleep. It was really draining. And to add to it, Leah was also waking up with nightmares and sometimes trying to crawl into our bed throughout the night. Not to mention, Isaac still doesn't sleep through the night so I would have to get up to feed him too. There were a few weeks where I would be getting up 5-6 times in the night to tend to our children. The alarm would go off in the morning, and everybody would wake up cranky because nobody really slept the night before. And then the cycle would begin all over again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Needless to say, I had some breaking points. Thankfully, Leah is starting to get better. We've found a napping situation that is working for her and though she comes out a few times at night, we are nowhere near the struggles we had before. (As I type this, I can here her fumbling around in her bed.) At this point, she pretty much just asks to come out because she claims to have to go potty (3 times in 10 minutes? I don't think so, kiddo!)
She asks about her grandparents and friends pretty regularly, and when she does, we look at pictures of them on the computer. The week of Zoe's birthday back in September, she sang happy birthday to her everytime we sat and ate lunch. Another day while she was supposed to be napping upstairs, I heard her randomly singing out to Miss Paige and Ella. The worst is when she asks if Oma and Opa are coming to see her today. Or when we are getting dressed to go to the store, and she excitedly runs to her clothes, exclaiming that we are going to church to see her friends Zia and Mia and Micah! Luckily, that doesn't happen too much anymore. The good news is that she calls our new house her home.

Things are definitely better, and transitions are never supposed to be easy. We're just taking it all one step at a time.

In the mean time, with all this fabulous weather going on, we've taken some time to really enjoy being outdoors. No mosquitos, no 100 degrees with 100% humidity. It's really quite amazing.

'Sup.

Heidis in the mirror are closer than they appear.

I think Rowdy wants to play fetch. Or get a belly rub. Or both. (And yes, that is a potty in the background. I think we were on Day 3 at that point.)

Ummmm, yes. Definitely time for a haircut.

Leah is watching Monsters, Inc. (thanks, guys!) for the bajillionth time while Isaac exersauces.

Just trying to get the feel of "fall" in this one.

Helping Jared feed the birds.

Some hugs at the Delaware Nature Society Harvest Moon Festival.

The New Digs.

Ahhh, the long awaited pictures of the new house! I really didn't post many inside pictures below (just 1), and stuck to the outside for now. (More inside photos can be found on Facebook.) As things get more unpacked and we actually get everything set up (i.e. a TV above the fireplace, as opposed to a clock haphazardly placed there), I'll post more pictures. That way you can see the befores and afters.

Here's a view of our house from the front.

Here's a view standing near the end of the driveway and facing the house.

A quick walk through the backyard wildflowers.

This is the view from the back porch out to the backyard. It's a bit over-run, so we cleared some of it and are in the process of making it a nice even playing field.

Standing at the edge of the pond and facing the house, you can see the area that Jared (and some friends) cleared.

And here's our downstairs living room, looking out from the kitchen, across the dining area to the stairs on one side of the house.

Here's a video of our surroundings from the front of our driveway...

And here's one from our back deck...

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Hello, Readers!! (Do we even still have any readers??) Did you know that we now have a 2 year old (technically 2 years and 2 months) and a 7 month old? Did you know we don't live in Texas anymore? Lots of changes since I last posted. We're now somewhat settled in Delaware (more on that in a following post) and enjoying the fall weather. For those of you that keep up with me on Facebook, you'll be disappointed to know that none of the pictures below are new, as I've already posted them on there. Oh well. Double the viewing for double the enjoyment.

The tower of boxes, which clearly is meant for climbing.

With everything going on, I never got around to giving Leah her 2nd birthday post. Here she is on her birthday morning, opening her first present. That evening we went to my parents' to celebrate, and later on in the week, we had a mini-celebration at our church (in conjunction with our going away party). In some ways, I can't believe this little girl is already 2, but in other ways, it seems she's been acting like a 2 year old for a while.

I love this picture. On her birthday, we met up with some of Leah's friends to go play in the fountains again. She loved it, especially the part where everybody sang Happy Birthday to her.

I love this picture. About 2 weeks after we moved, Leah pulled her bathing suit out of her bureau and was adamant about wearing it. Adamant. So I let her put it on (over her clothes) and when I tried to take it off at some point throughout the day, she kicked and screamed and said that she wanted to wear her bathing suit and go play in the fountains with her friends. It was heartbreaking. How do you explain to a 2 year old that she's not seeing her friends any more because they live too far away? The concept of near and far means nothing to her, except now she will actually say, "Mia and Micah (or insert other names of Texas friends) live very far away. Very far away." So she's getting the idea, I'm just not sure how much it means to her.

Opening birthday presents with Oma.

Of all the things Leah got for her birthday, her tricycle was her favorite. Unfortunately, she still isn't that great at riding it, but she's getting much better. She just needs to hit a pretty hefty growth spurt so her feet can reach the pedals.

Some pool time with her buddy Ella.

This was the last meal we ate in our Texas house. Good ol' fried chicken. I look like a giant at the kiddie table.

Isaac has always been a fan of bathtime. He absolutely loved this little tub and would laugh and giggle the whole time. Thanks Mom, for tickling his belly, and simultaneously censoring him for this photo.

Bedtime story time with Oma. We spent the last week and a half of our time in Texas living at my parents' house to make the transition easier. It was nice to just soak up that extra time with my parents.