Solo Zoo Trip

David is busy working on the last few tests that he needs to complete for the spring semester, so I decided to brave the zoo all by myself with the two kids. We met a great friend (our former next door neighbor) who recently moved a few miles away. Wyatt doesn't get to see Taylor as often as he used to so we had a great visit at the zoo. We all rode the train, James of course, and even Addie loved the gentle breeze! In the first picture you can see Wyatt already has an arranged marriage! What more could parents want then to marry their children off to their trusted friends offspring! In the second picture you can even see the budding interest of little Addie on the train ride!

Drinking Fountain

Who ever knew the DHL truck delivered fresh spring water from the bathtub in the form of a drinking fountain?

The Bible Once Again from a Two Year Old

The other night I was reading about Mary and Joseph and the birth of baby Jesus. When we got to the page with the illustration of Jesus lying in the manger...Wyatt said, "Look, Mommy, Jesus is in the french fries!"

Addie's Six Month Birthday

This weekend Addie turned six months old and to celebrate, she got sick and decided that she needed some extra TLC in the middle of the night. So I was up with her about every hour and a half. Although she had a rough weekend, she has been showing her age in many ways. She now rolls around the house, smiles endlessly, and is sleeping between 10 and 12 hours a night without waking (when she is healthy of course!) She loves her solid food too. She is such a little peanut and quite dainty! She loves her brother and despite the many bites, hugs, and overall roughness he exudes she always seems to light up when he is around! Happy six months, Addie!

Brother and Sister

Wyatt

He is Risen

Not the greatest performance we've seen, but the chior has trouble performing on command! This is part of the doxology that Jack and Jeb learned at church and sung during Easter time. They taught it to Wyatt who now likes to sing "He is Risen" around 6am when he wakes up in the morning. The first time he belted it out from his bed, I felt like giving the age old response that we declare at church of Christ's resurrection...He is risen, He is risen indeed! Indeed, our little Wyatt makes it very clear when he has risen!

Addie on the Move

Addie is showing off her new found motor skills!

Blissful Brew

Last night I made it to costco to buy coffee among my list of other items that we consume too much of too quickly (trash bags, diapers, detergent, PT, TP, etc). Pretty much everything you see on the morning news show segments about things we aren't suppose to consume a lot of for fear that the planet will combust. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for reduce, reuse, and recycle and believe me we make our concerted effort. I have even been known regularly to leave my poor infants in their soggy diapers from the night until right before their morning nap in an effort to save just one diaper. I must admit that my motivation might stem more for making their dent in my wallet smaller than the dent they put in landfills, but the environment runs a close second to our tight budget!

David had class last night so while at costco, we had dinner (me and the two kiddos alone!). Of course, we are eating our hot dogs and pizza and Wyatt needs to pee, so I attempt to pack everyone and everything back in the cart to go to the tiny restrooms that aren't big enough for carts. Just what was I suppose to do with Addie? Leave her in the cart to watch over our recent purchases??? Did Wyatt pee? Of course not...the monstrous flushing noise of public restroom toilets has petrified him and he only pees when in public when he is desperate or bribed! Thus, resulting in many restroom trips before he caves.

We made it home and the kids went down well. On a side note Wyatt has recently been diagnosed with seasonal allergy asthma related problems. We now have a huge regimen of inhaled perscriptions to help us out and keep the wheezing at bay. Many of you remember last year at this time our trip to the ER for the same thing. So given the repeat this year the docs think it is a seasonal issue. Anyway, last night after 24 hours on steroids and inhalers the wheezing wasn't going away, so we ended up having to wake him throughout the night to continue treatments. By midnight I settled in to sleep and at 2 I woke to give another treatment.

And here comes the irony folks...Addie slept through the night! Yippee we all say except for my complete frustration that I had the worst night's sleep in weeks on the second night she was able to sleep through the night. Thus the blissful brew came in real handy! Perhaps there's hope for the near future.

So today we ended up at the doc's to just have his oxygen levels checked once again and all seems to be returning to normal! We went to Target following the appointment to fill another prescription. We had lunch while we waited and yes...it happened again. Yet another hurried trip to the bathroom in the middle of lunch. This time I propped the main bathroom door with the cart so I could view Addie and our purchases while propping a screaming two year old on a public toilet promising endless amounts of cookies!

One final thought...this was a great week for having a sick child to need lots of new prescriptions! Target pharmacy was offering $10 gift cards on all new prescriptions this week with their coupon from the weekly ad. Round total folks...I received $40 in gift cards. Now don't get me wrong...I would rather have a child not in the doc's office three times this week, but at least something good came of it!

Perhaps my title should've read something like: "Mad Moddy Money...how one stay at home mom gets paid!" If you are confused on the word "moddy" scroll down below. Happy Spring to all!

Hiro is my Hero

David and I were discussing what we are looking forward to in the return of "Heroes" this evening and our discussion ended up on the unlikely somewhat goofy character, Hiro. If you watch "Heroes" you know that Hiro's power is to stop time as well as other time related tricks like traveling through time. The only problem is that without the Kensei sword, Hiro had begun to lose his powers. In the last episode that aired a while back, Hiro recovered the Kensei sword and so regained his powers. We have seen tidbits of the sword wearing Hiro in previous episodes and he is totally a different character. Instead of the goofy and almost clumsy time traveler, we anticipate almost a warrior like demeanor. David is especially excited to see this Hiro come to life! As for me, the warrior thing doesn't do it for me, but I sure could go for some time stopping right now. I might even wind up with say seven or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep!

Why go brown?

I think that I must have been longing for my dark, strong and very caffinated coffee when I chose the color palate for the blog this week. This weekend we ran out of regular coffee. We still have decaf, but nothing with the get up and go in it. So, while I am enjoying the taste of my fresh brew each morning, I am literally unable to get motivated to do anything until naptime. Tonight, the only reason I am still awake right now is that Heroes is about to come on in twenty minutes. It will likely be Thursday before I can get the caffinated stuff, so I am already not looking forward to tomorrow morning!

Moddy

In the interest of saving time, the parental unit of the Juelfs' house has become just that...a unit. We are no longer a mommy and a daddy. We are a "moddy." Wyatt has taken to calling us "moddy" when he needs one of us. It seems that his little two year old brain can't keep up. He ends up speaking so quickly that he just merges us into one word. What an efficient little time saver we have on our hands.

What the new camera has captured...

The Highlight of Wednesday...

Brotherly Love

Why did Satan have to be a snake?

A while back I believe I posted with the title "And so" referring to Wyatt's favorite new phrase that we weren't entirely sure about it's origins. Well, I think I found it. Last night while reading Wyatt his bible, I noticed that as a bit of a page turner this particular bible uses the phrase "and so" as it is about to lead into a new part of the story. It just so happens that this is every other page or so. Wyatt is always so interested in this bible that he must have picked up the phrase.

He has also picked up on another detail I am not really let's just say proud of. I guess proud isn't the right word. It's just that of all the things he could have been excited about in the bible, oh let's say, Christ's birth, death, and his resurrection, our place in this redemptive story...he has chosen to be most excited about Satan. What else would a two year old boy like but snakes of course! This particular bible has big illustrations, hence the title, "The Big Picture Story Bible." It tells of the actual big picture of God's redemptive plan rather than focusing on little short stories found in most children's bibles. The short stories are there but always pointing to the bigger story of redemption. It is really cool how it uses this "big picture" metaphor and includes dramatic and very large illustrations to go along with it.

So naturally the snake (Satan) is a huge snake. Wyatt loves it! He always wants to conclude the evening bible reading with a good long glance at the snake page. I suppose for now that is fine and my hopes for his love of say other more important parts of the bible, for example God redeeming His people, will come in due time.

Rainy Day Activities

Mom is trying out the new digital camera while Wyatt runs wild through the house! We are just having a lazy rainy day morning! The camera lady needs some improvement. I will hopefully get the hang of this more as I use it.

Boys' Fashion

So, if you read the previous post, you'll understand my desire to make an entire post on Wyatt's new kicks! Wyatt recently has grown out of almost every pair of shoes we own for him. So for the summer he just got a new pair of crocs and for next fall I decided to keep my eyes open for some tennies I could by a little large and save for later. I stumbled upon these just the other day and given that they were on sale and incredibly stylish, I decided to pick them up. I think they are a real improvement on your average white tennis shoe! Don't you? So, perhaps I need to change my previous position and give boys' fashion some credit where credit is due. Boys' fashion can be stylish and appealing as well!

Happy Easter!

So, for those who might be thinking I'm a horrible mother who only takes pictures of her daughter and not her son, I promise I am not. I admit that sometimes I prefer to take a picture of Addie because she has cute clothes on whereas I am less likely to take a picture of Wyatt because his outfit is "cute." I would, but boys clothes just aren't as cute most of the time.

However, this wasn't one of those moments. I woke up on Sunday with all good intentions of taking a picture of Wyatt and Addie together. I had been planning it for a week...well, the fact that they were going to match a little on Easter was a bit of a reason to plan ahead to see that it would happen. But, as you can see, it didn't. Again, not out of a lack of love for capturing my sweet little boy's smile, but as anyone who knows Wyatt understands that in his opinion clothes just aren't as necessary as one might think.

We actually made it into the Easter outfit for church with little struggle and Addie was dressed early too. But then, mom as usual is rushing to get clothes on in order to arrive in a timely fashion for church. Sure, we could have brought the camera to church considering Memorial would have made a wonderful backdrop for photos, but our camera is the size of an elephant so that didn't happen either. And it wouldn't have been a holiday celebration without a few colds and cranky kids. So to our dismay, we left church as soon as it was over to get the kids in bed for naps. Wyatt went down in his church clothes (shocker of all things since he loves those jammies!), but when he awoke he requested that he put jammies on. So daddy changed him to avoid the post groggy nap temper tantrum and there went my picture...down the tubes because of those blasted jammies!

So what is left is a sweet picture of Addie in her hand made outfit crafted by a little old lady in Italy that Grammo and Popee bought her with no brother to hold her. She looks sweet though. In an effort to conserve my energy and your time, I will spare you yet another picture of Wyatt in his long sleeved dinasour and truck pajamas.

P.S. If you must see one, just look at every other picture of him on this blog and you'll see which ones I am talking about.

We hope your Easter celebration was a wonderful rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord. For in Him we have great hope! Happy Easter.

The Promised Picture

Here is our little sweetie on the day of her baptism. This dress has been passed down through three generations! It's been around the block from Catholic baptism/christenings to protestant baby dedications and finally made it into a protestant baptism. Funny to think of the places it has been!

Addie will be five months tomorrow. She is up to regular five month old things, trying to sit up, eating cereal, rolling around, etc. Last night, save your applause, she slept for twelve hours with no waking. You heard me right...twelve hours without eating in the middle of the night! Now as excited as I am, I am trying not to have expectations for this to happen again! Maybe I will be unexpectedly surprised tonight!

Spring is Here

Well, it seems that spring has arrived and with it a very busy schedule. We had grammo in town for a few days, left for Tennessee shortly after, returned home and a day later we welcomed memaw and papa to town. Addie was baptized just this past weekend too. We have greatly enjoyed these refreshing visits from family and always look forward to more of them.

Some of our springtime activities have included trips to the zoo, a visit to the arch, and many days outdoors!

Addie's baptism went really well and waa a glorious day to celebrate her part in the covenant family! We ask you join with us in trusting God that both she and Wyatt will come to know their great need for Christ and his saving power!

We have only a few weeks left for the spring semester and then we enter the home stretch of our last year at Covenant Seminary. Praise God for his faithfulness in keeping us here and providing for our every need. Continue to pray for direction for both David and me as we start seriously considering what and where our call is! This is very exciting to think about and also very daunting. May God guide our every steps.

We should have some pictures of the above activities posted within a few days! Enjoy!

Much to Praise Him For and Much to Pray About

I think by now many of you have noticed that our dear friends at seminary, Steve and Jen Allen's little daughter Amelia, has a blog concerning her prognosis and daily updates on her condition. Amelia was born just days before Addie and several weeks ago was diagnosed with leukemia. She is finishing her last round of chemo and hopefully will be returning home this week. We give thanks to God for giving her lungs strength and clearing them so the ventalator could be removed. Amelia's cries are now heard and her strength gaining slowly. Praise God that she even will be able to come home soon. Jen and Steve have a very long road of treatment and recovery for Amelia so please keep them in your prayers. Some things to continue to pray for are listed below as well as the link to her website for more daily specific needs to pray about.

Amelia:
*tolerance with the side effets of chemo
*rest
*strength
*stay infection free (very important!!!)

Steve:
*rest, strength, and health (also very important so nothing is passed to Amelia!)
*wisdom with school. Steve is set to graduate this May and move to Tennessee to start a study center in Nashville. This is a very trying time to figure out how all of these things can be accomplished with Amelia's care being of top priority.

Jen:
*comfot, rest and strength!
*more and more opportunities to hold Amelia in her arms and care for her!
*health...Jen has a fever that has kept her away from Amelia for a day now.


Amelia's blog: www.ameliaallen.wordpress.com

Wanting God to Check Out the Room

So, the other day David was in the tent with Wyatt and of course being two Wyatt was acting selfish and not wanting Daddy to touch any toys. So, David told him that everything given to him is really God's stuff and he has given it to us to enjoy. Wyatt naturally responded, "No, it's mine!" And the conversation continued.

Shortly after our pastor came to visit us to discuss Addie's coming baptism. Wyatt knew we were talking about God and a few minutes later he was whispering to me that he wanted God to see his toys in his room. I told him God gave him his toys and that he sees him playing all the time, but he was very persistant that God come to his room.

Then it clicked. I said, "Do you mean Pastor George?" He said yes. So, Pastor George took a trip to the tent in Wyatt's room. Thanks Pastor George!

Please Pray

One of our friends here at Covenant has just learned that their daughter, Amelia, has been diagnosed with leukemia. She is four months old. Steve and Jen Allen are finishing their last semester at Covenant Seminary and preparing to move to Tennessee after graduation. Amelia was born just a few days before Addie and has recently been sick with a series of viruses and has just not seemed to recover from them. She had her blood tested last night where it was discovered that she had an abnormally high white blood cell count. She has had some treatments to exchange her blood in order to lower the white cell count and also has had chemotherapy this morning. Steve and Jen are waiting for the results of her bone marrow biopsy which will determine the type of leukemia Amelia has. There are several types and some of them have higher rates of being treatable even to the point of full recovery. Please be praying with us for their family and for healing in little Amelia. Steve and Jen need prayer for strength as they wait on the test results and wisdom as they work with doctors on the right course of treatment for her.

Our Spring Warm Up

Spring is slowly starting to appear and this week we have had several warm days. We have spent them outside of course trying to make the most of our outside toys while we can! Unfortunately, we were unable to get to the zoo this week. We're saving that for when Meemaw and Papa are here! Can't wait to see you.

Times are changing...

This title has many meanings for me today.

First, this is my late shot out at our spring forward time change. In my former days before children this was the most dreaded of days where in fact we lost sleep and spent the next two weeks recovering. I believe I may have posted something back in the fall about how I once loved the "fall back" time change and children completely changed that! While the adult population lost an hour of sleep this past weekend, we actually kept the status quo. Our children continued to sleep in to their normal hour which in fact was one hour later Sunday morning. While that day nothing changed, Monday and Tuesday have been different! We have actually been able to catch a few extra zzzz's in the morning while the kiddos are adjusting.

On a heavier note, both exciting and sad, our neigborhood is changing. And while I have anticipated this time for over a year now, I don't think I am prepared for it. One of my closest friends moves this semester in May. They have taken a call to Colorado at St. Patrick's Presbyterian Church. This is fabulous news, but also sad as we are still hear in St. Louis for yet another year. Our other close friends that live adjacent to our apartment have bought a house where they will probably be moving to before the semester is over. I know we only have one year remaining, but it is so sad for me to think of spending it here in a completely different manner than we have enjoyed so much over the last two years. I know God is faithful to provide us with what we need, so I pray he will protect me from loneliness and provide new meaningful relationships.

Finally, little Addie is changing...constantly! She is now four months old and a true delight to be around (except of course in the middle of the night!) She is rolling around, smiling and interacting with us, and showing huge interest in her newly discovered voice! She has experimented with rice cereal and seems to like it too. We are loving her new stages and look forward to her many more changes to come in the next year!

While Daddy was out...

My little thumb suckers!


Who doesn't love chocolate popscicles?



Daddy's old t-shirt...much loved!


More hair accessories!

David took a trip to Chicago this week for ministry purposes and I flew solo parenting our two youngsters for the week. We survived, even had a little fun while managing being apart from our daddy. Let me first just give a special kudos to single parents on how they manage because I frankly need the daddy of our house around and am not sure I would know how to survive without one! And for every household that has a baby, there is one sure thing about solo parenting...bedtime is a bitch! Just how does one bathe and clothe a two year old when the four month old is screaming unless she is held? I tried a number of ways but don't think I have it figured out yet. My only solution is to just let the poor four month old cry because it will only be for a short while but a two year old tantrum is much more difficult to recover from!

Addie Grace turns four months, and so...

Here is our little darling at four months. Dare I say there is a trace of her mother in the first picture??? She seems for the most part to have passed through the colic phase and seems to be overall enjoying life a lot. She loves Wyatt and any attention he is willing to give her. She is quite vocal (did anyone think she wouldn't be???) We are really enjoying and loving this precious gift of life!

And so, no we are not having another one right now. The "and so" is our funny new Wyattism. The other day while talking Wyatt started connecting ideas together with the words and so. It is quite funny to listen to. He will babble on and on and on and then take a long pause and say "and so" and then just continue in on another rant about any number of things!

For example, he told David on the phone tonight..." I play with Jack and Jeb. I make long train. Jeb took my train...and so, I got spanking." And so, mommy seems to think he left out the most important turn of events in the string where he through a fit when his friend messed up his train which led to the spanking, but it is quite funny to see him connect all these ideas together!

Gymnastics

So Wyatt liked gymnastics until the teacher asked him to do stuff. Then, he got very nervous and ran away! He stayed as far away from everyone as possible until the very end when the bubbles and stickers came out! He loved those! In the end Wyatt warmed up to Miss Angela and I think things will be even more excited next week. Or, so I hope!