A staggering figure...

$379,000 - the cost of my mother's 8 day hospital stay! I figured it would be a lot - but to see that figure..is astounding! My mother's portion of the bill would have only been $5,070. Thank God for insurance! But that also tells you why insurance is SOO expensive.

Baaa...ooon

I think I've mentioned that Joshua's FAVORITE word to say is now Balloon...said baaa...oooon. Well now everything in the sky is a baaa..ooon. We could see the moon last night on our walk and he was saying, "baa..ooon, baa..oon" and we were saying, "moooon, moooon" and he would repeat back, "baa..ooon, baa..oon" as if - that is what I've been saying! But if you ask him more specifically, "where is the moon?" - he will point right at it...it's like he knows the difference but yet everything comes out of his mouth lately as "baa..ooon". Anywho, he has been babbling NON-STOP lately. As if really having conversations and talking about stuff. So I wouldn't be surprised if in a month or two those babbles turned into lots of words. He can already say about 15 words but his babble has really picked up. The other thing that Joshua likes to do is ask us what EVERYTHING is. He will point to every object he sees and say, "This?" or "that?" very quizzically. Anyways, then we tell him what it is and he points to the next object, "This?". It's like a baby version of "why?".

Riley continues to be Joshua's play pal. It really makes me feel like we need to get a brother or sister for Joshua-- which ever since my mother died has been even heavier on my heart and mind. It's something I definitely want to start aiming for saving money when we can so we can adopt #2. We will see what God has in store for us but my heart is really leading me lately to get on the ball about #2. Anyways, I've added some cute pics of Joshua & Riley. Riley is SOOO patient with Joshua. Joshua literally bounces on top of Riley as if he was a horse....it's cute and so sweet how good Riley is with him. They also are quite good at sharing balls with one another. Joshua will throw it at Riley and Riley will catch it then drop it for Joshua to throw again.

Ok...one more thing...Joshua is absolutely obsessed with balls. He use to call balls ..baamms. But now he calls them, "ball, balls". He must always say the word twice. He can carry like 3 or 4 of them in his arms. We have a gazillion of them it seems. And he can throw a ball REALLY well. Future football star...I doubt it unless he grows quite a bit - but maybe baseball? Who knows!

We're back...

We just got back from the beach and we had a really great time. We rented bikes and rode all over Hilton Head which was LOTS of fun. We tried to keep our eyes out for alligators and only saw two. But we did see TONS of dolphins. Hilton Head is swamped with them. We could not go near the beach without sighting them. One evening while we were strolling the beach a dolphin execursion was just off the beach where we were and there were dolphins all over the boat. They were like 25 feet from us. It was pretty cool. We also enjoyed lots of time in the ocean and playing on the sand. Joshua liked it when the waves would crash into him. He also loved going up to all the other kids on the beach and stealing their sand toys. He didn't quite understand that they weren't all for him. You would have thought we didn't bring him any of his own toys - but somehow they weren't as cool as all the other toys. WHile we were there my brother also remarried his ex-wife, our nieces mom - so that was really nice to get to be a part of. Well, that is the update for now...enjoy the pics!

A few quick things...

We got a gift certificate to a pretty nice restaurant and decided to go there with our friends, Kitty & Vinnie on Monday night. We had a really nice time...and had a celebrity sighting. At the table next to us was Richard Petty from Nascar. Again, we are not Nascar fans but somehow we continue to have run ins. I really only know him from the Goody headache commercials...but still a tiny bit exciting. We also tried out a new babysitter - which I LOVED! So I'm really thrilled to have someone that I trust (I've known her mom for years) and she is only 15 so I have a few years before she will be off to college and she lives down the street...all so perfect & convenient.

I also found this and though you would enjoy....so please go look..it's rather charming...
CLICK HERE

And now, off to bed to wake up and drive to the beach..wahoo. :)

Busy, Busy...

We've had a busy weekend so far. I think I mentioned that a friend of ours gave us their old play set...so we have been busy getting it set up and fixed up. Friday, while Joshua napped, I pressure washed it, then yesterday we started staining it, continued staining it today and started putting it together. I still haven't finished staining yet but it's looking very nice. We also have a pirates wheel to add and a roof/tarp once I finish the staining. Joshua got to swing in it for the first time today and had an absolute blast.

Yesterday we also went to the IAC picnic which was fun. It was SOOOOOOOOO hot though. Joshua went on his first carousel ride which went pretty darn fast! I was really surprised how fast that little sucker went. The carousel is in the part and was built in 1911...so it's a pretty cool old ride. They also had a magician for the kids so all the big kids sat around to watch him and of course, Joshua wanted to be with the big kids to he got right in the middle of them. It was cute...until...he started whapping one of them on the head with his Frisbee. I think his dad taught him that. After the hot day we also went swimming and are planning to go swimming again today once Joshua wakes up.

I'm still having a super hard time with the loss of my mom...sometimes I wonder if the sadness will ever go away. I'm am so thankful for my two silly guys who can at least bring a smile to my face though I had no idea how incredibly hard a loss like this could be. I'm also learning that a very sudden & unexpected loss like this brings on a whole slew of other emotions that are sometimes so completely overwhelming, that I'm extra thankful to have a great husband who is putting up with my crazy moodswings. Anyways, that is the quick update for now. Check out our shutterfly account for more pics.

A few updates...

Joshua has found something new and fun to do...climb into his toy box. He is doing it pretty regularly lately and especially loves to dump the toys out, climb in, then put the toys back in on top of himself. He is picking up quite a few words lately and it's so random. Just tonight he walked over to John and grabbed his nose and said 'nose' as plain as day.

Today I decided to cut all my hair off, well, I've actually been thinking of doing it for a while...so I just went ahead and did it. She took 6 inches off and was a little scared I think to do it cause I think she thought I might freak out or something. Anywho, I really like it and hopefully this will mean I won't have to wear it in a ponytail everyday! Here's a pic - warning I'm not wearing any make-up and it's a self portrait so not the greatest.

Kindermusik Pictures

Every Wednesday Joshua and I go to Kindermusik. He absolutely loves it and I HIGHLY recommend it! Here are some pictures of one of our classes. As you can see in the one picture, we were trying to get all our kids to sit with our teacher Ms. Julie - but it was quite a task.