Big Grandma

We have a little bit of sad news. Papa Bear's Grandmother is not in very good health. She spent much of the last week in the hospital and we have learned that she has breast cancer that metastasized into her lungs. She has chosen not to receive treatment and is back at home and seems to be in good spirits. We aren't sure quite how long she has left on this earth, but we sure do love her and look forward to spending as much quality time with her as possible.

Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

J'dub playing at G'ma Becky's

Here is a video taken on 2/25/07 of Autumn entertaining J'dub. J'dub loves playing with his cousins.

Posting videos and photos

I have a little housekeeping. From here on out I am going to back-date any video/picture posts to the date they were actually taken. This will keep the front page from being inundated with old videos and pictures.

So.... if you notice on the right side of the page there is a box that says labels. That lists all the different topics I have blogged on. I will put videos under videos and so on. I will also try to post a new announcement that links to the videos.

If that didn't make any sense, it probably isn't that important anyway.

Fun with Picasa

I thought it would be fun to play around posting some photos on the blog, so here we go.
The top picture is Mommy and Joshua playing around the house. Joshua looks oh so dapper in his Janie and Jack duds that Aunt Cedar bought for his birthday. If you can't tell, the hat has fish that match the shirt. We think it will be great beachwear for when we head to NC in May.















G'ma and G'pa B with Samantha and Joshua. Out of about 20 pictures, this is the only one where everyone is looking at the camera. It was quite the ordeal getting a good shot.

And he speaks!

J'dub has just started talking like crazy. It has previously been up for debate whether or not he is really saying Mama and actually referring to me. Well on Tuesday, he started saying "Thank you." Four different people have heard it and everyone agrees. He doesn't say it super clear, but you know that is what he is trying to do. It is super cute.
It all started because we play the Thank you came. He gives us something and we say "Thank you," then we hand it back to him. We go back and forth like that until he gets bored. Well now when we give him whatever the object of "thank you" is he says Thank you back to us.

That is quite an accomplish for one week, but he has really outdone himself. Today he started saying "burp." When I was changing his post-nap diaper he burped and I said "burp. " J'dub then said, "bup." His r's aren't quite there yet. I said burp again and he repeated it again.

With a start like this it will be most interesting to see what his next word are...

Busy week

This week was a pretty busy one. We got to go to Samantha's birthday dinner on Wednesday at Fuddrucker's. It was a lot of fun. J'dub enjoyed throwing his mac and cheese all over the floor and Samantha enjoyed licking the ranch off of her chicken strips.

J'dub had a bit of a tough week. He has/had a little cold or allergies. Runny nose and a small cough, but thankfully that is all.

This week J'dub climbed down the stairs a few times. It is quite darling. The process looks like this:
1. Sit on the edge of the step
2. Puts feet on the next step down
3. Stand up on next step down
4. Sit on the edge of that step
5. repeat
We'll get some pictures when we aren't so busy trying to coax him down or make sure he doesn't take a header.
Mama Bear has been spending all her free time working on designs for her laser-cut scrapbook cut-outs. Papa Bear gets to spend some time getting caught up on his video games and the like. It is a win-win-win situation.
With that I will say goodnight, and if you don't already watch The Office on NBC, you should. It is hilarious.

A Cute Cousin Samantha story

warning: contains the word booby... a lot.

J'dub and Mama Bere were at G'ma B's with Samantha. J'dub was nursing while Samantha and Grandma were playing. Samantha walked over to us, pointed and said, "Booby." After confirming with her that is indeed what she said, I told her that Boobies were for feeding babies. So she said "Baby. " We went around a few more times of associating boobies with babies and she went off to play again.
A few minutes later she walked over and pointed at us, so I asked her, "What is it?" She again said, "Booby."

What a sweet and funny girl!

Another new skill

I forgot to add one thing J'dub learned yesterday to the list.
I don't know what the technical term for it is, so if you do, let me know.
He can make himself sound like he is underwater by moving his lips with his fingers while making a noise.
Feel free to try it yourself if you don't get a mental picture.

Cousin Samantha used to do the same thing using the back of her hand. It's very cute.

I'm a big kid now!

Here is a list of things J'dub has learned recently or is on the verge of learning:

• Giving High-5's - a few months
  
• Giving kisses - a week or so now
  
• Using a no-spill sippy cup all on his own - a few weeks with the no-spill
  
• Bang, oh I mean, play the piano - a week ago
  
• "Use" a spoon to feed himself - a few weeks. (He usually switches to grabbing handfuls from the bowl)
  
• Take the cover off of the nightlights- Feb 2
  
• Discovered pushing the button on his book makes the sheep say, "Bah, bah" - Feb 3
• Climb the stairs(still working on the down) - a week
  
• Push the plungers and add balls to his Sit and Spin Arcade - a week ago
  
• "Brush" his own teeth - a few weeks
  
• Say Momma/Mom while actually referring to his Mother - a month or so
• Smiling and waving when you tell him "No" or "Come here" - a few weeks
  
• Walk while pushing something - a few weeks ago
  
• Walk while holding only one of my hands - a week ago/still working on this one

J'dub seems to have turned the corner and had less physical growth, but his mental growth is just taking off. It seems like everyday we seem him master some new skill. It is a very exciting time for all of us.