2 and a half ( plus a month )

Hiking in the mountains with mom and dad

Things have been insanely busy for us lately - I'm still working two jobs and have two classes left for my degree and Rachael is working more. In addition to all of that, it looks like we're going to be having another baby around the beginning of May next year. I regret that my time commitment here has fallen off but I've been enjoying spending as much time as I can with little Joe.

Joe's at the point that he can understand just about anything we ask of him and can formulate some sort of sentence response to us. He loves talking about trucks, cars, airplanes, rockets, and trains and enjoys every chance he gets to get out and be outside. He just started sleeping in his own bed in the last week, even though its still just next to ours, and still sleeps through the night most nights.

His health issues have all but disappeared to this point, with the exception of a minor ear infection every once in a while. It looks like he's mostly outgrown his allergy and digestive issues and looks like he's grown a bit in the last month or so, to the point where he's just about out of his 24-month clothes.

He rode his first horse the other day at an open house at my work and really just seems to 'get it' when it comes to life. He knows our daily routine and is usually talking about what it is we're about to do, from going to day care to going home to see mom and give her a kiss and even his bath, brushing his teeth, reading a bed-time story ( Green eggs and ham is his favorite ), and going to sleep. He even asks for diaper changes and diaper cream when it gets bad enough for him.

He has been in a 'no' phase for a few months now and has given us some problems with it, but none of it is unmanageable and he does a good job of apologizing when he misbehaves and knowing when he's done something wrong.

We're looking forward to what could be the first holiday season he will remember for the rest of his life and have been contemplating visiting Rachael's family in Arizona for it. He seems to be getting excited at the prospect of a little sibling and talks about mama's tummy every day.

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German Kindergarten

Mom and the kids at the Alhambra, Granada, Spain Both kids have started German Kindergarten (Kindi) in the past few weeks. We're still going through a compulsory transition period with Nora but Joe's been in full-time for a good while and he's loving it. It's rare that he doesn't come home covered head-to-toe in sand and he still has a hard time leaving every day because he's having such a good time. His German is improving quite rapidly and he's already saying things I don't understand, which couldn't make me happier. I'm so happy for both of my kids that they get this privilege of growing up in another country and having two primary languages, which I hope will give them opportunities later in life that I can't even think of. Even without new opportunities, though, I'm happy that they can grow up in another culture and have the perspective of the world you can only gain through travel that I sorely wish I'd had as a young k...

3 Years Old

Joe feeling Nora kick for the first time Today is Joe's 3rd birthday. It seems like a lifetime ago that he was born and we met him for the first time, and in some ways I feel like it was the start of a whole new life for me. I can't imagine a world where I come home and don't have a familiar 'Dada!' and a big hug waiting to greet me. Things with Joe have been wonderful lately, despite frequent temper tantrums in the evening that I think we can attribute to his changing sleep schedule. He frequently plays on his own and often has entire conversations with his toys or other objects in the house that just crack us up. Last night, for example, he was asking his asparagus, "What's wrong?" and petting it before eventually just popping it in his mouth and continuing on with dinner. Joe's vocabulary has expanded significantly in the last few months, and I feel like we're at the point where he pretty much understands everything we're say...

Visiting pop-pop and grammy for the first time

Hanging out on the couch and relaxing with the kids Tomorrow we leave for a short but much-needed vacation to Phoenix to visit Rachael's father and brother. It'll be everyone's first opportunity to meet Nora and have a chance to see how much Joe has grown since they last saw him. Wayne hasn't seen Joe since before he turned three and Wes hasn't seen him since just before we left for Belgium when Joe was only 8 months old. It'll be a great weekend, I'm sure. Nora is just about 6 months old now and just loves to smile and spend time snuggling with mom and dad. She has parts of three lower teeth in now and has been gumming soft food for about 3 weeks now - sweet potatoes, bananas, and steamed carrots mostly. She also loves grabbing at just about anything we put near our mouths, especially glasses and cups. She's still running in the 60-70 percentile for height and weight, which is a drop-off from her earlier rate but still is great to see. ...

My little Angels

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