Star Light Star Bright

Tonight Will and I went for a walk just after dusk. We were talking and as we were nearing our house he said, "Look, mom! Just one star." I went on to tell him about wishing on a star and taught him the rhyme to go with it. He made his wish, and was anxious to tell me, but I told him to keep it to himself so that it would come true. (Who knows why that is part of it...seems a lot more likely it will happen if someone knows about it)
The first thing he did was run upstairs to his dad and tell him about the star and...his wish. (apparently, Will thought the keep it to himself rule was dumb too) I followed behind him saying, "don't tell, don't tell" but it was too late. He told. Will's wish was that we would have enough time to go swimming today. If you remember from a few lines up, it's already night time at this point, but Josh being the great dad that he is couldn't let Will's wish not come true. So, he stopped working on his homework (which he has a ton of today) and took Will to the pool at 10:00pm. For your viewing pleasure, we present night swimming, with Will and daddy.

Thanks, Daddy!

Brotherly Love

To help lose the extra baby pounds, I've made a focused effort to play outside more with the boys. Will asked me to play soccer with him in the front yard. Thankfully, we have an abundance of TONKA trucks to set up goal markers. We had been playing for a while when Isaac decided to join us. Giggies took one goal, and Will manned the other. We rotated out who got to be the kicker, and when it came time for Will to be the leg man, this is what resulted...

Isaac pouting because he only wants to play with me and not with Will. To prevent Will from being able to play, he took both of his markers and put them together so Will didn't stand a chance of scoring on him. Clever, and mean.

It didn't stop Will from trying. You can imagine the hysterics that ensued as Will approached him with a full force kick. I swear that they do like each other most of the time, but they fight with the same passion they play with. All of it gives me a headache.

And for good measure, Ms. Josie.

Hello, Jo!

Icky Ticky

Dear Mother Tick,

We found your stinkin' kid today. Where you ask? Embedded in the head of my sweet little Isaac. I know what you are thinking that's impossible! Rick the Tick didn't leave the bush all day...so, it is you who is at fault.

Next you are going to tell me to keep my kid from traipsing through your bush. Maybe you have a point, but as punishment for Rick burrowing into the wrong kid, he will die a long slow painful death of suffocation by Ziploc bag.

Sincerely, Mrs. Brown

Gross.
He was very brave.
Note to parents: If you are washing your kids hair and think how the heck did they get a sunflower seed to stick in their hair like that?! Look closer. It is a tick. Gross.

Family Day

The Brown family had a full family Saturday. This is pretty commonplace for most families, but not for us. Our daddy is super busy, so it's rare that the day is spent doing fun things as a family. It was a great day. The kids did awesome all day, even the Josinator, and it ended with dinner out--everyone was happy :)

The 4th of July is upon us, and so is the ridiculously expensive Franklin City carnival. We let the kids go on a couple of rides each, and they loved every second.

Will riding some insanely fast ride that I was sure would give him the barfs...it didn't.
Isaac enjoying a little piece of Heaven.

Me and Gigs.

The cutest thing in the world.

Or maybe this is.

Pokies

Pokies are the pits. At our house we call shots (immunizations) pokies. Josie got pokies yesterday--3 of them. I felt so bad for her. I always do. Then, usually, I feel bad for me for the rest of the day, because pokies make babies feel crummy. That is until Josie! She really is my dream baby. The boys had terrible days when they got there shots. They ran low fevers and were just grumpy. Not Josie. She would do this incredibly sad whimper when you touched her legs, but otherwise, she just wanted to sleep. She snuggled up on my chest and slept and slept. She usually goes to bed for the night at 10:00. Last night she went at 8:00 but still woke up at the same time this morning. She is an all star.

At nearly 10 weeks old, she weighs 11lbs 1 oz, and is 21 3/4 inches long. She gained nearly 3 pounds but only grew 1/4 inch. Hmm...cute.

Sweet as Sugar

Josie 7 weeks

I can't get enough of this little girl. She is wonderful. Being the primary care giver to an infant is the best job in the world. It is super demanding, but the payoffs are enormous. Josie started really smiling about 2 weeks ago--awesome. When she is upset and unhappy in someone else's arms, give her to mom--calm. There is a special kind of love felt from a little creature that is quite literally dependent on you for everything.

A little bit about my girl:

Since we brought her home, she has been an incredible little sleeper. I only had one night where she seemed to have her days and nights reversed, and even then she was happy while she was awake. I'm not sure how long Josie would go at night without needing to eat, because it seems I always wake her at some point to feed her so that I can get some sleep, if you know what I mean. She has consistently slept around 6 solid hours every night since we've brought her home and when she does wake to eat, goes right back to sleep. Compared to my boys, this is golden.

She has started to become a little more fussy in the evenings, but even her fussy is cute.

Her brothers love her, especially Will. Isaac calls her "little precious", and Will is convinced that he speaks her language. They are good big brothers. When Josie is screaming in the car they try to calm her by singing this funny little song they made up that only has one line that they repeat over and over, "Please stop crying". It's so funny to hear. They also give her updates on how close we are to home so she can hang in there.

Josh is goo when he is around her. I love to watch them together. His eyes are absolutely filled with love every time he sees her.

We couldn't have asked for a better baby girl.

Josie's Blessing

Josie getting her blessing dress put on by Aunt Alisha.
Josie and my oldest sister, Jill. She spent MANY hours crocheting this incredible dress. I can't thank her enough. It is beautiful.

Josie was blessed on Sunday, June 6th, by Josh. He gave her an incredibly special blessing, and it seemed to include the very things that I have been pleading with Heavenly Father to teach me how to teach her. Small miracles. We were lucky enough to have some of our family join us for this event. My mom and dad were there, my sister Alisha, my brother Jared and his wife, Melissa, and as a huge surprise my sister Jill and her husband Alan drove a long 7 hours to be with us--and what did I do to show my gratitude for this tremendous kindness they showed me? I completely forgot about them and almost made them and me miss the blessing! They were waiting to follow me to the church. They went out the front door, I went out the back, and zipped off the back way without one thought of them waiting in the front. In my defense, it was a hectic morning, and not one of the other three adults in my car remembered them either. Sorry Jill and Alan. Thank you to everyone who came to support us, it really meant so much, and I loved watching Josie get to snuggle into all those new family members.