February Highlights

This month has been one of incredible development for our little Briana!

At the beginning of the month, we were given a bumbo, which she did so well with! It gave her the extra boost she needed to get a different view on her world. She loved it.

By the middle of February, Briana finally got it! She would sit before, but had also perfected the face plant. She left the face plants behind, seemingly, overnight! And now she seems to be growing up before our eyes. What a joy, as a parent, to see your child develop, try new things, fail, but conquer! So proud of my baby girl!




Briana has been having a hard time sleeping through the night. She still hasn't, usually waking up 2-3 times per night, but still sometimes waking up much more. One night she was up SO.MANY.TIMES. It literally exhausted me. Was she warm? I adjusted the fan. Was she hungry? She wouldn't eat. Was she uncomfortable? No burps. Were mosquitoes bothering her? I made sure her net was securely in place.
Why didn't I think about teething????
By morning, this exhausted mama was surprised to find that Bri had cut her top two teeth! She was grinding her teeth, and I was, like, what??? Wait a second. Sure enough! There they were!
Forgive me if I wasn't more excited. I was wiped. Joey sent me back to bed. haha

I snapped a photo of us in the middle of the night one night.
Sleepy mama, sleepy baby.


Her personality seems to be blossoming, too. Really talking, flashing incredibly winning smiles to her daddy, and learning how to stick up for herself around her big brother! She can really communicate her opinions when Wes takes her toy away, but can also play with him a little more, as well! Sometimes he tries to bug her, but sometimes he can draw her giggles out like nobody else can!








At the beginning of this month, Joe and I sat down and strategically planned how we were going to implement some child-training techniques with our 2 year old. Wes often gets away with a lot, especially when mommy is working and daddy is studying or working. 
In the Khmer culture, children eat on the go. Parents or nannies run after the child with a bowl and a spoon and feed as children are playing. Actually, we've seen many children that are 4-8 years old, with parents still feeding them. We decided we didn't want that for our child! He also loves to eat in the living room while he plays or watches Curious George. So, this month, I am happy to say, we have broken him of both of these habits, and he is now used to joining us at the table! We set a timer for 20 minutes so he knows that when he hears the ding, he's allowed to jump down. A little victory perhaps, but a step in the right direction for us!

This also brought the change of Briana taking over Wes' old chair, and Wes now sitting on a stool at the table!







Joe also gave Wesley an incredible gift this month: a swing on our roof!!! Yes, Joe had a board made with holes, and then put the swing up himself for Wes to enjoy. Wes LOVES it! We are up on the roof a LOT now, with a new swing, the sandbox re-filled with sand, and the weather hot enough to enjoy the swimming pool again! We're hoping to get a swing made for Briana soon, too.

 

A new word in Wesley's vocabulary:

UNDER-DOGGIE!!!

 

Day or night, we love our roof!

Sometimes our neighbors join us, too!

Usually neighbors only use their roofs for drying laundry. So this is often the view we have while enjoying our swing ride. haha!

It's fun to watch our kids playing together!

Wes LOVES popcorn! He grabs the bowl and claims it as his own. "Wesley's bowl" he says.
He comes by it honestly. I was practically raised on the stuff!

Wes also loves to play ball. Of any kind! Kicking a soccer ball, or hitting a baseball, or hitting balloons with a badminton racquet, he loves sports. Here he is joining in with some neighbor kids who had a game going. It's a bad recording (on my ipod at dusk) but it give you an idea of his enthusiasm for sports! 

Wes still adores his trains. He still has to sleep with them at night, and loves making and re-making his train track.

He's allowed to bring a toy to the table at dinner time, and his train is usually his first choice. Imagine his surprise when he found a cool trick he could do with his train and his fork & spoon!!! :D



He makes me laugh all the time!







Our new center piece:



The mosquitoes have been really bad this month! Thankfully their numbers are decreasing the hotter the weather gets. But at the beginning of February it honestly brought back memories of my growing up in Northern Ontario years! ahhh...the smell of the mosquito coil. It brings back a flood of memories!

Keeping fans going also keeps the mosquitoes away. However, we also got a mosquito net to protect Briana as she sleeps.



Wesley is my accountability partner.




One thing this month that the boys have discovered, is UNO.
I taught one boy how to play it, and then EVERY night for WEEKS they were over here wondering if I could play with them! Of course I did as often as I could. With Joe working 3 nights/week, it allows me to have more time to just sit and play UNO with the neighbor boys! Such fun! :)






Wes is NOT good at playing with other kids.
So, our Wednesday morning play date is important for him.
It's important for me, too! It gets me out of the house, and I'm enjoying getting to know other moms in my community.
Here are just a few random shots I took to give you an idea.

I love my beautiful daughter!

I look forward to our Friday dates each week! 

It's a special time where we can escape our busy days and just treat ourselves with some "us" time, and usually a new coffee shop. This week, though, since it's gotten SO hot, we treated ourselves to Swensen's! WHOA. Amazing.

This month we were also able to celebrate some cousins' birthday!

Happy birthday Brooklynn!!! (Joe's sister's daughter)

and

Happy birthday, Katrina!!! (My brother's daughter)

We hate it that we have to miss the parties, but we try to celebrate a little in our own little way. 

We love and miss you!

Just for kicks, here are a few shots that didn't make the cut for the actual birthday card, but I thought were cute! We just took these today.

Hope this post helps to give you an idea of what our little corner of the world is looking like these days. 

Please pray for Joe, as he will start to teach his Minor Prophets course at the Bible College! Teaching the Bible is the whole POINT of why we moved here, so we're so excited to see this opportunity opening up for him! The new semester starts tomorrow! Thanks for your prayers for us.

Love and miss you all!

Joe, Nica, Wes, & Bri