Home, again

Josiah and I are back in VA from a whirlwind weekend to Tulsa, OK where Randy has spent the last month rotating at In His Image. We not only got to see my husband and "dada", we also got to spend some time with his brother and family, whom I hadn't seen since last Christmas.

After spending some time with a couple of the residents and their wives on Friday, I feel like I'm back to "Square One" with regards to which program fits us the best. I fully prepared to NOT like the program based on how little Randy mentioned about the types of events/bible studies/etc. there are for the residents' wives to participate in. Since I will be giving the "stay at home mom" thing a try after we move, it's become EXTREMELY important for me to know what my options are as far as getting involved, if I want to. So on Friday, I got to meet with a couple of residents' wives who stay at home with their children and found out that there is more than enough to do to stay sane during residency. I don't know much about Moms Day Out, but the two women I talked to, take their children so that they can have some "down time" to run to the store, work out, etc. In addition, there is a ladies bible study on both Tuesday AM and Thursday PM where free child care is provided. Then there is the consideration of what Tulsa has to offer: zoo, parks, walking trails, libraries, etc. So there is my dilemma....which to rank #1: Tulsa or Harlingen? If the learning experience is equivalent, my heart tells me that I need to look at location as the deciding factor...and Tulsa would be so much closer to family (both sides). I can sit here and debate for days, but the choice has already been made for us....and God will be hiding it from us until March. UGH! I hate this waiting game.

Our travel to OK served two purposes: to visit the residency program and to visit with Randy's family. Josiah LOVED playing with his cousins (9 and 5 yo), and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in conversation with my SIL. She is also expecting a wee one, about a month before AJ. So we spent some time talking about babies, what I'm going to do before/after we move (i.e. how staying at home has me really freaked out and she's been doing it for the last 9 years--she's a pro), recipes that work well to freeze (in an effort to save money and prepare for the babies), blogging, etc. We even took a belly shot, which Elizabeth has posted her blog. Elizabeth is 31 weeks and we're 4 weeks behind at 27 weeks....only 13 more to go!!!!

While I don't regret our visit to OK, I hate traveling (especially by plane, by myself, with a toddler and pregnant). To top off the weekend, we arrived at the Tulsa airport on Sunday only to hear that our flight was delayed an hour due to bad weather in Memphis. An hour's not so bad, except that 1 hour quickly turned into 2 hours, resulting in us missing our connecting flight to Greensboro. NW wanted to reroute us to Chicago, but we would have spent another 1.5 hours in Tulsa and a layover in Chicago for 3-4 hours....for an arrival time in Greensboro at 9:30PM, which was way too late, considering that I still needed to drive 2 hours to VA. So I asked for a flight first thing in the AM. The good thing of the delay was that we got to spend an extra day with Randy and some additional time with his brother. :-) Well, we got home in one piece yesterday afternoon, after waking at 4:30AM to be ready for our 6:30AM flight. I should have done some laundry and collected the trash, but I wanted to spend some time relaxing and work on the baby's blanket. I definitely appreciated the quiet after the busy weekend. ;-)

Josiah: Our Very Own Weed

It just amazes me how fast the young mind and body grows. Josiah and I talk to Randy every night, and each night Randy asks what Josiah did that day. And it seems that I have something fun and new to report each night. However, the most recent developments seem not to be related to what he is doing but rather to what he is saying.

This past weekend while outside playing, Josiah heard an airplane....so we looked for it. Josiah pointed to it and followed it as far as he could until it disappeared into the clouds. When I asked him where it went, he replied while shrugging his shoulders and lifting his hands, "don't know".

Last we called my parents to wish Papa a "Happy Birthday" but because he wasn't home yet, we ended up talking to Grandma for a while. Randy and I are trying to instill good manners into our little 17-month old (we've asked for "please" and "thank you" so many times that he's starting to get it), so when Grandma asked Josiah a "yes/no" question, I encouraged him to reply, "Yes, ma'am". And much to my amazement, he repeated, "Yes, ma'am" just clear as day.

Josiah also enjoys talking on the phone with "da-da". He will take the phone from me and talk to Randy for a good 5 minutes, saying all sorts of things that only he can understand. But he says it with such passion, so whatever he's saying it is about something exciting.

Additionally, during our last trip to WalMart we picked up some popcorn chicken at the deli. When we were checking out, Josiah said "hi" and waved to the patron behind us and pointed to his sample of popcorn chicken (compliments of the deli guy) and said "chicken"...just all proud that he could tell someone else what he had. It just made me laugh.

This increased ability to communicate has all happened within just the last two weeks....and I'm really enjoying it. It still frustrates me when he points and says something but still have no idea what it is that he wishes to have, but we have a good start. I enjoy being able to have a short dialogue with my little man. Many people tell me that they enjoyed the "baby" stage the most and were saddened by their growth out of that stage, but I have to say that I'm definitely enjoying the two-way interaction with my toddler, much more than I ever did when he just laid on the floor and stared at me.

On a different note....We have also transitioned Josiah to a booster seat to use at the table, he has NO desire to sit in his highchair anymore. He's getting to be such a big boy. Here is a pic of Josiah sitting in his "big boy" chair for the first time.


Josiah has also learned how to say "cheese" when we want him to smile. It just cracks us up at how much "cheese" he gives us and how he poses for the camera....this reminds us of how our nephew, Christian, used to have multiple expressions that he would pose for the camera on command.

The Results Are In....

Thanks to those of you who voted for the girl name we should strongly consider. :-) Approximately 75% of the votes were in support of Alaina Joy (although I'm not sure which spelling I'll choose...Alena or Alaina). Truthfully, this is the name that I'd chosen even before putting the poll out there. I was just curious to see what others would choose. So unless the Lord puts another girl name in my path (Randy isn't even the tiniest bit interested in discussing girl names), it looks like we'll have an "AJ" Martinez, regardless of the gender....if it's a boy, we've already decided on Aidan Jeremiah in honor of Randy's brothers, Adrion and Jeremy. I guess we'll have to wait another 16 weeks to find out which name we end up using. :-)

Another Month Away

Randy left on Friday for his last "away" rotation to Tulsa, OK where he'll be completing a family practice rotation at In His Image, a Christ-centered FP Residency Program. While we are excited to see if this program is a contender for where we'd like to go for residency, it saddens all of us to be away from each other for so long. I endured two long months during October and November while Randy was in Cleveland, OH and Harlingen, TX, respectively....and the only reason I got through it (and quite sanely, if I do say so myself) was because the Lord gave me the strength I needed to deal with a toddler while trying to overcome the extreme exhaustion of the first trimester.

While I'm not feeling too tired or uncomfortable yet, Josiah is going through a stage where he is testing his limits, saying "no" a lot. And as you can imagine, this is a very tiring stage for parents, especially for me when I don't have a lot of patience to begin with. Randy and I both believe in spanking; however, we are in constant reflection about what is punishable by spanking. I've been encouraged to read Dare to Discipline by James Dobson in an effort to help us identify when to spank or use alternative methods of discipline. So that's next on my "to read" list.

Josiah and I will also be traveling to OK on the 24th to spend a few days checking out the program but mostly to spend time with Randy and his brother's family, who we haven't seen since last Christmas. I'm pretty excited for Josiah to be able to play with his cousins (he was just 4 months last year) and watch how he interacts with them. :-)

If I may submit a prayer request, please pray that I stay constant in my disciplining Josiah and that I am given the knowledge to realize when he is being out-right defiant or when he's just testing his limits as all children do.