Josiah is 7 months old, and some other updates

Today, Josiah is officially 7 months old! He had his 6 month check up a couple of weeks ago (and more vaccination shots poor guy) and he is still growing. He weighed in at 20.5 pounds, is 28.5 inches tall, and has a head circumference of 18cm. That means that he is in the 90% for weight, and the 95% for height and head circumference! Momma is getting strong!

He is exploring with more foods now. He's had some pumpkin, rice cereal is going a bit better, but so far his favorite is momma's homemade carrots. They aren't only tasty, but also lots of fun to play with.

Josiah is getting very mobile. He can get around by rolling, spinning, and even doing a low crawl to get around. (On his stomach with his arms and hands) He'd rather be sitting up or standing than lying down most of the time too. I think one of my most favorite new things he's doing now is laughing when other people are laughing. He thinks it's funny and joins in, even when someone laughs on tv! He also really enjoys watching and hanging out with Kisbey.

But the absolute most to the moment news on Josiah is that he has at least 1 tooth coming in! He won't let me see it really yet so I'm mostly going by feel, but it might even be 2 teeth. It's the front bottom teeth, yay! If we can catch a picture, we'll post that soon, but as of yet his tongue really likes to hide them.

exploring california

Katie + I finally got out of Chula Vista and drove up the coast to Encinitas to visit some family. Along the way we stopped at La Jolla and got some great shots. La Jolla is such a beautiful place! Even though its so much more expensive to live here, we have found that there is so much to explore and do here for free. Enjoy the pictures. There are some great ones of Josiah!

And... we're back!

It's the same old story, things have gotten busy and we've lost track of time. The blog has fallen behind and we haven't been good about getting things up. We're sorry! We promise we will do better at updating the blog more regularly as we get used to the new additions to our schedule. But for now... we have uploaded more pics to flickr so make sure you click on that link to check things out. Such as... date night at the beach, Josiah's first encounter with rice cereal (still working on that one), and a few others you may not have seen yet. A few points of update on Josiah to hold off the withdrawl until we fill in more details:
1. Josiah still isn't all that interested in rice cereal, so we're going to be trying new methods.
2. No teeth yet, but we're thinking soon!
3. He really enjoys sitting up on his own, but doesn't have enough balance control to keep himself up once he reaches for something, so we practice sitting together. It's cute!
4. He still enjoys rolling around and is doing a great job at reaching for things.
5. When I reach out my hands to him, he reaches for my hands so that I can pull him into a sitting position. Very smart!
6. He has said his official first word! Mama! And we're pretty sure he knows what he's saying too because he looks for me where I'm "supposed" to be when he says it... sometimes.
7. He is officially 6 months old now and has his next appointment on December 1st, more shots though. :(

A quick update on Kisbey, she's made a new friend! Jake, who lives down the sidewalk from us, is an Australian Shepard puppy with lots of energy to match Kisbey's. Every time we take her outside to take out trash, get the mail, or for her bathroom break, she tries to take off to Jake's house!

And finally a quick update on the 2 of us.... Brad is still telecommuting to the U of I, but he's also pursuing photography and has an incredible eye for it! He and Lyndsey are working together to gain some clients, and in the meanwhile they are enjoying practicing on our friends and families. I'm working hard with Chase and Andrea in Kids' City, overseeing the birth thru pre-k kiddos coming to Momentum. Brad's taking on some new leadership roles in the church and the entire experience has been really growing for both of us.

So hope that's satisfying for now. We'll do better with getting the updates up more frequently!

Josiah meets his new Chula Vista Pediatrician

One HUGE thing accomplished finally, we have found an excellent pediatrician at Sharp Hospital. His name is Dr. Johnson and he happened to have attended Medical School at the University of Illinois which was why we decided to schedule a consultation appointment with him. He is such a gentle and fun doctor! We had lots to chat about and he was quite entertained by Josiah. And on top of it all, he said that he would like to come check out the church probably on our quickly approaching launch date for church. And I am quite relieved to have finally gotten this checked off our still too long to-do list.

And our not-so-little little boy weighed in at 18 pounds 11 ounces, 27 inches long and 17 cm head circumference. Dr. Johnson says he's a perfect cube because he's in the 90th percentile in all three measurements! No wonder my back is sore... He also got 4 immunization shots and got a slight fever as a result which he's struggling through today. On the plus side, he's quite cuddley as a result.

This picture is a few days old, but still a good demonstration of how much he's grown, and how much he enjoys his bumbo seat!

Goodbye White Apartment

The lack of design + color finally got to me so I set out for Home Depot. The design included an experimental paint treatment on the dining room wall + a custom piece of simple art above the couch. Overall we were pretty happy with how it turned out.
check out the pics here

momentum :: the early days

Chris posted a bunch of random momentum photos that we will eventually come across in 30 years + look back with fondness on "the good old days"...and we will probably also tease each other about clothes, hair style, etc.
click here for random photos

Josiah Rolls Over for the 1st Time!

At 4 months + 8 days Josiah rolled over for the first time! We put the camera on him just to see if he would do it again and after about 5 minutes of recording he finally did! So...technically what you are seeing is Josiah rolling over for the 2nd time. Its still good though.

AMC _Day 1

momentum christian church is officially in the theater + what an awesome first day it was! portable church is hard work...and we didn't even have to worry about setting up a stage or screen! there were about a dozen cases on wheels that we rolled off a trailer containing everything from the sound board to the drum kit to the kids toys. it took every bit of 2 hours to unload + set it all up, which included us tripping the circuit breaker more times than you can count on one hand. the theme of these four weeks before we launch is "can you see it?"...envisioning something that is not yet there. our launch team took up only one full row of seats. as we turned around + look out over all the empty seats, we realized that each of those seats is a story of someone coming into a relationship with Jesus + waking up to life. it was a powerful, humbling experience that we are so excited to be a part of. please continue to pray for the Gospel to take hold in the city of Chula Vista, California as we continue to simply live out the mission of the church: loving God + loving people.

check out pics from the day

Return to Champaign

Katie, Josiah, and I had an awesome first trip back to Champaign! The main reason for being back was Ben + Amy's wedding. In addition, we got to see lots of family + friends, Josiah met his cousins Megan + Ava, and I got to dust off the camera for the wedding + a family photo shoot. One of our favorite moments of the week was when Josiah wouldn't stop laughing at Wrigley, Mom + Jeff's mini Australian Shepherd. That was the most he has ever laughed by far!! The wedding was really nice + I was able to get a few good shots. I posted links to the different albums below.

Josiah + Ava
Family Photo Shoot
Ben + Amy's Rehersal
Ben + Amy's Wedding
Ben + Amy's Reception

Water, Water Everywhere, And Not A Drop We'll Drink

I think we always knew that Champaign-Urbana has such fantastic water, straight from the tap, and now I think we took it for granted. For some reason, I didn't consider that we'd have to adjust to the tap water in the move. We planned on adjusting to the time change, the weather change, the social climate change, but did not plan on adjusting to the tap water change!

First, the tap water never really gets that cold here, not sure why. Second, it's pretty sulfurey, particularly by comparison to what we're more accustomed to. So we've been pretty disappointed and so far have been biting the bullet at buying bottled water of some sort or another. We're probably going to have to get a filter to attach to the faucet, or a filter pitcher to keep in the fridge. I haven't even filled our ice cube trays cause it just sounds yucky to put that water in frozen form into our drinks! And Brad says that his coffee definitely tastes different here.

We really didn't realize how spoiled we were! We sure are looking forward to enjoying some of that good old C-U water when we come back for Ben and Amy's wedding!

A Cozy Lunch Time Nap

Brad was home for lunch the other day and Josiah was sleeping so nicely. So I thought I'd combine the 2! Brad stretched out on the couch and I handed Josiah to him and they both slept and the sight was so darn beautiful, I had to take some pictures. Brad woke up a bit later in the picture taking time, but I got this picture first. Like father, like son, huh? So sweet!

Josiah's First Blog Entry

Well obviously he can't type yet...he is just a baby after all... but he really wanted to share his thoughts on a video post. Very insightful.

Beach Dog

What a great day! Kisbey got to spend most of the day with her new best friend, Jasmine (Chris + Lyndsey's Weimaraner). The Hornbrooks brought lunch over to our place before all seven of us (eight if you count baby Hornbrook) piled into the Jeep to head off to the Coronado Dog Beach. Kisbey was very cautious about the waves at first but before long was running around and playing with Jazz like she was a true California pooch...although every time a wave would come in, Kisbey would run toward the shore. She had a great time and slept hard that night!

Click here for pics

Poolside

It's embarrassing that we have lived in California for 2 weeks, only a few feet from a pool, and have never taken advantage of it. Well, no more! Today Josiah had his first pool experience and he seemed indifferent...didn't love it, didn't hate it. We had a great time though! It was nice to just be out in the sun and relax...a welcome change to digging through boxes and dealing with work frustrations. I think we will have to make this part of our daily routine...you know, when we can't make it to the beach :)

enjoy the pics

** Thanks **

We just want to say thanks so much to our family + friends back in Illinois who helped us with meals, with organizing the garage sale/give-away, with packing + loading the truck...we love + miss you guys so much and are so blessed to have you as family + friends! Thanks also to Dad + Steph (pictured here doing wheatgrass shots at Jamba) for helping us with getting there and unpacking. It was so awesome to have familiar faces on this end!

First Night in California

Wow, I can't believe we have been California residents for a whole week already! It has flown by. Some of you may not have heard about my first night here...

So Dad, Kisbey, and I got into Chula Vista later in the afternoon last Friday and Chris and Mike + Beth were there to help us unload the truck while Lyndsey took Kisbey to the dog park to play (btw, thank you guys so much for helping!). We got the truck unloaded, had dinner and then it was just Kisbey + me alone with the box-filled apartment since Katie + Josiah were not set to arrive until the next morning. My plan (since I don't sleep very well when Katie is not there) was to stay up for as long as I could getting as much of a head start on unpacking boxes and arranging furniture as I could. I had been working for about 20 minutes when I realized that I should probably put felt pads on the bottom of the legs of the furniture so the wood floors wouldn't get scratched while I was moving them around. I went out to the garage and came back to find that I locked myself out of the apartment...with Kisbey trapped inside...and with my cell phone dying of course. Evidently the handle locks and I had just left my keys inside cause I was just making a short run out to the garage. I was just about to panic, being that I was on the edge of exhaustion, when I was able to pull myself together and go over to a Mary's, a neighbor that I had met during move-in, to see if there was an emergency number to call...there was not. I called Chris just so someone would know that I was trapped outside and that if he hadn't heard from me in a half hour to come and get me. After many phone calls and talking to a few more neighbors, we finally figured out that the only thing to do if you get locked out during non-business hours is to call a locksmith. I did not want to do that. I had thought that climbing onto the balcony would be a good option except that I had just locked that door right before heading to the garage because...get this, I didn't want someone to be able to get in that way! I did however, open the window to the kitchen to let in some fresh air. I decided that I would rather pay to replace the screen on the kitchen window than pay to replace the locks. So I walked up the sloped landscaping, ripped the screen and climbed through the window onto my kitchen counter. Kisbey was very happy to see me!

Updates coming

hey everyone...i know its been a few days since the last post, but i will get them up soon. things are finally slowing down just a little but i am heading to bed from our home in chula vista, california...still hasn't sunk in quite yet

On the Road to Cali :: Flat Tire Update

Crisis averted...Next stop, California!

On the Road to Cali :: starting off Day 4 a little flat

We woke up before 6am to get an early start this morning only to find that we have picked up a screw in the rear passenger side tire on the trailer (you can see it in the picture where the yellow arrow is pointing). The tire is pretty flat so we are waiting for someone to come change it. I wanted to just drop the trailer where it is and have Penske just come pick it up but they werent cool with that. Hopefully we can get on the road soon. More to come....

On the Road to Cali :: Day 3

This post is coming to you from Casa Grande, Arizona (about 1 hour south of Phoenix). Today was another solid day of driving and was by far the most scenic day we've had yet...which is why it was so unfortunate that the battery of our camera was completely drained! So I snapped a couple of pics with my cell phone. We started off the day missing the turn to get on the Interstate which would take us through Albuquerque and on to Flagstaff, Arizona. It ended up being a great surprise...let me back up. We have this great photograph of Albuquerque taken in 1969 that we got from IKEA several years ago. I really like this photo a lot (its pictured here). Anyway, back to this morning... we took a detour through town on a side street called Center. As we were driving, I saw a hotel with a really retro sign that had circles stacked on top of each other. It looked familiar to me, but I didn't know why until I saw Carlisle Street...it was the exact section of Center Street pictured in that photograph (you can see the Carlisle Street sign right above the KFC on the right side of the photograph)!!! I can't even tell you how exciting that was!...Katie knows what I'm talking about! Anyway...New Mexico was beautiful. I don't think I ever thought that it was anything more than desert, but it was such a nice drive. Arizona was really nice too, especially Flagstaff. However, as you traveled south, it got very hot. It was about what you would expect from a desert...lots of hills, cactus, sharp rocks, sand, and oven-like heat. I honestly don't understand why anyone lives in southern Arizona...for an Illinois guy it was draining. I am so thrilled to only be a short drive away from our destination! I have really enjoyed the cross-country trip with my Dad + my dog, but I am so excited to finally begin getting settled in California + prepare for the arrival of my wife + son. Love to everyone back home in Illinois...I miss you all already.