June, July...where has the summer gone?

Here's the first part of the summer in a nutshell...

Family Vacation
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

We went swimming, drove through Amish farmland, visited Hershey's Chocolate World, but the highlight of our trip was the Strasburg Railroad. Above, Joshua is in a bit of shock as he sees a train straight from one of his favorite books rolling into the station right in front of his eyes! He seemed pretty serious the entire ride, but once we got back in the car all he could talk about was riding the steam train. Funny thing, though...Joshua couldn't see the whistle while we were riding the train, but what he could see were pastures full of cows. Each time he heard the whistle he said, "Cow. It's huge!"


Hannah's First Sign
"Praise the Lord!"



During a monthly visit to BJ's (for anyone not in the NY area, it's like Costco) Hannah started signing "Praise the Lord!" I'm sure she learned it from Joshua, but we had never prompted her to do it. So, naturally I was a bit surprised when our friend Rachel (who was pushing the cart at the time) said "Hannah, Praise the Lord!" Hannah has also said two words very clearly (but none since). One morning Claude heard her say, "Hannah" when he came to get her out of bed. And not long after, she looked me in the eye and said "Hi!"


Joshua's First Solo(ish) Cake
Milk Chocolate Cake, Age 23 months



Maybe it's because I bake so frequently...or perhaps it's because I like to eat baked goods. But whatever the reason, Joshua is quite the up and coming baker. He assists me in all aspects of baking, and recently has been delegated tasks to accomplish on his own. Here you see him mixing a Milk Chocolate Cake with a hand mixer. He did this entirely on his own. He even cleans up after himself. He is learning the names of common ingredients, how to measure them, and I'm just starting to read the recipes out loud to him. We'll see how he goes with this, but mixing a cake at 23 months of age seems pretty good to me! Of course, his favorite part is licking the beaters...


Potty Training 101, 201...
Saying Goodbye to the Diaper Days...Slowly, but Surely!



Yes, ladies and gentleman, we are potty training in the Chew household. Well, this is not traditional potty training. We've been putting Joshua on the potty since he was 9 months old and Hannah started as soon as she could sit up on her own (I think her first time was around 5-6 months). So, really we're just pushing things to a higher level and hopefully eliminating a few diapers with each stage. And yes, it really is the entire household being potty trained (those over 3-feet tall excluded). Joshua has taken Lulu, Talking Bear, Pooh Bear, Steam Roller, Fire Truck, and anything else he thinks of to the potty. "Lulu potty too!"


Father's Day 2009
Finger Painting, Family Photos, and Plenty of Fun



For Father's Day we had a BBQ with some friends. The kids finger/foot painted. Hannah thought it was a fantastic game and got as messy as she possibly could. And Joshua...



...Joshua had more fun cleaning up than actually making the mess.



We used to be able to take family photos on our own...self-portrait family photos. They no longer work (as seen in the first photo of this post). There are just too many factors, and mainly two very wriggly kids. Aside from some beautiful photos that a good friend took when Hannah was just a few weeks old, this is the first family photo since we grew to be The Chews 4. This is on Father's Day weekend, June 2009.


Sleep Schedules
Getting Our Z's...as many as we possibly can!



Sleep hasn't been the greatest issue for us as a family, especially since Joshua was born. There seem to be a million different factors all leading to one big problem...we're tired, all of us are tired! So, we've embarked on a sleep campaign that actually seems to be working. Maybe this is due in part to the fact that it is primarily Joshua/Hannah led. One night Joshua asked to go to bed earlier than he normally would. The next night it was a little earlier. And the next, and so on. This coupled with contemplating the theory that the more sleep an infant or toddler gets (during the day and at night) the less they wake throughout the night, the longer they can sleep in general, and the easier they go to bed. And this theory is proving to be true in our case. What an amazing feeling to have gone to bed at 10:30pm after having a good three hours of quiet time after the little guys are asleep. And Joshua and Hannah seem better for it as well. The price we pay...a 5:45am wake up call each morning! :)