Annie Smiles!

Molars UPDATE

OK, so I was all excited about Josiah's molars until he realized that they HURT! Amy was working this weekend so I spent all of Saturday trying desperately to comfort a screaming, inconsolable little boy with a sore mouth. Upon further inspection I realized that only one of the molars has poked all the way through; the other is content just hangin' out in gum limbo . . . half in, half out. I'm sure this mini molar is the culprit. I feel for the little guy! I just didn't know how to help him.

I gave him some children's Tylenol then some Orajel. We tried munching on ice chips, but I could see him massaging his molar with his tongue. No nap, of course. Instead we speny nap time rocking and crying (and screaming) in the rocking chair. He's never hugged me so hard! I mean literally clutched my shoulder digging his little fingers into my back. I just held him and said,"It's OK" and tried singing and shushing and doing anything calming that I could think of.

Eventually we headed downstairs so that he could play with some of his favorite toys. That seemed to cheer him up a bit; or at least distract him from his pain. Finally, I put him in the high chair to feel him some applesauce, and sure enough . . .

Blog Name

So the blog needs a new name. I mean, it can't very well be "Josiah's Journey" now that Annica is getting older. They need equal time (and some photos of Annie in the banner). So I figured I would enlist the help of my "oh-so brainy" blogger buddies to help me come up with a new name. Here's a list of ones that I've considered (no laughing!)

Josiah & Annie
The Gerhart Gaggle
Gerharto Quatro
Ebony & Ivory
It Takes A Village

That's all I've got! Post some of your ideas in the comments section. The winner gets bragging rights (we're in a recession, after all...)

We have MOLARS!

I was goofing around with Josiah today and noticed some new arrivals amidst his big teethy giggles. He's got two molars coming in up top way in the back! He was pretty miserable last night, so they were probably bothering him. Now I wonder when we start brushing them . . .

Meet Levi

A young couple at my parents' church are adopting through Bethany, and after waiting all of about 9 days, they were placed with little Levi! We couldn't be happier for them as they begin their exciting journey into parenthood (and we can't wat to go through the process again someday...)

In the greater Philadelphia area, there are more birthmothers than couples that are willing to adopt AA babies. That's why this couple was fast-tracked; they were open to whatever God had for them. Of over 30 waiting couples, only one was open to a trans-racial adoption. One. The rest are perfectly content waiting up to THREE YEARS for their perfect little caucasian baby with no health problem of exposure to drugs and alcohol. Um, hello? This is PHILADELPHIA!

OK, enough of my rant. In other news, Annie is beginning to smile, and it's a beautiful thing! Her whole face lights up and her eyes sparlke when she smiles, and it's clear that she's going to be a very happy little girl. I haven't been able to photograph it yet, but I haven't tried to hard. I just enjoy them when they happen.

I'm DONE with SVU

I'm a sucker for a good legal drama, and the original Law & Order is still the best, in my opinion. So naturally when they created a spinoff, Law & Order: SVU, I began watching it as well. I thought the concept of sex police was a little dark, but Mariska Hargitay looked pretty hot with a gun . . . (hey, we're being honest here, right?)

The storylines have been getting more and more dark, and two episodes recently have really bugged me, mainly because they deal with adoption. In the first, a young adopted AA child is gunned down in his elementary school classroom (and is later called a "jungle bunny" by a white supremacist character...) to settle a score with a prison guard. I wept as I saw the little black lifeless body...it just hit too close to home.

Then a few nights ago, a family's adopted daughter raped and killer her sister (the family's biological child) justifying her actions with abuse at the hands of foster parents. She delivered a chilling line at the end of the episode when confronted with the death penalty, "you can't kill me...I'm already dead."

What in the world?! I thin we're all a little dead if this is the kind of stuff that we watch for entertainment. We're thinking more and more about getting rid of the TV as it continues to become a cespool that we welcome into our homes every night.

Reflection

God's timing rarely makes sense at the time, but every time I look back and reflect on what He's done, I see the kind of genius that only God could pull off in making "all thing work together for the good..."

I've been part-time since November. I've been working at the recording studio since 2001 and even though I'm the senior engineer/producer and run the graphic design department, the company couldn't weather the recession without tightening the belt. So I said goodbye to my salary and get to submit timesheets again like I'm back at the Dairy Queen. (and yes, I could make a mean blizzard back in high school, but I digress...)

While I was really upset about the changes at work, I realized that it couldn't have come at a better time! With Annie's arrival, Amy and I have been stretched to the limit, and since there's no way that we can afford day care, it's great that we can spend so much time with both kids, especially when they're really young. And it's been such a blessing to have our parents so close! I love that my kids will know and love their grandparents in a way that Amy and I were never really able to. It's one of the reasons that we decided to move back home from Tennessee.

So we're in a bit of a vocational "holding pattern" right now. But at least we can pay the bills and spend some quality time with the kids. Wherever we end up in the future, I think we'll always treasure these times of seemingly endless cuddling, playing, holding, chasing and loving Josiah and Annie.

Photo Update

By request, (thanks Rebekah!) here are a few photos of Josiah and Annica. They're both getting so big! Josiah is just about 13 months old and Annie is just over 3 months.

Josiah's Jammies

Photo of the Day

So Annie covered me (and herself) in vomit today, which was pretty gross. I snapped this photo just after I stripped off her outer layer to give her a bath. I absolutely love her expression and body language in this shot.

What do you think the caption should be? Post your captions under "comments."

Clap for Daddy

One of the things that Josiah's been working on is clapping his hands. He figured it out by watching us and generally claps when he's really excited. Well this morning, Amy woke him and he was pretty grumpy. She got him up, changed and dressed with him crying all the way. He settled down a little during breakfast, but he was still pretty winy.

When I came down the stairs, he took one look at me and this huge smile spread across his face and he started clapping. Amy and I both started laughing. She was like, "oh sure, I get the cranky baby and he claps for you..."