Busy Afternoon

Isaiah at our Marriott brunch on Sunday

Not much to report since my posting yesterday. Isaiah and I do have a very busy afternoon scheduled. Jakki is coming in a little bit and we're going to make lunch and watch a movie. We then all need to head to the prep school. Jakki has piano and voice lessons while Isaiah and I help out with gymnastics and cheerleading for the little kiddos that want to participate. We do have some girls who are pretty good little gymnasts, but our cheerleading group is a little less motivated to participate and more eager to run around and act crazy!

Zay and Autum at Reggae beach on Sunday

After gymnastics, we've started a weekly tradition of getting pizza and eating at Jakki and Joe's before praise band rehearsal for church, so that's again the plan for today. Josh is planning on studying until 6ish and then coming to Jakki and Joe's to wrangle Isaiah for me while we practice our music for Sunday. After praise band practice, Josh and I are going to practice with Jakki and Keith for Christmas caroling at the University in a few weeks. Then we're headed home to probably get Isaiah ready to head to bed. I think we might get to Skype with Brett, Amberly, and Adalyn, so I hope that works out because we'd love to see all 3 of them!

Isaiah sitting in Damon's chair on Sunday at the beach

I hope everyone has a great week. We're hoping to have a good one with Josh not having any tests until next week! After his test on Monday he has a 3 week break until finals begins....for some reason though, I don't think we're going to see him very much for the last few weeks of the semester!

Good times

Zay and Me in the pool at the Frigate Bay Resort

We're now at less than 5 weeks until we head home!!! :) Josh and I are both getting very excited to see everyone and for everyone to see how much our little boy has grown and changed since August! We had a busy day yesterday, so there is lots to talk about today! Isaiah and I did get to go to the pool on Saturday afternoon with Jakki and Josiah. We took Isaiah's floaty for the first time to the pool and he really seemed to enjoy it. He sat in there and I held on to it and swam all around the pool pushing him in it. We had a good time, but after a while he just wanted some love from his Mama! Yesterday we had church at Angeles Beach since the conference room at the Frigate Bay Resort (where we usually have church) was booked. It was hot, but it was kind of a nice change and made it really easy to praise God for the beauty around us and all that he has done for us lately!

Angeles Beach (not a bad place for church, huh?)

After church, we headed to brunch at the Marriott with Jakki, Josiah, and Alexa. We had a good time continuing to fellowship with one another. I think it was nice for Josh, Joe, and Alexa to be able to hang out and relax with other people and talk about things other than school! Joe is in vet prep and Alexa is a 4th semester, so it was interesting when they did talk about school to get 3 different perspectives on the process. Isaiah was really well behaved during brunch and enjoyed some pancake and fruit (watermelon and pineapple), as well as some fruit loops. After he was done and all cleaned up he got a hold of my napkin and started putting it on his head, which made everyone laugh and then he thought it was great to have everyone laughing at him...he's becoming such a little ham these days!

Isaiah hamming it up at brunch

After brunch, we came home and all 3 of us got to lay down and take a little family nap, which was really nice! Then we got ready to head to Reggae beach for Damon's 2nd birthday party! It started to rain a little when we were on our way and shortly after we got in the water at the beach, it started pouring and the rain was COLD! We were all complaining about being cold and then realized that it was a nice change from how warm it has still been here, so then we were a little more thankful! It rained for maybe 20 minutes pretty hard and then cleared up and we had sunshine the rest of the afternoon. Damon was so cute opening his presents and really liked the toy cash register we got him (The Moses', Chins', and us all went in together and got him the cash register and a little toy guitar that plays music). Erin made cupcakes too and we all got to have a little dessert! Isaiah enjoyed the beach and sand, but loved getting to see Damon and Ava the most! We had a wonderful time and I was so glad to have time spent with Josh for most of the day!

Isaiah, Damon, and Ava....so cute!

Once we got home, Josh headed to the Marriott to study for a few hours with Autum and Kristen and Isaiah and I got to Skype with Mimi and Pap McCahan for the first time in over a week, which was really nice. Talking on the phone with everyone back home is great, but it's really nice to get to see your faces every once in a while too!!! Isaiah is now quite good at blowing kisses to his grandparents on Skype. He's learning new things all the time! Yesterday he started saying ball for the first time when he'd see one of his toy balls around the house. I can already tell that it's not going to take long for him to be saying all sorts of words and it makes me a little sad that my baby will soon be a year old!!! I'm excited though to plan a little party for him here with friends and can't wait for his birthday bash once we get home!!!

My Boys! :)

I hope everyone has a great week this week and by Friday it will be less than a month until we head home! I can't wait to see all of you and thank you for all your love, prayers, and support these last few months. We can't wait to thank you in person with hugs and kisses! :)

TGFF (Thank God For Friends/Family)!!!

Isaiah napping in his crib yesterday

So today has turned out to actually be a bit of a busy day for us, even though I hadn't really planned on that, but it's ok. Isaiah and I haven't been out much this week, so it'll be nice to have a day where we have some different things going on! Josh, Isaiah, and I all went to the grocery store together this morning. It's so much nicer for me when Josh and I can go to the store together and both help figure out pricing and what we really need for the week! We can make a bigger trip all at once to last us a week or so, which is also nice, so we're not always going to pick up things here and there. We had a very successful trip to the grocery store and got the fridge all stocked up and meals planned for the week. I like it so much better when we have meal ideas, so that I'm not always trying to think of things on my own! If anyone has good recipe ideas that don't have weird ingredients (it's hard to find different stuff at our grocery stores) I would appreciate it! We've been doing a little better at trying to plan a variety of things, but we still end up making a lot of the same stuff all the time!

The boys (leaving Timothy Beach)

We did end up going to Timothy Beach for a while last night to watch Volleyball. It wasn't too exciting since some of our friends weren't there and the ones who were were playing! We stayed for a little while, but headed home to make dinner and Josh carried Isaiah to the car on his shoulders. Before we went to the beach though, Josh came home to find Isaiah and I napping together on the bed, so we got to have a little family nap time with the three of us all cuddled up together. It was nice to be able to relax all together and enjoy the quiet time together!

My boys=LOVE!

We got to Skype with Ashley and Ella for a little bit this morning, which was nice. Hopefully we can talk to them a bit later this afternoon too. Ashley looks great and they sound as excited for us to come home as we are! Ella said, "Miss you Zay" and it really made me want to cry. Those kids definitely love each other, which I'm very thankful for. Hopefully they'll be as close with each other as we were with Adam and Kate growing up! We didn't really realize we were 2 separate families for a long time!

Isaiah this morning playing around in his Penguins onesie

(a gift from Dr. Dutra and the picture is for Pappy Mark!)

Then Jakki picked us up and we went along with her, Jen, and Ava to find a birthday present for Damon to take to his party tomorrow. We ended up going together and getting him a couple of things. The toys were pretty expensive here, but we wanted to try to get him something he could really enjoy and I think he'll like them! We also went to TDC (what they say is the closest thing to a Wal-mart or Target, but it isn't really close at all!) to pick up some random things and I got a couple of things I had been thinking about getting for here at home, which was good too.

He can't wait until after lunch!

Isaiah misssed his morning nap and wouldn't go to sleep when we first got home like I had planned, so I decided to get lunch for us and then try for a nap. Isaiah was fine initially sitting in his high chair and eating some munchies, but kept laying his head down for a few seconds at a time on his arm. I moved the pizza up in the oven to broil the top and when I turned around....he was ASLEEP! That's the second time that's happened and I felt awful that he fell asleep there, but what are you to do when they won't sleep when you plan? Enjoy the pictures!

Asleep in his high chair!

When Isaiah wakes up from his nap we are planning to go to the pool with Jakki and her husband Joe and Ava and Jen might come along as well, which would be fun. Isaiah loves Ava and Damon, so it's nice anytime they can play together. The pool at Frigate Bay is nice and secluded and I'm excited to go to a pool for the 1st time with Isaiah's floaty from home that Mimi sent down in our last package. I think he'll really like it in the pool and it will help corral all of his toys, so hopefully we'll have a good time. I'm not sure how late Josh is planning to stay at school to study, but I'm thinking probably until 5 or 6. We don't have any plans for tonight, so we'll see what we end up getting into! Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend! Love you guys! :)

Cute baby boy

Beach Friday!

Not much new has happened between yesterday and today for us. The biggest news is probably that Isaiah took 6 steps by himself last night, which is a new record for him. He is slowly, but surely, gaining more balance and determination everyday, so we'll see how long it takes him to really take off and start walking everywhere instead of crawling!

Josh is taking the afternoon off from studying and we're planning to go to Timothy Beach where Ross students play volleyball games on semester teams every Friday afternoon. I say we're planning on going because we're kind of waiting to see what mood Isaiah is in and when it works with his nap schedule. I think it will actually work out well for us to go. Isaiah only took about a 35 minute nap this morning and now just went down for his afternoon nap around 2:30, so hopefully he'll sleep for a couple of hours and be in a good mood for us to head to the beach for some fun in the sun and maybe some dinner on the strip!

Josh is planning on studying most of the day tomorrow, so that he can take most of the day off on Sunday for us to head to Reggae beach to Damon's 2nd birthday party! Damon is so cute and loves Isaiah and Ava. Erin said Damon's been walking around saying "Idaya homeboy" and "Ava girlfriend" all the time now. He can't quite get the "Z" sound, so Isaiah has a "D" in it, but they're so cute. Erin and Harley said that Damon would be heartbroken if his buddy missed his birthday, so we're planning on going for a few hours over lunch and the afternoon. I'm excited...we haven't been to Reggae beach since the weekend before Josh started classes, so I'm excited to go again. It was a really nice beach with calm water, which always makes it nicer for us to take Isaiah along, so we should have a great time!

That's all I have to say for now, so I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 5 weeks from today, we'll be on a plane headed back to the U.S. and we can't wait to see everyone!!! Love you all and miss you so much!

Same Old, Same Old

He's becoming such a little Ham!

It's so nice to be back online and able to write whenever I want to!!! We had a good night last night. Isaiah took a late nap yesterday afternoon, so he didn't go to bed until around 10pm (which is really unusual for any of the 3 of us lately!). He slept pretty well only getting up 3 times between 10 and 8:40 this morning! The first time he woke up was around 2:30 and I don't think I've gotten 4 1/2 straight hours of sleep in a night since long before we left home, so I felt amazing when I woke up around 7 this morning!!! I still can't believe Isaiah slept that late, but he was in a great mood all morning and is finally down now around 11:30ish for his morning nap. I'm hoping today is a good sleeping day since yesterday was NOT, although he wasn't really fussy or anything most of the day, so I can't really complain about that either! I can't wait for all of you at home to see him and cuddle him and love him in just about 5 weeks! I think you're going to be amazed at what a charming little man he is becoming!

Taking some steps with some help from Daddy before church

Like yesterday, the plan for today is to just hang out at home. Some of the classmates Josh usually rides with to school are having issues with their cars, so he drove yesterday and today to help out and since Isaiah and I didn't have any plans, we didn't really mind! Sometimes it's nice to just be here all day and relax and then Isaiah can nap whenever he wants and I can get some laundry and things like that done (along with facebook and blogging too)! We didn't end up going to the grocery store yesterday together because of Isaiah's late afternoon nap, so we might do that today, but we'll see. It all probably depends on how long Josh stays at school to do some studying after class. He ended up with a B+ on his nutrition exam and I'm very happy with that (he's a little less satisfied, but I'm telling him to relax!), so they ended up getting 1 point back from a question that many students and the class TA's had an issue with. Josh continues to be very focused, but I think we're both doing a better job at supporting one another and figuring out the schedule to make everyone happy, so things are definitely going more smoothly now that a month or so ago, but I guess that's to be expected with a big move and role changes at any point!

Crawling on the bed wearing his shoes...so cute!

I don't think I have anything new to report about Isaiah. He's still working on learning words and he's understanding most of what we say to him even though he can't say all those words yet. I'm trying to pay more attention to talking to him and telling him the correct names of things when he picks something up and sometimes he'll try to say it. He doesn't say anything with two different syllables yet, so some things are hard. For instance, he'll usually say "Bih" when I say Binky and a few other things like that. Someday when he figures out how to put all his different sounds together we better all lookout! He's a very headstrong kid, so I know he'll have some strong opinions once he can let us know what they are!

Hope you all have a good Thursday. 5 weeks from tomorrow we'll be on our way to you in Everett! XOXO

Internet and Automotive troubles

Isaiah "monkeying around" in his PJ's before bed

Isaiah relaxing while watching his Baby DVD on the laptop

Hello again everyone! Sorry for the long lapse in posts, but our internet went out on Friday and we didn't get back online until yesterday around lunchtime, so hopefully now we'll be good again! Now I'm trying to think back over what we did the past few days to update everyone! On Friday, Isaiah and I headed to the Marriott with Jakki to get lunch at an outdoor restaurant there called Bohemia. It's a nice open air place right between their pool and beach with a nice breeze and we've found that the Marriott is a great place to order food for Isaiah because kids under 4 eat free! We had a nice lunch and then Harley and Damon also came and met us to swim at the pool for a couple of hours. We had a good time. Isaiah absolutely loves Damon and both boys enjoyed "jumping" into the pool and being caught. Damon seems like quite a little ladies man chasing after little girls in the pool! It was a very nice time and the kids enjoyed time out of the house and so did the adults!!!

Isaiah at Bohemia waiting for his Mac-N-Cheese

Damon and Harley at the Marriott Pool

On Saturday, Jakki and I decided to take Isaiah with us on a drive around the island in the afternoon. We were having a great time just seeing the sights and enjoying eachother's company. Isaiah fell asleep and we even drove up to Rawlin's Plantation Inn, which is an old sugarcane plantation that has been turned into a hotel. The grounds were beautiful and Jakki took a walk inside to get some information and a closer look at the property. We then continued on our tour of the island and all of the sudden Jakki's car (AKA the "Not so incredible Hulk" as her husband, Joe, named it!) just lost power and died as she pulled over to the side of the road. So....we were stuck and had to call Joe to come and rescue us. Both our husbands were at school studying for tests this week and we felt awful, but what were the girls to do? Taylor and Joe came to pick us up and decided we had to leave the car and get a part before it could be fixed, so we left! It was a crazy afternoon, but we were able to laugh at our expedition!

Jakki while we were waiting to be rescued!

Isaiah laughing at Jakki after the car broke down

Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then Josh, Isaiah, and I went to the Marriott for a family brunch. Isaiah wore the little Pooh and Tigger shoes I brought along on Sunday to church and was absolutely adorable!!! (See pics below) It was a long wait to get a table at brunch, but it was nice to go out to eat just the 3 of us for a change (we usually end up going out with friends). At one point during brunch, Josh looked at me and asked, "When did we get this little human?" because Isaiah just seems so grown up lately! He's saying about 5 words regularly and we've noticed that he understands A LOT of what we say! He babbles a lot, but now it's turned into very speech like babbling in baby language sentences. He's standing a lot more and taking one or two steps on his own without us encouraging him. He's just looking so much more like a toddler and less and less like a baby everyday! Josh then headed to school to study for his nutrition exam that was yesterday (Tues.) and we picked up Jakki with plans to head to the beach after Isaiah's nap. We never made it to the beach since we started a movie while Isaiah was napping and before we knew it it was 4:00! We left to take Jakki home, but stopped to get gas along the way. When I turned the car on to leave the gas station, my key broke off in the ignition and we were stranded again!!! Joe again was able to get Josh's keys on campus and come to the rescue again! Josh gave instructions that Jakki and I were not allowed going anywhere in a car together for at least a week! :)

Isaiah's new kicks! He looks like such a big boy when he wears them!

Monday was a morning filled of taking Jakki and Joe to the auto parts store to get their part and then to the stranded car for Joe to fix it. We got all the taken care of and then could relax a bit the rest of the day! Yesterday was our normal Tuesday of gymnastics and cheerleading and then I had praise band practice last evening. Josh took Isaiah after class and they had a little guy time for a few hours until practice was over. Josh did well on his exam getting a high B and we're still waiting to hear if there will be a curve or not depending on the class' average, so we'll see about that. Today the plan is for Isaiah and I to just have a lazy day at home and then we're going on a family grocery run when Josh gets done with class and then home to make dinner. We're excited for Josh to have some more time to relax this weekend and hopefully get to the beach a couple of times!!!

Isaiah's new discovery that he can not only open the oven drawer, but he can get in it too!

I think that's all the big news. Hope you enjoy all the pictures. Only about 5 1/2 more weeks until we're headed home to PA!!! We're all getting very excited and can't wait for everyone to see what a little man Isaiah has become! Love you all!

A Wednesday at the Beach!

Gong Beach

It was a gorgeous day!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but we were busy enjoying life on a Caribbean island...well, at least Isaiah and I were! Isaiah and I went with our friend, Jakki, to a VIP cookout at Gong Beach yesterday. The beach was gorgeous, although covered with seaweed like stuff, which other VIP's said is normally not the case. I guess we need to enjoy this beach while we can. It will soon be the site of Christophe Harbor, which is a development on the southern tip of the island where they plan to build hotels, a mall, a golf course, upscale housing developments, and a huge marina that can accomodate regular ships as well as mega-yachts! While it will bring more tourism opportunities to the island and more things for residents to enjoy...it makes me a little sad that this gorgeous beach will no longer be as secluded and accessible for others to enjoy! We had a gorgeous day for heading out to the beach. The water was a little cooler than the air which made it nice and refreshing. There were some waves, but not too big, so I could take Isaiah in the water with me. Jakki is truly a lifesaver when we head to the beach and is my extra set of hands to help with Isaiah...I really appreciate all her help!

Isaiah of course likes to crawl and play in the sand and I couldn't keep him off other people's towels!

We had a nice time and also had taken food to cook on the grill by one of the other VIP's. It's a challenge feeding Isaiah anywhere, but sitting on a towel at the beach made it even more interesting! Overall though, he was really well behaved and even ate his whole hot dog and some cheese bites!

Josh is continuing to do well in his classes. He is now done with 3 out of 4 exams and just has nutrition left to study for on Tuesday. I think it makes us both feel good to be able to see how much all of his time and hard work at school is paying off. Isaiah and I miss him during the day, but I know he's doing what he needs to to do the best he can and hopefully get us as close to home as possible for clinicals in a couple of years!!!

I was also very excited that I got to talk to both my Nana and Pap McCahan on the phone yesterday. I called Pap's hospital room in Altoona and got to talk to him after therapy and before he was discharged to rehab at Homewood! He sounded like he's doing much better and seems very motivated to work hard in rehab so he can get home soon! I'm excited to see everyone at Christmas, but especially can't wait to give Pap a big hug!

Isaiah is 11 months old today! I can't believe it! In some ways, it's hard to remember life without him, but in other ways it seems like just weeks ago that I was still pregnant! He's getting so tall and doing so many things now. He's understanding a lot of words and saying a few to us regularly. (He knows Mum Mum and Dada and who we are and also sometimes calls Josh "Josh" and says something that sounds like "Zaya" every once in a while too). I can't wait for you all to see him in December and see how he's grown and changed!

The last thing, I wanted to include a video of Isaiah from last night. We started letting him watch some Sesame street songs on Youtube and he's really starting to get into it. In this video he was watching Elmo share his song with Big Bird and Snuffaluffagos! He likes to dance to music now and got pretty into it....he's so cute! Hope you enjoy and I'll write again soon! Love you all!