Potty Training Success! :)

Isaiah coloring with some sidewalk chalk

(For this picture he said, "Cheese for Gigi!")

This was "Cheese for Gaya!"

This one was "Cheese for Mimi!"

Concentration to get some more bubbles (Looks like his Uncle Kev!)

Sorry it's been a while since my last post.....we've had a few crazy weeks here and things are only going to get crazier as I prepare for Isaiah and I to head home on Wednesday and Josh gets closer and closer to finals time!!! At least we can all look forward to a break soon! Thank you all for your continued prayers for my Dad. He has been doing really well and his pain level is NON-EXISTENT after surgery. All we can say is that GOD IS SO GOOD! He is going to the doctor today though because it looks like he might have an infection in his incision, so continued prayers that the doctors get that taken care of and get him back on track would still be great!

Isaiah and Damon being silly after school one day

Doing push ups and making faces

Swinging and looking ornery

Happy boy

Doing a bridge for gymnastics!

Last gymnastics class of the semester

From Left: Miss Emily, Damon, Brayden, Brylee, Patricio, and Isaiah

The big news lately in the Henry house is that Isaiah is well on his way to being potty trained! Yesterday was day #8 with NO ACCIDENTS! He is doing so great with telling us when he needs to go potty and doing great at school with his teachers. It has been weeks since he has peed during a nap and out of the past few weeks, I think there have only been a few times that he woke up with a little bit of a wet diaper. We seem to be on the right track finally and it seems to be clicking and that Isaiah has got it figured out and Josh and I are so proud of him! The best part for me is to see how proud of himself he is each day when he keeps his diaper dry ALL day and gets his reward....a lollipop after supper! We will see how things go with flying home this week...I'm not sure if we'll do pullups on the plane or if he will want to wear his 'big boy underwear' but I think I will pretty much let it up to him. If he agrees to tell me when he needs to go, he's usually very good with making sure to let me know, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that we are almost done with diapers for good. Now we just have to tackle getting rid of the diapers at night for once and for all, but I'm sure that will come soon.

Isaiah was obsessed with wearing this pillow as a hat for a while....we thought it looked like he was working for the Pope!

Isaiah ready to pick up Kristin and Justin at Port and head to the beach!

Justin, Kristin (who I went to OT school with), and Isaiah

Kristin and Justin came on the cruise ship and spent the day with us at the beach!

This will probably be my last post for this semester. Each semester seems to get busier than the next and this one seems to have been in fast forward! It seems like we were home for Christmas just a few weeks ago and while that makes for a crazy semester, it is also nice for us that Isaiah and I will get to see you all soon! As most of you know, Josh won't be coming home for this break, he will instead be going on a veterinary missions trip to Sudan that will take up 12 of his 16 days of break. I think he is looking forward to it, although I also don't think he's had too much time to think about it amidst the business of his semester. Your prayers for his safe travels and safety while in Sudan would be much appreciated. I am excited for him to go and we have both been praying for months about this trip and I know that this is what God wants for him right now, but it will also be hard for Isaiah and I to have him so far away from us!

Andrew, Beau, and Isaiah at the pool

Ava Li and me in the pool

Beautiful view of the ocean from the Calypso Bay Pool

Damon smiling for his Mom (she was studying and couldn't come to the pool party!)

My sweet boy

Garden update:

The Zucchini are growing like crazy and have flowers, so we're hoping for some veggies to be growing when we get back after break. The tomato plant is surviving, but doesn't seem to be too fond of the heat and the lemon basil is doing great! Josh is very proud of his garden and sometimes Isaiah gets to help him water it!

Mint, lemon basil, and 'island' basil growing nicely on the porch.

McCahan's in St. Kitts!!! :)

Buddy Cousins

Things have been a bit crazy the past few weeks and I apologize for not posting sooner, but today I am going to post pictures from when Steve, Ashley, Ella, and Lydia visited us earlier this month! We are so happy they decided to spend the time and money to come and visit us....not only do we love having visitors, but it was so fun to have the kids here and built in play buddies for Isaiah wherever we went! I really don't think kids would've cared if we never left the house....they could entertain themselves and play in the bedroom with toys or out on the porch for hours! It was so fun to see how much they love each other....it reminds me and Steve of us and the Barber kids (Adam and Kate) when we were growing up. I'm just hoping that maybe one day we can go on some McCahan-Henry adventures!!! We had a wonderful week, visiting various beaches, a few local restaurants, and even heading over on the ferry for a day in Nevis!!! I've been waiting to visit Nevis since we moved and had such a wonderful day there with Isaiah, Steve, Ash, and their girls!

The bartender was putting out bananas for this monkey when we were eating lunch at Reggae on Monday!

The kids behaved so well during lunch because they were being entertained!

Elle helping me eat the brownie batter from the bowl!

Pretty girl...even with brownie batter on her nose!

Best Friends

Lyddie on Zay's bike

Sister love

Kiddos playing ring around the rosie!

Right before Steve and Ashley got here, Isaiah was sick. He ended up having double ear infections, tonsilitis, and pharyngitis, but was all better when they arrived thanks to some antibiotics! Just over the weekend now though, Isaiah seems to have developed a runny nose and a bit of a cough again, so we're praying it's nothing major, but we'll see where it goes. Isaiah tends to end up with ear infections whenever he gets sick, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that we don't end up there again so quickly! I was also sick, but not until right after Steve and Ashley left, so we were lucky to all be healthy while they were here! I also got some antibiotics and am feeling much better finally as well!

Beach Baby

View from SpratNet

Sunset from SpratNet where we had my bday dinner while the McCahan's were visiting!

Steve, Lydia, Ella, Autum, Josh, and Isaiah at SpratNet

Damon and Lydia dancing to the music!

Damon and Ella

Ella Grace

Damon

Isaiah and Damon

All the kids loved this huge stump in the middle of the restaurant

(Beau, Lyddiebug, Isaiah, and Damon)

Lydia--she fell over from dancing too much!

Last week and this week have been a little crazy. Josh was gearing up for exams this week...one this morning and another on Friday. I'm sure he will do fine as always, but with getting closer to finishing his time here at Ross and very close to applying to UPenn for his clinical year, he is putting a lot of pressure on himself to do well. I know he wants to do well and get us to Penn for clinicals so we can all be closer to home, but I'm hoping he doesn't drive himself too crazy about it. I really feel like we will end up where God wants us to be and I keep trying to tell him to do his best and that is all he can do. Hopefully one of these days he will stop freaking out about grades so much!

Waiting for the ferry to take us to NEVIS!

Beach at Nisbett Plantation in Nevis

Kids at the beach

Cuties

A look at one of the houses on the grounds at Nisbett Plantation in Nevis

Isaiah relaxing

All the kiddos LOVED the hammocks on the beach

Beautiful views, gorgeous water, blue sky.....perfect day!

My smiley boy

We also had a happy announcement last week. Ross University was granted accreditation by the AVMA and is now accredited according to standards the same as all the U.S. vet schools. Not only does that help to credit Ross's reputation, it also means that Josh will not have to take the $1,000 PAVE exam, which is a foreign equivalency test. It is a very big deal anytime a new school and especially one out of the country gets accredited. Ross has been working towards accreditation for several years and they are the only Caribbean vet school to be awarded this honor. We are very proud of the education that Josh is receiving and I am hopeful that others will be too, especially now that Ross is accredited!

Nevis Port

Ella/beach babe (with our ferry in the background)

Charlestown, Nevis

A look over to St. Kitts from port at Nevis

Ella and Isaiah being goofy

Peek-a-boo!

Silly girl

Happy boy

View of St. Kitts from the beach at Nisbett

It has taken me a few weeks to get this blog actually posted and I apologize! Last week when I tried to do it we had a power outage at our house and I ran around like a nut most of the morning on Friday before work trying to figure out what we had to do to get our power back on before the weekend! This week so far has been a little stressful. My Dad, Steve, had major back surgery yesterday. The surgeon was very pleased and said that he was able to do everything he wanted to do and is confident that Dad will have relief almost immediately! That's the good news....the bad news is that they kept him intubated (tube in his throat) to protect his airway due to his sleep apnea and the fact that he was under anesthesia for over 7 hours yesterday for the surgery. Please be praying that they get the tube out today and that my Mom is able to talk with him. She is obviously really worried and I think she will feel very reassured once she can hear his voice and talk to him! Thanks for all the prayers for my Dad so far and we could use some more until he gets well on his way to recovery!

Our little Zucchini babies.....more pictures of our 'garden' to come.