Just in case I forget...

Roman is so excited to welcome his baby sister in just THREE short weeks!  In the meantime, he is sure keeping us busy:

• Roman loves to play with his trains.  We love how he calls the caboose, the "comeboose." Brings a smile to my face every time!
• Roman gets frustrated if we don't respond to him immediately. Usually, he is trying to interrupt, but he says, "Mommy, talk! Mommy, talk!" to try to get our attention. I think he means, "Mommy listen!" but we are working on that.
• Roman uses his blanket for a pillow.  This can be problematic when it's in the 30's outside!  If we try to add another blanket on top while he's sleeping, he will wake up crying. He gets so upset when there is a foreign object in his bed, and he demands that we take it out.
• We had our first trip to the dentist December 9.  Roman did great! Dentist reported that he already has all 20 of his baby teeth. Roman survived a teeth-cleaning, x-rays, and fluoride application with flying colors!

• Roman wasn't feeling well today, and he informed me that, "This medicine is really kicking me!" What?!  At first, I thought he was saying this because I'm always telling him how baby sister kicks me. Then, Jonathan realized that he had told Roman that he wouldn't feel better until the medicine "kicks in." This kid cracks me up!
• Roman already knows a lot about Star Wars, thanks to his daddy. He recognizes all of the characters and logos when we are shopping. He asks as he passes a display, "Mommy, that Star Works?" It's absolutely adorable how he calls it Star Works instead of Star Wars!

Just in case I forget...

I am blessed by our little family more and more each day.  Roman is very excited to become a big brother sometime around January 7. Roman has created some memorable moments with his constant chatter and non-stop activity:

• Since Roman turned 2.5 (beginning of September), he has been asking questions non-stop: "What is that man doing?" "What is that sound (sow-wond for Roman)?" "What street is this?" "What does ___ mean?"  One time he asked what "Mo-pac" means after hearing Mommy and Daddy talking about directions.
• Roman can tell you his address without ANY help now.
• He loves Eskimo kisses at night (even though he will tell you "No es-ko kisses!"). If I give Lambie an Eskimo kiss before Roman's Eskimo kiss, Roman declares: "I got Lambie on me!!" Just recently, he likes for Mommy to give Daddy an Eskimo kiss.  Then, when I give him an Eskimo kiss, he says:  "I got Daddy on me! Brush it off!"
• After slobbering on the floor, Roman asked me: "What is that (pointing to his puddle)? Is that Roman germs?" Yes, that is Roman germs!
• Roman is the most thoughtful little guy I know. Roman never hesitates to give compliments: "Your toes look good!" (after painting my toenails), "Looks good!"  (pointing to the floor after I vacuumed). Roman is also very concerned for his mommy. He told me one day, "Rub your bottom, make it feel better!" after I told him about being sore from my pregnancy.
• Roman loves to make "houses" and "forts" out of the pillows on our bed.  He manages to lift the euro pillows, which are bigger than he is! 
  
  
  
  
• I think this was just a phase...Roman spontaneously called us "Mom" and "Dad" (for a couple of weeks) instead of his usual "Mommy" and "Daddy."  I'm thankful he is calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" again!  He's growing up too fast as it is!
• Roman likes to answer, "Yup," and "Nope."  I don't know where he picks up this stuff...do I really say things like this?!
• Roman continues to have very strong opinions about how Mommy wears her hair.  If I try to put it in a ponytail, Roman insists, "Mommy put you hair dow-win!" He manages to make "down" and "sound" into 2-syllable words every time!

Just in case I forget...

Roman is such a joy to us! I am thankful for the blessing that he is each and every day.

• Today, Roman requested: "Mommy, Ippy Sire!"  I responded multiple times to this repeated request, "I don't understand..."  Roman said, "Hear me, Mommy!"  Finally, I realized he wanted me to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." We sang together in the car the rest of the way home! Oh, what fun it is to have a two-year-old!
• Roman and I were going over what each farm animal says.  When I asked him what the goat says, he didn't miss a beat: "Goat, goat, goat, goat!" I have no idea how he comes up with these things!
• Favorite toys: Ball-popper (basically a basket with a ping-pong ball) and drill/screwdriver. Roman uses his drill for everything from drying his hair to fixing his lawn mower!
• Favorite books:  A Kiss Means I Love You, by Kathryn Madeline Allen & Eric Futran and Little House, Little Town, by Scott Beck.
• Roman loves to announce he has a dirty diaper by proclaiming, "Five more minutes to change my diaper!"  Don't ask me why, but he never wants it changed right away.
• My favorites:
• Waking up to the pitter-patter of little feet in the morning
• Roman has named his Little People farmer "Mr. Decker." Where does he come up with this stuff?
• Eskimo bedtime kisses every night!
• Roman singing along with me to "Jesus Loves Me" before naptime
• Nickname: "Budder Boo"(what started as "Buddy Boo" slowly became "Budder Boo")

Roman's Dictionary: Part III (PLUS, Just in case I forget...)

Translations of Roman-speak into plain English:

• Blowmaker:  Windmill
• Ding-Dong:  Doorbell
• Five more mi-uts:  "Five more minutes!!"  (Always said while holding up his index finger in the air; most often used to let us know he doesn't want to obey right now; always used before bath-time, bedtime, and diaper changing time to delay the inevitable)
• Jamas:  Pajamas
• Mailman truck:  Mail Truck 
• Mill-low:  Middle
• Nop:  Mop
• Oozing:  Using (typically, "But I'm still oozing it!")
• Peer-it: Parrot
• Suns:  Sunglasses (also refers to Daddy's glasses with this word)
• Sweeper:  Broom
• Swimpoop:  Swimsuit
• Tia:  Tortilla

More of our favorites from 26-28 months:

• Favorite conversation:
• Roman:(standing on chair)
• Me:"Please sit on your bottom on the chair."
• Roman:"This is NOT a chair. This is my garbage man truck!"
• Roman loves to gallop around now
• Favorite foods: the free cookies they give you at HEB and Sam's Club, any samples he can find while grocery shopping, and olives of any color.  Roman loves to put them on his fingers, and it drives him crazy that the green ones have pimentos in them!
• Roman has started added -a (-uh) at the ends of words and sentences (e.g., "Me get down-a!" and "No-a!")
• Favorites: 
• Constructing a "car transporter" by piling his matchbox cars on top of one another
• Puzzles

  

  Needed a little help from Aunt Claire
  June 26, 2015 

• Playing with play-doh and making Mommy "pancakes" 
• Making "coffee" 
• Building with Mega-Blocks (especially, building towers, houses, and "Cranky," the crane from Thomas the Train) 
• Watching Curious George
• Pretending to mop & sweep
• Playing with water table 

  

  June 24, 2015

• Mowing the lawn (both inside and out)

  

  June 22, 2015

• Playing with his bean box/table
• Giving hugs to cousin, William 

  

  William & Roman
  Gaylord Texan family trip: July 4, 2015

• Playing with babies (especially cousins Emma & Ezra)

  

  Playing with Becca.  Roman is naturally very gentle with babies!
  April 16, 2015

  
  

  

  Playing with cousin, Ezra
  July 14, 2015

• Roman likes to pile up all of his little comfort objects in his crib after waking up and before going to sleep.  He piles up his blanket, Froggie, Bevo, Chester (the raccoon), and bunny.
• Favorite book:  Little Owl's Night, by Divya Srinivasan
  .

Just in case I forget...

You just never know what will come out of a toddler's mouth once they start talking! Roman picks up on the smallest details and then tells us how they fit into his little world.

• We were reading about the Tower of Babel in our family devotional time.  We asked Roman what the name of the tower was.  He proudly declared, "Gobble!" He continues to insist that "Gobble" is the proper name of the tower.
• I just finished putting on my makeup for the day.  As I was changing Roman's diaper, he told me "Mommy's face look good."  My heart melted: "That's so sweet, Roman!" He responded, "Mommy pretty!" Daddy has taught him well.
• Roman has very strong opinions on how his Mommy wears her hair. If he suspects I'm about to put my hair in a ponytail, he shouts, "Nooo!  Mommy's hair not up!"
• Roman's pronunciation of "hamburger" is "hamburgerbooger."  He adds at least 2 extra syllables when he gets the chance. He continues to pronounce "snack" as "suh-wack." Oatmeal does not get an extra syllable, but it has been Roman-ized for sure: "oatle."
• Favorite book: Slide and Find - Trucks, by Roger Priddy. Roman loves to point out the various trucks he sees on the road as we drive. He favorite trucks are the back hoe loader and the garbage truck. He loves to try to catch a glimpse of our garbage truck in action every Wednesday. Roman has the perfect vantage point from our front playroom window!
  
• Roman likes to imitate Mommy blow-drying her hair with his toy electric drill.  Looks just like a hairdryer!  
• Roman loves his teddy bear friend, Maverick. He pretends to change his diaper, he takes him on his tricycle, and makes sure he has a blanket for bedtime. 
  
• Thomas the Train is Roman's favorite show and his favorite toy. Roman likes the character from the show, "Cranky the Crane."  On car-rides, every time he passes a crane (which is a lot, with the way Austin is growing), he shouts, "Cranky!"

Just in case I forget...

Age TWO is such a fun stage!  Roman is learning new things everyday.

• Roman has an ironclad memory.  This can be both a curse and a blessing! Music is something he relates to and can remember easily.  For example the song "Lean on Me" came on Pandora, and Roman immediately started recapping a favorite memory: "WoWo dance, hold hands, DeeDee here, Pauch here!"  He was trying to tell me about the time that he danced to "Lean on Me" with his cousin, William, while DeeDee and Papa G were babysitting them together. Amazing!  He also always reminds me to sing "Jesus Loves Me," at nap-time or bedtime. Except, he calls the song, "Jesus I Know."

• Roman cannot sleep without his sound machine (known as "shahmee" to Roman). The power went out briefly yesterday; and shortly after it came back on, Roman awoke from his nap much earlier than expected.  After picking Roman up and trying to comfort him, he pleaded with me, "Shahmee on, shahmee on!"  He awoke because his sound machine went off after the power outage.  Once we had our ocean back on, he asked me, "Bed, bed!"  He wanted to go back to sleep (and we all know that's a miracle if a toddler is begging for his bed!).
• Roman knows where Daddy works now.  When we drive by, he points it out and then waves, "Hi, Daddy!"  It's the sweetest thing ever.
• Roman's word for thunder is "wonder." When the thunder is really loud, Roman declares, "BIG wonder!"
• Favorite foods right now: Quiche, pizza, mango, apples with peanut butter.
• Favorite books: Slide and Find Trucks, by Roger Priddy (his favorite is the back hoe loader...he points them out in the car now); All of Baby Nose to Toes, by Victoria Adler; ABC Look at Me, by Roberta Grobel Intrater (loves the part when the baby made a mess); ABC Kids (loves the picture of the upside-down girl), by Laura Ellen Williams; and Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss (tries to make all of the silly sounds).

Roman's Dictionary: Part II

Some translations of Roman-speak into plain English:

• auss:  Olives
• Auss: Auntie Em's friend, Allison
• aw-pssss:  Octopus (typically the one from his projector sound machine)
• ba-yees: batteries
• crack: Crackers, please!
• dat: That
• dis: This (his favorite word for about a month--at first we had no idea what he meant!)
• Fi-fi: Sophia
• fly: Flag (typically the American flag).  We must point out every flag we see!
• Froffie: Froggie
• geme:  I want to play a game (usually on the iPhone)!
• mote:  Remote Control
• no-not: I really do not want to do that! (sometimes referring to washing his hair)
• opie:  Open
• ou-trol:  Out of Control
• Pauch: Papa G
• pwease: please
• Rori: Aunt Lori
• sah-wack: I want a snack, NOW! (Somehow, Roman has transformed snack into a 2-syllable word!)
• seep: Sleep, sleeping (e.g., Roman says "Da-ee seep" when Jonathan is taking a nap.)
• sonk: Scarf (referring to Mommy's scarves)
• wa-too: love you, too! (Roman said this for the first time to DeeDee on February 5, 2015...Melts my heart every time I hear this now!)
• yid: Lid

Just in case I forget...

Roman is a comedian. A fighter. A snuggle-bunny. A cutie. Roman is a BLESSING!

• Roman loves to snuggle for about 10-15 minutes after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. This gives him time to wake up, and eliminates the grumpiness!  Mommy loves and cherishes this snuggle time.
• Cold Hands!  Roman enjoys "helping" Mommy get dressed. He recently touched my legs as I was getting dressed, and I proclaimed, "Cold hands!"  Now, he chases me with his hands outstretched whenever it is time to get dressed.  He runs around laughing and shouting, "Coe Hans!"
• Roman loves his new trike that Auntie Em gave him for Christmas. We take it almost every day to go check the mail.  He rides standing up on the way there, and sitting down on the way back.  He LOVES to wear his helmet.  When we were checking the mail on Monday, he refused to take his helmet off before we went inside.  He insisted on wearing it all through dinner! Love this kid!
  
• Roman asks to go to the gym in the mornings.  He loves to go and play in their Kid's Club while Mommy works out.  Many mornings he says, "Buh-bye, gym!"
• Roman has learned he can get out of a diaper change if he insists, "No, gas!"  He is imitating how Mommy checks for a poop: "Do you have a poop?  No, it's just gas!" So when I tell him it's time to change his diaper, he responds, "No, gas."  He does this even when he has had a poop, just to get out of the diaper change!  This kid hates missing out on playtime!  We must be a long way from potty training...
• In his mind, Roman thinks that every toy has an on/off switch. He brings you a toy, and urgently insists, "On, on!" When I tell him it doesn't turn on, he thinks it's broken: "Ba-yees?" (This is Roman's word for batteries.)
• Roman's favorite books: Pouch! by David Ezra Stein; The Tale of Peter Rabbit: A Story Board Book, by Beatrix Potter; and My Every Day Bible: Noah & Friends, by Stephen Elkins.
• Roman's favorite foods: olives of all kinds ("auss"), grapes ("grace"), raisins, crackers ("cracks"), and french fries (they are usually from Chick-Fil-A).

2014 State of the Union

Once again, we look back at the year to see how God has worked in this union that we call our family. As we reminisce on 2014, we discover that our blessings are more than we can count.  God is faithful, every moment of every day!!!  We will try to highlight a few of the blessings and trials  as we recap our year.

Blessings:

1. The ability to spend time with family on mini-vacations throughout the year.  We traveled to Fredricksburg/Kerrville, Dallas, Houston, Port Aransas, and Broken Bow (Oklahoma) both to visit family and to vacation with family.

   

   Port Aransas, Texas

   
   

   

   Broken Bow, Oklahoma

2. In September, we began hosting a small group Bible study at our house (which our friend, Wes, so graciously leads).  This has been a tremendous blessing!  We have enjoyed having our home filled with the love and laughter of friends and fellowship every week.  I pray that God would give us more opportunities to open our home.
3. Good neighbors!  Yes, I am talking about YOU!  This year, we have really started to get to know our neighbors who live on our street and around the corner.  They have all been blessings to us in more ways than one.  Whether it is lending us something we need or having us over for playdates or just being the friendly face I need on a rough day; I have really appreciated having great neighbors.  Thank you!
4. Jonathan celebrated five years at his company!  The corporation treated both of us to a fancy dinner banquet to honor his service. We feel especially blessed that he loves his job and his co-workers.

Trials that God so faithfully brought us through:

"...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."
~Romans 5:3-4~

1. Termites!  We discovered termites on our property within a couple of years of moving into our home.  They did considerable damage to our fence and playscape; but thankfully, no damage to our house.  A nest of termites was found within inches of our house, but God protected us from structural damage to our new home.
2. The rebellious stage of toddlerhood has begun...We are learning daily how to graciously discipline our sweet little Roman.  We are thankful for moms and ladies in our church who mentor us in this area.
   

We know that blessings are not a guarantee in this life. We also know that trials are inevitable. When difficult times do come, they are always for a purpose (James 1:12).  Thank you, sweet Jesus, for blessing us with another amazing year!