Doggie Bow-wow

When I was a little girl (about Joey's age I guess, but I'd have to check with my mom on that) I called dogs, "bow-wows". I thought that was cute so I've been calling dogs, "bow-wows" with Joey too. I usually say something like, "look Joey, Doggie, bow-wow!" or "bow-wow", it's a doggie! I don't want him to not learn the word dog, but I thought it would be cute for him to say bow-wow. Especially for my mom to hear when she comes for BBB#2.

I was looking this morning at some cute dogs online. We aren't really little dog people, but I think if I were going to get a little one (maybe later in life) I'd go for a west highland white terrier, or a beagle puppy. So cute. Except I don't know if beagles are yippy. hmmmmm... something to think about.




In fact, we've been doing alot of talking about "bow-wows" because, we actually have 2 new babies coming. whew. We are expecting baby #1, a "little" male Bernese Mountain Dog, in a mere matter of weeks. We are just waiting until he is old enough to leave his Mom (about 3 more weeks). We are so excited!! Here is a picture of a Bernese puppy and adult.




We think they are a beautiful breed. They are also very large. We are getting a male which should range somewhere between 90-120 lbs. They are very mellow (not hyper dogs), energetic at times, and enjoy their rest also. They are known for being phenomenal with children and all of the BMD we've met have been so wonderful with Joey. He is still learning to "appreciate" doggie kisses, and much prefers an animal that complete ignores and simply tolerates him (like Mocha), but we are hoping that we all have an easy adjustment. Especially since we'll have about 3 months with this puppy before the next little male Beardsley arrives.

Can't wait to introduce all of you readers and friends to our new little (ha!) puppy. We are really really excited about his arrival in a few weeks.

(If you are interested in reading more about the Bernese Mountain Dog, they are a really intruiging breed, and you can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernese_Mountain_Dog . They were originally bred in Switzerland as draft dogs, and are known for guarding livestock and cattle. They have an unusually short life span for a larger dog, but there are ways to prolong it that we have spent alot of time learning about including keeping them active, and working on their weight (they tend to become overweight and sedentary).

...Far More Abundantly

I have a stash of posts that I've been waiting on because for the next 10 days Matt is out of town, out of country, out of continent! One of his best friends in Chile is getting married and he will be visiting until the first week in March. I miss him terribly already.

Joey and I returned today from a trip to CO with the Beardsley family. Matt was there with us until yesterday and returned a day early to repack and fly out to Chile. I was pretty worried about making a connection, and managing 2 flights with Joey, and being pretty pregnant, and a large checked back and carry-ons and a stroller. Wonderfully for me, people were very kind. I was offered 2 seats alone on the first flight (where Joey played the whole time, it was very short) and 2 seats, in a 3 row on the second flight (also relatively short, only 2 1/2 hours). Even more amazingly, Joey slept for almost all of the second flight. I think he was only awake for about 45 minutes. I got to listen to my headphones a little bit, doze off, even drink a drink (which if you've carried a baby on a plane you know that the little cup they give you is not a good scenario for a young toddler). After the flight we pretty smoothly got our giant bag, and wheeled it to the shuttle to take us to the remote parking and we even remembered to use our coupon and saved $18!!!! Matt was very generous to agree to leave a car at the airport for me so that I wouldn't have to worry about taking a carseat (we didn't need one on the trip- or asking a favor of one of our friends to pick me up). I made it home, a little tired (but let's face it, that's all the time really....) and definitely no worse for the wear after handling 2 flights alone with Joey.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Eph 3:20,21


It's not the same without you here Matt!! Joey and I were looking at this picture thinking about Daddy! We miss you!!

Just Couldn't Resist

You Win Some, You Lose Some

One great thing about living in Oakland, is that it is a city where your mail is still dropped through your door slot. Seriously! We have a slot in the side of the house next to the front door and all of our mail (even sometimes small packages) fits through. It's really nice, especially in a location where you don't really want your stuff sitting around outside, even mail. We don't even have to walk to a box to mail our mail, we just stick it in our slot (with a teeny bit poking outside) and the mailman takes it away!

This is really fun.....most of the time. Unfortunately though, it doesn't always work. Sometimes when we leave mail in the box the mailman doesn't pick it up if he doesn't have anything to drop off. Occasionally the mail he drops through spreads out with all the ads, and you'll open up the front door and come in to a SEA of mail. Other times, (our outgoing) mail has dropped out of the outside of the box unbeknownst to us and landed on the porch. This has happened in the rain, and other gross weather conditions.

So....here we come to the part of the story where I explain which "ones you win". A few weeks ago I was planning on running a 5K with my friend Rebecca. It was through Golden Gate park and a huge race with 10,000 participants. I was really excited to be doing that at 5 months pregnant. I filled out (both of) our registration and left them in the mail slot and waited for our bib numbers and timers to come in the mail. The shirt for the race was a really cool black long-sleeved shirt and I was still running at the gym and excited to have the race to look forward to. As the race day approached we still had not received our bibs, etc., but weren't worried because they could also be picked up at the Will-Call before the race. Most people were getting them that way. So Rebecca and I (and our sweet husbands, and Joey) got up at 5:00 on Feb 1 for the race and drove all the way into S.F. for the race. It was PACKED., and after working on finding parking, and lots of shuffling we were at the Will-Call tent, ready for the race on a beautiful day in Golden Gate Park. *sigh*.

But alas. They did not have our registration. Lost in the mail? Does that really happen. I sent it in! I sent it in weeks ago!! The race was so crowded and they were very clear on their website that there was NO RACE DAY REGISTRATION, so after a few visits to the troubleshooting tent and some completely shameless begging, we were turned away. wow. Honestly, There are only a handful of times in my life I can remember being so disappointed. It might sound silly but something about staying in shape this pregnancy and having the support of Matt there watching, and doing it with my friend, it seemed like there wouldn't be another chance until after June when BBB comes and then a few months after that, to get back up to a place where I could run 3 consecutive miles. I was so sad!!

What an encouragement my great friend Rebecca was. She is not a huge fan of running and really just agreed to do it with me because I begged, but she said, Laurie, if you can find another race in the next few weeks that you want to run, I'll do it with you. I could have kissed her!! She turned a big disappointment into a hopeful situation!

Then I got the FLU!! Just 2 days later!! I was out for over 11 days. Completely out of commission. Not working, not really moving and definitely not feeling like running a race with the VERY little bit of energy that I did have. But the Lord was so good, and He really turned the tide of my illness about 5 days before the Chinatown 5/10K which was Feb. 15, last Sunday. Rebecca agreed to do it with me, and we registered just a few days before.

The race began in Chinatown, celebrating the Year of the Ox, 2009, which was the previous weekend, and traversed a good part of the city, Fisherman's wharf, all the piers along the shore, The financial district (which is the skyline and all the tall buildings) and Chinatown. It was really cool to run through the city and have the traffic stopped for you and lots of people cheering you on. AND it was POURING rain that day. By the end we were all soaked through. It was an AWFUL day, but my friends, I tell you, it was wonderful. I didn't set any records, and I didn't have a fast time at all, but I ran that entire 5K, and I felt wonderful. Amazing.

It wasn't the same as it would have been running on a beautiful day through Golden Gate park, but what a great reminder of the much more beautiful friendship that I have. What a great chance for the Lord to teach me about His planning and patience. What an opportunity for me to see the dedication of my sweet husband, as he twice got up at the crack of dawn, on a weekend and took care of our son. What a race.

This is Rebecca and I after our thwarted first attempt....


Last weekend....ready ready ready ready, ready to run!!


Picture Matt took after the start...you can kind of see all the rain.


My great friend, who supported me through the race in the rain that she ran because she is amazing.....giving props to perhaps the youngest runner of the race :-)


We've been having rain non-stop and after a little porch cleaning on a non-rainy yesterday, I found the envelope with the first race registration. It had fallen out of the box before it was picked up, and under a chair on our porch where we couldn't see it. It had been rained on, hailed on (hailed??) and looked like it had been chewed up and swallowed. It was out there for a month. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.

You Have Baby?

If I were wearing this lovely cartoon woman's dress it would say, I'm due on the 18th of June, It's a BOY, and No you can't touch my belly! :-)

That's right folks, we are expecting Baby Boy Beardsley #2!!

I'm sure most of my/our readers already know, we certainly haven't been keeping it a secret. Over Christmas there were still friends and family that we were tellng and then once we got back I was going to post, but then there were just a few weeks until we found out what we were having and then we did, and life was crazy busy for a few weeks and then I got the big FLU....blech, so now is the time to come clean!!

We found out a little over 2 weeks ago that we were expanding our brood with yet another little boy!! I actually found out a day before our ultrasound while I was at the grocery store where I had a conversation with nice older woman that went like this:
Woman: "You have baby?"
Me: surprised look. (I am coming from the gym and wearing a sweatshirt.) "well, yes!"
Woman: "It Boy."
Me: slight cough, "oh really!? You think? Well I find out tomorrow so I can come back and let you know!"
Woman: shakes head (as in, that's not necessary.) "It Boy."

Well strange woman at the grocery store...you were right! It Boy! Again!!

We are so thrilled to have another little man running around the house, although I know he won't be running for a while. These two will be about 21 months apart. I'm excited, and pretty tired. I was a little tired during the first trimester and had pretty much gotten over that, but with the flu it has been tough! The times of high high fever I couldn't feel him moving (I've been feeling him for a few weeks, even Matt has felt him), so the decreased movement was pretty scary, but now that the fever is all but gone (only a low grade one some evenings, and none at all during the day), he seems to be getting more active again, which is a huge relief!!! I had an appointment today with a midwife and was able to hear the heartbeat (first time since the BIG sonogram) which she said was not too high (something that happens with a high fever). She told me about some cough medicine that I could take (which is great, because the cough is really lingering and very wracking and exhausting on the body!).

So here's a little photo for your viewing pleasure. This is from a little over 10 weeks and I am 22 weeks along now. We have much better pictures, but none in the computer right now, so this will have to do!


I can't believe at this point I am just a few weeks from the 3rd trimester!! I'm so glad because I already feel stretched to the limit! Well we'll try to get some belly pictures taken sometime and more current ultrasound pictures posted too, but for now that's the exciting news....

In Case You've Ever Heard Me Complain...

I'd just like to say, for a couple of people who didn't think they would own a cat, that we have ended up with the best cat ever. Not only did he have a sweet, excitable, playful, jubliant kittenhood, but he calmed down into a sleepy, snuggly, playful, TOLERANT, and PATIENT cat.

I think Joey enjoys Mocha, almost more than us. He (Joey) emits a very high pitched SCREAM as soon as he sees Mocha every morning. He then proceeds to chase him down and hit him. He is trying to pet him, but it's more like the kind of really rough pat you'd give the side of a horses neck. Right now he is "vrooming" a car along the sofa into Mocha repeatedly. (Mocha is curled up and sleeping). Mocha has his limits (and moments) but for the most part, doesn't scratch or do anything to Joey. He seems to enjoy having Joey around, really. When it gets to be too much, sometimes he'll just get up and leave, and look for refuge on our bed, or in Matt's studio where Joey can't get to him.

And...it's not just Joey. EVERY little person under the age of 6 that comes into this house (we don't know any older ;-) LOVE Mocha. They all hunt him down and want to pet him, watch him eat, drink, sleep, etc. Mocha is so tolerant. He has never hurt a little person in our house, or given us any cause to worry.

Thanks for bearing with me on a (somewhat boring) post about our cat. I was just watching him get abused by Joey and finding myself amazed yet again, over his tolerance. We try VERY hard to remind and demonstrate to Joey how to be gentle, but it's all a learning process and we're so grateful to be blessed with a cat who lets our little boy "learn" how to love him well.

Who's Your Daddy

Matt's going to get into THIS the next time he is trapped into taking care of Joey for so long! Enjoy!!

This is the...

This is the post that I never thought I'd be well enough to write to explain my lack of important updates.....


This is the guest room, the lonely guest room, vacated by our guests on Friday and inhabited by my husband for the last 4 nights so that he can sleep without hacking and sweating and fevers and moaning.


This is the baby, the neglected baby, left to fend for himself with his Daddy for care. (His Daddy did a great job and I promise he had more to eat than peas!)


This is the husband, the poor worn out husband, who has juggled the baby, the neglected baby, slept in the guest room vacated Friday, worked on his final project due in a week, run our household and business and tried so hard!


This is the sofa, the comfy new sofa, where rest has been found for fevers and chills, and for poor worn out husbands who've juggled babies, negelected babies with only their daddy to care for them.


This is the can, the blessed can, that nurse Jessie instructed to buy, which has sprayed knobs, handles, faucets and cell phones, computer keyboards, keys and remotes.


This is the "sick room", with laundry aplenty and messes all over the place. Now with clean laundry and new, not sweaty sheets, to welcome back the husband, the poor worn out husband who praise God seems to still have his health!


This is the phone, the wonderful phone and lifeline to all who have health! This phone holds nurse mom each and every day, with advice and many helpful hints! This phone has spoken sympathy from many afriend and brought smiles through much hacking and blah!


These are some tools, just a few of the tools that helped a little bit at a time. From rehyd-erating (I needed that to have another syllable), jello and lots of medicating, something actually started to improve....


This is the casserole, the wonderful, delicious casserole that Sarah brought over for the husband, the poor worn out husband, taking care of the baby, the neglected baby, and for the mommy, the sick sick mommy.

And finally:

This was the flu. The real flu. The fever that never goes away, and dry hacking cough that tears you apart and body aches like you have fallen from a cliff. Exhaustion, total exhaustion.

Yesterday was the day, finally the day where the Tylenol did not have to be taken exactly 6 hours after it last had been. The first day I didn't see a 103, and my fever only went up to 100. The first day in a week. That was the flu.

Now that you are done feeling sorry for me....what?? You want to "oooo" and "awwwww" a little more? You feel SO BAD that I got the flu. ME TOO! Thanks! Now that you are done, please keep Matt and Joey in your prayers, they haven't shown any symptoms yet and hopefully won't. Also Tyler and Becky and Eve were here for the beginning, before I knew what it was and I really really hope they don't get it either! Please be thinking of all of them!
And know that I'll be thinking of all of you...

Update on Joey

It's been a while since I've done a good update on Josiah, so here we go....

Joey is a week shy of 17 months! I can't believe he's been around that long!! It's definitely been a bright 17 months! Joey is a very smiley and happy toddler (wow-toddler), most of the time. He loves to be the center of attention and to have people fawning over him. He is such a social guy! If we are at a restaurant he is watching the people at the next table, especially if there are children. There is nothing that delights him more than strangers socializing with him in the grocery store, or anywhere else we have to go. I can't imagine this guy ever hiding his eyes behind our knees. There isn't a shy bone in his body. He lives for people's attention. Other than sleeping though, he does not like to be left alone. We are working on giving him some alone in his room playtime, and while he doesn't always need someone to play with him, he really gets upset if he is alone. He doesn't ever mind being left in our gym nursery or church nursery, as long as there are people with him!

He is a very focused guy and has several "jobs" (as we call them) that he likes to get done. He is really really REALLY into buckles. As soon as he gets down from his highchair, after every meal he runs to get some toy or do something, and then has this moment of realization. You can almost see a little light going on, then he runs back over to the high chair and works on the buckle until he has rebuckled it. He rarely forgets to go back over to the chair and work on the buckle. Now it only takes a few seconds or a minute, but a few weeks ago, he would stand in front of the high chair for 5 minutes or more totally focused on the buckling. He's the same with the carseat. If his carseat is ever sitting in the house or (this is a favorite) someone is over who has an infant carseat that he can actually climb into, to work on the buckle, then he is in heaven! He is the same way with small electrical things, like cell phone chargers, ear phone plugs, computer cables. He knows how they connect, and which small spaces to fit the cords into. While we don't let him (intentionally) play with anything plugged in, he is really in heaven when there is a set task to complete and he works with such determination and focus! He is such a little man already!
Here he is, hard at work on his most important job...


Verbally Joey is starting to try to say new words but only very occasionally. He is really only most comfortable saying something that he 1. already knows he can say 2. knows exactly what it is, and 3. practices saying frequently. The words he says on a regular basis and he is comfortable saying are:
mama
dada
banana (nana)
bow wow (dog)
vroom vroom (his noise for cars, planes, buses, anything that moves)
all done (ah, dah while he signs "all done")
milk (ma, signs milk)
and he signs please, when we ask and on his own when he wants something that we aren't offering ;-)

He understands:
Lay down
come here
no no
eat a snack, dinner, lunch, breakfast
airplane
Be gentle (mostly said when "petting" (grabbing fur of) Mocha
and most simple commands with: where are your_______ (socks, shoes, diapers, Mocha, cup, trains, daddy, phone, car, bear, blanket, pacifier etc.)

I know there is a ton of stuff that I am forgetting and really I think he understands even more than I think he does but he is so unwilling to wing it and try to say something that might not come out perfectly, so sometime I'll say something like "hold on to the railing", without thinking about it, and he'll look at me and then grab the railing and I had no idea he'd even been paying attention since he really makes no huge efforts to communicate. I think Matt and I actually enjoy this a little bit. He's very mellow with his talking and still seems very content to babble convincingly to himself and those around him. I'm sure that eventually there will be a word explosion but for now we're glad that he is enjoying himself, and doesn't ever seem frustrated by communication.

He is starting to get into trains. Ahhh boys. Probably largely to do with the 4 year old that I watch and his OBSESSION with Thomas the Train paraphernalia. We bit the bullet and got him some wooden tracks to flesh out a starter pack that he was given for Christmas and some plain wooden trains. I think we're going to try to steer him in the Brio direction, fun classic, wooden trains and not so much the Thomas direction, slightly hyped-up racket. I'm sure he'll end up falling in love with crazy fads like Pokemon or Hannah Montana (ok maybe not Joey), or The Wiggles or whatever is coming in the next 5 years that we aren't prepared for, and we'll just have to roll with the punches and let him enjoy being a little boy....
He does make the cutest little train sounds....




Eating...he's doing much better with eating now than he was a few months ago. I think (looking back) that I just made the mistake of starting him on "our food" much later than I should have. He generally has our leftovers from dinner for his lunch now, or pieces of lunch meat and cheese. He still loves his tofu, and we give him lots of yogurt and cottage cheese. He is resistant to eating most things that he's never tried before but he doesn't spit out his food (he did that a little before) and he doesn't give us a very hard time when we feed it to him. Our goal would be for him to eat anything we put on his tray without too much hesitation, but usually we still have to feed a good bit to him to get it down. He is really good about eating it though! Some things he eats now that he didn't a while ago are: scrambled eggs, noodles (still not crazy about these, Matt questions whether Joey is his own offspring at times), tuna, chicken nuggets and fish sticks, broccoli (not pureed!) and corn. He'll eat any fruit without question and any vegetable although chewing up green beans seems hard. He loves them and he shoves them in but then gets this mouthful that he can't swallow. I think they are just a little tough to chew up. He's not a huge dessert guy. Once he's full and has had a good dinner he'll maybe eat a cookie if you give it to him, but maybe only half or if he's full none at all.
He has a lot of interest in using his fork and spoon! He's pretty good at it, but it's hard to let him because he can't really handle it with a bowl. If he gets say, peas in a bowl he can take a few bites with his spoon but eventually will end up overturning the bowl or dumping it on the floor. We've tried the suction-cuppy bowls and plates but they won't really stick to our high chair. Trying to grab peas or something with spoon off of the tray is tough work, so we have to be really really attentive if we are going to give him a bowl and silverware to practice with. He really really wants to learn though and loves being allowed to feed himself with adult silverware when he can weasel it out of our hands!

This is a picture of Joey "dipping". He loves to dip his chicken nuggets in ketchup but hasn't quite figured out that it's not great to dip everything in there. Here he is dipping a banana slice.


Sleeping.....I wish I could say we are at a consistant napping place now, but we aren't quite there yet. Joey is still taking 2 naps a day! He just can't quite seem to make it in the morning until noon or 1:00. Right about 11 he crashes and burns and only needs like 45 minutes or an hour, and then another nap from about 3 until 5. I'm sure eventually that will condense but for now he still takes 2 naps on most days and sleeps about 12 hours a night. If he had to wake up earlier in the morning the naps might condense more naturally but he doesn't usually get up before 8 or 8:30 which is a little late for his age. Well if there's no reason to wake up earlier..... Mama and Daddy don't mind! :-)

Playing, and fun random things..... Joey still really enjoys being in his walker actually. Which is really funny because it's our only "baby containment unit". I probably only end up using it once a week or so, to take a shower, but I'll roll it into the family room and put on a Baby Einstein. When he sees me pushing it in he starts screaming and laughing! It's a good way to get a shower and know he's safe because the guy is always moving. He won't even sit to watch a new library B.E. for more than a millisecond (and then he is standing). Right now, he's just up from a nap and is sitting next to me on the couch. I'm thinking it will last about 1 minute, but to prolong the experience I put on the only animated thing I could find, which is Spongebob, something I don't even understand. Oh....moving on to his trains. At least that means I can turn it off!
More funny stuff.... Joey thinks that "give me a kiss" means give you his forehead so you can kiss him. He has no idea that a kiss has or could have anything to do with his lips. I have yet to get a kiss from my little guy at 17 months!! But he is very willing to give you a forehead with a big smile and anticipation of your kiss to come! He likes to have his doggie and bear that he sleeps with kissed and his blanket. Lots of kisses to go around. He's still not much of a cuddler. I get a cuddle when he wakes up from his nap for about 5 or 6 seconds. bliss though, I tell you. He'll lay his head on my shoulder and go completely still. Sometimes after he hurts himself, he'll take a minute snuggle, but mostly then he just wants to get going again, even if he is still crying he'll struggle away to get back to work/play.

He absolutely LOVES to play with Dad. Especially on our sofa, or any other place where rough-housing can take place. He thrives on this. He loves to be tossed in the air onto the sofa. He lives for it! He still spends 2 days at work with me. 1 day (my day off, "at home" with me, read:running errands) and 2 days at home with Daddy. Although it's not always easy for Matt to get as much work done as he'd like to with Joey at home, it has created a really special relationship between them. Those days, Joey is so thrilled to see me when I get home, BUT, the days he comes to work with me, he is completely thrilled to see Daddy when we get home. I can honestly say it truly seems to make no difference to him which one of us he is with, as long as he's got somebody. Sometimes (a little selfishly, I'll admit) I wish that he'd prefer me, because it just seems right, but when I see Matt playing with Joey (he is right now and I'm watching, while they build a block tower :-) it reminds me of how grateful I should be that the Lord has blessed them with that relationship.

So some stats. Right now Joey is around 23 lbs. I don't know what percentile that is right now, but we have a Dr.'s appointment in a few weeks so I'll know then. I don't know how tall he is, but he isn't tall. People usually guess him at a year or younger. He's a pretty small guy! We have such a great time with him. He has the most precious laugh and I love those random moments where something unexpected that I, or Matt will do, crack him up and he laughs and laughs. I didn't know you could live so much for that! He is such a joy, and so patient and easy-going with his parents. Needless to say from the photos I have yet to cut his hair, and yes, people think he is a girl....ALL the time, but honestly, it doesn't bother me a bit, not even a teeny bit. I love those curls. I can look at those little curls and see Matt and myself right there in him and it makes my heart melt.

Thanks for bearing with me and reading about our little guy. I'll be back with more posts that I was going to write before THE FEVER. ;-)

Poor Me!

I had big plans for a really long post tonight with lots of fun news, BUT...I haven't been feeling great today and I just took my temp. and it was 102! I know that's not earth shattering, but it's definitely going to give me the motivation to take some Tylenol and go to bed early! So I'm off to bed now, but....I couldn't wait to share some really exciting news...... My best friend Becky is coming to visit tomorrow with her husband Tyler and daughter Eve. I haven't see Becky since Eve was a few weeks old (now she's almost 20 months!), and I was very very pregnant and she has never met Joey. I couldn't be more excited, so please please pray that I'm feeling great by morning to spiff up this joint and get it ready for our first company!!!