Colorado and Other Things

Hi everyone! So much has been happening lately, I hardly know where to start! But I do have LOTS of pictures for you this time. We had a wonderful 4th of July party at our house to celebrate Grandpa George's 82nd birthday and of course our country's Independence. We were able to take several 4 generation pics with each great-grandchild and here they are.

Even though that night was lots of fun, it was not so much fun waking up the next morning at 3:30 so Naomi and I could catch a 7:00 flight to Colorado. I learned a lot about flying with a two-year-old after that day: 1) Don't take a 7:00am flight, 2)Check as many bags as possible, 3) Make sure your toddler is fully awake before taking them potty, 4) Don't ever, ever, ever carry 4 bags, a Naomi, and a car-seat down an escalator, and 5) Make sure there is time to get some food before getting on the flight. Overall, it was an extremely interesting experience. It's too bad that I was too flustered to get a picture of Naomi at her first airplane experience. Oh well.

When we got to Colorado, things just kept getting more interesting. Naomi almost fell down an escalator, I almost got lost in the airport, and I got severe motion sickness to the point of "loosing it" in a Walgreen's parking lot on the way to my friend's house. But after that, the trip got better and better. Naomi got to play at a park every day we were there. Ft. Collins is absolutely beautiful. On clear days, you can see the snow-capped mountains beyond the foothills (which the city is built right up against). It was great to see my best friend from college that I hadn't seen in 4 years! Naomi got spoiled on "Dora" while we were at their house, but hey, it was vacation. Here are some pictures from Colie and Timmy's house.

On Wednesday of that week, we went back to Denver to visit Debbie (Amrein) Beschorner and her husband John. We had a wonderful time there as well. The first day we were there, I discovered that John and Debbie did not have AC, which, on most days is fine out there. Unfortunately, the first day we were there it got up to 97 degrees outside and 96 degrees inside. Luckily, that didn't happen again :)
We were lucky enough to go on a drive through the mountains past all the ski resorts/towns. What a beautiful part of the world. Even Office Max's look pretty out there! We drove to a spot right on the Colorado river where a 1.2 mile trail takes you to a beautiful lake (pond) 1000 ft. above where you start. When we got there, we found out that dogs were not aloud, which really stunk because we had brought their puppy. So, John stayed behind with the puppy while Debbie and I went up the mountain with Naomi. We took turns carrying Naomi up the mountain in a backpack carrier. Here are some pictures from our hike up.
Hanging Lake, as it was called, was so beautiful. I think it is one of my favorite destinations that I've found so far while hiking in the Rockies. The water was insanely blue. Here are a few pictures and a video I took while we were up there.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better getaway. It was relaxing and I got to spend time with people I really love.

As for Naomi, she has reached a new stage of the "Terrible Two's" as they call it. I guess I always thought that the nickname meant tantrums, but I have discovered there are more aspects to the terribleness of the year 2. Naomi touches everything she sees. If it's there, she grabs it, turns it on, eats it, or whatever else she can do with it. Just yesterday, she was cleaning up a mess on her tray and without any hesitation at all, she dunked her paper towel into her milk. You would probably have to see it, but the quickness she did it with....and not even thinking about it.

She is also figuring out ways to get out of things: 1) Telling me she has a headache and has to lay down (for 5 secs) 2) Telling me she needs a drink when it's time for bed (she just had one), 3) Running and giving me a hug (so I forget) 4) Arguing with me. The last one really gets me. Her arguing usually goes something like this: "I can't do that, because I don't do that, I can't do that. You can't do that, because I can't do that, because I can't do that." I mean, come on! How did she learn how to reason like this at a the age of two?? But....most of the time, she is really fun and extremely hysterical. Here is a video of her speaking her own language with Papa. Oh, the wonderfulness of having an imagination!!

Summer Flies When You're an Aunt

Naomi says hello (with a very forced smile) to all of you!

Hi all! It's been a long while since I've posted anything and there have been several good reasons for the delay. First of the reasons was a trip to Carbondale to see my sister, brother-in-law, and of course my new nephew Jedidiah Carl Adamow. The visit was just what Naomi and I needed to kick off our summer together. Naomi loves her new cousin. If you've visited my sister Emily's blog you've seen a video of Naomi loving on Jed. (http://www.ourlittleapple.blogspot.com/) Her many comment's to Jed mostly consisted of, "Hi baby!" or "Oh, what's wrong baby Jed?" It was so much fun to see how she reacted being around a baby for a whole week. But wait! That one week quickly turned into three weeks when we came home. Here are some pics of Naomi and her new baby Jed, as she called him.

When we got home after the week at Emily and Chris's house, my sister Valerie was there with her new baby boy, Joshua. Valerie and Joshua stayed at our house for two weeks while Valerie caught up on some much needed sleep and started to overcome her anxiety from post-partum depression. Thank you to everyone who prayed for her through this tough time as she is showing an extremely fast recovery! Praise the Lord!!! Here is a video of Valerie singing the Twidell girls' favorite baby song to her new baby.

After Valerie left for Grand Rapids today, Naomi kept asking, "Where's Aunt Valerie and Baby Joshua?" She's been missing them very much and I can tell she liked being like a big sister for the last 3 weeks between Jed and Joshua. Here is a picture of Naomi and Joshua. And one with Grandma and two of her grandchildren.

As for me, I've been busy trying to be strong for the family. It takes a lot more than I thought it did, and I admire my mom so much for always being strong. And even if she wasn't really feeling strong she was at least acting strong. I will be the first to say that out of everyone in my family I am the least emotionally stable person. But these last few weeks have been very good for me to show me that I can be a rock when I need to be. Which I'm sure I'll need when Naomi gets to the teenage years. For those of you who were wondering, I did not get a call on the job in Michigan, so I will be staying here for at least another year. Again, thanks for all the prayers that have been lifted up for our family. We love you all very much!!

Big Cousin Naomi

Last weekend, Naomi and I had the joy of visiting Valerie, Paul, and Baby Joshua. It was a wonderful weekend except for having a major attack of the seasonal allergies. I could not believe how amazing Naomi was with Joshua. If he was sleeping, she wanted to hold him and give him kisses. If he was awake, she was crawling up on our laps to look at him. If he was crying, she was patting him and saying, "It's okay, baby Joshua." Here are some pictures of Naomi and Joshua.

When Naomi was learning Joshua's name, she began to say, "Joshua James Nelson Nelson." I decided it would be a good time to stop this double last name thing, so on the way home from Grand Rapids, I told her there was only one Nelson. So when Grandma asked her if she got to see Joshua James Nelson Nelson this week, she said, "No, one Nelson." Now Joshua is "Joshua James One Nelson." Oops, I guess Naomi's vocabulary and comprehension ARE still at a two-year-old level. Just last night, my mom was putting Naomi to sleep and Naomi was asking her to sing the "Pants One." After a few more questions, we found out it was, "Sing a Song of Six Pence." I guess the "pocket full of rye" got her a little confused. Here are a couple videos of her singing, but not the "Pants One."

Naomi has been learning a lot about language, and especially asking questions. She is definitely in the "why" stage of her life. After enough why's about the same subject, I usually tell her, "I don't have an answer for that." The other day, my mom asked Naomi a question, and after she thought for awhile, she told grandma, "I don't have answer." How cute was that! What an amazing use of context! She continues to amaze me every day. Here's a picture of us on her 2nd birthday.

Without revealing too much, I need to ask for your prayers for the direction my life needs to take. I've been thinking about relocating for quite awhile now and I've taken some steps in trying to do this. I'm still not sure it's what God wants for me, but after praying A LOT, I don't have the anxious feeling like I usually do when something is not right. I actually feel pretty peaceful about everything right now, so we'll see what comes next.

What the Hey?

Everyone else is doing it! Guess I will, too. When my sister Valerie started her blog, I thought it was a really cool idea of being able to keep up with her and especially my new nephew. Even though Naomi is two now, she's still changing every day, and I was feeling left out of the blogging family with both sisters having a blog. I'll be honest and say that my posts probably won't be very frequent. After talking with my sisters, who both have newborns, I forgot how much I miss holding and kissing little babies. However, I definitely don't miss the endless questions of "Am I doing this right, or am I totally screwing up my child?"

Now that Noami is two, I can definitely say, so far I haven't screwed up my child. I get compliments every day of how well behaved she is. I would love to take the credit for all of it, but unfortunaley I have to give most of the credit to my parents. Not because they are disciplining my daugher, but because they disciplined me. Everything I am doing with Naomi is what was done with me.

She is the funniest girl ever. She decided that she has two babies now, baby Joshua James Nelson and baby Jedidiah (which, by the way, she sings). Even though she hasn't gotten to meet either one, yet, she still considers them hers. Today, when I picked her up from school (daycare), her teacher said that she had come up with a new potty dance. Turns out the new move was actually her new dance move which I had discovered the other night. But, I'll be the first to admit that it looks more like a potty dance than a musical dance. Here's a picture of just one of the silly ways she likes to dress up in others clothes: Azeem's hat, Emmely's mittens, and Grandma's ear warmer around her neck.

Well, my plans to move out of my parents house came quickly to a halt when I took a financial class at my church. Turns out teachers make squat, especially in Spring Valley, and I won't be able to move out until Naomi goes to kindergarten. Speaking of kindergarten, I am, with unsurmountable joy, finishing up my second year of teaching kindergarten. I'm praying that God decided to give me my hardest year right off the bat so that I can prove that I can handle this profession. If not, I seriously question my previously decided spiritual gift, teaching. One of my best friends said, "If you survived brain surgery, you can survive anything!" She obviously has never been in a classroom with 24, at times 25, unruley 5-6 year olds. Perhaps God is just trying to tell me, "Duh, Caroline, I didn't mean KINDERGARTEN!!!" .....Who knows.