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.