Old McDonald

Did you know Old McDonald only had cows on his farm? Joy will tell you all about it below...

Krafve Visit

We were blessed with visitors over the weekend. My parents and Jenni and Aaron came to visit us. We had a great time together and Joy loved the extra attention. One of our best memories of the weekend was when Uncle Aaron was teaching Joy to label her elbow. She couldn't quite pronounce it right, so she reverted to a word she knows really well, "Elmo". Then, whenever she wanted his attention the rest of the day, she would call him 'Elmo'. So, Aaron received a new nickname from his 18 month old niece. :) My family also helped us transport a wood swing set from a friends place. Joy is very excited about it and asks to swing constantly now. It sounds like we will be able to get outside to use it more towards the end of the week when it hits temps in the 60's!! This is a pretty normal week for us. We are looking forward to visit from Joy's aunt Sarah this coming weekend! Have a great week!

Joys favorite color

Joy has taken a huge interest in coloring lately. She wants to label every color she uses and often picks out and labels the color yellow. I caught a little bit of her on video this evening. She also had her first experience of finger painting today. She loved that as well. I am having a hard time deciding what art work to keep and what to recycle because I know there will much more to come. :)

18 month photos

We got our camera and had two photo sessions with Joy. :) Here are some of our favorites. It's hard to believe she is 18 months old already!

18 month Dr Appt

Joy had her 18 month doctor appointment. She screamed anytime a nurse or the doctor came near her so that was most of the appointment. She got two shots today too which made her cry pretty hard. But she recovered quickly and went shopping with mom for a few new shirts and skorts for summer. She wondered from rack to rack and found a dress and a pair of shoes she was not happy to leave behind. :)

Here are her stats from the appointment.
Weight: 23 lb 9 oz 39%
Height: 32.5" 76%
Head: 48.5 cm 93%

We are getting a new SLR camera this week. So, there will be a lot of pictures to come as we learn how to use it. We decided to invest in a nice camera instead of getting professional pictures done. And, we were tired of missing so many shots or things turning out blurry. Hopefully we will be happy with our decision.

February Highlights

Hi. This month has flown by! We started it by celebrating Danny's 30th birthday. We talked about throwing a small party for each other since we both turned 30 within 2 months of each other, but didn't get around to it - no surprise. The night of Danny's birthday, 2/1, and into the next day, a blizzard dropped a total of 19 inches of snow in our area. We were snowed in on 2/2 until our very helpful neighbors used their snow blowers to get us out. We've also enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Krafve two weeks ago.

About 2 weeks ago, Joy started to put two words together and has become more spontaneous with it recently. She also looks forward to going to work with me in the morning. She asks for the baby most days when she first wakes up.

Danny was away for four days at the beginning of the month. He went to Florida for a conference with one of his bosses. Thankfully it wasn't all work. They golfed one day and enjoyed exclusive seats at an Orlando Magic game one evening. Joy and I really missed Dad but made it through okay with one exception. On the last night Dad was away, Joy tried to squeeze between a table leg and the wall when she slipped and cut her nose on the only sharp piece on the table. There was a little blood but a quick recovery minus the scab.

Unfortunately, Joy has been sick this week. She came down with a cough on Monday, it got more serious Tuesday evening, fever started Wednesday, and fever on and off through Thursday (we stayed home from work this day). Danny is planning on staying home with her tomorrow.

Below is a 'highlight' video of our life this past month. It isn't anything too exciting, but captures moments of our daily life. God bless you and your family!

Hooray Packers!

What a game! We are still filled with excitement over the Packer's win yesterday. I really wish I could be in Green Bay today. It would be so fun to help welcome them home. We had our life group over for the game. We had a wonderful time and ate a lot of food!

What is the latest with Joy? I would say her interest in counting and spelling her name. She was given a block puzzle of her name for her birthday. As you will see in the video, she has learned to spell her name because of her interest in that puzzle. She doesn't fully understand what she is doing. I think she thinks of it as a song more than anything else. But it is still fun and cute. She has also been very interested in counting objects. She can count up to three objects but most of the time every object is two, two, two, and two. In the video below and sometimes during play, she gets three mixed up with 'y' or something else. Watching her learn and grow is so much fun. Enjoy.