A few August firsts...

This past week, Isaac has had (at least) three firsts. One is a first that parents typically track. The other two are pretty unconventional firsts to track, but I felt the need to document them 'cause they're so stinkin' adorable!

1. Counting! We've been working with him on counting from one to five. So far he can say "doo, dee, die" (two, three, five) It's SO cute! I think he has picked up on some of this from his favorite book. We're planning to get some more counting books at the library this week.

2. Asking for toys in his bed. Usually Isaac has several stuffed animals in his crib, but when I last changed his crib sheets, I moved most of them to his "big bed" to get them out of the way. I didn't put them back, and he's been fine for the past few days without any animals in his crib. However, last night during our goodnight kisses, he began to say "Bears! Bears!" and was pointing to his big bed. We realized that he wanted a toy, so we gave him one blue stuffed bear. He took the bear and placed it in the corner of his crib very gently. Then he asked for some more. With each one we gave him, he proceeded to place them neatly along the edge of his crib. After about five, he was content and stopped asking for more "bears" (some were actually monkeys).

3. Saying "night night" to his milk. I put Isaac's milk in the refrigerator this morning after he'd had his breakfast. He still calls milk "juice", so he pointed to the fridge and said "Night night juice! Night night juice!"

A trip to the zoo with our longtime friends!

Earlier today, our family took a trip to Asheboro, NC to visit the NC Zoo with our friends, the Goettsch family. Steven originally met Erin and Mark way back in high school when they were all in the band together. I had the privilege to meet and get to know them a bit once I started dating Steven in 1998. The last time we all saw each other was at Erin and Mark's wedding in 2003, but thanks to facebook, we've reconnected recently! As it turns out, this sweet family has a little boy just four months older than Isaac and are expecting their second child (a girl!) only four days before our baby girl's due date. :) It has been a blessing to get to know Erin, Mark, and now their son Nathan through the blogosphere. We do live about three hours apart, so today was the first time we've been able to physically meet up with them. It was a great time of fellowship and family fun! Erin and Mark, we had a blast!!!

Here are some pictures from our trip:
Compare these to the last time we went to the zoo! Isaac's grown SO much over the past year!

Steven and Isaac watching the elephants:


Steven and Isaac cooling off under the water-sprayer: (the pregnant mommas loved this too!)


Mark, Erin, Nathan, Steven and Isaac watching the rhinos:


Our family, at the African plains overlook:


Isaac (and Nathan) loved this statue of a lion, which was good because the real lions didn't want to wake up from their naps and let us see them):


Daddy and Isaac having fun!


A sea lion: (Erin pointed out that he probably feels very far from the Arctic in the NC heat. Yep, I bet he's missing the ice something fierce with this heat and humidity!)


A lovely eagle (with an injured wing):


The lovely eagle eating a rat (piece by piece, which Mark and Steven loved watching. Ewwww.):


Erin, me, and our bebes:


Our group shot:


What a GREAT day! And GREAT company!

Playing with cars and making funny faces...

Isaac loves these cars he got from Aunt Kati and Uncle Ray!



and he loves making faces for Mommy's pictures...

Nummies!

Isaac has recently begun to request his "nummies" every day. In case you were wondering, he is referring to his Juice Plus gummies, which are full of fruits and veggies. He loves them! Even though they are very nutritional and serve as his multivitamin, Isaac sees them as a treat. He eats three veggie and three fruit gummies each day.

(I love them, too, and have craved them this pregnancy. Soooo... we're both enjoying the "nummies!" Since I am a distributor of Juice Plus products, let me know if you're interested in trying these for your little one(s)!)

Isaac's Favorite Book!

For, I think, the first time in his life, Isaac has a favorite book. He has started requesting it every time we sit to read before naps or bedtime. Also, he'll ask to read it occasionally when it's not our usual reading time.

It's called "Ten Bears in a Bed" and was a gift from our Aunt Susan and Uncle Mike. Susan loves to give books, and we LOVE to get them from her! Thank you, Susan and Mike, for all the books you've given us for Isaac. He loves them all, and especially this one!

It is a repetitive counting book, and sometimes Steven and I will even sing the words as we're reading. I think Isaac especially likes that. He calls the book "Rollo" (for "Roll-over) since it repeats the word "Roll-over, roll-over" throughout. It's SO cute to hear him request this book and then listen excitedly as we read (or sing) through it.

Another day at the park!

This past Saturday, our church had its annual Friends and Family Day at Frank Liske Park in Concord, NC. (Remember last year's?) We joined in on the fun and had a blast! The event started around 3 PM and wrapped up at 8 PM. Isaac and I arrived around 4:00, so we missed out on the icebreaker games. However, Steven played in our place and won our family a prize (the New Testament on CD!) Around 4:30, we had a delicious dinner of hotdogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, veggies, and all the trimmings! Isaac ate very well - a cheeseburger, tomato slices, pickles, and lots of baked beans! For dessert, we enjoyed chocolate chip cookies and fresh watermelon. Isaac loved the watermelon. He's definitely a fruit lover, for which I'm very thankful!

After dinner, everyone headed outside (we'd had the games and dinner inside the air-conditioned barn in the middle of the park) to have some more fun! The weather was incredible. Due to a storm front, there were some clouds that kept the sun from shining too brightly and there was a nice breeze. It was absolutely perfect - especially for my 8 month pregnant self!!

Isaac went with Steven and several folks to play baseball and volleyball. He had a blast running around with them! I walked around the park with our friend Jill, who is also expecting a little one, and we enjoyed some relaxing time sitting by the lake. Several folks also enjoyed paddleboating on the lake, which looked like lots of fun.

We had a GREAT day! Lots of wonderful fellowship, delicious food, and plenty of pure fun!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Steven feeding Isaac watermelon:


Isaac making one of his funny faces with all that watermelon juice dripping off his mouth: (I love it!!)


The volleyball game: (all ages!!! See if you can find Isaac running around...)


Isaac had this ball all to himself:


Taking a rest... He was SO worn out after all that running, but he just kept on going! (Our friend Lauren's mom, Kathy, called him the "Energizer Bunny"; Kathy, you were so right!!! Thanks for keeping an eye on him during the game and teaching him some new words as well!)


Great shot, Steven!


Go Aaron!


Isaac and his friend Elijah retrieved the ball when it went out of bounds:


Steven helping Elijah learn to serve:



YAY! We can't wait for next year! We love our CIC family and are so thankful for you all!

Isaac is 21 months old!

Our little boy is only three months away from being two years old. Wow.

This past month has been lots of fun (aren't they all, though!?) Isaac has continued to increase his vocabulary by leaps and bounds, often learning a couple new words in a day. (Therefore his lexicon isn't as updated as it should be...)

Isaac loves life and is really coming into his own personality. He's a natural cut-up and laughs a lot. He also makes lots of funny faces these days, which you'll see in the pictures below.

He enjoys throwing balls and watching toys with wheels glide across our kitchen floor. He can spend lots of time sitting with Steven and sending riding toys flying! Overall, though, his favorite thing to do is play with water. Whether it's in the pool, the bath, the sink, the spigot outside, the sprinkler, leaning over our tub and turning the faucet on, Gramps and Granni's deck pool... he loves ALL water. Every time we go outside to get into the car, he has to stop at the spigot, touch it, and say "Ater, Ater!!" Maybe swim lessons are in his near future?

Isaac still loves to eat, and these days he's enjoying Trader Joe's version of breakfast bars, which he calls "but bar" (We're not sure where he got that name, but we call them snack bars, and they really are yummy, in case you're confused by his terminology.) Some of his other favorite foods include yogurt (which he is able to eat almost entirely on his own!), Cheerios, red grapes, cherry tomatoes, and any type of baby snack (like Gerber puffs or goldfish crackers). He calls all of those type things "dak".

As far as mobility, over the past month, Isaac has become more competent at walking up and down the stairs. He had been able to do this for a while, but he still needed to hold our hands up until a few days ago. Now he seems comfortable to do it completely himself. Sometimes if Steven is on one floor and I'm on the other, he'll go up and down independently and check on each of us.

Isaac's been a great sleeper this past month, as well. He is still consistently sleeping from 8 PM to 8 AM, but he has also started taking three hour naps in the afternoon. I'm hoping this will continue for quite a while, and for the time being, I'm taking every chance I get to nap while he does. It's wonderful for my pregnant self during this last trimester...

What a fun month! And what a fun boy! We love you Isaac!

Here are a few snapshots from this past week:

Where have the Mauneys been the past week?

Since getting back from our mountain trip, our family has been quite busy! I am definitely feeling the "nesting" instinct strongly these days, so I've worked over the past week deep cleaning our kitchen and dining area. It all started when I was playing on the floor with Isaac and Steven and I saw a little gunk on our pantry door. I immediately felt the need to clean the entire kitchen, top to bottom, including washing the walls. Yes, I am a textbook pregnant woman when it comes to nesting...

In addition to working on the kitchen, I've been trying to stay as active as possible so that I keep moving throughout the latter part of this pregnancy. That led me to re-join the YMCA for the time being so that I can get some formal water exercise while Isaac plays in the child watch. So far, I've been to two water aerobics classes and loved them! I've always enjoyed water exercise classes, but I've never taken them while pregnant. Definitely a winner!

Last weekend, Steven and I, along with our church, took part in a Book Bag Outreach in partnership with the Urban Restoration in the west side of Charlotte. It was a wonderful time of encouraging the kids and families in that area. Steven's main role was helping with setup, and mine was to take pictures of the happenings. All the while, we were able to love on some of the neighborhood kids and speak blessings into their lives. While we were there, Isaac enjoyed some time with Gramps and Granni. (He was even able to stay overnight with them, and Steven and I were able to enjoy a date night! YAY!)

Speaking of date night - Steven and I went to the movies, which is one of our favorite things to do on dates. We saw GI-Joe, and enjoyed it very much!

After that eventful weekend, Steven flew out to Boston, MA on Monday to do some work in downtown Providence, RI. He had a wonderful meeting there and enjoyed the visit to New England. However, on his flight back, he began to feel sick, and that sickness ultimately proved to be food poisoning that has kept him home from work over the past couple days. He is feeling better now, but he's still not "himself" yet. Thank you Lord that this sickness wasn't more severe and he's been able to fight it at home versus the ER!

While tending to Steven and caring for Isaac, I also had to head to a couple doctor appointments. Yesterday was my 32 week OB well visit. It went well, and things are looking great with Baby #2! Today I headed to the chiropractor to help alleviate some back pain and pressure.

Whew! What a week! I love how our lives are always exciting and unpredictable around here. ;)

What are we looking forward to in the near future?

This coming weekend, our church will have it's annual Friends and Family Day at Frank Liske Park in Concord. We had a great time last year, so we are very excited about this year! The only bummer is that this event is held at exactly the same time as our little friends' Jonas' and Taylor's 2nd birthdays. We will certainly miss being at these birthday celebrations, but we know our little buddies will have great fun!

Lots of adventures to come!

We love the mountains!

This past weekend, our family took a trip to the mountains of North Carolina for some very special family time. This is quite possibly the last away-from-home trip that we'll be making as a family of three.

We left Thursday night after Steven came home from work and stayed through Sunday morning. It was a wonderful time, filled with rest, laughter, and enjoying each other's company. We stayed in the little town of Todd, NC, and ate many of our meals in nearby West Jefferson. Our outings consisted mostly of eating yummy lunches and dinners, but we also visited the Ashe County Cheese Factory and the Todd General Store while we were there.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Little man sleeping on the way up:

Baby #2 and me at 31 weeks on the deck:

We love her already!!


Watching the cars go by in downtown West Jefferson:



Steven and Isaac listening to music from "Elmocize" on the computer (this is Isaac's favorite movie these days... it was a gift from Granny and Gramps for Christmas, and whenever he's asked if he wants to see a video, he says "I-dize" which refers to Elmosize.)


At the creek in front of the cabin we stayed in: (this was Isaac's first adventure at a creek; he loved it!)



Having fun at the Japanese restaurant in West Jefferson:


So sweet! Isaac giving Steven a kiss:


Fun family pictures on the deck: (celebrating all the wonderful time we've had as a family of three and looking forward to the joy of adding a new one to the bunch!)






It really is true that a day in the country is worth a month in town. :)

Things I'm loving during this pregnancy...

Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered pretzels


Granny Smith, Fuji, or Gala apples with peanut butter


My Crocs flops (Yes, I have worn these almost every single day this summer. No foot pain, back pain, etc. I've even walked long distances in them. Totally worth the $40 price tag!)


Napping while Isaac naps (I'm definitely enjoying this while I can!!)

Maternity pants with "secret fit" belly panels (they're all I wear now. Super comfy and my clingy shirts look great over them!)



Feeling the hand of God at work inside me to create this awesome new life.