Happy 1st Birthday Jonah

I cant believe its here - Jonah's first birthday. Where has the time gone? I can remember exactly how this day unfolded one year ago - I dropped Jacob off at preschool and came home to enjoy the day with Chloe. Nothing was unusual. I felt a bit off, but being that I had been sick the entire nine months, it wasnt worrisome that I felt out of sorts. About 930am, I called the dr because there had been some activity that wasnt normal - even for me:). Of course, we were told to come to the hospital for a checkup. Again, routine and expected. Paul and I arrived at the Labor/Delivery floor fully expecting to be observed for awhile and sent home. Never did we think that day was going to be a birthday for our little baby boy. I was not quite 37weeks pregnant, and having two c-sections previously, they were a bit more cautious. 'Just in case' I needed to be delivered, preparations were made. We were still thinking that this was only going to be an 'err on the side of caution' idea. This was about 130pm. By 430, I was having contractions (something that I had never experienced before!) and by 658pm on 19 October 2006 Jonah Luke Jankowski was born.
I remember looking at my swaddled little boy, eyes barely opened, thinking how amazingly blessed our family had just become. From the moment he came into the world, he has been nothing but a source of pure joy to our family as well as our friends. His goofy faces, the way he loves to cuddle, sucking his thumb, and the crazy growls and squeals all make Jonah the beautiful little boy he is today. Seeing his smiling face looking up at me each morning make our days that much brighter. Jacob and Chloe love having someone to laugh with and play with. Jonah makes our family full and complete.
Happy birthday my beautiful baby boy - we love you and thank God for the blessing he has given our family - you.

A Few Pictures

An Update

So I think its safe to say that I wont win any awards for keeping this blog current. I am trying, I promise! But unfortunately the computer hasnt been a huge part of our life lately. Moving happened, shift change happened, and school happened. And I cant keep up:)

Lets start with moving. We are officially moved in - only a couple boxes left to unpack and pictures decorate the walls. And YES - there are pictures! Just a few, but at least it will satisfy curiosities for a while.

I think they are pretty self explanatory but just in case... The first two are our kitchen. Yep, I know its big and I do appreciate that! But I am having a hard time getting past the older aspects and colors! Shallow I realize, but this is me:) Oh, thats Lillie (she just wanted to say 'hi'). The living room is dark - sorry, I will try to take another pic later. Its not too bad, again just carpet color. Its a bit smaller than we had before but it works. Next is our bathroom - can you tell how huge it is? LOL....not at all! But I guess as long as it has a toilet and shower we cant complain. And the kids toyroom - best invention ever! They love having a room to themselves, and I love that their bedroom isnt chaotic all the time. I will try to take more pics of the rest of the house -inside and out soon.

On to school. Jacob LOVES Kindergarten! Its been such a blessing to see how enthusiastic he is about learning (and playing with his friends). His favorite time of the day? The bus ride home from school! He cracks us up. Here he is on the first day.

Chloe has started preschool too. She is only going twice a week for a few hours, but its still exciting to see her growing up. And Jonah is 11 months old!!! I know we say it all the time, but I cant believe how fast the time has gone - my baby boy will be ONE YEAR OLD in only weeks!!! A silly Jonah face.....

The month of September has already been a busy one for our house. Routines seem to be coming together and daily life is settling back down into our 'normal'. Hopefully this means that I will have a bit more time to keep up with the little tasks - such as this blog! For now, its time to wake up the little one, pick up the middle one, and wait for the oldest one:)

Moving along...

We're moving! Not to a new town, but to a new house. The section of housing we currently live in is being renovated in a few months, and we would be moved. So, after many weeks of questions and prayers - do we let the miltary move us into another house on base? do we buy a house? can we afford all that goes with buying a house? what are our other options? - we were given an answer. Our friend, Venessa, has relatives here that we have gotten to know during our almost five years in NC. They have become an extended family of sorts. A family that owns/rents houses. Do you see where this is going? We are blessed to have been offered a very nice FOUR bedroom home at an extremely generous price. The house is much larger than what we have now, and has a beautiful fenced backyard - a great bonus for our family! I have to be honest and say that the asthetics of the house gave me a few reservations at first. But I know that this is an answer to our prayers (an amazing answer!) and we are excited to make this house our home.

With the new address comes a new school district for Jacob. Talk about paperwork! He will actually be starting Kindergarten just days after we are moved. What a transition time for him. Pray for his 5yr old anxieties to be calmed. He and Chloe are excited to have a 'new house for us'. I dont think they quite understand all the work that will come with it, but its great to see the anticipation in their smiles. I will try to take pictures of our handywork - remind me!

We have UNDERWEAR!

Yes, you read correctly. And no, I am not going crazy - well at least not more than any other day. So what's the excitement about? Three days of two children wearing underwear all day! Normally I know this isn't cause for much joy jumping, but in our case with three kids all in some stage of diaperwearing - this is great! Chloe has finally taken to pottytraining, finally. We were starting to have our limits of patience tested, and I think God knew we weren't able to take much more. Saturday, after a couple hours of crying and visiting the bathroom every 20 minutes, she finally used the potty like a 'big girl'. That was what it took. Since then, no accidents (well of the liquid variety anyway) and no hesitiation. In fact, she is a bit too enthusiastic about it all and wants to hang out in the bathroom more than she needs. But we aren't complaining!! It is such a blessing and a relief to both Paul and I. We knew she was going to be difficult to train, but we didn't expect such strong resistance. I think we both thought on more than one occasion to duct tape her little bottom to the toilet until something happened! Of course, it never would have come to that, but we sure felt the frustrations. Thankfully, the hardest part is over and we are so proud of her!

No other big events happening right now. Which is actually quite fine with us as it seems within the past two weeks all three of the kids have hit some sort of milestone in their growing up. I think we are getting a bigger dose of reality than we want - our babies aren't babies anymore. Its exciting to watch them learn and discover new adventures, but I love to just sit back and cherish their smiling faces too.

Well there you have it, an update - just for you Jamie!

Growing Up

What's missing?

A crawling professional!

Miss Chloe

So...what's missing? Training wheels!! As of this morning, they are gone, gone, gone! We are so proud of Jacob - it only took a couple tries with Daddy running behind and off he went without looking back. And only hours later, he is starting, stopping, turning, and going way too fast all by himself.
Our crawling monster hasnt stopped! In fact, as every day passes he gets faster and more determined to take the next step. Literally! He uses every piece of furniture or whomever is closest to him to pull himself up. The bravery doesnt end there. He doesnt even want to hold onto us either! Hands free is the name of his game.
I had to add a pic of Chloe to even things out. She is talking so clearly now. Its amazing the difference from just a few weeks ago. She has mastered the pedals on her tricycle and now wants to follow Jacob into the world of two wheels. I dont think so! Not yet!
It seems like the accomplishments of our little ones has been on fast forward this week. As much as we love to watch them learn and grow, it needs to slow down a bit so we can catch up! Or at least give me a bit more notice so I can have the camera ready.

Family Summer