So, after my last post, my dad emailed me requesting a video with Joshua spelling his name (Chris), saying "Papa," and winking at the end. Well, Joshua hasn't quite figured out winking yet, but I think my dad will appreciate the end of the video anyways. (Joshua was very distracted by the picture of Papa, so that is why he was taking forever to spell Papa's name!)
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Isgett Family Update
It has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I’d do a family update to fill you in on all that’s been going on in our little world.
At first, Joshua just wanted to take all the letters off the refrigerator and carry them around the house; once he got the idea of the letters and the song, he would play with them while I cleaned or cooked in the kitchen. I had no idea just how much he was remembering until about a month ago, when we were eating lunch one day and Joshua says, “B!” I looked up and realized he was pointing at my shirt, which said BUZZ (from when I helped at Young Women’s Camp a few years ago). He then proceeded to say, “U! Z! Z!” I could not believe it! Now whenever we see letters anywhere (on signs, in the grocery store, in books, on television), he loves to say what all the letters are. He loves numbers, too—he knows 1-10, and his favorite is definitely 9 (I think it is because you see 9 a lot in prices at the store and on television commercials.) He loves shapes (we have a little shape puzzle that he likes to play with and he’ll say what all the shapes are) and he points out different shapes when we see them (like stars in a picture book or a circle on a sign). My favorite is his version of different animal sounds; here are some of the best:
Puppy: “Arf!”
Kitty: “Me-ow!” (said in a high voice)
Cow: “Moo!” (said in a very low voice)
Sheep: “Baa!” (said VERY loudly!)
Duck: “Quack-er” (sounds a lot like “cracker”)
Snake: “Ssssss!”
Horse: “Neee!” (like “Whee!”)
Turkey: “Bobble!” (instead of “gobble”--this one cracks me up!)
Lion: “Raar!” (again, said VERY loudly!)
Car and Mow-mow (lawn mower): “Bbroom! Bbroom!” (his favorite!)
We just have so much fun learning new things every single day—he amazes me with how much he wants to know and understand (he points at stuff all day long and says "What's that?"), and how quickly he picks it all up! What a little miracle this special little boy is to me :) Here he is in the ECU jacket Grandma got him at Easter (I took this picture this morning right before we went on a walk--it was chilly!) 
I could not get him to look at the camera because he was looking at a sign we have hanging above the doorway between the foyer and the living room and calling out the letters, "C-H-R-I-S-T."
We’ll start with the yucky stuff. I knew that when Joshua started going to nursery at church, we’d see him bring home some little sicknesses. He had been a super-healthy little guy for almost 18 months, and I felt really fortunate. Well, I was right about nursery! About 2 weeks ago, Joshua had a wicked cold, complete with a horrible cough and really runny nose. The first 3 days, he couldn’t sleep (nap or night) for more than 30 minutes at a time without hacking up a lung—the poor little guy had bags under his eyes because he was so tired! After 3 days, his sleeping was back to normal, but he was still really stuffy and had a bit of a cough and wasn’t really back to 100% until after a solid week of being sick. And if THAT wasn’t enough for one little guy to deal with, our Mother’s Day weekend was quite the mess with a big, bad stomach bug. Thursday morning and Saturday morning found us with blown-out diapers like nothing I have EVER seen—I had to undress him in the bathtub and practically hose him off before I could even bathe him! And we had to leave church early Sunday morning because he threw up about an hour into the service. He seemed like he was feeling fine, but he got sick again in his crib during nap time—needless to say, we had a ton of bedding and a messy little boy to clean up! We’ve been sticking to Pedialyte, Saltine crackers, and Cheerios (or “bobbies” as we call them here) for meals, and we haven’t had any more vomiting since Sunday, but the stomach bug is still rearing its ugly head via diaper. Poor Joshua is already on the little side, and these sicknesses are really keeping him from being able to eat like he needs to—I’m hoping that once this bug moves out, he can be illness-free for a while!
On to some fun things we’ve done recently! My dad came up a few weeks ago to re-build an awesome play set (pictured in the previous post) that friends of ours from church gave to us. He and David worked on Friday evening and all day Saturday to put it all together…and Joshua LOVES it! We already spend a lot of time out in the backyard, and now we’ve got even more fun things to do. One of Joshua’s most commonly recited phrases now is “swi-me” ("swing me")…and I usually start hearing it when we’re eating breakfast in the morning and he can see the play set out the kitchen window! My mom came up this past Thursday to spend the weekend, and she watched Joshua on Thursday night so David and I could go out. We ate dinner at Kanki Japanese Steakhouse (yum!) and saw the Broadway show “Wicked” at the DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center)—it was AMAZING! I have wanted to see this show for almost 4 ½ years, ever since my brother-in-law Jon played the soundtrack for me, and thanks to a generous birthday gift from my aunt, we were able to buy tickets. It was even better than I had hoped! We had lots of fun playing with Grandma on Friday and Saturday, and my mom stayed with Joshua again on Saturday night so David and I could celebrate our sister-in-law Lauren’s graduation from UNC’s nursing school—a bunch of family had a celebration dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (yum again!) and it was so fun to spend the evening with everyone. Congrats again, Lauren!!
Now on to some of Joshua’s recent accomplishments. I am AMAZED at how smart these little guys are and how they just seem to soak up information like a sponge! One of Joshua’s Christmas presents was a little electronic fridge phonics thing, where you can put in different letters and it sings a little song to tell you the name of the letter and the sound it makes: “M! M! M says “mmm,” M says “mmm,” every letter makes a sound, M says “mmm.”
On to some fun things we’ve done recently! My dad came up a few weeks ago to re-build an awesome play set (pictured in the previous post) that friends of ours from church gave to us. He and David worked on Friday evening and all day Saturday to put it all together…and Joshua LOVES it! We already spend a lot of time out in the backyard, and now we’ve got even more fun things to do. One of Joshua’s most commonly recited phrases now is “swi-me” ("swing me")…and I usually start hearing it when we’re eating breakfast in the morning and he can see the play set out the kitchen window! My mom came up this past Thursday to spend the weekend, and she watched Joshua on Thursday night so David and I could go out. We ate dinner at Kanki Japanese Steakhouse (yum!) and saw the Broadway show “Wicked” at the DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center)—it was AMAZING! I have wanted to see this show for almost 4 ½ years, ever since my brother-in-law Jon played the soundtrack for me, and thanks to a generous birthday gift from my aunt, we were able to buy tickets. It was even better than I had hoped! We had lots of fun playing with Grandma on Friday and Saturday, and my mom stayed with Joshua again on Saturday night so David and I could celebrate our sister-in-law Lauren’s graduation from UNC’s nursing school—a bunch of family had a celebration dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (yum again!) and it was so fun to spend the evening with everyone. Congrats again, Lauren!!
Now on to some of Joshua’s recent accomplishments. I am AMAZED at how smart these little guys are and how they just seem to soak up information like a sponge! One of Joshua’s Christmas presents was a little electronic fridge phonics thing, where you can put in different letters and it sings a little song to tell you the name of the letter and the sound it makes: “M! M! M says “mmm,” M says “mmm,” every letter makes a sound, M says “mmm.”
At first, Joshua just wanted to take all the letters off the refrigerator and carry them around the house; once he got the idea of the letters and the song, he would play with them while I cleaned or cooked in the kitchen. I had no idea just how much he was remembering until about a month ago, when we were eating lunch one day and Joshua says, “B!” I looked up and realized he was pointing at my shirt, which said BUZZ (from when I helped at Young Women’s Camp a few years ago). He then proceeded to say, “U! Z! Z!” I could not believe it! Now whenever we see letters anywhere (on signs, in the grocery store, in books, on television), he loves to say what all the letters are. He loves numbers, too—he knows 1-10, and his favorite is definitely 9 (I think it is because you see 9 a lot in prices at the store and on television commercials.) He loves shapes (we have a little shape puzzle that he likes to play with and he’ll say what all the shapes are) and he points out different shapes when we see them (like stars in a picture book or a circle on a sign). My favorite is his version of different animal sounds; here are some of the best:
Puppy: “Arf!”
Kitty: “Me-ow!” (said in a high voice)
Cow: “Moo!” (said in a very low voice)
Sheep: “Baa!” (said VERY loudly!)
Duck: “Quack-er” (sounds a lot like “cracker”)
Snake: “Ssssss!”
Horse: “Neee!” (like “Whee!”)
Turkey: “Bobble!” (instead of “gobble”--this one cracks me up!)
Lion: “Raar!” (again, said VERY loudly!)
Car and Mow-mow (lawn mower): “Bbroom! Bbroom!” (his favorite!)
We just have so much fun learning new things every single day—he amazes me with how much he wants to know and understand (he points at stuff all day long and says "What's that?"), and how quickly he picks it all up! What a little miracle this special little boy is to me :) Here he is in the ECU jacket Grandma got him at Easter (I took this picture this morning right before we went on a walk--it was chilly!)
I could not get him to look at the camera because he was looking at a sign we have hanging above the doorway between the foyer and the living room and calling out the letters, "C-H-R-I-S-T."
A little update on Baby Girl Isgett: She’s becoming quite the mover and shaker at times, especially if there’s music on (she loves the musical numbers on the television show Glee) or if I’m lying down and trying to sleep :) I’m 22.5 weeks along, so we’re past the halfway point—hooray! I’ve been feeling good, and at this point I’m just dreading the impending arrival of the leg, ankle, and foot swelling that I had with Joshua (and that my mom had with both my brother and me). I’ve loved seeing the UNC midwives for my appointments (minus the drive to Chapel Hill and back) and I’m really encouraged that we can do a number of things to try and prevent another C-section this time and have a natural delivery—that’s the goal!
And finally, our wonderful big news—after over 13 months, David has a new accounting job!! He started on Wednesday, May 5 as the accountant for KeySource Commercial Bank in Durham, working with a great group of people and finally back to doing what he enjoys. We are so excited and so grateful for this blessing. I have to take this opportunity to share our experience over this past year because we have learned so much and have been blessed so much, even through a tough situation. When David came home early one afternoon in late March of 2009 and said he had lost his job, along with a number of other people in his office, due to the economy, I think he was surprised by my response. After we knelt down together to pray, asking Heavenly Father to help us moving forward, I went to the grocery store to get my good buys for the week. Not once in this last year have I been worried or afraid, or changed what I’ve been doing our whole marriage, which is following the counsel of our church leaders to live simply, be frugal with our resources, have emergency funds in savings, and build up our food storage (I also build up our toiletry storage when I can get these items for free by combining sales/rebates with coupons--anyone who has seen our pantry or under-sink storage can attest to this!). I know that when we do as we have been taught, Heavenly Father will take care of us.
David was able to do some contract work with Red Hat (where he interned during grad school) for a couple of months, and then worked for a law firm for the past year (thank goodness for brothers who pass along info on work opportunities!), so we fortunately never went a week without some kind of income. David’s take-home pay was cut in half, and he worked 60-70 hours most weeks, almost never having weekends or holidays off, but he was so diligent in laboring to provide for our family. Since I was home with Joshua, I continued to do all that I could to stretch every dollar David brought home, and we were able to pay all our bills and meet all our obligations. Continuing to follow the commandments, we faithfully paid our tithe and gave a generous fast offering, knowing that there were so many people who were in more difficult situations than we were. Our families and friends have been so great and understanding, and we have felt their prayers and support so strongly.
David had numerous interviews over the past year with a variety of different firms and companies hiring accountants, and of course, each time he didn’t receive a job offer, he was disappointed. My prayer all along, though, has been that if the job was not the best that Heavenly Father had for David and a place where he could be for a number of years, the answer would just be “no” so that we could be ready for the right job. When David interviewed with KeySource, he felt really good about the people, the work, and everything about the job. The salary, the health care coverage, the retirement contribution matching, the vacation time, the lack of travel required for work—everything is exactly what David had hoped for, and none of the other jobs he had previously applied for had all these things. I truly believe that because we were faithful in trusting Heavenly Father to provide for us, and were willing to wait on His timing, this wonderful blessing came. We are so grateful for everything we have learned over this past year, and for the numerous blessings we have experienced. I hope that our experience can serve as encouragement to others to be faithful in following the commandments and to trust that Heavenly Father is always with us, guiding and directing our paths for our good. God is so good!
And finally, our wonderful big news—after over 13 months, David has a new accounting job!! He started on Wednesday, May 5 as the accountant for KeySource Commercial Bank in Durham, working with a great group of people and finally back to doing what he enjoys. We are so excited and so grateful for this blessing. I have to take this opportunity to share our experience over this past year because we have learned so much and have been blessed so much, even through a tough situation. When David came home early one afternoon in late March of 2009 and said he had lost his job, along with a number of other people in his office, due to the economy, I think he was surprised by my response. After we knelt down together to pray, asking Heavenly Father to help us moving forward, I went to the grocery store to get my good buys for the week. Not once in this last year have I been worried or afraid, or changed what I’ve been doing our whole marriage, which is following the counsel of our church leaders to live simply, be frugal with our resources, have emergency funds in savings, and build up our food storage (I also build up our toiletry storage when I can get these items for free by combining sales/rebates with coupons--anyone who has seen our pantry or under-sink storage can attest to this!). I know that when we do as we have been taught, Heavenly Father will take care of us.
David was able to do some contract work with Red Hat (where he interned during grad school) for a couple of months, and then worked for a law firm for the past year (thank goodness for brothers who pass along info on work opportunities!), so we fortunately never went a week without some kind of income. David’s take-home pay was cut in half, and he worked 60-70 hours most weeks, almost never having weekends or holidays off, but he was so diligent in laboring to provide for our family. Since I was home with Joshua, I continued to do all that I could to stretch every dollar David brought home, and we were able to pay all our bills and meet all our obligations. Continuing to follow the commandments, we faithfully paid our tithe and gave a generous fast offering, knowing that there were so many people who were in more difficult situations than we were. Our families and friends have been so great and understanding, and we have felt their prayers and support so strongly.
David had numerous interviews over the past year with a variety of different firms and companies hiring accountants, and of course, each time he didn’t receive a job offer, he was disappointed. My prayer all along, though, has been that if the job was not the best that Heavenly Father had for David and a place where he could be for a number of years, the answer would just be “no” so that we could be ready for the right job. When David interviewed with KeySource, he felt really good about the people, the work, and everything about the job. The salary, the health care coverage, the retirement contribution matching, the vacation time, the lack of travel required for work—everything is exactly what David had hoped for, and none of the other jobs he had previously applied for had all these things. I truly believe that because we were faithful in trusting Heavenly Father to provide for us, and were willing to wait on His timing, this wonderful blessing came. We are so grateful for everything we have learned over this past year, and for the numerous blessings we have experienced. I hope that our experience can serve as encouragement to others to be faithful in following the commandments and to trust that Heavenly Father is always with us, guiding and directing our paths for our good. God is so good!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
