2009 in review

**I know, I know...I stole ALL of these pics from Christy's facebook...in my defense, her camera takes WAY better pictures than mine does... :)

Hailey Lynn, age 2 & 3/4...
In 2009,

*She's become totally day potty trained! She loves wearing Dora, Tinkerbell, and "days of the week" undies.

*She learned to count to 10 in Spanish...although every once in a while I hear, "uno, dos, tres, nacho, cinco..." ;) This girl is ALWAYS good for a laugh...

*She's becoming "Miss Independent"! She has a big opinion on what she wears (my disclaimer if you see us out and about and she looks like a ragamuffin :), likes to dress herself, and often times can be heard saying, "Mom, I'll do it ALL BY MYSELF!" (Did you catch that? She calls me "Mom" now...not "Mommy" or "Mama"...just "Mom"...like she's a teenager or something!)

*Thanks to one of the best gifts ever (a Zoo Membership), Hailey has fallen in love with the Carousel. I swear, she asks to ride it at least once a week.

*This year, Hailey and I started going to BSF together and Hailey just loves it! She's learned several new verses this year, lots of good classic hymns, and some great truths about Jesus. I love that she's hiding God's Word in her heart...it'll be in there forever!! :)

Owen Garrett, age 7 months...
In 2009,

*He was born! He came to us sweet and helpless and is becoming a little man faster than I'd like! :/

*He's almost crawling, getting better at sitting up, eats like a champ, sleeps 12 hours a night, and has the best smiles around. When he smiles, his whole face lights up and I swear you can see a twinkle in his eye. Sweet boy...

*Had his first Christmas and did awesome! He didn't flinch when he sat on Santa's lap (in fact, he was fascinated with the man's beard), helped tear into the wrapping paper on his gifts, and just loved all of his new toys. Not a single complaint from him!! ;)

*Has fallen in love with his big sister. I've said this before, but I'll say it again...no one makes him smile like Hailey does! As a mom, this is a gift.

Thanking Jesus for an amazing year, looking so forward to what He has for us in 2010, and wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

adorable

This is the sweet face that I could literally kiss all day long! This kid is the sweetest, most mellow, happy child I've ever known.

I just love him.

just helping out...

Last night Hailey was helping Nana make cookie dough...then Nana gave her some flour, water, and baking tools and let her GO TO TOWN! She had a blast...so thankful this mess wasn't mine to clean up. ;)

2009...in a nutshell...

If I were to have my act together and send out a Christmas Letter, this is what it would say…

2009 was a good, tough, joyful, growing and rich year for us. We’ve had some of the highest highs and lowest lows all at the same time, but through it all God is proving Himself faithful and teaching us things we could not learn any other way. Let’s review some of the highs, shall we??

Our kids…as you all know, God added to our family a son – Owen Garrett. Many people tried explaining to us how when you have two kids your love doesn’t divide, it multiplies. I never understood until Owen came. God has enlarged the borders of our hearts to welcome this sweet boy into our family, and it’s as if he’s always belonged there! He’s nearly 7 months old and so much fun. He’s almost always got a smile on his face, content and calm most of the time (who’d of thought??), and has the best laugh. If he cries, he means it and promptly returns to smiles as soon as whatever is ailing him is taken care of. Most of the time, he just wants to look at your face and be a part of the action. We love him to pieces, but I don’t think anyone loves him more than his big sister Hailey…

Hailey Lynn continues to light up any room she’s in! At “2 & 3 quarters”, as she says it, Hails is a big ball of energy, smart as a whip, and keeps us on our toes. We’re consistently laughing hysterically at the things that come out of her mouth. J Along with her sharp mind, however, comes her…ummm…strong side. She seems to have inherited a strong will from both her father and I, and uses it often. We are constantly asking the Lord for wisdom in how to parent her well. One tool He made abundantly clear we needed to use to its fullest is scripture memory! In the midst of a hard moment, we can ask her what Jesus says and without a thought she recites, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is good.” This makes teaching her obedience a whole lot easier! Her favorite places in the world are Target (girl after my own heart), Panera Bread, and her BSF Children’s Class.

Todd is still busy running our business, being a great dad and husband, and leading Young Life at Federal Way High School. Fathering a son has come extremely naturally to him…somewhat because he’s done it once before, and somewhat due to his belief that a baby boy is slightly less breakable than his first baby girl. J This year, God has blessed him with a group of solid Christian guys that he meets with weekly for bible study. As a result, he’s growing in his faith like never before and for this, we’re both thankful. Many times on Wednesday nights he comes home after learning some new truth eager to share it with me and pray together. One of the lows this year was the sale of Todd’s boat, but thankfully God provided one for his cousin in Bellingham, so when he can no longer fight the urge to get on the water he can head up north for a “fix”.

What am I up to, you ask? Being a stay-at-home mom, novice bookkeeper for our business, leading Young Life with Todd, and attempting to keep order in our crazy life! In a life full of diaper changes, never-ending laundry, running errands, more laundry, play dates, still more laundry, and attempting to love high school kids to the feet of Jesus I can often times find myself very overwhelmed! This year, God is teaching me over and over that He is not going to let me rely on anything else than Him. And believe me, in moments of desperation I’ve tried! Nothing else can bring me to a place of peace, confidence, and level-headedness except my Jesus. This side of heaven, I know I’ll always battle trying to do things on my own, but I’m thankful for His teaching me truth about who He is, and that I can trust Him.

Whew...that was a mouthful, but that’s what’s up with us (in a nutshell). We hope that 2009 has been a good year for you and your families and pray that God will bless you in 2010!

~Todd, Jessica, Hailey & Owen Yost

no junk in the trunk...

This chick needs some bootie...seriously! :)

bedtime...

...the best and worst part of my day.

It's the best because it's about the only time I can get snuggles from Hailey. And she loves to snuggle with me...I'm pretty sure it's part of her "stall-itis" routine, but I'll take it any day. :)

It's the worst because if she doesn't want to sleep, it's drama! I'm talking, full-scale drama. Let me give you an example from tonight...

Step 1 - brush teeth - a little hard when she goes limp on the floor of the bathroom and won't open her mouth.

Step 2 - potty - she insists that she not have to go, but then also goes limp when I try to put her on the potty one last time to "try". I warn her that she will not be getting up out of her bed after this, so she should go. She will not.

Step 3 - tucking in - we didn't even get to this stage because she began crying hysterically saying she had to go potty "so bad". This is maybe a minute and a half after the ridiculousness of step 2...I obliged, we went upstairs, and nada.

Step 4 - tucking in...again - this time she screamed at me to get daddy to kiss her goodnight again.

Step 5 - tucking in...still - after a kiss from daddy, prayers, and a few snuggles she was laying down and I was feeling good about the probability that she'd be done for the night...man, was I wrong...

Step 6 - yup, still tucking in...more snuggles, Hailey sang me a few songs, and I scratched her back. Once again, I'm hopeful. I get up out of her bed (yes, I'm in her bed at this point...don't judge me) and with moves like a jungle cat, she jumps up into a standing position on her bed and yells, "Mom!! I have to POOP! Real bad!". Oh, she's good...using the trump card...she knows I'll never second-guess the threat of poop...

Let's just say that it was another rough several minutes of crying, "gotta go potty", "I'm SICK!", and "my tummy doesn't feel better!!!" before she settled down to sleep.

If this girl wasn't so cute, I'd sell her to the CIRCUS!! ;)

cute kids...

We had a little family Christmas photo shoot tonight at Todd's parent's house and these are a few of my favorites, so I thought I'd share... :)

just makin' some dinner...

Hailey wanted to help make dinner, so she got her step stool and was helping cut up some mushrooms, zucchini, and onions with her plastic butcher knife from her pretend kitchen set. She also, to my amazement, was eating bites of raw mushrooms.

This is the same knife, mind you, that she brought into my room earlier and offered/threatened to cut my hair with. ;)

Owen's 6 Month Stats...

Weight: 15.1 lbs (10th percentile)
Length: 26.5 inches (75-90th percentile)

Sleep: 10-12 hours at night and about 3-4 naps a day

Teeth: he's got his two bottom fronts and we think he's getting another bottom one.

Food: He's tried rice cereal, squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce and bananas...so far he only likes the squash. :)

Tricks: He rolls over both ways, almost gets into crawling position, and "scooches" around the floor.

Favorite pastime: chewing on his hands and feet, smiling, and laughing at his sister.

The doctor says that he'd like to see a better weight gain for next time, but that overall he's really healthy. I've got to hunker down and force him to eat his little people food!!

Other than that, I've never met a happier baby! :)

sorry, people...

I've made two attempts to post a video to my blog, and after over an hour of waiting each time, I gave up...here is a picture of my new bookshelves...Christmified!! :)


At any rate, here is a bullet list of the things we've been up to lately:

*Hailey, as usual, is her strong-willed, smart as a whip, happy, intense, determined, and sweet self. Her new favorite one-liners are "Are you kidding me?", "Mama, when I'm 3, can I (fill in the blank)??", and thanks to Auntie Sheeshe "Do you got junk in the trunk??". Love it...

*Owen is changing so fast! He just turned 6 months and has his appointment today, so I'll post more stats later. This kid is by far the most chill child ever...until he's teething. Other than that, though, he laughs a ton, loves eating his toes, and smiles pretty constantly. :)

*Yesterday we brought home a CD from church with the song Hailey's class will be singing in her very first Christmas performance in a couple of weeks. I can't WAIT! She really does love to sing and one of her very favorite things to do is sit at her Grandma's piano while they play and sing together. So stinkin' cute!! (Grandma Patty can let us know when she thinks Hailey is ready for actual lessons... :)

*Our house is all decorated for Christmas and I LOVE it! Thanks, Mom!!

*Our east-coast family is in town right now and Hailey is loving every second of it! Every day she wants to visit her "cousin AND friend", Gabby. Those girls are so sweet together.

*Todd has been pretty busy with work lately, which is nice. This is typically our really slow season, but God continues to provide for what we need...we are so thankful for the things He's been teaching us lately about trust, His love for us, and waiting on Him.

*Young Life has been in full swing for the past several months and God is, again, so faithful! We've had between 35 and 60 high school friends join us every Monday night for club this fall. Please pray, if you think of it, for God to bring us more adult leaders. We'll be down to Todd, Steve and myself after Christmas...3 leaders do NOT make for a very effective gathering. :)

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

Happy Monday!! :)

be still my heart...

I know you probably already saw this on Christy's blog, but on the off-chance anyone missed it, I had to post.

They are precious.

the many faces of owen...

ideas, anyone??

After a quick trip to Trader Joe's where Hailey picked out her own chocolate filled advent calendar, she asked me if we could play her new game when we got home. I told her that it wasn't a game and explained that it was a way to count the days until Christmas. I then asked her if she knew what Christmas meant and she said no. "It's Jesus' birthday", I told her, to which she replied, "Which one??".

Good question, Hails...I just know it's over 2009 years. :)

just chillin'...

Just reading a book to baby "Daisy"...and yes, she's named after Donald's girlfriend Daisy Duck...

ETA: Yes, her fingernails are green...Auntie Sheeshe painted them for her... :)

bookshelf...

After having all of these books in totes in the garage for nearly 3 years, we finally got ourselves a bookshelf. We've got some GREAT books!!


Here are some of my favorite finds...I found leather bound copies of Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, a hard back copy of Treasure Island, a copy of Little Women, and the whole set of The Chronicles of Narnia.Also, we found a bunch of Richard Scarry books, a Where's Waldo (Hailey's fave), Where the Sidewalk Ends, and several others.

A big thank you to Todd's Auntie Beth for providing this wonderful collection through the years. :)

randomness...

So, life's been crazy lately...BUT we're having a good time at our house...here are a few tidbits for you to enjoy... :)
*This fine ensemble was created by none other than my little diva. She's become very opinionated about her clothes lately. Yesterday morning she was downstairs for a long time and when I finally went to check on her she was wearing two pairs of underwear, a tank top, a t-shirt over it with one arm through the neck hole and attempting to put on pink and white polka dot shorts. I tried to get her to let me take a picture, but she refused.

*Yesterday my mom accidentally threw away this shriveled flower that Hailey had picked out of our yard for me. Hails caught her, had a conniption fit, and after they took a trip to Fred Meyer for dinner supplies I was presented with a DOZEN pink roses!! My daughter ran in the house, handed them to me and said, "I love you so much, Mama!!".

*Hailey recently staked her claim on this little dog that belongs to Owen and named him Tyler. As far as I know, she's never met a Tyler...

*Owen tried his first veggies last night and loved it! We started with squash and will later move on to sweet potatoes, green beans, then carrots.

*This kid has been teething (one down, a whole bunch to go!), going through a growth spurt, and finally is over being swaddled. With all the transition going on, it's been a pretty sleepless couple of weeks, but I think we've turned a corner...YAY! :)

*My kids are so sweet to one another...Hailey absolutely loves to help take care of Owen and he is fascinated with his big sister. So cute.

Well, that's about it...happy November!!

first bites of cereal...

After trying several bites of runny cereal, I thickened it up and he ate almost the whole bowl!

5 Months Old...

I am 5 months old today!

I weigh 14 lbs, 13 ounces (25th percentile) and am 25 1/2 inches long (25-50th percentile).

I sleep 13 hours at night, which my mom says is AWESOME! I love it when she's proud of me...

I like playing with toys that light up and make music. My favorite trick is taking my paci out of my mouth and waving it around for people to see. It makes me feel like such a big boy.

When my mom puts me on my tummy I like to try and crawl...I can't quite do it yet, but I'm sure trying!

There's no one I love more than my big sister, Hailey. She makes me smile and laugh all the time. She tells me all the time how much she loves me...she even cried harder than I did when I got my shots today!! I tried telling her I was okay, but she just kept crying...she's a little over-protective. :)

I tried rice cereal the other day and so far it's not my favorite. I'll let you know how things go after my mom finally lets me have yummy stuff like veggies!!

Well, it's time for my afternoon nap! My mom says that if my sister and I take a good nap that we can go to Watson's today and see their Christmas trees!! :)

New Hailey-isms...

"Hey, can I have one of those maz-a-geens?" - May I have a magazine?

"You're the best of the best!" - I like you a lot.

"My neck hurts." - My throat hurts.

My personal fave was last night after Todd got in his car accident (at the end of our street) I was standing on the porch trying to see what was going on when Hails came out and asked me where Daddy was. I told her that someone accidentally hit his car with their car but that he was okay. She immediately goes, "Let's hurry...and...get our shoes on...and...and...and...go SAVE HIM!!" :)

(Thank you Aunt Lynn Honey for the BEAUTIFUL Dora the Explorer nightgown that makes twirling so much fun! :)

picking my battles...

A very wise mother once told me that the secret to parenting is picking your battles. In our family, issues like obedience to the Lord, respect for your elders, and not throwing manipulative fits are what we're not budging on. That means that in an effort no not always be telling Hails "NO!", I grin and bear it when this is what she wants to wear out of the house...If you see us around and can't believe what she's wearing, just know that SHE picked it out!! ;)

Big Blue Eyes...

What else can we say?

He melts us.

These boots are made for walkin'...

and that's just what they'll do!

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over...YOU!

eavesdropping...

Hailey has this play phone that rings every time you close it...it makes it hard to stop the cycle of "phone call" after "phone call". :)

Here is a little "phone call" I overheard from the back seat of my car...

"Oh, hi...yeah...uh huh...sure! I'll call you...okay...bye, voicemail!!"

Todd and I giggled to ourselves, but when trying to get her out of the car when we got home she shut her phone, it rang, and she yells, "DADDY!! Let me go!! Someone's calling me!!!".

Can't wait for the real teenage years... ;)

epic.

The "stall-itis" has reached epic proportions.

As per usual, bedtime came for Hails and she didn't want to go. She started with the "I don't feel good...I need to sit on the couch" routine. I called her bluff. I told her that if she didn't feel good that she needed to go to bed. She flopped down on my bed, sighed, and said, "Mommy, my tummy hurts...I think I'm gonna spit up...".

Really, Hailey? You're going to fake nausea at 2 1/2!?! Wow...you're good.

Again, I called the bluff. "Really, Hails??" I replied, "If you're going to spit up, do it in the toilet."

She then gets up, slumps over, slowly walks into the bathroom and stares into the toilet. After about a minute, I ask her, "Can I get you anything?". "Water, please" she says. I obliged and got her some water. She takes a drink, sighs, and lays down on the bathroom floor!?!

"Mommy, my tummy hurts...I think I need something to eat."

Hmmm...how long's this farce going to last, Hailey??

I played along and said, "Oh, you need something to eat? Would you like crackers or ice cream?" Her eyes lit right up, she gasps, and says...

"Ice cream!!!"

Cute, Hails...now go to bed! ;)

4 Months Old!?!

This boy is getting so big!!As I said before, his pediatrician is out of town, so his 4 month appointment won't be for another month. That said, I'm pretty sure he weighs 15 lbs and is at least 26 inches long! This would put him in the 25-50th percentile for weight and the 75-90th percentile for height...big boy.

Clothing Sizes: mostly 6 months, but in one-piece outfits he wears 6-12 months

Favorite Toy: a baby einstein radio from his cousin Case that makes noise and lights up

Sleeps: 3-4 naps a day and 12 hours at night with 3-4 "paci-trips" for me in the morning before waking all the way up. :)

Eats: every 3-4 hours about 5 times a day

Favorite things to do: Chewing on his hands and laughing at his sister

Skills: "scoots" across a blanket when on his tummy, stands up (with help, of course) with his chest puffed out and grunts like he wants you to know he's manly, and rolls from front to back (only when he wants to).

He's certainly WAY more mellow than Hailey ever was, but has definitely woken up from that whole "newborn sleep" phase and tells you when he's unhappy. He does NOT like being left out, his car seat, or being without his paci in his bed!!

He loves smiling at people, standing up, and watching football with his dad. It's so cute. :)

d.i.v.a...

These Two...

These two are too cute...and they love one another SOOOO much! :)

The Happenings at Our House...

Here's Owen with his shirt on his head. I know I say this all the time, but he's getting SOOO big! I swear, he must weigh 15 lbs and I think he's at least 26 inches long by now. Our ped has taken a much deserved European vacation, so our 4-month appointment will be pushed back to 5-months.Here is Owen in his cute big-boy overalls (these are 9-month sized!!) and Hails in her "Hi, Hollywood" sunglasses. :)

Hailey thinks that this is a crown on her head...I think it makes her look like Shrek...er, um...Princess Fiona. :)

And this is the Diet Coke Robot that Auntie Sheeshe made...only Sheeshe would think to make something like this. :)

The Perfect Parent...

At church yesterday I watched an exchange between a father and a daughter that brought me to tears...and I don't think I was alone in that.

We go to a relatively small church, and every week people rotate through and help with the worship and other things. This little girl (probably 4 years old?) always sits in the back of the service with her dad. On Sunday he was playing the bass guitar for the service, so he left her with another family while he went up front. She was fine at first, but all of the sudden she caught a glimpse of her daddy and realized he wasn't sitting with her. Poor little thing just started bawling! The dad's friend who was looking after her scooped her up and inched forward toward the stage, assuming that if she could see that he wasn't all that far away she would stop crying. It didn't help.

She needed her daddy.

Her dad saw her standing next to the stage, crying and reaching for him and without even another thought he stopped playing the guitar, let her sit on top of the speaker, and crouched down so she could wrap her arms around his neck while he tried continuing to play in the band.

She was clearly his first priority.

I'm tearing up even now just thinking about how our Heavenly Father is just like that! He loves us first. He loves us most. He gave up EVERYTHING to meet our need.

After the end of that song, she was calmed down enough that the Children's Director was able to scoop her up and take her back to her seat.

She just needed to know that her dad was there for her, and once she did, her heart calmed down and she was just fine through the rest of the service.

Thank you, Jesus, for laying down everything just to demonstrate your love for us.

Thank you for loving us first.

Parenting is tough...

I'd have to say without a doubt that being a mother has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things I've ever done...and FOR SURE the most difficult. I wonder how in the world people do it without the Lord's help because I feel sometimes like I can barely keep my head above water.

The hardest part most recently is discipline...where is the perfect balance of grace and consistency? How do you know what battles to pick and which ones to let go until another day? How do you figure out when your 2 1/2-year old is being manipulative and when she's being honest? And how on earth do you keep her from un-tying and taking off her shoes every time you're in the car?!?

I guess I'll continue to pray my way through the rest of my kids' lives...that seems to be the only thing that works. :)

What's your vote??

EVERY person who looks at Owen immediately comments on how much he looks like Todd...and not Todd as a baby, but Todd now! I love it... :)