4 Months and OBI

The two events are totally unrelated other than one happened on Sunday and the other on Monday. So to go in order, Sunday marked the end of Isaiah's 4th month of life. It's sort of crazy for me to think that by the time he hits 5 months we will be living in Indiana. It still doesn't seem real that we are leaving. Anyway, I took him in for his 4 month check up on Tuesday and he weighs around 13.5 pounds and is 26 inches tall. So it looks like we have another tall skinny kid. Although I think JoAnn beats him in the skinny part, she had a check up at the same time and came in at a whopping 25 pounds and 37.5 inches tall. Anyway, here are a few pictures of him at 4 months.

It was hard for me to get a picture of him without him chewing on something.

On Monday morning a short term team from the US called Operation Barnabus International (OBI) came to spend the morning at the Arthur Center. Normally, I don't mention much about the short term teams that come to visit, but this one was special for a couple reasons. First, a couple that Daniel and I know from college Dave and Carly Nicodemus were leading the group. Then to make it even more special for me I went with the first OBI team to Brazil way back in 2001. It was one of the reasons why I'm so interested in missions. This year they came to the Philippines to help Dan and Tori Beaver with their ministry center on the island of Boracay. I must say as much as I loved going to Brazil, I'm a little jealous that they get to spend so much time at such a beautiful place. This is Daniel and I with Dave and Carly (I stole the picture from Carly's facebook, so thanks for the picture Carly).


As far as getting ready to move goes, it's totally been a roller coaster ride. One minute I'm so excited to get home and see family and friends and not feel like I have to turn right back around and leave. Then the next minute I start crying because I realize that as much as I would love to come back to the Philippines someday it's not a guarantee and this may be one of the lasts times I see or do whatever it is. The times that I feel the most anxiety though are when i think about making the long almost 24 hour trip home with an almost 3 year old and a 4 month old. In fact I started to feel anxious about it again as I typed that sentence. I really hate that trip.

Oops, as I was getting these pictures I found more from a while back that I had meant to post and forgot. I will have to put those up soon.

Happy Anniversary

Six years ago today was a day that I will never forget. I got to wear the most beautiful dress I've ever worn, spend the entire day with my closest family and friends and to make it even better, it was the day my best friend and I got married. It was one of the best days of my life and things have only gotten better as time goes on. God could not have given me a better husband, so happy anniversary Daniel. I love you. This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding.

Alright, now for this picture...

I recently saw some pictures of one of our friends with this little guy and decided I had to go see him. So, what better time to go than when Daniel and I were celebrating our anniversary. There is a small "zoo" not far from where we live and you can get your picture taken with him. Daniel was terrified, but I talked him into it. After we took this picture I got up and he started laying all over Daniel. Daniel had no idea what to do. It was pretty funny. This was one of my other favorite parts...

They had more than one type of pigeon. How funny is that. I never imagined myself looking at pigeons at the zoo unless I was shooing them away from my lunch.

Okay, one more picture of this guy just because I think he's so cute...
He was so fun to watch. It was like watching a little kid in church, he couldn't sit still.

A Few Things

First I need to say happy birthday to my Grandma Jan. I have a picture from last summer of JoAnn, Grandma and I, but unfortunately it was taken on my mom's camera and I never transferred it to our files. So, here is a picture my dad's cousin took at Grandma's birthday party the other day.
So, happy birthday Grandma. We miss you and love you.

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Now for the other big thing. We are officially moving back to the US on June 30. We have our plane tickets and everything. A couple weeks back when I got the fever and chills for the second time, Daniel and I just decided that it would be better to go home sooner rather than later. Originally we were going to stay for a basketball trip that Daniel was going to do in August, but when that fell through there was no reason we wouldn't be able to leave in June other than we didn't want to rush things and possibly it would cut it close on Isaiah's passport. Well, despite things being cut close with Isaiah's passport we purchased our tickets this past weekend. The problem was if we waited much longer the prices would only get more and more expensive. So we bought the tickets and then tried to figure out a way to get things done a little faster for the passport. The whole problem is that we have to wait for his birth certificate from the Philippine government since the one we got from the city isn't accepted by the US (yes when born int the Philippines you have two birth certificates). Well, true to Filipino fashion, things can take a long time here. So, instead of just waiting for it to be sent to us, I asked a couple people to actually go to the agency in charge of birth certificates and see if they could get a copy today. I got a text a few hours ago saying they were able to do it. So, assuming it is correct we should have no problem getting his passport before we leave.

Well, with all this going on I hadn't really had too much of a chance to let it sink in that we are leaving in 36 days. So after thinking about it now here are a list of some of the things that I will miss and some that I won't.

I will miss...
1. the people I have become friends with over the last 5 years, obviously.
2. having it be our job to do something I would do regardless, serve God.
3. the flexibility of our schedules.
4. being only a few hours away from some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen.
5. being able to get my favorite Starbucks drink for under $3.
6. going to watch a movie at the theater for $2-3 and get popcorn and a coke for another $2.
7. nice weather year around (although, this hot season has been a little much).
8. this has been where Daniel and I have spent 5 of our 6 years that we've been married and where both of our kids have been born, so that will be hard for me.
9. having someone work for us around the house and also be available to watch the kids 3 days a week.
10. dirt cheap tropical fruit.

I will not miss...
1. making the half way around the world trip home anytime we want to visit family.
2. having to continuously deal with ants, cockroaches, geckos, spiders, etc. in the house (especially the cockroaches and spiders).
3. Filipino TV.
4. traffic, crowds and long lines most places we go.
5. pollution so bad it makes the dust turn black.
6. lack of central air.
7. the difficulty in communicating with people since I don't know Tagalog (alright this one is my fault).
8. typhoons.

It really will be difficult yet exciting for me to move home, so I'm sure I will be talking about the move a lot more as it gets closer.

3 Months Old Already

Last Thursday while Daniel was gone Isaiah hit the 3 month mark. It seems like he is growing more and more every day, so here are some pictures to remember what he looked like at 3 months.
The other thing he has started doing all the time is holding his head up while he is laying on his tummy. He seems to be able to hold it in this position as long as he wants. I can't remember the time line on JoAnn or even what's normal, but I know for sure JoAnn started rolling and lifting her head like this well after she hit 3 months. So it seems pretty early to me. He also has figured out how to roll from his stomach to his back, but he much prefers his stomach so I only see that when he's angry.
Check out Jo's new 'do. It has been extremely hot lately. To the point where JoAnn gets a heat rash on her neck from wearing her hair down, so I started putting it up in a ponytail a few days ago. I think it looks so cute on her, but she looks so much older.

Rolling Update

***I typed this out on Friday, but didn't have a chance to put up the picture and video since Daniel has a few guys out for a basketball trip and we've been busy. So finally here it is.

Ever since the other day when I put up that Isaiah has been trying to roll over onto his stomach he has been getter closer and closer. Well, today he finally achieved his goal. He made it all the way onto his stomach. It wasn't just by accident either. I would roll him back on his back and he would roll back onto his stomach. He probably did it 4 or 5 times the first time. Now he won't lay on his back, he will let out a little cry and roll right on over.


The laughing thing hadn't really happened since the last post no matter how hard I tried to get him to laugh. Well, evidently we have a little show off because while the guys that are here for a basketball trip were over and Daniel was holding him he started laughing for about 2 minutes straight. It was pretty cute. I managed to get a few seconds of it on video. The only problem with the video is that it was too dark and you can't see much, but you can definitely hear him laughing.

Bucher Family Day at the Dentist

I know I have once again waited to long to do this, but I think one year between dental check ups is much better than the previous almost 5 years, so I'm getting better. At least that is what I like to tell myself. I really don't enjoy going to the dentist and going in this time last year only to find out that I had over 10 cavities didn't really help. So, tagging along with Daniel when he went in for his check up sort of made it easier. JoAnn has also been overdue for her first time going to the dentist, so we just decided to make it a family event. I went last and had one small spot that she said I should watch to make sure it doesn't become a full blown cavity, so that was very much welcome news. Daniel went first and I won't say how many cavities he got (mainly because I don't really remember, not because it was too many). JoAnn went right after Daniel and despite my best efforts to make it seem like it would be fun (ok, they were probably half hearted since I actually believe it is the opposite of fun), she was terrified at first. Dr. Diane did a great job though. She had JoAnn sit on Daniel's lap and gave JoAnn her own little Mickey Mouse toothbrush. Then she even gave her a toy for doing so great (which we ended up leaving a the office, oops). Alright, I just more or less wanted to put this picture up because the "Dwayne Wayne" glasses made me laugh.

Rolling

Both of my kids have been able to roll onto their sides ever since the day they were born, but I have no idea when JoAnn even started trying to roll onto her stomach and unfortunately one of the things we lost when we found the cockroach nest in JoAnn's room was the calendar I kept a record of a lot of her "firsts" so I don't really have it written down anywhere either. Anyway, just yesterday I noticed two new "firsts" for Isaiah. One, he actually laughed and I don't mean he tried to laugh. He actually giggled (if that's what you call it when your talking about a guy). The other one was that he started trying to roll onto his stomach and he actually gets pretty close. He just needs to figure out how to move his arm out of the way. I took this picture tonight. I had laid him on his back and walked out of the room for a few minutes and when I came back he was laying like this.