Joshua's Doctor Visit...

Yogurt Face!

Yesterday afternoon was Joshua's 12 month doctor's checkup. The good news---- he passed! I have no idea why I get nervous about these appointments, but I kind of feel like it's more of a check up on how WE are doing as parents. Is he growing well? Is there anything wrong with him that we hadn't noticed? Our pediatrician's office is wonderful, so I usually leave there feeling encouraged about the fact that he's growing and developing just as he should be.

Funny story. Knowing my neurotic tendencies, you'll probably find it amusing that Joshua picked yesterday to smack his eye off of something at the house. So he has a gorgeous brushburn right at the corner of his left eye. Thankfully (and most importantly) it was nothing serious. But of course, it was still fresh when we went in there yesterday, so I was sure Children and Youth would be called. Hee hee. (Flash back to the time I nearly poked his eye out when he head butted himself into my thumbnail and had to take him in there to determine if a stitch was necessary--- same eye!) If there was ever any doubt, let it be known that this child is 100% boy. I have a feeling he'll always have at least one scratch, bruise, cast, stitch, etc. to explain. The hard part about him is that even with careful watching, which Grandma certainly does (probably better than I do), he can find a way to injure himself without too much effort. Gotta love boys.

When we got to the doctor yesterday, Joshua was playing in the waiting room and noticed a few other little boys who were running around like crazy. You could just tell from the look in his eye that he was amazed by them and wanted more than anything to take off after them. He did join in, and even pushed one little boy out of his way for the sake of maintaining balance. I guess staying vertical won out on the decision between being nice and not crashing to the floor. Interestingly enough, one of the little boys had also just turned one and he only came up to Joshua's shoulders. Josh looked like a giant next to him. I'd never really noticed how tall he is until I saw him with another little boy his own age.

Once we got into the examining room, he turned the paper on the table into confetti....literally. The nurse thought it was pretty funny, but did finally suggest (after enjoying the snow storm for a few minutes) that maybe it would be best if we took the paper off of the table to save the mess. We heard her talking to the other nurses and laughing about his handiwork when she went back into the hall. His reputation is beginning to develop.

So, onto the stats from the visit. I know you are all dying to hear them, right? He gained almost 2 pounds from his last visit and weighed 20 lb 4.5 oz yesterday (15th percentile). Way to go buddy! He also grew almost 2 inches since last time and was 31" long (85th percentile). His head measured exactly average, so I guess that's good. The nurse commented that he's shaping up to be quite tall and skinny. My bets are still on the fact that he's going to end up being built like my dad. So, by all accounts, he looks great and we get to keep him. We were hoping that would turn out that way.

He had 3 shots yesterday...hated every second of that. The poor thing screamed all the way home too because I think the car seat straps hit him right where he had his shots. He fell asleep in my lap when we got home and seemed a little less irritated with me when he woke up. I swear, though, that shot giving business is just about the worst. He looks up at you with those eyes as soon as the first prick happens like "MAKE THAT STOP! She's HURTING me!" And although you know it's for his own good, it doesn't make you wish any less that you could take it for him. I can only imgaine what parents go through who have ill children and have to be strong for them during serious procedures. I can't even handle a silly flu shot without my heart breaking! God forbid this child ever needs his tonsils out!

We're now working on our transition to whole milk. The good news about that is...you guessed it...no more formula to buy! I can't even imagine how great that's going to be. We started mixing his bedtime bottle with 5 oz of formula and 3 of whole milk and he sucked that down like a champ. We're moving to 50/50 today and we'll see how that goes. No signs of an upset tummy this morning. So far so good. He slept like an angel last night too...which could have been a Tylenol induced coma, but he seemed much more like himself this morning.

So much for a short little update, huh? I've never claimed to be short winded...

Halloween pictures tomorrow! I already can't wait. Happy Halloween everyone!

They love me so much that I get TWO parties!

As promised, here are some pictures of the Friday festivities last week. Hope you enjoy!

I had so much fun visiting Poppy's office that I fell asleep!

Check out the bottom of the sippy cup on this one!

Joshua's shirt said "I'm This Many" with a number 1 on it. Too cute!

Opening presents...this birthday stuff is FUN!

It's so much fun to be ONE!

Sorry for the delayed post everyone...today was one of those days that followed one of those weekends.

Although he doesn't have much to compare it to, I think it's safe to say that Joshua had a pretty nice first birthday. Here are a few highlights from the past several days...please forgive the laundry list due to the late hour at which I find myself typing.

Our birthday celebration started around 6:30 am with Joshua's television debut. OK, really it was just his picture on the morning news show, but it was pretty neat to see his smiling pumpkin picture up there as we awoke on Thursday morning. We had sent his picture with an email to the news folks telling them about Joshua's love of the weather segments. That got a special mention along with their happy birthday wishes. And I took a picture...of course.

Joshua had a blast at Trail of Treats. There were many characters there and he wasn't afraid of ANY of them, much to my surprise. Maybe our visit for Santa pictures won't be so traumatic after all. He reached up for a man dressed as Ronald McDonald, although I have absolutely no idea how he would know who that is. Maybe it's just the clown that was alluring. He had no problems posing with the lion costumed person who was part of our room theme and kept reaching out to either touch the lion's nose or give him a hug.

New skill alert----- Joshua has learned to clap his hands. All of a sudden during Trail of Treats, he started clapping his hands together when he liked something. I nearly fell over. No one else there thought it was nearly as big of a deal as I did.

Our little gathering on Thursday night was really nice. I wish I had a way to post the videos because I think you'd all get much more enjoyment out of seeing it, but Joshua seemed to enjoy himself. After we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he clapped and smiled, so he must have approved. No cake ended up on his face because, frankly, he didn't eat much. He just seemed to smash the cake and squish it between his fingers, then smeared it all over the tray of his high chair. But not much was consumed. The few little bites we gave him to try weren't met with much of a reaction at all. He was very interested in presents, so this gave us a little taste of what Christmas is going to be like in a few short months.

Friday morning we headed to Lewistown to share a similar celebration with my family. Everyone seemed to enjoy seeing all of Joshua's new tricks. I thought that, with the practice of Thursaday, the cake might either get eaten or really smashed into his face in an extreme kind of way, but he did the Play Doh routine again. He maybe had 3 or 4 bites, but not much more than that. I surely hope it wasn't that my cake didn't taste good.

The highlight of Friday was that we really saw some increase in Joshua's attempt to mimic words and talking. We were playing at my mom and dad's house and Joshua was looking up at the pictures that they have on a shelf in their living room. Joshua kept staring at the pictures, several of which were of Libby. So I kept asking him who that was. When I said "Lib-by" to him a few times, he looked right at the picture and said "Ibby". I nearly died. Wouldn't you figure that this child will not say "mama" to save his life, but "Ibby" comes rolling right out onto the pages of his baby book. Sunday's word was "baby". The jury is still out as to whether he really meant "baby" or whether this was just a new type of babbling that he learned. In any event, the talking and chattering is picking up. This is a lot of fun to witness!

Saturday Joshua spent the day with Nana, Poppy and Aunt Libby while Jason and I enjoyed a good butt kicking at the PSU game. I'm glad that we enjoyed such a nice day at Beaver Stadium pre-game during our little tailgate party with Stephanie because the actual game didn't go so well for these PSU fans. But we won't linger on that topic.

Sunday Jason and I worked on some child-friendly arranging in our office to make room for all of the toys that we are buried under (and those that Santa will likely be bringing our way in a few short months). What started as a minor "do-this-while-he's-napping" project ended up taking me several hours and Jason about five to complete. But Joshua now has a safe place to play which is a good thing. We officially retired the exersaucer (which has served no real purpose over the past three months other than to block the entrance to an electrical outlet that Joshua seems particularly intrigued by) and replaced it with a new toy box that Aunt Sheri got for him for his birthday. A very nice change indeed.

Joshua had his first drink of whole milk on Sunday and wasn't too impressed. We'll keep working on it. But if milk had to sustain life, I'd be concerned.

Tomorrow afternoon is Joshua's big 1 year checkup which includes a bunch of shots, so that's no good, but we will have updated stats for those of you keeping track. Any bets on whether we beat the 20 lb mark? The suspense will drive you batty, won't it?

I still marvel at the fact that our "baby" isn't such a "baby" anymore. Tonight as I was holding Joshua as he fell asleep, Jason asked me what I was going to do when he was too big to fall asleep in my lap anymore. I think my exact response was, "Well, it'll be a while before that happens, so I'm not going to think about it." How's that for denial? There's something very special about someone being small enough to cuddle up in your lap and just drift off to dreamland, and actually I enjoy it more now because he can stand in front of you and lift up those little arms as if to say "Mommy, will you please hold me?" That's pretty amazing, and I hope that the time will pass slowly before he's too big to climb in my lap for those last little while before bedtime. But after seeing how this past year flew by at warp speed, I think we'd better savor these moments before they're gone.

Enjoy the birthday pictures from Thursday. I'll post some of the ones from Friday tomorrow.

This was taken at 7:35 am on Thursday- his actual birth time. No time for a smile--- we were on a tight schedule.

As promised, here is a before shot of the cake. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it wasn't too bad for my first crack at making something that wasn't rectangular.

Here's Daddy holding Joshua's cake while we sing to him. Love that look of confusion...

This was right after we gave Joshua his piece of cake...he's not quite sure what to make of it.

And then, the aftermath. Tubby time quickly followed.

Gotta love the messy hands in this one!

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

This time last year, I was being wheeled down for surgery after a long night of labor with nothing to show for it but a distressed little guy who was losing his patience with Pitocin. And at 7:35, our Joshua will be the big O-N-E! Jason and I both have found ourselves saying, "This time last year..." a lot over the past few days.

The birthday boy is still fast asleep, so I thought I'd take advantage of a few quiet minutes here this morning while cake #2 is baking in the oven to do a little remembering.

As I look back over the past year, what everyone has said about having kids has held true...that time flies...and that if you blink, they've gone from babies to toddlers to college-bound teenagers in no time. And that's how the past year has been. But I'll tell you- there's been so much happiness and laughter and joy and blessing shoved into the past 365 days that I am full to overflowing with it. And how a little bundle of blankets can do that to you is nothing short of God's perfect plan for the world.

In the past year, we've gone from a newly married couple working to navigate all of the intricacies of that arrangment to new parents with absolutely no idea what we were doing. It's awesome that Jason and I make the team that we do because this is, without a doubt, a job for two. I can't say we've always happily worked through the challenges, but we have done our best. I'm a little stubborn (gasp!) and he can be too, and that doesn't always make for peaceful conflict resolution, but I can say that at the end of Joshua's first year, we're as happy as we've ever been. I joke all the time about Joshua being a little mini-Jason, and I couldn't be happier about having two of them around here to love. I am a bit concerned about all of the "teasing Mommy" tricks daddy is lining up to teach the little guy, but hopefully I can hold my own.

I marvel at the things that Joshua has learned how to do in one short year. Last year at this time, we were struggling to get him to eat. He's now mastered that...and we can't wait to see him tear into his cake tonight. He's tripled his weight and grown at least 9-10 inches. Final report on new stats after our 1 year checkup next week. He's developed a personality and is turning into quite the jokester. Jason said it best the other night when we were playing. He said, "I think he's going to be a character." No doubt, he's 100% right. He's mastered rolling over, crawling, pulling up to stand, and now walking. He's starting to work on some words, although we mostly hear "dada" for everything...even "mama". He's figured out how to sleep mostly through the night but still reserves the right to disrupt our sleep when he sees fit. Last night, that was in his plan. But I really savored the hour that I sat and rocked with him, just reminiscing about how much has changed in the past year.

Big things in store for today. We'll be heading out to Trail of Treats where our birthday boy will get to sport his Halloween costume for the very first time. Then it'll be back here to get ready for some supper and cake and PRESENTS with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sheri and Aunt Connie. We'll be headed to Lewistown for celebration #2 with Poppy, Nana, Aunt Libby, Uncle Zig and maybe even Stephanie if we're lucky tomorrow. No big extravagant parties here- we just want to be able to celebrate with family without overwhelming Joshua with this birthday business--- he's new to it, after all. I'll be sure to post pictures, but they probably won't be ready until after the weekend.

For now, enjoy a little look back at last year when we first got to meet Joshua...

Resting up...

I thought I'd take a quick minute to put up a quick post this morning frankly, just because I can. It is now almost 8:00 am (in Joshua time this is like the middle of the morning on a normal day) and he is still snoring away. I can hear him through the monitor in front of me. Unbelievable! He must be getting some extra rest in before his big day tomorrow.

I've been baking his cake this morning as well, so we'll see how that goes. I'll only post pictures if it's presentable and there are no guarantees on that.

Have a great day everyone!

This CAN'T be comfortable!

I have one more silly picture from the weekend that Jason took of Joshua during his naptime. I'm not sure how he can be comfortable, but he didn't seem to mind one bit.

Last night was the beginning of a crazy week. Here are the highlights:

We were almost late to music class because I couldn't get things organized and together enough to leave the office on time. So we were running in huffing and puffing as we started singing Happy Birthday to little Sophia who turned one yesterday. Of course, I cried when we sang Happy Birthday...don't ask. Apparently this whole birthday thing is a bit emotional for me still. Maybe I got it out of my system with Sophia, but all the other moms teared up too, so I didn't feel like such a freak. With his new walking skills, Joshua was into EVERYTHING in class, so it was fun to watch him. When we played Ring Around the Rosie he stood in the middle of the circle like a statue while we walked around him.

Feeding times have been the time to master the art of distraction lately. Joshua is WAY too busy to sit still long enough to eat, so we find ourselves giving him all kinds of things to explore while we attempt to shovel a little bit of something into him. Last night after I had emptied the kitchen gadget drawer of all things safe enough to give him, I spotted a big Ziploc baggie with bread in it from our lasagna supper. So I gave that to him. Before I knew it, he was chomping away on a piece of bread. Apparently he can now open Ziploc bags. So added to his dinner of green beans, some leftover lasagna and yogurt was a piece of bread.

After his bath we were reading stories. There's one part of one of his dinosaur books that says "Dinosaurs looking right at you, to say goodbye because we're through". You're all thinking, "So what?" I've been working with him for ages to get him to wave goodbye on cue. Most times he just gives you a blank stare. Well last night, as soon as I got to the page with the dinosaurs waving, he started to wave back. Too cute.

Another recent story time favorite is his book of Opposites. One page has the opposites "whisper" and "shout". I usually whisper the "whisper" and shout the "shout" for obvious reasons. Lately, as soon as the page turns, he puts his ear to my mouth so that I can whisper to him. It's so precious. I'm amazed that before I even say words, he's associating the pictures on the page with the things he remembers from reading the stories before. We can't get enough of this Sandra Boynton stuff--- more books on the way for his Birthday and Christmas.

T-minus 44 hours to the big O-N-E...it's unbelievable how fast time has flown by. This time a year ago we were counting down the hours, but for different reasons.

I'll end with Joshua's "snoot face"....makes me laugh just looking at it.

Have a great day everyone!

Whirwind weekend...to kick off a whirlwind week!

I LOVE playing with Danaca- especially running into her with my lion! She yells "Kaboom" and I laugh like crazy.

I always feel like, post weekend, I have a ton to update everyone on. As I looked through the camera from the weekend, there was so much good stuff there that I just may crash the blogger server by attempting to share it all. But I'll do my best.

Friday night was cleanup night to finish the not-so-glamorous parts of the weekend ritual in our house because the rest of the weekend was jam-packed with the fun stuff. So we finished up cleaning, grocery shopping and meal planning and I put together our lasagna supper for Saturday night. Joshua was as rambunctious as ever, so it was about 10:30 when I finished putting the pan of lasagna in the refrigerator. Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows that I'm usually long since asleep at 10:30, so we stretched the hours in the day on Friday out of necessity...not desire.

Saturday morning we woke up and took off for Woolrich. I am continually amazed at the things right in our backyard, and this was no exception. Jason had been there many times growing up, but we decided to take a ride on a beautiful fall morning and see what things were like at the company store there. We found a few things, but mostly I enjoyed the fall foliage along the way and the gorgeous little town of Woolrich. I actually commented on the way through the town that it's the kind of place that I'd like to own a vacation property in--- the street (one street through town) is lined with huge evergreen trees. They sort of towered over the town and made you feel like you were much further removed from reality than you actually were. I felt like I was camping, but in a civilized little neighborhood community. I envision all friendly neighbors, the kind of place where everyone looks out for everyone else. It was really something. We got back home just in time for PSU kickoff and watched the game. We're already starting to feel the excitement build for our opportunity to knock off Ohio State this weekend. (Blood pressure rising at the thought of what Beaver Stadium is going to be like for #1 OSU to come to town for an 8:00 pm kickoff on Saturday!)

The highlight of the weekend was definitely Danaca's visit on Saturday and Sunday. I can't tell you how much we enjoyed a very laid back visit with her. So often, family time with my side of the family turns into a circus. There are tons of people around and no one gets any real time with anyone. This was the exact opposite. So super special thanks to Danaca for taking the time to come and hang out with boring old us. It meant a lot to us. Joshua took to Danaca like I haven't seen him warm up to someone in a long time, so that was fun to watch. It may have helped that she brought him his first ever birthday present with BOOKS (his most favorite thing)! This gave me a bit of a glimpse into what Christmas is going to be like this year--- I already can't wait! We did a whole lot of nothing on Saturday afternoon. We played with Joshua, had some great chatting time while he took a nap and then enjoyed a yummy lasagna dinner (if I do say so myself).

I have restored faith in the fact that Joshua may have a bit of my DNA afterall by the way he scarfed down the lasagna I put on his tray. It's my absolute all time favorite! Usually his meal time ritual consists of one bite in his mouth, one bite shoved down his shirt and the next bite on the floor (Watson LOVES this arrangement and is mostly found hovering right below Joshua's highchair for anything he happens to "share"). Well, not with the lasagna. No sooner did I have another bite on the tray than it was gone. Had I been thinking I would have stripped Joshua down into his onesie to eat his dinner. I should know him well enough to know that a bib is going to last for a minute or two, and after that, the shirt he has on (and sometimes the pants) are a blank canvas for whatever he's eating. You can imagine the damage that tomato sauce and cheese would do! But apparently I wasn't thinking. Lasagna everywhere. See proof in the following shots.



Sunday we got up and went to church. This was week #2 with apparently no fussing in the nursery. This time he was the only baby there, so I was surprised he didn't freak out about us leaving him there. Apparently new toys to play with and new people to entertain trump any reliance on Mommy being nearby. Good to know. We came home, enjoyed lunch and some play time with Danaca before she hit the road and then a long nap to make up for missing his morning nap due to play time at church. A quick trip to the mall rounded out the day (and when I say quick, I mean it...40 minutes which included a new cell phone for me since mine was up for upgrade, a new lamp for our living room since Joshua had bent ours so that it looked a bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a new pair of shoes for Jason- seriously...40 minutes). Last night we unwound a bit and before we knew it, it was Monday already.

This week could be one of the craziest in our recent history. With it being the big birthday week for the little man, there are lots of things to do. So I apologize already if my updates aren't immediate. Hopefully this batch of pictures and info will get you through until I can post again.

We'll talk to you all soon!

Nothing earth shattering...

Today is one of those days that I don't have anything overly significant to write about, but I always try to share even the seemingly insignificant things with all of you. Sometimes it's the little things that seem so meaningful when I look back through these posts and the notes I've made in Joshua's albums. I love knowing when he first giggled at Aunt Libby when she visited for the David Phelps concert in early December 2006...that was the beginning of many Aunt Libby giggle fests that warm my heart beyond words. I love to remember his first raspberries at 15 weeks old and the look on his face when first tasted peas. There's no spot in the baby book for things like that, but those are the kinds of things I love to share. The littlest moments, I'm finding, are the important ones.

So it's been a few days of nothing earth shattering, but fun nonetheless. I can happily report that Joshua's lion has now transformed into a running crutch. He is literally running around the wood floors in our downstairs with little regard for the walls that he crashes into, but goodness it's it fun to watch. We had a very spirited game of "where's Mommy" before I left for work yesterday that had us both in stitches. I'm having trouble running fast enough around the house to hide from him before he can get there to find me. I may not be finding much time for the elliptical machine in the basement, but this might suffice in its place!

We're starting to see some progress in imitation of noises from Joshua in the last week or so. Lately it's been animal noises that he's making an attempt to copy. Judy shared that he had imitated her "meow" when she asked him what the cat said the other day. He won't do it again, but that doesn't come as a complete shock. He'll do what he wants when he wants to, and not a moment before. He made a great attempt at imitating my moo-cow noises yesterday morning, but only got the "mmmmmmmm" out. No "ooooooo". We'll keep practicing. He is still not associating "dada" and "mama" with Jason and I although he says them all the time. I know that's something the doctors want to see at 1 year. I try really hard not to worry about the "supposed to's", but a little worry sneaks in sometimes.

Our sleeping woes are back, but don't appear to be quite as bad as the past few months had been. I don't know whether he's going through a growth spurt or some new teeth are making their way through his gums or what, but he's been wanting to eat again around 1:30 every night for about a week. Once he eats his bottle, he just wants to be held and rocked for about an hour until he'll peacefully lay back down in his crib. I'm starting to get used to these little times together in the middle of the night. Last night I just sat and looked at him and marvelled at how big he's gotten and how much has happened in the past year.

Next week is a big week- the Big #1 is on Thursday, so I'll be thrilled to share pictures with everyone. There will be two little parties for our birthday boy because of travel logistics, so we'll share as soon as we can. I'm excited to try making his cake for him, so that ought to be a real masterpiece....it's the thought that counts, right?

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! New pictures on Monday, I hope from our special visit with Danaca! Yay!!

Car Seats...Car Seats!

I've been meaning to post this photo because of how precious it is but haven't gotten around to it. You all know how that goes. But I just had an interesting conversation with a client on the phone about choosing a new car seat for their growing little one that made me think about it and want to post this before it got out of my busy brain once again.

In August, my State Farm agent friend Karen and I participated in a Car Seat Technician certification class. We have established that I'm neurotic, so I don't think I need to go into great detail on this, but I've always been particular about car seats. Even when we first installed the infant carrier and base in preparation for Joshua's arrival (last August or September- make fun if you must) I thought it important to get the seat inspected so that we were sure it was in correctly. Maybe it's the State Farm connection, but we're surrounded by statistics about car seats and how over 70% of the seats are installed incorrectly or are the wrong seats for the children. Each time I had our seat looked at, there was something wrong with the installation that no one would have ever imagined (or found out until there had been some kind of an accident). And the installation techs were always very complimentary of the work that Jason and I (really only Jason) had done. They said that our seats were in "more right" than most they saw, but they could still make improvements.

When it was time to graduate Joshua into his "big boy" car seat, I again visited my car seat friends at the hospital's community education department and they again helped us to get our seat more correctly installed. And it was then that I realized that this was tough business. Here we are trusting this creation of plastic and nylon webbing to hold our most precious cargo, and it's taking two college educated people PLUS two certified technicians to get it installed correctly? So there began the process of becoming a technician myself (and talking Karen into it too...I know she loves me).

So four full days later (yep- four days to learn how to get car seats in correctly and to know all about the different kinds, styles, etc.) I had learned a few things that I'll share- just because I literally had no idea had I not sat in this class. I really hope no one feels that I'm forcing info. I just know that I appreciate knowing as much as I can when it comes to protecting Joshua and I have a feeling all parents feel that way about their children.

• Although PA law says that babies are legally allowed to turn forward facing at 20 lb AND one year of age, it's not the best idea to do so. It's safest to keep a child rear facing for as long as possible- preferably to the rear facing weight limits for the seat. This is because the car seat, when rear facing, takes all of the crash forces instead of the baby taking them. At one and 20 lb, their little joints and bones aren't quite ready to withstand the jolt of a crash. When we picked a convertible seat for Joshua, we looked for the one with the highest rear facing limits we could find at a reasonable cost. We LOVE the Fisher Price Safe Voyage seat. And at the rate he's gaining weight (or not!) he'll be riding rear facing until 4th grade!


• All of the really cute after market toys and things that you can hang off of the car seat and the back of the seat (I was guilty of a mirror until the class) can be really dangerous to the baby in a crash. If they come loose, they'll smack the baby and actually are the greatest causes of injury if car seats are installed correctly. Those sticky suction cup mirrors are the worst- they're hard and heavy with crash forces.


• On infant carriers, handle down vs. handle up when travelling can make a huge difference. All of the seats and vehicles are different with requirements, so you have to really look closely.


• The safest place for a child (or anyone for that matter) is the center position in the back seat facing the rear of the vehicle. Frankly, if I could ride that way I would!

I could go on for days, but don't worry...I won't. If anyone ever needs a seat looked at, just let me know. I've been doing it with clients with new or expected little ones and am so thankful I took the time to get certified. I hope I haven't offended anyone here by sounding preachy--- I just thought I'd fill you in on that new aspect of how parenthood changed my perspective. Pre-Joshua I wouldn't have given any of this much of a second thought, but now every time we strap him in to his seat, I'm confident that we've protected him the best we could...and that's our #1 job as his parents.

A comedy of errors...

You all got a small taste of the mood Joshua was in yesterday with the beans story. So I just have to tell you about our "comedy of errors" yesterday when it came to clothing. I have always been blessed with a child who didn't spit up much or make too much of a mess...until now evidently. Actually, when he was a little baby and I had all of these adorable outfits, I always secretly hoped he'd make a mess so I could change him (and of course, take more pictures). But he made up for it yesterday.

Here's how it went:

Wake up. Eat pancakes. Change clothes for church. He wore an adorable pair of khakis and a little brown and red rugby shirt. Adorable. But too nice for playing. So...

Come home from church. Change into play clothes.

Eat lunch. Beans smashed on head. Tubby Time. Change clothes for nap.

Sleep for two hours. Wake up and go to grocery store. Here's where it gets interesting. Somewhere between the yogurt aisle and the end of the baby food aisle, Joshua's entire sippy cup of water got emptied......into the shopping cart cover where he was sitting. I didn't know this until I went to get him out of the cart and into the car seat. At which point he started dripping. And then I realized that he had not, in fact, finished the water by DRINKING it.

Go home...wet. Hang up cart cover (which, consequently, has been one of the most useful of all gifts we received for the baby. The Floppy Seat wins big points in my book. Thank you Courtney and Ryan and Teagan!). Take cover off of carseat. Hang both to dry (since you cannot ever dry a car seat cover...learned in car seat tech class). Change clothes into MORE play clothes. Change mommy's clothes since the dripping got me too.

Play. Eat dinner. Tubby time. Pajamas.

Phew. Suffice it to say that I had a whole load of laundry just from Joshua yesterday. No harm done, but by the end of the day it had gotten a bit ridiculous and very comical. Joshua would just look at me like, "I know. Now I have to get my clothes changed."

Talk to you all soon.

What a weekend!

Look who's WALKING!

I find myself with a few quiet minutes this afternoon and thought I should post a little update about what's been going on around here this weekend. It's been a busy weekend, though as I write about it, I realize that nothing overly exciting has gone on. Just a lot of little things.

This was the big Woolly Worm Festival weekend in town. It's a tradition in Lewisburg that we celebrate fall with a winter weather prognostication ceremony based on a scientific analysis of the woolly worms and their stripes. When I moved here, I was puzzled to say the least, but it's kind of grown on me. Our Kiwanis Club puts this festival on, so there was lots to be done. Jason and I both helped to set up on Friday and the festival started early Saturday morning. Thanks to my mom's help playing with Joshua, I was able to go and work at the festival by manning the woolly worm race stand. (Yep, you read that right.) People actually paid their hard earned dollars ($1 per race) to choose a worm that looked fast (don't ask, but people really seemed to think this one over) and race it against other people who had done the same. The kids and some adults actually gave their worms a talking to before the race (which we started with a cap gun shot I might add) and then cheered them on, as if it made a difference. At the end of 4 hours, I had a wad of money in my pocket and a new appreciation for this whole concept. I won't get into my observations about the people who attend these festivals as vendors because that could fill the whole site, but there is an entire subculture devoted to the festival circuit- and from what I saw, most had more trailers to unload than they had teeth. What a hoot. Pictures follow for those who don't believe that this thing actually exists...

Overlooking the park from Market Street- picturesque view of the Bull Run, wouldn't you say?

The famous Woolly Worm Races- with our friends Karen and Bill moderating before they trained me to take over. See them going?

While all of this excitement was going on, Jason and Bill headed to PSU to cheer them on to a victory. It worked! What a great game. They made it out of traffic and back home in great time and even had a chance to get onto the field and send some pictures back home to Joshua and I. It was an awesome day in State College that I'm sorry I missed. But I'm glad they had a great time.

This morning, Joshua and I had a pancake morning while daddy rested up from his big day at PSU. Joshua loves pancakes. I even let him try a little syrup this morning and he seemed to like that a great deal. Gee Libby, there's no doubt about the blood relation is there?

"Mmmmm....I LOVE pancakes just like my Aunt Libby. Like my big boy pajamas too?"

"Hey Mommy, do you have any more of that syrup that I could try? That was good!"

Then we got dresesd and headed off to church. This was a big day for mommy because for the first time, I left him in the nursery and went to church. Yes, neurotic Megan was definitely nervous about it, but he was fine, and amazingly, so was I. He apparently played very nicely with the other children and was quite the entertainer for the adults helping in the nursery. When I went to get him they all said, "You do know he's walking, right?" Apparently he had been crawling on the floor and just suddenly pulled himself up and took off across the nursery. They were all concerned that that was the first time. Too funny. I listened to a sermon for the first time in quite some time which was wonderful. Ordinarily I either end up in the nursery with a scroochy baby or end up exerting way too much effort trying to corral him or quiet him down, which overtakes my ability to listen at the same time. So this was a good thing.

This afternoon at lunch we experienced a classic Joshua moment. I have been making an attempt at sharing table food with Joshua as much as I can. The sooner we can eliminate our dependence on Gerber smashing up all of the food that he eats, the better. So I searched the cupboards looking for something worthy of sharing for lunch and came across ham and bean soup. The beans, I thought, might be good for him to try. So ham and bean soup it was. I am sad to report that most of the beans I gave him ended up being smashed in his hair. So much so that Jason and I made the determination that the only thing that would fix this was a bath at 1:00 pm. He was a wreck--- beans everywhere. He did eat a few, but mostly he got a handful and smashed them on his head. So Gerber, we'll still be needing you for a while.

Right now, Jason is enjoying a beautiful, sunny October afternoon golfing. It's days like this that I wish I was a golfer, just for a good excuse to be out soaking it all up. Joshua is enjoying a nice, long nap which is great news considering that he's been an absolute bear since getting home from church. No morning nap, an extra bath in the middle of the day and beans in your hair are enough to make anyone cranky...so he's sleeping it off. He doesn't know it yet, but when he awakes, we have a big trip to the grocery store ahead of us to ensure that the Dugan family has something to eat for the week.

I'll post again soon. Thanks for sticking with this post this long. I told you there is a lot going on.

Silly Fun...

I just wanted to share a quick fun photo from before-work playtime this morning. I was trying to take a few pictures of Joshua (because I don't think the 5000 we have of him are enough) and he kept coming after the camera. So, when he jumped in my lap, I figured I'd snap a quick picture of the two of us together. He got quite a giggle out of seeing his close up on the camera screen once we were done.

The walking continues. Last night he was back and forth across the living room and was navigating his way around daddy on the floor in order to get to his head and pull his hair. Poor Jason- at one point his head hit the floor so hard thanks to Joshua's bashing that I'm surprised he can still see straight this morning. We need to work on the concept of "gentle". So I guess this walking progress is not a fluke. The funny part is that as soon as he steps foot onto the wood part of our floors, he crashes to a crawling position in a hurry. I don't think he quite has the solid footing to be able to handle NO traction on the wood. I also caught a quick picture of him standing pretty much independently this morning at his ball popper, so I've included that as well.

As for the commenting dilemma, I have figured how to block comments on the site, as well as delete inappropriate ones. There's no need for all of you to have to look at junk here, on a site made just for our little guy. So hopefully that solves the problem. So if you see a delay in any of your comments appearing, don't worry. More to come.

Big News...

Big news to report from our household.

Last night was Joshua's most consistent and controlled walking that we've seen yet. I was doing something with Joshua standing right at my knees, and then all of a sudden I looked up and he was standing holding on to Jason. That continued through most of the evening- he'd walk to daddy, then turn himself back around and walk to me. And over and over again it went. If I had to estimate, he was probably taking about 10 steps in a row without falling. So I'm not sure how you officially characterize a walker, but I'd say he's getting mighty close. Way to go little buddy!!

Then, sometime between Monday and this morning three new teeth have appeared. Poor thing- three at a time had to have been rough. This could possibly explain the bottle strike he was on over the weekend. But the top two next to his front teeth that have been working so hard to break through are in, and one to the right of his bottom teeth is in now too. Big stuff!

Joshua had an awesome time with daddy last night during dinner. I have no idea what was so funny, but he giggled and carried on for all of dinner. You just can't help but laugh with him.

I'll keep you updated on the walking progress at our house. It's so much fun to watch him get confidence and take off on his own. Jason and I both enjoyed a few great laughs at his attempts- he was determined despite taking a few spills. This is fun stuff! I think we've said this at every stage Joshua has gone through, but this one is my favorite. It's so wonderful to watch him learn new things and let that little personality shine through.

Have a great day everyone!

PS. Welcome to the world little Max Hertzler! Max arrived yesterday afternoon and is welcomed into the family by 17 month old big sister Halle. Congratulations to Amanda and Brandon on their new baby boy. We're so happy for all of you.

Observations from music class...

I think Joshua is officially getting with the program now at music class. Last night was session #3 and he seemed to really enjoy himself- lots of giggles and smiles last night. His favorite song is still the "flea" song where the flea climbs up on him. He did a great job banging on his lollipop drum last night. And he held the teacher's hand to walk around for "Go Round and Round the Village". His little feet still get a bit tripped up, but he's doing much better walking and keeping up with the other kids.

It's so funny to watch the kids together and compare personalities. You don't realize how individual they are, even at this age, until you see them in a group and watch what happens. Joshua is a real studier (everyone, please hold the jokes about him being a studying bookworm like me). He's cautious and will really take his time to see what people are up to before he'll join in. For instance, last night the teacher pulled out a monster drum for the kids to bang on. He went right up to the drum and sat down with the other kids, but while they were banging away, he was watching each of them. In a couple minutes, he joined in, but it wasn't without analysis.

Another observation- this one about the moms. The contrast between moms in this class is pretty startling too. I think I'm the only working mother who brings their child to this class- and the looks I get when I come in work clothes if I haven't had an opportunity to change (late appointments with clients, etc.) are really something. Several asked me where Joshua is during the day when I work, and the eye rolls are incredible from the stay at homers. They say, "Oh...(tentatively) that's nice..." but I know what they really mean. There's still a great divide between parents who stay home with their children and those who choose to continue their careers. I always knew that the debate was alive and well, but last evening I really noticed it being played out so obviously in this little silly music class. Many of the moms there are raising bilingual children, which is fine, and some talk to their kids using sign language for everything. Now, please don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with stay at home moms, bilingual children or kids who can communicate using sign language. It's the looks of judgment when you DON'T make the same choices that really get me. And all I can hope is that I'm never a mom who is judgmental of other mothers. Because honestly, I believe in my heart (with the obvious exception of parents who shouldn't be parents at all) that all parents make the absolute best choices they can for their kids. And if someone doesn't do things the same way I would for whatever reason, that doesn't make me wrong or them wrong. That's the beauty of parenthood...we can all make choices for our children and our families, and they're all 100% right if they've got the best interests of our kids at heart. My goal through this whole adventure- to help Joshua become all he's meant to be. Hopefully we're raising a healthy, well adjusted, compassionate, kind and loving little boy who will make someone a wonderful husband like his daddy is to me, and a wonderful daddy to his own children. And I'm pretty sure that none of the choices we've made for him will negatively impact those goals.

That whole thing sounded way more dramatic than it needed to...but the experience last night truly got me thinking. So to all of our family & friends who have been such a great source of positive support to us, thank you. I hope I can return the favor someday.

Weekend in Review

What do you get when you cross a trip to Lewistown, a PSU home game (that we won!) and a quiet day at home to enjoy Joshua? A WONDERFUL WEEKEND! And that's what we had.

Friday afternoon we took off (earlier than planned...awesome) and made it to Lewistown early enough for my parents to get to enjoy the baby a little bit before bedtime. Nana got to help with tubby time (always a favorite) and Joshua got to get reacclamated to the surroundings there. He got a second (or third or fourth) wind at bedtime and wound up playing until after 10:00. All of those toys were just calling his name...and he couldn't resist. Nana and Poppy got quite a kick out of his water drinking "aaaaaaaaaaah" trick and his snoot face. Our little performer.

Saturday morning Jason and I got up and headed over the mountain to Penn State. After how many years of going over there to games, we finally figured out how NOT to get caught up in traffic coming out of the game by going into a different entrance to the parking fields. What a great find that was! We had an awesome day- walked downtown to get some lunch and soak up the atmosphere of the crowds down there, visited with his friends at their tailgate, and then enjoyed a wonderful PSU win. I have to tell you, I'm convinced that the university squeezes an additional seat into the rows every week because we're getting progressively squished. We were literally packed in like sardines. Imagine the scene- it was about 89 degrees at kickoff and we were touching each other WAY too much. I wanted to cry when two girls (who were thankfully skinny, but still) came to sit in our row after the game had started. Now, one oversized person can make a lot of trouble in the rows, but I know it wasn't Jason or I because both of us have LOST weight recently. So anyway, we made friends with the people beside, in front of and behind us. In fact, the guy sitting just to our right was from Danville. What are the chances- 108,000 in the stands and the guy tells me he's seen my billboards around town. (It's a Small World is ringing in my ears!)

Sunday was a catch up day at home- laundry, groceries, cleaning, etc. but we did a lot of playing with the little guy. He went non stop! He seems to be on a bottle strike right now, so perhaps it would be a good time to start the process of weaning off of formula and on to whole milk. (Any mommy friends out there who can give me advice on this one, please chime in!) He's been taking only an ounce or two of bottle all weekend, except for his bedtime bottle which he sucks down as though he hasn't been fed all day. But, he's been sleeping like a champ, which I can't imagine he'd be doing if he was hungry. He's picking up table foods really well right now and last night even skipped baby food altogether and ate chicken, rice and carrots that we were eating. This is big progress for us! Yay Joshua! The night ended with an awesome wagon ride around the neighborhood. We only came in because it was getting dark. Joshua LOVES his wagon! He just sat there with Elmo, drank water from his sippy cup and watched the world go by. What a life he has!

I'll include a few pictures from the weekend. Hope you enjoy.

Music class tonight---- can't wait! Happy Monday everyone!

Check out the picture Jason got of the Blue Band drumline! That one's for you, Linds! Let's go State!!

Elmo is SO funny!

Happy Friday!

It's early on Friday morning and I find myself with a few quiet minutes before the baby wakes for the day. It's a Kiwanis morning here, so we're up and rolling EARLY to be there by 7:00. Everyone survived our "daycare" experience here the past few days, and I don't think either Sydney or Joshua are any worse for the wear.

We're now in pack mode for the weekend. Tonight after work we'll be headed to my parents' house. My parents and Libby will be helping us with Joshua while Jason and I go to help root PSU into a win. It's going to be a scorcher in Happy Valley, not quite the fall football atmosphere I had hoped for, but any day in State College is a good one. I'm so thankful to Libby and Mom for helping us out with him. Fingers are crossed that he'll be cooperative and have a great time playing with Banana's stash of toys.

Here's a walking report (because I know you're all dying with anticipation for this, right?). Yesterday I saw real progress in the walking department. It seems like he's been stalled out at this wobbly, lunging type of walking (3 steps usually), but yesterday I watched him get a little more brave and take about 6 or 7 steps together in a row to get to his lion. You can just see the decision making going on in his head when he sees something he wants but has to decide whether to crawl or stay upright. It's like..."OK, let's see. I could get down to the ground and then pull up again or I could just chance it and see how this goes. Not too big of a gap to go there....what the heck, let's give it a shot." The priceless part for me is the huge smile on his face when he gets where he's going. It's like he's always shocked that he remained upright after making the attempt.

He's standing up from the floor a lot more easily and doesn't seem nearly as tipsy when he gets to his feet. He's now progressed to running behind the lion, which makes for some funny crashes at the house. He'll take off full speed around the "ring" of our house. Generally, he navigates pretty well, but he always misjudges at least one corner and has to correct himself quickly before his butt hits the ground.

Let's see...other important life changing skills. We have mastered what I call the "snoot face" and he can do it on cue. It's precious, and I've not yet captured a good picture of it. And most importantly, we have been working on "What does the doggie say?" to which he pants. I almost hesitated to post that as a new trick because we're still working on doing it when I ask him to, but we're getting there.

Well, Kiwanis calls. Josh is still in dreamland, so I guess Grandma will get to do the getting dressed honors this morning. I'm already looking forward to getting home this afternoon to squeeze him and love him before our trip.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Double Duty...

It's baby central at the Dugan residence! For the past two days, Grandma and I have been on duty with both Joshua and Sydney, and having a blast. I've always said that there's a reason God didn't give me twins--- and it's been confirmed. One at a time is plenty for me. There just aren't enough hands to control all of the hands and feet, particularly when one of the babies is as mobile as Joshua is.

This is a great exercise in contrast between these two babies too. Sydney is as calm and pleasant as can be. Joshua, on the other hand, is always on the go. He's been very happy and has played nicely with Sydney, but he's busy all the time. For instance, Sydney is now sitting on the floor playing nicely while Joshua is wrestling around in his Pack and Play after having taken off his pants and emptying all of the trays. Typical and comical all at the same time.

Here are a few pictures from today's playtime. What a hoot!

More later...

Our little pumpkin...

I've already posted about my love affair with the fall season. And I'm sure it's obvious from previous posts that I'm also absolutely in love with our little boy. There's something so extra special about this time of year now that he's been born. Every time I turn around I flash back to the anticipation of his birth and the wonder that the fall of 2006 held for us (and in my flashbacks, I only remember the good stuff...it's wonderful how time fades the not-so-pleasant parts of the last month of pregnancy!). So as this fall starts to roll into this part of the state and the 80+ degree temperatures wane into something more autumnlike, I'm just full to overflowing with all of the blessings we have to be thankful for.

So, every October baby really ought to have some pumpkin pictures, right? Don't ask me why, but this has been an obsession with me this year. Everywhere we go, I'm scouting out pumpkin patches and anything fall-like that might be a good backdrop for our amateur photography skills. Let me tell you, there aren't many bona fide pumpkin patches in this part of the state. So, after some running around on Saturday (God bless Jason for putting up with this) we made a round trip from our house to Muncy only to find one such pumpkin place closed by a margin of 15 minutes. We weren't happy. Then, stubborn and determined that we WERE going to get these pictures come heck or high water, we ran to Mifflinburg to a little place called Ard's Farm Market. They were having their fall festival with hayrides and pumpkin carvings and all sorts of fallish things. There was a long wait for the hayride to the actual pumpkin patch, so we decided to see what we could do with what was right around us. We were thrilled with the pictures. So, our little pumpkin got to meet some real ones after all...and they got along pretty well.

Other excitement from the weekend included a great visit with Darla and Jeremy and Sydney on Friday night (Happy 5th Anniversary you guys!). The kids played together very well, although I'm pretty sure Sydney doesn't know what to think of Joshua. He stole her bink quite a few times and was awfully curious with her. But overall, nicer than he's been in the past. The only time he got a little jealous was when I held Sydney for a second. Joshua must have thought I was cheating on him or something because he pulled my hair REALLY hard! So I got the message loud and clear on that one. Sydney has her mommy. Joshua has his mommy. And we'll just let well enough alone.

Saturday was pumpkin day and Sunday was an around the house day, so it was, by all accounts an awesome weekend in the Dugan household. Tonight is music class #2, so I'll let you know how we do with that. I also have not been studying my words like I was supposed to, so I feel a bit like I used to going into an Econ test in college- remember Lindsay? Not good.