Silly Supper Pictures...

I snapped a few silly pictures of Joshua last evening while we were giggling our way through his supper. I think there may be more of his Macaroni and Beef with Vegetables (how gross does that sound?) on his face than in his belly. But I guess that's how it goes when you're 13 months old...or when you're 29. I'm just about as bad as Joshua is sometimes.


The second picture is what he did when I asked him to show me his tongue. Gotta love it.




In case I don't get a chance to post over the weekend, I want to wish Lindsay and Ian a very safe trip back to this side of the "pond" after spending the last three months in London. They'll return Sunday. I can't wait to be able to chat frequently again without the fear of the phone bill. Linds, I have to tell you, our first 11 minute conversation only cost me $.92! So I'm not nearly as scared for what our most recent 30+ minute one is going to look like now. So welcome home, Jack!








This weekend is an "at home" weekend with no major travel plans. No shortage of things that need to be done, but nothing that requires the packing of overnight bags. So that's a relief. Aunt Libby is going to be making an appearance---- Joshua is ALREADY super excited about that--- on Saturday night while we go to Jason's Morgan Stanley Christmas dinner. I can't wait to see my sister again- two weeks in a row is awesome for us! Otherwise, it should be a pretty low key weekend. I love that! Talk to you all soon!

My-Ma-Ma the Maypole

I sincerely wish I could post videos, although I'm pretty sure I would eat up all the space allowed by these nice Blogger folks by doing so. The past two evenings, Joshua has decided that I am his official May pole. If I'm sitting on the floor to play with him he'll begin walking around me in a circle. On Tuesday evening, this went on for the better part of 15 minutes without stopping. I'm sure that my description of this little game isn't doing it a bit of justice, but it was very cute. Occasionally he would stumble over to the chair where Jason was sitting, bounce off of it and change the direction of the circle. It was impressive that he didn't fall more than he did--- he just walked around and around singing "la-la-la" (also new) all the way. What a character. The next time you're at our house, remind me to show you the video of this one. Priceless- minus me laughing hysterically the whole time.

We'll see what tonight brings...always an adventure.

Talk to you all tomorrow!

The past few days...

It seems like it's been ages since I've been able to post. The Thanksgiving holiday was a great one with the usual running around. We all had a great time and lots of yummy food to eat. Judy out did herself and so did my mom. We ate the leftover turkey and waffles with mom and dad on Friday (and Saturday) at their house. I think it should be Thanksgiving at least once a month just so you have leftovers to enjoy. (This, of course, coming from the person who doesn't actually COOK the meal, but just enjoys the fruits of everyone else's labor!)

Here are a few funny pictures from the last couple days.

This is Joshua playing with Grandma's HUGE Boyd's bear. He spent most of the time wrestling with it, so the other 20 pictures I have of him with the bear are all with at least some part of Joshua wrestling with the bear, or some kind of mean face saying "I'll get you!"

Joshua and Grandma playing in the kitchen before it was time to leave. (We, of course, had to be on the road to get back home BEFORE dark to save that catastrophe!)

Joshua and Aunt Libby reading stories at Nana and Poppy's house. This child would read books all day long if he could. It's adorable--- he picks out a book that he likes and then brings it to you to read to him. Right now the favorites are "The Night Before Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman".

I couldn't resist throwing this one in. On Sunday when we got back from Lewistown, Jason and I worked on our Christmas decorations while Joshua napped. Jason was still finishing up some of the outside decorations after Joshua woke up, so he and I played in the playroom which just happens to look out onto the front porch. Joshua stood at the window the whole time watching Jason and waving to him. You can see his little backward wave in this picture. Too precious. It won't be long until Joshua is out chasing behind Jason while he's working outside.

So that about sums it up from here. Christmas preparations have hit high gear and it's been fun getting into the spirit. I absolutely love driving down the street at home seeing the glow of our lights outside, knowing that the lit Christmas trees are waiting inside. To this point, Joshua has not disassembled the trees yet, but it's still early in the season. I'm sure we won't get that lucky forever.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Thankful...

This is attempt #2 at being able to post today. This morning when I started, Joshua was playing nicely on the floor beside me, taking breaks to paw at my leg every time he wanted another bite of his banana. And then, as I began to type, he decided to morph into a monkey- attempting to climb his pack and play first, and then disassembling his toy shelf with the canvas bins in it. They are all, still, neatly stacked in a flat pile after he took the bottoms out of them and emptied them of all their toys. After he was done with that (I was still attempting to type through this circus act) he started to help me type on the keyboard. And that's when I gave up and decided to wait until naptime. And I suppose, even as disjointed as I know this sounds, that's what I'm most thankful for this year as Thanksgiving rolls around. The little, magical, silly moments that God has blessed us to enjoy with Joshua.

Thanksgiving is definitely one of my most favorite holidays- running a very close second to Christmas. I guess it's because the holiday is so deeply rooted in two things that are a big part of who I am, tradition and gratefulness.

I love the tradition of Thanksgiving, and I'm settling in to the new traditions that we've started as a married couple and now as a family of our own. I have to be honest that it took me a while to wrap my head around the idea of not being at my mom and dad's table on Thanksgiving day even as much as I love Jason's family and spending time with them. I did a terrible job of adjusting the first year. But now I have come to truly appreciate one special day to spend with Jason's family and one special day to spend with my family without having to run around and travel and stuff your face TWICE in one day. I love that we watch the Macy's parade together, and I can't wait to share that with Joshua as he gets older. I love that we all try to help in the kitchen but mostly end up getting in Judy's way (and sometimes ruining the sweet potatoes). I just love the whole thing and all of the memories of the Thanksgivings of my childhood. In our family, Thanksgiving was always the signal that it was time to start getting into the Christmas spirit. No sooner were the dishes done than we were running trips from the attic to get out the Christmas decorations and start trimming trees. The Kenny Rogers Christmas record was dusted off, and we all enjoyed the transition from turkey to Christmas magic. And we'll still do that, on a bit of delayed schedule, on Friday when we get to mom and dad's. I shudder to think about how quickly Joshua will attempt to "undo" what decorating we've done on mom and dad's HUGE Christmas tree.

The grateful part of Thanksgiving makes me really stop and think about everything I have to be thankful for. And though I try to make sure not to take any of it for granted every day of my life, I don't know that I always do a great job. So having a holiday to think about it and to make sure to show appreciation for our many blessings is a great thing. I am beyond having the words to show my gratitude to our families for everything that they do for us. I have the best friends on the planet- the true kind that don't let life get in the way- and I am so thankful for that. I have been blessed with an opportunity at a career that I absolutely adore. It's a rare occasion that I don't look forward to going to the office, and I know I'm in the lucky minority there. God has blessed us with enough to live a happy life, and I never want to take that for granted.

And then there's home. I am so thankful for our own little family. I'm thankful for Jason and the kind of husband and father that he is. I'm thankful that I've gotten a chance to see the fatherhood side of him. And thinking back to the beginning when we first got to know each other, I never would have guessed where life would take us. As for Joshua and the blessing that he has been, it's not anything that I take lightly. So many of the people closest to me have experienced the hardest parts of having a family and there is absolutely nothing fair or just about any of it. I know that this time of year is so hard on the people I care about the most who have to deal with unanswered questions about why and their feelings of longing. So I do not consider the healthy, happy, rambunctious little boy who moves like a hurricane through our house anything but a God given gift and a true miracle. And I have no idea why we were lucky enough to be able to have him to love, but I thank God for choosing us and I hope that I can always be grateful enough to realize that Joshua is a gift to be treasured. And I pray, every single day, that those of you who are still waiting to love your own little blessings will be experiencing it very very soon.

I truly believe the scripture that says "To whom much is given, much is expected." And I guess that's how I attempt to live my own life- gratefully and with purpose to always be thankful for everything- even the hard stuff. The challenge will be to help Joshua learn how to be thankful and to recognize a blessing when he sees one.

I'll include a picture of Joshua from last Thanksgiving in his little turkey suit. You'll all be pleased to know that I will not be dressing him in anything funny this year...but we couldn't resist last year when he was too small to fight it. It was huge on him, but there's only one chance to wear a "Baby's First Thanksgiving" sleeper. This was his exact position and pose the majority of the day last year.

We wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving, surrounded by those you love the most. Happy Turkey everyone!

Overdue Pictures!

Dancing with Karen at Bedford Springs! You can see from the background that this is not exactly a toddler friendly resort, but we managed. There were fireplaces all around the lobby. And we all kept saying "Hot Joshua! Hot!" to keep him away from them. My mom tells me that he would repeat something sounding like "hot" back to her.

While this isn't the best picture, it does show two things--- his funny orange hat that matches his new funny orange coat and the awesome sweater he wore to have his picture taken with Santa. We didnt' use his coat in the car seat because of the heavy sweater. No heavy, bulky material between baby and car seat straps for safety sake. Parents out there- use a blanket instead of a heavy coat and just put the coat on to go outside the car. Sorry- car seat lady just can't help herself.

These pictures were before work yesterday. The one of him standing up shows just how tall he's getting. It wasn't long ago that he didn't reach the marker on the table leg. You can see now that's not an issue.

I just have to take a minute and update you on a heartwarming new trick. Now, let me preface this by saying that Joshua has been babbling "da-da" for everything--- EVERYTHING--- since he learned how to babble. I always felt a little left out although I was thrilled that he was making any babbling sounds at all because of how delayed that was. Well now I'm really feeling for Jason because Joshua has learned to say "mama" on purpose now. When I point to myself and ask him "Who's this?" he smiles and says "ma-ma" (actually, "uh-ma-ma" or "my-ma-ma"). It's adorable. This just started on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday I was beginning to think that it was a fluke because he wouldn't say it for anything yesterday morning before work. But when I walked in the door and said hello to him, he came toddling across the kitchen floor with arms high in the air for a hug saying "my-ma-ma" with grandma as a witness. And I just about melted. There has not been anything short of his first breath and cry in the delivery room that warmed my heart like hearing him say "mama" and meaning it did.

More to come on my thoughts about Thanksgiving this year. I can't wait to post pictures of the Turkey Day festivities with both sides of the family.

Have a great day everyone!

On the road again...

It's been quite a while since I"ve had a chance to update the website, but it's been for good reason. We've been travelling FOOLS the past few days!

Wednesday afternoon the whole family headed to Bedford for a State Farm meeting at Bedford Springs Resort. The hotel staff led us on a wild goose chase throughout the greater Bedford area. We even made it to the big city of Everett...to turn around. But we arrived in one piece. Joshua travelled like a champ, only fussing for about the last half hour. I climbed into the back seat with him and he didn't freak out about the darkness. Small victory I suppose.

We wound up spending most of the evening Wednesday baby proofing the hotel room. Good thing for large bathrooms because the majority of the extra furniture and accessories were piled in there. Joshua had a particular fascination with a large mirror that tilted--- he loved to push on the bottom of it until the top just about came down and whacked him. Needless to say, that went in the bathroom. This resort wasn't exactly the kind of place that is great for a toddler, but with Jason and Mom's help, it worked out pretty well.

Joshua and Nana spent all day Thursday and most of Friday together while Jason studied and Dad and I were in meetings, which mom seemed to enjoy. It's rare for her to get any one-on-one time with Joshua, so that was probably fun for her. It's no small feat to keep our little monster occupied in a hotel room (particularly not one where everything is nice, AND expensive!) so Nana deserves lots of credit for that one! Dinner times were interesting. Anywhere that the dining room is called something with "Crystal" in it, should be a hint not to take a rambunctious one year old. But all in all he did pretty well. It wasn't good for my nerves, but we didn't linger and give him the opportunity to do any major damage.

We returned home on Friday afternoon and did all of the unpacking. It never ceases to amaze me the quanities of stuff that need to accompany us on any trip. What's also getting pretty impressive is how we're getting it down to a science. Things go practically in the same spot every time we go anywhere so everyone knows where to search efficiently. "Bink?"--- in the back pouch of the large diaper bag. "Sippy Cup?"--- on the side of the big diaper bag. "Goldfish crackers?"--- never fear...check one of the 14 tupperware containers of snacks in the bags.

Saturday was a running around day as well. We set out on a search for the household's third (yes, third) dehumidifier since ours is dead once again in our basement. To no avail. But we did find some cute things for Joshua at the mall and picked up a few little Christmas presents. We made a quick stop at Grandma and Grandpa's house to visit Watson and say hello. We had meant to go and get Joshua fitted for some shoes at Leeser's, but didn't quite make it before nap time was inevitable.

Today is a big day---- Joshua is going to meet Santa Claus and have his picture taken. This could be interesting, so I'm sure I'll have a good story to tell tomorrow. I really hope they turn out well and make for a nice Christmas card surprise. Time will tell. Joshua is getting his beauty rest now, but will soon awaken to get dressed and ready to go meet "Ho-Ho". Stay tuned.

Sorry for the slow updates. More to come- with pictures- very soon.

Another busy weekend!

Emptying purses and bags...Joshua's specialty.

Another weekend of adventures for Joshua! This past weekend we travelled to Harrisburg with the Key Club District Board for our November board meeting. It's always a circus to travel with Joshua- and we look like we're moving in for a month instead of an overnight. As hard as we try, we've yet to manage packing lightly. So Jason drove the rented minivan (I'm pretty sure that's as close as we'll be getting to minivan land anytime soon) with the high school kids and I drove the Jeep with Joshua and our necessaries for the weekend.

Joshua was so well behaved (and if I sound surprised, I am!) during the festivities. I think he enjoyed seeing all of the different faces and having so much to watch. His biggest fascination was a pile of luggage that was just screaming to be unloaded. He worked at any zipper or buckle he could find and seemed to have a blast doing so. On Sunday during our official meeting, he played with the purses of the Circle K members who were there to visit and seemed completely entertained with that. Jason has some concerns about his fascination with purses, but I think it's just the enjoyment of "taking out" and "putting back" that can keep him entertained. Whatever works I guess.

Tooth #8 has appeared over the weekend, which made for a very ouchy little boy yesterday. He boycotted dinner almost altogether, but slept like an angel last night. I'm sure he'll get himself back on track and eat to make up for yesterday today. He'll enjoy dinner tonight- I have pork and sauerkraut cooking away in the crockpot. We'll mash up some potatoes when I get home and enjoy a really yummy comfort meal tonight. I'm already excited about that.

This week is a bit of a whirlwind. We got unpacked yesterday afternoon only to think about packing up again at the end of this week for Bedford Springs Resort on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for State Farm's fall planning event there. I'm lucky to be able to have Jason and Joshua join me. Still haven't mustered up the strength to go away overnight yet. Call me a sissy if you must, but I just can't get comfortable with the idea of not seeing Joshua for a whole night and missing the chance to snuggle him to sleep. Maybe by the time he has to go to college. Maybe. I know...I have issues. On a good note, my parents will also be at this conference, so Joshua will get some good Banana time with my mom while we're in meetings, and I'm sure Poppy will squeeze in some quality time with his little buddy as well. Should be a great couple of days.

I know how to spin!

New skill alert: Joshua can spin around in a circle. Big news, I know. Yesterday he started pivoting on his one foot until he fell over. He thought this was great fun and did it over and over and over. When I got home last night he was even imitating Jason when he would do it. Daddy would spin. Joshua would spin with a big smile. Pretty cute. I know this isn't earth shattering news, but I don't want to be accused of holding back on any of you.

This picture is from our playtime this morning before I came to the office. I can't get over how cute these outfits are! Something has trumped shopping for clothes for us----- baby stuff is WAY more fun to buy. Our next adventure for Joshua is going to be an official, good, well fitted pair of shoes. Now that he's on the move in a big way, Jason and I both think it's time to look into something more substantial for his little piggies. I love the Pedipeds and will probably continue to have them for him, but he's going to need a little pair of sneakers or something soon. Maybe Santa will bring Joshua his first real pair of shoes? I'll have to put the order in with the North Pole.

Best wishes for a great day everybody. We're looking forward to a visit with Sue this evening, so lots of excitement in our house tonight.

Seeking all experienced (and creative) parents!

I had to post a picture this afternoon in the hopes that Tracy might take a peek at this and see Joshua sporting his fireman outfit that she got for him. Adorable! He looks like he's telling me off in this picture, and he was blabbing away about something. I'm not a very good translator of whatever language he's speaking. Our latest guess is that it's Russian because he's using very odd combinations of sounds that are definitely not English. All of the sounds are deep in the back of his throat and sound like they have no business going together.

So here's the dilemma that has us calling out for the advice and suggestions from all of you creative and experienced parents out there. What started as a hunch has turned into a pretty solid theory. Joshua is petrified of riding in the car when it's dark. We've had a few isolated incidents over the past month or so that we usually just credited to him being tired or hungry or wet or whatever, but last night as we came out of music class and it was dark due to the time change, he started to whimper immediately. And then when I put him in the car, the whimpers turned to all out hysterics. I left the lights on for him in the backseat in the hopes that it might help, but it didn't. I sang to him. I gave him a toy to play with. He had his bink and his bear blanket. Nothing helped. It would be one thing if he was just crying--- we've certainly dealt with enough of that over his 12 months of life (flash back to the colicky baby we "enjoyed" during months two and three...yikes). But this is absolute hysterical screaming which leads to choking and subsequently not being able to breathe. Makes for a stressful ride for all involved. And even when I've ridden in the backseat with him, it hasn't made a difference. So we're looking for theories and suggestions here. We'll be trying a gloworm for him on my next trip to Walmart. We've considered turning his car seat forward facing since it would be legal (although not the best idea from a safety standpoint), but that's really a last ditch possibilitiy if all else fails. So put your thinking caps on folks. We're really finding it difficult to go anywhere without worrying about him choking himself to death after dark. Not that we have a really dense social calendar, but still. We'll be grounded to only going places in daylight if we don't get this figured out.

So now that I've dumped all of our problems on to you, I'll end with a funny story from last night. Yesterday it seemed like Joshua was still making up from his sleep deprivation over the weekend. So by the time tubby time rolled around, he was fading fast. But we played and giggled in the tub like usual. As I was finishing getting his pajamas on, he stood up on his changing table and put this arms around my neck. (This is a new thing, but I LOVE it!) The hug lasted longer than usual which I thoroughly enjoyed. And then it hit me. He wasn't hugging me...he was asleep. Couldn't have been more precious. Obviously, no time for stories or teeth brushing last night. It was time for a bottle and then off to dreamland for our little buddy.

Fall Back leads to Falling Down (tired that is)!

Breaking out of the burrito last night after his bath. Nice hair, huh?

A few pictures of the happy guy this morning before work. Love that sweatshirt!

Digging for money in the couch... and coming up empty!

Daylight Savings Time kicked our butts this weekend. All attempts at being proactive and extending bedtime by a few minutes each night leading up to Saturday night failed miserably. Joshua was awake early on Sunday morning which screwed up naptimes royally. By Sunday evening, after boycotting a nap in the afternoon altogether, he was literally a walking zombie. Eyes were half opened and he couldn't stand up longer than a few seconds without crashing to the ground. This morning was another early wakeup, but hopefully Grandma has the magic touch to get him back on track today.

I haven't updated on new skills lately, so I thought I should. We are now able to stand up from the floor and take off walking across the house. It's pretty impressive. He just pops right up and takes off. I noticed it for the first time around the middle of last week, but Jason said he saw it earlier than that.

Joshua can also blow kisses now, although it's not exactly right. He usually puts his fingers in his mouth, licks them and then blows the kiss. Not sure where that variation originated, but we'll give him credit for the effort.

The weekend was a whirlwind by all accounts. Friday night we went to a Kiwanis project together as a family and worked on the Operation Christmas Child project in Lewisburg. The goal was to wrap, stuff and prepare 300 shoeboxes for shipment overseas. We were there for about 2 hours and I think I wrapped about 10 boxes. I'm sure it was a LONG night. Saturday Jason and I went to the PSU game while Joshua played with Grandma and Grandpa at home. Then we went to Ciro's for supper. Joshua enjoyed the bread, bites of my pizza and especially Ciro's meatballs. Yummy! (Those are mommy's favorite too!) Sunday was a whacked out day, so not much of anything got done like I had planned. But I guess that's life. We did lots of playing and reading together. Then we made meatloaf and daddy made macaroni and cheese--- which Joshua LOVED!

This afternoon is music class and then a quiet evening at home. Who knows what it'll bring, but I'll report tomorrow.

Talk to you all soon! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Tubby Time!

Thought you all might enjoy a silly picture from tubby time last night. Cracks me up! This is mostly because he was splashing around like a little fish right before I took the picture, then looked at me with that silly grin and froze for a second for the camera. What a character. I was attempting to capture a picture of the baby burrito once he was in his towel, but quickly realized that it's pretty hard to keep the baby in one spot while not keeping two hands on him. When he's wrapped up like that, he's squirming pretty badly to try to free his arms, so a trip to the ER could have been a distinct possibility if I wasn't careful. So picture taking was out of the question in exchange for safety. Good decision, right? We'll have to enlist daddy's help if we are to catch the burrito for your viewing enjoyment.

Final PSU home game on the schedule for tomorrow. That fall chill has definitely arrived (I saw snow showers on the forecast this morning for late next week)...so we'll be bundled up for sure. You've gotta love Penn State football in the cold.

I realized last evening thanks to Jason that Thanksgiving was three weeks from yesterday. WHAT??? It's not Thanksgiving that worries me- it's Christmas and all of the necessary (and undone) preparations that it requires that are right around the corner. So I'm starting to think about it now. I'm not entirely sure what happened to October, but time is a-flying!

Happy weekend everyone!

Trick or Treat!

Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

What a fun night we had last night! Last year at Halloween, I recall putting Joshua in his little orange and white "jailbird" sleeper and snapping a few pictures of his first official Halloween, but I don't think it really counted for much seeing as how he never opened his eyes. Last night was the real deal- costume, lots of kids, pictures, a new monster book that he loves (THANK YOU DARLA AND JEREMY!) and the whole gamut. Wait until next year when we can go door to door!!

After a quick supper which Joshua boycotted almost completely (so much for gaining weight- now he's apparently on a diet again!) we set up shop on our front porch to greet the kiddos. I have to explain Trick or Treat night in our development. It's a bit of a circus (flash back to yard sale day...not quite as bad as that, but close). They were literally dropping off car loads of kids and then casing the streets while they walked door to door. I have mixed feelings about this, but in the spirit of the event, we just enjoyed the costumes and handed out our treats happily. The good news is that we met some more neighbors with little kids, always a plus. It's amazing how you start lining up future carpools to Little League as soon as you find out you're pregnant. There was even a local fire company who set up their truck across the street. To the best of our knowledge nothing was on fire. We're not exactly sure what they were doing there, maybe giving out candy?

We had a nice visit from Darla and Jeremy and Sydney. We won't talk about her costume for fear that her mommy will get sad. But suffice it to say that the little duckling was not quite little enough to fit comfortably in her duck suit. Don't cry Darla! Hopefully she enjoyed her trick or treat duck toy, though, and will be crawling after it in no time!

By 7:30, Joshua had had enough, so we went in for a bath and some stories and his milk before bed. The boycotted supper earned us a little extra visiting time in the middle of the night, but hopefully his belly is more on track today.

If you made it this far, here's a picture of the "after". I call this the "Half Giraffe" picture. He was finished with the coat, but wanted to play in his pants still. Who knows, but if that isn't just about the worst mismatched outfit you've ever seen, I don't know what is. Check him out walking, though. Pretty impressive, huh?

Have a great day everyone! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.