Busy week!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the break in posts over the past few days. I feel a bit like I'm chasing my own tail these days--- busy busy. We're getting ready for Key Club convention in Hershey at the end of the week. So a short work week (with a full day to catch up from last week) has us in a bit of a tailspin here. But we're making it, one day at a time.

I wanted to share some cute pictures from the weekend and this morning. The first was my view of the boys from their play time on Saturday afternoon while I was making some chicken noodle soup in the kitchen. They were having such a good time. I'm glad the camera wasn't more than a few steps away so I didn't miss catching it. Gotta love Joshua's big boy sweater, huh?

The second picture is from this morning. Joshua was using his toy hammer to reach his back and say "back" to me over and over.

The words have continued in the past few days. He'll now tell you that a duck says "cack". He'll also point to anything with a dog on it and say "pup". Major progress, I know.

I have to share a cute story from last night at dinner as well. Joshua had a bowl of meatloaf pieces, macaroni and cheese and little pieces of broccoli. I'd have bet you a million dollars that all that would have been eaten out of the bowl was the macaroni and cheese. But Joshua was mostly interested in the broccoli. He fished through all of the food until he had gotten every last bit of the broccoli. Then he ate some macaroni and wouldn't touch the meatloaf, not surprising since it seems we're raising a self-declared vegetarian. But broccoli--- seriously?

I'll post more pictures from convention after our trip. We'll be gone Thursday through Sunday. Thank goodness my parents will be along to lend a hand with the little guy. Last year was very easy. We'd strap Joshua into the snugli and off we'd go. He slept the majority of the weekend. This year something tells me that it's going to be more of a challenge. He's already excited to see Pap and Nana, so I'm sure they'll have a great time. It'll be interesting to see how he does with the crowd this year. There's expected to be about 1000 people there altogether. Could be interesting.

See you all soon!

It's snowing...AGAIN!

It seems like Mother Nature is in agreement with my theories on four day work weeks and three day weekends because here I am again, on a Friday afternoon, in my sweatpants at home instead of at the office. I'm not complaining...but I am feeling a bit guilty about not being there.

Joshua and I are enjoying quite a work filled day today. Since he's been up this morning (at 6:05 am), we've managed to clean all three bathrooms, clean the kitchen, dust, run the mmm....p and the swiffer. We've put away a load of laundry and started another one. We've had lunch and now Joshua is off in dreamland...he's probably exhausted! All of this cleaning breaks child labor laws, I'm sure! He did start to say "dust" when we were dusting, so we'll have to add that one to the list.

Yesterday was a wonderful day too, but I was too busy to post about it. After a whole year, Lindsay and I were able to coordinate calendars and get together for a great lunch and some shopping in Harrisburg. It was so nice to catch up. With her new baby on the way in just a few short months, there was no shortage of things to talk about! I think we could have sat at the Olive Garden for at least another full day before we were done catching up! While we took a stroll through Babies R Us, my friend Karen called to announce the results of her ultrasound from that morning....IT'S A GIRL! So we were on a bit of a pink buying frenzy. Lindsay's suspicion is that her baby is a girl as well, and that's a good thing. The spring things for little girls are SOOOOOOOO cute! So, as the results of baby boom 2008 are coming in, I'm just having more and more fun.

Last night was the United Way banquet, so Joshua and Daddy had a nice time together at home. My entrance at 8:30 was just enough to wake Joshua up, though, so the bedtime routine had to start all over again. It was after 9:30 until Joshua was asleep. You'd think he'd sleep longer, right? Not so much. He must be part rooster because when the sun starts to peek into the sky, he can't stand to be asleep for one second more.

So, I'd better get off and do some more chores while I'm not having to worry about him being right on my heels. Enjoy the snow, everybody!

Freeze!

I thought that you all might enjoy hearing about a new game Joshua and I made up this morning. He was running between me and the gate at the bottom of the stairs and had made a few trips. When he would get within a few feet of me, I'd yell "FREEZE" and he'd try to stop. Mostly he'd just let out this huge giggle and fall into my arms. Then he got back up and did it all over again. I managed to catch the picture above and thought it captured the fun perfectly. Check out that mouth full of teeth! And, of course, Bear was along for the ride. I have a feeling Bear is going to end up going to college with Joshua!


One more new skill---- Earth shattering, I know. Yesterday Grandma showed us that Joshua has learned how to color in a circle instead of just scribbling back and forth. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but I'm impressed that he's getting control of his writing instruments so early. He'll be writing novels in no time!

Last evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner with Grandma and Grandpa for Grandpa's birthday. It was two years ago at the same restaurant that we announced Joshua's expected arrival to the first set of his very unsuspecting grandparents. I mentioned the "anniversary" of sorts last evening at dinner to see if Jeff and Judy remembered, and they both said that they thought we were going to announce more news like that with the way I had asked it. Sorry to disappoint--- no such news here. But it's fun to remember. Joshua was quite the entertainer last night- hiding under his napkin and letting out very big giggles when he'd pop out from under his disguise. We all thought he looked a bit like the Flying Nun under his white cloth napkin, but he seemed to enjoy himself.


The picture below is Joshua enjoying his puzzles this morning. What you can't see are that all 5 of the puzzles he owns are dumped out with pieces everywhere behind him. That's how our living room looks the majority of the time now. I'm continually amazed at how quickly he is learning to put puzzles together. Jason just picked up a few new ones for him on Monday and he already knows where all the pieces belong. I think he's able to match the colors and shapes pretty well- either that or he's going to kick our butts playing Memory someday!

Silly Sunday & Valentine's Day Surprises

It's been quite a silly Sunday here as you can see from the photo...honestly, that's how Joshua chose to run around this morning. Tool belt around belly-- wouldn't allow it around his actual WAIST-- (with screwdriver in place) and with "cleaning" rag on his head. I swear- I couldn't make this stuff up.

Yesterday turned into quite a special day. I already posted about our haircut adventure. If you missed the classic photos of that one, please scroll down so you aren't deprived of that joy. Then my parents came for a visit, which we always enjoy. Later in the afternoon after Joshua's quick nap, I was really wanting something to do. On a normal weekend, I'm perfectly content to lounge around the house in my sweats, but yesterday I kept saying to Jason that I felt like doing something last evening. I even joked that I wish we had friends because it would be fun to do something with another couple last night. I had pretty much made up my mind that since Joshua was awake, I'd get him ready and go to the mall for a little while. We didn't really need anything, but I figured it would at least get us out of the house and give us a little change of scenery. But when we came downstairs, Libby and Stacie let out a big "SURPRISE" that nearly made me and Joshua both jump out of our shoes! Evidently Jason had been cooking up quite a surprise for a few weeks now, and they had magically appeared in the short time it took me to change Joshua's diaper. Unbelievable!

We had about an hour to get dressed up (all he would tell me was that we had to leave at 5:00 and that he was wearing a suit). No other clues, despite my begging. We got things ready for Joshua to spend the evening with Aunt Libby and Stacie (got dinner ready for him, laid out his bath stuff and pj's, the whole nine yards) and then headed off. As soon as we hit Route 80 and headed west, I knew where we were going. We had a beautiful dinner at the Carnegie House in State College...somewhere I've been saying I'd like to go. I had been there once about 6 years ago with a State Farm agent friend for a business dinner and had loved it. I had mentioned to Jason that I thought he'd really like it--- we both LOVE to try new places and really enjoy a great meal in a nice atmosphere. Well, this place was IT! The restaurant/inn is the actual summer home that Andrew Carnegie built and enjoyed, and it's been turned into quite the classy restaurant. It's the kind of place where you're escorted to the library for cocktails and hors d'ouevres and you actually place your order while you're enjoying the fireplace. Then they take you to your table when your dinner is ready. I enjoyed a wonderful glass of wine (I know, GASP)...I think it may have been the first drink I've had since I got pregnant with Joshua.

The food was incredible. I had some amazing lobster ravioli and pork tenderloin with pancetta and goat cheese and mashed sweet potatoes. The star of my meal experience was definitely the ravioli. I actually said to Jason when I was eating my appetizer that I was considering asking them to keep the pork tenderloin I had ordered and bring me another order of the appetizer! Jason had scallops and a pretty awesome looking lobster tail and steak combination. And while the dinner was amazing, it was mostly special to spend some time eating a whole meal together and enjoying each other's conversation and company. Our dinners usually consist of being entertained by Joshua or scrambling to get all of the pieces on the table at the same time, and this could not have been any more of a stark contrast. What a wonderful Valentine's Day surprise. It'll probably count as our anniversary celebration too since that's coming up right around the corner as well.

Joshua LOVED playing with his Aunt Libby and Stacie. He was asleep like an angel when we came home and slept right through the night. Mommy was too tired after the late night to get to church (and Joshua was in a mood at the time we would have needed to leave), so we thought it best to stay home this morning. We're so thankful that Lib and Stacie made the trip to hang out with the little guy. I didn't worry about him for a single second...which made the time with my Valentine even more relaxing.

So, enough of the novel. Sorry for hijacking the Joshua website with info about us. A very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to Aunt Libby! Hope it's a really special day, Lib! And thanks a million. I owe you.

Joshua's First Haircut!

I don't think that the pictures above need much in the way of captions for you to get the idea about how Joshua's first haircut went. The pictures actually look worse than it really was. He cried in the beginning, probably because he had no idea what was going on, and then at the very end when Amber tried to use the buzzer on his neck....he wasn't having any part of that. But the good news is that the baby combover is history and Joshua looks like a very handsome little boy with his new do. It all ended with an envelope of his hair for us to keep and a very official looking certificate to commemorate the occasion.

We enjoyed a nice visit with Pap and Nana this morning/afternoon. Joshua saw Dad's truck pull into the driveway and immediately went to the door and started saying "Pap" and "Na-na-na". He proceeded to wear my dad's hat around the whole time they were here and was leading him around by the hand for the majority of their visit. He had to show Pap his "oofs" and tell him all about his "mmm...p". They colored a picture and played with toys. Joshua and Nana read books and built a tower and she helped to feed him his lunch. They sure did squeeze a lot of playing into a few short hours. But Joshua enjoyed their visit very much. He was very generous with hugs and kisses today- everyone got at least 2 or 3 of each. He even hugged the end table at one point. That was a new one for us.

Here he is.....post haircut. So handsome!

Valentine Thief...

Hmmmm....are these Valentines for ME?

No Mommy, you can't have these. I'm READING them!

Breakfast antics. I thought you'd enjoy a peek at how Joshua drinks the juice from his orange pieces once he's done with the orange. Notice the "no hands" approach.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I feel like I fell a bit short of the expectations I set for myself when I told you that I'd work on some wonderful pictures from my day and a half with Joshua due to the snow. It wasn't for lack of effort. Yesterday was one of those days when I realize why I'm not a stay-at-home mom. All of you loyal blog readers know me well enough (I hope) not to classify me the world's worst mom for having said that, but it was a tough day with Joshua yesterday- the kind where I consider selling him to the circus. It was one of those days where nothing suited him. He'd pick up a toy to play with it, look at it and then throw it down on the floor and start to cry. He was up early, wouldn't eat like he normally does and wouldn't sleep like he normally does. He took a quick 1 hour nap in the afternoon which isn't anywhere near long enough for him. And I paid the price.

Fast forward to today, and my little Valentine was as cute and loveable as could be. Which made me feel supremely guilty for ever having been frustrated yesterday. And so goes motherhood I suppose. This morning when he woke up, I asked him if he'd be my Valentine- to which he smiled and then started jumping in his crib and yelling in Russian. I have no idea whether that was rejection or not, but I think he said "yes". Then when we were getting his breakfast, Jason handed me a Valentine from him and asked Joshua to give one to me too. That's when he proceeded to hoard my Valentines and keep them for himself. He opened them and enjoyed them greatly.

The other picture there is from his orange that I gave him with breakfast. He got so excited about drinking the juice out of the bowl and realized that he couldn't eat the orange fast enough to get to the juice...so he dumped out all of the pieces and drank the juice first.

He gave me a hug and a kiss before I left this morning, and I think all is forgiven from yesterday. Truth be told, it was forgiven when he fell asleep in my arms last night. It's just impossible to be frustrated with him for long. It was just one of those days for him---- and I guess we all have them.

I wish you all a wonderful, happy Valentine's Day surrounded by those you love the most. I know I sure am thankful for my two wonderful Valentines.

Hat!

Last evening as Darla and I were doing some much needed catching up on the phone, Jason returned from an emergency grocery run. We were out of American cheese--- a cardinal sin in our house by Joshua's standards. He had worn a hat, and when Jason came home, Joshua started to point and say "hat". So Jason gave it to him to play with. As you'll see above, this was the result. Very cute.

The snow is a-flyin in central PA this morning. I managed to get in to the office to do some clean up and planning for the rest of the week. My suspicion is that I'll be home with Joshua this afternoon and again all day tomorrow given the weather predictions. What is falling as snow now is expected to be sleet, freezing rain and ice through the night and into tomorrow. Sounds like a snow day to me. Quite disappointing is the visit with Lindsay that is likely to need rescheduling, which neither of us will be happy about. But we're not taking any chances with her!

The good news for loyal blog readers is that if Mommy and Joshua are home together for a day and a half, there are likely to be some good pictures to share. So I'll get working on that and see what I can come up with.

Happy snow to all of you!

Weekend Update...

Avoiding Mommy's camera this morning...but cute nonetheless.

I don't feel like this was much of a weekend for us. At least in my eyes, it went by awfully fast! Friday night Jason ended up working at a Kiwanis event, so we didn't get to spend time with him until Joshua was nearly asleep. Saturday I was at a United Way Board Meeting all day and missed spending the day with my guys terribly. But from what I hear, Joshua and daddy had quite a great time playing at home. Sunday we went to church and then I spent most of the afternoon lounging around. I've not been feeling well, so it wasn't the kind of lazy day that I'd have really enjoyed. Instead I felt guilty about not getting my list of chores done for the weekend.

Joshua has picked up a few silly tricks and words to share. The first came on Friday night when his monkey routine started. I looked away from him for literally a split second. When I turned back around, he was doing a chin up on the stove. In my best estimation, he stepped up on the drawer ledge and then used his arms to pull him up to the stove. I nearly had a fit when I saw him with his chin on the top of the stove. Our little monkey---- and one requiring the most vigilant supervision.

Joshua also learned a few new words this weekend:

"book"- Oddly enough, this one actually comes out like "book".

"clock"- But it comes out sounding like it's missing the "l". This came courtesy of the word book, but we'll hope that he doesn't choose to display his knowledge in front of people who wouldn't have a sense of humor about that kind of thing.

"horse"- This one was funny. One of Joshua's favorite new activities is puzzle dumping. While he loves putting them back together, he has just as much fun turning them upside down so that all of the pieces fall out. He has 3 wooden puzzles and they all have to be dumped at the same time. So last night, Jason and Joshua were working on putting all of these back together when Joshua realized that the horse piece was missing. He was beside himself and ran around saying "orse...orse...orse" and pointing to the empty spot on the puzzle. He even looked under tables and behind things looking for his "orse". Finally daddy came to the rescue and located the horse and all was right in the world again. Thank goodness for daddy.

Hope you're staying warm out there!

The Poky Little Puppy

I'm no expert in children's literature. Nor am I am expert on what's normal for kids to be doing at certain ages. So maybe someone with some knowledge or motherhood experience can shed some light on this one for me. Joshua was given a treasury of Little Golden Books by grandma and grandpa for his birthday. It's all the classic Golden Book stories that were read to us as kids and it's really nice. Up until now, it has sat on his dresser to be saved for a day when he was older because, frankly, he couldn't be trusted with paper paged books. They were torn to shreds in a matter of minutes. But over the weekend, I happened to reach for it to look at (mostly because mommy needed a change of pace from the same old books we always read). My expectations were low- I figured he'd maybe page through the book and look at some pictures, but I had little expectation that he would sit through the stories. He found "The Poky Little Puppy" and started making his excited "hee hee" sounds that tell me that he's interested. So we read it. All 26 pages of the story, and all of the many words were listened to intently. Most of these pages are filled with words (if I had to guess, 50-75 words per page- some more, some less). When we were done, he wanted it to be read again. So we did. Now, on a normal night before bed, we're reading this story 2-3 times and then he cries when I put the book away. Does this sound normal for a 15 month old to have an attention span this long for a story?

This morning was so ridiculous that it was almost funny. As soon as he got up, he was standing in the crib motioning and pointing for the book. It was almost as if he opened his eyes and immediately thought, "Wait a minute. What happened to that puppy last night? I NEED to hear that story again!" I was in a bit of a push for time, so I took the book downstairs to the living room with me thinking I could push him off until after breakfast, but that didn't happen. We sat and read the story twice and then needed to get moving on breakfast. He cried like I had taken away his best friend when I wouldn't read it the third time. The only way he would eat his breakfast was if he was holding the book and I was reading it to him while I fed him bites of his yogurt. We read the story 3 more times before Judy got there- and he was on the move to get the book again when I let him out of his highchair. I fear that poor grandma might be stuck reading that story ALL DAY LONG today. It's a really cute story, but everything loses its allure after the 80th time you've read it in a day's time.

Just thought you might enjoy. What a kid! I just hope he's as interested in reading as he gets older- and likes to read things like homework books and things that will get him COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS! Something tells me I may be pushing my luck...

Interpretations...

I've so enjoyed spending the last few days with Joshua. And I've observed a few noteworthy things (at least to me, a self-described overenthusiastic first timer at this parenting thing).

First, I'll share a few new words that Joshua has picked up. This took some real investigative work to do the translation on these. He would repeatedly make the sound and then it was my job to figure out what he was motioning toward (that was when he was giving me "easy" ones) or what he was trying to get me to understand with no clues. Finally, I feel secure in my translations enough to share:

"mmm......p" = "sweeper"

The best I can figure, he's trying to say sweep when he says this. How do I know this, you ask? Well, Joshua now stands at the door to our garage (home of the sweeper, swiffer and sweep & vac) and over and over and over again says "mmm....p" (the dots are because it takes a long time to get the "p" out) until you get him something to sweep with. He's quickly losing interest in his small swiffer and has obviously graduated to wanting to run the one with the vaccuum on it or the really big sweeper.

"oof" = "leaf"

Joshua's obsession with leaves has really intensified. It all started a few weeks ago when there was a leaf on our front porch. Judy said that he stared at it and had her look at it for the better part of an afternoon. He got very upset when the leaf blew off the porch, so much so that she went into the yard to get it and return it to where he could study it. Now, anytime he sees a window, he has to look for "oofs" and he'll say it over and over again once he sees one.

"ees" = "cheese"

I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I just put this together today at lunchtime. I was cutting Joshua some cubes of cheese and he kept smiling and saying "ees". I wish this meant "please", but I'm pretty sure it just means "Bring it on Mom! I LOVE cheese!" This might explain the undeniable need that I had while pregnant with Joshua to eat cheese all the time. Seriously- 60 pounds gained with this child, only 7 of which were him. The rest....EES!

Here are a couple more interesting tidbits that I've noticed this weekend...

We're getting into the acrobatics phase of toddlerhood it seems. Last evening, Jason, Joshua and I were playing in the office. Jason and I got talking while Joshua was playing at his table and chairs. The next time I looked, he was STANDING on his chair. Standing! Lovely. This fit well with my dream that I had on Friday night about Joshua managing to monkey out of his crib and falling down the stairs to the living room. Our second gate now patiently waits at the top of the steps for when my paranoia kicks into full swing. He's not showing any signs of actually being able to get out of the crib, but he's so stinking quick at picking up new things that it makes me nervous.

Then, this morning before church, I was finishing up cleaning up from breakfast and noticed Joshua had opened the drawer to our stove. There's nothing in it, so I didn't immediately yell, but when I turned back around, I noticed that he had one leg in the drawer and was seeming quite determined to get into it completely. Not good.

This is really a hodge-podge of stuff, but I'll keep going because the last story is quite cute. Joshua is also now obsessed with oranges. Any kind suits him just fine, but especially mandarin and regular navel oranges. This morning before church I cut him up a half of an orange and we sat at the kitchen table looking for "oofs" outside while he ate it. Judy had mentioned to me that he likes to drink the juice from the orange, and she wasn't kidding. This kid could not get the oranges in his mouth fast enough to clean the bowl and then be able to drink the juice at the bottom. He was literally licking the bowl clean. Jason said, "Maybe you should get him some orange juice."

Here's a picture of Joshua all dressed up for his trip to the grocery store yesterday. Notice the sneakers---- too cute. The monkey is along because that's the animal he picked to take along with us. I've learned to leave the beloved Bear at home to save another mall incident.

Talk to you all soon!

Snow Day!

MMM....Grilled cheese and carrots...my favorite!

Hey Mama, can you see me if I do this?

It's a snow day here! If I'm being truthful, the culprit for my day at home today is actually the ice that is still coating everything within view. But trust me, I'm not complaining about a long weekend, a day to spend with my favorite little man and a to do list that is getting shorter and shorter for the weekend because of some actual TIME to get things done. In my opinion, 4 day work weeks would be ideal. I'm finding that the normal 2 day weekend simply isn't enough time to get things done (ie. laundry, cleaning, bathrooms, etc. etc.) and still have any time to do anything fun or unwind in preparation for another week of the rat race. But I digress.

Joshua is enjoying a nap (and so am I)- and a well deserved one at that. He's been going strong all morning. We had a great time running the sweeper and the swiffer. Joshua has been sad that we put the big sweeper away ever since that happened this morning at about 8:30. He keeps going to the door and grunting for it to come back out and play with him.

Joshua had a great lunch- a whole 1/2 cup serving of carrots, a whole grilled cheese sandwich (minus the crust) and some pieces of an apple. Pretty good for my little squirt. He's making great progress on milk from a sippy cup. We're down to only one bottle a day now, and that's at bedtime. I know he's supposed to be off of bottles by now, but I'm not in a hurry to take away that bed time one. It fills his tummy before bed and gives us a little cuddle time before he drifts off to sleep. But it won't be long for that one either I have a feeling.

We don't have any huge plans for the weekend. We're kicking around the idea of taking Joshua for his first haircut tomorrow, but nothing has been decided for sure. His baby comb-over is getting a little long, so it may be time to bite the bullet and get him trimmed up a little bit. I can't imagine that this is something he'll enjoy...but trust me, there will be pictures if it does, indeed, happen tomorrow. Sunday I have some responsibilities at church, but other than that, we'll probably throw some hot dogs in the crock pot with sauerkraut and whip up some taco dip and settle in for the Superbowl, even though we really don't care what happens. I enjoy watching the ads---- I know, marketing geek that I am.

So that's about it from here. Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have a great weekend everyone!

Peacefully dreaming...there's nothing more precious.