Ice Cream Social

My Grandma Becker (known to most as Grandma Sissy...or "issie" by Miles) invited us to an Ice Cream social at her place and we couldn't refuse. We were expecting ice cream but got SO much more! These people know how to feed a crowd, that's for sure! We were treated to dinner AND ice cream and dinner consisted of BBQs, tater tot hot dish, calico beans, potato salad, chips, and the dish Robin and I were most excited about, cottage cheese fluff salad! It had been years since we had it but it was as good as we remembered...yum! I don't know where it originated but I'm fairly certain that it was invented by a Minnesotan with Scandinavian roots:-) Anywho, after all that yummy food, we still had dessert to tackle...homemade pie (pumpkin, apple, or pecan) and frozen custard from Culvers. After all that, we were stuffed and feeling like we were going to have to be rolled out of the dining room like the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka! Thanks for the invite Grandma, it was wonderful!

More good food and family time!

Brian and Blair were generous enough to invite us to join them for Sunday dinner and we happily accepted! Blair made the cutest cheese ball appetizers...she rolled the cheese into little pumpkin shapes complete with parsley for leaves and a pretzel stick for a stem! I wish I had a picture of them but we ate them too fast...all I can say is move over Martha! They also served chicken and rice and asparagus and followed that with a yummy apple crisp and ice cream for dessert! We are spoiled aren't we?! We also got in some game watching time, the boys were so good as usual and enjoyed hanging out with Auntie Blair and Uncle Bri-nan:-)

Checking out the game with Uncle Kyle

Miles thinks Josiah makes a pretty good pillow and Josiah doesn't seem to mind:-)

Obligatory posed cousin photo "Hey Uncle Bri-nan, how 'bout those Vikings? Can I get a refill??"

Go Vikes!!

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go

Well, the day that I dreaded for months as come and gone and we all survived! I started back to work yesterday. Before Josiah was born I remember thinking that it would be nice to have some time off but that I would surely be answering emails and responding to work requests well before my actual return date and that by the time September 17th rolled around I might be glad to actually be back in the office to handle some of these things. WRONG-O! The moment he was born I dreaded the day I'd have to leave him and thought that I might not emotionally be able to handle it....ever. Luckily, that is not the case:-) First of all, we are extremely blessed that our daycare will be done by Josiah's 2 doting grandmas! Instead of worrying about whether he will be neglected or mistreated, we only have to "worry" about whether he'll be too spoiled! Secondly, he is not really on any schedule yet due to the fact that we were on the go quite a bit while I was off work so a more regular schedule will be a good thing! So, despite a few teary moments yesterday (from me, not Josiah...visual evidence below), overall it was a successful transition and we survived the day! Below is a picture collage that my mom sent me part way through the day to "prove" that he was doing just fine and having a blast with Nana and Auntie Blair! Now, if I can just concentrate on work as hard as Josiah is concentrating on "playing" the piano, we'll all be in good shape!

"Hey guys, I got it!"

As many of you know, Josiah has always been a fan of his hands. Even in utero he had his hands up next to his mouth every time we had an ultrasound done! Well, he has just recently discovered that these wonderful appendages can do more than just act as a substitute for his Nuk when he accidentally got them into his mouth...they can actually grab other things and bring them to his mouth too! He looks surprised every time he "tastes" something other than his hand and his expression seems to say "hey guys, I got it!":-) He started by grabbing the ring on his toy bar and has since moved to grabbing other things we hold in front of him. I know it's a normal milestone for babies but I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of the little guy:-) He has also decided that being upright is pretty fun...for a few minutes:-) He even tried cousin Miles' exersaucer and thought that was pretty cool! Here is the photographic evidence of his latest antics:

"Hey mom, look at me, I'm dancing a jig in here!"

"Hey, I got it!!"

"Yum, this bug tastes pretty good!" "Links are even better than a stuffed bug!"

"That was hard work, let's go on a walk Miles!"

BUMBO!

Thanks to Auntie Blair and Uncle Brian, Josiah has a fancy Bumbo seat to practice sitting and holding his head up! He has a lot of head control and likes to look around so we decided to pull it out this morning and see how he liked it! He sat in it for about 2 minutes before he started to look like a bobblehead and we had to rescue him but in those 2 minutes he seemed to really enjoy it...check it out!

"Um, what the heck is this thing?"

"Bumbo seat, huh? Yeah, I guess it's pretty cool" "Hey dad, can I be done now?"

"Seriously, it was fun while it lasted but I think I'm done now"

Josiah's Baptism

On Sunday, August 30th Josiah was baptized at Bethel Lutheran Church. He was a little fussy that morning so I was worried about how it would go but in usual Josiah fashion, he was an angel! He slept the first few minutes of the service and then was awake and cooing and trying to "add" to the sermon:-) When it came time for the water on his head he smiled at the Pastor and cooed at her too:-) Then came the "embarrass mommy"moment. At Bethel, they carry the newly baptized baby into the congregation and select a member of the church to carry the baby back to the parents as a way to symbolize the congregation's promise to be a part of the child's new life in Christ. So, Pastor Rist carries Josiah out and by coincidence picks one of our dear family friends, Kim, to carry him back to me. Side note: Kim and her sister Kathy sang at our wedding so it was kind of a full circle, very cool moment:-) Anyway, Kim carries him back and he's content as can be until, in front of the entire church, she hands him to me at which moment he chooses to flash his award winning pout and starts to cry. I'm sure there was at least one person thinking "Oh, that poor baby, he doesn't like his mommy!" Great. Thankfully he settled down right away and all was well. After the service we took a few pictures...and by a few, I mean a few hundred! After that, we went to my parents for a yummy dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and fruit salad. It was a really nice, relaxing time to chat with family and celebrate Josiah's big day! Here are a few pictures from the day:

Josiah's Godparents are Robin & Kyle and Josh

The Friedts

The Beckers Mmmm...Cake!!

Happy Boy!

A few random shots

Hi everyone! Not much new to report, Josiah is growing like a weed and getting more animated by the day! He loves to "talk" to whoever will listen when he's in the mood:-) We have tried numerous times to get a good video of it but he takes after his daddy, he likes to be behind the camera...not in front of it! But we will keep trying and if we get a good one, we'll post it! Here are a few pictures from the last week or so...enjoy!

Talking to Uncle Marc

Trying out Auntie Nykki's comfy chair

"What's that Uncle Brian?" SOO sleepy!