15 month stats

Josiah had his 15 month well baby check yesterday and was (finally) declared perfectly healthy after his recent bouts with stomach flu, strep, ear infections and let's not forget the best one, hand/foot/mouth disease!  No more medication and hopefully no more doctor visits until his next check up at 2 years old!!  The doctor says he is growing and developing right on track with the exception of his vocabulary which he deemed "advanced for a child his age".  We always figured that he was destined to be a talker with strong talker genes on both sides of the family, guess we were right:-)  His favorite words are:

Hiii!
Ight (light)
Peees (please)
Off (used for on or off referring to a light)
Dat (what's that?)
Uhnkie (Nuk)
Beee (blankie)
Nigh-nigh (wants to go to sleep)
Cracka (cracker)

He has many more but I won't bore you with all of them, I'll just try to get him saying as many on tape as I can and post that:-)  Here are the numbers from the appointment:

Weight: 23.3 pounds (33rd percentile)
Height:  31.5 inches (62nd percentile)

All in all, he's healthy and happy and a blessing to us in so many ways!

Josiah turns ONE!!

Somehow a year has gone by since we welcomed Josiah into this world and as you parents out there know, it just doesn't seem possible that in 12 short months he's gone from a 6 pound 12 oz newborn who slept 23 hours a day to a 21.5 pound crawling/almost walking, babbling, curious little daredevil who has a new "trick" every day!! But the impossible became possible on Friday when he turned one! Unfortunately, he was feeling under the weather so we spent the day relaxing at home but having extra cuddle time with the little guy was just what the doctor ordered for both of us! Luckily he was feeling well enough to enjoy a birthday pancake that morning and was fever-free by Saturday for the big birthday bash! And by bash, I'm referring to his first cake eating experience. Normally, the small cake given to the guest of honor (called a "Smash cake") gets a few pokes and maybe a handful of cake or so taken off before the child loses interest. Not our boy! He was all about the cake from the moment he tasted the frosting and let out a loud "Mmmmmm". Let's just say that the poor rubber ducky didn't stand a chance against this little one:-) I am posting several pictures from the day. We have video also but it's too big to upload here, I'll have to see if Seth can edit it down so we can post it because it's definitely blogworthy:-)

Opening presents...he was SUPER spoiled by everyone, a big THANK YOU to all!!

These books were my favorites growing up and now have been handed down to Josiah...thanks Nana and Papa!

"Thanks for my new water table Grammy and Papa, I love it!!"

It's a Rubber Ducky party!!

Before the smashing commenced...

A few shots of Josiah's adoring (and highly amused) crowd watching him tackle the cake:-)

Christmas card worthy family picture?? We'll see:-)

"Yes!! I smashed it good!"

Time to get clean...first stop, pool to rinse off and then to the real bathtub for soap!

All clean and scrubbed up:-)

Eleven Months Old!

Yes, I’m falling a bit behind on my posts, apparently keeping up with an eleven month old has taken more out of me than I thought! That’s right, I said an ELEVEN month old, where does the time go?? Josiah is busier than ever, he has mastered pulling up to things and scooting along the furniture to get to whatever he wants. In the past few days, he has even begun letting go and standing on his own for a few seconds until he realizes he is doing it and then he promptly sits down:-) He now has 5.5 teeth…the 0.5 is for the 6th tooth that is a-l-m-o-s-t through! He has developed a bit of defiance this month and utilizes his screaming and squealing “skills” to let us know if he’s unhappy with the situation at hand. We are working on teaching him signs to help with some of his frustration and hope that the babbling quickly turns to some words so the screaming can go bye-bye! He says “Mmmm” when he eats or when he’s hungry so at least we have that:-) Yesterday when I asked him who was coming in the living room (Seth), he said “dada”….adorable:-) He has decided that baby food is for the birds so we have moved on to almost all “big boy” food. The trick is that he doesn’t eat too much, just likes to poke it with his finger and smear it around on the tray…hmmm….so his bottle consumption has gone up slightly to compensate in the meantime. Last night he had potatoes and mac-n-cheese and loved both! Can you have all carbs and call it a meal? I say yes…and Josiah whole-heartedly agrees:-) We have been fully enjoying the beautiful weather and our fabulous play/swingset, what a great addition to the yard! We are looking forward to adding a slide soon, imagine the fun then! Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the summer! I will be catching up on a few overdue posts in the next few days so stay tuned:-) Here are Josiah’s 11 month pictures, we went with the beach theme this month:

Ten Months Old!!

Better late than never, right?! Josiah turned ten months old last Sunday but it took a few days to coordinate taking his monthly pictures. This month's big news....we have a fourth tooth!!! After a mere four months of waiting for it to pop through, it FINALLY made it's appearance on Saturday! I'm not sure who was more relieved, Josiah or Seth and I:-) Josiah has perfected "So Big" and is SO proud of himself, he does it all the time and looks at us with anticipation of our "Good job buddy!!" He is still enamored with Signing Time, I think he has a small crush of Rachel because his face absolutely LIGHTS up when she comes on the screen:-) He is crawling everywhere and has figured out that his parents aren't that exciting so instead of hanging out with us in whatever room we are in, he crawls off in search of a power cord or drawer pull to play with. He is pulling himself up to things and gets up on his knees, he will be standing before we know it! He still likes to scream but has added back in more ba ba ba, da da da and other babbling words. Overall, he is wonderful and we are enjoying all of the little moments as we watch him grow:-) Here are the pictures with a small disclaimer...the wet spot on his pants is not a potty accident, it's drool:-)

Little golfer...note the Masters items a la Uncle Josh

"SO BIG!"

Nine month pictures

Finally got a chance to take and post Josiah's nine month pictures! Here they are:

"Hey, this whole sitting in the basket thing isn't as bad as I thought it would be!"

"Sitting in a basket AND silly ears on...now you've gone too far!"

Happy to be out of the basket and so distracted by the flying egg, he forgot about the silly ears Smiley boy:-)

See how big I'm getting?!

Eight months old!

This past Thursday marked eight months since Josiah joined our family...EIGHT months! How does time go so fast?? He continues to amaze us every day with what he is learning and doing. I'm sure all parents can relate to that, isn't it unbelievable how fast they learn and grow? He is changing every day, it seems like his hair has grown an inch over night, we now have to comb it after every bath or we get the "bed head" look:-) He is starting to venture up on to his hands and knees and is rocking back and forth like he might take off at any minute. So far, he just giggles as he rocks and then falls on his tummy but he seems close to figuring out that he has to move his hands and then knees and away he'll go! For the time being, he is content being able to scoot backward and roll to get where he needs to go...under the couch, under the shelf of the entertainment center, etc. He is still babbling quite a bit and of course, the squeal is ever present but now he has added blowing "raspberries" to the mix. He finds it especially funny to do after we've just given him a spoon full of cereal...oh so fun and quite a mess too, bonus! He is STILL working on getting the top teeth that have been threatening to pop through for weeks now, as of this post still not through but any day now we're sure! He is feeling much better thankfully and for the most part back to his happy, content, smiley self! Here are the monthly pictures, we went with the bath theme this month. A special thanks to Auntie Ashley and Auntie Nessa for the bath robe, Uncle Josh for the bath toys and Auntie Robin for the duckie bath tub! As you can see, Josiah loves them all!

Seven months old!

It seems like time is on fast-forward lately! Somehow seven months have passed since Josiah was born but I don't see how that's possible since it seems like yesterday! He is continuing to perfect his sitting skills and can now "roll" down from sitting onto his back/belly. He still isn't crazy about being on his belly so no real progress in the way of crawling yet. He will straighten out his arms and hold his upper body up for a few minutes but then decides it's a lot of work and rolls to his back:-) Ah well, it will come soon enough and then we'll be missing the days when he wasn't mobile, right?! He has really found his voice in the past few weeks and his favorite sound is still the ear-piercing scream but he has also added some really sweet babbling to the mix. As of Sunday, he continually says "da da da da da" He doesn't understand what it means but does know that it makes us smile and will repeat it when we say it to him. He is starting to get "pat-a-cake" also, he did it for the first time yesterday for Grammy Cindy! He is really enjoying his daily "big boy" meal of cereal with fruit/veggie mixed in. He tried apple blueberry this week and LOVES it! We will be revisiting the green veggies later in the week, hopefully that will go better than the first time when he gagged on them:-) The other big news this month is that Josiah will have a new cousin!! I will post later with details and hopefully a picture or two! Here are a few pictures from the monthly photo session with Josiah (maybe Carhart needs a new spokesbaby??):

Six Months Old!!

Josiah turned six months old on Christmas Day and we went to the doctor yesterday for the inevitable shots:-( They let us know that since he was eligible for the flu shots now, we could get them all at once but I thought that 5 shots in one day was a bit too much, don't you agree?? So we'll have to go back in a couple of weeks for the flu shots but spreading them out seemed better than assaulting his poor legs all at once! Anyway, he was once again declared "perfect and healthy" by the doctor! Here are the numbers: Height: 27 inches Weight: 18 lbs. 12 oz. We marvel every day at how big he is getting and how much he changes day to day! He is now sitting like a champ and hardly ever tips over unless he loses focus:-) He is babbling a ton but his favorite noise to make is an ear-piercing squeal! He thinks it's the greatest sound anyone could ever make....and while we, as his parents, think it's pretty cute, we're pretty sure those around us might tire of it sooner than we do! We're working on "inside voice"....yeah, we'll keep you posted on that one! He started cereal a couple of weeks ago and even though we got off to a rocky start, he LOVES it now and is excited when he sees the bowl. He very much enjoys the carrots and pears...as for the peas, those might take a bit more convincing:-) He got his first tooth yesterday and we are waiting for it's neighbor to pop through any minute now! I'll post a picture as soon as I can get him to pose for one:-) Overall, he is a happy, content, joyful baby! Seth and I comment daily on what a blessing he is and how lucky we consider ourselves! Here are his six month pictures, be sure to check out the previous two posts for more pictures from the last month!

five months old!

It's that time again...Josiah has turned one month older! He is really developing a little personality these days and isn't shy about letting us know when he isn't happy:-) Not to say he's fussy, he really isn't, he's content and happy and smiley most of the time. However, should he become bored with whatever activity he's involved in, he uses his voice to let us know:-) He likes to hear his voice most of the time when he's awake....his favorite is squealing at the top of his lungs. We think it's adorable but I'm not sure the patrons at our local restaurants or retailers would always agree. His favorite activity these days is to jump! He likes to be in the Jumperoo or the Johnny Jumpup and he giggles and smiles the whole time! Stay tuned for a video coming soon! We are having a great time watching him grow and experience all that he is discovering in this big world! Here are the latest monthly pictures, enjoy!

The stats are in

We saw Josiah's doctor this morning and here are the stats: Weight: 15 lbs 3 oz (58%) Height: 25 inches (74%) Head Circumference: 17 inches (81%) His doctor says he's a perfect baby....we tend to agree:-) Josiah was so happy going in to the appointment, just like last time. He was smiling and babbling at everyone and they even remarked that he is a very social baby (wonder where he gets that from??) and then came the dreaded shots! Once again, he was caught totally off guard and went from happy to VERY sad in a matter of milliseconds! He cried pretty hard and it lasted through the lobby this time. All the experienced parents smiled knowingly at me and all the new parents waiting with their infants looked terrified that they were about to go through the same thing. Who knew that a doctor's waiting room could double as a parent support group:-) Anywho, by the time we got to the car, he was asleep and when he woke up an hour later, he was back to his happy, smiley self! What an angel!

Josiah turns 4 months old!

Sunday, October 25th marked four months since Josiah joined our family and boy has the time flown! Everyone warns you of that and of course, we've all heard the saying "Time flies when you're having fun!" I guess it also flies when you are thrown into a world full of diapers and midnight feedings among other fun and surprising adventures:-) Not that I'm complaining one bit, I LOVE being this little guy's mommy, I adore every minute of it no matter what body fluid it involves:-) That said, these 4 months have passed in the blink of an eye! Josiah is rolling over more and more from his belly to his back. Not so much from back to belly but that comes as no surprise since he is not a fan of tummy time so why voluntarily flip that way?! Another new interest is people watching, especially cousins Miles and Addison, they are the best! He also has discovered there are toys other than the spinning wheels on his Exersaucer and turns around to find them now. He recently discovered that while talking and cooing are pretty good, screaming and squealing are WAY better so he prefers to communicate solely by those methods now! I'm guessing he weighs about 16 pounds but we will find out for sure tomorrow morning at his Dr. appt. so stay tuned for an update! In the meantime, here are some pictures from the monthly photo shoot:

"Oh no, not this again!"

"Oh ok, I'll just smile and get it over with!"

"Sweet, outdoor pics!"

"And back in the uncomfy chair...that isn't so uncomfy now that I'm a bit bigger!"