Trying to Crawl

Joshua's been working hard at crawling. He's almost got it!

He can get up on his knees too, but I have yet to get a picture of it!


We figure he's old enough to start doing some chores around the house. Here he is helping me shred our old office papers.










Tummy Time with Daddy!




We are heading to California for vacation in a few weeks...Joshua has his tourist outfit ready to go!

Farewell my friend...

Last week we said goodbye to my Jeep. It was affectionately dubbed "The fickle pickle," which was later shortened to "The Fickle." Although we gave the fickle a hard time and talked bad about it, it was a faithful (sorta) car. I hoped it would get me thought grad school; it did. Then I hoped it would get me though miles and miles for CPS; it did. Then I hoped it would last until I won a new car on The Price is Right; apparently that was too much to ask.
I wanted to share my two favorite fickle stories in an effort to bid him farewell. The first was when his name was actually derived. The day was in this high 90's and I was out running errands. The air conditioner was not working. I got back into the car after one stop and started him up. I pulled out and then tried to put the windows down, but they wouldn't work. Talk about suffocation. When I stopped at a light I opened the door for some air. When I closed the door, I tried the windows again and they worked! What a relief. Of course, when I got home, I couldn't get them up again so I had to go straight to the mechanic.
The second story, paints me as a bit of an airhead. However, I am willing to incriminate myself for the laughter of others. It was a Friday night in my first year of grad school and I was studying at home. For my big Friday night excitement, I decided to drive to 7-11 for a Dr. Pepper. I came back home and parked the fickle in the normal spot, which was on a hill. I headed into my apartment. The next morning, I decided to go for a run down on town lake. I walked out to the parking lot to find the fickle was gone. The motions of the previous night went through my head to reassure myself that I had indeed parked it in the normal spot. After scanning the parking lot, I found the fickle down the hill, smashed into a Hyundai. And when I say smashed, I mean that car was smashed. What do you do in a situation like that? I knocked on the door of my pal Kelly. They recommended I leave a note on the car. This didn't really seem appropriate, you leave a note when you scratch someone's car. This car was smashed. After some debate, I call the cops. The officer that responded must have really felt bad for me. He came up with a great story for how the event occurred. See, I had a recall notice from Jeep that they had some cases where jeeps were popping out of reverse gear when left running. There were some skid marks up the hill from where I parked. There was no indication that someone had broken into the car or any other monkey business. This cop came up with a scenario where the fickle popped out of park, rolled up hill (?), leaving skid marks (?), then popped into drive and rolled down hill, smacking into the car. What was the point in arguing when his scenario made me out to be an innocent victim rather than a ditz who didn't put her car into park? Dispatch called the owner of the other car who came out frantic in her pjs. She was a graduate student in government. The officer had to explain to her 3 times the difference between civil and criminal court and that we wouldn't be going to court unless someone brings it to civil court. Fortunately for me, that was the end of it. I guess good ole USAA took care of her. The fickle didn't even have a scratch on it.
Despite no A/C and a transmission fuel leak, we posted the fickle on Craigslist and had it sold within 24 hours. Can you believe we got over 10 calls of people interested in buying it? We are loving Craigslist.

Mom Mom, and Mimi, and Papa, Oh My!

We had Joshua dedicated at church on Father's Day. We were very excited to have all Joshua's grandparents down for the occasion. Mom Mom rolled in on Wednesday. Thursday we took her to San Antonio. We forgot to bring our camera, so use your imagination with the pictures...we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Then had some Mexican for dinner outside on the riverwalk. It's always fun to eat with pigeons. It was a good time (and yummy!)




Friday Mimi and Papa arrived. Joshua enjoyed having so many folks to entertain him. I enjoyed having mini-breaks here and there as well. Sunday was the dedication. We were blessed to have great friends and our family come to support us. We had a little reception afterwards under the big oak trees in the courtyard. Joshua did pretty well, but not his best behavior. He was asleep when the ceremony was suppose to start, so we had to wake him up. That's not usually such a good thing... I will post pictures from the dedication in the next day or so.

That evening we went to Brushy Creek Park (which I highly recommend for you North Austin peeps...) We attempted to burn off some of the food we had been snacking on all day. It was a little bit hot, especially for the Eastern folk...

Monday we sent Mom Mom off to Colorado to visit Kurt's bro and family. Tuesday we headed to the LBJ Ranch and Fredricksburg. We had never been to the ranch, so it was cool to see the "Texas White House." After spending most of the day at the ranch, we only had about an hour before the shops closed, but it was still fun. Then we had a great dinner at one of the German Restaurants.



While in Fredricksburg, Joshua got to ride "Ol' paint." He laughed and seemed to enjoy the ride. He also made friends with a memorial dedicated to the peace treaty between the Indians and F'burg settlers. Apparently it is the only peace treaty made between the Natives and white folk that actually lasted.

This is really mean, but I just can't help it. When we were in the gift shop of the ranch, I put Joshua in a bonnet. We got a good look at what baby sister might look like...isn't he cute?

Here are some other fun shots of our week with the grandparents. Thanks for coming out guys-we love you!

Half a Year Down!

Wow, half a year already. Joshua turned 6 months last Sunday. He has been so much fun and full of joy, which is a real blessing. Time is going so fast; I have begun to take time each night to think about my favorite moment of the day in an effort so somehow capture this time. Most likely it will be a blur someday, but at least the effort was made!

He weighed in at 15 lbs 15 oz and is 25 inches long. Our pediatrician thinks he's doing great and I am trying not to stress about the numbers. He's in 5th percentile for height. This makes me think he's going to be a shorty; Which then makes me worry about him being the little guy in the class; Which makes me worried about teasing. Funny how we want to protect our kids as much as possible. However, God says we are beautifully and wonderfully made. As a mommy, I want the best for my kiddo but then have to stop and be reminded that God does too and He is infinitely wiser than me!

Joshua is rolling from his back to his tummy all the time now. He seems to like sleeping on his side and tummy better than his back now. We still put him down on his back but he rolls over immediately. He is sitting up by himself now. His toes must taste yummy because he can't seem to get enough of them. One thing we are very excited about is that he is pretty much sleeping through the night again. For the past two months he's been getting up at 2 am (ish) and 5 am (ish). All of a sudden this week he is sleeping for 11-12 hours straight!!

We are starting veggies tomorrow. This feels behind compared to most parents but in line with what the doc recommended. He's also "learning to poop like a big boy," as Kurt likes to say. He can stink up the house in no time. It is unbelievable considering he is still just on rice cereal and milk. We asked the pediatrician about this early on. He explained (in a lot of detail that will be spared to you) it's just the way his body works and it's likely he will always be a stinker. Ggrreeaattt....

JLZ got to hang out with the boys across the street when their brave mom took on all three boys by herself. Luke turned two a few weeks ago and Ethan is two months younger that Joshua.

Yummy Toes!

Shot this during his nap. If you look closely, you will see his thumb in his mouth. Apparently he wanted to keep the pacifier close by just in case he tired of the thumb.

Wildflowers

Well, it's been a long time since I've written...now I have to try and catch up...We took a little trip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in South Austin. We caught the tail end of the height of the bluebonnet season. The wildflowers have had a tough year this year due to lack of rain during the winter. However, your couldn't tell at the center.

mmmm, cereal

Last week, Joshua started on rice cereal. After a week of getting up twice a night, we decided it was time he had a little more to fill his belly. He did really well at first, with some funny faces...





A bit of a puzzled look, trying to figure it out...













A little into the first feeding, he decided he'd rather lick
the cereal off his bib than take it by spoon...




















After loosing the bib, he decided he'd rather do the spoon himself...












And eventually we gave up the spoon all together and put it in a bottle. This is one of those things that all the books tell you not to do, but most parents do anyway...

We've decided to hold off on the spoon feeding for another week. He kept pushing it out with his tongue, so we will try again soon.

"Auntie" Laura comes to visit

The first week inApril, Laura came to visit from Abingdon. Laura was in a very serious car accident last fall and is recuperating very well. I was so thankful for the chance to hang out together. Joshua had fun playing with a new face too. It's fun to have company and get out to do authentic Austin things. It's like being on vacation yourself. We went shopping on Congress Avenue and our new Whole Foods Market. (It's amazing by the way-where else can you spend $80 on a mushroom?) She got to see the bats take flight and walk on town lake trail We ate The "worlds' worst BBQ" at Rudy's and some yummy Indian at the Clay Pit. All in all it was a very fun time. We all need some "Stink" in
our lives.

Spring Training

Joshua started spring training this month. Here he is practicing his baseball in the back yard. He can't really hold the bat yet, but he sure is cute!

We got this cute shot accidentally...Joshua was posing when one of his parents (we won't implicate the guilty) lost their grip on him. I just love the look as he is going down. He was unfazed by the event even though he got a mouth full of grass.

Taking pictures for Papa Roger of his new soccer outfit.

Our latest fun event is going to the park and swinging. The first time he was in it he started laughing! The bottom swing picture is his old man look.



He's still practicing sitting on his own. He's getting pretty good!

Joshua and I have been going to the library for "Lapsit." We sing songs and play with friends. He got his first life lesson last week. He was playing with a toy and another little boy came up and took it from him. He actually started crying! I was pretty surprised he cared. I found him another toy which the boy took away. I picked up a third toy and the kid stole it right out of my hand!! At that point his mom asked from across the room if he was sharing...

It's been taking me a while to update the blog because I'm having a lot of trouble getting pictures posted. Not sure what the deal is. I'm going to try and get rid of some of the old entries. Maybe I need to update more often so I don't have as many pictures to download...

Since these pictures were taken, we had my friend Laura from Abingdon for a visit. We also went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last weekend. Our other big news is that Joshua had his first rice cereal tonight. Details to come but I'm not going to get anything posted again until after Easter. Until then...