Little Racer

I took some pictures of Joshua after church today in this adorable little one-piece outfit my aunt got for him--it has a car on it and it says "Little Racer." He must have been pretty cute, because all of the ladies at my parents' church wanted to touch his face...which completely weirds me out, especially since they are strangers. I guess they just can't help themselves with such a handsome little guy :)

I told my mom that I could put barbeque sauce on his fat little legs and just eat them right up!

Fun with family

Joshua has had a great time with family this weekend!

Having fun with Uncle Erik:

Chillin' with Grandpa:

Playing with Grandma's necklace while she gets some sugar:

We love long weekends!

My hobbies

Some pictures of Joshua reading and talking on the phone (I gave him my old cell phone since he is so enamored with mine) at my parents' house:

How cute are bare baby feet, by the way? :)

Over the river and through the woods...

We had a visit from David's parents on Sunday afternoon--Bernie brought the steaks to grill out and we provided all the sides. The rain subsided at the perfect time, and we had a great dinner together. Joshua, of course, was the man of the hour. I'm learning that David and I are only means to an end now that we have a little one, but I can't say that I blame anyone for feeling that way!




As I've mentioned before, Joshua loves Mommy and Daddy's toys. I can't decide if he's working on the computer or doing push-ups here--maybe a little of both.




And here he is catching up on a little reading in one of Mommy's Reader's Digest magazines.





I told Joshua when he woke up this morning that I had a surprise for him...

A surprise? Really, Mom? What is it? Tell me, tell me!

Well, Little Man, we're going to see Grandma and Grandpa down in Havelock for Memorial Day weekend. We're even going to visit Grandpa at work in New Bern and Grandma at work on the military base at Cherry Point. Grandma's been dying to show you off!

Are you serious?! Woo hoo! I am SO excited! I can't wait for Friday!

Milk and oatmeal and green peas--oh my!

Joshua and I had quite the "adventure" last night. David has been working really late recently, so it has just been me and the little man for our nightly routine. The evening started like any other. Joshua had baby oatmeal and green peas for dinner, and did great. He played while his mommy ate dinner, and then we got ready for bath time. Lots of splashing and laughing ensued. After getting into his pajamas, Joshua and I went upstairs for his last bottle. He was very calm and sleepy as usual. When I sat him up to burp him after he was finished--just like I do every other night--all heck broke loose. Everything--and I mean EVERYTHING--he had consumed in the last 2 hours came back up...all over him and all over me.

He looked at me in shock and I'm sure I had the same look on my face. He's spit up a few times before, but this was a whole new level. I'm still in shock, looking back on it, by the enormous volume of it all. So, I had to figure out what to do in what order. I put Joshua down on the ground in his room to take his sleeper off, and realized that his diaper had been soaked by the milk coming through the sleeper. I was out of diapers in his room, so I knew this would mean a trip downstairs. I quickly went to my room to change clothes--my shirt and pants and everything I was wearing were completely soaked. I ran downstairs to grab a new sleeper and diaper, and go back to Joshua to change him. I then realize that as he has rolled around on the floor, he's gotten little bits of peas ALL over the carpet in his room.

So I get the vacuum to quickly clean the floor, and I put Joshua in the hallway. Information necessary to understand the next part of the story: Joshua has developed quite a fear of the vacuum in the past couple of months. He used to think it was fun to watch it move around the room--now he is absolutely terrified. I plug in the vacuum and as soon as I turn it on, the crying begins. Instead of moving away from the vacuum like I thought he would, he starts crawling towards me and the vacuum, crying hysterically. The closer he gets, the harder he cries and the more red his face gets. He gets his hands on the cord and is practically inconsolable by the time I turn off the vacuum (elapsed time: less than 90 seconds).

I try to calm him down and change his diaper and sleeper. It then occurs to me that he can't go to bed on an (obviously) empty stomach, so I go back downstairs to get another bottle ready. There's not time to let the breast milk warm up, so I just put together a cold bottle from the fridge. We go back upstairs and try the last feeding all over again. Joshua is exhausted by this point (tired from vomiting, tired from crying at the vacuum, and tired because it is past his bedtime!) and is falling asleep at the bottle. All of my little stay-awake tricks are not working, so I give up and take him downstairs where I turn on all the lights and turn on the television to American Idol. This creates just enough interest to keep Joshua awake until he finishes his bottle. We go upstairs and as soon as I sit in the rocking chair to sing him a song before bed, he passes out on my shoulder. Poor Joshie...he was completely worn out. And you know what? So was his mommy!

Mommy and me

I feel so blessed to not only be a mother now, but to also have the best mother and mother-in-law in the world! I also have wonderful sisters-in-law and friends that are wonderful mothers. I could not have better examples and encouragers! And so in honor of motherhood, here are some of the things I love about being a mommy.

I love...

...looking into the eyes of this precious baby and knowing that he is my son.

...remembering that I was smiling and crying at the same time when I first saw Joshua.

...hearing Joshua talk to himself when he first wakes up.

...seeing him sneeze when I turn on the light in his room...every single time.

...the beautiful sound of laughter when he plays with his daddy.

...those precious little teeth in that sweet smile.

...the tired eyes he gets before bedtime, and the sweet snuggles I get before I put him to bed.

...the fascination he shows for anything belonging to mommy or daddy.

...the way his eyes crinkle up when he smiles at me.

...the fact that he starts to bounce whenever I hold him up in my lap, and is so serious about it!

...the way he makes people smile whenever they see him, whether they are family, friends, or strangers at the store.

...how he flaps his arms and kicks his feet when he is really excited.

...how happy he is when he's bouncing in his jumpster...sheer joy on display.

...that something as simple as banging a plastic spoon on his high chair tray sounds like music to us.

...his soft hair on his soft head and his soft skin...I could hug him all day!

...how adorable he is in his "big boy" outfits and little baby sneakers.

...the fun he has splashing and kicking in the bathtub.

...that he reaches near delirium when he gets to roll around in just his diaper.

...his chubby little belly and legs.

...how calm and serene he gets when I sing to him.

...the funny "Mmmmm!" noise he makes when I'm feeding him a food he really likes.

...how he curls his arm around mine when I'm carrying him on my hip.

...seeing him blow raspberries and get his chin and shirt all wet.

...watching my mom be a grandma...she definitely thinks Joshua hung the moon and stars, and that he'll be winning the Nobel Prize for solving all the world's problems by age 10.

...that Martha calls when she knows my parents are in town, and reminds my mom not to "take all of Joshua's sugar," but leave some for her.

...that I start missing Joshua almost immediately after putting him down for a nap or for bed at night.

I could go on and on...I just love this sweet little miracle and getting to be his mommy. If I can be for him what my own mother has been and is for me, he will be a lucky little boy!

This is Joshua's latest attempt at crawling...it's kind of a pull-kick-drop, over and over, until he gets to what he wants, which is usually the computer, my phone, or anything else electronic that lights up or makes noise. Too cute!

Graduation!

We celebrated David's little sister Erin's graduation yesterday. She finished her undergraduate degree in elementary education at UNC-Charlotte and we are SO proud of her!

Joshua apparently likes to show his enthusiasm with his "deer in headlights" look...otherwise known as "Mom has the camera out, and I find it way more fascinating to examine the camera than smile at it."

Here's Little Man with his oldest cousin Sydney--she has her 12th birthday this week, and I can't believe how fast she's growing! Joshua absolutely LOVES his cousins--little people are fascinated by other little people :)

If there is one person who can always get Joshua to laugh, it is Aunt Shelley. Of course, this is usually done by swinging, tossing, or throwing Joshua around, which he just can't get enough of!

Joshua did really well, especially with the 6-7 hours we spent in the car yesterday. We hit some really bad weather on the way back, which made the drive home even longer, but all things considered, he was a champ!

Growing up too fast!

How adorable is this little guy? I could honestly just eat him up! David's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Merle got him that cute shirt, and I have to say that I'm a big fan of it :)

Also, as a side note, it seems that the majority of pictures that I end up posting are a little dark or slightly out of focus. This is because if I use a setting that has a flash or the red-eye reduction, Joshua gets that blank stare on his face because he's focusing on the bright white light or the red light coming from the camera. My mother believes this is a sign of genius on his part, but it is just plain frustrating for me, because it makes it hard to get good pictures of this cutie pie! I guess I'll just have to deal with it until we can upgrade and get a nice camera someday!

Well, like the title of my post says, this little guy is growing up way too fast. How is it possible that he turned 7 months old last week? A girl at church brought her newborn on Sunday, and I couldn't believe how tiny she was! Looking at Joshua now, it is hard to believe that he was every that small...and this little girl weighed 2 pounds more than he did at delivery. Crazy!

We are just loving Joshua more and more as time goes by, which seems impossible, because I can't imagine how I could love him more than I do right now. He's got the happiest disposition and such a fun personality. He loves to smile, laugh, and chatter. He loves his jumpster and starts trying to bounce before I even have him in it all the way! He really likes to sit next to me on the floor and play with anything he's seen me use: a cell phone, a key ring, the computer, a magazine or book, the remote control, a shoe...the list goes on and on. He has plenty of toys of his own, thanks to two adoring grandmothers, but he seems to find our "grown-up" stuff much more entertaining. He also finds everything we do fascinating, especially eating--he'll watch us spoon up a bite and bring it to our mouth and chew it, eyes following every move like a hawk!

He's doing pretty good with his own eating. In addition to his milk, he has baby oatmeal mixed with applesauce and milk for breakfast, some kind of homemade puree at lunch (he loves sweet potatoes, peaches, and pears), and baby oatmeal or barley mixed with milk and a green veggie for dinner. I tried some of those Gerber puffs with him for the first time yesterday--it is hilarious to watch him try to chew it with those two little bottom teeth and his top gum. It eventually dissolves in his mouth, and then he's ready for another.

My favorite somewhat recent development is that my little man is sleeping ALL the way through the night! He's been doing this for a little over a month now, but I was afraid to write about it and jinx it! We have our little nightly routine of bath time (still a big hit with Joshua--and I continue to get pretty wet with all his playing and splashing), changing into pajamas, last bottle, snuggling and lullabies, and bed time around 7:30pm (he is completely exhausted by this point). He usually wakes up sometime between 6:45-8:00am, just depending on the day. That, along with two naps of about 1.5 hours each, and he's a cheerful little guy! And his mommy and daddy are happy to sleep through the night as well, even though we go to bed later and get up earlier than Joshua.

Joshua's only frustration right now is crawling. For the past couple of weeks, he's been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back forth over and over. He'll also move his little legs like he's swimming, and even get up on his toes with straight legs (making an upside-down V with his body), but he will not move his hands to save his life. So when he moves, he'll end up going backwards, which drives him crazy. He'll have a toy just an inch out of reach and after trying for a few minutes to get to it, he'll have pushed himself back 6 feet! David tries to help him crawl by moving his hands for him, but Joshua just drops to his belly. I'm actually secretly glad he's not crawling yet because he already gets into enough stuff just rolling...I'm going to have my hands full once this active little guy starts crawling!

We're going to Charlotte on Saturday for David's little sister Erin's graduation. We're really looking forward to celebrating her special day and spending time with the whole family. I'm going to try really hard to remember to take lots of pictures of Joshua with his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Fun times!