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!