A few new pics

My little stoic-faced man...maybe someday he'll focus less on the camera and trying to figure it out, and actually smile for me!

I was hoping he'd focus on Freddie and smile,
but he was all about looking at me with the camera

I could just kiss those little fat legs all day! This is David posing Joshua :)

Watching a bit of the game...GO HEELS!

Joshua got an activity center that has all sorts of colors
and textures and sounds...he's still figuring out how everything
works, but he's happy to play in here and spin around to
all the different activities for quite a while!

An Unexpected Surprise

Last Friday, the doorbell rang a few minutes after Joshua got up from his morning nap. Not expecting any visitors, I peeked through the window to see a nice lady with a delivery:

Pretty flowers from my sweet and thoughtful husband. When I was working, I was always at a different school everyday, so David never knew where I would be. He said that, this year, he was pretty confident that I'd be at home :) I'm not a big Valentine's day person, but these definitely made me smile--what a bright spot in my day!

Chatting it up after bathtime

Joshua is quite the chatterbox when the mood strikes him. When he was younger, he would cry so hard when we would take him out of the bath each night--it was so sad! Now, he just talks and talks--guess he's got "words" instead of tears now :) He absolutely loves it when he's in his birthday suit, and gets noticeably annoyed when we put him in his sleeper for bedtime. He'd be happy to play in his towel all night!

Roll over, roll over...

This is one of Joshua's first rolls from back to tummy. He's so funny now, because you can't put him down for a diaper change and turn to get the diaper before he's rolled over onto his tummy and is starting to roll onto his back again. David's favorite is when Joshua is all stripped down for bath time and is rolling all over his towel. What a little mess :) Of course, there's not much cuter than a baby's little bottom, is there?

This is also my first attempt at posting a video, so we'll see how it goes...hopefully I'll have some more videos up soon!

Playtime!

Joshua, it's playtime!Martha got Joshua this jumpster for the doorway between the kitchen and living room. He hasn't figured out the whole jumping thing, but he really likes "standing up" and twirling around in it. He also likes banging his rattle against the tray. He's still a little small for it, so I have to cram blankets in all around him to help him fit.

David got this picture. He had Joshua on his back near the laptop, and Joshua rolled right over onto his belly to look at the laptop screen. He just started doing this roll a few days ago--we couldn't believe it! I thought we'd have another month or so until he could roll from his back to his belly...guess Little Man proved me wrong! What's next? Walking next week?

Tubby time!

If I haven't mentioned this before (only a million times), the bathtub is Joshua's favorite place in the whole wide world. He gets to sit in the warm water, kick his legs and splash water everywhere, and smile and flirt with his girlfriend Farrah (this is what we've named the faucet). Here's a few recent pictures:

"Mmm...these fingers sure are tasty"

"I see that camera...you can't fool me"

"I don't think I can open my eyes ANY wider"

"Chillin' in the bathtub AKA my throne"

I cannot WAIT to get this little guy to the pool and the beach...I believe we have a little fish on our hands :)

Time with family and new achievements

Joshua smiling & laughing at my dad's funny faces and noises

We went down to visit my parents over the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend and had a wonderful time! My dad was able to find a foam mattress for Joshua's Pack&Play, which helped him sleep SO much better in it than our first attempt at it! Joshua thinks my dad is hillarious, with all his funny faces and noises, and Joshua just chattered to him like crazy!

My mom definitely got plenty of sugar from her favorite little guy and was quick to volunteer to hold him whenever she could. We had lots of yummy food (Mom made some of our favorites: baked potato soup and grilled cheese, barbeque pork ribs for David, and country fried steak and mashed potatoes--YUM!) and watched a few good movies. Best of all, though, was spending time with my mom and dad, who I just love more and more as time goes by. I've always been close to them, but I feel like we have become even closer since Joshua's birth. They are the best parents I could ever hope to have, and they are wonderful grandparents to little Joshua. Add in Bernie and Martha, and Joshua is one lucky and loved little guy!

My mom and Joshua, right before we left to come back home...Mom is thinking, "Do you REALLY have to go?"

Like I said in our last post, this little guy likes to roll over from his tummy to his back. In the past few days, he's started propping up on his arms and stretching out his neck and looking around at the room. Now, he's put the two together...so he'll prop up, and roll right over. This makes it tough to get a picture of him propped up, though, since as soon as I snap the picture, he's on his way over. Here are a few pictures pieced together from different rolls to give you the idea:



A few comments on the above pictures:

*Joshua is at one of those stages where he's too big for one size of clothing and too little for another size. His 3 month outfits are stretching at the neck and keeping his legs a little constrained, and the 6 month outfits are too long in the sleeves (hence, the rolled sleeves in the pictures) and too long in the legs/big in the feet. He doesn't seem to mind, though, so we've moved up into the 6 month outfits.

*Joshua's favorite food at the moment, other than milk, is his hand. He loves the fingers, the thumb, and the whole darn thing, just depending on his mood. In these pictures, he was obviously favoring his first two fingers. I always ask him if he's enjoying his "finger food" or his "knuckle sandwiches" when he's sucking or gnawing on his hand.

What a fun time, watching Joshua grow and learn new things each day. His smiles and chatter just melt my heart--he has quite the personality! And if he starts to get sad or somethings startles him, his bottom lip pokes out and his little eyes start to water, and it is hard not to laugh, because it is such an adorable face. And bath time each night is a blast--Joshua's favorite activity! He just kicks and splashes and laughs and smiles. David and I joke that one of his best friends is the faucet in the tub, because Joshua just stares at it and smiles at it throughout the bath--we make up conversations between the two of them for fun :) I'm hoping one of these nights to remember to take the camera upstairs to get some pictures at "tubby time."

One week from tomorrow and this little guy is 4 months old!