Happy Independence Day!

Okay, Mommy...I'm ready to go on our trip!

Oh, you think I'll need a little more for the 4-day weekend

at Grandma and Grandpa's house?

We did some visiting while we were with my parents for the holiday weekend. We drove down on Thursday morning so that Grandma could show Joshua around at work. Each introduction went a little something like this: "This is my grandson Joshua" (said with a big, proud smile)...oh, and this is my daughter Erin" (totally an after-thought about 10 minutes later). Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit...but honestly, only a very little bit.

We met my aunt and uncle at my grandmother's house on Friday afternoon so they could spend some time with Little Man. This is my Aunt Ann, and Joshua's middle name (Brent) is in honor of her son.

And Joshua had fun playing with his great-grandmother too (she's a little fuzzy in the picture, but he was just so darn cute, I had to post it!)



And on Sunday, my friend Kelli came to visit. We've known each other since high school, and she swears that pictures of Joshua are what got her through tough days in her law school program this year...so she had to meet him in person. He absolutely LOVED her right away, and didn't stop smiling, laughing, talking, and crawling all over the entire visit (except, of course, when he saw me pull out the camera for a picture). Plus, she brought him a little stuffed puppy that he was crazy about, so that always helps :)


Grandma decided that since Joshua liked his little swimming pool at home so much, that he needed one at her house too. We had a great time sitting under the pecan trees and watching him play.

Look, Mommy...only one hand!



Do you like my froggy swimming trunks?



Who says rubber duckies are just for the bathtub?



Hey, is everyone watching how good I am at pulling up?



Making my grandma's favorite face...gets her laughing everytime!

What a big boy at 9 months old!

I can't believe my little boy is 9 months old today! He is just growing so fast...and looking more like his daddy every day :)


We've got 4 teeth so far, and a few more that look like they're on their way through very soon! You can see the bottom two here:

And this was the little surprise that greeted me when I came to get Joshua from his afternoon nap!

This is the first time he's been standing up in his crib--he was quite pleased with himself!


Some recent achievements:
Going from crawling to sitting and back again with complete ease
Pulling up on his own
A number of bumps and scrapes from his adventurous ways
Enjoying new foods off Mommy and Daddy's plates
Taking baths in the big tub


Not a fan of:
The booger-bulb (he's had a summer cold and I've needed to use it a lot this week)
When Mommy leaves the room (the past few days have had lots of tears)
Feeding himself (he refuses to put food in his own mouth...but anything else is fair game)
The sippy cup (fun for playing, but not for drinking)


A few favorite things:
Mommy's water bottle and cell phone
Teething on Mommy's finger and Daddy's knee (and those sharp teeth hurt!)
When Daddy comes home from work
Chasing his ball around the house
Being outside (on walks, in his little pool, on errands with Mommy)
Naked time!

We love our big 9 month boy!

Cheers!

Joshua has been trying to pull up on lots of things recently, so I thought I'd snap a couple of pictures this morning when he was in action:

Mom, are you seeing this?

Pretty cool, huh?

Admit it...you're impressed.

And Joshua just had to toast his accomplishments:

Actually, I just really liked the cup Mommy was eating Cheerios from.

Who needs toys when I can play with ceramic mugs?

Father's Day Weekend

My parents came up to spend Father's Day weekend with us, and it was great to be with my own dad and also celebrate David's first Father's Day since Joshua's birth. My mom bought Joshua an inflatable wading pool that we put on the back deck. He loves the water, and the pool was a big hit. His favorite thing to do was crawl to the edge and pull up on the side to look out over the yard. David joined Joshua in the pool for some splashing and fun! And the cute swimming trunks with alligators came from my oldest niece Sydney--isn't he a cutie?

I also took a few pictures on Sunday morning before church:

I thought he was just adorable in this new outfit :)

A day at the park

David's brother Jeff sent us one of his old cameras to use for a few months to try and get some better pictures of Joshua. Our little camera takes a while to snap the picture, so we often miss the best picture opportunities of Joshua smiling and in motion. Here are a few pictures from a trip to Lake Benson park a few weeks ago:

For the first few minutes on the swings, Joshua was completely terrified. After he got used to it, he had a blast!

Look at those long eyelashes--I love them! Joshua was looking at the water in the lake, and watching a little girl who was splashing and playing in the shallow part of the water. He loves watching other babies and little children. There just seems to be a special connection between little people.

Joshua and his favorite playmate: Daddy! When David comes home from work in the evenings, you'd think a rock star just came through the door. Joshua gets so excited and can't wait to play with Daddy. When I hear the garage door open, I start to sing the Primary song "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home." Nobody can make Joshua's face light up like his Daddy!

Music man

Joshua has decided to become our little Renaissance Man and is eager to develop talents that his mommy and daddy don't have...like being musical. And by being musical, I mean crawling all over this little xylophone piano a friend gave us. He'll bang on it every now and then, but he much prefers to use it as a jungle gym.

And if "playing" it normally wasn't enough, he decided to show off and make a little music backwards :)

While he may not be a music man, he is definitely quite the explorer. I can't keep him contained in one room to save my life! But I wouldn't trade my little commando-crawler for anything :)

Around the house

Joshua is really enjoying the increased mobility that crawling allows--he has been doing lots of exploring! His new favorite place is the corner of our living room where an air vent blows cold air up from the floor. He loves to let the air blow on his face and through his hair. He also likes banging the blinds on the door leading to the deck. He's definitely all boy!

You can see the air blowing his hair up in the front here--he just babbles and laughs when it happens.

Joshua has also developed a fascination for the laundry basket. He loves the warm clothes fresh out of the dryer and he loves all the little openings in the basket that he can stick his fingers through.

He's helping me find a little joy in the mundane task of folding the clothes :)