Josh's Day with Daddy

Josh and Daddy had such a fun day together today. First they went to Starbucks so Daddy could get his caffeine fix, and Joshua had his first Frappuccino, which was quite a treat for him.

After enjoying their beverages, they went to Home Depot for this month's Kids Workshop. Joshua did a great job building his Firehouse Bank, carefully hammering in the nails all by himself.

Then came another first for Josh... his first trip to the movies. I can't say why it has taken us 4 years to take him to a movie. Basically we just hadn't gotten our act together to do it. But today was the perfect opportunity. Andrew took him to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He loved it, although he was not impressed with the 20 minutes of previews before the movie.

What a great Daddy Joshua has to take advantage of these male bonding opportunities.

All Tied Up

We have found the perfect way to keep Joshua entertained for what seems like hours on end. Step 1: Give him a rope. That's it! This kid loves to find new ways to tie things together, stringing rope across rooms, and coming up with intricate knots that would make a boy scout proud.

At least haven't found Benny hog tied to his crib or anything... yet!

Fun at Home Depot

While I was having some Mommy Time with one of my favorite people this morning, Andrew took the boys to Home Depot to pick up a couple things to finish a project Andrew's been working on. While they were there, Joshua smelled popcorn and decided they needed to find out where the popcorn was (he's his mommy's boy all the way and could eat his weight in popcorn !). When the found the popcorn, they also found something else. Home Depot does kid workshops the first Saturday of each month. They are totally free, and the kids get to make a craft, their very own Home Depot apron, and a pin to put on their apron showing that they completed their project. This month's project was a bean bag toss. As is expected with him, Joshua took a little convincing to do the project, but Andrew is so good about getting him to do things he naturally shies away from, so with a little coaxing he decided he wanted to participate. They worked together as a team, and Andrew was even brave enough to hold the nails while Joshua pounded them into the wood, and he came out of that one unscathed! They did a great job! While they were working hard on their project, Ben was content to munch on popcorn, but he did get his very own apron too! Since they hadn't planned on doing this today, and since Andrew was handling both kids by himself like the super dad that he is, he wasn't able to get any pictures of the project making. But of course we took some when we got home!

We would like to make this a monthly thing, and start taking advantage of more of the freebie workshops and crafts available around town. Sure can't beat a free morning of activities!

Hide and Seek

What else is there to do on a Sunday afternoon?

And here is one of Josh's hiding spots. Can you find him?

Tornado Ben

Here is a great demonstration on how Ben likes to occupy himself. He must know how much I love to step on magnets with my bare feet. Thanks Buddy!

Crazy Drivers!

I think Josh pays a little too close of attention while we are driving, as evidenced by this video. For those that don't speak 2-year-old-ese, Josh is politely indicating that he will be honking the horn, and calmly saying "Goodness Sake!". We are glad this is the only thing he has picked up on from driving with Daddy =)

Here's Your Covers

Daddy made up a cute little bedtime song that Joshua loves to sing. Here are the words so you can sing along at home (to be sung to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin")

Here's your covers
Here's your covers
Go to sleep
Go to sleep
Have some real sweet dreams now
See you in the morning
Joshua
I love you!

Here is Joshua's rendition...

Joining in the Fun

Ben now has his very own swing on our swing set, so he can now join in the fun! It's a pretty cool baby swing. It is shaped like a race car, and came with all sorts of decals to stick on. Ben loves it, and Josh is so excited to have his baby brother swing with him.






In other news, Ben has finally been upgraded from the carrier to a convertible car seat. It will be so nice to not have to lug around that carrier anymore. We bought the car seats at Babies R Us, which we call "The Baby Store". When we told Joshua we were going to the baby store, we jokingly told him that you buy babies there, and asked if he wanted a new baby. And he said "No, I just want that baby. I love my baby brother." He's such a sweet little guy!

Coolest Swing Set EVER!!!

Today was such an exciting (and exhausting) day! We finally built the swing set that we got the boys for Christmas. For the last two weeks, Andrew and I have been staining and water sealing the wood, and this morning Grandma and Grandpa B came out, and Andrew's friend Jeff came over and the guys spent about 10 hours in the backyard putting together what we think is the coolest swing set EVER! See for yourself!



When it is actually finished, it will have a slide, 2 swings, a captains wheel (like on a pirate ship) and a "cosmic communicator" aka 2 plastic flip phones connected by a tube. Think reinvented tin cans connected by a string. It is supposed to have a cargo net, but we decided to hold off on that for now... Josh is just 2 after all.

While the guys were working, Grandma B helped me take care of the boys, which was a tremendous help to me. It is difficult to keep Josh out of the way when there is a big project going on, and also take care of Ben at the same time. The extra pair of hands and eyes were definitely necessary today! Plus, it gave Grandma some quality time to spend with two of her favorite little boys. Thanks Grandma!

We are so excited to have such an awesome swing set for the boys to play on for years and years. The guys really worked so hard today, and I am very proud of them. This thing is going to last forever! So anyone who wants to come over and help us break it in is more than welcome. We think our boys are going to be the envy of the neighborhood!

I Spin and Sing!

Joshua is probably the funniest little dude ever. Life would certainly be much more dull without him around. His newest activity is to sing along with songs.... ANY song. Andrew typically has his iPod going in the car on the way into school, and Joshua has begun to sing along with a lot of the songs. We have made him his own play list on iTunes, and the list is growing seemingly daily. It is the cutest thing to see him in the back seat, just singing quietly to himself while he’s trying to teach himself the song. Then once he has it down, he will start belting it out at the top of his lungs. His favorite song of all time is “Mawmaw’s Song” by Bart Millard, or as Joshua calls it, “The By and By’s” (it’s a song about the hymn “In the Sweet By and By.” He has now taken to spinning with his arms outstretched while he sings when we play his songs at home. This is so precious to me, because when I was about 3 or 4, I would do the same exact thing. I love seeing little glimpses of myself or Andrew in our little guy. Joshua is definitely a music man. We can’t wait until he is old enough for piano lessons. Maybe we’ve got the next Billy Joel on our hands!

Kick It!

Thought I would throw a quick update on here while Joshua munches on his waffles and Cheerios. The J-Man has recently discovered that he can kick things: his big blue ball, his legos, the patio door, Copper, Mommy and Daddy's shins. When he hasn't been practicing for the World Cup, Joshua has also been cutting what we think are his final baby teeth. Yes, he is getting his 2 year molars at 19 months. He is our little alligator. These ones don't seem to be that much fun for him (or us)... he has definitely had his cranky moments. On a funnier note, Joshua has learned to close his eyes on demand. The funny part is that he does it using his index fingers. We're not quite sure where that one came from, but it sure does crack us up. Not much else to report on Joshua, at least not that I can think of. We have our first ultrasound appointment on Thursday, so please pray for that. We will be sure to post results and pictures as soon as we can. Hope ya'll like the new layout!

Slip Slidin' Away

Joshua shows Mommy how he uses the slide all by himself.

Crackin' Up

Snackin and crackin... up

Goofball

Update

Okay, so I am a slacker. Readership is now probably down to about 2 people on this blog, and that includes me =P So, here is a super-sized update:

Physical - Joshua is crawling around at light speed. It's actually kind of amusing when he gets going because his arms and legs kind of flail out a little bit, and for some reason he looks a little like a spider. Copper is not very amused by the crawling though... he has taken to charging her at full speed and head butting her side. He can pull himself up on just about anything these days, which means our end tables are now very clean and our glass patio door is not. He can cruise quite well, but no walking just yet. We bought him a push-behind walker (which for some reason is made to resemble a mail-cart. Reach for the stars kid... you can work in the mailroom when you grow up!!!) and he absolutely loves it. He is getting the hang of pushing it around and will do laps between rooms with it. He resembles a little old lady while he's using it though. He pushes it out in front of him, then takes a couple steps. All he needs are the little yellow tennis balls on the front and he's set.

Health - He had his weight check today, and he gained a full 1 pound 6 ounces in the past month alone, which means he is now up to 18 pounds 11 ounces (13th percentile). He was in the 5th percentile last month, so that is a great improvement. His iron actually registered a little lower than last time, but the doctor said that since he is gaining weight and developing normally, she is not too concerned about it. He is going to stay on the iron drops, and they will probably recheck it at 12 months. Teeth numbers 7 and 8 have officially broken through and are no longer causing him pain. However, tooth number 9 is working its way out, and this one is a molar, so we are having lots of fun. He is actually handling it fairly well and is still sleeping good at night. But he has had his rough patches during the day. Hopefully it will break through soon so the little guy won't be in so much pain. Not much else to report, the doc said everything was perfect.

Development - Toys are becoming more and more fun for the J-Man. He has developed the motor skills to put balls into the right holes in his toys, and loves to take things out of one thing and put them in another. We just bought him a shape sorter, so that should be a hit in the coming months. The coolest thing is that he has started to mimic some of the things we do (no more flipping the bird on the freeway Brenda!!! j/k). The two things he mimics most often are smacking his mouth with his hand to make the ba-ba-ba sound, and blowing razberries on one another. As far as talking goes, we don't have words just yet, but he is babbling a ton, and he understands what a few words mean (mama, papa/dada, puppy, "fall back"). He will probably be a late talker, as I was a grunter as a child, and Brenda was apparently a squealer (spare us the pig jokes please!).

That is about it for now. Hope everyone is doing well, and I will try to post a little more often. Until then...

Having A Ball

In our neverending quest to get a few minutes of freedom, we have discovered a great distraction for Joshua: balls. A couple of his toys have come with bright plastic balls, and he will spend up to 30 minutes at a time picking them up, aimlessly tossing them 5-10 feet away, crawling after them, and repeating the process. He has even started throwing them underneath the end table and then crawling through it to get to them. Whatever makes him happy... we're just glad to have a few moments of peace!

For the most part, Joshua has been such an amazing joy in our lives lately. Sure there are the back-of-the-mind worries about his weight/anemia, and the afternoon feedings and naps will have Brenda's hair turning gray soon. But he is just developing the sweetest, most playful personality, and he just lights up the room with his smile. He keeps amazing us with his growth and development. One of his toy balls went behind and between the trash can & recycle bin. Instead of giving up and finding a new toy, he tried to get it from a few different angles, crawling on all sides of it. He still couldn't reach it, but you could see him using a little bit of logic to figure things out, and that is just so cool to see him figuring stuff out like that.