Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

I recently took the boys for our annual visit with Santa Claus at the Chandler Mall. If anyone remembers my experience from last year, I am happy to say that this time went MUCH better! For those of you that don’t recall, last year Joshua wanted nothing to do with Santa. When it was our turn Josh wouldn’t go near him. Our picture was mommy sitting next to Santa with Josh on my lap. So this year, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I asked Josh one afternoon if he wanted to go sit on Santa’s lap, and he said “YEAH!!!” and was super excited about it, so we jumped in the car before he could change his mind!

The whole way to the mall he was talking about sitting on Santa’s lap. I’m thinking, this might actually work! We got there at the perfect time... Santa was just coming back from his break as we got off the elevator. We were about the 5th family in line, so we only had to wait 5-10 minutes for Santa. I did not bring the double stroller, so I was able to keep Joshua entertained by helping Ben keep his binky in his mouth.

When it was our turn, I told Josh to go see Santa, and he walked right up to him and sat right down on his lap. The look on his face was so cute. It kind of said “okay... I know I was excited about this. I’m just not sure why.” So he just sat there without saying a word. So I took the best picture I could get (I’m sorry, but I refuse to pay $25 for a picture with Santa when I have a perfectly functioning digital camera of my own!). Then I gave Ben (who was tired of his stroller and therefore screaming) to Santa and got the rest of my pictures. So I got what I went for. Afterward, Joshua was super excited that he sat on Santa’s lap, and is STILL telling us about it. We celebrated our successful Santa adventure with some cookies at Mrs. Fields!

Ben's 4 Month Checkup

I took Ben for his 4 month check up last week, and his doctor was amazed at how healthy and strong he is. She told me that most 4 month olds still are a little bobbly headed, but not our little Benny. He has a super strong neck, and He-Man legs. He even keeps his head straight as an arrow when he is being pulled from his back to a sitting position, which I guess is somewhat uncommon at this age. He also met or exceeded every other milestone on the checklist, so he’s doing great! He weighed in at 13 lbs. 15 oz. (25%) and measured 25 1/4 inches (about 70%). So apparently we just make them long and lean! We’re holding off on the solid foods for now, as he doesn’t really seem to need them yet. Mommy’s milk seems to be doing a pretty good job, so if it ain’t broke....

Over the last few days, Ben has been working really hard at trying to roll over from his back to his tummy. He can get himself about 3/4 of the way there, but can’t quite figure out how to finish the job. We’re sure he’ll get there soon, which (sadly) will put us on the road to mobility! I keep telling him he doesn’t need to be in any hurry for that, but he doesn’t seem to agree. I can’t even keep him in one place while changing his diaper! He loves to plant his feet and scoot around the table. I think we’re in trouble!

Ben has also started laughing over the last few weeks. He’s got such a cute little muted piggy type laugh. We just love it. He’s also quite the talker lately. He is just the happiest baby we have ever seen. It has been so fun to watch him grow over the last few months.

Thanksgiving 2007

The long holiday weekend has come and gone, and all in all, I would say that we had a great Thanksgiving. We spent Thursday with Grandma and Grandpa B and had a great time. Joshua got to play with his cousin Stevin and "Mazzy Puppy", and he always loves seeing his grandparents. We minimally participated in Black Friday, hitting Ritz Camera to buy a new digital camera, which came with a free Canon photo printer and a surprisingly well made fleece jacket. Friday also began the unleashing of Brenda's inner Betty Crocker. The menu included an herb-roasted turkey, apple & sausage stuffing (made with homemade croutons), fruited sweet potatoes (with pineapple, coconut, golden raisins and a streusel topping), and home made mashed potatoes (Joshua helped!). She also made jalapeno cheddar cornbread muffins and a pecan pie. All of this was made from scratch and was super-delicious! Brenda's parents and Lori, Jacob and Grace came over to share the day and the meal with us, and we all had a great time. Granddad, Jacob, Joshua and Daddy all played at the park for a bit, came back for the food, then celebrated Granddad's 60th birthday that evening. In a nutshell (which was probably leftover from all the cooking), this weekend was about family, for which we are very thankful. Our entire family has so much to be thankful for this year, and we thank God for all he has blessed us with this year, and in the years to come. Enjoy the slideshow from Friday's festivities!

Thanks For The Grub

Josh shows us how he prays for his breakfast each morning

The Endangered Gukky

As any 2 year old learning to speak will do, Joshua has had his share of mispronounced words, most of them cute or downright funny. However, over the last week or two, he has been clarifying more and more words. Words are still cute in his little 2 year old voice, but they actually sound like the actual words now. I thought it would be a good time to list a few of our favorites:

"Gukky" - This is the catch-all word, the "I don't know how to say it and I don't want to try, so I'll just say gukky" word. Gukky has been used as a verb, noun, adjective, and probably a few other terms I'm too dumb to think of =) Some examples: "I gukky mommy" means "I help Mommy"; "Gukky-sin" = "Medicine"; "Gukky Street" = "Sesame Street"; "Gukky-nahny" = "Macaroni"; "Gukky-rie" = "Butterfly". In any case, "gukky" has been slowly disappearing from his vocabulary, and we'll surely miss it when it is gone.

"My Did It" - In addition to perfecting his language skills, Josh is like any other 2 year old and wants to do EVERYTHING himself. Instead of saying "I'll do it", he would say "MY Did It". This has changed in the last few days to "My Do It".

"Mommy/Daddy Help You" - Josh will say this when he needs help with something. We would always ask "Do you want mommy to help you?", so we're guessing that is why he asks for help by saying "Mommy help you...". Even funnier was when I tried to teach him to say "Mommy help me", and he came back with "Mommy help you me..."

"Baby Bo / Gisamin" - This is how Josh says Baby Ben / Benjamin. Heck, sometimes I find myself calling him Bo!

"Da-de-da-da's" - Josh's current favorite TV show is the Backyardigans, and somehow, this is how he has decided they are pronounced.

"Mee-nah-mo" - Josh's daycare teacher last year was named Kim, or as the kids called her, Miss Kim; Or as Josh called her, "Mee-nah-mo". Took us a few weeks to figure out what the heck he was talking about with this one!

"Chevy Chase" - We have ABSOLUTELY no idea what this is. He has said it a few times around the same time that we showed him Mickey Mouse, but he knows how to say Mickey Mouse and he has said Chevy Chase at other times as well. Maybe he's sneaking out and watching Fletch while we're sleeping.

Update on Brenda

Most of you probably know, but Brenda's surgery on Friday went well. The procedure took a little more than an hour, recovery took another hour, and back home we went. Brenda's mom was wonderful and watched Joshua and Ben that afternoon, and stayed the night to help out as well. At this point, from what we know and see, the procedure appears to have been successful. The incision is healing normally, Brenda has not had any fluid drainage, and after visiting the doctor on Wednesday, he told her she was done! We are both still cautiously optimistic about everything... I think having to endure this for the past 10 weeks has made us a little bit skeptical, but with each passing day we both grow more confident that this chapter is finally behind us. Brenda is still experiencing some pain in the incision (all normal) and does not have much energy (also normal), but all of that should hopefully pass soon. At some point in the near future, one or both of us will probably reflect on the whole thing and post our thoughts. Thanks to everyone that has helped out through all of this.

Maple Family Update

Well, we have been a family of 4 for 2 months, and everything is going well. We haven't really updated in a while, so here's the goings on of the Maple family over the last few weeks.

Ben is now 2 months old, and is thriving in every area. He's such a healthy, sweet and happy baby. We are truly blessed to have this little guy in our lives. At around 8 weeks, Ben really started smiling. His favorite things are to be told "Hi, Big Guy!" and to watch his blinky star on his baby gym thing, and the mobile in his crib. Whenever he sees them, he flashes the cutest smile that seems to say "My friends are here!". He had his 2 month check up on October 11. He tipped the scales at 11 pounds 7 ounces (50%), and measured 24 inches long (85%). Apparently, we do not have short children. Not sure what's up with that, but I guess we're just supposed to have giants running around our house! He passed every other milestone on the doctor's checklist with flying colors, so he is the picture of health. Joshua is still completely in love with his brother, and loves to try to play with him. He will shake toys and noise makers over Ben's head and say "See, Baby Bo!" Josh has a never ending supply of hugs and kisses to dole out to his little brother. Ben seems to think Josh is pretty cool too. Now that he is able to focus on things, I often catch Ben intently watching Joshua. I think we're going to have some great playmates in a year or two!

I went back to work on October 10. It was nice to be back in the normal swing of things. I wasn't as excited to go back as I was when I had Josh, but I was also not upset about it. I like my job, and to have that grown up time. I have kept my part time schedule for now. I'm not sure how long we'll be able to continue that, but we will for as long as possible.

Mr. Joshua is officially daytime potty trained. He does not wear diapers during the day (except for naptime, which we probably could stop doing too since he usually wakes up dry). He tells me when he has to go potty, or sometimes he just goes in and goes without even saying anything. We are so proud of him! He is the only one in his class that is not in diapers. We thought we may have some trouble with this teacher being cooperative with our potty training efforts after a little mishap the first day, but the other teacher in the room, who is awesome, has really taken the reigns of Joshua and is very attentive to his needs. In a week and a half, Joshua has only had one accident at school, which was on his first day.

A while ago, Andrew had posted about a complication that I had with my c-section incision. Well, the healing completely stalled, and so I am going in for surgery today. Apparently, the seroma that developed when I had Josh created a lot of scar tissue. My OB attempted to remove a lot of that when he delivered Ben, but I guess a lot of it was still hanging around and is now keeping my current seroma from healing. I now have a plastic surgeon who I met through the Chandler Regional Hospital Wound Clinic, and he is going to go in and take out all of that scar tissue and surgically close the seroma. So our prayer is that this whole thing will be over this afternoon. Please keep me in your prayers. I guess there is about a 10% chance that another seroma could develop under the new incision. But if it does, it should heal a lot quicker because the scar tissue will be gone. So whatever happens, the surgery is a forward step toward healing.

That's about it for now. We'll update as things progress.

Making Cookies

Well, my maternity leave is drawing to a close, so yesterday, Joshua and I decided to do something special together. We made cookies! It was so much fun!!! Joshua helped stir the dough...














He poured in the ingredients...














He also scooped the cookies onto the cookie sheet like a pro...














He was so proud of his work...














And of course, the best part... tasting our yummy creation!














He did such a good job and we had so much fun together. I am really looking forward to lots more cooking and baking with my little helper. Can't wait to make Christmas Cookies!!!

How To Poop

In honor of Joshua's success at potty training, we present a wonderful instructional video on "How To Poop".

Mmmmmm.... Yummy!

For the longest time, Joshua has had a VERY small menu of things that he would eat. The boy would have lived in chicken nuggets and goldfish crackers if he could. We couldn't even get him to taste anything that looked even remotely different from his normal cuisine. Then on Sunday, it was like a switch had been flicked and he decided he was going to eat anything and everything. On most Sundays, we go to Sam's Club after church for samples (kind of the poor man's Sunday Brunch). We usually offer Josh anything they have out to sample, and he just about always turns his nose up, unless it's cookies or any other tasty treat. But this past Sunday, whatever we offered him, was devoured! He had grilled chicken, clam chowder, pizza and many other things. Ever since then, he has decided to broaden is food horizons. We have actually been able to serve him whatever it is we are eating for dinner, and usually it is eaten, or at least tasted. Just another leap into Big-Boydom. It has been amazing to see the changes in him even since his birthday a few months ago. He's such a great kid!

Pee Pee in the Big Potty!!!

Today will be counted as our first official day of potty training. Joshua has been using the potty, usually about once a day, for almost 6 months now, but we haven't felt that he was really ready to begin full blown potty training. But now that we are having to buy two sizes of diapers, we feel it is time to really test the waters and see just how ready he is. It's a great time to start since I am home with him over the next 3 weeks. We have decided not to use Pull Ups, because those are too similar to diapers and don't make him uncomfortable enough if he has an accident. So we have gotten him some big boy Spiderman underpants. He is really excited about wearing them, which helps in the process. So today, I decided to give it a shot. At about 11:30 a.m., we decided to change into our underpants. He wore them until 1:00 without an accident. Right before his nap, I told him to go in and go potty... no big deal, as if we had done it every day forever. He went right in, sat down and peed. After his nap, he couldn't wait to get his big boy underpants on again. We put them on at about 4:00. At around 6:00 he told me he had to go pee pee, so we went in and he went. We had an "accident" at about 7:00, but it was interesting to see how upset he was about it. I think that remembering that he didn't like the way that felt will help him remember to go on the potty when he feels the urge. When we were getting out of the bath tonight, I asked him if pee pee is supposed to go in his underpants, and he answered "Nooooooo!". When I asked where the pee pee goes, he said "in the big potty!". It's good to know that he has the mental understanding of what we're doing. He just needs to remember it when he has to go! We'll do it all over again tomorrow and see how we do. Hopefully there will soon be a post called "No More Diapers!!!"

It's Been... One Week

... plus a few days. We finally got out of the broom closet disguised as a hospital room last Monday, and so far, things have been going well. Ben continues to be a wonderful baby. He really doesn't cry all that much, just when he needs something. We haven't experienced many inconsolable crying jags so far. His weight dipped down to 7-4, but was back up to 7-12 on Monday, so he is doing great in that department. We did discover that he has a clogged tear duct in his left eye, so he's getting some ointment in his eyes until that clears up, nothing major. He is sleeping very well at night, much to our delight.

Joshua is doing better than we ever imagined he would. He LOVES his baby brother, constantly wanting to give him hugs and kisses, especially when he is crying. He hasn't shown a hint of jealousy yet, and hasn't intentionally done anything to hurt the little guy (although he did go Three Stooges in an attempt to point out that Ben has eyeballs). Josh loves to help us out, wiping away the bubbles during Ben's bath, throwing away diapers... now if we can just teach him to change them too!

With one small exception, Brenda is doing well. Her incision did end up developing that seroma, as we had feared in the hospital, but it appears to be healing quickly, about 1/2 cm in each direction each day. Please keep this in your prayers that it will continue to heal rapidly (the last one took about 8 weeks). They are treating it differently this time around. Last time the doctor opened a large portion of the incision to allow drainage, and packed it with gauze every other day. This time the doctor (a different one) opened a much smaller area, less than an inch, and we are packing gauze 2X per day. That task is actually falling to me, and while it may sound gross that I am using a long Q-tip to stuff gauze ribbon into a hole in my wife's abdomen, it really isn't that bad. Still, if you had told me a few weeks ago that I would be doing what I am doing, I would have laughed at you. So anyways, apart from this minor setback, Brenda is doing well. She is choosing to keep an upbeat attitude about everything, focusing on the many blessings that God has given us in this situation. She is also happy that she is already only 10 pounds away from her pre-pregnancy weight, just 11 days after giving birth (and she's lookin' darn good if I must say so myself).

Not much to report about me or Copper. I feel like I am bonding a lot more with Josh the past couple weeks, as I have pretty much been his primary caregiver. We have been able to play a lot more together, and it has just been really cool to spend this much time with him. He is growing into such a cool little dude in so many ways... but more on that later.

Don't forget to check out the photo site, we'll try to keep it updated as often as possible...

Thank You

Not to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, but Brenda and I would like to thank a few people. Things would have been MUCH more difficult if we did not have someone to watch Josh, and my mom did an awesome job of keeping Joshua safe and happy for the 4 days we were gone. Joshua seemed to have a great time with Grandma and I don't think he wanted her to leave! Big thanks also to Brenda's sister for being with Brenda on Friday morning/afternoon while she went through the initial recovery process. This allowed me to spend more initial time with the baby, and Brenda had someone to help her as well. Lori waited something like 3-4 hours in a small waiting room before being called into action... she's a trooper! And we definitely want to thank all of the wonderful people that will be bringing us meals over the next couple weeks, and Valerie for putting that all together. Not having to make dinner (and probably lunch) for the next couple weeks will be a huge help to us. I'm sure I am missing other people, but anyone else that has helped us out along the way, we appreciate you as well. Thanks everyone!

Welcome Baby Ben!

What an exciting last few days it has been for the Maple Family. On Friday morning, we welcomed the one who will complete our family... Benjamin Richard Maple.

In my last post (written just hours before leaving for the hospital), I mentioned that I was having some stomach pains, and that it was probably just nervous tension. Well, I was wrong. I was having contractions, and they were actually coming on pretty quickly, about 3 to 7 minutes apart. But we went to the hospital as scheduled, and the fact that I was going into labor didn't hurt or hold up anything. After 2 hours of pre-op stuff (blood tests, fetal monitoring and lots of paperwork), I was wheeled into the OR and we were underway.

Our beautiful little boy was born at 11:47 a.m. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 15 oz, and was 21 1/4 inches long. Andrew's first comment as soon as he saw the doctors lift Ben from my stomach was "Whoa, he has A LOT of hair!" And that he does! I was able to see him, hold him and nurse him in that first hour after he was born, which was something I missed out on with Joshua, so that was very special to me. Right from the get-go he was a professional at nursing. It only took a few minutes to get him latched on the first time, and we never looked back. My milk had already come in by the time Ben was 2 days old because he was such a champ.

We ended up staying in the hospital the full 4 days, because my c-section incision had started to drain. It looked for a while that I was going to be going through all of the same nonsense I did with my last incision. But, thankfully, after everything was drained, my incision closed itself back up and everything appears to be just fine. I have been told to take it even easier than a normal C-Section recovery, so I basically have to sit on the couch and do nothing for the next 2 weeks. For anyone who knows me, you know how UNrelaxing that will be! But I also have to take care of myself, so I'm going to have to force myself to let others help me as much as possible.

I have been feeling great, and my pain really hasn't been too horrible. I am so happy to be home and to have my whole family back together again. Please keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks as we adjust to life as a family of 4.

First Real Haircut

Well, Joshua was starting to look a little mangy, and it had gone far beyond what Mommy was willing to try to tackle, so I finally broke down and took him to get his first professional haircut today. I took him to Snip-Its, a kids haircutting place over by the Chandler Mall. He can be pretty difficult in these kinds of situations, so I was a little nervous about whether or not he would cooperate. I came armed with a bag of M&M's. Bribery is a wonderful thing! Josh was such a good boy for his haircut. He didn't want to wear the apron, and neither the haircutter or myself were going to fight with him over that. As soon as he started getting squirmy (which was pretty much right away) I broke out the treats and we practiced our colors while the hair stylist went to work. I can't say enough nice things about this place. They really know how to handle kids, and have plenty of their own tricks of distraction up their sleeves. Each haircutting station is stocked with animal crackers, lollypops, bubbles and a TV that can play videos. The stylists also are great at dealing with kiddos, and make it a point to do a good job, and get it done speedily (with 2 year olds you're working on a very short clock!). I tried to get some pictures, but none of them are really any good. It's hard to distract and take pictures at the same time. So you'll have to take my word for it that Joshua looks so handsome with his new haircut!

An Inconvenience, But Not A Complication

Another update from Brenda's Myspace page...

I had to go for another ultrasound today to check my amniotic fluid since at my last one two weeks ago they told me that my levels were high. My levels had remained the same (on the high side of the normal range) so my doctor decided to err on the side of caution and make me undergo stress tests and ultrasounds twice a week for the remainder of my pregnancy. So really, that is just two extra appointments since I'm delivering in two weeks. He said the only thing that can be a concern in this situation (and it is an EXTREMELY minor concern) is that the extra fluid could compress the placenta, restricting blood and oxygen flow to the baby. So the stress tests are just going to make sure that he's just hanging out in there, and that there is no distress.

Again, the Lord is using this situation to mold me and grow me spiritually. I am the kind of person who hates to go to the doctor, so I pretty much have to be dying to go. So it is upsetting to me to have to now go twice per week (once was bad enough!). So when we were discussing this at the doctor today, my first reaction was to be upset. But then I was reminded by the holy spirit living in my heart that everything is perfect with the baby. He is thriving, he is totally healthy and growing right on target to where he needs to be, and these tests are just a precaution to make sure he stays that way. So that is where I decided to put my focus. I decided chalk this up to a minor inconvenience, and nothing more.... and there's no reason to be upset about it. I think God is telling me not to be such a reacter, which is where I tend to lean. Because when I'm so busy reacting, I forget that he's even there and really allow the enemy into my life, making me doubt God's provision for me.

On a different note, the ultrasound today showed that Ben weighs about 6 lbs 6 oz at the moment. He also measured his long bones, and said "this baby is not short." So it looks like we've got another basketball player on our hands!

Quick Update

A few quick notes... Joshua had what will hopefully be his final cardiologist appointment on Tuesday. He was born with a heart murmur, which got better, but then another murmur developed around that same time. Murmurs are fairly common in children and usually go away on their own. His checkup on Tuesday confirmed that his was gone, so we should be done with the cardiologist, hopefully for good! Looking back, while it may have been inconvenient to take him to those infrequent checkups (because he always seemed to hate those checkups), we were blessed enough that all they were checking on was a murmur. No pun intended, but your heart just breaks seeing little kids that have much worse problems, some needing heart surgery or worse.

As far as Mommy and Ben go, Brenda had her weekly checkup today and everything seemed to be fine. She is now measuring at 36 weeks, which is what the ultrasound showed last week (she measured at 38 last week, and she is now officially 35 weeks along... no more numbers). They did a, uh, more thorough checkup today, and she is not dilated at all, which is a good thing at this point in time. She asked about a few aches and pains she has been having, and was assured that they are normal. She will be heading in for one more ultrasound in the next week so they can ensure everything is looking okay in regards to the hydramnios.

Since everything is looking good, Brenda is having one last hurrah before being chained to 2 kids for 10 weeks, and will be heading up to Vegas with my mom to help my sister with some wedding planning. The doctor gave her the thumbs up to take the trip, so it will be a Boy's Weekend in the Maple household (sorry Copper, you don't count). I don't know about Josh, but I'll be living on Pringles and Mountain Dew all weekend =)

Juicy Mama

Brenda had a routine checkup last week, and apparently the little guy was measuring big, much bigger than he had in weeks past. He was consistently about 1 week larger than gestational age, but this week he was something like 5. The doctor told us that we needed to have an ultrasound to check everything out. Brenda thought the doctor was just measuring wrong, but hey, a free ultrasound at this late a stage? Not turning that one down! Turns out Ben is not measuring large, he is still about a week ahead. However, Brenda apparently has an overabundance of amniotic fluid, a condition called Hydramnios. In the ultrasound, they measure the largest pockets of fluid in 4 spots in the uterus, add those numbers together, and this gives you the Amniotic Fluid Index, or AFI. Average at this stage is 14 cm; Brenda was measuring at 24 cm. That is obviously on the high side, but it still just appears to be a mild case. There could be many causes of this, the majority of them harmless, but in the ultrasound they check out the kidneys, bladder, etc, to ensure that they are functioning properly. They also check the mouth area to see if there is anything going on that could affect swallowing. The ultrasound tech told us everything looked normal, so it is probably just one of those harmless, random things that seem to be a normal part of this pregnancy. The only thing they get concerned about with hydramnios is that it can sometimes trick the body into thinking things are further along and trigger early labor. We are at 34 weeks, so as long as the little guy hangs out for a couple more weeks, we should be fine. I am sure that we will still be delivering on 8/10, but you never know! What was cool was that we were able to have a 4-D ultrasound done, which means we got some really cool pictures, which are already posted in the photo album. The tech told us she just wanted to have a little fun and do the 4-D for free, but I think it may have actually been asked for by the doctor, after reading a couple articles. In any case, he appears to be happy, healthy and very active in there, and we couldn't be happier!

Mmmmmm... Umbilical

Big Boy!

In preparation for the new arrival (in 5 weeks and 6 days... not that we're counting), we decided that we would transition Joshua into a big boy bed so that we can pass the crib down to his little brother. We then decided to take it one step bigger, and give him a whole new room. We had no idea what to expect, but more than anything expected some kind of fight or power struggle. So last week, Brenda put together his new toddler bed (with Joshua's help... and we all know how much help a 2 year old is with those kinds of things!), and got his new room all set up. He has been very interested in his bed all week, but mostly just wanted to jump off of it. But we really tried to get him excited about his new room and bed. So last night was the moment of truth. After a long night of hard play with his buddy Nathaniel, we came home to hit the hay. We couldn't believe it. After reading our stories and saying our prayers, Joshua cliimbed right in his bed all by himself. He was so ready for this! When Brenda left the room, we didn't hear another peep from him until about 7:30 this morning! And to top that off, he stayed in his bed until we came in to get him. At nap time today, it was the same thing. No fighting, no attempts at escape. Just a 2 hour snooze fest. We could not be prouder of our little big boy. He is such an amazing joy in our lives. The fact that he made this transition so well gives us hope for our next big endeavor... little brother!

Big Kid Now

A few tidbits from the last couple weeks. Joshua had his 2 year checkup and measured in at a whopping 38 inches, which is above 97% on the growth chart. That means he grew another 3 inches in the past 6 months. Unfortunately he only decided to add 1 pound in that 6 months and he weighed in at 26 pounds. Apparently he wants to be a stringbean like daddy =) The doctor wasn't concerned and we certainly aren't either, so no worries there. He also got his last shot until he is 4 (woohoo!). As far as his talking... he is still amazing us every day. He is now putting together the occasional 4 to 5 word sentence, and I think we have lost track of how many words he knows. Our concerns about that are definitely gone.

The big news for Joshua is that he moved out of his crib this weekend! We were anticipating a bit of a struggle, but so far he hasn't had a problem with it. No crying, no trying to get out of his room, no wandering out of his bed... we are amazed! We've been playing up the "big boy now" theme, and it seems to be working. He has been very excited about the whole thing.

Two Years Old!

(Note: This came from Brenda's Myspace blog)

Wednesday was a very special day in the Maple household. Our little Joshua is 2 years old today. It has been so amazing to watch him grow and develop over the last year. This time last year, he couldn't talk and couldn't walk. He was probably about a foot shorter (okay, maybe not that much, but he's grown a lot), and was still so dependant upon us for everything.

My, what a difference a year makes! He is such a little man now. He decided to give walking a try right around the 4th of July last year, and has become increasingly agile since that time. He's running everywhere, and he loves to do somersaults and "jump" off of things. He is talking constantly, and about 99% are actual words that can be easily understood. He's even puttting together sentences.

There have been some struggles over the last year. I remember that 18 months was probably the hardest time we've had so far. We were dealing with an increased ability to understand, but not being able to communicate it, which brought a lot of frustration for everyone. Our Christmas tree stood naked this year, as he was unable to control the impulses of playing with the ornaments. He also began asserting his own decisions, and when he didn't want to do something, he certainly would let you know. But that's all part of growing up.

We just couldn't be prouder of our little man, and look forward to what this next year will bring. A new baby brother, a new bedroom, a big boy bed, and potty training (Lord willing!). We especiallly look forward to those "Kids Say the Darndest Things" moments as his verbal skills continue to develop.

To celebrate the big day, we had his name read on the radio in the morning, and brought cookies to share with his friends at school. We had dinner at McDonalds, and play with our special birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy... a sandbox, sandbox toys, a dump truck and a rocket launcher. It is turning out to be a great day! Then this weekend is the big and much anticipated puppy party!

Happy birthday, J-Man. We love you!!!!

From Silent Bob to Verbal Diarrhea

(Note: This was originally posted on Brenda's Myspace blog)

Just about 6 weeks ago, I was at my wits end, very concerned that Joshua was not talking. I was convinced we were going to need to get him evaluated, and all that. Then, he just exploded. He's got probably about 50-60 words now, most of which can be understood pretty clearly. I am the happiest mommy in the world, now that I can verbally communicate with my kiddo. What is funny is that he was so quiet for so long, now he's making up for lost time. We really can't shut the kid up! He narrates everything that he does.. "I sit!" "Go to da store" "Up-ey Steps", and is mimicking everything. It is hilarious, but also a little unnerving. We are now to the point where we REALLY need to watch what comes out of our mouths. It really makes you stop and think what appropriate language really is. Obviously we shouldn't be saying the major offenses (little one in the house or not)... but what about calling someone an idiot on the road? Do I want to hear my son calling someone an idiot? Absoultely not. Or even just saying that something "sucks". We're really trying to G-rate our language and behavior. Then, what about shows that are on the TV? He is always paying attention to everything, so it stands to reason that the old boob tube can be an influence on him, even at this young age. I know he is going to be exposed to this stuff, especially as he begins to gain more and more independence over the next few years (can we say, elementary school???), but there is a big difference between being exposed to it, and condoning it. I feel that if these things commonly happen in our home, we are saying that they are okay, which I am not okay with. Just another sacrifice of parenting! But it is SO worth it!!!

Joshua-to-English Dictionary

Now that Joshua is spitting out new words everyday, we thought it would useful to have a Joshua-English dictionary to help decipher some of the verbage. Some of the words he can say perfectly: Mommy, Daddy, puppy, bubble, cookie, juice, shoes, socks, "I Sit in Seat", cheese, fishies, "Lets Go", "I Can See It". Here's the ones that need some translation:

Up The Steps = "Uh-Pee-Seps!"
Ball = "Bah-oe"
Milk = "Guk"
Strawberry = "Buh-buh-bee"
Please = "Peace"
Amen = "Muh-Men"
Night-Night = "Nah-nee"
Nathaniel = "Nah-nee"
Potty = "Poo-pee"
Airplane = "Ah-poe"

Ch-Ch-Changes!

So it has only been a couple weeks since the last post, but it seems like Josh has changed a bunch since then. Honestly, the Tuesday after that post, Josh woke up and was a very different kid. For one thing, he that look in his eye, like he was going to be up to something, like he was going to explore and there was nothing we could do about it (you parents know the look I'm talking about). Ever since then, he has been more adventurous, more talkative, more everything. He seems to have double the energy he used to have, but not in an "oh-crap-terrible-twos" way. He has actually been very well behaved lately, for the most part. Anyways, the changes. First and foremost, he has finally decided that he wanted to talk a little bit. We always knew that he understood everything we said and we would catch him occasionally spitting out a word. But he has definitely expanded his vocab in the last two weeks: bump-bump (wanting to go over speed bumps), puppy, cookie, grass, key, amen (pronounced meh-men), beep (pronounced buh-p). He also is making up his own little sign language... he will point to his eyes if he wants his sunglasses, his ear if he wants the phone, his head if he wants his hat, his mouth if he wants to eat or drink and his hand if he wants to draw with his markers (don't ask).

Another exciting development is that he has shown a lot of interest in his potty. He has been wanting to sit on it a lot, and over the past few days he has peed in it quite a few times. Today he actually led Mommy into the bathroom, took off his shorts, had her take off his diaper and sat down. He got distracted when he didn't go, started playing with the door, noticed that he had peed on the floor, pinched it off (ouch!) and went back to the potty to finish! So he is definitely figuring out what it is for. Hopefully he will stay on this track!

As far as being adventurous, he has been testing his courage at the playground, conquering both the wobbly bridge AND the chain ladder in just this week alone. He seems to be developing a lot of confidence in himself lately, on the playground and everywhere else, and we are super proud of him, as always.

On a side note, his future sibling is developing just fine. We had another ultrasound last week and everything appears to be developing nicely. We are still on track for a mid-August arrival, which will be here before we know it. Please keep Brenda and the baby in your prayers.

Look Ma, No Pants!

Joshua continues to add new skills to his arsenal every single day. Last week, as the picture shows, he learned how to pull down his pants! It was funny at first, walking in to check on him and seeing him with his pants down. It was even funnier to watch him shuffle off with his pants around his ankles. Not quite so funny when he whipped 'em down repeatedly at our Bible study Friday night! Luckily it seems like he only does it when he is wearing his jammies, so we haven't had any problems in public just yet. Thanks heavens for buttons and zippers!

Sick Boy

Well, we made it almost 21 months, but over the past weekend, Joshua finally came down with his first ear infection. At first it didn't seem like anything worse than a common cold: fever, cough, runny nose. But then the fever kept sticking around, and then the diapers got a little, uh, looser and more frequent. We finally took him to the doctor and she said that he had an ear infection in his left ear. He's now on a 10 day course of Amoxicillin, which amazingly is his first prescription ever. Unfortunately the antibiotic is also making his tummy a bit worse. Okay, a lot worse. Wednesday night between 5:30 - 8:30, we changed somewhere around 14 or 15 diapers. It slowed down a bit on Thursday, and it appears to be even better today (knock on wood), but he's still staying home from school, just in case. And even though Brenda and I are up to arms in dirty diapers (Brenda more so than me, she's a trooper), we still feel very blessed that this is the first time in Joshua's 21 months on Earth that we have had to go through something like this. He is a very healthy kid and we are so thankful for that. Now go buy stock in Huggies!!!

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!

Joshua's Little Buddy!

The J-Man apparently has a friend at daycare... the teacher says they do this almost every day!

Monkey Hear, Monkey Say

Over the last couple of days, Joshua has taken great strides in his journey toward being verbal. We have noticed that he definitely has words that he uses a lot, but they are either made up words, or ones that he has switched all the consonants to ones he knows so that they don't sound like what he's trying to say. But we have noticed that he makes the same groups of sounds in similar situations, like when a light is out, or he finds something missing from somewhere. He still doesn't have that many real words that he actually says and uses regularly, but he is turning into our little parrot. He has started to mimic a lot of the sounds that we are making, his favorite being the "P" sound, which he always whispers. He also has learned how to say "silly", which is really cute. There are two copycat things that just really crack us up. He has been entertained by rapid eye blinking for a while (watching mommy or daddy do it), but now he is trying to do it himself. He doesn't quite have the rapid part down, and he keeps his eyes about halfway closed when he's doing it, but it is the cutest thing! The other is copying us when we put our fingers to our lips and say "Shhhh". Apparently it looks like we're pointing to our noses, because Josh will point to his nose and say "ssssss". He never ceases to amaze us in the new things he learns everyday. We think in the next few months he will decide that there is really something to this talking thing and will really start to turn it on. That seems to be his personality... kind of an all or nothing kind of guy. That's how he was when it came to walking, so it shouldn't be any surprise that he's doing it again in the verbal department. We'll keep you posted on our hopefully soon to be little chatterbox.

Joshua's Big News

Behold, the Christmas Tree

When we put the Christmas tree up a few weeks ago, Joshua was an instant fan. It was assembled while he was down for a nap, and when he woke up, it stopped him dead in his tracks, and got a "whooooaaaa" out of him. After that, every morning he had to present the Christmas tree to us. He would march out to the kitchen to where the tree is, and walk toward it with his arm outstretched and his palm up, as if to say, "behold, the glorious Christmas Tree!"

18 Month Update

Just wanted to update you all on our big guy... can't really call him a little guy anymore. Joshua went to the doctor for his 18 month well-baby check up, and we were amazed to find that he has grown almost 4 inches since his first birthday!!! He now stands at 34 3/4 inches (97%) and weighs in at about 25 lbs (40-50%). We couldn't get an exact weight, as Joshua is not a big fan of the doctor's office right now. He is scared of the scale, so in order to weigh him, they had to weigh mommy holding him, and then weigh mommy by herself (which mommy as SO happy about!) =) But he's still a tall and skinny dude. Everything else checked out perfectly. He's such a healthy kid, and we are very thankful for that.

One of his favorite activities is still stacking blocks. He is very meticulous about it, and can stack up to 12 at once, all by himself! He even will straighten parts of the stack that aren't exactly flush. His doctor said that he will be the one in all of the honors classes. =) If the whole NBA thing doesn't work out for him, he has a bright future in engineering. He also still really enjoys books, and we hope that this love is here to stay. His mommy and daddy were both big readers when they were younger, so we hope he will follow in our footsteps.

Spoon Master

Joshua has perfected the art of eating with a spoon...

Ho! Ho!... Im not so sure about this!

This week, Joshua went to get his picture taken with Santa. He was happy to see Santa, as long as Santa kept his distance. But Santa was nice enough to make room for Mommy on his chair so that we could all get our picture together. I think he was a little traumatized by Santa, since the rest of the afternoon and into the next day he was super cranky and clingy, but he's recovered now, and we got to begin to chronical Joshua's second Christmas season. Next year he should be a little more excited to see Santa. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Slip Slidin' Away

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

Crackin' Up

Snackin and crackin... up

What's up with the J-Bird

Sorry yet again for the long gap in posts. But there is never a dull moment in the Maple house with the J-man around! He has really been cracking us up lately, and learning so many things. So here's what's up with the J-Bird over the last month...

Joshua is beginning to realize that his mouth can be used for more than shoving food into, and he has discovered some words... actually we think he is deciding to bypass single words all together, and go straight for sentences. His favorite thing to say is "Don't touch it." (Gee, where did he get that?) He also says "what is it?", as well as Copper, fishy, ma ma, da da, and he tries to say his own name. His teachers are amazed at how much he understands, and tell us that he is way ahead of the curve in that area for his age. It seems that everyday he is doing something new. You just never know what he's going to do next!

Joshua took his first trip to the zoo a few weeks ago, and had a blast. His favorite part was the petting zoo. He chose one goat that belonged to him. Whenever anyone else would want to pet "his" goat, he had to go make sure they were not going to take his goat away. As he gets older we're sure he will grow to really enjoy all parts of the zoo, as he really seems to love animals.

For Halloween, Joshua dressed as Superman, and was the cutest kid on the block! Our neighborhood was so festive... everyone got in on the fun. We had such a good time taking him trick-or-treating down the street, and meeting some neighbors we had not yet met. He was really getting the hang of trick-or-treating. After a few houses, he knew what to do, and would take off running for the front door once we were half way up the driveway.

Well, I guess that brings you up to speed on our little J-Monkey. Make sure you check out his photos!

Goofball

Where's My Nose?

Our little genius points out various body parts...

Hot Diggity Dog

Just a short clip of Joshua chowing down on a hot dog using a fork. Enjoy... he sure did!

Long time, no update

Well, life has been a little crazy these last few weeks, so the Maples sincerely apologize for slacking. On the Joshua front, the little man is full steam ahead in the walking department. He really decided he was completely done with crawling right after we moved into our new house. I think he loves the open space that we have now. Plenty of room to run around and places to hide and get in trouble (i.e., fireplace). He is also really starting to show us his silly side. He sits at the dinner table (no more highchair)and makes funny faces at us, just to get our reaction. He is able to identify many animals, and is great at following directions. He definitely has his stubborn streak (gee, where did he get that?), but most of the time makes good choices and does what he is asked to do.

Now that he has hit the big 0-1, he has been promoted into the big-boy classroom at daycare. He loves to participate in the activities with the other kids, like painting (more on him, the other kids and his teacher than on the canvas), blowing bubbles and dancing to music. He no longer sleeps in a crib, but on a little cot, and all of the kids eat together around these little round tables. Joshua took a few days to warm up to sleeping in a non-confined environment, but after a few days, he was back to normal, taking naps of more than an hour.

On the family front, for those of you who don't know, the Maples call a new house home. We moved into our "dream house" about 4 weeks ago. This is the same house (same floorplan, anyway) that we almost bought three years ago. It's a little bit bigger than our old house, has a HUGE back yard and the best part is.... its ONE STORY! It's an older house, so there are a few fixer-upper things, but that gives Andrew a chance to finally get all those tools dirty!

I suppose that is enough of a novel for now. We promise to try to be better about posting (Andrew has finally showed me how, so it's not all on him anymore.) So until next time...God bless!!!

Test

Video!

Our old digital camera died a few weeks ago (after we had squeezed a little over 4 years of life out of it). We missed out on a couple weeks of pictures, but our new camera has the capability to take decent video clips, and it is much easier to upload those instead of our video camera. I posted a cute clip of Joshua playing and running around, check out the link:

One Giant Leap For Mankind

Like Neil Armstrong on the moon, Joshua finally took one small step for man. Actually he took a whole bunch of little ones! Yes, the world as we know it is going to be forever changed. Our little J-Bird has finally figured out how to walk, and is slowly but surely finding out that he can use this newfound skill to take him places. On July 3rd, we bought one of those cheap rubber balls from Walmart, the kind that are about 2 feet tall, figuring that Joshua would love to push it around. Little did we know that it would be the motivation he needed to walk! We were rolling it back and forth, when he pulled himself up on it. He pushed it back over to me, and was left standing there, holding on to nothing, in the middle of the room. We gave him a little encouragement to come on over to the ball, and much to our surprise, he took 4 or 5 wobbly steps! Brenda and I both looked at each other like "Did you just see what I saw?!". He has done it plenty of times since then, with and without the ball, and is slowly but surely walking instead of crawling in some situations. What is so cool is that he is SO excited about being able to walk! He doesn't have this unsure, "oh crap" look on his face. No, he has this like of sheer joy, a bright beaming smile, laughing half the time. He loves it!

Birthday Party

Yup, I am finally writing about his birthday, a few weeks after it actually happened. Better late than never! We had his birthday at Gymboree Play and Music, and it seemed like everyone had a lot of fun! For those of you who don't know what that place is, it is pretty much an indoor playground for little ones. Indoor parties are pretty much a must when your birthday is in June in Arizona! In any case, all of the family was there, and lots of little ones too. All the kids ran around and wore themselves out for a good portion of the time, and they do lots of singing, dancing, and playing with different toys and bubbles. Cake was, uh, interesting. Joshua's aversion to all things mushy led to about 3 licks of frosting and thats about it. We tried a few times to get him to dig in and make a mess, but I think the feel of the frosting grossed him out or something, cuz he wasn't havin' it! The J-Man got a lot of great presents as well, and seems to like all of them.

Checkup

Joshua had his 12 month checkup on Thursday, and it went very well. He is still a little stringbean: 31 inches (90th percentile) and 19 lb 5 oz (5th percentile). But he is still gaining weight and growing taller, so they are not concerned at all, and neither are we. After all, Daddy is tall and skinny as well! The news that we are happiest about is that he does not have to take his iron supplements anymore!!! Apparently the numbers from his finger-prick test are good enough now that we don't need to give him his 2X a day supplement. He actually kind of enjoyed them I think, since every time we broke the dropper out he would open his mouth wide. Yes, our kid likes to take his vitamins =) We're happy because those little gray spots on his teeth caused by the iron will finally go away. However, we are going from one supplement to another. Instead of giving him cow's milk (since he is old enough now), the doc suggested that we give him either Pediasure, or whole milk mixed with Instant Breakfast. We'll try the Pediasure first, but we'll see how long our wallet will let us do that. On a sad note (at least for Joshua), he got three more shots; 1 in each arm, and 1 in the leg. But he took them like a trooper again, so lets hope any side effects are gone by party time on Saturday!

Here for a Year

The big day has come and gone, and Joshua Andrew Maple is now a one-year old. Yikes! Heaven knows where the past year has gone, but it has definitely been an amazing one, unlike any year we have ever had. A year ago today we were still sitting in a hospital, ready to go home, even though we had no idea what we would do once we got there. And now here we are, hardly experts at this, but definitely much more comfortable with it than a year ago. It all sort of comes by second nature now, although there always seem to be new things popping up that test your skills (and we haven't even reached the speaking stages yet!).

His birthday was a good one. We didn't do too much out of the ordinary on the actual day. Brenda took him to the mall to play on the indoor playground they have, and he went in a pet store for the first time. He says "ga-ga" in a distinct way when he sees doggies, and apparently he was very excited because he just kept shouting that over and over. He also had a warmup for his birthday party; we gave him a whole cupcake for the first time. He stared at it for about 15-30 seconds, then started leaning over and eating it without using his hands. Very cute. His birthday party is this coming Saturday and we are very excited. It will be at Gymboree, and in addition to family, there will also be 8-12 kids of varying ages there as well (most closer to his age). Should be fun!

Not a ton of developments over the past month. He still has no interest in walking, although occassionally in the backyard we can hold his hand and he will walk along side of us. If he really wanted to he totally could, but he's just so good at crawling that he has no interest in it. He is also becoming a somewhat picky eater, very picky about the textures. He loves crunchy food, probably because he has TWELVE teeth to use now. But getting the kid to eat fruits or meats is a test. He has begun to show us how smart he is. He knows where our tummys and toes are, knows what "put the binky in the crib" means, and in the past few days learned to tell us what sound a cow makes. Sure, he doesn't know what a cow is, but he knows what they sound like!

There are tons of new pictures on the web page, be sure to check those out. I will post again after his birthday party and will post pictures of that as well. Until next time...

11 Months!

Okay, so much for updating more often.

Physical - Still not walking! In fact, we think he is pretty content with crawling, since he does it so well. Why walk when you can fly around on all fours?! He can actually stand quite well on his own, until he notices that he is standing by himself, then he grabs for something to hold on to.

Health - Not sure what his weight is, since he doesn't have another weight check until his 1 year checkup, but he sure feels heavier. Either that or we are getting weaker. In other news, I think that we actually had an alligator. In our last update, he was working on tooth #9, a molar. #9 has barely broken through, and he is also working on #10 AND #11, both molars as well. So he is pretty much cutting THREE molars at once, and he is not enjoying it. At most times during the day he usually has 1 or 2 fingers in his mouth, he;s drooling like crazy, and he has been extra cranky (at least for him). No other health issues really... we were blessed with a very healthy kid.

Development - It seems like Joshua is doing something new everyday, and we are having so much fun with him right now. He has discovered that he has a tongue, and if you stick yours out at him, he will stick his right back. Just last weekend he discovered that he could clap while sitting in his high chair at Grandma B's. He doesn't really copycat clap, just does it randomly. He also LOVES to wave bye-bye, usually while going "ayaayaayaayaayaa". We do have a few words that we are pretty sure he means to say: "dada", "mama", "gaga" (we think this is Copper, because he says it and looks directly at her), and "HI!". Not "hi", but "HI!". Brenda also taught Joshua to blow kisses to people, which is very cute. He is rolling right along with the foods, and we think that he is getting tired of eating baby foods, because we are having to fight him more and more with them (although that could be a teething thing too). He loves to eat things big-boy style... a few of his favorites are pickles, waffles (a new discovery), Nilla Wafers, Club crackers, Zwieback toast, Cheerios, sometimes a Gerber meat stick. He's not so fond of fresh fruit yet, still kind of prefers that in a jar. But he loves his crunchy carbs!

Hopefully it won't take me another month to update. Until next time...

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.

Update

Nothing super exciting to post, but I had the time so figured I'd throw something on here. Joshua has been babbling up a storm lately, and is especially amusing when he is practicing his "P" sound. He will sit there making a soft, breathy "puh" sound over and over, like a little puff of air. Tooth #7 is still trying to work its way out. It doesn't seem to bother him too much, although he did have a little trouble getting to sleep last night. He has really picked up the speed crawling, and can turn on the jets if he wants to. We should enter him in some baby races! He can take the entire flight of stairs in about a minute now, which is pretty good considering there are about 15-20 steps (I'm too lazy to walk down the hall and count them). He has been much better eating in the evenings; we moved his 3 PM breastfeeding to 6 PM, and his 6 PM solid foods to 4 PM, and that seems to have done the trick. And we've also discovered that the boy has a hankerin' for the Nilla Wafers. If you ever want 5 minutes of silence, hand him a cookie (that works with daddy too!)

Happy Birthday!

No Joshua isn't 1 year old yet, we've still got 3 months to go before that milestone. But he does want to wish a happy birthday to his newest cousin, Chevlynn Ann-Renee Smith, who was just born on March 18th at 7:44 PM! Congratulations to proud mommy and daddy, April and Dan!

9 Month Checkup

Joshua had his 9 month checkup yesterday and it went fairly well. They apparently screwed up measuring his length last time, because they said this time that he was 29.5", which is just about what it was last time. He has definitely grown since December (the crib rail hides less of his face), so they goofed somewhere. In any case, that is in the 75th percentile, so he has slowed down a bit in his quest to be the world's tallest baby. The doctor was a tiny bit concerned because his weight was only 17.5 pounds, which is in the 5-10% range. A quick blood test showed that he is slightly anemic, not enough to be worried about, but enough that the doctor prescribed him some iron drops and scheduled a checkup in a month. She said that having anemia may cause him to be a little skinnier, so hopefully these iron drops will fix the anemia and fatten him up a little bit too =) We're not really worried, as he is hitting all of his developmental milestones. We just don't like hearing that something is wrong with our little man, and you can't help but feel that it is something that we are or aren't doing properly. But more likely is that no baby is 100% perfect and this is just one of those little things that we'll barely remember a year from now.

On the brighter side, the doctor said that the reason that he has been fighting his dinner is that he may be bored with baby food and may want to try to feed himself a little more. She suggested that we cut up food into smaller pieces and let him try to self feed at that meal (which provides a nice quiet distraction during our dinner as well). We tried eggs, strawberries and toast last night... he wasn't quite sure what to make of it but got a few bites in his mouth, and more than a few in his lap. I'm sure he'll be an expert in no time!

Catchin' Up

So by now, anyone still reading this has lost all hope of getting a weekly update. Time and brain power definitely seem to be at a premium these days. The little man is ALL over the place. I love the kid to death, but dude, sit still for like 5 minutes! No wonder he's so skinny, he never stops moving =) But it is so cool to see him crawl all over the place, cruise on the furniture, pull himself up on absolutely everything, and to think that at one point all of us were doing the exact same things.

Joshua seems to have finally kicked cold #2 or 3 (can't remember how many he has had). Still has the remnants of a cough, but the rest of it seems much better. We also think that he may have had a mild case of roseola, which is very common and harmless. Basically they have a fever for a couple days, then a flat rash for a couple days, then it's done. The rash seems to have gone away, so we're not even going to bother with the doctor, especially since his 9 month appointment is on Monday anyways.

As you have probably figured out by the last post, we now have the ability to post videos online. I didn't say we had the time to download them from the camera and edit them, but we can certainly post them!

As far as development goes, he is moving right along. He is eating like a little piggy, mostly in the morning. He is eating about 18-20 ounces of baby food, 16-20 ounces of milk, and 2-3 ounces of water a day. He is still babbling, hasn't quite put words to objects yet. He is also finally holding bottles by himself. Apparently he has actually been doing this for a while, but he rarely gets a bottle at home, so we never really see it! On the downside, Joshua has discovered that he can hit things. It's cute when he hits his toys, his high chair tray... not so cute when it is our faces, the dog, a food-filled spoon, other kid's faces at daycare. Okay, so the last one is kind of funny, at least in the mental image sort of way. Oh, and we also think that he is working on teeth #'s 7 and 8.

Joshua still loves the light on the stairway landing. He has also discovered the joy of bubble baths, although I think Mommy enjoys them a little more than he does =) One of his new things is to carry a random toy around with him when he is crawling around.

I'm sure I am completely forgetting some things, but that is about all I can remember. New pictures are up, be sure to check 'em out!

Video Test

Long Time No Post

Wow, it has really been a long time since I have posted to this thing. I don't really think that Joshua has done anything majorly groundbreaking since the last post, but he just continues to develop in such an amazing way every single day. He is crawling like nobody's business now, finding every little nook and cranny of the house. Each day we find ourselves saying "Joshua found such and such, guess we need to find a new spot for that now!" "Such and such" would include Copper's water and food dishes, the dish towels hanging from the oven door, the coasters from the end table, and a million other things. He has also mastered crawling up the stairs, although we definitely don't let him do that alone. He loves the hallway light on the landing, smiling and laughing everytime he sees it, so that gives him a little extra motivation. He is also pulling himself up on everything, including stuff that is shorter than him (he kind of hunches over stuff... being so tall he better get used to it!). He is babbling like crazy now, and we think that he may actually know what "ma-ma" means. He says it quite a bit when Mommy is around. He is currently getting over cold #2. This one hasn't lasted as long, but the cough/congestion has been much nastier. You can hear the gunk rattling around in his chest from time to time... I need to teach him to hock a loogie so he can get that out of there. He was doing much better today, so I think we are on the tail end of this one.

Mommy and Daddy finally got their new computer (we are hoping to reenact a scene from Office Space with our old one), so once I get the right cable and play around with some software, I should be able to post some movies online. We just added some more 7 and 8 month pictures to the photo album, so be sure to check those out!

Observation

A few observations of mine today (at the risk of sounding like the parental version of Jeff Foxworthy):

You know you are officially a parent when your kid is sitting on your lap and makes a puke sound and you instinctively hold out your hands to catch whatever might come out (luckily it was a false alarm).

You know you are officially a parent when you can walk around all day with someone else's boogers all over your shirt and not really care.

I'm sure Brenda could add about a million more of these...

Sick Boy

Joshua is in the middle of his first real illness. After 7 months of having nothing more than a sniffle or cough here and there, he came down with a pretty nasty cold. His fever has been hanging around for the last 2 days, his nose is running like a faucet and when the Motrin starts wearing off we get the saddest looks we have ever seen. The doc checked him out and said it was definitely just a virus and not an infection, so no need for a prescription, just keep giving him Motrin, booby juice, and water. I'm sure he'll be fine by Monday morning, and it is definitely amazing that we haven't run into a cold until now!

Jungle Book

It's probably just the little goofball trying out new things, but we may have a Mowgli on our hands (watch the Jungle Book if you have no idea what I am talking about). On Monday afternoon, Joshua was apparently getting in his crawling position, then raising his butt straight off the ground while keeping his feet and hands planted. Funny stuff.

Off To The Races!

At 7 months and 1 week (this past Friday), Joshua finally decided that he wanted to be mobile and started to crawl. He had been taking 1 or 2 crawling steps throughout the previous week but never more than that. But Friday, after coming home from daycare, he finally put it all together and made it across the living room. He's not zooming all over the place, and he hasn't 100% caught on yet to the fact that he can now get wherever he wants to go, but if he sees something across the room that he wants to explore, he knows that he can get there now.

In the back of our minds, we had kind of been wary of him learning how to crawl, just because it opens a whole new world of things to worry about, but honestly, we are both so excited for him that we're not even thinking about that. The only real changes now are baby-proofed cabinets and trying to remember to close the bathroom door.

Copper is the one who should be scared. Joshua has always been fascinated by his puppydog, and has always been tempted by her big floppy ears and constantly wagging tail. Previously, whenever Joshua got close to her, Copper could just move over 6 inches or so and be out of his range. Now that Joshua has unlimited range, she's going to have to learn a new trick (not easy for an old dog... ba-dum-bum). He did snag her tail on Saturday night, which she was none to pleased about.

This past month has just been amazing to watch this kid. He has learned to pull himself up to standing all by himself, he's crawling and has been babbling like crazy the past week or so... including the "m" sound today... "mama" could be the next big thing! It is so awesome to see him develop into this little person, with his own little personality, and even though every baby learns how to do all this stuff, we can't even begin to tell you how proud we feel right now.

Stay tuned, he seems to be doing something new every week!

Sit JBird Sit... Good Boy

Apparently these past few weeks Joshua has decided he is going to do EVERYTHING. Last night while we were eating dinner, Joshua was on his tummy getting kind of ticked and scooting backwards a little bit. Then he got one of his legs underneath him, did a pushup, scooted back some more, and voila! He was sitting up! All by himself, with no help from mommy or daddy. Shortly after that, he got himself on all fours and was moving around his hands, moved them forward a bit, then one leg went forward with it!!! So he kind of crawled, although it was only one step. He's not racing around the house yet, but it can't be far away!

Look What I Can Do

Just a quick update on the boy who is growing up way too fast. We aren't quite to crawling yet, but he has taken a big step forward. A few times over the last couple days, he has been able to get up on all fours. He doesn't spend a ton of time in that position, but he has definitely learned how to get himself in that position, and will be crawling before we know. On one hand, we are sad to see him grow up and are a little wary of what this new mobility will bring (I'm sure Copper won't be too fond of the fact that he'll be able to chase her). However, it is so exciting to see him develop, and even though it is just something as simple as crawling, you feel so proud when he hits those big milestones.

Also, he has suddenly decided that he can pull himself from a sitting to standing position. Don't remember the exact day, but one of us had our hands out in front of him, and he just grabbed on with both hands and yanked himself up! No help from us, just a little counterpressure, but no lifting on our part whatsoever. Of course now anytime we try to do something to him while he is sitting, he tries to pull himself up. It makes putting on a jacket quite an adventure!

Christmas (A Week Late)

J-Birds 1st Christmas was a busy but memorable one. We started out the holiday weekend with a trip to great-grandma's. Later on, Joshua had his first church ministry experience when he helped Mommy and Daddy welcome people to the 3:30 Christmas Eve service. That was followed up by attending the 5 PM service with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Maple, and Auntie Andrea. We couldn't have asked for a better behaved child. He sat quietly in his stroller while we greeted, fell asleep as soon as the 5 PM service started, woke up with about 5-10 minutes left and played quietly on Mommy's lap. After church we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Maple's to open presents and have dinner. Joshua did a fantastic job opening his presents, and was happy to see all of his other relatives as well. Once we got home, Joshua opened his first ornament from Mommy and Daddy. We have a tradition that we buy each other one ornament every year, and it has to somehow relate to something that happened during the past year. It makes decorating the tree much more fun.

Joshua slept great that night, and we opened our presents when we woke up on Christmas morning. Santa brought Joshua's favorite present, a LeapFrog Learning Table that keeps him entertained for extended periods of time (it's our favorite toy too!). After opening all of our presents, we drove out to Grandma and Grandpa B's house for breakfast and presents and a fun time with the Grandparents, Aunt Kerri, Uncle Paul, Great Grandma Eleanor, Auntie April, and Uncle Dan. Joshua got a ton of presents, including what seems like half of the VeggieTales DVD library. All the gift unwrapping must have worn him out, because he took a hardcore nap afterwards.

Christmas Day ended with a visit from Grandma and Granddad Duncan, Auntie Lori, Uncle Dom, and Cousin Jacob. We had a great Christmas dinner (free Honeybaked Ham is the best kind!), and opened a bunch more great presents. Afterwards, we all piled in our cars and went to see Christmas lights in 2 different neighborhoods (another Christmas tradition). One of the houses even has a walk-through version of Bethlehem in their backyard!

It was great first Christmas, and Joshua was so amazing throughout the whole thing. He didn't get too fussy, despite all of the travelling around, did a great job unwrapping his gifts, and got to see all of his family. Hope everyone else had as merry a Christmas as we did!

You Give Me Fever

Apparently 3 immunizations and a flu shot is a wee bit much for the J-Bird to handle. He woke up this morning a bit cranky and a bit warm, sporting a 100.4 degree temp. Infant Tylenol helped bring that down below 100, but when Brenda got to Grandma's after her afternoon Christmas party, his fever had cranked up all the way to 102.5!!! We didn't freak out and call the doc or rush to the emergency room though. He was still acting fairly normal (although a bit blah and cuddly), so we gave him some Infant Motrin and by the time we put him to bed it was back down to 100.4. That is definitely a record high temperature for the little guy though.

Gigantor

J-Bird went for his 6 month checkup today (yes, he is somehow already 6 months old). He is continuing to stretch further and further vertically, and not so much horizontally. If he keeps it up, he is going to be even taller and skinnier than his father. He is a whopping 29-1/2 inches long (97%) and 16 lbs 8 oz (40%). To put his height in perspective, he is the height of an average 11 month old. He also got a flu shot today, as well as a few other immunizations. He seems to be taking it all in stride though, and continues to be his happy-go-lucky self. I guess there isn't much to be sad about when your only 6 months old!

Say Uncle

This past Saturday, Joshua welcomed a new uncle to the family. New Uncle Dominic married Auntie Lori in a beautiful ceremony. The three of us couldn't be happier for Lori, Dom, and Jacob, and Joshua knows that he is gaining what promises to be an awesome uncle. Congratulations Dom and Lori!

Bottle, Chew Toy, Whatever

Apparently Joshua is going to have a full set of teeth by the time he is a year old. Or at least it seems that way. He will be 6 months old in a couple days, and he has his 2 bottom teeth, his top 2 incisors, and the top 2 next to those are just starting to show. For those of you counting at home, that is pretty much a tooth for each month. They just keep popping out!

Unfortunately, with all of this teething, it is disrupting his bottle feeding skills. Granted he only takes 1 bottle a day (sometimes 2), but it is still a problem. He will take a few sucks, then shift the nipple over to the side of his mouth and start chewing it. An entire feeding, which used to take 10 minutes or so, now take 30-40, and usually isn't a full feeding. Luckily he only does this with the bottle, and Brenda has stayed safe and unscarred! If any of you parents reading this have any suggestions on what might help, leave us a comment. We are going to ask the doc in a couple days, and may try a sippy cup to see if that helps.

Catchin' Up

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written anything. Something about a 5 month old saps your energy and along with it, your will to keep a blog updated. Here's the scoop since the last post:

Joshua has conquered Stage 1 baby food, and really seems to enjoy eating something besides breast milk. He's not suite sure of peas, but he still takes 'em down. No funny faces, much to my dismay. We tried to get him going on Stage 2 baby food, but he's not quite ready yet, still gags on it a little bit. But he is up to 3 solid meals a day, along with his milk. Brenda is still a trooper and we have yet to give the kid any formula.

He continues to develop physically at an amazing rate. He is now about 28.5 inches (98%) and about 16 pounds (50%). Yes, he is still long and skinny like his daddy. But he is starting to put a little bit of meat on his bones... you can't see the kid's ribs anymore, which is always nice. His two bottom teeth are all the way through, and didn't cause a ton of pain. However, the top right tooth is now coming in, and seems to be bugging him a little more. He's still taking it like a champ though, and luckily most of the discomfort has come during "awake" hours.

No crawling yet, but we are getting closer. He can extend his arms all the way on his stomach, and he can get his butt a good 6 inches off the floor, but he can't quite do both at the same time. Once he figures it out, we think he is going to be an active one. He sure seems to want to go places. Although he can't pull himself to sitting, he can sit up pretty much without supervision now. He still topples over every now and then, but he seems to have it mastered.

He went through a 3 week or so period where you heard nothing from him but grunts, groans, and screeches, earning him the nickname "Mongo". But he seems to be growing out of that, and has started babbling within the last few days.

I'm sure I am forgetting some things, but that is all I can think of at the moment. Keep on checking the pictures, we're keeping them updated. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Teef Ain't So Tuff

So I come home from work one day this week, pick up my little man, and he's wailing like I stuck him with a pin (I rarely ever do that). Anywho, he didn't seem to want to stop crying, and that is definitely not normal for Joshua. So, like any normal parent of a 4 month old would do, I stuck my finger in his mouth. Nothing stops crying like gagging. Just kidding. I ran my finger along his lower gums, and lo and behold breastfeeding is about to get a little adventurous, because J-Bird is sprouting a cute little tooth! In keeping with his laid back mentality, he actually hasn't really complained too much about it. In the 5 or 6 days since we spotted, he's really only cried specifically for that reason maybe 3 or 4 times, and for no longer than 10-15 minutes. No Tylenol, no Orajel, just a chew toy, er, teething toy and a little gum rubbin from Momma and Poppa. He is just the greatest kid in the world, which means our second child will probably come straight from the gates of hell. Maybe we'll give that one up for adoption and go straight to the third (just kidding, I think).

Oh, and a quick update to the prayer request from earlier. Ashley Pfeiffer came home from the hospital on Saturday, and Mommy, Daddy, and Ashley are doing fantastic.