On the farm

Last week I took Josiah to a nearby farmstead with some friends and their little ones. He got to show off his John Deere hat and boots. As you can tell from this picture, he had a blast seeing the animals......at least the ones that were behind the fences. He was not a fan of the goats.

But he did like the cow bench, and every bench swing we came across.

Josiah loves to play in the pantry. Here's a picture of when he got stuck in there - his foot is in the organic toaster pastry box.

Have a great week!

My little flirt

Josiah and I went on a tour of the Public Works department today! He had fun seeing all the big trucks, but at times was more interested in the other kids and/or their strollers. Here he is in the big warehouse where they keep the salt for the streets.

He is flirting with some little girls who were just off to the left of this picture...

I wasn't brave enough to try to climb up there with him. This bobcat made him so excited that he fell down.

Happy Easter everyone!

Not 'goodbye', but 'see you later'

This is my Maw Maw. She is my great-grandmother - my dad's grandma. She passed away on Saturday at the age of 91. She was an amazing and beautiful person and I will miss her. She lived in Belle Chasse, Louisiana so after we moved when I was 2, I only got to see her once or twice a year. These pictures are from the last time we got to see her in May 2008. She was full of life - she loved to dance and play cards and she was always happy and made everyone laugh.

I am so thankful that she got to meet Josiah!
Here they are taking a nap together...

Here she is telling me stories and making me laugh!

She always used to ask me "are you happy?" and say "just make sure you're happy". Now I know she is truly happy and always will be.

I won't quit my day job...

This week we went to the park with some friends. Josiah had a blast feeding the ducks and geese. He also LOVED the swings!

I attempted to cut Josiah's hair this week...the good news is that it will eventually grow back. But at least he still has both his ears and is too young to be embarrassed.

Josiah has become a picky eater, so I have been making him food out of the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. Basically you steam and puree vegetables and then sneak them into your food. Today I made him brownies with spinach and carrot purees. He was more than a little excited about them!
Have a great week everyone!

College bound

Josiah is now headed off to college! OK, so it hasn't been THAT long since I've blogged. It could be worse.

I would like to say that it is dangerous being a mom. Josiah tried to take out one of my toes last week. He dropped a heavy metal thing on it while I was holding him (so from about 5 feet in the air). Then another day last week he stuck his finger up my nose and made it bleed. He also slams his head into mine on a regular basis. I really can't get mad at him because (1) he's so cute, and (2) he doesn't do these things on purpose (yet).

Josiah currently has an ear infection. I don't know what it is about that bright pink amoxicillin, but he loves it. I think he gets sick on purpose so he can have more of that stuff. I, however, have issues with amoxicillin. I think there are magnets in our floor that only attract penicillin products. This is the 2nd bottle I have dumped on the floor. Luckily I didn't dump out the whole thing this time, just part of it. During a separate incident with the same bottle and a tricky syringe, I somehow got amoxicillin on our ceiling (Jason saw it - I didn't even notice) and cabinets. Jason did not appreciate the pink polka-dot kitchen redecorating I did. I will be glad when Josiah feels better and we can throw this stuff away!

As promised, here are some pictures from Josiah's 1st haircut. Many thanks to Jason's sister Ericka - she did a great job cutting Josiah's hair and missing his ears, which was not an easy task. His hair looked great...but it's been almost 2 months since this haircut, so...when are you coming to visit, Ericka? :)

Jason's birthday was last Tuesday so tell him happy birthday - he loves it when a lot of attention is drawn to him.

Josiah got to see one of his long-distance girlfriends for Valentine's day! Genevieve brought Olivienne to see Josiah (well, I guess they came for other reasons too).

We got to watch our friend's son Benjamin twice last week. He had fun playing, but Josiah got a big streak of jealousy!

Josiah isn't quite running yet, but he is starting to walk fast - and he keeps his hands up by his head while he does it (I guess in case he starts to fall). He looks like a dinosaur, especially in his green PJs.

More fun updates

Josiah now has 8 teeth! He is now mostly eating whatever we eat but is a somewhat picky eater depending on the day and/or his mood.

His Aunt Ericka gave him his very first haircut over Christmas week! Pictures forthcoming...our camera's memory card was full.

And last but not least...he is walking! Not all the time, but a lot more. He is getting braver - watch out world! This video was taken Dec 21st, so his walking skills have improved since this was shot...

Happy New Year!

What better way is there to start the New Year than to catch up on my blogging?

Let's see...starting back in Nov:

-Julie and I successfully completed a half marathon! 13.1 very cold (19 degree wind chill) miles of way more hills than we had trained for. :)

-Jason went deer hunting and shot an 8-point buck! It was very exciting (sorry to any animal activists who read our blog, but he doesn't just hunt for sport - we really do eat the meat!).

-Had a fun dinner with our friends Heidi & Ben and their twin sons (who are a day older than Josiah) Connor & Jacob.

-We spent Thanksgiving weekend at home and ended up processing Jason's deer ourselves...picture us in the kitchen with a meat grinder, sausage casings, a jerky gun, and piles of raw meat. Feel free to laugh if you want to (it was pretty comical) but we are very proud of how good the sausage and jerky turned out!

-Got to see our friends Natalie & Gabe who live in Virginia and recently got hitched!

December was definitely eventful:

-Josiah turned 1 on Dec 6th. We had some family & friends over to help us celebrate. Josiah was a little freaked out by all the people at his house, but he had fun and enjoyed the cake we gave him (well, mostly just enjoyed the frosting).

-Dec 7th we had his 1 year pictures made. He was starting to not feel very well so he wasn't his smiley happy self in the pictures, but they still turned out great.

-Dec 8th Josiah and I were out Christmas shopping...and he started puking everywhere. He wasn't acting sick but I still felt like I jerk for having a sick baby out in publilc...which I of course would not have done if I had known he was sick. The next day we had the 1 year doctor's appointment with several shots - this did not help him feel better. That night Jason caught whatever Josiah had, so he was throwing up too. The next day I was taking care of the boys and trying to avoid Josiah's open mouth kisses, but to no avail. That evening I was also praying to the porcelin gods. It took us almost 2 weeks to feel like eating again was a smart idea. The good news is that we didn't have to worry too much about gaining weight over the holidays!

(lucky for you I don't have any pictures regarding the paragraph above)

-Dec 13th weekend we had Christmas with my family and despite not feeling 100%, still had a fun time seeing everyone.

-The next week we were battling colds. We were thankful for a sickness that still allowed us to eat.

-The week of Christmas we spent with Jason's family, and we were feeling much better by then. Josiah was finally back to his normal happy-go-lucky self, and enjoyed playing with all his new toys (and trying to eat the wrapping paper). He also really loved his Grandma's sugar cookies!

(notice his new cowboy boots above)
Here is our little cookie monster in action:

-We spent New Year's eve hanging out with friends and playing games. We had a lot of fun and did end up staying up until midnight, but since a lot of us there had little kids, we realized exactly how much we enjoy our sleep!

We hope you all enjoyed your holiday season, and that you have a great 2009!