More Christmas pics

Josh staring at the fan.


Josh and Grammy Ri


Josh with food (chocolate I believe) on his face.


Daniel's "unique" wrapping technique (magic marker on Walmart bag).

Merry Christmas!

Family photo--thanks, Dave, for remembering how to use the delay on the camera.


Tobey loves Christmas! And his bone from Grammy!


Josh loves Grammy's tree--and Grammy Ri and Grampa Padre.


Tobey in front of the tree.


We had a really great Christmas! We must begin with Christmas Eve at Aunt Leslie's house, where Josh was a little tired, but happy because he was the center of attention. Then Christmas morning we opened a few things here at our house, then went up to Grammy Ri and Grampa Padre's house and brought Tobey. Uncle Dan and Grampa Burnell came up to spend some time with us too. We had a lovely meal (lobster stew and ham) and opened gifts together. By the time we were done with that, it was 2:30 and Josh had not had his after-lunch nap--YIKES! And he refused to nap in Grammy's crib. So we rushed home to get Josh in his bed to nap. We were supposed to be at Dave's parents at 4, but Josh didn't get up until 5, so we rushed over there for more gifts and some sandwiches. All in all, a great day!

Our tree at night

This first pic is Josh looking at our tree with the lights off in the dining room. We used the "night" setting on the camera. Look how his eyes light up! He LOVES the Christmas tree!


I thought this pic came out the coolest. Don't look too closely and see the blemish in our wall.... There are lots of tiny, time-consuming, cosmetic "projects" left to do in that room. Anyone wanna babysit? ;)

Our tree

This is our tree this year. It's in our dining room since our living room is overrun with Josh's toys. I'll try to get a night-time pic up because it has blue lights (as usual) and they are really pretty.

Josh absolutely LOVES the tree. He loves to stand next to it and pull off all the ornaments, so I've had to strategically place the non-breakable ones near the bottom and the delicate ones near the top. Josh is so in love with the tree, I wonder if he thinks it's a permanent feature of the dining room. He's going to be disappointed when it's removed next weekend.....

Thanksgiving revisited

Ya, so I'm a little behind the ball here... but here are some adorable photos from Thanksgiving day. I bought this cute t-shirt that says "little" then has a turkey. Too cute!



First, I'd like to explain Josh has been so gosh darn wiggly that it's been difficult to get a decent pic of him. It also hurts that our daytime lighting has been crap. Here's a fine example:



Then the boy finds the lens cap way too interesting to look at the camera.. I love the "studying" look.


Then he wiggles around the couch some more...


Paparazzi: no more photos, please...


Finally, a clear shot of the adorable shirt and adorable boy (ignore messy house in the background!)


As for the details of our Thanksgiving, we went to Dave's parents house for lunch, where we had the usual turkey feast. Dave and I made mashed potatoes and blueberry pie. Josh did surprising well. In fact, since Thanksgiving, Josh has been a much better all around. Anyway, we ate lots of mashed potatoes, carrots, maybe just a little turkey (by mistake--as an aside, the boy does not like meat. Which is just weird because he is so much like his dad, and his dad would live on meat only if he could.) Someone gave him some cranberry jelly, and that was it, all he wanted. Then when it came to be dessert time, he had some blueberry pie and even though he was wearing a bib, he managed to get blueberry EVERYWHERE! I washed his shirt when we got home, but it was very much stained. So we go home, Josh takes a nap, I think I may have taken a little one too.... Then I go to Thomaston to pick up Gigi and her friend Irene, while Dave says home and waits for Josh to wake up. Amazing, we both arrived and the Madre/Padre's at the same time. There we had a very similar meal, Josh ate most of the same things (I was much more careful about making sure he'd eaten enough "real" food before digging into cranberry jelly....) He also enjoyed pie with Daddy, I believe it was Boston Creme. It was a long day, and I hope Christmas is more relaxing.

11 days!

Eleven days til Christmas! It's been a while since I've posted. I've been SICK. Like sinus pressure, congestion, sneezing, sore throat, headache, body aches, fever, tired, drugged-up on Sudafed SICK. And all this has evolved into a cough. I hate to miss any work because I work four days a week, so if I miss another day, it's 25% of my week, which is a big chunk and makes it more difficult to recover, nevertheless, I was becoming useless at work as the days went on, so I had to come home early a couple days.

We have a tree up! This is progress above last year. Last year, Josh was only 6 weeks old at Christmas, so there was no way that I had any Christmas spirit beforehand. I'm trying harder this year. Our tree is up. I've been trying to get Josh to say Christmas-y words. He loves the tree and it sounds like he's trying to say "tree". He is all smiles when I say "Merry Christmas". Yesterday I finally decorated the tree and he thought that was pretty cool. He liked pulling the decorations off and chewing on them.

Though I've been sick, I have been taking a few pictures... I'll try to get them posted this week, though I'll be busing wrapping--one of my favorite Christmas chores. Today we have Dave's family Christmas party to go to. So stay tuned!

Christmas Card Photo Unveiled

Here are some photos from our Christmas card photo shoot, which was 11/11, two days after Josh's birthday. Out of 156 photos, here are my faves:



I love this one, the lighting is perfect.


Isn't he so cute?


Big smiles!





And the winner is:

Quickie

Just a quickie post. Here's what's on my mind now:

1) Mouse Kill: our mouse count is up to 5, and now one of our traps is missing!! Hopefully it will be found with another one stuck to it.... In the meantime, I still fear our garage and my car.

2) Josh is getting more teeth--Molars! I believe one on the top right and one on the top left. He is very drooly and has been irritable. Monday night he did not sleep well at all. It was probably the worst night of sleep in his existence. That's saying something! He didn't sleep from 2am-6am. Then I absolutely had to get up at 6:30 so I could make it to work.

3) Our house is a disaster. I desperately need to clean. If you drop by unannounced, please be warned. I'm working on it!

4) Sunday I have a scrap date with Melissa! Since Josh has been born, I have not had the time/space to scrap. But several weeks ago, Melissa and I scheduled this date so we could each get some scrapping done. I have soooooo much Josh material, I should have a very productive day.

...

1326) Christmas! Ahhh, as you can see, it IS on my list, just not anywhere near the top. Note to self: Christmas is four weeks away, need to re-prioritize.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I certainly did. I have so much to be thankful for.

Teaser

Stay tuned later this week. The Christmas card photo that some of you have seen will officially be unveiled on Friday!

STEPS!

ALERT ALERT!! My little bundle of joy has taken his first steps!! He took two upstairs with Dave after a diaper change then took two more downstairs that I saw. He's having a cranky day, so we'll see if I can manage to get some video of this new phenomenon.

In other news, I took Josh to have his first "professional" portraits taken yesterday. I can't say that the people at Sears have a better camera or better style than I do, but they do have a nice white backdrop and some fancy lighting, neither of which I have. If you'd like to see them, let me know and I can share them via email.

Something else fantabulous that happened last night: We all went out (Dave, me, Josh, Tobes) to get some groceries, pick up a prescription, have dinner, etc. On our way home, our car decided not to work. So we were stranded and Dave's parents came to the rescue! We still don't know for sure what the problem is, but Dave has done a little research and has a few things to look into.

Appalled

I am so appalled. Last weekend we bought four mousetraps. No we have none. That is because we (well, Dave) has caught FOUR MICE in these traps in our garage. Two of the four were in the trunk of my car. ICK!! Tomorrow we're off to get a few more....

Another appalling item from today: Josh was extremely irritable this morning. Right before lunch I realized he hadn't did his business for the morning. At lunch I fed him some fruit and some juice to try to loosen things up. After lunch he had his usual nap. After the nap he had a huge poopy diaper and was much happier for an hour or so... Dave almost threw up when I opened up Josh's diaper. (Note: Graphic detail ahead!!!!!) It looked like undigested alphabet soup. Except Josh has never eaten alphabet soup.

What fun!

Today Dave and I had the day off from work. We did some shopping, went out on the town. Sounds more fun that it really is when you have a one year old in tow. We bought some "props" for our Christmas card--and though I won't share the final product (partially because I haven't completely decided...), I will send this photo of my sweet baby.

One!

Yesterday was Josh's birthday. All weekend was Joshy-party central. Saturday afternoon was the "friends" party will ALL the children--lemme tell you, I love all the kids that were here like they're my own, but man, I am so glad I only have one!! Sunday afternoon was the "family" party, which was a little lower-key but still our midget-sized house was full.


Cupcakes! One of the few words Josh can say--though he's adding new words nearly every day!! Ironically, he learned to say it before his party, I think because I call him "cupcake" sometimes. Or it could be because he tends to say "cup cup" versus "cup" or "truck truck" versus "truck" so when he was saying "cup cup" I reinforced it with "cupcake" Anywho, I thought cupcakes would be easier than a cake. We also had those cute little ice cream cups. I think in my day they came with a wooden spoon.



Eating his cupcake.




My favorite gift--possibly ever. This is the sweater that my Nana was working on when she passed away. My Aunt Patti finished it for her.




Party animal.




With Uncle Daniel in his party hat. Notice the adorable one-use-only shirt I got him.

Happy Halloween, and Happy Birthday Grammy Ri!

What a busy weekend we've had! Friday was Halloween. Josh was a Dinosaur. We made a few visits on Friday, and the grandparents all came over to see the "star" in his costume. Don't mind my messy house....

Saturday we took the family for a trip to Augusta to get some size 4 diapers. They look huge! The 3's still fit him, but some days when Josh drinks a lot (he's such a lush... hahaha) he can soak through them in no time at all--well, realistically, about an hour. We still have some size 3's, but we're trying out the 4's tonight.

Saturday evening, Dave and I had a much-needed night without baby (not that we don't love him, it's just nice to know that he's well taken care of by someone else once in a while).

Today, we did our usual grocery run and came home to cook and clean. I was doing just that when I heard an crazy loud crash, looked up and there was a car going sideways in front of door. Two kids were going too fast and hit a telephone pole right next to our house on the other side of our "spare" driveway. It freaked me out! I've never had to call 911, but I did today. There were only the two boys in the car and they were walking around, but one was covered in blood. He was wearing his seat belt but his head hit the windshield. He was crawling out of the passenger side window when I rushed outside. I was stunned, I didn't really know what to do. I told the boy he could come in my house and wash his face. He ended up going to the hospital (I can only assume he had glass all through his face--there was so much blood!!) He came over this evening and to thanked us--which I thought was really sweet. But since this is Josh's blog, I'll tell you about what he was doing. He loved all the commotion. It was cold out so I kept him inside but I let him look out the window (and bang on the window). He loved it when the fire truck pulled up. "Truck, truck, truck" which sounds more like "uck uck uck". Here are a couple of pics:




Then tonight was Madre/Grammy Ri's birthday party, even though yesterday was her birthday. I won't say her age! :) She'll thank me for that. It was very nice to see Mom and Dad and Daniel. We'll be able to get together again soon too for Josh's party and then Dad's birthday and then Thanksgiving! It's a month of family gatherings.

One more pic... during my shopping day in Kittery with Mom last weekend, I bought Josh a "birthday present" which I use quotations because I buy something for the boy nearly daily, ya know, usually just to meet his basic needs, but hey, I spend a lot of money on this kid. And he's turning ONE so I feel that I really don't need to buy him a gift.... Anyway, I bought him a winter coat because A) he needed one, B) I could hold off on giving it to him for a couple weeks, and C) I had a coupon. We tried it on him to see how it fit. This was his reaction:


He loved it.

New photos!

Thursday night, eating spaghetti for the first time. He wasn't impressed at first, but we persisted and he ended up eating quite a bit. He got plenty on himself!





Okay, so I tried to have a photo-shoot in the leaves Friday... was NOT successful at all. This one (the white blob off to the left is Tobey) is probably one of the better ones because he doesn't look horrified and is not crying.




Here's the horrified look. Can you see how cute it would have been if he wasn't being a cranky-pants?





So I tried to lay him in the leaves. He didn't like that much either, as you can see.

Almost one!

Josh is almost one now--just a couple of weeks to go! I think his party will be more of a celebration for me and Dave. "Yay, we made it through a year!!"

There have been noticeable changes to his attitude lately. Most of the time he is the most delightful, charming little guy ever, but at the flip of a switch he can get very upset. Tonight the switch flipped when he didn't get Cheerios for dinner (yep, he did end up eating mostly Cheerios and applesauce after many attempts at more nutritious foods...). Then he flipped back to charming and delightful we he knew it was bedtime--he was very happy to manage his way upstairs to play before bed.

That leads me into his physical accomplishments of late. He has completely mastered going up the stairs (don't worry, he's always completely supervised). Usually he laughs the whole way up. Tonight I was sitting on the floor and he was standing, propping himself up by holding on to my shoulder when he pushed off and was standing in the middle of his room. He stood for a moment without holding on to anything, which he's done before, so it's not miraculous, however, he turned and kinda stepped/leaned into Tobey, who was right there (that part is the new feat). Tobey thought Josh was trying to scratch his bum and kinda pushed back towards Josh. Josh fell on the floor, laughed, got up, and repeated the sequence a couple more times. Too funny!

AND he has verbal accomplishments too!!! Last night, Dave put Josh's bib on, which had a truck on it. Dave said "vroom" and Josh reciprocated "vroom" Dave and I were exclaiming about this when Josh said "Dada" very clearly. He usually says "dadadadadadada" in a mumbly way. Really, most of what he says is a mumble. It sounds like he's made up his own language. Too cute. Once in a while, things that sound like English words come out, and that's what we try to focus on and encourage.

This past weekend was quite busy. Friday I worked from home in the morning, then Josh and I visited Grammy, who was home on her last day of vacation. Friday night we visited with Adam and Jill and Peter. Saturday was Nana's burial. Saturday afternoon we visited with Melissa and crew. Saturday evening I went to Lori's Freedom Party. Sunday I cleaned, grocery-shopped and cooked.

Big weekend this weekend (and the next few weekends, actually). Sadly, it's Tuesday, and I'm already nervous about how I'm going to get everything done that I need to, much less the things I'd like to! On Saturday, Mom and I are going to do some early Christmas shopping (come on, it's only 2 months away) in Kittery. Shop til you drop! I've got to make sure I get some things for Josh's birthday party!!!!!!!

Melissa worked on my hair last night. We're going to do another layer of color over what she did last night, then it will be perfect and I will post a pic. I also need to download random pics of Josh I've taken this month, though I will admit, there are not many. And there are no "photo shoots" like I like to do with him. I really wanted to do one in the leaves but I think they may be a little too crumbly and brown at this point.... we'll see, maybe Friday??

Memories

I've learned a lot since the loss of my Nana and I've feeling a bit introspective, so give me a moment here. When you lose someone that you love, someone that is such a big part of who you, how you became the person you are, is very difficult. I feel like I've been through this a couple times now, and it doesn't get easier but the processing of accepting what has happened comes faster. I've come to realize that time is so precious because you never know how much time you have to share with your family and extended family and friends. You must savor those moments because you never know when if that hug or "love you" will be the last one.

Here's some things that I want to make sure that Josh knows about Nana:
*She loved her family more than anything.
*Excellent cook--especially rolls and bread
*Crafty, skilled knitter and did ceramics too
*Loved photos--always had one of those disposable cameras with her
*Thoughtful, always knew the right things to say
*Proud of the family she raised: her children & grandchildren & (though she was just getting to know them, she was proud to have great-grandchildren)
*Supportive, though she'd share her opinion
*Worked hard to make Christmas special every year

I love this picture--Dad had it on his blog. It's so typical of a family get-together with my parents house. Ladies hanging out in the kitchen, men in the living room watching golf. It's silly I suppose since neither Josh or Nana is looking at the camera and the kitchen isn't perfectly straightened up, but it feels warm and homey to me, typical of a Sunday afternoon. I'm upset that those gatherings will never be the same, yet want to make sure that their new versions happen often to make new fond family memories for Josh.

Eleven months

This is the day we've all been dreading since Sunday, but it is here so I thought I'd send some cheer. Here's Josh this morning eating O's and last night in the tub.

Farewell, Nana

Josh's Great Nana, my Nana, passed away today completely unexpectedly. I still don't believe it. I saw her two weeks ago as we celebrated my Great Grandmother's (Gigi's) 86th birthday. I am thankful that Josh got to spend nearly 11 months with his Great Grandma and regret that he will never know her as the wonderful person that I did.

It's been a while...

...a quick update...

Wow, I just realized that it's been almost two weeks since I've posted! Things are constantly in motion here. Josh has two new teeth on top, bringing the total to four. He's been more experimental with food. We've been trying to get him to eat what we eat, which is a work in progress. He now takes a 6-ounce bottle instead of a 4-ounce. He LOVES to eat apples. He's been expressing his wants more and more, and he'll let us know if he's not getting something he wants. It leads to a mini baby tantrum, which is kinda cute at this age, but I fear will get old fast. We've been trying not to give in to his every whim, which I know is the right thing to do, but not always the easiest thing to do. Last weekend, Josh spent the night Saturday night with Grammy Ri and Grandpa Padre--his first overnight without Mom or Dad. He did fine. It was harder on Dave and me than on Josh. Josh also has a word: car. He's says it in an old-time-Mainer type of way: "caaa" but he says it when a car goes by our house, so I know he is putting two and two together. Sometimes he says "caaa caaa caaa caaa caaa" So cute! I'll see if I can get some video this weekend. His other love of the moment is a toothbrush. I think he likes the feeling on his gums.

More to come....

This weekend: apple orchard

This weekend we (Dave, Josh and I) visited Auntie B at her new house in NH. It was so wonderful to visit with Auntie B & I wish it could have lasted a few days longer!

Here are some pics from our Saturday afternoon visit to an apple orchard:


Josh sits among the apples on the ground.


Josh, Dave, and me.


Auntie B, me and Josh.



Josh wraps his fingers around an apple (he ate the whole thing too!)


Posed on a pumpkin from the patch. (Notice he will not put down that apple!)

Lounging in the pumpkin patch, still unwilling to give up his apple (with a bit stuck to his nose).

We can't wait to hang out with Auntie B again soon!!!!!! Or eat another apple...