The latest...

Josiah is a little trooper.  He's had two ear infections in the last 3 weeks, and has several teeth just under his gums, but other than the days he had a high fever, he's been happy as can be!  He enjoys scooting all over the place, he grabs (or sometimes hits) my nose when I say "where's my nose?," he flips over in his crib all the time, reaches out through the slats trying to grab things, likes to be held upside down, and he thinks it's hilarious to "fall" off the bed and have someone catch him (crazy boy!).  

I'm gonna miss him on the days I work now, that's for sure!  This week especially, because not only is it my first day going to work part-time with my dad, but am also catering for a women's ministry event on Thursday.  Thankfully, he will be in good hands with my mom, Mike and possibly a friend from church.

We are enjoying the new care group we've joined at church.  It's pretty crazy and chaotic with more kids under age 5 than adults, but it's fun and it's neat to see Josiah interacting with so many new people.  So I guess that's about it for this weekend's update... hopefully with my new busy schedule, I'll still find time to keep this up!

  

Our *8* Month Old!

What a BEAUTIFUL weekend we had here!  And as of Saturday, we now have an 8 Month Old!  I can hardly believe it!  He is so much fun lately too... I think this spring weather is putting him in an especially happy mood. His naps were super short this weekend, but you wouldn't know it... he was all smiles and giggles when he was awake.  I guess he just wanted to enjoy as much of the weekend as he could!

We've been spending afternoons swinging at the park, visited Aunt Stiney & Gramps at work, had Josiah's first day at the beach, spent time with Grandma & Grandpa Wellington, and today we enjoyed church, lunch with friends and then care group!  It's been a full and fun weekend.   So here are a few pictures & videos....

Wednesday Ramblings....

• In honor of Saint Patricks Day... I am wearing all black & white and Josiah is in blue & grey.  Ummm yeah... so I forgot. 
• Apparently our house is not exciting enough for Josiah.  It's so hard to keep him entertained at home, and yet going ANYwhere new (or to Target for the 100th time) is much more exciting.
• Stepping on the grass - he's not so sure of... but EATING the grass is definitely acceptable.
• He's definitely got waving "bye bye" or "hi" downpat.... but being left alone in a room is apparently now the worst thing ever.
• Growling is now much cooler than talking... "dadada" has turned into a raspy "DARGHHHH... DAGHHH... DAGHHHH!"  (maybe I should just take a video...)
• I thought using the hospital bulb aspirator for a runny nose was tough... until I tried the automatic suction one... it completely scared him...I think he's traumatized.
• I'm hoping this beautiful weather is here to stay... I'm seeing many days at the park in our future.

Set Apart...

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

1 Samuel 1:27-28

At church this morning, we dedicated Josiah to the Lord, and committed ourselves to raising him in the knowledge and grace of Jesus.  It was a special time to share with our families and our church family, and we are grateful to have so many people who love and support us and will help us lead him to hopefully one day give his life to the Lord.   

We are a part of a wonderful small church and we were blessed to have our pastor and his wife join us after the service for lunch at my parents' house.  We are one of the only truly "local" families in our church since this is such a military area, so it was pretty funny when we brought about 15 of our family members with us to church this morning!  We took up two rows and definitely couldn't be missed.  :)  It was fun to have them all there to see where we worship and meet our "other family."  :)  Josiah was all smiles, and he just played with his feet while Pastor Scott encouraged and prayed for us. 

Was this really my baby?

I was browsing through some of Josiah's early pictures, and I just couldn't get over what a skinny little thing he was.  This picture of him on Mike's lap just makes me go awwwwww.....

Mid-March Update

I really need to get back into the swing of things with blogging.  I guess it's just been a busy season right now!  Here are a few updates and then I need to get back to being productive while Josiah is asleep! 

• Josiah dropped his 3rd nap... so he's now napping around 9am and 1pm.  It's tough to make it to 7:00 bedtime when he wakes up around 2, so sometimes he just goes to bed earlier... :)  I'm so hopeful that daylight savings time next week will help us out!
• He is sleeping in closer to 6am these days... I NEVER thought I'd say 6am was sleeping in, but after months of 5am, it sure feels like it!
• He currently has his first ear infection.  Poor baby :(  Nighttime is the worst, but hopefully the antibiotics will start working soon and he'll be feeling better!
• I'm about to be a minivan mom!  Cool or not, I don't care. We have been GIVEN a used minivan which is a HUGE blessing.  It'll be so nice to not bump Josiah's head everytime I try to put him the carseat, and as much as I'll miss driving my Mazda3, I'm so glad Mike can enjoy it!  He's been a trooper... the two cars he's ever had have been a 1990 Chevy Cavalier and a 1997 Buick Century... no complaints about hand-me-down cars, but he needs something a little sexier.  :) 
• We have Josiah's baby/parent dedication at church this Sunday and are excited to have all of our family join us!
• Josiah is eating 3 meals and 4 bottles a day (plus he still wakes up hungry once or twice at night, but we're working on that).  He has enjoyed trying some "finger foods"  ~  Just a few things, like: puffs, avocado, and carrots.  He hasn't mastered grabbing them himself yet, but he likes the new textures.
• He's got all the motions for crawling, but still can't quite move forward.  But at 27 lbs, I'm not surprised.  He's strong, but that's a lot of weight to hold up on his arms and legs! 

I'm sure there is plenty more, but I just looked at the clock and I better go!

Thanks Mom!

Absolutely the biggest blessing to me since I've become a mom has been my own mom coming over every single week (sometimes more) to help me.  Of course, she is more than happy to come see her only grandchild and enjoy all the smiles and giggles and milestones... but she does more than sit and play.  She does dishes, folds laundry, cleans our bathrooms, takes Shelby out and whatever else needs done.  She babysits so I can go to the grocery store, or even on rare occasions, so I can take a nap.  Especially in the beginning, if she hadn't have done some of that stuff, it just wouldn't have gotten done at all.  Being a mom is hard work!  But she insists... she doesn't like to not be doing something.  In fact, if Josiah is asleep and I don't give her something to help me with, she'd just assume head home :) so I try to take advantage of her motivation! 

Today we had the opportunity to help out a military mom who is new to my church and broke her neck in a car accident a few months ago.  Her husband is deployed and she is home alone in a new town, injured, with a 3 year old and an 11 month old.... doing her best to keep things afloat.  It worked out that she needed someone to come over this afternoon and my mom and I were out with Josiah, so we just all headed over.  And upon entering her home and seeing how desperate she was for some help, I immediately realized just how fortunate I am.  Her children are wonderful and she is as sweet as can be, but she was drowning in the daily duties that are hard enough for a healthy mom of one with a husband at home and family to stay on top of... and this poor mom was trying to do it all alone...with a neck injury that was only getting worse because she doesn't have the luxury of taking it easy.  I was so happy to be able to go over and help her, but even more so, to be able to share my mom.  My mom is great with kids, and with organizing, and she doesn't hesitate to just jump in and do a stranger's dirty dishes.  This girl shared with us that both of her parents are deceased and she's an only child from Canada.  And I could just see how grateful she was to have a 2nd generation mom around.  If I could do nothing else, I was so glad to be able to give her just a few hours of the help that has been given to me each week.  And I knew that for the next few weeks, I could give it to her again.  I asked my mom (who immediately agreed) if instead of coming to my house to help me each week, if we could just go over there and both help her.  It's definitely true that when you serve others, usually you get just as big of a blessing yourself.  I have so many friends who are military moms and who live far from family, and I just continue to be thankful that God has allowed us this season to be here.  It's hard not to get spoiled, but I know how blessed I am, and I just hope to be helpful and be like family to those to who are away from theirs.