Thanksgiving

We had a really great trip up to the UP over Thanksgiving break. A long trip up, and we had to stay an extra day because I got food poisoning, but all in all a wonderful visit with family and friends. We spent Thanksgiving day with Jeremiah and Kelly' family at the church fellowship hall. The food spread was incredible and we even got to play games:) And those of you who know me well, know that I love games!! Brayden and Josiah had fun playing...or at least they played, and they were near each other. All in due time, they will be playing together! It was so much fun getting together with Jeremiah and Kelly. We don't get to see them enough:( But the time we get to spend, we always make the most of!!

The picture directly below is of the onsie that a good friend of mine, Weezie, gave me at my baby shower. I was due for Josiah before Thanksgiving, so truly, last Thanksgiving should have been his first. But he was so nice and cozy that he decided to hang out for another 10 days:) I kept the onsie and thought that maybe I could use it somehow for this year, his realy 1st Thanksgiving. I thought that maybe I could cut off the arms and the buttons so that it would fit. However I never got around to it. I stuck it in anyway just in case we could do something last minute. I got the shirt out and just tried it on and since there were snaps at the neck, I could still get it over his head and teh arms were really stretchy. It definately wouldn't snap underneath, but for the most part it fit...we just tucked it in:) I was just excited he was able to wear it:)

Family Photoshoot/1 Year Photo's

How in the world do you choose just 1. It was hard enough to narrow it down to these few. Christy did an outstanding job at this photoshoot. This time we decided to make it a family affair. It was quite an ordeal to find something for all of us to wear. I especially had a hard time, because if you didn't notice...I got my hair colored. It is now red! And the sweater I was planning on wearing looked really bad with my new hair:) But in the end, I think we all looked pretty good. I think my favorites though are the ones where we are wearing our hats!! ENJOY!

Birthday Party #2

Thanks Terra for suggesting that I get some more pictures up online. I haven't posted pictures in quite a while and I have some really good ones from his birthday party and the surrounding weekend.

Cousin's Samantha and Nathan, Dan, Josiah and I all visited my mom's for the weekend of Josiah's birthday. What fun we all had. Samantha became quite the little photographer over the weekend...I can't wait to give her her Christmas present this year...110 pictures all scrapbooked onto 20 pages. It will be my favorite gift to give.

Saturday was Josiah's big day! I made both of the cakes. "Over the Hedge" was the theme for this birthday party...only because I got all the decorations, toys and plates for a wopping $20. Couldn't beat that deal. For the cake, I got the idea from my sister-in-law Dawn. She made her son a Superman cake by printing out an image on regular paper, laminating it and putting it on the cake. The she just added a little frosting around the outside edges. You couln't tell it wasn't a professional made cake. So I did something similar and just printed the image out on photopaper. I think it turned out pretty well, if I might say so myself:) And Josiah's little cake was completely destroyed, so it must have been pretty good!!! What a fun day!!!

At some point during the weekend we all got our hats, gloves and warm coats on and went out to play in the snow. I had a Mickey sled that Josiah had never used and it was the perfect weather for it. We had a ton of fun and got some great pictures.

Samantha took a great picture of Dan and I...we rarely ever get good pictures of the two of us since not very many people know how to use our camera very well. So it was great that she was busy taking pictures.

Josiah tries out his new snow suit from Grandma W. To cute!!

Samantha and Nathan couldn't get enough of Uncle Dan and the games on his laptop. I think Dan was loving it just as much as they were.

Happy 1st Birthday Josiah

A Letter to Josiah on His 1st Birthday

Dear Josiah,

Yesterday you turned 1 year old. Your dad and I cannot believe that it has been an entire year since you blessed us with your little presence. Every day I look at you and see this little miracle that God has given us on loan for a little while and am in awe. Until you were born I had never known the love that happens between a mother and her child. It is the most powerful love I have ever felt. It is like loving you with my whole being. If I could count the ways that I love you, Josiah, they would number the stars in the sky.

I love the way you smile all the time. How did we get so lucky as to have such a fun, happy little guy. Yah, there are sad times; like when you are getting more new teeth (but who wouldn't be sad) or when we have to wipe your little nose when you have a cold. But 99% of the time you are a happy baby...ok not baby any more, time is going so fast.

I love your intense curiosity, your need to search every nook and cranny of the house just to see what's there and if there is a button you can push. How you study your toys until you figure them out.

I love how you snuggle first thing in the morning and the last thing before bed...especially since they are the only times during the day that you snuggle anymore. There is just to much to do and to much to explore:)

I love how you call out Mama when you are sad and need someone to comfort you. Even when it is only my name that you call for days because you just need to be held by your mommy.

I love how you get sooooo excited when you walk to me that you leap into my arms.

I love your facial expressions. They are so precious. How you raise your one eyebrows or how when you say "Uh-oh" you look so serious with your little round Oh and scrunched eye brows.

I love how social you are...but at the end of the day you love to be at home with mom and dad. Because I now that one day you will not have time to spend with us each evening. One day you will be grown and have a family of your own to go home to and spend each evening and I look forward to that too.

I love your love for music. I especially love how you dance; you wiggle your but and just yesterday you started shaking your head side to side. How you have no interest in TV unless there is music playing. How you have favorite songs on a CD that here over and over...I know you love them best because you get very excited. One of your favorite songs is MICKEY...which of course is a big hit with me:)

There are so many ways that I love you, my son. And most of them I cannot put into words. But know this, Josiah, you will always be loved and taken care of because no matter how much I love you, God loves you more.

Thank you for a great 1st year...I cannot wait to explore, dance, and giggle with you for many years to come.

With all the Love in the World,
Your Mom

November

He is just getting so big! I can't believe that he will be 1 in less than a month!! Isn't he a cutey?

Josiah Updates

We have been having a super fun month with our little guy. It seems as though he is learning something new everyday. But some fun things that he is doing these days include:

• "Uh-oh" whenever he drops things and sometimes before he drop it;)
• His new dance steps: he wiggles his butt and picks up his feet back and forth:)
• When he walks on his own he put his arms over his head like he's "So Big"
• When he walks between two people on his own, he gets so excited by the time he reaches the person that he launches and giggles.
• Gives kisses (my personal favorite, although I can't wait until he learns to give closed mouth kisses hehehe)
• When he is fussy he says something like "weea weeea wee" and his bottom lip really gets going. Sometimes he makes the motion with his lips but doesn't make the sound.
• He loves to smash things on his food plate, especially pees. He squishes them and then eats them from the tip of his fingers.

Favorite toys:

• He loves to play with my keys and hates having them taken away, so I made him a set of his own keys. He went to bed with them the other night:)
• A piece of rope
• Anything that plays music
• Playing on the stairs (he giggles when he goes around the corner and we aren't right behing him)
• He loves to put anything that will fit into his Leap frog desk. There is a spot for putting balls that he loves to put the remote, our phones, spoons, cars, pretty much anything but balls:)

A Rough Couple of Weeks

As many of you know already, I was "let go" from my marketing job on October 26th. Long story and a really crappy thing that they did. Dan had been working at this same company for 9 years and they kick me out on my ass because the wife of the owner is a selfish person who always gets her way, no matter who it hurts in the process. And she so lovingly taught her daughter all of her devious, selfish ways and she too always gets as she wishes no matter who gets hurt in the process. I was the second person in 1 month that got fired because we didn't "mesh" as they put it with the wife and daughter of the owner fo the company. Fair? Hardly! But that is the way of small, family owned business where they get their employees to sign a contract that says they are "at will" employees. What does that mean? It means that the company owner can fire anyone for any reason at any time...which means that they can actually fire you because you don't "mesh" with the bosses wife. I still can't believe it! They didn't even try to work things out because she didn't want to. Jeff simply called me into his office on Thursday morning, told me it wasn't working out and asked me to pack up quickly and leave quietly. Well I packed up fairly quickly, but I didn't leave to quietly. I walked around with tears falling telling everyone that they just fired me. They all new why. They all know that Linda is not a person to be messed with. I just learned that the hard way and a little to late.

Ok, enough ranting for the moment. Dan and I have been here before. And I know we will make it this time. But in the mean time, it is an emotional roller coaster. Not knowing what I will do next or where our next pay check will come from. The job search process is always emotional. What will I do this time? What do I qualify for? Do I have skills that will transfer? Will anyone hire someone with a track record like I have? So much unknown, so little self confidence in my abilities and my ability to make it work in a work environment. I fear the unknown and dread subsitute teaching. I say we have been here before, only this time we have alittle life that we have to be concerned about. It's not just Dan and I anymore. And our new day care. We finally found a day care that we trust and love. We truly enjoy taking Josiah to Kim and Steve's. They make it ok for me to work. I know that he has fun and that he is having a good time. And I don't want to lose our spot at the day care...so I am going to continue to try and work at least 3 days a week to assure that we hold our spot. They have been so wonderful through this tough time. Allowing us to not bring him but one day last week and 5 days this week.

Ups and downs! I am ready to have some steady emotional ground, but I have a feeling that it may be a few weeks or months before I find my footing. Some days are good, some bad, but overall the shining point is my husband and son. They keep me smiling! Having a happy little guy greeting me every morning and giving me kisses when I get home, keep me from getting to down:) What a fun little guy! God has truly blessed us with him!

No little man in a big chair this month:(

There may not be any more little man in a big chair posts:( Little Cat decided that she needed to pee in the chair and it was several days before we found out. Sadly, it was the straw that broke the camels back and she is no longer part of our family. We have had alot of trouble with this cat, plus she is really agressive with claws. So we had to make the really tough decision to put her down. To top it off, on the way home from thet vet, pee leaked out and got all over my car seat and now my car smells really bad too:( I guess that is what I get for putting a pet down.

As far as the chair goes, I work at a "Restoration and Cleaning" company, so we brought the chair in and they are trying to get the smell out . But I don't think you can completely get the smell of cat pee out of anything. Which really sucks for my car because whenever it gets humid or damp out the smell is really bad. I put Nature's Miracle on it, but I am not sure it is going to work. The slip cover for the chair is going to be really tough to get the smell out also. But we are going to try and do what we can, so we can have future "Little Man in a Big Chair" pictures. Because that is what is important, right;) hehehe

But for now, I have decided to start taking "Little man on a Big Couch" pictures in its place. Not as cute, but it will still show that he is getting bigger:)

First Steps

I just thought I would let everyone know that I didn't already tell: Josiah took his first steps on Monday. Up until Monday he would hold on to our fingers for dear life. On Monday he began to let go and try and take a few steps. He was so excited and sooo proud of himself. It was just precious. He took the most real (meaning not in the midst of a launch) steps for both Dan and I, so that was really fun! It is such a huge milestone and so much fun to see him so excited. It is so great that they know they are doing something big! He gets so giggly that he gets distracted and falls, but its to cute!

Grandma Comes for a Visit

Playing on our new (used) playground set on a beautiful fall day.

First time playing in leaves...he loved it! He was even throwing the leaves up in the air.

Grandma got to give Josiah a few bottles...it is always nice snuggle time. It is about the only time when he will sit nice and still and not wiggle all around. First hair cut with the clippers (5th actual haircut, what can I say, the kid has alot of hair;)

THE WIND UP...

...AND THE YELL:)

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE:)

August and Sept Overview

AUGUST

1. 1st - Crawled up the stairs for the first time
2. 2nd-He got his 3rd tooth
3. 4th - Started standing in his crib
4. 8th - Begged for Ramon noodles
5. 9th - Took a bath in the big tub for first time and loved it
6. 13th - Discovered a new found love for cheese
7. 14th - Threw your first tantrum when mom took away your spoon
8. 18th - Visited Grandma and Grandpa W.
9. 19th - Held and drank out of a sippy cup for the 1st time. It happened to be the same sippy cup that I drank out of when I was a baby:)
10. 20th - Cruising along furniture really well
11. 20th - Visited Grandma and Grandpa L.
12. 21st - Stopped sleeping through the night (it would be 3 weeks before he slept through the night again)
13. 22nd - Both Josiah and I were very sick (not a fun time)
14. 23rd - Discovered a new found love for Chicken noodle soup
15. 24th - Hung out with cousin Nathan
16. 25th - Climbed all the way up to the landing without dad even knowing you were missing
17. 27th - Walked with his push walked all by himself (he was very proud of himself)
18. 27th - 1st word: started to say dog for both dog and cat...sounds more like daww, but uses it for both)
19. 28th - 4th tooth
20. 30th - Discovered a new found love for Pea Soup
21. 31st - Last day at old day care

SEPTEMBER

1. 1st - Held onto his bottle for the 1st time
2. 2nd through 4th - We went camping with Mike and Mindy
3. 2nd - Cut 5th tooth
4. 4th - Cut 6th tooth
5. 5th - Cut 7th tooth
6. 6th - 1st day at Kim's (the new day care)
7. 6th - He stood alone for the 1st time
8. 8th - Started walking like a monkey in the grass when he had shorts on...this was very cute.
9. 9th - 1st night in 3 weeks that you slept through the night:)
10. 10th - Learned to crawl down the stairs by himself
11. 12th - Cut 8th tooth: 5 teeth in 2 weeks...I think we were all glad to be done teething for a little while. I just can't imagine cutting that many teeth at one time. Poor guy:(
12. 14th - pushing cars around the living room on his hands and knees...he doesn't sit still for very long
13. 15th through 17th - The boys were on their own this weekend. This is the weekend that I went whitewater rafting. I think they had a great time!
14. 17th - Learned to turn around to go feet first down the stairs when on the landing
15. 18th - Got a bad cold...dad got it a few days later. Not fun! But I was glad that I didn't get it also.
16. 19th - Learned to do "So big" I have to admit that this is the cutest thing he has done so far!
17. 20th - Dr. apt. He weighed in at 21lbs4oz and was 29" long.
18. 23rd - Went to Old Mill apple orchard with mom. What a fun afternoon, just the two of us.
19. 23rd - Stopped sleeping through the night for a few nights :( Learned how to do a blood curdling scream that chills me to my bones. Extremely difficult to let him cry it out when he is doing this...but this to shall pass).
20. 24th - I started to wean him. Within a week I was down to a morning and evening feeding. I had to buy my first can of formula today:( But I am proud of how long we did almost 100% breast milk. Pretty soon he can have milk:) It is so great not to have to pump, but I am definitely not ready to give up the morning and evening feeding. I still really enjoy my time with my little guy:)
21. 25th - Feeling better...very giggly today:) I love those kind of days
22. 27th - Started waving again today. He reaches up to do "So Big" and then waves...very cute!
23. 30th - We marched in the Alumni Marching Band march to the stadium. I didn't have my instrument...but I snuck in with the stroller and did all the motions. This was Josiah's 2nd march to the stadium...last year he was 7 months in my belly:)

Update on Daycare

WE LOVE KIM!! What more can I say? She is excited to see Josiah every day, in fact all the kids love him and can't wait to see him. They ask where he is when he isn't there and the little girl is right there when we get in the house to say Hi to Josiah. I feel so at home there, if that's possible. I know that Josiah is in the right place with all my heart. She is concerned for him when he is sick and just loves how lovable he is. I don't think the other daycare knew how great of a kid they had:) He is just such a fun loving kid, who wouldn't love him! But the best part of about Kim's house is that; I love the little stories she shares with me about the kids; I love that he is with other fun kids; and I love that they go outside and play, play, play!

10 Month Pictures at Uncle John's Cider Mill

What a fun time we had at Uncle John's Cider Mill. Grandma and Grandpa L. met us there for lunch and of course cider and donuts. Since Josiah wasn't going to be able to make it to their Halloween party we decided to stick his costume in and get a few super cute pictures. I am planning on making one of them into a Halloween/Fall card, but we'll see if I ever get around to it:) At any rate we had a really great day, even with the impending storm. We were lucky and didn't get rained on at all!!

Favorit picture from September

If I get a chance I will try and post a few more favorites from September, but this had to be the cutest!!