Something New

Joshua's world is ever expanding and full of newness all the time.

My mom has been making a grocery cart cover for little Josh. He has been so close to sitting on his own for so long, but just not there quite yet. I didn't think he would manage well in a grocery cart until he could accomplish this task. But my mom had finished the cover and I was anxious to try it out.

So my mom and I headed over to Smart & Final and here is the result:

Isn't that cover just adorable?!
(the sides are the ears of the dog)

I can't say it enough, but Joshua exceeded my expectations. I figured he would be leaning to the left or right and that I would have to keep him upright. But I really didn't have to do that at all.

He put on his serious face, which he does whenever he is absorbing something new. He was experiencing the grocery store with a whole new perspective. What really cracked me up was the way he was holding onto the cart. OF COURSE he grabs the area that is not covered, but oh well. At times he looked like he was holding on for dear life.

Now take a look at the picture... Do you see his feet so perfectly placed around the tongue? He gave the puppy teeth!!!

(So glad I won't have to haul the infant seat into the store anymore. Some of those carts make him so reclined that it's annoying.)

6 Months

Happy Half-Birthday Joshua!

My little bundle is six months old today. Unbelievable!


I took him to the doctor today for his check up and shots. He is weighing in at 19 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 27 inches. He is a big boy! He has two teeth on the bottom that appeared about a month ago and he currently is working on pushing out four in a row on the top. Two, maybe three, have already broken through the gums.


Joshua sits up with assistance and really enjoys standing. He is not a big fan of tummy time and rolls almost immediately on to his back. He has yet to roll from his back to his tummy. The doctor today said it can take big babies a little longer to sit and roll because there is just so much more Charmin to maneuver. And while she commented that he was a big boy, she made sure that I knew that it's not a worrisome big.


As I look through all the photos of Josh, one of the things that I find that I love is the way his mouth is open in the majority of the shots. I don't know what it is, but it makes me smile. It's like it is expressing his wonderment and fascination at everything in life. He is soaking everything in and loving it.

Solid foods are going pretty well. He seemed to get bored with the rice cereal, so he got carrots on Sunday and so far is not a big fan. We'll try sweet potatoes on Thursday.


I had to try some naked shots just for fun. It was tough getting him to stay on his tummy, and then for me to get down on my tummy to grab the shot. Let's just say that session was extremely brief.


He's learning to flirt. When people greet him, he'll give a little smile, curl his head into me and then peer up through sheepish eyes. It is the cutest thing EVER!

Joshua is a happy baby and Jim and I are just so in love with him.

5 Years

Last Friday, April 16, Jim and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. How crazy is it that it has been five years?!

Jim and I were matched through eHarmony in December of 2003. The part we find most amazing about that is that we grew up only 1.9 miles (according to Google driving directions) from each other. We were at a lot of the same events and knew people in common, yet never ran into each other (that we know of). It's weird to have had essentially the same growing up experiences, yet different.

It wasn't long before we knew we wanted to get married, so while we may have rushed into an engagement, we took our time - a year - planning for the wedding. And it was truly a wonderful wedding. We were married at Lake Hills Community Church in Laguna Hills and had our reception at Strawberry Farms in Irvine. By coincidence Lake Hills was where I was baptized as a baby. I was referred to the church through a co-worker and when I mentioned it to my parents, they told me that was where I was baptized. We fell in love with Strawberry Farms because it had a 3/4 mile picket-fence-lined road back to a big red barn which held the reception.



I was all about making the wedding as home made as possible and involving friends and family in the preparations. My sister, Susan, played flute in the ceremony, my mom made my veil and handbag, Melanie helped my mom create the aisle decorations (which then transferred to add decoration to the reception), my dad helped me create the invitations and we had an invitation assembly party. We also had Terry's Toffee sent by my mom's cousin to add to the dessert. I know there were lots of other helping hands that I just can't think of right now. But I think our wedding was just about every thing I could have dreamed of.



For our anniversary, Jim took me back to a restaurant that was right by where he lived when we met. After dinner, we somewhat relived the night he proposed to me by getting dessert at Golden Spoon and then walking through the park to the spot where he proposed.

This is that very spot - five years later.

I love ya, babe! Thanks for five wonderful years and I look forward to the next 85 years!

Starting Solids

We gave Joshua his first serving of rice cereal last night. I had planned all along to start giving him solids at the six month mark. But about a week or so ago he started waking up around 4:00 am several days in a row. This is so completely unusual for him that I figured he must be getting hungry and we needed to bump up the solids timeline. But I'm such a preparer that I hadn't done all my research yet, so I sort of jumped in head first.

"Hmmm...interesting."

Before I even gave him his first spoonful, he was grabbing for the bowl. Once he tasted the food, he sat there thinking about it for a moment. Then he took another bite and decided he really liked it! He would reach for the spoon and wave his arms.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme..."

He had to learn to swallow though, because it would just pool in his mouth and then he would smile and it would all come dribbling out.

"I LIKE it!"

It was so fun to start this new phase! But I'm also feeling behind in knowing how to move forward. I have so many questions. How quickly can start experimenting with new foods? What do I want to experiment with? What is going to be the best way to have things ready for him with grandparents? When can we start the sippy cup? I have some books and resources and I'll certainly be checking with those, but there will have to be an element of just giving things a try and see how he does.

He's just growing by leaps and bounds!

It's Easter, It's Easter

The day of our risen Lord.

I do like the season of Easter. It's great to take the time to reflect on who Jesus Christ is and what this "Christianity" thing is really about.

Unfortunately this Easter kinda sucked for me personally. Yesterday Jim, Joshua and I had a family outting. We ran an errand and then went to Knott's Berry Farm to check out Pink's Hot Dogs that recently opened up there. It was a really nice day and a great outting. When we came back I took a nap only to wake up not feeling so good. And I went downhill fast. I was pretty miserable pretty quickly.

This morning my throat was on fire! And the best part is that we were hosting Easter brunch at our house today and I was completely out of commission. I was going to make a quiche and a cake and only got the cake done. But Jim did great and getting the rest of the house ready. He had several duties at church today, so I stayed home with Josh while he was at church.

Boy is it ever hard taking care of a baby while sick. I knew it would be and I feared the first time this would happen. Ugh. Can I just say "ugh" again? Ugh!

I wore a mask on my face whenever I fed Joshua to hopefully not spread my germs to him. He kept pawing at it, but luckily he didn't seem upset seeing me in it. He didn't take his second nap too well. Jim successfully got him down for his third nap and what happens? An earthquake. A BIG earthquake. Bigger and longer than we have felt around here in a long time.

I was asleep in bed and at first I thought one of our big, fat cats was shifting or getting off the bed. I was surprised how much movement she was making and then I thought I heard her jump down and the bed was still shaking. That's when I figured out what was going on. I got out of bed and waited to see if it was still going. When it still was I went to Josh's door. He seemed awake but okay. When it was over, he did start to cry, but I don't know if it was because of the quake or because he saw me. So I just held him for some comfort (maybe for both of us). This is the first time I've actually felt problems with my equilibrium.

But all was well and since I love to share earthquake stories it was nice to have family here to talk about it with.

Now I just have to hope to get better quickly so I can get back into the swing of things.

Happy Easter!