Joshua's First Birthday Party

Joshua's first birthday arrived. What an amazing year it has been. We had a little birthday party for him the Saturday before his actual birthday. At one, how can you really know what "theme" to do. We chose Elmo because that's the character he has been exposed to the most and he does seem to like him.

Between all the cameras in attendance, there are a bazillion pictures and it's hard to narrow them down when there is such a story in them. But how are there ever too many baby pictures anyway, right?? Am I right? Can I get an AMEN?

Here is Josh with his "twin," Josie. They are three days apart.

I had some cupcakes for the kiddos to decorate.

My sister, Susan, flew down. She is such a wonderful aunt!!!



I made an Elmo cupcake. This was quite a production for me and I plan to do a separate post all about it. But in the end I was very pleased with the results.


Josh has had almost no sugar prior to his party, so he of course wouldn't really know the joy that awaits in a cake. We were a little worried that he wouldn't want to "hurt" Elmo.

But why not poke his eyes out first?

Josh is in no way a messy eater. I think in part due to his personality, but also because we have not allowed him to be messy with his food. Recently he has started to place rejected portions of his food in the cup holder of the tray in his high chair. The high chair he was using at the party did not have a cup holder. So instead...

...he used Grandma C's hand.
He was taking pieces of the coconut and handing it to her.

Dad tried to encourage by setting the example

Ah, a taste, finally.

SUGAR!!!!!!! YES!!!!!

"Take this mess with you!"

It's way more fun to feed it to dad anyway!

My boys.

The mess.
(even though most of it was made by Jim)

HALLELUJAH!!

And of course opening presents is always a hoot with the kids.

Everybody's gotta get in the action.

It was a great day and Josh handled it perfectly. No meltdowns and he was as social as can be. Such a good kid. Happy Birthday Buddy!

One Year Check Up Stats

Josh had his one year doctor appointment and here are the main points:

Weight: 22 pounds, 14 ounces
Length: 29 inches

Bottom molars appear to be coming in as there is some swelling.

I was enlightened about something that seems so obvious now. At Josh's last appointment, 3 months ago, his measured length was 28 inches. For Josh's birthday we bought a measuring stick to hang on our wall and wanted to christen it on Josh's actual birthday. So we measured him at 28 and 1/8 inches. Seemed really strange that he would only grow 1/8 inch in three months. We even measured twice to be sure.

So when the doctor measured him at 29 inches, I learned the difference in concept of "length" versus "height". Duh.

The First Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Can't Stop Laughing

There is a commercial that came out several months ago for Old Spice. I have absolutely loved and enjoyed that commercial over and over.

There have since been so many references to it and parodies of it. Every one continues to make me laugh. This commercial has become the gift that keeps on giving.

To my joy I have found a YouTube (my hero) post that shows the original commercial followed by the Grover parody.

(if the screen is cut off, click on it again and it will take you directly to YouTube to watch it)




Then, a site I love to look at, Cake Wrecks, has done their version.

Please enjoy.

Kids Love Music

MAJOR CUTENESS ALERT!!!

I am so excited to finally be enrolling Joshua in some social activities. My mom found a five-week music class for kids 4-14 months at the local community center. The time of it is just perfect for me to take him on a day at home.

I really hope that Joshua will be musical. I am trying to expose him as much as possible.

This little class was so stinkin' cute! We sang songs, shook maracas, danced, tickled and bounced. We also played some drums. At the end there was one big drum for all the kids to gather around. There were little holes in the bottom for the kids' legs to poke through so they could get close.




I just love watching Josh in this video. He is taking it all in! He's watching the other kids and testing out the instruments. He just loves being around other kids. There were four kids in the class today: 3 boys and one girl. I think the youngest was 8 months and I think Josh was the oldest at almost a year.

I can't wait till next week!