Friday, May 25, 2012

10 month old Joseph

Joseph turned 10 months old a couple weeks ago (May 10). I finally got the pictures uploaded yesterday.
I had to take the pictures early in the morning before we got on the road to head to Knoxville for my sister's college graduation. I think morning may be the ideal time to photograph Joseph - when he's well rested and not crazy active yet.

Looking through these pictures makes me nostalgic for his "baby days." I realize he's still a baby, but every day he's looking and acting more like a little boy!


He's a full on walker now going from room to room. He's even able to turn himself around whenever he wants. And did I mention that he LOVES looking at his books?
Right around 10 months he learned how to wave and clap (he learned both within about a week). But he mainly waves to me and Will. We're still working on waving at friends (and nice strangers at the store).
One of my favorite skills that he's learned recently (within the past week or so) is the ability to use his "snack catcher." It took a few times before he understood that if he stuck his hand in he could get food out. He's pretty good with it now, so I don't have to sit there feeding him his Cheerios (or whatever) piece by piece now.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Happy 1st Birthday, Clare!

My niece turned 1 last month, and Joseph and I were fortunate enough to be able to make the trip out to Chicago to celebrate. Because I went alone with Joseph and we didn't have to worry about how many days Will would take off from work I was able to go for a long weekend.
Friday morning we went to the zoo.
Just a couple cousins hanging out at the zoo.
Wow, this bench sure is interesting!











While we were there we took the opportunity to get a few shots with the kids.
Julia, Adam and Clare
Joseph and me

At the zoo we spent our time in a building designed especially for toddlers and young children. It was awesome. We spent quite a bit of time in the greenhouse letting Adam water the plants - his favorite activity at the zoo.
Joseph watches Adam water the plants.
Saturday was Clare's birthday party. Happy 1st birthday, Clare!

She loved her cupcake...

...and was adorable when opening standing on her gifts.
Joseph, Will and I got her a doll stroller. She walked with it (with help) every chance she got :)
Sunday we went to the library where they had a really great kids section. Joseph loved it. Unfortunately, he had a wee accident on one of the tables - he busted his lip and chipped his tooth. Looking back I think it was because he wasn't used to the low table height (made for toddlers). On most furniture his face would have already cleared any obstacles by the time he was 1 foot from the ground (the approximate height of the table where he hit his lip), but because the table was so low his lip hit :( Obviously, he was upset and in a lot of pain, but I let the water from the water fountain run over his lip and he quite enjoyed that (and the cool water helped ease the bleeding/pain). We even went back for several more trips for him to enjoy the fountain before we left. By Monday you could hardly tell he had even had an accident (thank goodness!) and his lip didn't seem to bother him at all.
Monday was spent hanging out and visiting before we headed home on Tuesday. I'll end with one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.
Just a couple cousins hangin' out in their jammies.

Friday, May 4, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 38)

Hello! I'm back from a wee blogging break. The break wasn't intentional, it just kinda...happened. At first I was busy getting ready for a trip to Chicago for my adorable little niece's 1st birthday. Then we were there for 6 days. Then I was in recover/return to real-life mode. And by that point I had several ideas for posts and just didn't know where to start. So, today I decided to just dive right in. And what better way to dive back in than with 7 randomly scattered thoughts?

1) It seems that I change Joseph into a new outfit every time he's about to eat (don't ask me why). Then as soon as the meal is over the clean outfit is no longer so clean. You would think I'd learn not to bother changing him until after each of his meals, but I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake...or maybe it's just that I love doing extra laundry.

2) My niece (and Goddaughter!!) had her 1st birthday a couple weeks ago. Joseph and I headed to Chicago for her birthday weekend and had a wonderful time. We really enjoyed visiting with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids. We also got to see my younger sister, Alyse, and my parents as well as a couple of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was great visiting with everyone.
Happy 1st birthday, sweet Clare!!!


3) Speaking of my adorable niece. Check out this video of her....getting around. We have yet to figure out what to call it. It isn't a walk, and it isn't a crawl. And we can't seem to think of a good way to describe what she's doing. If you think of a good name for this please let me know.


4) It's May. You know what that means? It means I'm 1/3 of the way through my New Year's Resolution! That's right, people, I've stuck with my resolution for 4 whole months. How are you doing with your resolution? It's not too late to get back on the bandwagon.
I will say I greatly enjoyed my first day of sweets on Easter day. And (confession) I kinda sorta...adjusted my resolution to include all 8 days of Easter (although I didn't decide that until the last 2 days). So, I got 3 days of sweets instead of just one. And it was mainly so I could eat the delicious cookies I made on Easter day.
But, now I'm back to no sweets until Joseph' birthday. You better believe I'm counting down the days.

5) I've recently begun planning out our meals a week at a time. Before I did this I found myself at the grocery store at least 2-3 times a week (sometimes more). Although I often end up switching around what days we eat what it has gone pretty smoothly for almost a month now. It has been especially useful in planning when to try new recipes. I've been able to try two new recipes so far (thanks Pinterest!) and revive a couple old ones that I haven't used in a while.
I've also been able to cut down on our consumption of spaghetti and breakfast for dinner (not that we don't love those dinners!).
Before I began planning out our meals I would often realize at 6pm that my husband would be home soon and I needed to get crackin' on dinner. This usually meant I hadn't given one teeny tiny thought to what we would be having and thus wouldn't have thawed (or bought) any meat or other ingredients. This meant we were having spaghetti or breakfast for dinner...or if I really couldn't get it together we might order Chinese or grab some Chicken Out. This has only happened once since I began menu planning and that was in the couple days after we got home from Chicago and I hadn't had a chance to go to the grocery store. I am very pleased with how the menu planning in going, and am looking forward to (hopefully) staying this organized.
Perhaps I'll even join in on the Menu Plan Monday linkup one of these days...

6) I still can't get over Joseph's cuteness. He's walking even better now. He can take 10-12 steps at a time and tries to walk pretty much every chance he gets. He definitely wants to be able to walk at all times, so I'm pretty sure he's going to master this whole walking thing soon. Until then, he'll continue crawling and climbing to get where he wants to go...
Nomnom. The dishwasher is my favorite!
What? This drawer wasn't made for babies?
7) Today is my dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad!!!
Sorry, mom. I realize that's not the best pic of you, but dad and the babies look so cute!

Have a great weekend, ya'll! Go visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes!