Lovin' Life at 10 Months

While the newborn stage was oh-so-precious and the months of immobility and smiles were cute yet convenient, I LOVE THIS STAGE! Josiah has been blossoming this month as he has learned to interact more intentionally and has improved his mobility. I won’t bore you with my reminiscing, but suffice to say that he has stolen my heart and made me laugh more times than I can count. He has really started to imitate us more lately and it cracks me up. If I’m alone, I feel the urge to call someone and tell them what he just did every time he makes me laugh. Am I crazy? I also find myself looking at my own blog just to see the visible evidence of my blessed life – but I’ve done that for quite some time now. Here’s a synopsis of his life this month:

Josiah finally mastered the crawl this month but still reverts back to the army crawl when he’s tired out. He is pulling up on any and everything and is beginning to cruise along furniture more. I guess the next couple of months will be spent perfecting these skills until he starts walking. I hope he gets good soon because it breaks my heart when he falls and hits his head. Hey Annie, do you still have that helmet?

As I said, Josiah is mimicking us more frequently now with everything from the sounds to the gestures we make. His wave is gaining coordination (and kind of looks like a beauty queen wave – don’t tell Jacob), but he does not always do it at appropriate times. Jacob taught him to give high five this month, as well. He doesn't quite understand that he is supposed to completely straighten his hand out and hit your hand hard and fast, but he always touches his hand to yours and is good about not leaving you hangin'.

Along with the emergence of his charming personality, so does his opinionated side. He loves to arch his back and fuss when you take him away from something he wants. I know this will change soon, but for now it brings a smile to my face. I love knowing there is a little independent person in there that God gave me to mold and teach how to make good decisions. Hopefully I am successful in that duty. It really is a blessing when you think of it that way. Lets see if I think that when he is 2!

As far as diet goes, we are giving him pretty much everything unless it is on the definite no-no list. Although he did find a peanut on the floor the other day and I had to fish it out of his mouth. He lived. Josiah has a great appetite when we spoon feed him and also feeds himself quite well. This month he also learned to (and then quickly learned not to) blow raspberries while eating.

In health news…the week before Christmas, Josiah had a little bout of the sniffles followed by an ear infection the week of Christmas, so now he has had his second round of antibiotics in a month’s time. Thankfully he has recovered, appears healthy and happy, and has his appetite back so that we can get back to fattening him up!

He is still taking 2 nice long naps a day and he is so good at going to sleep. I am so spoiled by his good sleeping habits. I can lay him down and leave and he just rolls over and drifts off or plays in his crib until he is more tired and then lays down and sleeps. I particularly like it when he plays because it extends my free time!

I have posted most of this months pictures as Christmas pictures, but here are some from yesterday and today:

Josiah helping Daddy babyproof the house - an impossible task.

Bundled up to go outside.

Some giggles. Notice his feet in the second part of this video. They never stop. This is actually from last month. Forgive the terrible videography.

Warning...You may wish to turn down your volume. This is just a few seconds of what I frequently hear.

I realize this is bad highchair etiquette, but he was so cute and so proud of himself. Notice how he uses his foot to help him out at first.

Better Late Than Never

Here are some of the pictures my Uncle Tommy took of Josiah for his nine month pictures as well as of my mom and her grandbabies for Christmas. He did an awesome job! Since there were so many good ones, it was hard to pick just a few and with so much going on this month, it took me forever to get this post together. Enjoy!

That's my sweet baby with three teeth!

His overalls have horses all over them and his shirt is a sheriff shirt with horses, too. I love this outfit! I bought it the day we found out he was a boy. He was wearing boots, but kicked them off early on.

HA!


Check out his toes. He's constantly curling and stretching them.


It was tough to get them all behaving, smiling, and looking at the camera at the same time!

Do you see the gift nametags? There is even one for Nathan who is due to be born in February. I can't wait!


Josiah is not so sure about the loving hug he is getting from sweet Savannah.

Two of my favorite people.

He loved the giant ornaments!

Handsome man.

First Family Christmas

After 9 years of marriage, Jacob and I were excited to share our first Christmas with Josiah. We managed to celebrate with all of our family and still be home on Christmas day (a first for us). The Saturday before Christmas we celebrated with Jacob’s extended family and had a great time watching kids of the family interact and open presents. Josiah didn’t really understand opening presents at that point, but by Christmas morning he was getting the hang of it. That same night we had a more private Christmas with Jacob’s immediate family. It made for a LONG day, but we made some good memories and Josiah loved every minute of it. Thankfully he showed no signs of stranger anxiety.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy having fun on his new toy? Thanks Aunt Amy!

Sharing Dandy's lab with cousin Will. He LOVES Dandy! FYI - Will is Dandy's grandson, while Josiah is his great-grandson, yet will is 6 months younger.

Funny boy and funny daddy who did it to him.

Checkin' out his new gift from Granny.

Too bad he's scared of the real thing in our back yard! In his defense, the real thing is MUCH noisier.

On Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandparents to celebrate with my extended family. We ate way too much and had lots of laughs playing Deda’s present game. Unfortunately, during the week Josiah got an ear infection and was recovering from that, so he didn’t have quite as much fun as before, but he still loved ripping paper!

Giving high fives to Daddy while being held by Grandpa.

Savannah opening the oven Grandpa made for her.

My sleepy boy opening gifts. It was way past bedtime before we opened gifts and he missed his afternoon nap.

Silly faces!

First taste of stawberries. He loved it!

PRESENTS!

By Christmas morning, Josiah was all about opening presents. He opened all of them no matter who they were for. I’m not sure how much paper he ate, but I know for a fact that I saw green in his mouth at one point and was unable to get it out in time. After presents, Josiah went down for a nap (and so did we for 2 whole hours!), then we went to Grandma’s for leftovers where Jesse and Savannah met up with us to eat. It made for a pretty perfect Christmas – mostly because of the extra sleep and the lack of running around!

He's getting good at this!

We bought these stackable cups just to give him a little something extra, but they turned out to be a hit.

See? Still holding the cup!

He loved the ball popper from Grandma.

Josiah teaching Savannah the army crawl.

Grandma's toy cabinet.

Our little dancer.

Poor Lilah just got a discarded bag, but she was happy.

At first I think Josiah thought he was in heaven with all of his new toys. Our living room is filled. He loves them! He is only just now going back to his old toy basket for some of his faithful standbys.