Jump Around

When we got back from Christmas travel, we introduced Josiah to his jumper. We expected we would like it because he likes standing up and moving his legs. He doesn't jump a lot in it, but he does walk, turn and bounce. I think he likes the freedom of it, as much freedom as being strapped to a bungee cord allows. Some of these pictures were extraneous, but just cute of him.

We have it hanging by the kitchen, and it works really well for me to put him in it while I fix meals.

This is the second time I put him in it, and he was really tired and I didn't put his hands on the outside like you're supposed to. So he was content to just eat jumper.

Christmas Day

We drove Christmas Eve back to the Moseleys to spend the day with them.

Jonathan getting some giggles before going downstairs.

Granddaddy and Mama Jo drove up from Birmingham.

Grammy and Granddaddy got Josiah an exersaucer and he loved it. He still hasn't figured out some elements on it (pressing buttons, etc.), but he loves exploring all these new things. Thanks guys!

Opening gifts with Grammy and Anna.

Granddaddy Olive always makes quacking sounds for Josiah; it's his trademark move.

Christmas Eve

My mom's side of the family gathers every Christmas Eve for a family reunion, meal and gift exchange. My mom's dad had six brothers and sisters, and five of them live within 10 miles of each other. Josiah is one of the first of the fourth generation on this side, and the only one there that evening. The gift exchange is always fierce, done Chinese Christmas style. We didn't participate this year because of the little one, but it's always fun.

Parker held Josiah while we got food. He looks a little frightened...

GP holding the sleepy elf.

Josiah just sneezed or drooled or something.

Kiss sandwich! Hard to resist!
We left shortly after this, and it was very emotional. Everyone was crying! We had such a sweet time with everyone.

Picking Collards

Josiah got to stem his first collards up in Eastern North Carolina. He hasn't gotten to taste any yet though, maybe next time. Grandma makes the best collards around, no contest. If you don't like them, it's because you've never had hers. If you're a Yankee and don't know what collards are, they're similar to mustard greens or turnip greens.

I adore this picture. Grandma's face just lit up like this every time she saw Josiah. I was happy to capture it on film.

Four Generations, Parker Edition

And here are four generations on this side of the family. It's freaking me out how much mom and my smiles look alike in this picture.

OK, in case anyone is confused, my mom's maiden name is Parker, and this is her side of the family. That's how my brother Parker got his name. He's actually named after his great-granddaddy, Stonewall Jackson Parker. But that's another blog entry.

Exchanging Gifts

Christmas Eve Day we exchanged gifts with my side of the family. I don't know if exchanged is really a fair word. We and Josiah were showered with gifts, and we presented a few offerings. Everyone was so incredibly generous. It's irresistible to buy for babies. Josiah is the first grandbaby and great-grandbaby on all sides (where there are great-grands still living), so he's pretty popular.

In his cutie Christmas outfit. He's going to hate this picture when he's a teenager.

Josiah inspected each of his presents by placing it directly in his mouth.

Parker and Rachel gave him this puppet. It came in handy for appeasing him on the car ride home.

The puppet also wanted to give Susan a kiss

All the "kids." When we were leaving that night, Rachel told me that she was glad God put us in the same family. I couldn't agree more.

This is what we look like not holding a baby.

With Mimi.

We did hit one home run with the gift giving. For both sets of grandparents we designed a book online filled with pictures of Josiah. It came out really professionally. We did ours at Photoworks, but I saw several other sites with it available. I don't scrapbook, but I have done layouts, so this worked out well.

Finally...

Josiah got to meet his Great-grandmother Parker, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Gail, Jaclyn and Hank. And he got reconnected to Uncle Parker and Aunt Rachel. They were there when he was born, but never got to hold him because he was whisked away to the NICU. Then they moved to Boston, so Parker could study at Gordon-Conwell Seminary. Needless to say, they were starving for some quality time with their nephew!

Grandma and Josiah got along very well. She was always coming up to him, and he'd grin at her. He loves trying grab her nose and eat her bright-pink fingernails.

Some hang out time with Uncle Parker. He was teaching Josiah to read the paper. We said read, but Josiah heard eat.


Aunt Rachel had lots of fun with her nephew. She got lots of smiles too.

With Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Gail, actually GREAT Uncle and Aunt.

One of the things I love about going to Stella is that family and friends just stop by for visits. Cousin Jill came over with her daughter Eva Grayson. We all thought it was so cute because when her grandma and mom held Josiah, Eva got really upset and jealous. Eva and Josiah are technically second cousins once removed, in case you were wondering.

Josiah with Aunt Gail. Parker and Rachel gave him the onesie he's wearing. It says, "All Mommy wants for Christmas is a Silent Night."

With "Aunt" Jaclyn. Josiah's face is hysterical.

Susan taking Josiah for a walk.

Josiah fell asleep with Uncle Ronnie while we were all opening presents. I don't think he minded.

Moseley Christmas Card

Back in Wake Forest, we took a Christmas card picture with the Moseleys and had dinner before heading on to Grandma Parker's house. We tried to travel during Josiah's sleep times, but I don't know if it made much of a difference; he slept terrible the whole week. I don't know if it was all the activity or sleeping in new places.

Awww...

This one cracked me up: Josiah's cute little frown and my geeky smile.

Seeing Friends

The first stop on our grand tour was in Atlanta, but just briefly. It helped to break the trip into pieces. We did stop by Dad's office, where Josiah wooed all the ladies.

Then we arrived in Raleigh on Saturday and stopped in to see some friends who were still in town for the holidays. Our apologies if we didn't get to see you. Hopefully we'll get to come up to NC again during a non-holiday time.

We saw our friends Caron and Jamie Lye and their son Matthew, who is 15 months old. Matthew had grown so much since we saw him back in June!

Matthew decided to check out Josiah's car seat.

Matthew was really interested in Josiah, so it was sweet to watch them interact.

All the boys. Jamie is in his first year of pediatric residency at UNC, so we all had a lot to talk about.

Then we went to visit the Efirds and met their baby girl, Anna. You know you're back in God's country when we were trying to make plans, and we had to schedule around the Carolina game.

Anna was born about four weeks before Josiah (although he outweighs her by at least five pounds). He'd never gotten to interact with a baby so close to his age so it was really fun. We told Josiah to be on his best behavior on his first "date" with this cutie.

So we decided to introduce Josiah and Anna. It was so adorable because they're both into exploring things and grabbing. So they were kind of wrestling for a few minutes, both very fascinated that the object their size reacted to them.