To the Blog-Checking Faithful

Internet is down at our house, so I've set up temporary operations from the blessed, WI-FI enabled public library. And they even have toys for Josiah, although he's currently occupied with his bag of diaper wipes.
I'll post as soon as we're back in action, but for now the bulletin has the time priority!

Mommy Did My Hair

Do you like it?

Ever since we moved Josiah to the big tub, bath time is fun time. In fact, when I go to turn on the water, he looks at me, smiles and laughs excitedly. He's got fun squirty toys, which for now are used for chewing, and these great magnetic turtles.
And he loves splashing. Which is hard for me because I hate being splashed with water. I don't know why; it's a gut reaction I have to it. But I just have to remind myself, "This is cute. Savor this moment."

Josiah's Cupboard

This has been a lifesaver for me lately. In my babyproofing, I made a cupboard just for Josiah and put some plastic plates, cups and bowls. He goes to town contentedly playing while I work on dinner.

Weekend Walk in the Park

It was a gorgeous weekend, and we took a walk around the botanical gardens. The pictures came out really cute, so here you go.

Eat Your Greens

I was bringing our salads to the table for dinner and Josiah snagged a piece of lettuce. I thought about taking it away, but this is one of the things I should encourage him sticking in his mouth on a regular basis. I just had to make sure he didn't gag on it. It entertained him for dozens of minutes.

The Coffeetable - Josiah's Everest

Veni, Vedi, Vinci

Fun Times With Dad

Jonathan's schedule is odd this month, but thankfully it's allowed him to be home more during the day. He and Josiah have been having lots of fun times together.

Jonathan will grab Josiah's toys with his teeth and shake them. Josiah thinks this is hysterical.

Jonathan shook the dust off his trumpet the other day. Josiah is very interested and calmly watches him play. It's very sweet.

And of course walking

And Jonathan has even put him down for a few naps, even though playing, not napping, is more his area of expertise.

I Got Tagged

This thing has been going around the Providence blogs, and Julie tagged me. So here you go:

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Editor at Providence Baptist
2. College Intern at RUMC
3. Waitress at 23, Michael Jordan's former restaurant in Chapel Hill
4. Assistant at a pottery painting studio

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. Pride & Prejudice
2. You've Got Mail
3. Tommy Boy
4. Lord of the Rings triology

Four Places I have lived:
1. Roswell/Alpharetta, Georgia
2. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
3. London, England
4. Birmingham, Alabama

Four T.V. Shows that I watch:
1. Today Show
2. Friends
3. Jeopardy!
4. The Office

Four places I have been:
1. Europe (England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Romania, Italy, Austria, Switzerland)
2. Belize
3. Hawaii
4. Montana

Four People who e-mail me (regularly):
1. Jonathan
2. Mom
3. Tie between Carrie Anne, Leslie, Laura, Rachel
4. Providence Staff

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Cheez-Its
2. Pie
3. Swedish Fish or other gummy candy
4. Pasta

Four Places I would like to visit:
1. North Carolina
2. Boston
3. China
4. Australia/New Zealand

I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Watching Josiah grow, walk, talk...
2. Second year residency, please
3. Running a race (5K, 10K)
4. Seeing some prayers answered

Friends I'm tagging:
1. Carrie Anne
2. Kristen Stewart
3. Rachel (welcome to the blogosphere)
4. Katie Lee - just so that she will update her blog - October, Katie, October!
5. Reba, because she cracks me up

Family Wedding

The Moseley family was in town this weekend for cousin Caroline's wedding. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the wedding, which is a shame because it was beautiful, and the bride was gorgeous.

Hanging with Aunt Amy

And Uncle David

The happy grandparents

Saturday morning everyone came over for breakfast at our house. Since we didn't get to see the Moseleys for Easter, I decided to make some of their traditional Easter goodies: bunny cake, Jello Jiggler eggs, deviled eggs, pear bunnies and ham (in biscuits for this though, because it was breakfast). It was a fun celebration.

Pear bunnies

Bunny cake - I don't think mine came out nearly as cute as Sharon's does.

Flying with Granddaddy

Getting some lovin' from Anna

They might be grown up, but they're still brother and sister.

I love these pictures because they illustrate Josiah's love of standing, but most of all they show off his outfit. Grammy Moseley smocked it for him. Didn't it turn out cute?

Any Ideas?

Question for anyone, but specifically the mommy-readers. I recently became an officer in the JCRMA, which is the resident wives group here. I'm in charge of coordinating events for the "Oh Baby" group. They have a group for toddlers, but this group is more for "lap babies" and really more for the moms or expectant moms to get together and chat. I'd like to have more interactive events, but realize that's limited for ladies with babies.

Past groups have just met at Panera Bread to talk, but I was trying to think of some more creative ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Here are a few I've come up with:
-Mug and Muffin (or some other variation of coffee and pastry) at someone's house
-Walk in a local park or botanical garden
-Visit a consignment sale together
-Kindermusik class

Let me know if anyone has suggestions. I'm also open for ideas centered around holidays.

Meeting Sweet Hadley

Yesterday Josiah and I finally got to meet Hadley Jan. Hadley is one month old and the daughter of our friends Mindy and Justin. Mindy and I grew up at RUMC together, and our parents have been in the same Sunday School class for about 25 years now. She lives within walking distance of us, so it's kind of sad that we've only now gotten over to see them.

A new generation of Berean babies!

"I've heard a lot about your red hair, Hadley. It feels nice."

I promise that Hadley's anguished cry is not due to Josiah's grabbing her hand - or at least I hope not. I seem to recall her getting unhappy before he took her hand. Maybe he's trying to comfort her.

"There, there, Hadley. I remember how it feels to be one month old. It's not easy. "

Mama Gordon was on hand to take all these pictures. Thanks!

Happy Birthday, GP!

Josiah thought the most appropriate way to celebrate GP's birthday was to get in his actual birthday suit. He also wanted to show off his buff baby muscles.

GP, I love you THIS much!

Standing

Josiah's new favorite thing is standing up. He started pulling up on the coffee table a little bit on his own and can pull himself to standing by our hands. He takes some steps forward with encouragement and does this cute little dance when he gets upright. I don't know if we should be encouraging this!

Leslie Was in Town

Our dear friend Leslie came down from Raleigh to be Sven for her friend who just had a baby here in Birmingham. We got to stop by for lunch on Wednesday.

Josiah is very into standing lately, and Leslie was very accommodating. You're a natural!

Gordon Conwell represent.

Last time Drew and Leslie were here Josiah was in a unsocial phase, so this was a much more pleasant visit.

Tales from the High Chair

This picture doesn't quite do it justice, but I was trying to capture the grimace that he gives me whenever he tries a new food or one he's not particularly fond of. "Really, is this what I have to eat?"

We started trying to give him a cup. He does pretty well with it and actually enjoys it. He gets excited when he sees it coming. He normally spills half it it down in shirt, but that's par for the course, right?

The trick is trying to avoid him grabbing it, as seen above.

Sometimes he's fussy when he's eating, but he also does a lot of belly laughing from it. When I laugh, he laughs with me. Maybe I just look funny from this angle.

We started using this handy little invention tonight. It's a food feeder, basically a mesh bag with a handle on it. You put some squeezable food in the bag - in this case a banana - and lock it. The baby can suck on the end and squeeze the food out through the holes. Essentially, they make their own baby food.

Despite the fact it was recommended by other moms, I was a little hesitant. I thought that he wouldn't catch on to it or that it would taste too plastic (not that he minds chewing on plastic). But he LOVED it. He was very content and occupied with it. He downed a whole banana through the thing. I think he liked the independence of it. I'm looking forward to trying more foods with it.