New Year's Trip to NC

Jonathan had the week of New Year's off, so we headed up to NC to visit family and friends.
We exchanged our gifts with Grammy, Granddaddy, David, Amy and Anna. Josiah got a set of Duplo blocks, a great Little People boat, a set of cars, clothes and some wonderful books including the Jesus Storybook Bible and another volume of Read Aloud Bible Stories. Josiah prefers his board books right now, but his Mama loves and is greatly encouraged by these two books.

Luring the grandchild with tackums

I don't know what Amy was doing, but it looks pretty funny.

Josiah adores Anna. He was giving goodnight kisses Friday night. Everyone else got a polite lean forward, but for Anna he dramatically gave a big "Mmmm." He calls her "Nana" as well.

Helping Grammy knit. I borrow her hat loom to make a matching hats for Josiah and his womb-bound cousin. They were a little small, so I'll have to different ones for next year.

Daddy showing how to drive the car properly.

Examining the gum "bas"

A little static action

He loves playing their piano. He bangs whole handed and with two fingers, the latter trying to imitate chopsticks.

A Little Late...

But a big Happy Birthday to David.
We know you'll be great Dad.

(And doesn't Amy have the cutest baby bump ever?)

Buff Baby Muscles

Sorry for the blogging hiatus, but we've been traveling and didn't bring a camera cord. Here are some pictures from Anna's camera to tide everyone over. We've been having a wonderful time here in NC.

Getting a smooch from Anna

Showing off his buff baby muscles, as I like call them. It's cold here, but it managed to get really hot in the house, so I took off his sweater. He was enjoying being half-naked so much he stayed that way for a while. He kept feeling his chest and walking really tall.

Wants to play outside all the time. Has learned to say "out."

And an actual picture with Momma, which has been his favorite word this trip. He wasn't feeling well at all, by far his worst cold/fever/cough spell to date, so he was really clingy and, er, dissatisfied, we'll say.

The Day After

The day after Christmas felt more like the traditional Christmas morning. When the presents were wrapped, Josiah just thought of them as things blocking his toys. The morning after Christmas he woke up to unwrapped presents under the tree and explored them all again.

Christmas Day

We had a sweet Christmas here in Birmingham. Jonathan is working this week. My parents came up mid-morning. Although it was my first Christmas not in North Carolina, it was fun to start our own traditions and concentrate on Jesus instead of all relying on all the associations I have with the holiday.

The first "new" tradition we started was celebrating Jesus birthday in a party kind of way. I hung balloons from the chandelier to make it festive. We're not really doing Santa, but we wanted to make sure the day was still a celebration.

The balloons turned out to be one of Josiah's favorite toys. He kept asking us to put him on the table to bat the "bbloos" around.

Even with all his new toys, he still asked Nana to read him lots of books. Nana grudgingly obliged.

GP decided he wanted to change his name to Pop. Josiah has a version of it, so the blog history will have to be altered once more. GP shall henceforth be known as Pop. Oh, the rights of a first grandchild.

I don't think he'd care what he called him here.

Josiah thought Pop's bald head was hilarious and giggled every time he rubbed it.

Jonathan and I both, coincidentally, gave each other gloves. Josiah decided to try Jonathan's on for size.

He walked around with them on for several minutes.

Once Nana and Pop arrived, Josiah started opening his presents. We started with this stacking train. He was so entranced that we decided to spread out the rest of presents throughout the day. He sat rolling the train around for about 20 minutes straight, which for a toddler is nearly an eternity.

He also got a "band in a box." Daddy taught him how to play the triangle. He caught on and thought it was pretty fun.

Playing the cymbals

Trying out a puzzle

I found this microphone at Target for $2 - we didn't get Josiah anything expensive this year. Josiah tried it out the shopping cart and thought it was very fun, so I hid it away until today. It echoes when you talk into it.

"Sing Dad! You're a rock star."

This is for me to document the first holiday dinner I organized myself. Don't you love how I caught the grands doting in the corner? Plus anytime we use our fine china it should be captured on camera. I love seeing the nice linens and crystal with the high chair and sippy cup. I did a turkey roulade with apple cider gravy, honey roasted sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, spinach salad with cranberries and gorgonzola, rolls and Mom's cranberry Jello salad. I would now like to give a big thank you to all the women in my life who have made and planned holiday meals for me. It's no small feat; I finally appreciate your efforts fully.

After dinner (and a bath for Josiah), we did dessert - cheesecake with cranberry maple topping and apple pie per Jonathan's request ("I think Jesus would like apple pie for his birthday"). We put candles in the cheesecake and sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus." Then we read the Christmas story from one of Josiah's board books. The big kids watched The Incredibles after Josiah went to bed.

Hope your Christmas was blessed as well!

Holiday Baking

What would the holidays be without a few goodies?

My friend Erin and I got together today for some Christmas baking. Her hubby was on call, and Jonathan was in a post-call coma, so we decided to be festive together by making a few goodies. We also ended up going to Christmas Eve service together too. She lives just down the street, so getting together is fun and easy.

The shot below is from the day before. I was making a crust for a cheesecake for our Christmas dinner, and I thought it could be a good learning experience for Josiah. So I sat him on the countertop so he could see (well-supervised of course). I needed 15 ginger snaps, so I started counting: "One gingersnap, two. Josiah, can you put the third ginger snap in?"

Hmmm... I guess it was me who got the learning experience.

Season's Eatings

Mmmm...ornament balls

Cuddles

Josiah hasn't really taken to an attachment object, at least we thought he hadn't. We keep this giraffe in his crib, and apparently they've made friends after spending night after night together. I took the giraffe out of the crib for some reason, and Josiah grabbed him, nuzzled him, tackled him, dragged him around. It was really precious, and he doesn't do that with any other animals.

Speaking of precious. Josiah has started giving kisses and the sweetest hugs. Melt my heart. We saw both the Olive and Moseley great-grandparents this weekend, and he doled them out when asked. He leans in and presses against you and says "mmm." That's the good stuff of parenting right there.

Uncle Parker and Aunt Rachel gave us this book for Christmas.

And it is now my favorite. It goes through different animals and how they say goodnight (fishes kiss, gorillas hug, polar bears cuddle). It took him a few reads to get it, but now Josiah likes to do each of the things we read. So whenever we read this book, we get lots of kisses and snuggles. That's why it's my favorite, and I will stop whatever I'm doing to read this book.

Merry Christmas from the Moseleys

From our family to yours, we wish you a bright, blessed Christmas.

If we did Christmas cards, this is what it would be. The blog is our year-round Christmas letter. We've never done Christmas cards, but I really do love receiving them. We value your friendship and love seeing and hearing about your family. We love you all!

Here is a cute outtake.

Our Small Group

We have been tremendously blessed with our small group Bible study here in Birmingham. Over the past 15 months, we've been learning together what it means to follow Christ. I love that when we're studying verses like "Sell all that you have and follow Christ" or "Take up your cross daily (paraphrased)," they challenge us not to just sweep it under the rug as one of those crazy things Jesus said, but to be obedient to this radical God we follow.

As a result, the small group might scatter all over the world by next year. Three of the couples are actively pursuing serving long-term missions in places like Asia, Central America or Africa. One couple has already left to start a small group in their neighborhood with internationals. Other crazy things? One of the couples takes pizza every week to a local park to feed and hang out with the homeless there. Another woman was treating one of her occupational therapy patients, found out he was homeless, and eventually she and her husband decided to invite him to stay at their house.

Why would anyone do these things? Only, solely, because the love of Christ compels us.

All this is to show some pictures of Josiah at a homeless feeding. I took more, but they didn't turn out great. We really just joined in with what Frank & Bekah do once a month.

I love that our small group has adopted Josiah as their mascot. And I love bringing him to meet people who are from a different background than he is. The people we served loved getting to say hi to our little one. Children are kind of a universal bond. I found that true in China and here. On my own, it would take a lot more effort for them to warm to me. But with Josiah, barriers are broken down immediately.

One of Frank's nephews had Heely/roller-skate shoes on. Josiah was amazed at him.

Behold the Lamb of God

I have no pictures, but Jonathan and I were blessed to get to go to "Behold the Lamb of God" last night. Words do not do it justice; you just have to experience it. Andrew Peterson was already our favorite Christian artist by a long shot, but this just cemented his status. It takes the whole story of Jesus, from the Israelites in Egypt to the Christ's coming. As Andrew explained at the concert, he wanted to create a concert where Santa wasn't invited. It was a worship-filled experience.

All this is not to flaunt the fact that we got to go, but to recommend that you stream it (for free) online here. Or he'll be in Greensboro tonight and Charlotte tomorrow if anyone in NC wants to book it over there.

A huge thanks to the Stewarts for watching Josiah while we attended.
The other big highlight of the evening was getting to hear Josiah's name sung in concert ("Matthew Begats"). That doesn't happen often. But it isn't your typical Christian song.

Hey Mr. Postman

Lately I've been trying to unload some things on Ebay. It's gathering dust in my house; wouldn't it better for someone to pay me to gather dust in their house? Well it's a little tricky to get everything loaded up with a little boy, so here is my solution.

Did I mention I went on what is supposed to be the busiest shipping day of the year? It wasn't too bad, and I think the customers enjoyed seeing a cute little boy in a wagon in the middle of a dreary post office.

Live Nativity

One of the mega-churches here in town has a live, walk-through nativity, with actors (who were freezing cold) and animals. There were ten stations that went through the whole Christmas story. It was really cold, but pretty interesting to get a picture of what it might have been like at Jesus' birth.

The best part for Josiah was the petting "zoo" at the end, which was a baby sheep, lamb, cow and llama in a pen. But it was soooo exciting for the kiddo. He kept pointing and saying "ba, ba."

The llama and calf

They also had a camel in the wise men scene, but he didn't recognize it. He kept baa-ing at it instead of making his "camel noise." I guess our plastic nativity set is not very realistic. Jonathan explained what it was, and he switched noises.

The sheep actually got close enough for him to touch it, but then the it turned around for some food, and Josiah ran away. Very reminiscent of what he does with Sandy the dog.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Dad requested pictures. I just happened to have these saved up.

Thanks, once again, to Carrie-Anne for the adorable coat. I guess I should thank all of the relatives and friend who have given outfits for helping my child be so cute. But I'm particularly grateful for these hand-me-downs. Hopefully I'll be posting your Christmas pajama pics soon. They are fall-off-your-chair cute.

Christmastime Is Here

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend (did I mention I was behind?). We bought our first real tree as a family because we'll be in town for Christmas this year. I love it. The biggest difference to me is the smell. It officially smells like Christmas.

This is our newest decoration: an Advent calendar. I love it, and Josiah thinks it's fun to try and stick the pieces on. What a great way to count down to the birthday of Christ.

Our beautiful stockings for which I'm finding proper stocking holders

Our nativity collection

I love the one in front our fan from China because it reminds me to keep praying for Christ to be known more and more there.

A really hilarious video of Josiah's camel noise. The camels came out with the nativities, and Jonathan said this is what camels say...

15 months

Josiah had his 15-month check-up Friday. His iron levels have gone up, and everything is on track. Our pediatrician checked out his teeth, looked around and informed me that he is cutting 7 teeth, including his eye teeth, which are supposed to be particularly painful. That explains a lot about the past few weeks. I knew they were there, but I've always been confused about when teething is painful. (Am I the only parent clueless about that?) So I asked the pediatrician, and she said it varies for each child. I think he was in pain the last few weeks; he's been doing well lately. So that brings his total to about 15 teeth. It's hard to count because he hates me messing with his mouth.

Here are his other stats:
32.25 inches (75 percentile)
24.2 lbs. (50 percentile)
18.75 inches head circumference (75 percentile)

Moments With Mom and Dad

Jonathan took Josiah outside to play. I warned him that the boy was tired, and sure enough, he conked out in a few minutes. It was a sweet moment (but a short nap).