Thanks and Giving

We celebrated Josiah's first Thanksgiving yesterday. Jonathan and I were thankful that we have family nearby, and we didn't have to travel for the big day. We were also thankful that the Moseleys drove down to celebrate and that Jonathan was able to get off work early in the day, so he could eat with everybody. But most of all this year, we were grateful to have our little boy!
We had the big meal at Jonathan's aunt and uncle's who live here in Birmingham. His grandparents and all of his cousins on this side were there as well. We were missing David and Amy though!

Josiah really enjoyed his first Thanksgiving meal as you can see below. He slept through the whole thing!

Josiah was showing off all his new "tricks" - talking and singing and grabbing things.

Josiah with Caroline. Technically our cousins are Josiah's first cousins once removed, but it feels like he should call them aunt or uncle. But I call my mother's first cousins by their first names only. Hmm...guess we'll see what comes out of his mouth when he's older.

James trying to get Josiah to smile for the picture.

With cousin Charles.

Our family at our first Thanksgiving together. You'd think the difficult part of this picture would be to get the baby to look somewhere near the camera. But no, we tried five times, and Jonathan's eyes were closed every single time. I think it might be something genetic because Anna has this difficulty as well, especially with flash pictures.

That night we did Christmas with this side of the family at Mama Jo and Granddaddy's house. We had exchanged names, so each person got one gift.


I was trying to be very diplomatic and sentimental and make everyone open their gift one at a time. Jonathan got a little antsy and tried to move the process along by opening my gift for me. I lovingly told him, "Back off, bub. Why don't you take some pictures or something?"

So he went all photojournalist on me and thoroughly documented my present opening.

Thanks sweetie.
I was trying to capture how Uncle Jim was making Josiah laugh (he was really good at it), but instead I captured a big spit-up. Glad we got that on film.

Learning and Growing

Josiah is learning lots of new things right now, and it's so much fun to watch him process. He's started to pick up objects (and place them directly in his mouth). He's also talking and "singing" quite a bit. Here is my attempt to catch some of the action.

Happy Birthday, Granddaddy!

We can't wait to see you this week. Have a wonderful birthday!

Lately...

Josiah has started to become much more aware of his surroundings. He's actually interested in his activity gym. I've found that he's getting much more out of tummy time when I prop him up on this pillow. He tolerates it a lot longer, lifts his head more and uses his hands and feet more.

Mimi and GP came over for a quick visit.

The changing table is still one of Josiah's favorite places. While Mom and Dad were here, Mom came and knocked on my door early in the morning (Jonathan was on overnight call). Josiah wasn't sleepy, so she asked if she could take him so I could rest. I was still pretty sleepy, so I agreed, but all the while thinking "He'll never make it. He'll need me." I've had this thought for all of the four times I've left him in someone else's care. After a restful two hours, I came out and just I expected, he was destitute....

Look at him...miserable, starving, wailing...
I'm still learning.

Some play time, though Josiah was a bit conscious of the camera. Thanks to Dad again for getting some Mommy shots.

This picture cracks me up because Mom and me are smiling the same way.

I think he's gotten cuter - I didn't think it was possible.

Who Does He Look Like?

There are a few questions I've discovered that most people ask when you have a newborn: How is he sleeping? Is he eating well? Is he a good baby? (A silly question I think - are there "bad babies"? And if they were, would their parents every say, "No, he's not a very good baby.")

Anyway, the other question is, Who does he look like? It's a fun game to play. Jonathan was starting to get disheartened that Josiah didn't look that much like him, but his parents brought down some baby pictures, and the resemblance was very reassuring. I'll let you judge for yourself. The first two are Jonathan and the second two are me.

Beautiful Boy

The weekend visitors gave me the opportunity to have my hands free and take some pictures of the little guy. Please, tell me, how cute is he? :)

Happy Birthday, Uncle Parker!

I just wanted give a shout-out to my Uncle Parker for his big 2-6. I love you, and I can't wait to see you at Christmas and for you to hold me for more than 3 seconds.
(Mom cut out the top "Happy" - sorry about that. I've been trying to teach her how to use the camera correctly, but I can't talk yet. Surprisingly though, I had no difficulty typing this message.)

Four Generations

Josiah is blessed to have five great-grandparents who are "alive and kickin.'" We got generation pictures with four of the five this weekend. We'll get one with my grandmother over Christmas.

With the Olive Great-Grands (Sharon's parents)

Four generations of Moseley men.

And four generations with Great-Grandmother Moseley.

We snuck Jonathan out of the hospital to get the picture and woke poor Josiah up from his contented nap in the car seat. You can see he had had enough by this time, but we appreciated his cooperation.

Moseley Family Weekend

Grammy, Granddaddy Moseley and Aunt Anna came down for the weekend. We had lots of fun visiting with family and just watching the baby.

There was some fierce competition for baby-holding time! Josiah tried to be very diplomatic about it.

Daddy got to hold him occasionally, too.

Chillin' with Granddaddy. Josiah slept for a good hour or two in Granddaddy's arms on Saturday night during the Alabama game.

Josiah Museum, Exhibit B

Visiting with Mama Jo at their condo, which has incredible views of the city. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but looking at it now, I realize that my dad's heart is leaping out of his chest (too close to the rail! too close! where is his life jacket?).

Josiah's always very content with his Grammy. They all babysat Josiah on Thursday night, so Jonathan and I could go to our small group. It was nice to actually participate in discussion, but it still felt weird to be away.

Josiah looked so big when his Aunt Anna held him (or she looked so small). Anna got to change diapers and give him a bottle - some good babysitter training! It took five tries to get this picture because Anna kept blinking. We finally decided she should just look at Josiah.

We went to the botanical gardens to enjoy the beautiful weekend weather. Josiah cruised in the Bjorn, very content.

Smile for the camera...

OK, now back to the baby.

The Moseley Great-Grands came up on Saturday as well.

Happy Reformation Day!

Our old Sunday School class used to celebrate Reformation Day on October 31 instead of Halloween (we miss you guys!). We had no Fall Festival and figured trick-or-treating would appear a little selfish this year, so no fun festivities for us really. I did bring him in this outfit to a Halloween parade (aka excuse to show off your kids to your friends), but I forgot my camera. So this is the cutest we got this year, which is still pretty darn cute!

Born an Adult

We actually are bringing to you a blog not about Josiah - shocking, I know, and perhaps a bit disappointing for some. Jonathan's parents are in town and brought down a letter that an old friend had discovered. Jonathan had written this man (the father of someone in Jonathan's dad's previous congregation) a thank you note for giving him $5. We thought it was hilarious and also provided numerous insights into Jonathan's personality.

Note: Jonathan is 11 years old when he wrote this, and I have done absolutely no editing to it.(It is, as far as I can see, grammatically flawless.)

Mr. Wheeler,
Thank you for the five dollars. I imagine I get more money given to me than most kids because of my father’s occupation, but still it isn’t often it happens anyways. I’ve put it in the bank for safekeeping and interest, and soon you will have given me more than five dollars. Thank you again, and I hope you’ve enjoyed your holidays.
Your friend,
Jonathan Moseley

Two Months Old

Josiah had his two-month check-up on Monday. Everything looks great, but he is definitely big (in case the cheeks weren't proof enough). He weighed in at 14 lbs., 9 oz. (95th percentile) and was 24 inches tall (90th percentile). His head was 15.5 inches, so that was only 50th percentile. He was a real trooper for all his shots; he just wailed initially, but then quieted down.

Here are a few more fun two-month facts:
-He is a great smiler! He gives us his best ones on the changing table and sitting up in the Boppy.
-He responds really well to us talking, laughing and singing to him. You can definitely see him trying to imitate us, whether it be smiling or talking (I even think he mimics me sticking out my tongue). I swear he has said a version of "Hi" and "Hey" back to me. He kicks his little legs and gets so excited sometimes. He's got some definite cooing action going on. It just melts us both!
-He's also been enjoying his mobile. He does the same excited dance, and I think he's trying to talk to his "crib friends" as I call them.
-The night after he had his 8-hour sleep, he had a 7-hour stretch, but hasn't done as well since. Oh well...it was nice while it lasted. I still have to get up between 1-3 times a night with him.
-Jonathan put him in the Bjorn facing outward a couple of weeks ago. I was a little mortified, but he held his head up really well. Now, of course, he won't go back to inward facing, but it's still a useful tool for getting him to sleep.

I saw on someone else's blog the idea of taking monthly pictures with a stuffed animal to show how they've grown in comparison. I didn't do it for one month, but I thought I'd give it a shot. He was too sleepy to give me any smiles for this shoot.

I'm a Tar Heel Born...

Josiah has finally gotten big enough for some of his Carolina gear. As I prepared him for this photo shoot, he looked very solemn, almost pouting. I figured it was because he was so depressed over Carolina's pitiful football season. It doesn't help that we now live in diehard football country, so I can understand how he would be discouraged.

So I informed him that basketball season was just about to start, and the Tar Heels were even ranked number #1 in pre-season polls! That cheered him right up - look at that smile!

(Between family and friends who are Carolina friends, he has several Tar Heel outfits. Yes, even the socks have UNC on them. He had already "gone through" that morning the cute sleeper that my friend Laura gave him.)

Sleep in Heavenly Peace...

This is Josiah's "He-Man" sleep position. I know he's gone solid if he's in this position. This was actually at Mom and Dad's in the pack-in-play. The light was just coming in so beautifully...

Mommy-Time

Here is a picture my dad took last weekend. I don't get too many of the two of us so I thought I'd post.