An Apple a Day

Tunnel

Nana and Pop brought the tunnels to our house. I think Josiah enjoys the fact that trains are surrounding him more than the fact he's going through a tunnel! These are terrible quality pictures, but the subject matter is cute.

Stopping to look at the choo-choos.

I made it!

Vroom

Cars/trucks/tractors/anything with wheels are hands down Josiah's favorite toy. He already had some, but received several more for Christmas. Each time I thought, "Oh dear, we do not need more cars." But I was wrong. It turns out a boy can never have enough cars.

He also can't have too many books about cars.

Cars and trucks are still "ackums", ambulances are "blu-blus" and tractors are "dada."

This is very serious business. He has lots of car noises too.

Even this zebra has wheels.

5-5-5

Post (with description) the 5th photo found in the 5th folder (etc.) in your My Pictures folder, then tag 5 friends to do the same.

Carrie-Anne tagged me with this, and it seemed fun. This is what I landed on, and what a fun picture. This is my brother Parker, and his wife, Rachel, at their wedding on July 3, 2004. Jonathan was a groomsman, and I was a bridesmaid. It was such a sweet day because my brother had married a most excellent wife, who is also a dear friend. I'm blessed beyond measure to have both of them in my life. The wedding was also fun because I knew so many people: family, college friends, church friends and family friends. It was like being at my wedding, only with the chance to have a conversation. My cousin Ryan, also a groomsman, spied a lovely woman named Susan at this wedding, and three years later, we were dancing at their wedding.

I tag:

Rachel, appropriately 

Leslie

Kristen Stewart

Kristen McCutchen

Janie

January Oh Baby

We had a great turnout for Oh Baby this month with six babies from three months to 16 months. Leah and her little girl Bailey hosted.

Josiah, Will, Brantley, Bailey, Jack and Anna

Brantley is apparently the only one who knows to smile for the camera.

"Mama, why are you making me sit?"

Bailey has had enough!

Seriously, enough! Jack says, "Work with me people."

Josiah is out of here. See you babies later!

Josiah and Jack were fascinated with Leah's dog, Tito. Josiah was always taking my hand and leading me to the dog where he would bark non-stop.
I promise we didn't plan their coordinated outfits.

Josiah and Jack learning to share. They both loved Bailey's cell phone, and unfortunately Leah couldn't find it after the playdate. I hoped this hadn't happened, but I told Leah to check her trash can. Sure enough...yikes! Sorry Bailey!

I snatched this one from Melanie's site from our outing to the library's story time last week. It's fun having a boy around that's close to Josiah's age.

Mastering the Spoon

I feel like I've posted a lot of pictures of Josiah in this high-chair, but it's a really easy time to snap pictures. When we were NC, Grammy helped Josiah master his spoon technique, and he's getting better and better. He's still using an overhand grip of course, but most of it gets in his mouth most of the time.

Car Wash

I found a little surprise as I was unloading the dishwasher.

Dancing

My favorite things about this video:

• Shows Josiah's "dancing." He does this with his toys that play music, and most often to "Old McDonald."
• Shows his running. Jonathan claims that he "got this from me." I think I remember showing him how to run and thinking it necessitated a prolonged yell.
• The awkward social interaction with the girl at the end.
  

Baby and Me

My friend Melanie and her little boy Jack invited us to go to "Baby and Me" at one of our local libraries. The lady did interactive songs, and the kids played with instruments and scarves and a parachute. It was really a fun program.

Most of the children did this...

My child...

Most of the kids sat attentively in their mother's laps, but Josiah decided to lead a rebellion. The leader was a doing a song about monkeys with a puppet where you could take the monkeys off the tree. Josiah went and retrieved the first monkey that "fell down." The rest of the children followed suit with the remaining monkeys. Then he went and got his instrument back out of the box, and the rest of the kids followed suit. Not sure if this was a bad-mommy moment or just letting him have his independence. It was a small group, and no one seemed to mind. At least I hope not.

Melanie showed him the lion afterward, and he showed her his roar. Isn't Jack adorable?

Seeing Friends

We got to hang out with Drew and Leslie on New Year's Day. The grands watch Josiah, so we got to have an uninterrupted, adult conversation at Outback and then Starbucks. It was a wonderful treat.

Then we met up with Taylor and Courtney and their girls, Brooke and Natalie, at Moe's for lunch.

Jonathan and Taylor have been friends for about 15 years (gosh that sounds old). They hadn't gotten to meet Josiah, and we hadn't met Natalie, so it was great to finally get together.

Brooke and Josiah didn't interact much in the restaurant, but once they got outside they started running together and laughing at each other. Too cute!

We also got to see Andy and Renee on the way back down, but I forgot to take a picture. Bummer!

Family Pictures

We took a family photo while we were in NC. Timer pictures are tough, but it came out cute. Josiah's even looking at the camera.

And I never posted this one from when the Pages were together over Thanksgiving. It was Mom and Dad's Christmas card. Josiah barks at Sandy every time he passes it in our house.

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.