Joshua's Baby Dedication

I remember grocery shopping one time while I was pregnant and it hit me, right there in Wal-Mart; God KNOWS my child.  He knows every single detail about him and his life.  Instead of making decisions for Joshua based on what I think or what I have read, I should seek Him for wisdom and guidance in EVERY situation.  Joshua is a unique individual who is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by the Lord.  The Lord knows all his needs and He wants to guide me as Joshua's Mom.

One of my prayers as a Mom is "Lord teach me about my son."  It blows my mind that God cares about every detail.  As moms we have so many questions and so many doubts. 

This weekend we had Joshua dedicated.  This was a special time for us to stand with our family before our church and say, "Lord this is your child and I am committed to parenting him according to you ways.  Teach me how to do that."

Parenting is no easy task but I can't think of a better teacher to have than the One who created you and me.   

Here are a few pictures from the ceremony. (Please excuse the poor quality).



Here we are before the ceremony with our pastor, JR.
Joshua can hardly contain his excitement. This picture
is really special to me because Joshua was dedicated by
Pastor JR and Pastor JR also officiated our wedding. 

.   

Praying for our sweet boy

Joshua's First Hike up the Rock

We had beautiful spring weather this weekend and to take advantage of it we took Joshua on his first hike up The Rock.  He had a blast being carried in the Bjorn, watching all the people, and seeing all the dogs. 

The start of the hike.

 

And they're off...

 

Checking out the view. 

 

It is tiring being carried uphill and with the sun beating down on you, you know?!

 

This bench is where Daniel and I had one of our first "pre" dates.  I say pre dates because during the time we had just met each other, had crushes on each other but I had a boyfriend.  We went on a late night hike with a mutual friend and we sat and talked on this very bench.  He told me all about his military dreams and how he wanted to live in Germany and I told him how I could never, ever live in a different state, let alone a different country than my family.  You could imagine his disappointment.  HA!  A few days later, I broke up with my boyfriend and we started dating. A couple years later we were married and I was living in a different state than my family, and ten years later there our little boy stands on the same bench.  

Mama and her favorite little boy! 

 

People watching.

 

Silly Daddy, take off your hat. 

 

"Okay, time to put it back on." 

 

Water break! 

 

What a fun day of hiking!

Joshua's Monthly Picture

Have YOU ever tried to get an 11 Month old to lay still for a picture.  One word-IMPOSSIBLE!

Joshua at 11 Months

How can it be that next month this sweet boy will be ONE?!  OH-MY-GOODNESS!!!

Here is what my Big Man J is up to at 11 months... 

• He loves pointing to things with his index finger
• He loves dogs
• His favorite song is the Itsy Bitsy Spider
• He really enjoys going for walks
• He hates wearing his bib and his hat
• He is a master shoe taker offer
• Army crawling is still his main mode of transportation and he is fast when he gets his eye on something he wants! Occasionally he will crawl on his knees but I don't think he likes the feel of being on his knees.  I have even seen him bear crawl a couple of times.   Too funny!
• He has 8 teeth
• We've been working on baby sign and he is starting to get it.  His version of more is softly clapping his hands or tapping one hand with his pointer finger on his other hand. For all done he shakes/waves both hands. 
• He is pulling himself up and doing a little cruising.  As a result he is currently sporting 1 goose egg, 1 scratch, and 2 bruises all on his forehead.  Poor guy.

And now for some pictures...

"HHHMMM, what's for lunch?"

 

Not sure what to think about riding the horse at King Soopers.

 

Not sure what this goofy face is all about but it sure does make me laugh.

 

We go to the park... A LOT.  Joshua really enjoys the swings, playing with his shovel in the mulch and sand, and he especially likes watching all the kids run around.  Here he is watching a group of boys play on a piece of equipment.  Once he spotted them he took off crawling towards them and never looked back.  He sat and watched them play for a good while.  He would smile at them and every now and then he would start laughing at them.    

Playing in the sand

         

 
One of Joshua's favorite things to do these days it to take the books out of the book basket, drop them behind his toy box then lift himself up on to the toy box to look and see where they went.  After he empties the book basket, I refill it and he does it again.  

"Clearly Mom doesn't know where these books belong." 

 

Add it to the stash 
 

 

"Hey, where did it go?"

This is what he does when you say "Sooo big!" 

 

Just doing some push-ups.

 

Check out that 'do on the side.  He thought baked beans would make make a great hair gel.

 

 

We sure do love this little guy a WHOLE lot and are very excited to celebrate his precious life next month!

Joshua's first Easter

Aside from Joshua having a cold, we had a fabulous Easter weekend.  We had planned to go to Church on Saturday and then have an Easter dinner at our home with just the three of us. Unfortunately, Saturday is when Joshua felt his worse so we were unable to make it to church. I was sad we missed church but even more sad that my sweet baby boy awas sick.  So, we stayed home, loved on our sick boy, and enjoyed a nice family Easter dinner.

On Sunday we had a nice lunch at Andrew and Anna's new home.

Exhausted from all the fun he had at Uncle Andrew and Aunt Anna's.

 Cracking up at the chick he got from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Anna. (This picture cracks me up because if you look closely you can see the snaps on his jean have come undone and his diaper is hanging out. Time for bigger jeans maybe? ;)

 

 

 

Joshua loves standing in his crib

Joshua is pulling himself up now.  The first time he did it was in his crib and he was so proud. He would get very excited and say "YAY" as he leaned up against the crib and clapped.
He LOVES to just stand in his crib.  When I try to take him out he starts to cry and reaches to go back in his crib.  Sometimes I put him back and go do some chores while he stands in his crib happily entertaining himself.  Goofy boy!

He holds on to the side so tight and it is really hard to pry his little hands off. 

Eggstravaganza

Yesterday we took Joshua to his first Easter Egg hunt at our neighborhood park.  Here are some pictures from the fun filled event. 

Meeting the Easter Bunny...

He was smiling and waving at the Easter Bunny.   

 Getting ready for the hunt...

Joshua says,"Only 4 more minutes to go."

This is when he finally discovered all the colorful eggs.  He is saying, "OOOHHH!"

 And the hunt is on...

Putting eggs into his basket or taking them out, I am not really sure, he did both but mostly a lot of taking out.

Checking out all his eggs.