18 months old

Today my sweet boy turned 18 months old. I say this constantly but it is so true how fast time goes. Every day I am amazed to see how he changes and grows both physically and developmentally. I have decided that I am really really bad at taking pictures with my real camera, so I have made a pact with myself I am going to use my camera more and my phone less for photos. Also, Josiah is doing some pretty cute things these days and its very hard to video him... every time I turn it on he immediately stops what he is doing and tries to grab the camera. I sure hope we get some videos soon because I never want to forget all the cute things he says and does! Here are some updates on Josiah....
On his 18 month birthday Josiah:
wears size 4 diaper
wears 18 month clothes ( tho I am still cramming some 12 month stuff on him, bc the weather is about to change)
wears size 5 shoe ,but his TOMS are a 6 because I am tryin to get my money's worth
weighs almost 23 pounds
can say probably about 15-20 words, but "talks" ALL the time
can point out about 20 different animals and make their sound
knows where his eyes, nose, ear, hair, fingers, mouth, toes, and "button" ( belly button) are when asked
can do knob puzzles on his own
can build a tower of blocks taller than he is
There are probably other things I am missing, but he also loves to dance and listen to music and has become quite the golfer. He hits the ball EVERY time with his little golf clubs. He loves to be outside, play with sidewalk chalk, color and ride his Harley. He also likes to sniff flowers and blow bubbles.
His favorite food is fruit, tho any breakfast foods are good too and he also loves smoothies and ANYTHING sweet :)
He is so much fun and I enjoy taking him to our local children's museum every Friday for toddler time and to play with some other kids. I feel like he has been sick a lot this winter and it's probably because I have him out playing with other kids so much, but I think its a good thing he gets exposed to some other children.

Forever!

It's been FOREVER since I have blogged. I feel like there is SO much to write and yet I can't get my thoughts together to put it all here. Josiah turns 16 months tomorrow. I seriously can NOT believe how big my little baby is! He is definitely not so much a baby anymore but more like a sweet sweet little boy. He loves life and has so much fun! He is also really really smart. He knows about 4 different animal sounds if you ask him, what the animal says he will answer with the appropriate sound.He loves to build with blocks, catch bubbles that I blow, and play with his "vroom vroom's". His absolute FAVORITE thing to do is to play under a blanket. I tell ya he will sit on the couch with a blanket over him for an hour. We think it's because I have built him some forts a few times and he thinks he has his own little fort under the blanket. He also knows what he wants and is not afraid to ask for it. He can't get the words out yet to express, but he will show you what he wants by pointing and fussing, until you figure out which thing he is talking about. He LOVES books! He is definitely his father's son in that aspect. Sometimes I realize it is suddenly quiet in the house and when I go to find him I will find him in his room in the rocking chair flipping through pages of a book. I have been reading to him every night since he was 3 months old and I definitely think it was a good idea that I did.
He has also gotten quite picky about food. It used to be he would eat pretty much anything, but these days he knows what he wants to eat and what he does not. I have heard that toddlers can be really picky about foods, so I am not worried. There is so much more I could say about my sweet boy at this age but I am having a hard time thinking right now. He remains the joy of my life andI have so much FUN every day takng care of him. I am so proud to be his Momma. Happy 16 months sweet boy!

Motherly thoughts

So Josiah is now 13 months old. The biggest thing I have learned these past 13 months is to stop worrying about what other people think. For 12 months I rocked my baby, held him while he slept, and on occasion nursed him to sleep. I was sooooo worried that he was going to need to be rocked or nursed to sleep for forever. I worried because of what other people said and because of what " the books" say to do. I always had a hard time with what others would say. When Josiah was around 9 months old I realized I needed to stop worrying and just do whatever it was I felt I needed to do for myself and for my baby. I am happy to say that at 13 months old Josiah puts himself to sleep for both of his naps and at bedtime. Occasionally he still needs to be rocked if he isn't feeling well or he is teething, but he pretty much does it all the time. And you know what?!?! I miss rocking him! Sometimes I still do just because I love it. I also love when he wakes up and wants to snuggle with me. He is SUCH a snuggler and I LOVE it! I can honestly say I have no regrets on how much I held my baby or rocked him. I believe a big reason why Josiah is so sweet is due to how much love I showed him these past 12 months. I pray God continues to give me wisdom to know how else I can show him love now that he is getting older. I love to play and spend time with him. I love taking him places and watching him explore. He is SO FUN!
It is also so amazing to see how much he learns in such a short amount of time. Things that I feel like I don't even necessarily teach him, he knows. For instance, he picks up my hair brush and starts brushing his hair or brushing his teeth. He attempts to eat with a fork, just because we do. He also copies things that I say. The other day before putting him down for his nap, I said " it's time to go night night now bub bub" He then put his head on my shoulder and said " nigh nigh". He is just the sweetest, smartest, little baby I have ever had the priviledge of knowing. I am so grateful to God that He gave me such a sweet boy! I am so blessed to be his Momma. ( P.S. Please excuse how short his pants look in this pic, they just hike up when he sits down :))

1 year!

I can't believe its been 3 months since I last posted. For some reason blogger acts funny now on our computer and I just don't have the energy to deal with it anymore. I wrote this post and saved it a while back until I asked Josh how to post it. Anyway, Josiah is now one year old! We had a good sized party for him at my parents house. I ended up doing a baby whale theme since the focus was around my parents' pool. We had lots of fun. Josiah was definitely not shy at diving into his cake... the boy loves sweets! It was really great to have the Mitchell side of the family here including, Josiah's 3 baby cousins. We had 7 babies under age one total that came to the party. I had an idea that I wanted all babies in party hats sitting in a row for a picture and I got it! I was so stoked! Josiah is growing so fast and I am constantly amazed whenever he does something new. His newest thing is that he is walking! It is so cute to see him toddle around. He loves to eat and play and he is saying more words and using his baby sign language. It is so great that he understands a lot of what I say to him now. We took him to the doctor yesterday for 6 shots :( He is still a little peanut, just shy of 19 pounds, but I am sort of happy that he doesn't break my back every time I pick him up! He still loves to snuggle and rock, but I have pretty much gotten him to where he will go to sleep on his own now most of the time. He developed a low fever from his shots and has not been feeling well, so it has been a nice treat to snuggle and rock him this morning. Its so awesome to hear other people say , "wow you have the sweetest little boy". He will hug anyone and loves to be held. I am truly blessed by my little guy and each day while he is learning, he is also teaching me things. I feel that this past year I have become more patient, understanding, and less self- centered. I am learning what it means to " have faith like a child" and I am so thankful to my heavenly Father for blessing me with a son to love and learn from.

9 months

It has been quite a while since I have blogged... we have been busy and our computer has been on the fritz. I am currently taking a break from my parents pool to write this post :) At the end of May we celebrated Josh turning 32, he went on a trip for a week to New Mexico for work while Josiah and I stayed home. My parents moved into their new house and they have been keeping busy unpacking and getting things organized. At the beginning of June we went to Charleston for a weekend with some of our good friends, Brian and Melody and their daughter Bree, who is only 2 weeks younger than Josiah. There we celebrated Josiah turning 9 months old, went to the Citadel Beach House for a work function for Josh, took a horse and carriage ride tour, went to the SC Aquarium and ate some delicious food at Magnolias. The next weekend we had a visit from Josh's sister Elise, her son Micah and Josh's parents. Most of our time was spent eating delicious food such as thai food, ice cream and my specialty, homemade Low Country Shrimp and Grits yum :) We went blueberry picking and I made a homemade cobbler with them. Micah and Josiah had a great time together and it was fun seeing the boy cousins interact with each other! Now, Josiah is 9 and a half months old. He is currently crawling and cruising ( walking while holding onto things ) He is into EVERYTHING! We are constantly saying the word "no", but he is still SO much fun! He also has 5 teeth fully in, and working on 4 more as we speak. The teething process has never quit since he started with his first tooth, so we are hoping after these last 4 come in, he will be done for a while! It has made for some rough nights/ early mornings , but overall he is handling the new teeth like a little trooper. With his new teeth he is also able to eat all kinds of foods. I have resorted to one jar of baby food at meal times and then just giving him small pieces of whatever we eat for the rest of his meal. He LOVES fruit,meatloaf, bread, and cheese but has not really turned away anything I have given him. As always he is a joy and a huge blessing to our family! Oh how we love him so!

Mother's Day

Obviously Mother's Day was a special day for me this year. Josh and I say technically it is my second Mother's Day because I was pregnant with Josiah last year, but this was my first real Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day of knowing some of what it takes to be a good mother. This day was so special for many reasons but mostly because it is just a wonderful reminder of how truly blessed I am not only to be able to be a mother, but especially to be a mother to a wonderful little boy. Being a mom was something I always dreamed of. When I was growing up and people would ask me what I wanted to be I always said I just want to be a wife and a mom. I wanted to be the woman that was home with the kids, that made dinner for her husband every night, that decorated her home, and was crafty. I have to tell you that some days are much better than others. That the house is not always clean and sometimes we settle for fast food or a night out instead of a home cooked meal,that baby toys have now taken over my living room making it impossible to really look clean, but not a day goes by where I am not truly thankful for the life that I live and for the blessings I have. I am so thankful that God sees the "little" things as BIG things and cares enough for me to grant my hearts desires.

On Saturday morning Josh got up and brought me Josiah to nurse, once he was finished I got up and headed for the kitchen to feed him his breakfast. I was quickly told to return back to bed for breakfast. However I had to pump and the dog needed to go out and Josiah needed his cereal. I sat down he handed me the plate and then I went to the kitchen to go back to what I intended to do. It was the thought that counts, but it was a reminder that life will never be the same. No more days of sleeping in and breakfast in bed, but I am ok with that :) Sunday Josh took me to lunch and bought me some roses. He also gave me a big fancy beach hat and a HUGE towel that Josh, Josiah and myself can all fit on at the beach. I feel honored and blessed to be Josh's wife and Josiah's mom. I might not always do things perfectly, but I hope I will always try to give my best.

Blessed

Over and over again the Lord continues to remind me, when you do what He has called you to do, you will never be without. Since I am a stay at home mom, I obviously am not bringing in a consistent income into our home. I used to always be so concerned about not having enough money. I learned about tithing early on in life and I have been a consitent tither since I had my first job. Whenever I make money I always tithe on it. I believe we have never been without anything because we have always been faithful to tithe. Sometimes it seems like so much to give that ten percent that the Lord asks, but time and time again I have received so much more in return. I have waay too many examples, but lately I have just been so blessed by the Lord. He has revealed himself to me in so many ways, but a big way is with our finances. The people I had been nannying for last month told me that they were getting divorced and were not sure how often they would need me. Hair jobs were slow and I was worried about having money to buy the "extras". By extras I mean things that are not neccessarily in our monthly budget to use with Josh's income. Essentially being anything other than our monthly bills and gas... I began to get overwhelmed and torn because as previously mentioned in other posts, Josh and I both feel very strongly about the mom being home with the kids. In those financial crunch times its easy to think, well I could have my mom watch him so that I can get those new shoes I have been wanting or that new pair of jeans. But because I have been called to be Josiah's mom for now, I put my wants behind me. Can I just tell you that this month I have made more money than I have in over a year! Suddenly, I got busy with hair clients, got a couple days of babysitting in,and photographed a beach wedding! I also have plans to start nannying a little boy right in my home starting the first week of May. The Lord continues to show me constantly who is in charge and when you do things His way, even when they don't seem in the cards for you, He ALWAYS makes things great. " His mercies are new every morning, GREAT is His Faithfulness" I feel so priviledged to be a follower of Jesus and to know that He has my best interest at heart. How awesome is that!