Six months old TODAY

Well a lot has been going on these past few weeks. Currently, we are relaxing at my Aunt and Uncle's lake house on Grand Traverse Bay (off Lake Michigan). And it is FANTASTIC!! They have a great house with a fantastic view (below) with the coolest setting. We went down to the beach today. It's quite windy at the moment but it was still fun! Joshua loves being outside even if it's a bit cold. I was hoping that Joshua would sleep through the night last night so I could "sleep in" but no such luck. But instead, after he woke up again at 6:30, I fed him and the Jeff took him for the morning. And I went back to sleep! Then at 9:30 I woke up to breakfast in bed...thanks babe! Yummy bacon and egg sandwich with fresh fruit. Too bad I can't wake up to that everyday! So below are some pictures of Josh enjoying the beach and the water.

He is six months old today...I cannot believe how fast it goes. It's just crazy how much he is changing. He is sitting up on his own all the time! He has such a sweet smile. He may not be a giggle box yet but he's working on it. He loves his mommy and daddy and smiles at us all the time. Below, he is sitting on his cousin Avery's scooter. He loves it!

And last weekend, we visited both of our parents. I had a wedding in Archbold, OH (Congrats Em!) so we stopped by to see everyone. We went to Papa Jack and Maggie's lake and my parent's house. He HATED wearing that life jacket so don't tell anyone but we let him take it off on the boat :) We have also taken him to Matter Park in Marion where we let him go down the slide for the first time. With daddy of course :) If you look closely, you will see a 2nd generation back seat driver in the making. Enjoy!

I can sit up!

Thanks Rachel H. for a great idea of making collages!!! It does save so much time uploading!

Here are a few pictures of Joshua recently. He was dedicated this past Sunday. If you look closely at the picture of me and him with a cake, you can see his left hand is blue...Great-grandma Peggy wanted him to "have" some cake so he got to touch it. I love love love his smile and that his eyes squint when he smiles. It's so precious!

And below you can also see that he has learned to sit up all by himself!! Forget rolling over... (he's only done it twice!) He would prefer to sit up! I think it's his favorite thing to do.

My mother-in-law (aka Maggie) went back to teaching school this week so he went to the babysitter's on Monday for the first time (Thanks Tracey!) and it went great! Thank you Lord! We are headed to Ohio this weekend for a wedding, then we will be going to Traverse City, MI next week for vacation. We are really looking forward to some quality family time.

5 1/2 Months

These are some photos that Amanda, From Bellies to Babies took for us. I think they are just adorable! Joshua is such a cute little baby if I may say so myself!

This is one of my favorites! He loves his daddy!

Let's see...what is Joshua up to these days? Last time we weighed him, he was 19 1/2 pounds. He will be 6 months old the 19th of this month. He does pretty good sitting up by himself for a few seconds but then falls to the side eventually. He is eating cereal, squash, peas, and zucchini. He is doing better drinking milk from a sippy. He loves his exercise saucer! He has been jumping and squealing at the same time. It's pretty hilarious. And he is quite the chatter box when we change his diaper. He has found his feet and loves to grab them while he is sitting up but not really when he is laying down. He rolled over once from his belly to his back!! Finally :) But it hasn't happened since then. He's just taking his time. And he loves books! His favorite is Peekaboo Kisses (thanks Uncle Greg, Aunt Amy, Cousin Jace and Cousin Will!) And we just started reading Dr. Seuss's ABC book and he loves it. It's really fun to read too. Well that's it for now. Joshua is getting dedicated in church on Sunday. I will post some pictures of the day hopefully next week sometime.

Tree Clarification

I guess I was a bit confusing with the bottle/tree thing :) Basically he only wants to take a bottle when he is distracted. And the tree is very distracting for him. So if he can look at and touch the tree, then he will take some of the bottle. Hope that helps!

Trying out my new camera

Well my old camera hasn't turned up :( I have called every place I have been to. I really really don't know what happened to it. So we went and bought a new camera. I really didn't want to have to buy another one but I don't think I could go the rest of Joshua's first year without anymore pictures! So my new camera...I LOVE it. Here are some pictures from this past week. Joshua turned 5 months old on Monday! Can't believe how fast time is going.

I can't wait to figure out how to do more things with my camera. But hope you like the pictures. There are a LOT of them :)

Joshua trying to grab the camera...

This is the tree that we get Joshua to take the most of a bottle from :) He has to be so close to the tree that he touches it. That is one of the only ways he will take anything from a bottle.

I set him up but as soon as I let him go, he did not want to sit up anymore. He wanted to get up and stop taking pictures.

Daddy and Joshua...I love this picture of them.

Joshua has been eating cereal for a few weeks now and loves it. He also likes to eat butternut squash. It keeps him satisfied while I am at work when he won't take much from a bottle. But today he took quite a bit from a sippy cup! Praise the Lord!

He loves his Johnny Jumper and one of his favorite things to do is to talk to the frog or eat the flower.

It looks like he is really getting into it with the frog.

I caught him in mid "sentence" talking to the flower and caterpillar.

And in other news, Jeff's brother Nate and his wife Erica are going to be having a BOY! So Joshua will have another playmate! :) Can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

Auntie came to visit!

This past week, my sister Natalie came to visit, or "Auntie" as she will be known to Josh. We had a GREAT time visiting! Josh sure loved his Auntie! He giggled and smiled at her all the time!

We were sad to see her go but we will be heading to California in September to visit her. Can't wait!

Here is Josh looking outside. He loves the outdoors.

Loved being with Auntie!

Here's a video of Josh and his frog. He loves green frogs!

On a sad note, I can't find my camera!!! Not sure what happened to it :(

4 1/2 Months

We have had a fun couple of days/weeks! Jeff has been working hard around the house and helping me with Joshua. He redid our bathroom and I LOVE it! He is extremely talented. He laid ceramic tile and put in a new toilet and vanity. Thanks babe! I love it! Joshua is a ball of fun! He loves his daddy! And he is talking now more than ever. He loves to talk to daddy especially. Working is going well. I like being back to work. I would like it even more if Joshua would take a bottle well. I got a different nipple over the weekend and he has done better with it so far! So I am praying tomorrow that he will take it even better! My sister comes in tomorrow and hasn't seen Joshua since April. I am so excited to see her! Joshua will love his Auntie!

We had a great weekend with family. We spent Saturday with my family and Sunday with Jeff's. Lots of food, games, and time with the Josh's cousins.

Enjoy some photos of the past week.

I forgot my ENTIRE bag for the weekend so my mom and I ran to Meijer on Saturday morning to get the necessities. I bought this pink shirt (in the picture above) but didn't realize it had puffy sleeves until I had taken the tags off to wear it that day. I have to say, it's not going to be my favorite shirt! :)
Nana and Papaw (Nana really) has always wanted a good picture of them kissing Joshua. I think it turned out pretty good.

He loves his fists!

All the sweet cousins...Hannah, Elena, Lilly, Emery and Joshua

Joshua getting in the kiddie pool for the first time. He seemed to like it!

Have a great week!