6 months old

My baby boy is 6 months old! I can't believe it. Here's the biggest news.... Joshua's getting his first tooth! It's a lower left front tooth. We can't see it, but we can feel an edge when we touch his gum line. Matt and I are so excited! Our little man is growing up.

He is such a happy little boy. He smiles and flirts with everyone. He loves to play with his toys. At home he has a Mortimer the Moose that has chewable antlers, a squeaky middle, rings for a tail, and crinkly feet. He also plays with an Alphabet spinner and bumble ball. In the car he has a set of colorful keys attached to links which he loves to chew and shake. Also in the car is another favorite toy, Stretch the Giraffe. The giraffe is colorful and has crinkly feet and chewable rings around his neck. Of course better than the toys is the children's cd he listens to, especially song 12 "My Baby Bunting." It's still a magical song that calms him down and turns him into a quiet baby.

Of course lately I would not use "quiet baby" to describe Joshua. He has recently started talking alot. He babbles, squeals, laughs, oohs, and ahhs. He also just learned how to click his tongue today. He'll get real serious and focused, look you in the eye and click his tongue. It's so cute! Then I'll click back and him and he clicks back and me and so on. He also has improved his rolling over skills though he's still a tummy to back baby. He won't quite flip back to tummy.

He recently fed Joshua sweet peas. I could tell he liked them more than carrots. There was less of a mess and no funny faces as he ate. Joshua has his 6 month appointment on Thursday so I should have an update with his stats then.

Date Night

Matt and I went out for the first time without the baby Friday night. While everything did not go as planned, we still had a great time. Here's how it went down: Some friends had invited us to go to their church for an early Valentine's Day dinner and entertainment. We needed to be in Pensacola at 6pm. Well first I was a little late leaving work. Then I had to go home and feed the baby and get dressed. Matt dressed Joshua and packed his diaper bag. Then we were about to walk out the door and Joshua pooped out the back of his diaper which required not only a new diaper, but a change of clothes as well. Needless to say it was 6pm by the time we were in the car driving to the Stanton's who were going to keep Joshua. We wouldn't be able to meet up with our friends until around 7pm so we called and had to cancel. So we were faced with the predicament that we were all dressed, had babysitters lined up, and no plans so should we go out anyway or go home? We decided to go out anyway and went to one of our favorite restaurants that we hadn't been to since before Joshua was born. While we did talk about Joshua, we didn't obsess over him and miss him too much. Our Joshua was a perfect little boy for our friends. A good time was had by all!

Yummy

I'm so proud of my mess! I ate carrots and they were yummy!

Mmmmm Carrots!

Okay, so the title may be a little misleading. We fed Joshua his first Stage 1 baby food today. You can see from the pictures what he thought of it. He actually did eat some of his carrots, but every time he took a bite he made a face like he was sucking on a lemon. And like all good mommies I tried a bite and it was not bad. Joshua did splatter it all over the place. Since it was dark colored food we did use a dark colored bib as was recommended from a good mom I know (thanks Audrey!).
I'm looking forward to watching the Super Bowl commercials tonight. Also Matt and I are finally on the mend. While Joshua has stayed healthy, our little carrier (as we affectionately call him) has made mommy and daddy sick. However given the alternative, we'd rather be sick than Joshua.

Laughter

Here is Joshua with his newest toy, a Bumble Ball. As with all good things, there is a story behind this toy. Matt and I had watched our nieces and nephews enjoy this type of toy when they were young so we wanted to get something similar for Joshua. We went looking at Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys R Us and had no luck so I looked online. When I did find the toy, it was at a pet store and marketed for dogs. While I feel a little weird our son is playing with a dog toy, he enjoys it so much, I guess it doesn't matter. Enjoy!

Roll Over

Joshua marked another milestone Friday night. He rolled over...twice. I was on the phone with his Grandma and Grandpa and just missed his first act which he performed for his daddy. Then after some celebration, Daddy put Joshua back on his tummy and our little man rolled over again. We were so excited! He's also so close to rolling from his back to his stomach if he could ever figure out what to do with one of his arms.Joshua continues to say "Mama." We are working on dada, but so far he has stuck to his usual sounds. Matt and I have bought some Stage 1 baby food. He'll likely be trying out some carrots this week. We'll post pictures as this will be his first food that has a taste to it.I know Joshua is growing and changing everyday. While I was dressing him I came up with some questions I would ask him if he could talk. When I'm trying to put a shirt on you or trying to pull your legs out of a footed sleeper, why do you straighten your arms and legs as hard as you can? When I am trying to put socks on your feet, why do your legs become noodles? What are you thinking when the dogs come into the room and you stare at them with a big smile?

Food, sitting up, what's next?

It has been a busy week for Joshua. On Monday he tried his first "solid" food. It was rice cereal which he ended up wearing. I don't think he actually ate anything, but he had a ball spitting or rather grinning it out all over the place. He was sitting in his bumbo and enjoyed splattering it on top of the tray. I think we all had some fun and Matt and I took turns videotaping it. A few days later we tried again and this time he did much better. He actually ate some of the food. Although to be honest he enjoyed chewing on the spoon more than eating the food. We will keep at it and pretty soon he'll be eating stage 1 baby food!Joshua also spent this week perfecting his sitting up skills. He's gotten pretty good at it. He sits straight up for awhile then manages a forward slump. I'm surprised how quickly he went from trying to sit up to actually doing it. Now he has more fun playing with his toys. Of course when he gets tired he turns into a noodle. Then I pick up my snuggle bear for some quality time.
"Hi Hardy! Want to play?"

Shhhhhh!

We have finally figured out how to upload, edit, and post videos from our camera. Yea! As promised here is a video of Joshua going to sleep. Enjoy!

5 months old

Little Man is 5 months old! I can hardly believe it. It's funny but the other day I was telling a friend a story about Joshua when he was about a month old and I started the story "When Joshua was a baby..." then I thought he is still a baby! This weekend Matt and I are planning on letting Joshua try his first solid food. I say "solid food" but it will really be a spoonful of rice cereal with milk. We'll see how he likes it. I'll post some pictures as I expect it to be messy.I've mentioned before that Joshua sleeps on his side, but I've never explained how he gets there. Here's a typical nap/night time routine: After the nursing, reading a book, rocking in a chair, etc. when Joshua is nearly good and asleep, I'll lie him in his crib on his back. Then he'll kick both his legs straight up in the air, grab both his ears (the paci is in his mouth) and roll onto his side (usually his left) where he'll stay until he wakes up, weather that's 2:30 or 5:30 in the morning. It's a cute routine. This picture is a modified version. He had already let go of his ear by the time I took the photo. However Matt and I did videotape this so look for us to post soon.

Also Joshua has started sitting up - sortof. He'll sit for about a minute if he's distracted by a toy. I think when he realizes what he's doing he becomes a folding chair a folds up falling frontwards or backwards. Eitherway, it's a big step and his Mommy and Daddy are so proud! Here are his latest stats: 26in length and 15.1lbs

Happy New Year

2008 was a great year for our family. We are really looking forward to 2009 and all the firsts and surprises it brings. We want to wish you a Happy New Year full of blessings and hope.

Love, Matt Emily and Joshua