Co-Sleeping

I've been wondering why we've been loosing sleep over Joshua not sleeping just because he won't sleep in his bed, in his room. So, for the past two weeks he has been sleeping with us. He sleeps in bed with us and will talk for 5-10 minutes until he passes out....FOR THE NIGHT. We are in bed around 8:30pm and he wakes up at 5:30am. So, it is nice to say that we are now getting some sleep in this house. I've talked to a friend who's daughter co-slept with them till she was 18 months old and they transitioned her to her crib then and it went smoothly.

I know people are saying we should just let him cry-it-out in his crib, but Joshua works himself up so badly that he ends up throwing up he cries so hard. Yes, my son does not whimper because we aren't in the room with him, he goes into hysterics.

So, while this may not work for everyone who has kids, it has been working for us and I love having his little body pressed right up against mine, where at night he will wake for a minute, find my hand and hold it while he goes back to sleep. I figure that by July we will work on having him in his crib, but for now I am enjoying all the rest that we can get.

Big Belly

Joshua gets a little belly after he is done eating and we always ask if he has a big belly and he now shows it to us. He did this all after dinner, getting undressed for his bath, during his bath, and while getting dressed for bed. He started it again this morning. He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world to show off his "big belly".

Dancing Away

Joshua loves music....all kinds of music and will dance every where he goes when he hears music. You know the kiosk things in the stores that you can hear a sample of the music before you buy it? Well, walk by those and they automatically come on and Joshua is dancing away in his shopping cart. He is so cute when he does it. I love watching him dance and can not get enough videos of him cutting the rug.

At The Park

We went for a walk this morning to the park so Joshua could play in the playground. He is loving the swings and is still trying to figure out if he likes the slides or not just yet.

On the playscape looking out the half globe.

In a little crawl tunnel.

Joshua loves to be pushed on the swings and will laugh so hard.

Then and Now

Just to show how much Joshua has grown in the past thirteen months.

Then:

Now:

Randomness

Reading his book

Showing us what he is reading.

He just has the sweetest expression on his face in this one.

Daddy and Joshua reading before dinner.

Big Boy Bed

I took off the front of Joshua's crib and put on the toddler rails and lowered his mattress to the lowest setting. He slept in the med for an hour the first night and then last night he slept for three hours. We think it's going to just be a process of gradually getting him to sleep in his room. Right now he is sleeping from about eight at night till four-thirty in the morning. Mind you that the first three hours are in his bed and the rest is in our bed. He wakes at four-thirty crying and being fussy, but will go back to sleep till six after about a minute or two.

John Deere

Joshua loves his little John Deere tractors. He will drive them around and make little car noises while he does it.

San Antonio Rodeo

It's almost time to take Joshua to his first Rodeo and concert. We bought tickets today to take him to the San Antonio Rodeo and to see Tim McGraw in concert. He is going to love seeing ALL of the animals. He loves to walk around with his little farm animals so it will be fun to see how he reacts to being able to pet them. Petting Zoo here we come!!!

Room Decorations

This fall we plan to redo Joshua's bedroom into a cowboy theme for our little cowboy. So here are some decorations we bought.

Monkey Balloon

We went for breakfast and Joshua got a Monkey balloon...complete with Banana. He had it all undone by the time we got into the car.

Joshua's One Year Photos

Let's Read A Story

Joshua is learning new things every day. He is able to get down from a bed all by himself. Might need to transition his bed to a toddler bed sooner than we think. Could be why he hates his crib so much, he likes the openness of the bed.

Mamma.....I'm Hungry

He's become very, very aware of what the boppy pillow means. I am hoping to gently wean him and have him weaned from breast feeding by the 1st of January. Which, probably means the boppy pillow needs to be put on a high shelf in the closet so he won't be able to find it.

Touchdown

We've been working with Joshua for a while to get him to do the Touchdown hand signals for football season and at dinner last night he was all over it. He thought it was funny.

He Dances

I was playing around on the computer and this song came on (yes, I do realize it is a Christmas song) and Joshua just started dancing away. I tried to get him to dance to Apples & Bananas but he just wouldn't and his dancing was just way to cute not to post.

First Professional Haircut

Joshua got his first professional haircut today. This actually made his sixth haircut so far. We have always done his cuts at home, but now it was time for some real cutting. He did very good too, although I think the lollipop had something to do with it.

Happy Anniversary

HAPPY 6th ANNIVERSARY, RAUL!!!

WOW!!! Can you believe it? The years have flown by. I've loved every minute with you and I am so happy. I have been blessed with having an amazing husband, who just happened to give me the most gorgeous son.

I know that this year's anniversary celebration isn't the greatest with you still recovering from surgery, but I promise we will do something special next year (a trip to Reno perhaps).

I love you with my whole mind, body, and soul.

Our Week

Eating the turkey....he gobbled it up like a little turkey.

Joshua thought he could carve the turkey by himself.

The whole family right before Turkey Dinner

Mommy and Joshua.

Joshua and Daddy snuggling.

Farm Animals

Grandma Patti started this collection with the brown/white bull and the black/white bull. He loves these animals and carries them around or he'll hand them to Daddy one at a time.

Here is the black/white bull, cow, and calf.

The stallion, mare, and foal.

Then all the animals together.

All the animals are Schleich (this is the link to see all of them).

Slideshow

This is a slideshow that I made from the minute we found out we were pregnant up to Joshua turning One. It's actually kind of bittersweet that my baby is so grown up now. Before I know it he will be starting Kindergarten.

Enjoy!!!

Joshua Is A Year Old!!!

It's hard to believe that twelve months has already gone by. Time flies when you don't want it to, but when you beg it to go faster it drags it's feet. I have enjoyed this past year so much (not that I am ready to repeat it any time soon by any means). There have been many ups and downs with raising Joshua and they have all been major learning experiences for Mommy, Daddy, and baby (who is not a baby anymore, but a toddler, even though he will be Mommy's baby boy even when he is forty).

It has been so amazing being able to watch him do everything for the first time. I have enjoyed being able to savor knowing that I don't have to hear about his accomplishments and milestone's second hand. I get to tell Daddy about it and then Nana, Papa, Abuelita....and if I am lucky I will have it on video by the end of the day as proof to my words.

I turned Joshua's car seat around so that he is facing forward. He is legally able to ride that way being one year AND twenty pounds in weight. His rides in the car are going to be so much nicer now. He'll be able to better interact with Daddy and I when we drive him around. I am not a fan of extended rear-facing, in which you keep your child rear-facing into their toddler years. Great if that works for you, but I get car sick just thinking about it and don't want to put my son through that, besides it's a personal choice not the law.

I am also proud that I am able to say that I breastfed Joshua for a whole year. I can remember crying when we were still in the hospital because it seemed as though he didn't want to latch on, when it reality it was just the environment. We were interrupted every couple of hours by nurses ALL day long and no one was comfortable. When we came home he took to it really well and has grown wonderfully both physically and emotionally. My advice to future moms out there...give it a try you may feel differently about it than you originally thought. After all you can't really put something so wonderful down until you have personally tried it and made it through the hardest part....the first week.

So, as this year goes by we start a new one of watching Joshua go through the challenges of growing up and watching all of his accomplishments and firsts at seeing new things that will excite him. Before we know it he will be a grown man off on his own adventures that we won't be able to watch as closely.

Duck, Duck,.....Goose

Joshua did this for nearly a half hour. I would stand up to go and do dishes or make dinner and he would push on my legs until I sat back down so he could walk around me in circles over and over and over again. He laughed and laughed the whole time and would just giggle like crazy when he would make eye contact with me.

Daddy Had Surgery Today

Today was Raul's shoulder surgery. We got up early, got ready, and made it to the surgery center at 6am. At 6:30am he was called back to be prepped for surgery. I fed Joshua some breakfast and we played with his toys. He is the ultimate trooper. He always comes through when we need him to the most. So many people came forward to watch him, but I needed him there with me. He was my stability while Daddy was in surgery. I held him, kissed him, and just all around played with him. His greatest accomplishment was scaling two flights of stairs with me right behind him as he thought this was the greatest thing in the world. He also loved the automatic doors....there was so much joy on his face when he thought he was opening the doors all by himself, when in actuality they didn't even register him until I came up behind him.

Today has by far been the hardest day for me. I've been keeping a very brave face on, when I am actual just being torn in two. My pillar, my strong link, my soul mate is in pain, both physically and emotionally. It's hard to watch Joshua cling to his legs or try to wrap his arms around Daddy's neck and repeatedly say "Dada" and watch as Daddy isn't able to pick him up. We will get through this. It will be a few weeks before any major progress is made. For now we will try to make the best of where we are at and I will do my best to make the way as easy as possible for both Daddy and Baby as they have to adjust to this new life.

400th Post

What a way to celebrate that I have posted a mix of 400 stories, pictures, and videos of Joshua from the minute we got our positive pregnancy test to now (four days before he turns ONE!!!). Talk about momentous. I realized I stopped posting as much on here and I knew this was were I wanted to post my main pictures, videos, and stories of Joshua....not another networking site.

So, with much anticipated wanting from family and friends here is a video of Joshua's latest milestone....standing, squating to pick up a ball, and returning to standing.

Date Night

Raul and I went out for "Date Night" on Saturday. We've gone out before and left Joshua with Nana when she comes to visit, but this time we left him with Debbie and it was at her house so completely out of his element. He did great though. Ate some snacks, played, took a nap even.

We will be planning "Date Night" every other month now. Briana and I worked up a deal where we would watch Summer and Gibson while she and Case go out and the next month they will watch Joshua. It will also give Joshua a chance to be around other children of different ages and learn to interact with them in and out of his comfort zone.

Laying Around

Joshua will just be playing around and then just lay his head down on the floor and take a couple minutes to rest and then he is off again playing with all his toys. It is the sweetest thing to see.

Cheerios

Joshua loves to eat Cheerios. He will eat them as a snack between meals and will usually snack on them while I put his breakfast, lunch, or dinner together for him. So today at snack time I took some pictures of his cute little fingers grabbing at them.