He Took His First Steps

This afternoon Joshua was walking around with his push walker and stopped to look at what I was doing and pushed his walker a little to far from where he was standing. He actually took a step towards it and grabbed it and started walking around with it again. He is growing up so fast. He's going to be walking by himself in no time.

Starting To Walk

Joshua using his push walker to start learning how to walk. He does really good and yesterday he actually attempted to run away from Daddy.

Family Portraits

We had our family portraits done today. They turned out very nice. Joshua was very co-operative as well.

New Shoes

Grandma Patti sent Joshua some cool looking Converse High Tops so he had to show them off with his cool looking motorcycle socks.

He looks so cute in his Biker Boyz outfit.

Today's Quote

No Sippy Cup or Bottle For Joshua

Joshua has decided that he likes to drink out of a straw. He does really well and does it now without prompting him to do it. He loves it and it will be really fun when we go out and forget to bring a sippy cup now. He does good drinking out of a cup, but has found he likes to suck the water up through a straw.

Ten Months Old

Joshua turned ten months old today. I was up with him last night sitting in the rocking chair and I looked at the clock and noticed it read 1:39am....I looked at Joshua eating away and whispered to him,"It's kind of ironic sweetheart that we are up at the exact time you were born ten months ago." I don't think it meant the same to him as it did to me.

I've spent every single day of his little life right there with him. It's been the most rewarding job I've ever done. I've loved watching him explore what he can do and seeing how proud of himself he gets when he finally discovers how to do something. I can not begin to tell you where the time went.

I've spent the past week working on his naps...yes his pediatrician would be so proud of me...he's been taking two naps a day and they have been IN HIS CRIB, not the car, not the swing, not the stroller, and not in my arms. I've been watching the naps take their affect on his night time routine and he's been doing down much easier and will sleep for a nice long stretch, but it does not last all night long and that is mostly my fault for making him dependent upon his feedings even though he does not need them, I guess that is one thing that in a way I cherish and am grateful that I chose to breastfeed over bottle feed.

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that in two months Joshua will be turning one and we will be celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary (and Daddy will have a week off of work to spend with us.....maybe another trip to the zoo is called for).

Playing With Daddy

Joshua was following Raul around and then when he got "caught" he would let out this loud scream/laugh and try to run in the other direction. He did great a few times and then the rug started to impact his ability to get away.

Changes to Joshua's Room

I moved the dresser and changing table to the same wall and moved his crib to the other side of the room under his name. Now when you walk into the room the first thing you see is his crib. It seems to work out really well in the room, especially since he has no toys/books, etc in his room. They have all been moved to the playroom.

This is my inspiration for Joshua's Big Boy Room in another year or so.

Dancing Away

Joshua loves his new little dog Scout and will dance to the music he plays when his paws are pressed.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 14th Anniversary

Aunt Sissy and Uncle John

Start Of The NFL Season

Today is the first season game for the Dallas Cowboys. So we all put on our jersey's and took some pictures. I can't wait until Joshua is about five or six to take him to a live game up in Dallas. He's such a great Cowboy fan.

To My Son

Oh how the years go by,
Oh how time can certainly fly.
From once just a thought in far away dreams,
now into my arms and in my eyes gleam the presence of you.
Your laughter and smiles which go on for miles,
warms my heart and soul.
You're growing up so fast,
as I wish each moment with you to last forever.
My little boy will someday be a man and right by your side I will forever stand.
I will pick up the pieces when you fall,
I will hold your hand and help you stand tall.
And when the day comes when you are on your own,
never feel that you are alone.
No matter how near or far apart I am always right there in your heart.
Always remember whatever you go through that no matter what,
I will always love you.

~Amy R. Campbell

Waving Bye-Bye

On our drive to Mexico at one of the rest stops having lunch Joshua did his first real wave Good-bye at me laying on the blanket while Daddy held him above me. Did he really think that he was going to leave Mommy there?

So here is a video of Joshua showing off his waving ability.

He's Standing

Joshua is standing up unassisted and will even clap his hands while standing up. He doesn't last very long, but a minute is a minute. Before we know it he will be trying to walk to us.

Our Trip To Mexico

Everything started out like a normal trip. I spent the two days before cleaning house, running errands, and packing up all that we would need (could not forget the pack & play). We went to bed early around 10pm. We got up around 5am and started getting ready. We left the house at 6:30am....YEAH....only thirty minutes later than I originally wanted to leave.

Joshua looking all cute as we hit the road and head out of Kyle.

Like father, like son....just staring out the window at the scenery.

Joshua playing with his toys.

What would normally have taken us fourteen hours to drive from our driveway to Raul's mom's house took us nineteen hours. Everything went really smooth, even with stopping for breakfast and lunch we were still on schedule by the time we hit the boarder. As we were hitting the customs line a boarder guard directed Raul to one of the lanes...."But we have things we need to declare."....we learned the hard way not to end up in the wrong line, even if you are just following the guards directions. We were held up for four hours while they went through all the stuff in the truck. The entire time Joshua was an absolute trooper. He played around in the cab of the truck and tried to burn some of his energy.

Entering Chihuahua, Mexico (Welcome to Chihuahua, The largest state in Mexico)

Sporting his toothy smile while he stands in the passenger seat.

Having a snack while we wait for Daddy to finish getting the passports checked.

Where is Daddy?.....Joshua hanging out the window watching the cars go by and watching for Raul.

After finally getting back on the road it took us another four hours to drive to Delicias. Joshua slept for a large portion of it, but the last hour he was upset and did not want to be in his carseat anymore (I don't blame him....I didn't want to be in my seat anymore). So I pulled him out and fed him and he passed out the last stretch. We pulled into Raul's mom's house at 2:00am. Then we had to unload the back of the truck. We finally crawled into bed at about 3:30am. Joshua slept until around 8am and was up from then on....although he did take two really good naps that first day.

Getting a bath when he woke up so he wasn't all sweaty and dusty after the drive.

Taking a nap in his Pack & Play

Saturday everyone was sitting around outside and Joshua saw a butterfly and had to watch everywhere it went so I grabbed the camera and took a picture of it for him. We then went and did a little bit of shopping, came back to the house to pick up Abuelita Linda, Tia Lily, and Alexis so that we could all go out to dinner in Rosales.

Joshua's Butterfly

Daddy and Joshua (look at those little teeth)

Joshua in the high chair at dinner

What Mommy ate for dinner

Joshua dancing to the guitar player at the restaurant

Sunday was a very lazy day despite being up at 7am because for some reason Joshua refuses to sleep later than that. It was one of the warmer days and Joshua was getting all sweaty again so Raul's sister, Lily, thought about giving him a cool-down bath in the middle of the day. He liked it. Then we went and got some dinner (oh, how I miss the tortas...those are so yummy!!!)

Joshua getting his cool-down bath

Playing on the high chair that Raul's dad had built for Alexis. He is laughing and clapping for Abuelita Linda

Abuelita Linda and Joshua

Monday brought us back to the road....I had the song "On the road again, back out on the road again" running through my head. Joshua slept nearly the whole way to the boarder. His new favorite game is pick-up. He'll drop his toys so that you reach back and pick it up just to have him drop it back on the ground again. So, our drive back was again nineteen hours. The delay this time....everyone else wanting to get back into the US after coming to Mexico to visit family over the holiday weekend. We were moving at a snail's pace. We stopped in the little town of Alpine, Texas to have some dinner and stretch our legs. Across from the resturant was a little donky place called Jack-Assic Park. It was pretty cute and fun. Joshua liked looking at the donkeys.

Coming back across the border (Happy Travels)

Jack-Assic Park

We hit the road yet again and stopped to put gas in the truck. Then just west of Ozona, Texas Joshua started throwing another fit. I knew he had to be just plain sick of being in the car and wanted to play. By this time is was dark outside. We still had at least five hours ahead of us and it was already 9pm. While walking around I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and saw a baby rattle snake...yep had to get a picture.

Joshua playing while Raul filled up the truck

Raul and Joshua at the rest stop

The baby rattlesnake

Joshua laughing at Daddy

We pulled into our driveway this morning at 2:45am. Talk about a long and tiring drive. Luckily even after sleeping for five hours in the car, Joshua ate some food and fell back to sleep a little bit after 3am and slept until, yep you guessed it, his usual 7am. I got up with him and let Daddy get some sleep.
So, we are home and won't be doing any long distance travel any more this year. We are traveled out. Besides, we have our huge Cannon Beach, Oregon trip next October to look forward to.

Crawling To Daddy

This video is very blurry. Apparently Joshua had touched the view finder and it had little baby smudges on it.