Handprints

We did some painting today for a small project and Joshua did his handprints for me to put into his scrapbook. Maybe we'll do his feet tomorrow.

One Step Forward - Two Steps Back

I worked really hard with Joshua through November to get him into his bed. he did great for three weeks, but now he's back in our bed and won't sleep at all unless both Daddy and I are in bed with him. Prime example, I took him to bed and Raul slept on the couch this past week because of his surgery and didn't want Joshua bumping it...at 3am I was woken up by movement in the room. Raul was bringing Joshua to bed...he'd been up with Daddy because he didn't want to sleep without him.
I'm not quite sure where to start. I bought some twinkle lights and put them around his window in his room and said that he could have them on only at night when he is sleeping in his bed. So, we'll see if we can do this all over again.

3 Year Pictures

Bee Stings

Poor little guy keeps getting strange bee stings. The first two were on his hand and yesterday when we got home from the store he was looking at the cell tower and said..."Mama, it's falling". The clouds were moving behind it giving it the effect of swaying. Then the wind picked up a little bit and he started screaming. I thought dust got in his eye and brushed it away...it was a stinger from a bee. He was upset for a while, but then sat down and had some Pan Dulce and Blood Orange Italian Soda for a snack. Well, this morning he got up all cheerful and I saw his face. Oh, dear...his eye is all puffy and swollen, but he doesn't even notice it.

You're Three!!!

My Dearest Joshua,

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you are three years old. You are such a big boy now, yet you are still my baby boy. I sit and think of all the ways that you have changed our lives. You have been such a joy to have around. While some days may not be all sunshine, they are days that I still give you hugs and kisses and tell you how much I love you, just so that I can hear you tell me, "I love you too, honey."

You have become such a little man in so many ways. I can not even begin to express in words how much you mean to me and how much joy you have brought to my life. Watching you grow and explore your world, which gets bigger and bigger with each day, has been so amazing. I've learned to see things through your eyes and that has brought a new meaning to certain things.

I have loved being able to be with you every single day. Being able to share everything with you has been so much fun.

Don't ever forget that Mommy loves you so much and that I hope you know that I will always be here to hold your hand, give you kisses, and mmmmmmmm hugs.

Love Always and Forever,

Mommy

Baking

Joshua loves to help in the kitchen from cleaning the eggs to putting dishes in the dishwasher. So, yesterday morning we decided to make some Banana Bread. I had just enough for a normal loaf and then a baby loaf for him...which he ate all of.

My big boy helping Mama bake some bread

Big Boy Room Transformation (Beginning)

I've finally decided to just get busy and give Joshua a fully decorated and complete bedroom. He is such a big boy now that he deserves it. It will take some time since some items cost a bit more than others. I am so excited to see what he thinks of it when it is completed. I have everything planned out in my head and it already looks amazing. I'm keeping a running list of things I will need here to finish the room. I honestly think painting will be the most difficult part of all.
So far here is what the room looks like now.

From the door

From the bookshelf

From the TV

From the Closet

Happy Nappers

I'm pretty sure you've seen the commercial. No it doesn't make me want to run to their website and buy one. Although, it would be nice if a simple toy/pillow would make my child sleep through the night and wake up with a huge smile, ready to play. Anyway, Joshua is allowed 30 minutes after dinner and his bath to watch a movie before we start his bedtime routine. Needless-to-say, this commercial seems to dominate the airwaves. So, Monday while out running errands I had this coming from my back seat.

33 Months Old

Joshua is three months shy of being by big three year old. I hold him every day and just hold on to the fact that he is still small enough to carry around, because even now his legs practically reach my knees when I hold him. He has discovered piggy back rides and LOVES them. I can no longer call him my baby. He just looks at me and says "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy". I know the next thing to go is "Honey"...when I tell him I love him he will say "I love you too, Honey". He gets it from his Daddy.

Here are some of the latest pictures of Joshua.

Being Your Mother

Author: Barbara Cage

Being your Mother
means that I have had the opportunity
to experience loving someone
more than I love myself.
I have learned what it's like
to experience joy and pain
through someone else's life.

It has brought me pride and joy;
your accomplishments touch me
and thrill me like no one else's can.

It has brought me
a few tears and heartaches at times,
but it has taught me hope and patience.
It has shown me the depth,
strength, and power of love.

Being your mother
hasn't always been easy,
and I'm sure
I've said or done things that have hurt or confused you.
But no one has ever made me as satisfied
as you do just by being happy.
No one has made me as proud as you do just by living up to your responsibilities.

No one's smile
has ever warmed my heart
like yours does;
no one's laughter
fills my heart with delight
as quickly as yours can.

No one's hugs feel as sweet,
and no one's dreams
mean as much to me as yours do.

No other memories of bad times have miraculously
turned into important lessons or humorous stories;
the good times have become precious treasures
to relive again and again.

You are a part of me,
and no matter what happened in the past
or what the future holds,
you are someone
I will always accept,
forgive, appreciate, adore,
and love unconditionally.

Being your mother
means that I've been given
one of life's greatest gifts: you.

Sliding into Pools

A lot of the neighbors have packed up and moved...homes too, so last week Raul picked up a small Step 2 playscape with slide that was left behind...I can see why...it is really dirty and has a couple of cracks in the sides, but is still super sturdy and with a little bit of elbow grease can look really good. I did a scrub of it and we set it all up so that the slid would go into Joshua's little kiddie pool and he had a blast.

At the top of the slide

Heading down

Landing in the Water

Up for Air

That was fun...I'll do it again

Sleep

From the moment we brought Joshua  home from the hospital I thought I had gotten off scott free. I had no idea what people were talking about when they would say "Be prepared to be up every 2hrs to feed him." He slept 4-6hrs as a newborn, they stretched for about a month to 6-7hr stretches. I was amazed. As he grew older, something clicked, and he stopped sleeping. He could not go to sleep by himself. I read EVERY book on sleep for infants and toddlers. We tried the Sleep Easy Solution, which was a gradual process...we did Dr. Ferber's method of letting him cry it out in his crib...starting from 5mins until we hit 20mins, which lasted up to two hours with no let up. He would cry until he threw up in the bed. We tried putting him to bed awake or drowsy, we tried after rocking him to sleep, nursing him to sleep, and so on...you get the picture. When Joshua turned a year old he was no sleeping in one to one and a half hour increments. I was no longer sleeping and had become bitter to every one else around me. I loathed the advice people would give me. No one could tell me what was wrong with my child. Why wouldn't he sleep like other normal babies and toddlers? What had I done wrong? All I knew was that I had failed somewhere along the line and I couldn't do anything to fix it. Raul suggested we bring Joshua to our bed. Instantly, he slept...and he slept 8-10 hours straight. I became a totally different person. I was no longer walking around in a haze, ready to bite any one's head off if they even spoke to me. We moved out of our house at the end of March and moved into an RV...we no longer had a place to put Joshua other than our bed still...by this time he had been in our bed for six months. We got our house on the land just before he turned two (twelve months in our bed)...fast forward to today...Joshua will be 3 in four months and still can not get himself to sleep on his own and hates his own bed. A couple of weekends ago I had converted Matthew's crib into the toddler bed and put it in Joshua's room, thinking he'll love the bed...Yeah right. It was fun to jump on, but that was it. I could get an occasional nap out of him on it, but sleep there at night...I must be joking. I started loosing sleep, because now Matthew wasn't sleeping...he hated the pack-n-play I had put him in for the time being. Monday, I spent the morning putting the crib back together for Matthew. Joshua gets his mattress on the floor. The first night we got 5hrs straight of him sleeping in his own bed (we had to rock him to sleep first), last night Raul had him in our bed...well, he kicks...Joshua that is....and started to just become a nuisance...I picked him up and amongst all his many protests that he won't kick anymore, I brought him to his room, to his bed and laid him down. I laid on the floor next to him and told him to go to sleep. He cried that he wanted our bed, he wanted daddy, he was a baby and Matthew was the big boy...and so on. Finally, he fell asleep. The thing is...so did I until 3:30am when my whole body was screaming that the floor was not the place to sleep. I got up...crawled into my bed and snuggled up next to my husband. It lasted thirty minutes before Joshua came running to our room. Hey, he slept for 8 hours in his bed...although not by himself. 

So, what do I do? I know I need to keep putting him back, but what do I do? Do I sleep on the floor with him until he falls asleep? Do I change the door knob on his door with a new one and just lock his little tooshie in his room all night long...come to think of it...that might work....but then he'd bang on the door and wake his brother up in the room next door. I'm at a loss...I wish someone could tell me what is wrong with him...why did he never want to sleep like other infants? Why can he not self soothe himself and go to sleep in his own room? Even his pediatrician can't give me an answer so we'll continue to try and break our nearly two year habit of him in our bed.

Joshua sitting on his bed on the floor

One of the few naps in the crib converted to toddler bed

Time Out Chair

Okay. Life with a toddler is no picnic...especially when it is one like mine that is very headstrong and will do anything he can to test his boundries. I'd done the whole re-directing (such a dumb idea), I'd spanked, made him sit on his bed, nothing worked to get him to settle down or stop doing what I'd repeatedly asked him not to do. I found this amazing item called a Time Out Pad. Okay...time outs work, only if you sit right there in front of him and make him sit there. I don't have time do do that and it defeats the purpose and he gets exactly what he wanted...my attention. This time out pad is just placed on a step, the floor, a stool, or one of his small chairs like I have done. You set the time you want the child to be in time out (1-5 minutes), press start, and set the little bum down on the mat. I walk away to continue doing what I need to do...he stands up and tries to run away. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...an alarm starts sounding causing the little bum to sit right back down. When he is halfway done with the time limit there is a light on the side that turns yellow. He will yell out, "It's yellow, Mama". At the full time limit the light flashes green and plays a little jingle that he will get up and dance to. Then we sit and have a small chat as to why I placed him into time out in the first place. Let's just say that this thing is AWESOME. He has mellowed out some and starts listening when I tell him to do something or not to do something.

Cars 2 - Joshua Goes to the Movies

Joshua's first movie experience at the movie theater with popcorn, soda, nachos, and M & Ms was amazing. He loved all the giant posters on the way to the theater and would stand in front of them and say, "This one mama." He made it through about half way through the movie before deciding he was done and ready to go home. With 15-20 minutes left he was ready for a potty break and he came back to finish the movie. He liked it. It was different than the first one and very James Bondish. He probably would have enjoyed Rio or Kung Fu Panda 2, but with his addiction to Cars, this seemed appropriate.

Joshua and Daddy

 Such a ham...you'd think he was the star of the show.

Waiting for the movie to start

Drinking the last of the drink on the way home

Another Hospital Trip

Yesterday made Joshua's second hospital trip (not counting the day he was born). Wednesday night we were outside playing around and Joshua ran back around the unfinished shed in the backyard and fell down. It appeared he just did a stomach dive into the dirt and I went to get him, but he had gotten up and came running back to me. I kept saying, "You're just fine baby, let's get washed up." Then I saw the blood...at first it didn't seem like much, but then it started to pour. I grabbed the receiving blanket that we'd been using for Matthew and wrapped it around his leg and picked him up. I made a beeline for the back door. Somehow managed to get it open with my hands full. I put Joshua on the table so I could better see the cut. I just wanted to die. It seemed so huge and horrible on his little leg. We cleaned it with Hydrogen Peroxide. I then put Neosporin on it and a BandAid. We tossed it back and forth about going to the hospital to have it stitched. It's a hard decision to make as a parent. We gave him some Tylenol and went to bed. I would call first thing in the morning and see if his pediatrician could see him and what she would say. So, yesterday we got into to see Joshua's pediatrician. She looked at it and immediately sucked in her breath and said..."It's going to need stitches." So, off we went to Dell Children's Hospital. We saw the Resident Doctor and she too said "He's going to need stitches...let me get my boss and see what he wants to do." We waited some more and I made hand balloons out of the latex gloves. By the time the doctor came in I had a daddy balloon, a mommy balloon, and a baby balloon as Joshua called them.
So the doctor looks at his cut, which at this point looks horrible because it is under a clear BandAid full of numbing cream so it looks like a big bubble. The doctor's review..."It's been over 6hrs so we can't stitch it up...it would just 'cause an infection (why my pediatrician didn't know this...ughhhhhh). So, we'll clean it really good, put triple antibiotic cream on it, and place a BandAid on it. We'll give you an oral antibiotic for him to take to ward off any infection. It already looks to be healing (Joshua can thank his dad's genes for that) so it should be pretty much healed up within the week. He'll have a scar, but he'll be good."
Needless to say, Joshua is running around, jumping off everything, and even sat and played in his bath yesterday without a peep about his cut. I can see it already...he will take after his Uncle Adam..."Check out this scar...you are going to love the story behind that one."

Waiting at the Pediatrician's office

At the Hospital

The wound in the numbing cream

Daddy and Joshua looking at one of the contraptions

What the wound looks like...Joshua playing in the tub last night

Toys

I swear if Joshua gets ONE more toy I am going to go crazy. I went through all of his toys this past weekend and bagged up all the toys he hasn't played with in months. This is becoming a nightmare when it comes to what to play with. He has his select few that he loves. All his Cars toys and he loves his little Toy Story characters and takes them just about everywhere. The rest are just there that he will play with intermittently now and then. I refuse to let my son grow up thinking that he gets any toy he wants because he can easily get it at the stores. I don't recall having this many toys when I grew up. I do know I had many dolls, but I also shared them with my younger sister. Really if anyone wants to get him something...clothes (3T and up), books, or shoes (size 8 and up) are always welcome, but toys are not welcome at this point. He is content with what he currently has on hand.

Day Potty Trained

Last Tuesday while writing up my grocery list I thought...Why am I spending $15 a week to buy diapers for Joshua. So at 10am I said that's it I took his diaper off and put him in big boy undies with Cars on them. We had about five or six accidents that day. Wednesday came along and we had one small pee accident and one major poo accident. Thursday he did great and only peed his pants because we were running around outside and I got distracted on the phone with Auntie Sissy. Friday...well, we left the house for a doctors appointment and I put pull-ups on. We ran some errands after the appointment and at the stores we went immediately to the restrooms. He came home with a dry pull-up. Then on Saturday we had another poo accident and he looked so devastated, but I keep reminding him that I am not mad and that we'll catch it next time. Sunday he went to meeting in pull-ups and we went potty there, then came home where he wore big boy undies till we went outside where he wore a swim diaper so who knows. Yesterday, was our first day of absolutely no accidents at all and we go about every two and a half hours to the potty. Every morning the first thing we do is sit on the potty and Joshua reminds me that "Pee and Poo only go in potty."
He is doing so great and I am thinking that we may have a Potty Training Party when he is all done. Hey, we'll do anything for a party around here.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

Joshua LOVES, Scooby Doo. I have five episodes recorded on DVR so that he can watch them continually. He  always gets to watch his episode at 7:30pm every night before going to bed. He is very inthralled with the show. I love it. I remember growing up watching Scooby Doo reruns on TV. I managed to find the complete series on DVD through Amazon.com and plan to get them for him in a couple of months...might even throw in the TY Scooby Doo doll for him to hold while he watches the DVDs.

Below are some pictures of him the other day sitting on the couch cushions watching a recorded episode.

The box set...in the cool Mystery Machine

Swimming

It's only April here and it's already in the 90s most days. It's unbelievable. So two weekends ago I pulled out our pool and set it up so he could play in his beloved water. Then a few days later I put his slide into it, which he now loves because he can swim under the slide or climb the steps and go down the slide. He just plain loves playing in the water. I can't wait to let Matthew play in the water with him.

Getting So Big

There hasn't been much going on that hasn't been a huge family affair around here, which ends up on the family blog,  thus the lack of updates, but here are some things going on with our "big boy".
He's starting to eat more. While he is still a picky eater, he is picking up a lot more in eating. He loves to eat scrambled eggs, breakfast taco mixtures, pancakes, bagel bite pizzas, hot dogs, ground beef with onions, ribs, steak, corn, yogurt, applesauce, cookies, plain donuts, and banana bread.
His vocabulary has exploded big time. He speaks very clearly and most of the time you know what he is saying and will only occasionally bust out in some language only he understands. He is picking up Spanish words more and more...would probably be really great at it if Daddy would talk to him in Spanish more often. Just last night he kissed Matthew on the head and said "Hi Papasito" (little daddy...both boys are Raul's mini-me's).
He is still VERY, VERY active. I think once he learned to walk at 10.5 months old he has never looked back. He just keeps going and amazes us every day with how he runs around, jumps off things that would make my body ache for months after jumping off of, climbing up on fences, trucks, ladders, etc. He is in constant motion it seems.
We have graduated from naps being in our bed with me laying next to him and him holding my neck to him telling me he wants to go mimis and laying down on the floor, the couch, and on rare occasions his bed to take his nap, which will last about 2-3 hours.
Here are some pictures of him recently being his usual active, silly self.

 Playing with his new legos

 Showing off his new books

 And his new John Deere Tractors

 Just being my little man

Two Year Portraits

I am finally getting Joshua's two year pictures up onto his website. I feel like I am slacking lately.

Fun on the Gate

Joshua and Daddy like to go out and feed the animals and then close the gate. Well, this is what happens just about every single day when it comes time to close the gate, so I grabbed the camera and got him having his fun time. I realized that he has a "screamy" laugh and it brings me back to the first time we caught him laughing on video and everyone mentioned the screams mixed in with the laughs.

Joshua's Room

After Aunt Sissy and Uncle John left I had to do some re-arranging of Joshua's room to fit his new ball pit into his room and I needed to hang up the wall hanging that Aunt Sissy sewed for him as well as the comforter and owl pillow for his bed.

Joshua's bed with new blanket and owl pillow

 From the door

 The ball pit and wall hanging

 Joshua's cars and stuffed toys

 TV, books, and smaller toys

 Wall hanging

Close-up of pillow