These are the "before" pictures - or actually, the "mid-way" pictures since I thought about taking them after we had already put on a coat of primer. The walls were a deeper blue.
And here are the "after" pictures - Joseph's new room!
Now he is quite the big boy. . . 
His favorite game is "Where is Joseph?!" - this is played several ways. If he initiates the game, then it starts by him standing behind one of us while we're sitting on the floor with his hands on our shoulders. We pretend to not know where he is and look around for him. . . . then you feel him start to walk to one side and a smiling little face pops around your shoulder. "Here I am!" Another way is when he disappears from the living room (usually into our room on a destruction mission) and one of us will say loudly - "where is Joseph? I don't know where he went!" Almost immediately we'll hear the "slap, slap, thump, thump" of our little crawler coming back into the living room as fast as he can with a grin from ear to ear. "Here I am!"
His favorite time of day is when Daddy comes home. Daddy used to feel like chopped liver because Momma got all the love . . . . she was the one with the food. But now Daddy is the source of much fun and entertainment. As soon as the key is in the lock, Joseph's little face swings towards me with raised eyebrows - "daddy?" I barely get out the "Da" in "Daddy's home!" before he's off towards the door like a shot. 
He's taking more and more steps and becoming more sure of himself in the walking area. But we'll see how soon he actually starts up on his own.
He's a very determined little boy. Determined to get into and explore everything. Most of my day is spent reacting . . . . and picking up things.
And here's a picture I'm throwing in for fun - Joseph watching "Madagascar" . . . 
This is the mischievious face I sometimes see but can never seem to capture. . . until now . . . 
Besides Christopher & I, there are four other people who can truly appreciate the significance of this next statement. We are getting a new bathroom! Who are these four other people? Lovely folks who once lived in this house but have since moved on . . . . on to new houses with lovely bathrooms. Don't get me wrong. We love living here. We love the house. We love the location. We love that Christopher to can walk to work and we can walk around town and that we're centrally located and people can stop by. We love the big kitchen and the big bedroom and the big living room. But it's no secret that the bathroom is . . . well, tiny . . .old . . . slanted . . . .cold in the winter. I mean - it's an old house. It was built before bathrooms were indoors. So the bathroom was added on later - onto the porch. It has its issues. We are at least glad it's inside.
Would it be weird if we had a "Bathroom-Warming" Party . . . . ?Joseph had a play date this morning with Mary Preston at the Children's Museum. We had never been and it is wonderful. They have a whole crawler/toddler room and Joseph loved exploring, climbing, sliding, etc. He still has no fear and is quite independent. The only way I could keep him from coming head-first back down the steps was to stand by them. He'd take one look at me and head the other direction as fast as he could go.
It's been awhile since I' ve done more than a picture post. . . we've been pretty busy around here. :-) This has been the year of weddings. Part of that has to do with the fact that I'm the wedding director at our church. I do get a bit of a break from that though. No weddings for a couple of months. Just meetings with people who may want to use our church in the future. The year of weddings has also included three of our siblings getting married - which you have seen from the pictures. I'm also still sewing and doing marketing for Chick-Fil-A part-time.
Christopher starts his fall semester (year 2 of PhD) next week. One more year after this and he'll be Dr. Swearingen. Saying it like that doesn't make it seem very long - but in actuality - it is 2 more years.
Joseph is a crazy boy. Again - you've been able to see that from the pictures. He has mastered crawling and can crawl almost faster than I can walk to catch him. He seems to speed up once he knows I'm after him. He plays hard but fortunately for us, he sleeps hard too. He usually sleeps 10-11 hours at night without interruption and takes 2 naps a day that average about 2 hours each. He does best in his crib for naps but will take them pretty much anywhere. This is a good thing since I'm out running around a lot. He's trying hard to walk. Right now it's more of a step/step/lunge sort of action but he's getting there. He seems to have no fear and is sporting a couple of bruises because of that. I can't believe we'll be celebrating his first birthday next month.
I think that's it for now. More pictures and walking videos to come soon.
I'm so cute and I just fit under this desk . . . . and if you would pick me up, then I could type on the computer too! Or, I can just sit under the desk and pull at all the cords. It's up to you.
3 - the number of steps Joseph took from the stairs to momma unassisted!
4 - the number of teeth in Joseph's mouth!
Jacob's Wish List
Denbigh's Wish List
