Latest milestones

At 1 - Joseph is:

Walking - everywhere. He's been tottering around for a few weeks but seems to have really taken off in the last week or so and is going full-steam ahead.

Talking. He jabbers constantly and we've been able to interpret Momma, Daddy and night-night so far.

Signing. I haven't been as consistent with this as I should be. . . but he is able to sign "all done" and "milk."

Singing and dancing. Joseph loves to sing and be sung to. I usually get an applause from him after I sing him a song . . . . and there are times when he will sing with me. Maybe someday he'll be able to actually sing the words and be on tune. He also loves to dance when he hears a fun song.

Eating. Joseph loves, loves, loves food. And will eat pretty much anything. He loves Chick-Fil-A chicken nuggets and waffle fries. He loves pizza, chinese food, oatmeal, pasta, fruit . . . well, pretty much anything I put in front of him. He also loves, loves, loves ice cream. And when that last bite is gone, you would think that the world has ended and there will never be ice cream again . . . . huge tears and everything.

Cleaning and trashing. Apparently the coffee table is meant to be completely cleaned off - all the time. This is especially bad if we happen to have a drink or bowl of food on it. Also - baskets are supposed to be empty. As are shelves. In fact, pretty much a day doesn't go by without everything within Joseph's reach being dumped on the floor. He trashes. . . I pick up. It's a fun game.

And even more pictures

And I had to throw in a picture of Joseph's little girlfriend, Kennedy. She is 8 days older than Joseph.

More pictures from Joseph's birthday weekend

Snips 'n Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

That's what little 1-year-old boys are made of. Joseph turned 1 on Friday and a dog-themed birthday party at his grandparents' house in Nashville. Here are some highlights. . . more to come soon.

It had to happen eventually. . . .

With only a week and a half to go, I thought we'd make it through the whole first year without having to go to the doctor for a sick visit. But Joseph got a stomach bug Monday night and I finally got a taste of the "un-fun" part of being a mommy. But it looks like the end is in sight. Joseph has been able to keep down his liquids since last night (although we seemed to have a couple of "almost incidents" this morning) and even had a couple of bites of apple sauce. Poor kid just doesn't understand why we won't feed him. Here's a shot of our sweet boy this morning, still recovering. . . .

On a side note - even though I was expecting sickness eventually - there was something I was unprepared for. Immediately when Joseph would start to vomit, it would scare him and of course he would reach for me. Of course, I mean, where else would you turn? Sweet, right? Except for the vomit. . . . . We've been doing a lot of laundry.

On an additional side note - since we did have to go to the doctor, Joseph was weighed. The scales showed a whopping 24 lbs. and 12 oz. . . . and this was after a day of . . . well, you know. yuck.

7

We are up to 7 teeth! 3 on the top and 4 on the bottom.

Family picture

It's a rare occurance for us to all be in the same picture. . . . but Melinda happened to take one while she was here and I um, borrowed it.

Field Trip to Ft. Sumter

Melinda was in town visiting for a couple of days and we took a trip to Ft. Sumter. It was also Joseph's first experience on a boat. . . . . I'm not sure he realized it . . . .

Don't mind me . . .

I'm just going to take a little nap here. . . .

Climbing & Water Adventures

Part 1 - Climbing

Climbing is Joseph's new favorite thing. We don't have stairs inside - this is a good thing. He learned how to climb stairs a couple of months ago and is a pro at it. Especially once he figures out that someone is right behind him - and then he gets faster and louder.

But now he climbs on everything. The couch, the chair, the futon, the coffee table. And he's fast. Last week the guys were unloading stuff onto our front porch for the new bathroom. I left the room for a second. When I came back in, not only was Joseph on the futon, but he was on top of the big pillow and hanging over the back of the futon with his face pressed against the window so he could watch the unloading process.

The bad thing - depth perception. He has very little of this. He's started to get good at getting off the chair, couch and futon. . . although he still does it head first. But the coffee table is a different ballgame. He likes to climb on top and then turn around to sit. The problem being that the coffee table isn't very wide and by the time he turns around to sit - well, the portion of the coffee table in front of him is quite bigger than the portion behind him and he falls off backwards. Before grandparents start freaking out - I'm right behind him of course. But I do have to put the coffee table upside down on the couch if I'm going to leave the living room for any amount of time.

Eventually maybe I'll get pictures of this. Currently I'm much to preoccupied with making sure our little climber doesn't fall.

Part 2 - Water Adventures

We were in Atlanta this weekend for Labor Day. Unfortunately we forgot our camera. Joseph kept us so busy though, we probably wouldn't have had time to use it. He loves to explore everything and this new house was full of opportunities. He also loves to chase after things - and this house has 2 cats and an almost-3-year-old named Ella. He also loves computers and on Sunday afternoon there were about 7 guys sitting around the living room holding laptops and drafting their Fantasy Football teams. A 11-month-old computer-crazy boy's dream. Momma was quite weary of saying "no sir, Joseph!"

Yes - water adventures - getting to it. I mentioned the cats. Well where there are cats, there is a water dish. And where there is a water dish, there is Joseph - splashing in it, dropping things in it. Again and again "no sir, Joseph!" And then the ultimate revenge on Momma - quicker than you can say "he took my cell phone and dropped it in the water dish" . . . . well . . . . .

Having had some past experience with cell phones and water. . . . I quickly took it entirely apart, dried it with the hair dryer on cool and let it sit overnight. It works perfectly (so far).