Happy First Birthday!!!!

We can't believe our baby is one!! It has been such an exciting year and it has just flown by. Josh's one year checkup is not until next week, so we won't have any stats until then. He certainly has been learning and developing a lot this month! Josh has gotten much more sophisticated in his playing with toys. He can put pegs into holes, and really likes putting small toys into boxes or baskets. He also started walking some on his own! He is still much faster at crawling, so still uses that as his primary mode of transportation. But he stands on his own for long periods of time to play with toys and will walk between two things that he wants to play with.

Since Josh's birthday party is not for another week, we wanted to do something to celebrate his birthday yesterday. We got pizza and fries from continental pizza (seemed like a good tradition to start) and I made him some zucchini bread as muffins instead of cake (we wanted his first cake + icing experience to be at his party). My parents and Heather came over to wish him a happy birthday and have some dessert.  

Enjoy some cute pictures of our one year old!

mmmm old bay

pizza!

I'm a pro at opening presents!

Thank you Angela and Matt for my awesome new clothes!

Thanks Aunt Joann for my awesome new toy!

Sadly, Josh wanted to grab the candle instead of take a cute photo

mmmmmmm :-)

Josh's Birth Story - Julian's point of view

I started this post when Josh was a few months old but I never finished it.  Now that he is almost a year old it seems like a good time to post it. [Margaret also posted her birth story here]

Here is a recap from last year at this time. (Click link below to view)

Josh's Birth Story - Margaret's point of view

Julian and I both wrote our own versions of Josh's birth story shortly after his birth. We weren't really ready to post them, but decided that on the one year anniversary of me going into labor we should post them :-)

Josh's Birth Story, Margaret's point of view (Click link below to view)

One small step for Josh...

Josh has been looking ready to take some steps for a while, but has had no desire...until last week! I thought he would be walking by new years, but he decided to wait a few extra days. He has done a couple of "long walks" like in the video with 7-8 steps, but mostly takes a few steps between toys that he is interested in. Over the last few days he has tried taking steps far more frequently than he did just a week ago. He is still much faster at crawling than walking, so it will be interesting to see him transition but it has been fun to watch :)

Williamsburg

Since our trip to Curacao was canceled, my family decided to take a mini trip to Williamsburg, VA. We visited Busch Gardens Christmas town, Colonial Williamsburg and enjoyed some relaxing family time. For New Years eve, my parents watched Josh at the condo we were staying at so that Ellie, Mark, Julian and I could have a night out on the town. Julian and I were both recovering from being under the weather, but overall it was a very nice trip. Josh will have to find another chance to use his passport :-)

Enjoy some pictures from our trip:

All bundled up

Ready for Christmas Town

Penguins!

Oooo lights :-)

Colonial Williamsburg

Out to lunch

Oooo giant iPhone!

Christmas Morning

This year for Christmas we stayed the night at my Dad's house.  My Dad and his girlfriend Nancy celebrate Christmas and we wanted Josh to get the Christmas morning experience. Since we were planning to go to Curacao the day after Christmas with Margaret's family we didn't get a Christmas tree and neither did her parents. When her Grandmother passed away, we canceled our trip so that we could attend the funeral but still wanted to celebrate Christmas. We had dinner Christmas eve at their house and stayed the night.  Staying at my Dad's house gave us time to spend with the family after Josh had gone to bed. Margaret and I often feel like we can't fully participate in conversations when we are also taking care of Josh, so it is nice to get some time while he is sleeping to spend with family or friends.

In the morning, Josh proved that he is Jewish after all and he slept until 8:15 am!!  Margaret has never once slept that late on Christmas morning and says that she is "pre-programmed" to wake up to see if Santa has come.  Josh got lots of new toys from "Santa" including a giant giraffe (now named Geraldine) and his new favorite toy a plush screwdriver.

My Dad and Nancy generously invited Margaret's parents over for brunch on Christmas morning, so it was nice to be able to celebrate together.

Thanks to everyone who sent or gave Josh gifts for Christmas! We are keeping some of them away for now, to give him over the next few weeks.

Love and loss this Christmas

Unfortunately this Christmas has been a bitter sweet one for us. My Grandmother Nancy passed away, and we found out on the 23rd. She was 91 and still very healthy, happy and full of good spirits. She died peacefully in her sleep, leaving a closet of unlabeled christmas gifts for her loved ones. I'm slightly surprised that they were not hidden like our Easter baskets :-)  She was a very caring, fun and adventurous Grandmother. We always went for walks in the park, painted, or played some fierce games of Cootie or monopoly with her. She and my grandfather came to all our band recitals and more recently my skating shows. She was very excited to be a Great-Grandmother. I wish that both Josh (and I) would get to have more time with her, but that is not the way of the world. She will be dearly missed by us all.

The family decided to hold Christmas dinner as usual, because Grandma would have wanted that. We celebrated our first Christmas with Josh and our last Christmas at the Bells Mill house. We reminisced about some of the good times spent in that house with my Grandparents. While I am filled with sadness at the loss of my Grandmother, I am also very thankful to have known her and have gotten to spend the last 25 years with such a wonderful woman. I am also thankful that Josh got to meet her, and that she got the joy of being a Great-Grandmother.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Hugs and much love to all.