Winter fun!

Sorry we are such slackers on the blog lately... We had a fun weekend full of winter activities! On Sunday we took Josh to the ice rink and yesterday it snowed!

This was not Josh's first trip to the ice rink, but it was his first time out on the ice! We met up with one of Julian's coworkers, and I was teaching his kids how to skate. Julian, Josh and Julian's coworker were hanging out to watch. After convincing Julian that I am a responsible adult, he let me put Josh on the ice :-) He was not at all afraid (Josh, not Julian :-P )!! He stood up happily without slipping and even took some steps on the ice (in shoes, not skates). He also sat down to investigate the ice. I certainly have no plans to push Josh into skating, but it was very fun and cute to see him on the ice!

I like ice!

Checking out the skaters

It snowed about 6 inches here in the suburbs yesterday, and we decided to take Josh out to play in the snow :-) As we suspected, we only made down the front walk before he got upset, but we got some cute pictures. I'm not sure if it was the mittens, jacket, double layered pants or cold wet white stuff that bothered him. We are going to need to buy a sled before the next snow storm, I think it would have been fun to pull Josh around on one :-)

Not happy about the coat...

ooops!

Happy Snow Day!

1 year stats

We had Josh's 1 year checkup this week and he is 22 lbs 7oz and 30.25in tall! That puts him in the 65th percentile for height and weight. He is growing and developing well :-) He had to get his first round of the MMR vaccine at the appointment. While I'm a scientist and I certainly know better, all of the hullabalu around that vaccine still made me nervous to give it to him. But we both bucked up and he got his shot. We have to take him to get blood drawn to test for lead and something else I can't remember. We are also going to do a blood allergy test for some of the members of the legume family. Hopefully all will go smoothly.

Josh did not want to cooperate to take our traditional "Mommy holding Josh and sitting in Dr. Kulp's chair" picture, but we still got some cute ones.

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!