Merry Christmas from all of us!

Merry Christmas from all of us! This was Joshua's first time out in the snow and first time sledding. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

Tiny Santa

Since we werren't able to make it down for Christmas this year, here's a little visit from the world's smallest Santa.

It's a Girl! (Well, we're pretty sure.)

The ultrasound tech seemed as sure as she could be without meeting the baby in person. I bought some pink fleece so she'll have a few pink things to go with all the blue. Now Gene and I just need to start thinking about names. Here are pictures of the new baby from her most recent and last ultrasound. Joshua says we should name her "Joshua's Baby." Gene and I are thinking maybe not.

Happy Birthday and a problem solved

Joshua has been taking off all his clothing and running around naked. After the third time of putting all his clothing back on and tucking him into bed I decided to start putting his jammies on backwards, so here's my little nudist in his backwards jammies, playing at his toddler party, and being terribly excited about the laptop he got for his birthday.

A new ultrasound

Group Health has started offering an ultrasound at around 12-14 weeks. I was just a tiny bit too far along for them to do the test they were trying for, but we got some neat pictures of the new baby anyway. The technician also said that everything looked fine and normal. The next ultrasound should be sometime after 20 weeks and we should hopefully be able to tell gender then. Here's the tiny baby being just as cute as a black and white squiggly shadow can be.

Happy Halloween

Joshua had a very happy Halloween! He learned the word "treat" and got to go to 2 Halloween parties as well as trick or treating. He also said "roar" to a bunch of people. Here is mu little dinosaur carving his pumpkin and then being a cute little Joshuasaurus.

The ultrasound from 8 weeks

I'm now just over 13 weeks along, but it took a while to get this scanned and posted. There's no way to tell gender yet, but he or she has a little foot sticking up just like Joshua always did in the womb. The head is off to the right and one foot is up and the other is sticking out toward the left of the screen. The next ultrasound should be toward the middle to end of December. Joshua is a little confused. He's gotten the idea that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but he's thinking now that this means there may be one in his tiny tummy too.

Joshuasaurus

This is the ferocious Joshuasaurus. It is indigenous to the Kirkland area and roams the neighborhood roaring and seeking candy to eat with it's brand new teeth. I think most of the 2 year molars should have finished coming in by Halloween. Baby #2 seems to be coming along nicely. I'm continuing to plump up a bit and the nausea is starting to get better off and on. Mostly I'm sleepy. Joshua is chaining words together more and more. My favorite so far is "dit dou Momee" or Thank you, Mommy for anyone out there who doesn't speak Joshua-ese.

Joshua Update

As I think most of you know, Joshua has been sick the last week. His fever spiked up over 104 and freaked Mommy and Daddy out to no end. A week, antibiotics, and one diagnosed sinus infection later he seems to be mostly back to his old self. Here's my sick pumpkin playing in a box at great-grandma's, then running a fever and being a limp dishrag of a toddler on the couch with Daddy, and finally helping Mommy with the laundry. The funny looking scarf in the last picture is actually a pair of Daddy's underwear. Joshua is a little confused on the whole idea of dressing himself still.

Joshua Loves his Dragon

Joshua and Daddy were playing last night. First Joshua tucked Daddy in, then offered him a doll bottle and finally here is Joshua giving his dragon puppet a kiss. Lately he's been having his dolls sign "thank you" when you help change the doll's diaper. He's a very sweet boy. He also kisses the spot if you get hurt. Joshua has learned most of the animals on the new toy Grandma and Grandpa got him and can consistently identify 1 and A and occasionally 2, 4, and usually the letter o. We're still working on the rest. It reminds me of Kim singing her alphabet as a kid, " A, B, B, B, B, B, B..."

Hooray! Guess what, World?!

Gene and I have been wanting a second child very much. For the last couple weeks I've been telling myself not to let the nausea and fatigue get my hopes up. Today I just couldn't wait any longer so I took an early pregnancy test... and I'm going to be a mommy again! Group health lab tests confirmed it today as well. I surprised Gene with a onesie that had a little penguin thinking about a big penguin on it. The caption is "I love daddy", but it's in binary. This posting will have to wait in my drafts box for a month or two more. We're waiting to tell people untill I'm mostly through my 1st trimester and we know everything is going ok. I can't wait! Look out world! Super baby is on the way!

Little skipper

Here's Joshua wearing the only hat he's willing to leave on his head. At least it's adorable, even if it's kinda silly. He's cooking up some bird seed from his sandbox on his play stove.

My little computer geek

So, today started out with a choice, 1-enjoy Joshua's cuteness or 2-see if the gypsies advertise in the yellow pages. Joshua has taken to drinking from a sippy cup and then spitting it all over. This combined with his chronic spitting up is driving me mad. This morning after finding that he's spit milk in no less than a dozen or so places in the house I finally secided that food and milk are only allowed in his booster seat. When I moved his snack table into his room it became apparent that Joshua needs a little office. Here's my little tech-geek working away in his new office space. The second photo is of Joshua playing in the sand portion of tot-land at the microsoft company picnic. His shirt reads, "My daddy can outcode your daddy!" The third is of Joshua playing the piano.

Attention everyone, I'm silly!

Here's my little monkey announcing how silly he is. He loves running around the house in Mommy and Daddy's shoes.

Snacking, Playing and then Sleeping it off

Here's my little man explaining to me why the quesidilla is on his head. Then he's peeking at mommy from his favorite toy...the lawnmower box. Finally he's sleeping it off in his big boy bed. When Joshua sleeps he sleeps hard.

The World's Best Toy

I remember that when I was a little girl, Sean and I LOVED it when Daddy would bring home a box for us to play in. When we got the new lawn mower in a box I couldn't resist. It seems to be Joshua's new favorite toy. Here's my little man peeking out of his new house. No, it isn't your imagination. He does have a shiner. He slipped and whacked himself on the table last week. The rest is just dirt from the Skandia Midsommarfest we went to just before this picture was taken.

My little Angel

Joshua looks so sweet here that I just had to post his picture.

Eating and Sleeping, but with Flair

Joshua does everything with style. Here he is enjoying some of Mommy's bacon onion marinara pasta and the having a nice long nap in his new big boy bed. He's made the transition to one nap a day, so some days I can just tuck him into the big boy bed and he's so sleepy he doesn't even know where he is.

Joshua's suit

I was out at some garage sales yesterday when I came across a brand new toddler's suit. I just couldn't resist. He's so handsome in his little suit! Apparently he knows it.

Ducks and Kittens

Here is Joshua pointing out that he's spotted some ducks and then leaning over the railing to see them. Later we took him to microsoft and he managed to trip while wading into the water. He was one wet little baby! Luckily Mommy always keeps a backup outfit in the car. The last picture is Gene spending some quality time with the foster kittens. They've just gotten old enough to be interested in exploring and being petted. On a comic note, kittens nurse by finding something furry and then burrowing and licking and looking for a nipple. Shortly after this last picture was taken, the kittens discovered that Gene's beard is indeed something furry. Sadly for the kittens, Gene's beard does not in fact make milk.

Me and my bear

Joshua goes to sleep at night with a stuffed cow and a stuffed polar bear. Here he is cuddling his bear. Joshua and I also went to chuck-e-cheese today for one of my mommy's group meetup events. The security there is awesome! There is only one way out. On the way in both you and baby are both stamped with a number in blacklight ink. It's invisible unless you're walking through the checkpoint on the way out. If your number doesn't match the kid in your arms... you're not leaving. Joshua learned to climb the playstructure and go down the slide all by himself. On the way down the slide he'd laugh and then all his hair would stand straight up on end from the static electricity of the plastic slide.

Easter, roseola and rocking chair

Here is Joshua opening his ducky Easter basket and doing the egg hunt at church. The last picture is Joshua playing in the rocker that Daddy just refinished for him. The rocker was made for Gene by his great-grandpa Virgil Dexter. You may notice that Joshua seems to be polka dotted in the last photo. Joshua just came down with Roseola which is Latin for "spots that scare the pants off parents but don't really do anything else."

Little Easter Baby

Joshua has discovered the joys of Easter egg hunting. Actually he was just really excited to put things in his basket...eggs, rocks, a ball, bark dust...It's all great! Here is my little egg hunter at his very first Easter egg hunt. He got two eggs and a ball and has been happily playing with them ever since.

The toddler song

I just thought I'd post a link to a song that summs up my experience parenting Joshua.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qFffq8_gis
The second picture is Joshua responding to the question, "Where are your pants?"

Learning to work with electronics

One of the things my daddy taught me as I was growing up was this: It is always important to have a hammer when working with electronics just to scare them into line. Joshua appears to have inherited this trait.

Playing with Daddy

Joshua is wearing Daddy's socks. He kept trying to put them on so we decided to help him. Daddy was hiding under the bed when Joshua walked by. Surprise!

Little Froggy

I just got Joshua a new bathrobe. His favorite thing is the bath tub, or the "Bah!" as he calls it. He's usually standing in his crib doing the ASL sign for bath when I come in to get him in the mornings. Here is my little froggy.

Wow! This Looks Like Sean.

Joshua is sporting his very cool Mork from Ork suspenders here and enjoying grandma and grandpa's new fridge. Wow does he ever look like Sean.

Snow Day!

Here is my little snow bear learning how to play in the snow.