Joshua turned 18 months old last Monday and it amazes us that
6 months have passed already since his first birthday. Time flies by so quick! Joshua is busy learning and growing all the
time. According to our rough at-home
measurements, Joshua has grown about four inches in height since his first
birthday. He continues to maintain a
lean body weight as well. That’s not to
say that Joshy doesn't eat because this kid eats plenty! Much to Uncle Andrew’s delight, Joshua has
recently discovered that Ranch dressing is tasty on just about anything,
especially chicken nuggets! Joshua would
eat 3-4 plain chicken nuggets before, but now with the Ranch his can eat as
many as 8! And of course, it always
tastes better when you smear it all over your face too.
Joshua is getting his last set of toddler molars, which
would put him at 20 teeth total once they are fully in. These ones are the biggest ones so far and
therefore the most painful. Even today
he has spent most of the day in bed with mild flu-like symptoms because of the
teeth he is trying to cut.
As we wrapped up the second month of the year, our family has
already had quite a busy year. My (Anna) brother Andrew proposed to his girlfriend Amanda on New Years’ Eve and all the
family is already excitedly in full gear for wedding planning. Joshy gets to be the ring bearer! Just a few weeks back, we enjoyed a time of
celebrating their upcoming October wedding as our families met during their
engagement party.
Our whole family met a huge milestone in January when Joshua
spent his first night away from Mommy and stayed with Grammy and Papa for the
night while Tim and I had a much needed date night. It was hard to be away from him, but I knew
it was necessary for both of us to have that brief separation. Until that night, I had not spent a night
away from Josh. It was also a trial run
for when Tim and I plan to go away for three days in March. Yikes!
Of course, Joshua did just fine.
Actually he didn't really want to leave when we went to pick him up the
next morning!
Toward the end of January, a traveling “dinosaur” (very
realistic looking puppets) petting-zoo came to town and I received free tickets
to take Joshua. Due to his young age and
naturally short attention span, I wasn't too concerned with sitting up
close. But to my surprise, Joshua was
very fascinated to see the different dinosaurs and often wanted to stand up on
my lap to get a better view and he would roar along with the life size “adolescent”
T-Rex. After the show, some of the baby
and smaller dinosaurs were out in front of the theater so I decided to take
Josh to see them up close and pet them.
He was a little unsure of petting them but he was definitely interested
in looking and checking them out.
Because of the crowd I wasn't able to get any pictures.
The first weekend in February we all packed up and headed to
the mountains for the annual High School Winter Camp. It was a great time of being refreshed and drawing
near to the Lord for all of us. And
Joshua did great! I was a little
concerned with how well Joshua would be able to sleep with a cabin full of
girls but the Lord gave me a peace I can’t explain (because it’s not natural
for me!) and He gave Joshua just enough sleep at night and good naps during the
day. When we got back on Sunday Joshy
fell asleep in his highchair at 6:30 pm while eating dinner. Poor little guy was worn out!
Shortly after getting back from Camp, I got new molds for my
hearing aids. These new molds are fully
in the ear and fill up my whole ear canal instead of the more open fit molds I
had before. As my natural hearing
progressively declines, this was an option that would allow more optimal use of
my current aids until it will become even more necessary to purchase new ones in
a few years. Because of the new fit, the
way things sound to me has drastically changed and it has been a big adaptation
process over the last few weeks. I think
things are starting to settle down a little bit and I am hoping to be able to
make some fine tuning adjustments with my audiologist soon.
On a more sunny note (excuse the pun), we have had some
absolutely beautiful weather out here.
Sunny and in the 60s most days.
Joshua loves to play outside with his ride-on and ride-in toys as well
as go to the park and he is even starting to wear hats to block out the
sun! Yay! I am trying to get back on my walking
schedule of taking Joshua around our big block every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. With all the little side streets
to turn down, it ends up being about an hour walk. Sometimes Joshua falls asleep in his
stroller, too. Double-bonus! We are enjoying the weather while we can, knowing that our typical rainy months are just ahead. And then comes the dreaded hot Northern
California summers. Ugh.
The last weekend in February, we visited with Tim’s mom in
Sacramento. We took Joshua to a kiddie carnival
called Funderland. I have been so
excited to take him there because I remember how much fun it was for me as a
kid growing up in Sacramento. But I think Josh was maybe still
too young because he was pretty scared of the rides. So we stuck with the rides where either Tim
or I could go with him. We probably
should have started there. Oops. We also took him to the zoo across the street
but some of the animals were not out at the time. We’ll have to try again later in the spring
when it is a little warmer and not so much of the Sacramento Delta breeze
(wind). But we got some cute pictures
and video, so all is not lost! Not to
mention, it was such a blessed time we were able to spend with Mom.
As the new year begins, both Tim and I have felt a kind of
unsettling in our spirits. We still don’t
know what the Lord has planned but we know He is about to move and do something
big in our lives. So we are in a season
of being prepared by the Lord for whatever He has next. It is a time of great dependence on the Lord
and for us to be extra sensitive to the moving of the Spirit as we don’t want
to get involved in something “good” if it isn't specifically for us from the
Lord but we also don’t want to miss what He has for us because we were being so
cautious. So not only do we feel like we
are drawing closer to God through this process but also closer to each other as
we regularly communicate and seek God in prayer together over opportunities
that come before us.
We hope you are well and enjoying the everyday blessings the
Lord has for you. We love you all! Here are some highlight pictures.
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| Was there snow at Winter Camp? Yes there was and here it is! |
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| Our group of Campers |
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| 18 months old and looking like such a little man. Joshua loves to play on his box from Costco. |
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| On the train at Funderland. Josh still isn't too sure about the whole thing. |
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| Joshy and his Gammy |
