Joshua is 11 months old!

Joshua turned 11 months old today and I am actually writing this on his birth date instead of a week later as usual!  Though every day is a busy day with a baby in the house, this month seems to have had a little bit of a slower pace.  We enjoyed a nice 4^th of July here in town with a BBQ and games.  That evening we went to our regular Wednesday night church service and watched fireworks from the parking lot after.  Joshua enjoyed the fireworks, complete with “oohs” and “ahhs”.  It was nice that they were at a distance so he wasn’t afraid of the loud boom when they went off.

While Joshua didn’t have a doctors’ appointment this month, I did weigh him on the digital scale recently and he had gained about half of one pound.  So he is now about 20 pounds!  He is wearing his 12 month clothes now and they seem to fit him well, so I guess he did have a little bit of a growth spurt.  Joshua has also gone back to taking longer naps again.  Yay!  He has been sleeping for about 2 hours in the later morning and then an hour or so in the afternoon.  I think he is storing it up for more growing.  Not to mention that he keeps popping out new teeth as well.  He now has seven and I just saw another hole in his bottom gums opening up today.  There are now four top teeth and three bottom ones with the new one on the way.  All the better to eat birthday cake with!

Joshua keeps teasing us with his walking.  He is getting so good and pushing his little push toy around, you might think that he’d be walking any day now.  He can steer the push toy very well by himself; even turning it around when he gets himself into a corner.  Josh has been standing without holding anything for support but as soon as he realizes what he is doing he sits down.  He did take three little steps on him own but again he realized what he was doing and I think it scared him because he actually fell down and began to cry.  He hasn’t tried walking again since then.  So it will still be a little longer until he can get some more confidence and try again on his own.

Joshua continues to improve with his baby sign language.  He now uses the sign for “more”, “all done”, “no” and waves bye-bye.  We are still working on getting him to use the signs for “please” and “water”.  The sign for “more” is still his most prominent sign as he is still eating up a storm! Joshua has increased his “chattiness” and jabbers all the time.  Sometimes he says things that sound like certain words or phrases but we’re not sure if it is really intentional. 

Joshua is also becoming very good a “helping” around the house.  He just loves to play in the drawer of Tupperware and often will “help” me with dinner by pulling all of the Tupperware out of the drawer and pulling all my dish towels off the oven handle, putting them all over the kitchen floor.  When I am folding laundry Joshua “helps” by pulling all of the laundry out of the basket and onto the floor, as well as pulling all the clothes I just folded out of the drawers they were just put in and onto the floor.  Joshua also enjoys “helping” us rearrange our bookshelf by once again pulling all of the books off the shelf and putting them on the floor.  Do you see the pattern here?  Silly boy!

Our home fellowship family Bible study has just finished its first month and is going well.  There are a few other couples and their children coming but it has been so good to foster more close relationships with those families.  It gets a little hectic sometimes during our study time with the three babies and older kids that we just don’t know how having any additional families would work!  God knows exactly what He’s doing. 

Several weeks back, Tim signed up to participate in a walking for fitness campaign through his company so we have been trying to get out for a morning walk most days of the week before Tim begins work.  Tim has commented that he already feels a decrease in his stress level and an increase in his energy level.  I’m very thankful that he is getting out and getting some exercise and that we are able to do it together as a family.

I have made three attempts to get in contact with the pro-life clinic that I turned in paperwork to volunteer for and I have not heard anything back.   I am considering it a closed door from the Lord and while it is a great cause it is just not what God has for me right now.  Tim has received an open door from the Lord and is currently going through some online training with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. He will be helping with their new online outreach called "Search for Jesus" and will be able to share the Gospel and disciple new believers in an online environment.

We hope you are well and have a blessed month.  Let us know how we can be praying for you!  As always, pictures and videos of Joshua are below.

Joshua is 11 Months old!  Our big boy.

Since eating is Joshua's favorite thing to do, you know he had to be tired to fall asleep in his highchair!

Joshua "helping" in the kitchen.  Notice all the towels and tupperware on the floor.

Coco waits for food to drop.  She's no dummy!

Joshua looking so handsome in his little collared shirt.

Joshua sleeps in funny positions

See all my teeth!

We were the 100th customers at a new scrapbook store in town.  Our prize was a free Christian themed scrapbook kit!

Joshua is now 10 months old

How fast the last month (every month, really) has gone!  Josh turned 10 months old on Monday!  It has been a month full of lots of learning and growing for Joshua.  He had his 10 month doctors' appointment a few weeks back and everything checked out normal.  He weighed 19 pounds 9 ounces (50 percentile) and was 28 1/2 inches in length (75 percentile).

This last month saw Joshua finally get his two top front teeth!  Poor little guy, those things were a long time comin'!  And the two next on either side are right behind.  You can see them in Josh's gums, they just haven't broken through quite yet.  It's a good thing Josh is starting to get all these teeth because the kid eats like nothing else!  He's already a bottomless pit it seems.  I don't know how we will keep food in the house when he's a teenager.  Joshua has started to feed himself some finger foods such as pieces of cheese, crackers and fruit.  So far, there doesn't seem to be anything he doesn't like.  We are also starting to transition him away from pureed food and more towards chopped foods so he can use those teeth he's got.

Joshua continues to do well with pushing his push toys around the house as well as walking if we hold his hands.  Occasionally, while crawling he will just try to stand up on his own in the middle of the room.  It won't be long now and he'll be walking on his own.  Josh is also growing in his social interactions.  He frequently waves 'hello' and 'goodbye', although not consistantly.  He also claps when he is happy or excited.  Tim and I have been trying to teach him sign language so he can better communicate his needs to us and I think he is starting to sign back.  Guess which sign he uses.  The sign for "more", which he uses to indicate he is still hungry and wants more food.  Hahaha!  Go figure.

We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this month.  The time seems to have gone quickly yet it seems as if we have been married longer at the same time.  I think that is because we have been able to do so much and grow so much in the Lord during this time.  We had a nice evening out to a light dinner and then attended our evening church service.  The next day was Father's Day and Tim enjoyed his first Father's Day with our son.  We spent the afternoon in Paradise with Tim's sister and other family at a nice barbecue.  We called it an early night so we could get home to pack as we were leaving the next morning for High School summer camp.

The highlight of the month by far has to be our five day camping trip with the youth group.  Tim and I were both hesitant at first but felt the Lord leading us to go as a family and to trust in Him with the details.  So we packed everything we thought Joshua could possibly need and went for it.  And what a blessed time it was.  Joshua had a few meltdowns (and maybe me too) but Josh did amazingly well.  What a relief and a blessing.  I was reminded again of how the Lord continues to answer the prayer of the hearts of Tim and I as we prayed for God to give us a baby that would allow us to continue in the ministry He called us to.  God is so good.

Our "family friendly" home fellowship is set to start this weekend, Sunday July 1st and we will be studying through the book of Ephesians (Lord willing).  We have had a few people contact us about the study and we are praying the Lord's will be done because we really have no idea what we are doing.  We are simply being obedient to a call from the Lord and an area of ministry that is near to our hearts.  I have been in contact with the Women's Resource Center regarding doing some volunteer nursing work and I am just waiting for further instruction from the Lord and the clinic.  Tim is currently praying about a few more outreaches as well. All in His timing.

The pictures and videos below are the best we have to offer at this point as Joshua rarely hold still long enough for a decent shot anymore!  Busy little boy, he is.

10 months old!

Cell phone races with Dad.  The goal is to see who can push the cell phone along the floor the fastest.  Josh came up with this game.

The only way to get a good shot of his top teeth is to dangle him upside down.

Josh likes to play under the dining table.  It's like his first fort.

Silly face

Joshua feeds himself finger foods at snack-time.  Raisins and crackers here.

The Molters at HS Summer Camp

Joshua happily pushes his toy around the dining hall at camp

We set up his play-yard while at camp so he didn't have to play in the dirt.

Joshua started feeding himself with his spoon at Summer Camp

Joshua - Our Busy Boy

Joshua is 9 Months Old!

Joshua is 9 months old!

What a very busy month we have had.  I'm sorry this post comes more than a week after Josh's 9 month birthday but read on and you will see why!

Josh is growing in leaps and bounds both physically and developmentally.  Not long after learning how to sit himself up without support last month, Josh learned how to stand in his crib and then crawl in the same day!  Now at the end of the month he crawls all over the house, "furniture cruises" and pushes his little walker all the time.  He's a fast learner.  Needless to say, the playpen in the living room is no longer sufficient.  Because we have an open floor plan in the living space, we can't really close off a space for him with a baby gate.  So we got a circle-play-yard with an extender-kit so Josh has plenty of room to crawl and play while not having free reign to the whole living room.

While the majority of Josh's vocabulary is still just jabbers he does say something that sounds a lot like "Hi Dad!" whenever Tim is around.  He has started to say something that sounds like "dog" when he sees Coco, too.  But still no "Mama".  That's okay.  I know he loves me.  Nothing can soothe him quite like being held by Mama.  Josh has also started to point at things he is interested in.  I guess next comes the accompanying "what's that?" question.

Joshua has now had his first unofficial hair cut.  Several weeks back we were over to my parents' house for dinner and my mom began to braid Joshua's little mullet.  Tim said, "That's it!  Get the scissors!"  So Josh got his first hair cut.  Don't worry, I was able to tie a piece of it up to keep in his baby book.  I couldn't believe how much a little trim in the back could change his appearance.  Now Joshua really looks like a little boy and not so much of a baby anymore.

Joshua also got his first kiddie pool last month.  He loves to play in the bathtub so we thought he should like the pool too.  And he really does!  He has the cutest little swim trunks and swim diapers.  It is all just way too much fun.

Besides Joshua kicking it into high gear, Tim and I have had a busy month as a family as well.  Just a few days after Joshua's 8 month birthday we participated in a local walk as a family to support a Christian Pro-life clinic here in town.  This is a ministry that is near and dear to the heart of both Tim and I.  We hope to make this a yearly family tradition.  And after participating in the walk, I felt called to volunteer as a nurse in the clinic.  I have filled out the paperwork and I am now waiting on God's timing to begin.

For several months now Tim has felt called to begin a Bible study here in our home.  After much prayer we will soon begin a family Bible study open to families with children of all ages.  We have never done something like this before and so are trusting the Lord to lead, guide and provide.  It will be an adventure, to say the least!

Tim and Joshua gave me a wonderful Mother's day weekend for my first Mother's Day.  We went to a Chocolate Festival in Paradise, Tim made me a special breakfast, and I got a beautiful card and wonderful gifts.  I felt very loved.  And we are looking forward to the Chocolate festival again next year!

A few weeks back, Tim took a weekend trip with the High School students from our church youth group to serve at a nearby youth camp.  Josh and I stayed behind.  It was a long weekend and I tried to get a lot of tasks done while Tim was gone.  But when Tim got back he said he missed us so much that he didn't know how he could go a whole week without seeing us during summer camp.  So after some praying and information gathering, the decision was made for Josh and I to go to summer camp this year too.  We are trusting God with the details and looking forward to the adventure in the unknown.

The day Tim got back from the servant trip, his dad and step-mom came out for a week-long visit from Minnesota.  It is always a blessing to spend time with them.  This is the second time they have seen Joshua and how much he has changed since their last visit when he was just three months old.  If it is God's will, maybe they can move out here soon. 

Time is going by so fast and we are thankful for every day.  God has truly blessed us beyond what we deserve and it is a joy to serve Him.  Tim and I are very tired, make that "well spent", but wouldn't trade being Joshua's Mommy and Daddy for anything.  Just don't say the word "pregnant" around me any time soon!

Enjoy the many pictures and videos from our busy month of May!

Joshua likes the swings in the park

After walking in the Walk For Life as a family

Chocolate pancake breakfast at the Chocolate Fest

Joshua can't wait to eat chocolate pancakes next year!

fun in the new kiddies pool!

his swim trunks say "Surf Dude'!

intently playing at his new activity table

this is "Joshua's drawer" in the kitchen full of tupperware that is safe for him to play with

furniture cruising

Josh crawls away before I can get a good picture

I don't know if he like eating his food or playing with it better

The Molter Men together in May

Opa and Tutu come for a visit

time with Mommy

Daddy makes me laugh