15 Months

It has been a while since I've done a purely child-development blog post, so you can move on to other things  now if you don't particularly care about weight to height ratios and spoon-feeding. (I saw a friend post on Facebook a few days ago how funny it is that we mothers are incredibly proud of normal development in our children.)

Josiah is 15 months old now, and I've been feeling a need to document some of the changes he is undergoing, because they are starting to get interesting. He had a visit to our doctor last week and was completely healthy and the doctor said we made her job easy. My job was a little less easy since my poor baby had to get three shots at the end of the visit. Wish I could say he took them like a man, but, well, he's a few years off from that yet. Josiah weighed 23 and a half pounds, and was 32.5 inches long. This put him in the 39% for weight and the 88% for height.

At long last he is getting in a few new teeth (I thought he was going to be a 6-toothed child forever), but strangely enough they are some molars, not ones closer to the front. He is also growing in his ability to feed himself, and lately has been refusing to eat what I feed him and wants to feed himself with his spoon. Mashed potatoes that were refused entry, oatmeal, and others have been warmly accepted if he can spoon them into his own mouth - or his own bib, or pants. A messy, but necessary, step to eating independence.

Josiah is walking, running and climbing like crazy. When he feels he needs to see what is going on, he pulls a little chair over from the kids' table and climbs on top of it so he can see onto the counter. He thinks standing on throw pillows makes him taller, as well. He likes to clap, give high-fives, and Adam is teaching him to fist-bump. He can identify his toes, his fingers, his nose, his mouth, and his teeth. Sometimes eyes, but that can be a dangerous prospect since he forgets to close them first before indicating it with his finger.

The not-parentally-approved method of playing with trains.

His word list is growing! Bup (up), Uh-uh (Uh-oh), that (used for everything, wanting to know what it is, does, or what that sound is), Daddy, duck and Kak-kak (can you guess what that one is?, clue: closely connected to "duck"), bye-bye. There are a few words that are very important to him that he cannot yet say - an example, overhearing the word "bath" leads him to run out of the room and go climbing up the stairs all by himself, assuming that he will be having a bath immediately. "Diaper change" sends him running in the opposite direction from me.

At library story time, looking mischievous

Josiah loves his big sister and imitates much of what she does. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Shredding kleenexes, though, is a skill he thought up all by himself. And in other important Josiah news, he loves his cuddly and blanket. Don't try to sleep without them.

Happy New Year!!!

We wish to friends and family an exciting beginning to a new year! Sure, it's an arbitrary day on the calendar (but it's a new calendar), but it's also an excuse to take stock, revisit ideas, and dream new dreams for the time ahead of us. Usually it takes me most of January to do this, but really, what else can you do in January?

We spent New Years' Eve with our friends Josh and Sarah and kiddos. Sadly, our friends Travis and Kalina couldn't make it (for the first time in 8 years!) because of sick children. Even so, they managed to make our annual group photo. Look carefully.

Waiting for everyone else to show up for the group photo

Happy New Year!

And Many More

Those of you who see Adam on a daily basis can now wish him an informed, though belated, birthday. We are usually nearly partied out by the time Adam's birthday rolls around several days after Christmas. This year we celebrated by being present for a business meeting at church, then came home for some brunch coffee cake. After the kids got up from their afternoon naps, we headed out for a rousing dinner at Red Robin, because there really isn't a more family-friendly restaurant. Adam's birthday wouldn't be complete without a stop at Home Depot, and then we returned home for cake and ice cream. I'm so grateful that Adam was born, and grew up into a pretty awesome guy, because it's difficult to imagine my life without him!

Celebrating Christmas - for as long as possible!

Well, there you have it. The month of December came, saw, and went without even a passing mention of Christmas here on the family blog. Well, we were busy. Mostly keeping Josiah from undecorating the Christmas tree. Or standing on the Christmas presents for a better view. Or helping Michaela frost and sprinkle 20 Christmas cookies. Yes, 20. She's prolific.

So in my typical fashion, I'm putting off taking down the decorations that we so excitedly put up a month ago, and instead I'll share some photos of our family during December.

Josiah had just fallen asleep in the car and was soooo tired.

Our Christmas tree hunt this year was pretty fun. A client of Adam's invited us (and many others) out to his piece of property which used to be a Christmas tree farm, but is rapidly turning into a forest of ex-Christmas trees. Thanks to his generosity, we searched out one of the few trees under 15 feet tall, and brought it home for free. It had a bit of Charlie Brown tree flair, but that's how I love my trees.

This is it! Smile while we wait for the guy with the chainsaw...

Eating a few treats to celebrate getting the great tree

Mid-decoration process

Christmas morning at our house:

I love this look: I am so excited about something - maybe socks? - and Josiah is sure I'm wacky

The stocking excitement

 Christmas Eve morning at Grammy & Papi's house (Adam's parents):

Anxiously waiting for cousins Greyson and Liam to arrive so the stockings can be opened
(hard to believe it was almost 8 am with how dark it was outside)

And then the grown-ups insisted on taking pictures before present-opening could begin

 ...Or maybe we were waiting for our mochas and eggnog lattes. Yum!

The three musketeers

Literally the best picture we have ever taken of all 4 together

Playing at the train table! Christmas present from Grammy and Papi

Christmas day was spent with my parents and my sister at our home. We didn't take a lot of pictures, probably because Adam's trigger finger was tired from the few days prior. I, however, was given a new camera by my handsome husband, so these are my practice shots.

Sporting a new shirt, and in the customary position of grabbing mom's leg

I think this face was in response to, "Be serious, Michaela"

It turns out the adults were right, having children reveals again the fun and mystery of Christmas.

The Princess and the Cow

More on the Puckett family fable later... but now, some pictures of the kids and our friends from our day at the farm and pumpkin "patch".

Michaela and Isaiah on the John Deere

Michaela and Lily (and Lily's doll) taking the hay ride to the field o' pumpkins

"Can we please buy this $10 pumpkin mom, please?!"

He kept trying to lift the pumpkins

The only photo of Lily and Michaela actually standing still

And now, without further ado, our fall dress-up photos:
Because to title this post "Halloween" makes it sound so... dated. And I like to pretend like I have a hand up on the things going on in life and am not running behind as a normal matter of business. I really enjoyed anticipating Halloween trick-or-treating and dress-up with Michaela this year. She set her sights on becoming a princess and never really deviated. We had a great costume in the hand-me-down "magic box" for Josiah - a cow. I appreciate that Josiah, if he has an opinion on costume selection, cannot effectively voice it, so I still get to choose. So, however late the photos, Grammy, here they are!

Josiah spends a lot of time in this "hugging mom's leg" position

Princess Michaela

Princess Michaela + wings and 2 wands

Eating the spoils of trick-or-treating.

Trust me, this face doesn't reflect the real joy that  she exuded. Until next year, Halloween.

Just Swimmingly

Since mid-September, Michaela has been enrolled in a session of swimming lessons through our local swimming pool. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, we packed up the little backpack with a towel, snack (for after-swimming energy) and clean underwear (I forgot two out of these three items the first day of lessons - so glad I remembered the snack) and headed the 5 minutes away to the pool. Michaela was shy for the first several sessions, but really warmed up to it after that.

First day excitement!

She has been so sad now that swim lessons finished last week. Her little class of 4 preschoolers was just perfect. I enjoyed watching our little tornado of a daughter try to learn how to put her face in the water and kick, as well as laying semi-still and semi-flat on her back while trying to learn to float. 

She did learn how to put her face under water, how to blow bubbles, how to scoot along the wall of the swimming pool while holding on with her hands, and how to jump in and be caught by her teacher. I think we plan to do another session in the winter or spring. Josiah was pretty jealous about being left behind, as soon as he could he would escape and crawl towards the pool as fast as possible. It's a good thing I'm faster!

She excels at splashing!

Waiting on the "boat" for her next turn

A "little jump"

It was always amazing how well she napped on the days she had swimming lessons. An extra bonus.

One Year

One year ago today... our second little (fuzzy) bundle of joy joined the family. One year ago Josiah looked like this: 

Yesterday he looked like this!:

He has changed so much lately. I never got around to an 11-month-post (that I recall), however, I've been prepping one mentally for a while. He FINALLY started sleeping through the night about two weeks ago!!!! I haven't wanted to commit it to print on the blog for fear of jinxing it, but I feel that he has definitely made the change. He got two top teeth, for a current total of four. He has started walking. He doesn't walk long distances, but he can take a good 6-10 steps before collapsing, and he is SO proud of himself when he does. He is beginning to climb more... up the stairs... on top of the kids' picnic table... on top of the kids' inside table... He says "Mama" and "Dada" and "Bye-bye" and I heard him say "duck" the other day. I was using some pretty strong cleaning chemicals at the time, though, so I can't be sure. He tried peanut butter sandwiches this week, and loves 'em. 

Josiah likes playing in the bark chips at the park (and tasting them), swinging, going down the slide while holding onto my hands provokes cackles of glee, going for walks in the stroller, roughhousing with his daddy, eating, being held and cuddled by his mama, giving kisses, nursing (he's down to twice a day), music - it makes him dance, playing with Michaela's toys, and glimpsing illicit snatches of "Curious George" when Michaela is watching an episode at his bedtime.

He does not like napping, though he does it, getting his diaper changed, getting his face washed, being out of sight of his mama, long rides in the car or sleeping anywhere but his comfy crib.

We love this little guy - Happy Birthday Josiah!

Cousins' Weekend

 Growing up, I spent what felt like a week every summer (might have been more, might have been less - I was a kid!) with my cousins. For many years they had a backyard, in-ground pool, which I was in love with. I also remember flashlight tag, video games, My Little Ponies, and the Farming Game. Time passed, however, and now all of us cousins are grown up. And even weirder, many of us have our own little ones. So, though the week is condensed to a weekend, it's been very fun to get together with my cousins at my Aunt and Uncle's home for the past few summers. Though most of the adults aren't pictured, here's a shout-out to Ben & Landra, Janae & Mark, Elise & Scott, and Jeff & Milla, who made this such a fun weekend. Turns out it's fun to be a grown-up sometimes, too.

Josiah playing with Rocco, Janae & Mark's son

Not my baby, but so stinking cute!

Belated Birthday Bash

Though Michaela's birthday did occur more than a month ago, it's always good to relive great family times. The credit for these photos goes to my father-in-law, who is the resident photographer at any family function. Thanks Papi!

As you can see, we ate...

Yummy Pirates' Booty!

The kids' table - a birthday present from Grandpa and Nana

It's a plane! (Greyson spent much of the afternoon looking up)

And it's a cupcake!

... we opened presents...

A whole box of fun princess/ballerina/fairy clothes

...and we swam... (read, the children splashed a lot)

I love my nephew's look of mischief!

and then there were three...

Little Liam, #4, will be in there next year!

Right after this someone poured a bucket of water over Josiah's head and he howled like a banshee...

and after cuddling and comforting by Mama