2 days

So here I am trying to make good on my vow to blog more. Twice in one week - YES! That equals success for this very busy wife, mother, and pastor!

2 days until my little monkey's birthday! I can't believe it! In some ways this year has flown by! In other ways, it has been kind of slow. Especially those first 38 days while he was in the NICU. Those days just seemed to drag on.

Tonight we have Trunk or Treat at church. I am excited. Josh has his little costume. He is going to be a dragon. His costume is just adorable. I will take pictures and at least post them on Facebook, if not here. I would have to learn how to post pictures on here. But I know I will take tons of pictures.

I can't help but sit here and think how bad I felt on October 30 and 31 last year. I never imagined that I would be delivering my baby on November 1, 6 1/2 weeks early. But God took care of him. And I didn't have to spend 39 or 40 weeks pregnant. It was dragging on anyway.

I just finished sorting through Josh's clothes and his birthday gifts. I cleaned out his closets and his drawers to get rid of the small stuff, and make room for the new. We also decided what we were going to give Josh for his birthday. I bought so much stuff that his birthday and Christmas is finished! That is an accomplishment!

His birthday party will be next Saturday. We decided not to compete with Halloween, especially when we found out the church would be celebrating today. That would have been too much celebration for one day. I have all his birthday party supplies and decorations taken care of. All we have left to worry about is the food. How wonderful! It has been so fun planning his party. It sure is ging to be an exciting week around here!

Long Overdue Update

I hate that it has been forever since I last updated. My goal is to now update at least weekly. And this blog is no longer going to be just about Josh, it will be about our family, and my career in ministry. Josh is almost a year old (one more week!) and I have enjoyed keeping you all updated on Josh, and will continue to do so. I just think that as he gets older there will be less updates after he starts doing all the basic things. This blog started to keep people updated while I was pregnant, and then it turned into a coping mechanism while he was in the NICU. And after that, it became a release as just started to become more like a normal baby. I became overjoyed and wanted to share as he started doing things other babies were, and at about the same time.

We are not sure about Josh's weight (he goes to the doctor a week from Tuesday - the day after his first birthday). But Josh has sure gotten tall. I know he is more than 30 inches tall, and he might be closer to three feet. He is pulling up, and he wants to walk, but he just can't get off those tippy-toes!

Josh's accomplishments in his first year of life:
-He scoots, rolls over, sits up from a laying down position, and crawls backward.
-He eats people food and some baby food (he has shown interest in feeding himself with utensils, but Mommy knows that will be messy!). He does feed himself finger food.
-He drinks from sippy cups (doesn't understand straws yet - he bites them, but that is the next order of business).
-He has a vocabulary of 11 words or phrases.
-He has six teeth.
-He can wave.
-And he claps like crazy.

Alot of what he has done, he has done on time or even early. We have so much to be proud of and thankful for. He has gone all kind of places. He loves to go see his grandparents. He loves to visit his Aunt Amanda. Josh seems to like going to church. He loves stories. He has quite the personality, which includes a little temper, stubborness and some frustration. He is proud of himself when he does new things. He is fascinated with children and babies. He loves to play, and he has his favorite toys. And he has brought Mommy and Daddy such joy! I can't believe my little boy will be one year old in a week!