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!

Update on Joshua

I am so sorry that I have not written in forever. Joshua is doing so well. He went to the doctor for his nine month checkup on August 12 (sorry I have been slack about reporting this). He weighed 21 pounds 10 ounces, and he was 29 1/2 inches long! So we know he is over 22 pounds and 30 inches now! For his true age he was 65% in height and weight, but if you go by his adjusted age, he is 85% in height and 90% in weight. We are so pleased with how well he is doing.

We got the green light to back off his bottle. He just gets 2 bottles a day now. He eats all baby food the rest of the time, and he is eating toddler-like snacks such as yogurt, cheerios, crackers, and cookies. We are rid of the dreadful monitor, and the medicine that goes with it. We have also reduced his Xantac for acid reflux, and it appears he is outgrowing his acid reflux. Praise God! He is almost 10 1/2 months old. We can't wait for when he is one year! Time has flown by.

Josh can do a lot of new things. He feeds himself bottles, and he drinks from sippy cups by himself. He crawls some, and has learned to roll the other way (he started out just rolling to the right). His new favorite thing to do is clap. Josh uses some sign language for us. And we think he has a pretty good vocabulary for a 10 1/2 month old. His first word was "ma ma", followed by "no-no", and then "hi." He has since added to those three words with "yay-yay" and "ah luh ooh" (his attempt to say I love you). Matt is kind of hurt there is no "da-da" yet, but we know he will get there. Josh's other accomplishment is sitting forward in the car. He got a new forward facing seat, and he loves to ride forward!

Sunday Josh will be getting baptized! We are so excited. I hate that it didn't happen before now, but timing just wasn't right. He couldn't go to church until like March, and we were anticipating me getting my own church this summer. In Methodism, there is a big emphasis on the church playing its part in bringing up the child. I felt awkward in doing it in our old congregation knowing we would only be there for another 3-4 months. So Matt and I agreed to wait until we got to our new church. We were hoping to let the pastor who married us or the D.S. baptize Josh, but after much consideration we decided that I am going to do it. I am so excited! Josh will be the first child I will ever baptize. This feels like a happy and perfect ending to our rough start!

The Importance of Acting Appropriately

Over the past several weeks and months I have found myself agitated by how people choose to behave. There are so many people today caught up in being selfish. Everyone seems to be concerned about their own self and their own needs. When I watch how people treat one another, it disgusts me. The way people behave is contrary to what Jesus taught and how Jesus acted. Which means that I have my work cut out for me since I am trying to encourage people to think about how they should live. I can't help but think that God must look down on us and be disappointed.

Now I am not saying that I act perfectly. I am a sinner, just like anyone else. I mess up, make mistakes, treat people wrongly, and sometimes act selfish. But I would say, overall, that I am very concerned about other people. I often put people before myself. I would do anything to help anyone. And I am very compassionate. I have a long way to go, but I know that I am not as bad as a lot of people in today's world are. Where did humanity go wrong?

Trying to raise a child in this world has got me thinking of how I can avoid producing an adult that acts like this. Therefore, I have come up with a list of things I wish to teach Joshua (and future children). I will add to this list as I come up with more.

1. Always say please, thank you, and you're welcome.
2. Say yes sir/ma'am and no sir/ma'am.
3. You are no better than anyone else; God loves us all equally
4. See a person for what is on the inside, not on the outside
5. Love others the way Christ loves people and the church
6. Treat everyone with love and respect
7. Help others whenever you can in whatever way you are able
8. Work hard because nothing is handed to you
9. Be proud of yourself and love yourself
10. Make other people important, but don't make yourself a doormat
11. Be honest
12. Be proud of yourself and your accomplishments, but don't be prideful
13. Do what is right
14. Don't let other people make you feel bad about who you are
15. Live as God commands
16. Go to church
17. Tell people how you feel
18. Stand up for yourself
19. Don't give up on your dreams, work hard at them instead
20. Be responsible and fulfill your duties

And no matter what, know that your parents love you more than you could ever imagine. You are a special person to God and to us. You are a personof worth, and we will always treat you as such.

What's New?

Plenty has been happening since I last wrote. We moved into our new house (the parsonage) at the end of June. We love our new home! Everything is great here. It did take us forever to get unpacked, though. Not everything has quite been put away yet. Some of the church members helped us unload the day we moved, and we were able to get the whole truck unloaded in just over half an hour. My parents have also been a great help in helping us get organized, and in keeping Josh so we could work. We are going to finish what is left by the end of this weekend. It is just sad that some things do not have a permanent home yet.

Things are great at our two churches! I absolutely love preaching every weekend. And I have settled nicely into all the other roles a pastor has. I have gotten involved with the pastor's group in our community. And I was able to lead Bible Study at the senior's center today, which is a job the pastor's group fills. The people are wonderful! They have brought us plenty of produce, eggs, and baked goods. We love the community we live in. And it is very nice to just be 30 minutes from Greenville! We are also about 30 minutes from Matt's parents in Greenwood, and 30 minutes from my parents in Anderson. It works out so nicely!

We have had a lot going on since we got here. My first week here I had to help with a funeral. We had to unpack and get settled. I also had to begin full-time duties. As if that wasn't enough, two weeks ago Matt had his gallbladder removed. I was thrown into the role of nurse. But he is doing so much better! It was rough for a couple days afterward. And it was rough because he had been sick since Mother's day weekend. But the surgery worked! Matt has not been getting sick, and not even been feeling nauseous. He should be able to go back to work next week. Then it will be back to being Josh and me!

Matt's surgery was hard on the little monkey! He did not understand why Daddy couldn't pick him up. But other than that, Josh is doing great! Josh is standing some on his own, with help of course. If he has something to help him balance him, then he is successful! He is also trying to get some more teeth. And he loves to play. He is learning so many new things, and he can do so much more. It is hard to believe he will be nine months old on Sunday. We have come so far since he was born in November. We have his nine month checkup on Tuesday. I still hate the thought of him getting shots. We are anticipating the doctor will let us feed Josh mainly baby food from now on. That will be exciting! I will update again one day next week. I am anticipating having more time to write now that we are settled.

What's in a name?

I absolutely love Josh's name! I mean, of course I would because I gave my child that name, but Joshua really is one of my favorite male names. And his name is even more special because he has his dad's middle name of David. Since Josh is now at the point where he recognizes his name I have been thinking a lot about names. I wonder what children think of their names at their youngest. There are plenty of people who hate their names as they get older.

I would say I am a traditionalist when it comes to names. Joshua had always been a name I planned on giving a son of mine. And if Josh had been a girl, his name would have been Sarah, even though both of our mothers objected. Biblical names have always been special to me. I was always envious of children who had Biblical names because I knew how special those names were (maybe that was the beginning stages of preparing me for ministry ;) ). I was blessed to have a Biblical middle name, but I was given my middle name because it was a family name from both sides of the family. Josh must be extra special to have two Biblical names!!

Nowadays, the trend seems to be trendy names, unisex names, or names with multiple spellings. I remember when these so-called trendy names popped up. I was in middle school playing MASH (a very popular game we played that planned your future for you) with girl friends and planning out our futures and talking about kids saying I was going to name my sons Parker and Hunter (I have always planned on having 3 kids - 2 boys and a girl). Well some of those names have stuck around, but for me they were a phase like I am sure they have been with some people.

Another thing that gets on my nerves is names that go for a boy or a girl. I remember going home from the first day of third grade and telling my mom that there was a boy named Ashley in my class. It troubled me! We then went through a long conversation about names that were okay for boys and girls: names like Courtney, Ashley, Leslie, and Cameron; names I would never give my child. It is probably such a self-esteem buster when you are a little boy named Ashley and are in elementary school and all these kids come up and tell you that you have a girls name. Kids can be mean, and that is a child who will forever be picked on.

I am just as passionate about names that have multiple spellings. I was so confused when I first realized the name Megan had at least four spellings. You can spell it M-e-g-a-n, M-e-g-h-a-n, M-e-a-g-h-a-n, or M-e-a-g-a-n. And I am sure there are some other funky ways to spell that name. There are also other numerous names you can spell in odd ways, and just odd names. Now I know how teachers must feel on the first day of school when they look at the roll and pray that they don't misprounce the names with all the weird spellings!

But each person has their own preferences! I am thankful to be a traditionalist and to have given my son a name that is easy to pronounce. And when people see his name on class rosters, they will know he is a male; not have to wonder if this child is a boy or a girl. Each of my subsequent children will have traditional names appropriate to their gender. And this blog is nothing against people who like these names or have given them to their children. It is just my personal opinion; my likes and dislikes. It is just my thankfulness that I love the names I do. I just prefer girly names for girls, and masculine names for males. My choice is just for traditional names, and narrowed down even further to Biblical names (that really limits my choices, especially when it comes to girls!) Everyone is entitled to their own choices, and I have nothing against that. Just like each family can choose how to raise their children. Please take no offense to my rant, and if you have, I sincerely apologize!

What's new with the Baird family

Things have been really busy around the Baird household. That explains why I have not written recently. We are packing up and preparing to move. I am so excited to finally be taking my own churches! This truly is an answered prayer.

Over the past few weeks things have been crazy. I had to go to licensing school. Tomorrow I leave for annual conference. There was some collecting and pricing of items for a yard sale. Round 2 of the yard sale may continue this weekend. We have been cleaning and packing like crazy. The official count is 12 boxes packed, and so much more to go. We move 3 weeks from today! And my first Sunday in our new churches is July 4. This Sunday I preach for the last time at the church we have been at. Next Sunday is our last day at that church. And then the weekend of the 27th we are going to spend our last weekend at our first home, and finish getting ready for our move.

And of course Josh has chosen to accomplish some pretty big things in time for the move. Josh started rolling over onto his tummy a few weeks ago. Last week he managed to roll back onto his back. He also has started to crawl! We are so proud of him. Crawling took a few days. He started by getting up on his knees. Then a couple days later he figured out how to get his arms ready to crawl. Then the next day, he managed to move a little forward. It figures that he would learn how to crawl in time for the move. He is still working on cutting several teeth. His first one has poked through the gums! And Josh loves to stand. He can move forward with someone holding his hands! He will be walking before we know it. Josh also talks like crazy! It still is gibberish, but we know his first word isn't too far away!

We can't wait to see what the next few weeks and months hold for us. We are all so excited! Josh will begin doing some even bigger things. And Mommy will be doing some big things, with Daddy and God's help, at her new churches. I just hope we get through the move quickly and easily with no problems. And I hope Josh makes it fine through the move, and adjusts to his new surroundings nicely. I will write again before the move. Now, back to cleaning and packing.