A Picture Perfect Year

5/23 through 5/29

2010-09-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

May 24th, 2010
I took Josiah in for his 9 month check up and had to take Madison with me. The office has these little fun-house mirrors and it was funny to watch the babies play in them.

May 25th, 2010

Josiah was napping and looked so big in his crib. My little boy is growing up fast and I don't want to forget moments like these.

May 26th, 2010

My best friend Jolyn brought her 2 year old daughter, Katelyn, over. I had Madison and Josiah and Katelyn, who adores babies, wanted to cuddle and hold them.

May 27th, 2010
My grandma used to love car washes. She always found joy in the simple things, and I remember watching her face light up while watching the big wheels spin around the car and spray soap on the windows. On this particular day, I didn't have Jaydon, just Zoe, and needed a car wash, so, thinking she might enjoy it a lot, took her through one. She had never experienced it either, but her face reminded me of my grandma.

May 28th, 2010

While driving, both Madison and Josiah fell asleep in the car. Too cute to resist taking pictures of.

May 29th, 2010
For Memorial Day Weekend, we went out of town to our 4th annual church retreat. This was Josiah's 1st time to go swimming too!

5/16 through 5/22

2010-09-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

May 16th, 2010
Jaydon

May 19th, 2010

My baby boy

May 20th, 2010

I spent the day cleaning the house in an effort to make my home a place that promotes comfort and happiness for my husband. I also fixed my hair and got dressed rather than just wearing pj's all day. This is Josiah's clean room and me and Josiah.

5/9 through 5/15

2010-07-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

May 9th, 2010
Mother's Day:

May 10th, 2010

Splish! Splash! He was taking a bath!

May 11th, 2010

Josiah loves Jaydon and cuddles with him all of the time!

May 12th, 2010

Swinging at the park:

May 13th, 2010

Wanna be a cowboy, baby!

May 14th, 2010

Zoe doing handstands:

...at Liz's birthday party

May 15th, 2010

My mom's highschool classmates got married on the school's football field:

5/2 through 5/8

2010-07-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

May 2nd, 2010
Katelyn's 2nd birthday party:

May 8th, 2010

New haircuts:

4/25 through 5/1

2010-07-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

April 26th, 2010
Daycare with Madison

April 27th, 2010

Zoe and Jaydon surrounded Josiah in toys:

He also fell asleep in my arms, which doesn't happen too often, and made me soak up the sweet moment!

April 28th, 2010
Josiah was walking around with one leg sticking out of his pj's!

April 29th, 2010

Just playing:

May 1st, 2010

Our family ran/walked the 5k race:

And then I spent the rest of the day making my best friend's daughter's 2nd birthday cake:

... and I made a cake for Becky's breast cancer bake sale:

4/18 through 4/24

2010-07-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

April 18th, 2010
We met Jesse's step-cousin's son, Leeland, who was born 2 days before Josiah.

April 21st, 2010

I fixed Zoe's hair:

Zoe took this picture of Josiah that I love:

April 22nd, 2010

Jaydon played with the remote control car we got him for his birthday:

April 23rd, 2010

Josiah's bottom teeth are coming in!

April 24th, 2010

I took Josiah's 8 month pictures, a couple days late, but better late than never! It's not easy to get pictures of a newly mobile 8 month old, though!!!

4/11 through 4/17

2010-04-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

April 11th, 2010
Jaydon's 8th birthday!!!

Our family (aunts, cousins, and all) went to Red Robin to celebrate. Jaydon got an ice cream sundae and the staff sang to him.

My mom and I pitched in together and bought Jaydon a skateboard, pads, and helmet. He LOVED it!!!

My Jaydon and Me:

Testing it out:

Josiah met my cousin Nathan, who is 2 months older than me:

Josiah liked him...

...especially his beard.

Group picture, with Nathan's younger brother Taylor

April 12th, 2010

I started watching a new daycare client. She is 3 weeks older than Josiah, but much more petite. She's a cutie, though, and it gave me a new perspective and appreciation of those people I know with twins!

I also watched Jadon today. I had my hands full, but made it with Katelyn's help!

April 13th, 2010

Josiah, walking around the furniture:

More daycare pics:

More Josiah:

(Walking with Zoe)

April 14th, 2010

More Walking:

April 15th, 2010
Feeding the babies:

Trip to the park:

(Jaydon and Zoe)

(Katelyn and Josiah)

April 16th, 2010

The carseat was no longer working as Josiah's highchair. He was sitting back too far, had no tray, and would try to eat his toes in the midst of eating his carrots. So, while I still want a big highchair, we got a small booster for traveling. Josiah liked it.

(He was exhausted, though!)

April 17th, 2010

We celebrated Jaydon's birthday. There are simply too many pictures to share here. I'll just select my favorites:

(My mom made this cake, with my help. Jaydon requested a half basketball, half fishing cake. We went above and beyond and added a skateboarding cake too!)

Opening presents (I got him a remote control ATV):

Playing bacci ball:

Little girls swinging:

4/4 through 4/10

2010-04-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

April 4th, 2010
Easter!

April 5th, 2010

Josiah is now pulling himself up and standing, albeit wobbly

(big ol' hands!)

(thunder thighs!)

April 6th, 2010

Another new trick: Standing in his crib

My Calvin Klein model:

April 7th, 2010

Josiah's first time in the grass. He liked pulling at it, but never pulled any out of the ground.

I love these two precious kids (Jaydon and Zoe):

April 8th, 2010

April 9th, 2010

While I was having lunch with my mom, Josiah pooped all the way up his back. So I had to strip him down and drive him home naked. The people in the store were probably looking at me with my naked baby thinking that I was a horrible mom. Oh well! When we got home, I found him sleeping like this- so sweetly!

My friends and I have been painting pottery together lately. I started doing a Dr. Seuss plate and then decided that I wanted a whole Dr. Seuss theme for Josiah's 1st birthday. So, every time I go back, I paint another Dr. Seuss themed piece. These are my first two:

3/38 through 4/3

2010-04-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

March 28th, 2010
My little cousin Celi'a's 4th birthday party:

My little family at the party. I color-coordinated everyone for church!

March 29th, 2010

March 31st, 2010
A late night trip to the playground with my little cousins, Jaydon and Zoe:

April 1st, 2010
No pictures today...

... APRIL FOOL'S!
Hahaha! I crack myself up!
... not really...

My mom, Aunt Colleen, and I usually take it upon ourselves to decorate our church for the seasons and holidays. We spent the day decorating for Easter. It did change in the days following this, but this is what we started off with:

March 2nd, 2010

Katelyn's car broke down. Katelyn and I tried to jump it on our own before calling in her husband Liam for reinforcements. This was in between torrential downpours and hail. Fortunately, every time we got out of the car, it was sun-shining!

March 3rd, 2010

Painting pottery with Jolyn:

(Jolyn painted this about 2 years ago, and I helped her with the lettering. She just turned it in and got it back this week!)

(Her finished coffee mug)

(My tile, to go with my Cat in the Hat plate from last week)

3/21 through 3/27

2010-04-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

March 21st, 2010
Aca, Josiah, and Jadon at church (to those who don't know, Aca and Josiah were born 6 minutes apart and Jadon is 7 weeks younger):

My little cousin Jaydon helping my Aunt Colleen make brownies:

My little cousins dressed up as pretty princesses:

March 22nd, 2010
Josiah turns 7 months old!

March 23rd, 2010
The conversation between my brother and I went something like this:
David (sarcastically): Honestly, people in this world are desperate for someone to be nice to them. Then they sink their claws in and won't let go. I'm sick of crazies. I'm done being nice to anyone :-).
Me: Yeah right!
David: Shut your mouth you cross-eyed lint licker!
Me: I refuse to accept your efforts to be mean to me.
David: That's because you're a stubborn horse of a woman.
Me: Horse?! I still refuse. I love you and know you love me too!
David: I see the letters on the screen, but they all spell, "Neigh..."
Me: Lol! Omg!
David: Those words don't made any sense either. Must be hard to text when you have hooves.
Me: Even though I refuse to be offended, I don't have to listen to your feeble attempts at humor.
David: I thought they were funny jokes. I refuse to accept your reality, and replace it with my own.
Me: Lol. You always have.
David: ;-)

Resulting drawing:

March 26th, 2010

Josiah's nebulizer treatments:

March 27th, 2010

Painting pottery with my friends:

Katelyn's cat dish for her new cat, Athena

(Jolyn and her unfinished coffee mug for her husband)

(My Cat in the Hat plate for Josiah)

(Unfinished)

3/14 through 3/20

2010-03-23T01:43:00.000-07:00

March 14th, 2010
My little cousin, Natalia, in the nursery at church. This is the first time I've gotten her to say "cheese" and smile for the camera.

March 15th, 2010
It was a gorgeous day outside, so I took Josiah to the park and took pictures of him. I've already posted all of them on Facebook and my baby blog, so I will just post my favorite one of the day:

March 16th, 2010
I've been taking pictures of Jaydon and Zoe for their mom in lieu of their school portraits. So each day I try to dress them up a bit and take them around for pictures. After a week or so, we'll pick the best ones to develop. Here's some of Zoe for today:

And Josiah in his Daddy's hat:

March 17th, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!... More pictures at the park:

(Josiah and Zoe)

(Jaydon and Josiah)

(Katelyn, my best friend Jolyn's daughter)

(Josiah at the end of the day)

March 18th, 2010

Out with the old, in with the new!

(Old: "The Black Hole")

(New: Our Microfiber/Leather Beauty)

I don't have a "before" picture of our bed. I have one of our room from a few years ago, but we had a different bed. And then I have a picture of our new bedding but we had already taken apart the old bed. So here is the new bed and bedding all together- just the new. Also, ignore the teal paint still. We still want to paint our room, but haven't yet...

My favorite pic of Jaydon this day:

Josiah's Picture of the Day:

Zoe's Hairstyle of the Day:

March 19th, 2010

Even more pictures at the park! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here!!!

(This little girl in the last pic is Danika, the daughter of Jolyn's friend Jamie. She is one week younger than Josiah. He's not used to being around girls!)

March 20th, 2010

Josiah's 2nd cousins adore him!

I thought it'd be cute to get pictures of Josiah with bubbles but he wasn't too sure about them- probably because he was SUPER tired!

3/7 through 3/13

2010-03-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

March 7th, 2010
Josiah and A.J. (who was born 6 minutes after him)

My baby and me

Fun with Friends:

Reason #4

March 8th, 2010

Reason #5

March 9th, 2010

We bought new bedding to go with our new bed with plans to re-paint our bedroom. We are going from a beach-y theme to a romantic red, black, and grey. However, our bed is on order and won't be here until Thursday and we have yet to re-paint the room. I didn't want to take our new bedding out of the bag until the room was painted because it would horrible with the teal wall, but when the comforter got taken out of the bag and put on the floor, I decided I'd rather ignore the teal wall and put it on the bed than to have it just lay on the floor. So, here it is, without our new bed and without the re-painted walls. BLEH!

Josiah has not really sat up on his own much before this because he always immediately leans over to grab something, but today he spent a good 10 minutes or so just sitting. So I got some cute pics of my big boy!

And, he's getting even CLOSER to crawling!

In the rare moments I wasn't taking nonstop pictures of his milestone moments, I spent my free time working on this puzzle:

Reason #6

March 10th, 2010

I always have fun fixing Zoe's hair in creative ways. When I couldn't think of anymore things to do on my own, I searched the internet for more ideas. I came across several blogs where the purpose is solely to fix their daughter's hair with tutorials and pictures. So, today, I came up with this:

Reason #7

March 11th, 2010
Zoe's hairstyle today:

Reason #8

March 12th, 2010

Reason #9

March 13th, 2010
More sitting up:

Reason #10

2/28 through 3/6

2010-03-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

March 1st, 2010

In the midst of "Quilting with Katelyn", Katelyn completely messed up the order of her blocks and found herself frustrated, feeling like the only solution was to re-lay out all 399 squares to create a new order. After she left for the day, I took out all of the quilting squares and compared them to a previous picture we had taken of the quilt all laid out, and I organized all of her blocks. She was very thankful. I feel like organization is one of my God-given gifts, and I love to use to it bless other people.

March 2nd, 2010

Spring is on its way...

March 3rd, 2010
Josiah is trying so hard to crawl

March 4th, 2010

Josiah's 1st time to swing at the park

I also was inspired by a Facebook friend who was posting something on her status each day to express her thankfulness for her husband. After reading statistics on how many people cheat on their spouses and of a new "Tiger Text" phone application that makes it easier to cheat without getting caught, I was thinking of how much Satan wants to attack marriage because it was designed by God to mirror His relationship with the church. What a difference it would make if couples made more of an effort to express their love and appreciation for each other! I know that since having Josiah, he has become our whole world. So much of my day, especially, is spent changing him, feeding him, cleaning him, and playing with him. At the end of the day, Jesse and I have little to no time left for each other. So, I began making these signs and hanging them on the fridge each day as a token of appreciation for Jesse. Doing it this way motivates me to look for things to be thankful for each day and to make sure I do it every day.

March 5th, 2010

Josiah's first time in a shopping cart like a big boy!

Sleeping peacefully in Daddy's arms

Chubby little arms

We noticed that Josiah's smile looked different. I couldn't figure out if he was teething or why it looked so different. Then it dawned on me that he simply was smiling with his mouth closed, unlike the wide open smile he normally has.

Still working on crawling

Reason #2

March 6th, 2010
Your daily dose of Josiah

Reason #3

2/21 through 2/27

2010-03-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

February 21st, 2010
Jesse got this frame for me for Christmas 2008, just 2 weeks after I found out I was pregnant. Month by month, I've been adding Josiah's pictures and LOVE watching how he keeps changing. I updated his pictures, trying to get up-to-date before Josiah turned 6 months on the 22nd.

With our income tax return, Jesse and I bought a new couch, new bed, and re-did our bathroom to match our bedroom. We have yet to receive the couch and bed (on order) but here is our bathroom (without ALL of the towels and bathmat)- all in black, grey, and red.

February 22nd, 2010

My baby is 6 months old today!!! Sadly, he woke up not feeling very well, although still smiling big!

February 23rd, 2010

On Mondays, my friend Katelyn and I started quilting together. We went yesterday and picked out our fabrics. So, this morning I began to work on piecing together some of my squares:

Also, Josiah's cold got worse and worse- to the point that I took him into the doctor's office today to make sure he didn't have RSV or bronchitis or anything like that. Turns out he has an ear infection, the beginning of a 2nd one, a runny nose, and his cough is caused by the drainage. You can see that his eyes are red and his nose is runny, but he still had a huge smile on his face:

Lastly, I gave Josiah a bath and put him in one of his bathrobes. I thought it was neat to compare how he fits in the robe now versus when he was just one month old:

February 24th, 2010

Time with Daddy:

(Holding Daddy's Hand)

(Sitting in Daddy's Lap)

(Feet are his Favorite)

(Fatherly Love)

I also had to take Josiah back to the doctor today for his 6 month wellness check. He had to get 5 shots (7 different vaccines). This is before they stabbed him in the leg and he screamed the most pitiful, hoarse cry. He has begun to love looking in mirrors and smiles big!

February 25th, 2010

Josiah fell asleep cuddling with his frog. So cute!

(Mommy and Josiah)

February 26th, 2010

Another installment of "Quilting with Katelyn". I've been helping her lay it all out. Here is her quilt pieces, which I love:

Later that night, Jesse and I went out to dinner and bowling with Katelyn and her husband Liam.

(Kingtut is Liam, Weakling is Katelyn, Decamaloo is Jesse, and I am Rollercoasta because of how my game skill goes way up and way down with strikes and gutterballs following each other. Liam came up with the names- I don't know where Kingtut and Weakling originally came from, and Jesse's name was totally made up and said in a really weird voice. Also, I LOST every game!)

February 27th, 2010

My sleeping angel.

2/14 through 2/20

2010-02-23T23:41:00.000-08:00

February 14th, 2010
Josiah gave Nana lots of presents for Valentine's Day (here's a few...)

Nana and Josiah:

Not the best picture, but it's Valentine's Day- I have to have one picture of me and my love!

February 15th, 2010
Josiah trying to help Daddy type:

February 16th, 2010

I've been designing and painting these canvases for church. Here's 3 out of 4:

February 17th, 2010

Zoe helping me do laundry:

Despite being laid down on his back, Josiah immediately rolls over, and has now started sleeping with his butt up in the air:

February 18th, 2010

I always let Jaydon and Zoe pick out Josiah's outfits. It goes against every anal matching thing within me, but I think it's good fun. Here was Zoe's today, because, as she said, "it matches".

February 19th, 2010

Jesse and I have a "date night" every Friday night. Tonight we went shopping and out to dinner. We shared a strawberry lemonade milkshake. It was delicious!

February 20th, 2010

It was my "little" cousin Corbin's 5th birthday. He's the 6th one in the picture with the cheesy grin. These are a few of my cousins' kids that were at the party.

They LOVED Josiah and were surrounding him and shoving toys in his face (in a nice, playful way)

I realized that I've never gotten a picture of Josiah with my grandpa. So we took a family picture:

And the birthday boy with his dad (my cousin), grandpa (my uncle), and great-grandpa (my grandpa):

2/7 through 2/13

2010-02-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

February 7th, 2010I've kept you waiting (if you even care) long enough!

Here is my rainbow cake revealed!!!

I made this cake for our new Secret Sisters group at our church. At our Secret Sisters, we drew each other's names from a basket. Most of the women filled out a survey about themselves. So, I take my person and (secretly) pray for them throughout the week. I can also surprise them with gifts if I want. And then after a month, we'll reveal ourselves. We'll spend the next 2 months building up relationships before switching sisters and starting again. The whole idea is for spiritual warfare and relationships.

And just because I love him:

February 8th, 2010

Splish! Splash! Taking a bath!

(Josiah has learned that he can splash in the water and he LOVES it)

(Sweet baby hair)

(I LOVE this smile!)

Josiah playing with Zoe:

February 9th, 2010

He holds his own bottle!

My other "baby" and I :-)

Mommy's kisses:

When I was pregnant and registering for gifts at Target, I came across this bulldog "tough guy" collection: a stuffed animal and matching onesies, shoes, sunglasses, and blankets. I instantly fell in love. I don't know why; I just loved it! I received the onesies and blankets as gifts at my baby shower. I REALLY wanted that stuffed animal, though. I went back to get it later, and it was gone. I did buy the sunglasses, but still missed getting that dog. Six months later, I was shopping with my mom and found the dog at TJ Maxx for only $5- $11 less than at Target! I was SO EXCITED!!! And, Josiah loves it!

Josiah has always loved the water running and sticks his legs out really straight, soaking his feet in it. I finally got a picture of it.

February 10th, 2010

My days with Jaydon and Zoe:

How Jesse spends most of his time:

(Doing homework)

February 11th, 2010

You know how in elementary school, you decorate a paper bag and the kids in your class fill it with cards and candy on Valentine's Day? Well, my mom's work was doing this and it was a competition with 3 different categories: sweetest bag, most like you, and hottest bag. My mom wanted her bag to be all about Josiah, so she came over to help me take "Cupid" pictures of Josiah.

... she won first place for "sweetest bag" and received a lot of votes for "most like you" too!

February 12th, 2010

I babysat my friend Kim's two kids today. Hannah is 3 and Jadon is 3 1/2 months old.

February 13th, 2010

My family is training for a 5k "marathon" in May. So every Saturday we've been going to the park and walking/running the trail.

(Our college football stadium)

(My beautiful mommy)

(My mom and aunt, pushing Josiah)

(The beautiful view)

(My uncle and his HUGE bloodhound, Baxter)

(Josiah now smiles at the sight of my camera! I have him trained well!!!)

...P.S. can you see his eyes changing colors?

(My boys!)

1/31 through 2/6

2010-02-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

January 31st, 2010
Josiah and A.J. were born just 6 minutes apart. A.J.'s parents attend church with us. I like to take regular pictures of the boys together as they continue to grow. Here are their 5 month pictures:

And Josiah, just because he's so darn cute!

And proof that Josiah puts EVERYTHING in his mouth, including A.J.'s hand:

February 1st, 2010
Naked Baby!

Baby Feet!

Baby Smile!

February 2nd, 2010
Sisters. These 3 mountains are called "The Three Sisters". My mom, particularly, loves these mountains because the view is beautiful and because she is very close to her two sisters (all together making 3 Sisters!). So, this day was beautiful and I wanted to get a picture of the mountains. When I finally got to a place to do so, the clouds had rolled in and it wasn't as clear any more, but this is a shot of the city I live in:

And because I don't want to forget simple moments like these:

February 3rd, 2010
Josiah hasn't been sleeping so well since he started rolling over. So the moments he does finally go to sleep are filled with relief and peace. He was so tired this day after being up for quite a long stretch of time. So, I caught a few images of these precious moments:

Also, these are the first blossoms I've seen this winter- growing in my aunt's yard.

And, with the recent rain, we've had some BEAUTIFUL, BRIGHT rainbows:

February 4th, 2010

Because I'm one of THOSE moms!
In honor of Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to get some pictures of Josiah dressed like Cupid.

February 5th, 2010

Sisters-Take 2! The weather was GORGEOUS today! So, I tried to get another picture of The 3 Sisters Mountains.

February 6th, 2010
I found this Rainbow Cake recipe on MckMama's blog and wanted to make it myself. I had the perfect opportunity when our church created a Secret Sisters group. The group is intended for the women of the church to draw each other's names and pray for the person you are paired up with. After a month, you will find out who has you and reveal yourself to your "sister". Then, you will have 2 months to bond with your sister. To kick off this group, we were going to have a luncheon. So, I thought I would contribute my cake. I've never made a cake before, but I thought it turned out great!

The cake was served at the luncheon the next day and looked great when we cut through it (and tasted delicious!). Pictures to come next week...

1/24 through 1/30

2010-02-01T00:49:00.000-08:00

January 24th, 2010
Josiah is beginning to roll over all over the place now. Front to back. Back to front. Now that he is able to do that, as soon as I lay him in his crib, he is tossing and turning all over the place.

January 25th, 2010
While doing daycare, Katelyn played with Josiah.

And then she put her doll in Josiah's jumperoo

And, just random shots of the jumperoo:

January 26th, 2010

Josiah grabs his feet all of the time now.

January 27th, 2010

I went to my cousin's (Patty) son's (David) wrestling tournament tonight. It was senior night- the last home meet for the senior guys. Their school competed against 2 other teams, and in between, the senior wrestlers presented their parents with a rose.

(He's the one on the top)

(He did pin his guy really quickly, but this is actually him accepting his forfeit for the 2nd match)

(David with his mom Patty, stepdad, and 2 younger brothers)

(Sophia and Celi'a, my two little cousins, playing)

January 28th, 2010

Jaydon and Zoe holding Josiah: (Zoe dressed Josiah, by the way)

1/17 through 1/23

2010-01-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

January 17th, 2010
Tonight I was reading Kelly's blog. For those who don't know, God took Kelly through a journey of being a single woman who desired to get married. She ended up finding her true love much later in life (around 30 I think) than she anticipated. Once they began trying to have a baby, they faced infertility. God finally blessed them with a beautiful baby girl, but after a healthy pregnancy, she gave birth to a baby who was blue and not breathing. They rushed Harper, the baby girl, off to another hospital and she was in the NICU for 26? days. It was at this point that I learned of Kelly and her blog. So, if I got some details wrong in this story, it's because I didn't know of her when she was going through all of these things. I saw all of these "Pray for Harper" posts around the blogosphere and got hooked on Kelly's story. Harper recovered beautifully and has become a healthy and vibrant little girl who just celebrated her 1st birthday! Kelly's husband, Scott, created a video for Harper's first birthday with the recordings and photos of Kelly's pregnancy, delivery, Harper's NICU days, and her healing. I sobbed through the whole thing! What an amazing story of God's grace and of miracles!!!

Reading it made me treasure my baby boy even more. My heart welled up with gratitude towards God for gracing me with this answered prayer. Our journeys aren't always easy, but what God does in these most difficult of circumstances serves as a testimony of His love and grace. "If that's what it takes to praise you, Jesus, bring the rain."

Praising God for my "Heaven Sent" son.

And because this one cracks me up:

(Arrgh! Pirate Baby!)

January 18th, 2010

Arts and crafts:

January 19th, 2010
Genesis 9:12-16 - "God continued, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. From now on, when I form a cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll remember my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will floodwaters destroy all life. When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth."

I forgot to include this picture. Each day, I let Jaydon and Zoe take turns picking out Josiah's outfit. It goes against all of my anal matching obsessions, but it's fun for them. This is Zoe's most recent choice:

January 20th, 2010
I didn't make this today, but I took a picture of it today. I try to keep a portfolio of all of the crafts I make and projects I do. I made this for Chad and Shelby's baby before Christmas and keep forgetting to take it to church.

January 21st, 2010
It doesn't even do it justice.

January 22nd, 2010
Josiah is 5 months old!!!

(Josiah is now grabbing at his sign and, of course, wants to put it in his mouth!)

January 23rd, 2010

Today I went to the memorial service of a family member. She was the foster mother of my cousin's ex husband. Make sense? Yet while she was not blood-related, she was very much family, especially because she was Jaydon and Zoe's Nana and she loved them and their mom with everything she had, despite the fact that their dad, her foster son, was no longer a part of their lives. She died on December 26th of cancer. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather today. I couldn't take too many pictures of the service itself, but here's a few of the day:

(She's sitting in His dwelling place, beneath the shadow of His wings right now)

(Part of the drive home)

(I very much enjoyed my time with my mommy. She looks beautiful in this picture, but wanted to give me a makeover in the car after we took it because of how pale I am)

1/10 through 1/16

2010-01-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

January 10th, 2010
My friend Melissa and I are both pretty crafty, but in very different ways. We thought it would be fun to make some crafts to sell online at etsy.com. So, I started making a sample product to advertise. This is what I made so far (unfinished).

January 11th, 2010

Here's a little more of the crafts (not finished yet):

January 12th, 2010

Josiah is a very happy baby. If he is sleeping and begins to cry, I know that he just needs to be soothed back to sleep and nap awhile longer. If I hear him cooing and talking, though, I know he's ready to get up. And when I walk in and peek over the crib, I see the biggest smile from my precious baby boy. This is what I wake up to every morning!

January 14th, 2010

I watched Jolyn's daughter, Katelyn (20 months old), at daycare today. After Jolyn got out of school, she hung out with me for a little while. Our two kids together:

January 15th, 2010
Jesse and I have been so busy with work, school, daycare, and taking care of the baby, that we've barely had time for each other. We spent this night as a date night while my friend Melissa kept Josiah overnight. The pictures I have from this day aren't related to that, though. First of all, I was dressing Josiah, and picked out a onesie with a matching hat. I put on a long sleeve onesie on first, though, for extra warmth. Then I put on the onesie I had picked out to find that it was really small. After stuffing Josiah into it, I put him in overalls, sock, and shoes, and then tried to top off the outfit with the matching hat. It was then, though, that I found that his had was extremely small and the bill on it was huge. He looked so goofy, but I worked so hard to get him into that outfit, so I made it work. I took the hat off so it wouldn't smush his little head, but took a picture first.

The other part of my day consisted of doing daycare with this little cutie, Trevin. I watched him everyday from the 13th to the 22nd, but will only be the backup daycare provider after that.

January 16th, 2010
I was sitting in the backseat of the car this day next to Josiah as he slept. As I gazed at my baby boy, I thought, "I really am going to miss this someday. It's going SO FAST! I don't want to forget these sweet moments."

Later, we joined my mom and aunt at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. My aunt's fortune cookie read, "You could make a name for yourself in the field of medicine."... My aunt is a nurse. I found it amusing.

1/3 through 1/9

2010-01-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

January 3rd, 2010
We had church today. At church, there are 2 other baby boys that are Josiah's age. One boy, A.J. belongs to our friends Chad and Shelby, who gave birth 6 MINUTES after Josiah was born. Jadon was born 7 weeks later, although as the boys grow older and older, those weeks won't seem so far apart! All three are BIG BOYS! A.J. consistently has outweighed Josiah by about half a pound (although the margin is getting smaller and smaller). Josiah, however, while he was shorter at birth, has outgrown A.J. and is about an inch taller. Jadon was only 5 or 6 lbs at birth, but tripled his weight by 2 months old. At last count, Josiah, Jaydon, and A.J. were 16, 14, and 16 lbs respectively. So, I took a picture of the 3 boys together and love it!

(Josiah & A.J. on the ends at 4 months old and Jadon in the middle at 2.5 months old)

A.J. always comes over and "talks" with Josiah while in the nursery. I was holding Josiah up, so I only got a picture from the one angle, but they just coo and talk at each other and smile. It'll be fun to see how they interact as they get older.

Josiah got this adorable outfit from Jesse's family for Christmas. He was more interested in his feet than he was in taking pictures, though.

January 6th, 2010

I fed Josiah green beans today (not the first time) but he got it ALL OVER himself. I thought the bib added the perfect touch to it all. He'll be Prince Charming for some lucky girl someday. Hopefully he'll look better than this.

I also did daycare for 8 month old Carson for the first time. I only got this picture of the two boys sleeping.

January 8th, 2010

When I was trying to have a baby (unsuccessfully), one of the most therapeutic things for me to do was to plan for my future baby. I made blankets, I crocheted outfits, I painted picture frames with my future kids' names on them, I wrote letters to them with the hope that they would someday read them. It helped me to have something to hold onto. So, since I have a good friend who has also just been diagnosed with unexplained infertility, I decided to make her a baby blanket as well, with the hopes that it would be an encouraging reminder of what God is doing.

12/27 through 1/2

2010-01-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

December 27th, 2009
Josiah wearing his new outfit from Christmas:

And eating rice cereal for the first time: (hard to see, though)

December 28th, 2009

My boys :-)

December 29th, 2009

Josiah got an Oregon Duck outfit from my aunt and uncle:

Zoe wanted me to fix her hair. This is what she asked for:

Josiah got a new Rainforest Jumperoo on loan from my best friend Jolyn. He LOVES it!!!

December 30th, 2009

See? I told you so!

December 31st, 2009

New Years Eve! My mom kept Josiah overnight (for the first time) so Jesse and I could go out with our friends. We dressed up and went to dinner at my favorite restaurant. Then we went to Camron and Melissa's house, dressed down, and played games until 4:00am.

Midnight! It's 2010!!!

January 1st, 2010

For those not in the know, Oregon has two major college football teams, the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers. We happen to live in the city where the University of Oregon (the Ducks) is. So, this is a big college football town. While a duck is one of the lamest mascots I've ever heard of, the pride in our team runs deep. This season we did awesome and only lost our first game. So, we made it to the Rose Bowl, which was played on New Years Day. Jesse and I, along with my brother David went over to my cousin Sarah's house where all of her siblings and parents were to watch the Ducks... lose. :-(

(My cousin Ben wearing his goofy duck hat)

My aunt and uncle haven't always had the best marriage. And it wasn't easy for my 6 cousins growing up under a strict (and often unreasonable) father. Most of the kids ended up leaving home in their teenage years. But God has done some amazing things in my uncle's life in the past 7 years or so. He now dotes on his kids (all grown up now) lovingly and adores his grandchildren (all 10 of them!) When he walked in, my little cousin Sophia yelled, "Grandpa, Grandpa!" and climbed into his lap. Zoe then climbed into his lap too and they were playing together. She reached into his pocket and pulled out his glasses and put them on. Knowing that he wasn't always like this made this moment truly special.

12/20 through 12/26

2010-01-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

December 20, 2009
Immediately following the Ugly Sweater party, a group of us drove to the coast for a weekend at a condo.

Our view from the condo:

Our room with the biggest bed we've ever slept in:

December 21st, 2009
We went to Coos Bay to visit Jesse's biological mom's family. It was Josiah's first time to meet them!

4 Generations:

December 22nd, 2009
Josiah is 4 months old!!!

December 23rd, 2009

Josiah hasn't yet been crawling or rolling, but somehow he scoots all over the place. He was laying right in the center of the mat, and then turned himself completely the other direction and off of the mat.

I needed some official 4 month pictures of Josiah, so I took these:

December 24th, 2009

Christmas Eve! Since we've been married, we've had my mom and brother come to my house. Jesse makes a big, delicious meal, we exchange gifts after reading the Nativity story, and watch some holiday flick. This year, Jesse wanted his family over too. So, we invited Jesse's dad Jim, brother Michael, and Jim's 2 foster kids. It was different than previous years, but a nice way to celebrate the holidays.

And we thought, just a week before Christmas, that we weren't going to do Christmas presents this year due to a lack of money. But God provided and we had more presents around our tree than we've ever had before!

December 25th, 2009
Christmas Day! We went to my aunt's house and celebrated with a large part of my extended family.

12/13 through 12/19

2010-01-19T21:17:00.000-08:00

December 15th, 2009
My brother came home from New Mexico to visit for Christmas

December 16th, 2009

I normally do daycare three days a week with my little cousins, Jaydon and Zoe. This week, for various reasons, I only had Jaydon with me. We had to kill some time before picking up Jesse. So I took Jaydon to a pizza place with a playground and let him run around.

December 17th, 2009
I bought Josiah a few Christmas outfits, so I wanted to get lots of pictures of him in them this year before he outgrows them.

I also made Jesse's ugly sweater for our upcoming party

December 18th, 2009
My family went over to my aunt's house...

... and decorated cookies. I made penguin ones for my Ugly Sweater Party.

My mom made a penguin cake for my party:

And I bought this adorable outfit for Josiah, so I wanted him to wear it as many times as possible. Of course, he drooled and spit up all over it!

December 19th, 2009

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party!

My penguin cookies now presented:

I like penguins!!!

Award for the ugliest sweater:

And the winner of the ugliest sweater... because nothing beats bloody Santa heads (GROSS!)

12/9 through 12/12

2010-01-19T17:37:00.000-08:00

December 9th, 2009
I helped my little cousin Zoe create a gingerbread man (woman) for her kindergarten class. She's really creative, so I just put the glue on where she told me to, and she did all of the rest.

December 11th, 2009

I wanted some pictures of Josiah with the Christmas tree in honor of his first Christmas (outside of the womb). Here's my favorite one:

Secret Santa- 12/8/09

2009-12-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

Our family, this year, is giving gifts Secret Santa style. We each drew names of another family member and (in an attempt to be sensitive to those of us who are financially struggling) are making a handmade gift or offering a service to each other. This can include creating a gift or doing something like cleaning or cooking or babysitting for your fellow family member. I am excited about the person whose name I drew, but will not mention it quite yet in case that person ever reads this blog. Here is a glimpse of part of what I am doing, though- my big project that I began today:

It involves a lot of techniques that I've never done before, but I am teaching myself and feel like I'm picking it up quickly. I can't wait to show you the finished product!

Ornaments- 12/7/09

2009-12-07T00:52:00.000-08:00

Josiah slept a lot today, which allowed me to finish decorating the tree.

Each year, I have bought an ornament that represents what we have been through during the past 365 days. The first year in 2007, we bought/received a few ornaments about our first year as a married couple (P.S. I collect penguin stuff, as you are about to see...):

In 2008, we had a busy year! I got one ornament to just show us for this year. Sadly, I have yet to put OUR picture in it, so it still has the models on it:

We also bought a new house that year:

(also with only the model family picture in it)

And, I found out I was pregnant on December 13th of last year, but even though it was a huge answer to our prayers, I was very much fearful of losing the baby and starting back over at square one. So, I bought this ornament the next day to represent the hope for my pregnancy and what God was about to do in our lives:

As you know, our hope turned into promises fulfilled. So, this year I got an ornament to represent my precious baby, and I fell in love with this one:

And, finally, here is just a bit more of our penguin decor:

(also representing our new family of 3)

Christmas Tree- 12/6/09

2009-12-06T00:45:00.000-08:00

Today we finally got our Christmas tree and decorated our house!!!

A cold front came in today, though, and with the wind chill the temperature was in the 20's! We were freezing at the tree lot and picked out our tiny tree very quickly!!!

Jesse bared the freezing winds to tie the tree on top of our car.

Josiah, fortunately, slept through the whole thing.

And, when we got home, Jesse continued to brave the arctic winds (now with temperatures in the teens) to hang lights on our rooftop.

(It looks like a burglar on our roof!)

Afterwards, my mom babysat while we took a much needed break from everything else to enjoy a date night with each other. In the midst of planning for my mom's birthday party and prepping for Christmas, we've spent very little time alone. It was so nice to enjoy dinner with each other at my favorite restaurant (Chili's). And then we rushed over to the theater to watch "The Blind Side", which was an okay movie. We both had a lot of fun together, though, and I was glad we got the opportunity to do so. I didn't get any pictures, though, because we were so rushed...

Party, Party, Party!- 12/5/09

2009-12-05T00:34:00.000-08:00

We had a busy day today, filled with lots of birthday celebrations! We intended to begin decorating our house for Christmas, but was so busy getting showered, dressed, and ready to go that nothing else got done. Instead, we left our house and headed to Sam and Laura's for her birthday celebration (a poker game).

Josiah was excited to go!

It came down to Jesse and Laura and she won. Happy Birthday to her!!!

We got done just in time to drive across town and arrive at Camron and Melissa's for her birthday. The guys played board games in one room, while the girls (plus Andrew) played SingStar in the other room. It was the first time I'd ever played with a large group. They all play so often that it's quite intimidating. However, I did fairly well, especially when I actually knew the words to the song. Once people started leaving, there was only Randi, Melissa, Jolyn, and myself playing, but I think we had even more fun then. Jesse and Camron also made a funny video of them playing odd musical instruments and wearing goofy masks. I have it on video but still don't know how to post them on here. We stayed until midnight, but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

It's beginning to look even more like Christmas!- 12/4/09

2009-12-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

Now, even as a mom, I can admit the quirky attributes that my own child has- one being his rather large ears that stick out quite a bit from his bald head. :-)

One day, a few weeks back, I had a beanie on Josiah's head, but it had slid upwards causing his ears to stick out from underneath it. I laughed with my mom, musing that he looked much like an elf, when my mom suggested that we get Josiah an elf hat for Christmas. I loved the idea and ever since we have both been keeping our eyes out for such a thing... which doesn't seem to exist!

So, I made one! Oh, the things moms do to their children!!!

That night, I went to the church for the 4th night in a row. After recovering the wall in silver wrapping paper and the printed paper over it, we decided that the back of the printed paper should be black to further emphasize the contrast of colors and layers. So we redid the whole wall once more. Then, as I pulled away the paper, we discovered that the black background was TOO bold and caused your eye to only focus on it, which, in turn, made it look like a sun surrounding the cross. After going home angry yesterday, we arrived at the church tonight and my mom tweaked it. This is the final outcome:

I think it looks nice, but was too much work with very little to show for it.

I also mentioned the presents all of the way around the sanctuary in a previous post. Here's the final outcome:

And then, in the foyer, I painted on the glass and came up with this scene:

The words say, "The first time that you opened your eyes, did you realize that you would be my Savior? And the first breath that left your lips, did you know that it would change this world forever? I celebrate the day that you were born to die so that one day I might pray for you to save my life." (words from "I Celebrate the Day" by Relient K)

As we got ready for bed after an exhausting day, I heard Jesse through the nursery monitor reading to Josiah, a book called "Because God Gave You Me".

God truly did give him to us. Our little miracle!

Snowbaby- 12/3/09

2009-12-03T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today was much like the rest, filled with waking early to take Jesse to work, trying to catch some more zzz's, caring for Josiah, picking up Jaydon,. Zoe, and Jesse, decorating the church for the 3rd day in a row, while battling traffic for our civil war football game. Amidst all of the chaos and busy-ness, the only picture I got was of Josiah dressed in a snowman beanie I made long before I got pregnant. I made a matching baby bunting that was the snowman body, but Josiah is so tall that he is far too big for it. So, I settled with him just wearing the beanie:

Decorating Part 2- 12/2/09

2009-12-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

Two steps forward and one step back...

After putting up all of the wrapping behind the cross, we decided that the background of the paper needed to be a metallic silver to contrast with the white and black (see yesterday's picture) as the print was getting washed out by the background. So we had to take everything down and re-cover the wall with silver before wrapping it again. Still we weren't happy with it.

We had to leave the church building by 5 for my mom to babysit Natalia and Sophia while their parents celebrated their mom's birthday.

So, I joined them at my aunt's house, continuing my endless list of projects. While my mom worked on her snowman crafts, I painted stockings for my little cousins (for this year's Christmas plans).

Sophia helping to paint the snowmen pots- she was sticking out her tongue as she concentrated

Each kid's name on the stocking- more painting to come

In other news, Josiah now puts everything he can into his mouth, as he is learning to explore his environment and is possibly beginning teething. He sucks on his arm and fist, his shirt and blanket, and even your hand if it comes near his face, but he often settles on 2 fingers (of his own) to soothe himself. He fell asleep like this this morning, and I thought it was really sweet:

Decorating Part 1- 12/1/09

2009-12-01T23:43:00.000-08:00

Each season, my mom, my aunt, and I decorate our church for the appropriate holiday/season. This year, for Christmas, we began with the phrase, "The magic of Christmas is not in the presents, but in His presence." With this thought, we attempted to re-create the decor we did 2 years ago by wrapping the wall like a present and tearing it open as if the cross were coming out of it.

We also wrapped accompanying presents and hung them around the sanctuary.

We only got part way through the decor and were not very happy with it. It was a long and frustrating day...

Cuddling- 11/30/09

2009-11-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

Here's how my sweet baby fell asleep tonight :-)

Back to Normal- 11/29/09

2009-11-30T11:31:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for Christmas

Josiah rolled over for the first time today. I missed it because I was just walking in from the other room. I've seen him go from his back to side, but not all of the way over to his tummy. I tried to get him to do it again, yet try with all of his might, he didn't make it.

I have a video, but don't know how to upload it!

Instead, I'll just show you more of his play time with daddy...

All Worth It- 11/28/09

2009-11-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

All of the time, effort, money, and stress were well worth it for my mom's party!

Sleep... or the Lack Thereof- 11/27/09

2009-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is what Jesse and Josiah did this afternoon. Me... I did everything but this! In the midst of preparing for my mom's 50th birthday bash, I had little time for much else. I spent the weeks, days, and hours- every free moment- working on arranging centerpieces, painting photo props, designing costumes, organizing supplies...

It was well after midnight before I got home...

... and even though this is technically the next day, the fact that I have yet to sleep makes it count!

SO EXHAUSTED!!!!

Thanksgiving- 11/26/09

2009-11-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

What Thanksgiving is all about...

It reminds me to be thankful for all of those that God has blessed my life with.

Before we made it to the church for our "family" Thanksgiving meal, my mom and I stopped at the convenience store to get some sodas and breakfast. As I sat at the drive-thru window, the cashier saw the plate of brownies on my mom's lap and joked, "Oooh! I want to go with you!" We asked in response, "Do you want one?" She excitedly said yes, so we handed her the top brownie. Then my mom asked how many other people were working there right now and she said that there were 3 others. So we grabbed 3 more brownies and passed them through the window to give to the other employees.

The event made me think about how these people had to work on Thanksgiving and were missing out on being with their families or friends at that time, but I was glad that we could be a blessing to them in a small way. I am also thankful for a mother who has set the example for me of a generously giving spirit.

This year, I was MOST thankful for my precious baby boy. At this point last year, I was taking fertility drugs but was not yet pregnant. So this is truly our first Thanksgiving together. He is such an answer to prayer, and I feel blessed to be spending this holiday season with him in my arms.

The person who was missing from our holiday festivities was my brother, though. Now in New Mexico eating brisket (not turkey) with my dad, his absence was felt. But, he was with us in spirit... and in plate form...

Finally, today was also special in that Josiah met his only living great-grandmother today. She isn't blood-related, as she is Jesse's stepmom's mom, but she is family nonetheless.

I think Josiah is nearly as big as she is (such a petite woman!)

"Family" today, to me, meant something very different than before. It meant not only my husband, son, mom, aunts, and cousins, but those people's extended families, not biologically related to us. It meant sharing dinner and games with one man from our church who didn't have anywhere else to go. I hope he felt at home with us. It meant the in-laws and the blended family members. It meant sharing stories and smiles with people who I don't get to spend a lot of time with. It meant meeting new people. It meant sharing our gratitude and love with all of those we came into contact with today!

My Birthday- 11/25/09

2009-11-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

So, my birthday wasn't exactly everything I hoped it'd be. I spent the morning with my best friend, Jolyn. I intended to get a picture of us together, but totally spaced it. I then picked Jesse up from work and everything just went downhill from there.

We first got in an argument (which is what every girl wants for her birthday, right?). Then, I was stressed about trying to feed Josiah because I wasn't producing enough milk. I pumped, but he ate the entire bottle and was still hungry and upset. I ended up pulling out a can of formula that I received for free in the mail and mixing up a bottle for him. This was a big deal to me. Even when I'm going from pumping to pumping without any extra milk stored up, I've still been able to make enough to satisfy him. This was the first time that I'd exhausted my resources. I tried nursing him directly, but he just screamed and refused to latch on. So, I gave him all of the milk I had and then made another bottle of formula. And as I fed him, I cried.

I know that formula isn't going to hurt him. I know that just because I gave him this one bottle doesn't mean I have to stop breastfeeding completely. In fact, if I supplement a formula bottle every now and then, it gives me a chance to pump without it being used up, and I can build back up my stock. But, as a mom, I've striven to give my baby the absolute best, and part of my felt like a failure by not being able to make enough milk to satisfy him. After a totally depressing afternoon, I met up with my mom to run errands for Thanksgiving tomorrow and her birthday party Saturday. It was totally unproductive!

The stores were either closed or out of the items we needed. I wound up with nothing I needed, and only this pair of cute penguin slippers to show for our excursion.

I'm not much of a shopper, and so by our 4th hour and 4th store I was starving and worn out. We grabbed some dinner and went to my aunt's house to finally work on party stuff.

On the way, my mom gave me a birthday card. It was just what I needed at the peak of my frustration and exhaustion.

Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have the mom that I do? She means the world to me!

I arrived home at 11:55 pm, only to finish out the last 5 minutes of my birthday sitting alone as Jesse fell asleep on the couch. I told him I was disappointed in the lack of real, nice time we could've spent together. (It wasn't my choice to spend 7 hours in separate places doing separate things.) I didn't get a response. Instead, he just told me that I'm too stressed about the party and should take a day off tomorrow to relax, even though this is impossible due to the short amount of time left before the party is scheduled. Now he sleeps while I continue to work past midnight to get things done.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better...

My 25th Year- November 25, 2009

2009-11-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

In January of this year, I learned about a neat project that some people were doing in their blogs: the 365 Day Picture Challenge. Their plan was to take a picture a day for a whole year to chronicle the events of that year. Most people start on January 1st (heads up, if you're interested in beginning this challenge) and continue through December 31st. But I thought it would be cool to do a specific age in my life. And since today is my 25th birthday, it's all the better to start today. I'll probably take more than 1 picture a day, as well, since I want to display as much about my life as possible. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly a "concise" person...

So, since it's only 6 am, I don't have my first photo yet, but plan to have one later today. I hope this journey reveals a little more about the in's and out's of my life, and captures what God is doing each day and what He has blessed me with. I look forward to seeing what He is going to do in the next year...