Josh's Birthday

Well, Joshua had a happy birthday. We opened the some of the presents in the morning, and he wouldn't leave them all day. It made nap time and bed time a little more difficult. He wasn't as interested in the cake as he was the ice cream. I guess when all is said and done I'd rather have ice cream, too. I can't believe Josh has been with us two full years (even though the first year seemed like an eternity). He's definitely no longer a baby, but a little boy who makes you regret leaving the stroller in the car at times. Because I'm constantly running after him, I wonder if I will unintentionally induce labor for this second little guy. One thing I do know...Josh will be a wonderful big brother.

Weekend with Dad

My grandpa passed away this past week. It wasn't a surprise, but I did drop everything to fly to SLC for the weekend leaving Joshua behind with Dad. I'm sure you've noticed from looking at the pictures of their train ride above that Josh wasn't fazed one bit that Mom was gone. He had a blast with Dad. Thanks, Nate!

Goodbye Blond Locks!

Pre and after shots of Joshua's first major hair cut. Well, Nate loves it. Josh doesn't know what hit him, but I had a hard time. I might never see blond highlights in his hair again. Oh well. I knew it had to be done eventually.

It's a boy!!!!!!

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy! We're having another little guy! I guess it wouldn't be so crazy if Nate and I didn't really think it was a girl. I guess what also makes it crazy is we called it right with Joshua, so why would we be wrong with our second? HaHa! We're so excited.

This little guy's a kicker. I've felt him more frequently and earlier than I remember with Josh. I feel like he's telling me, "I'm coming, Mom! And don't you dare forget it! Are you ready? HaHa! Tricked you on my gender."

The due date is Jan 20, exactly a month after Joshua was due. Now, we'll have to throw out the girl names we thought of for another time and start thinking about boy names. I hope deciding will be as easy as it was last time. We thought of Joshua before we even knew the gender for sure. Then we both got tired of the name and started thinking of others, but minutes before I delivered, I knew that Joshua would be the perfect name for him. After our son came out, Nate asked me what I thought about Joshua being his name. That was a relief.

Another thing I wonder about is how this labor will go. Josh was 15 days early, and from the first contractions to delivery was four hours and fifteen minutes. We'll see.

Galveston

We drove with Nate's brother, Ian, to Galveston yesterday. We arrived right after a storm, so the weather was cool, windy and cloudy, a nice change from muggy Houston. It was a fast trip, though, because Ian had a plane to catch, but the trip was priceless. I loved watching Joshua laughing and running on the beach and getting really nervous as the waves approached him. Nate took an awesome video of it all, but unfortunately, it's too long to upload on the blog.

What Kind Of Flower Are You?

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

Sounds a bit "flowery" to me, but...well...that's what I want to be like.

Playing the Piano and Dallas

Josh does like to play the piano, but he mostly likes looking through the children's song book. We enjoyed going to Dallas over Memorial Day weekend. Josh enjoyed playing with Hannah, his aunts and uncle, and grandma and grandpa. The break was wonderful for Nate and me as well. A week later, Nate said to Josh, "Don't you wish we were still in Dallas?"

A Book Tag from Adrianne

Tag instructions
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people.

My mother-in-law was asking me what books I'm reading. I ran and got the book I'm reading for book club from the kitchen because I couldn't remember what the title was and who wrote it. Consequently, it's the nearest book to me.

It's called Yearning for the Living God by F. Enzio Busche who's an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. The fifth sentence on page 123 is "The whole city became very nervous when they heard that we were not hiring any company to do the building for us but that we would do it ourselves." He's talking about the chapel they were building in Dortmund, Germany when he was a branch president in the area in 1964. I just read that part earlier today.

First Hair Cut and Books

Yesterday we trimmed Josh's hair. True...he doesn't have much hair, but what hair he does have was growing like a mullet. We got rid of the mullet. Nate did the cutting while I held Josh. Nate did a fine job. Now...why won't he cut mine? I cut his. Hummm....I'll ask him about it again.

Joshua loves people...well, the people in his universe anyway(Nate and me)...reading to him. His favorites are "Brown bear, Brown bear," "The Fire Engine book," and the nursery rhyme book with "this little piggy" in it. We go through all his board books a couple dozen times a day. I have them all memorized. I've even put a couple of them to music. Yeah, I'm going to take better advantage of the library.

Tag Adrianne Sent

1. Best think you cooked last week? Lasagna Casserole out of Rebekah's Elementary School Cookbook

2. If money, time and babysitting were no object, where would you go and with whom? Nate and I would leave the country and tour the Mediterranean. We'd run around from Greece to Spain and back again and maybe see the African side if we were in the mood. I'd bring better shoes than the ones I brought on our last trip to Europe. I'd have to say that Mersia's idea of the sisters going on a European tour when she's 40 sounds awesome as well.

3. When was the last time you cried? During family prayer. I'm a sap...what can I say.

4. Five things you were doing 10 years ago: Stake dances, high school, practicing golf or sleeping in the car while Adrianne practiced golf, piano lessons, trying out for plays I didn't make

5. Five things you were doing 5 years ago: BYU golf team, I was temporarily a statistic major before I changed it to Electrical Engineering, dating guys I didn't have crushes on, seeing movies at the dollar theater by myself, shooting the breeze with roommates

6. Five things you were doing 1 year ago: caring for my 2 month old, packing to leave the condo, reading all six Harry Potter books, watching HGtv and the food network, workout videos

Seven of your favorite hobbies: reading out load to my son in a British accent, writing, reading (just finished And then they were none aka ten little indians by Agatha Cristi), daydreaming (is that a hobby?), playing the piano, baking, exercising, discussion/study group with my older sisters

Five Favorite Foods: Lasagna, hot chocolate (food? why not), chocolate chip cookies, canned peaches, fresh pineapple, ripe honeydew

Five places you've been: Key West, Boston, San Diego, Seattle, Hawaii, Sweden, Switzerland...I've been around

Five Favorite Memories: Wedding Day, Watching the two men in my life look at each other for the first time, my husband and I whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear at the Manti Pageant before we were engaged, climbing the latter to reach the crab apple tree in North Carolina, I was the only person on this golf course in south-Phoenix and I sang on the top of my lungs while I played.

Barrier Breaker Revisited

Meet the smile he gives his dad when he knows he's doing something he shouldn't. Thankfully, he hasn't climbed up yet, but I need to think of a new barrier. Moving the bookselves or the books is not an option at the moment, but I'm hoping that it will be soon.

Favors Circles

Joshua is holding two cylinders from a container of shaped blocks (circles, squares, triangles, and stars). Every time he plays with the shapes, he favors the cylinders. He recognizes that the cylinders can fit through the circle in the container's lid, but he doesn't know where the other shapes go yet. Everybody's got to start somewhere, and Josh started with the circles.

Handsome Boy

For Christmas Grandma Gibby sent Joshua a white shirt, tie and vest. I think he looks too good in the outfit not to take millions of pictures of him in it. The top picture is with Grandpa Wright at Christmas, and the bottom one was taken at home in Houston.