Joshua Manuel: 18 months

 

 Joshua, 

Happy 1/2 Birthday! You are 18 months old. 

You are smart, funny, talkative, curious, and ALL boy!

If you had it your way you would eat all.day.long. Your favorite foods include peas {still}, ravioli, any type of berry, cheese, and of course cookies :) You really eat well. Not only do you love cookies and ice cream {especially from Kma or Opa} but you love green beans, broccoli, and will eat everything that we eat. The only thing you don't like is "slimy" food, such as avocado, melons, etc. Some weeks you like bananas, other weeks you do not. I just keep giving them to you & see how you feel. Your getting really good at using a fork & spoon! Really, you just would eat all day if I let you. 

You have lots of words, real and made up. You say dadda, momma, hi, bye, yes, yea, no, dog, brush teeth, i want this, i don't want to, please, watch, two, shoes, socks, blue, and you repeat lots of words everyday! You literally talk all day long. You tell stories and explain things all the time. Your facial expressions ans hand gestures are often hilarious and I never tire of listening to you talk your little head off. 

Our daily schedule looks a bit like this: 

7am: Wake up 

Breakfast

watch Sesame Street

Play

11am: Lunch

Play

1pm-3ish: Nap time 

Play 

{the not fun time before Daddy gets home & I'm trying to make dinner}

5ish: Dinner

Play

7ish: Bedtime 

Your favorite activities include going bye-bye, watching the Lorax, playing with any ball, reading, digging in the dirt, being outside, going down the slide at the park, making a mess, playing with Jocelyn, cleaning, dancing, and singing. 

You are strongly attached to your blankies, yes there are 3 of them... When winter came I let you sleep with your lovie blankie {that I made you} and two of your bigger "stroller type" blankets, and... you got very attached! Now you love all three. But momma's rule- blankies stay in bed :) 

Joshie, my Joshie, I love you my Joshie. You are fun & opinionated. You keep us on our toes and make us laugh ALL.THE.TIME. We are constantly in awe of how funny, smart, and talkative you are. You are friendly and sweet, but not very cuddly. You are the most wonderful boy we could ever ask for and we are beyond thankful for you! 

we love you more and more everyday,

your momma & daddy

34 Weeks

 

 in a little over a month we get to meet this very wonderful baby boy! 

how exciting is that?!

how frightening is that?!

this past month has been crazy busy. 

and as i remembered, weeks 30-34 were the same with my pregnancy with joshua- read here!

funny to think on that time ;) 

but this month: 

i'm looking more and more and more pregnant and gigantic :)

the lawn company i was working for was sold, so i worked a lot to help with the transition. 

as that job ended, a new one came & i am blessed to say i am now employed by a lawyer! 

working from home, 10ish hours a week, super huge blessing & a really good fit i think

we had some really great AlethiaYouth events

joshua, manny, and i all got a 24 hour stomach bug :( 

AUNTIE KARLA & UNCLE DAN GOT MARRIED!!!! 

i spent a lot of time prepping and crafting for their awesome, beautiful day

we had a blast visiting and spending time with family that we don't get to see often enough

manny went on a business trip to orlando 

& i flew to meet him at the end of his conference and we enjoyed 4 days in the sunshine, childless :) 

joshua spent 4 days with Kma & Opa! 

it snowed a lot

there were some nice days of sunshine {such as today}

i ate a lot of chocolate chip cookies

2 more babies were born at Alethia

next month includes: 

another wedding!

manny's half marathon 

a baby shower

AlethiaYouth's Mission Dinner & Auction

our official last day of working/ playing with Jackson 

lots of birthdays 

and possibly meeting our second baby boy! 

baby boy #2: 

you are a crazy mover! you kick me in the ribs o-so-very often and you like to hang out on the right side of belly. you are growing big and strong and healthy. i am so thankful i was able to fly to orlando and spend some time with just your daddy before you came. thanks for not making a surprise entrance or something crazy while i was thousands of miles from home! i have ideas for your nursery circulating in my head. plans for a finished basement & bathroom are in the works, but i have no doubt that no matter what you come home to you will be so loved and cherished by your brother, your daddy, and me. i can't wait to see what you look like & how you and your brother react to each other. i think having a "summer baby" will be so fun. and i can't wait to take you on walks around our great little town. baby #2 you are so loved already. we can't wait to meet you! 

love you more than you'll ever know, 

your momma

throwing eggs: Easter 2013

 

Easter this year included: church, Joshua's first Easter egg hunt, lots of relaxing, and a nice dinner at my parents with our family. 

it was nothing incredibely special... 

except for the fact that we were celebrating the RISEN KING!

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians 3:10-12

 joshua thought all the eggs were balls & just wanted to throw them... 

who cares about what's inside?!?

 

me & my handsome boy

 playtime with Kma

 all FOUR of us. 

He is RISEN!

29 Weeks

here we are at 29 weeks! 

into the 3rd trimester! 

my o my it is going fast. 

all of the sudden i kind of feel like a whale. everything is just getting bigger! 

i'm currently eating lots of chocolate chip cookies (maybe that's why i feel like a whale...) & trying my hardest to stay away from pringles. 

i'm still sleeping pretty well. so thankful for that!

the heartburn & sciatica are not constant, which is nice. 

i'm pretty much always exhausted. 

bending over is getting really difficult. 

i felt the baby have the hiccups for the first time! 

manny and i booked a "babymoon" of sorts for the end of April- going to Orlando after he's been there for a work conference to relax & enjoy the warmth!

baby #2, 

we are so very excited to meet you. at times, 11 weeks seems like an eternity & at other times, it feels like it is way too close. i'm praying for your health, your heart, your mind, and your life. that God may be a part of it all. that you would love Him like no other. that your life would be a reflection of His greatness.

we love o-so-very-much.

Joshua's 1st Haircut

after over a month of putting it off, manny, joshua, and i braved the snow and trekked down to "cool cuts for kids" to get our little man his first haircut! 

pre- haircut:

 "i'm not too sure about this..."

 "oh, everyone is saying i look cute... and this tickles!"

 all done! our handsome boy!

{i'm sure} the first {of many}

it happened today... for the first time... i'm sure it will happen many more times. 

daddy had to take joshua out of the restaurant. 

we're so new at this. this discipline thing.
this "you may not act like this"
this "you need to obey your momma and daddy"
this "this is not how we respond"

and my goodness has our boy been giving us plenty of opportunity to learn!
he's yelling, even hitting, he's having tantrums, and yelling, and yelling some more.

Lord, please just send Your wisdom! 
we.have.no.clue. 

life lately...

the weather has been warming up a little bit lately...

some days we just walk around our lack of an actual yard and play in the dirt,

some days we go to the park.

either way joshua has a blast!

jackson & joshua running in the field at fox run

joshua has been loving the slides at the park.
he had been climbing up the play structure, sitting down himself, and then going to the slide over and over having the time of his life! so i decided to go over and take a picture. this was the only picture i got because instead of sitting down he just stepped right off! i did my best to catch him but was pretty unsuccessful :(
thankfully he's a tough guy & was back to playing in about 2 minutes.

these balls were super fun

playing and eating the sand!

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 last weekend, we took our youth kids on the 1st ever

AlethiaYouth Ski Retreat 

really a great weekend of late nights, skiing, and being together.

i was in charge of all the non-skiing kids- we went tubing & did a scavenger hunt & ate :) 

we did have one injury- a leader got a concussion while snowboarding :(

i spent the majority of Saturday evening with her at the med center & then hospital. 

it was scary for sure, but thankfully she's doing just great now and it wasn't anything too serious.

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earlier this week, joshua and i went on a preschool field trip with our good friend Lindley. 

we saw lots of awesome farm animals. 

this cow was my favorite. he's shoulders were the same height as me! 

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and lastly, joshua riding the horse at Auntie Karla's. 

so cute! 

{only 1 month till the wedding!!!!!!} 

that's all. really, i'm just ready for spring!