A meat treat and dancing with the...?

Yesterday was a big milestone for Joshua - he was having a rather adventurous day in terms of trying new foods (he hasn't had one of those in a loooooong time), and finally ate meat that wasn't the gross Gerber baby food meat sticks. That is all he's ever been willing to eat that is meat. Anyway, he had a chicken nugget and really liked it. Not the healthiest of meats, but it's a start! He also tried a bite of my little mini cheese wheel (those little red ones covered in wax) and didn't like it, a bit of mashed potatoes (not a big fan of those either), and a bite of my Twinkie (loved it!).

And then today, he was dancing around in circles on his blue play mat holding Pooh in his arms...it was adorable - he had a huge grin on his face and I so wanted to catch the moment on film, but it just didn't quite happen - sorry. I guess you could call that a toddler version of dancing with the stars, right?

I love this baby. I'm trying out making meatloaf for the first time tonight. I decided it is high time to expand the number of things I can cook...starting with meats. Oh man I haven't posted pictures in awhile - gotta do that, huh? Oh and I updated a few of the items below to add a few more I hadn't given myself before. I think I've done 50 of the 99 things, but I didn't recount after I added some and I don't really want to...so it might not be 50.

What have I done?

Again, I don't usually do these kind of things, but again, I saw that Trina had posted it on the sisters blog, and again, I liked it! I learned a lot about Trina - maybe you'll learn a lot about me!

Of these 99 things, the ones in bold are ones I've done:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band *Nope...
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity *I think you'd have to define that...by my standards, no I haven't given more than I could afford
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis *Don't want to!
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped *NEVER want to!
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea *I love watching lightning storms, but I definitely don't want to at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch *Probably I have...I'm not thinking of anything specific, though...does learning how to write bubble letters count?
15. Adopted a child *Maybe someday...
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables *I've never had my own garden, but I want to grow veggies someday!
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked *Yikes - don't plan on it!
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb *I don't think I have...I've held goats...
26. Gone skinny dipping *After I was married, though...
27. Run a Marathon *I'm not a big fan of running...
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice *Maybe someday
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person *I'd like to!
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community *I definitely want to!
36. Taught yourself a new language *I learned some French, but certainly didn't teach myself
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt *Want to!
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant *Hmmm...
44. Visited Africa *I'd love to someday
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance *I've ridden in the front seat while Nathan was transported
47. Had your portrait painted *That'd be cool
48. Gone deep sea fishing *NO THANK YOU!
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China *That'd be awesome
57. Started a business *Probably won't do that
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen *I think I sang Christmas carols at a soup kitchen once when I was 15 or so, but didn't serve
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies *I never made it past Brownies, and I don't think they sold cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma *Never have been able to cuz as soon as I weighed enough, I was on medication that means I can't
65. Gone sky diving *I think I want to...
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp *I want to go to the Holocaust museum in DC, but probably not visit an actual concentration camp
67. Bounced a check *I've been overdrawn on my debit card, but not bounced an actual check
68. Flown in a helicopter *No desire to do this...I've seen too many helicopters blow up in the movies
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar *Yuck.
72. Pieced a quilt *I've helped tie quilts and have contributed a piece to a quilt, but never actually done the work of piecing it together
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades *Maybe someday
75. Been fired from a job *hopefully never!
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London *We saw the changing of the guards at the Tower of London, rather than at Buckingham Palace...and another changing of the guards in Rome, which was cool.
77. Broken a bone *Well I think I've broken my pinkie toe a time or two
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle *No desire at all
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person *Definitely want to!
80. Published a book *Probably never will
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car *Someday...
83. Walked in Jerusalem *That would be amazing
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating *Haven't done this...maybe I will someday
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life *At least I don't think so...
90. Sat on a jury *I'm sure I will sometime soon
91. Met someone famous *I can't think of anyone
92. Joined a book club *Hopefully this year I will!
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person *I'd like to!
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake *Have NO desire to do that
97. Been involved in a law suit *No desire there either
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Well this is definitely helpful for helping me work on my list of things I'd like to do before I die!

Halfway there!

Well today I'm halfway through my pregnancy - 20 weeks! Only 20 more weeks to go! Including me, there are 6 women in my ward at church who are pregnant within a month of me (craziness!!!) and they ALL know what they're having except ME. We still have to wait til the 25th. So the current stats are that there are 3 boys and 2 girls (also one boy coming in January, but Jess wasn't part of our pregancy pact...just kidding! To clear up rumors, there wasn't actually a pregnancy pact), so if we're having a girl, we'll even it out with 3 and 3. We'll be very happy with a girl, but it would be easier to have another boy since we have tons of boy stuff already...either way, we'll definitely be happy to have a healthy baby!

What have I read?

I don't often do things like this, but I really liked this one - Trina posted it on the "sisters" blog (that I enjoy reading!) and I thought I'd try it.

A couple thoughts for my faithful readers - Mom, these might be some good Christmas ideas :c) and book club ladies, this might be helpful in choosing books for next year!

I'm not sure how well my memory will serve, so I'll do my best.

Here is a link to more info about where this came from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

Basically, this is a list of the top 100 books (as determined by the BBC), and apparently (though I couldn't find this statistic on the site) they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these books.

Here is what you do:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love. (Or asterisk, since there is no underline option on Blogger.)
4) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them.

THE LIST
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien*
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell*
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis*
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert***
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens*
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett*
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck*
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley*
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

I've seen the movie for some of these books...and I have no recollection of some that I'm certain I read, but there definitely are some favorites on there. Anyway, that was interesting!

The last few months...

Halloween was a lot of fun this year - we didn't carve our pumpkins til the night before, and they were LITTLE pumpkins...but that was ok. I'm excited to get big pumpkins someday, like when we were growing up, but that'll come. Joshy had two littler pumpkins that were too small to carve and he loved carrying them around. He called our two pumpkins the "hewy punkas" (heavy pumpkins) and was ok with not being allowed to carry them around. He understands the concept of heavy, which is good.



We were a cute little pirate family at the ward "Trunk or Treat" where people gave out candy from their cars in the parking lot. Joshy didn't like saying Trick or Treat, but he did say "Happy Ween!" to a few people. He was kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing, and he doesn't really eat candy, so we didn't make the whole loop of the parking lot. Notice the cool parrot on Nathan's shoulder...and Nathan's awesome eyepatch. Who knew that his broken sunglasses would one day come in so handy?



I don't think we really ever got him to keep his eye patch on over his eye for more than a couple seconds, but thank you for making it Aunt Laurel! It definitely added to the costume, even though it was on his bandana.

Joshy didn't hear that he was supposed to be making a tough pirate face in this picture...and I'm sad that it's blurry - my two pirate guys are looking particularly handsome, I think.

Before Halloween, Eric and Laurel and Stevie and Allie came up to visit, so I definitely should put up some pictures of them! We attempted to get pictures of them all three together in their Halloween costumes but that never quite happened. Here are some of the cutest pictures...

Joshy and Stevie had fun playing outside in the leaves.

The three of them got along pretty well - it was so fun to meet Allie and to see how much Stevie has grown and changed since the last time we saw him (over two years ago!!)
When we came over on Saturday afternoon, Allie was asleep in the family room in her adorable pink tutu surrounded by toys. It was so stinking cute.


SOOO cute! Laurel did a great job on Allie's costume.

She did a great job on Stevie's Dash costume also! He wasn't a huge fan of wearing his mask, but it all looked great.

We're excited to see them again at Thanksgiving and Christmas! And I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa Palmer are too!!

And before the California Palmers came to visit, my parents came to see us, and that was a really fun visit too!! I love it when they come down and so does Joshy. He can say Grandma Rozen and Grandpa Rozen now, but I learned the other day that it is indeed the same word as raisin to him when he started asking for raisins after I was telling him I was calling Grandma Rozen. Here are some pictures from their visit...

Joshy and Grandpa had a lot of fun playing and laughing together.

And certainly one of Grandma and Grandpa's favorite parts of any Joshy visit is getting to read books with him - he calls this new book his "Meow Meow" book because of all the kitties.
I was able to keep my mouth shut for the week before they came (amazingly!), so Grandma didn't know that Joshy had learned to say Grandma again (he used to be able to say it and then just stopped for months!), so when she went in to get him from his nap soon after they arrived, he said "Grandma!" and melted her heart of course. Joshy also loves giving hugs now - which makes our days much brighter. What a cutie.

We are excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Rozen again at Thanksgiving and Christmas too! So there are some updates - sorry it has been so long. And we'll work on more videos...

ANOTHER video? Yay!

Sunday mornings are video making mornings for Nathan, and here's a very good one - we hope you love it. Turn your sound up!

We did get our camera back, so we won't be only taking videos, but we have a lot of footage, so you can expect at least an exercise video in the near future.

Tell us when you watch the video! I loooove the comments.

He's learning...

Nathan put together another video for your watching enjoyment. I think probably some of you are not minding that our regular camera is broken cuz now you get so many videos!

Happy Sunday!

If you didn't see it yet...

You should look at the post on Joshy's blog about his surgery. http://boypalmer.blogspot.com/

Joshy is ok!

The surgery went well and Joshy is home and sleeping. Thank you for all of the prayers - the surgeon said that it went beautifully and the anesthesiologist said there were no problems at all. Hopefully the recovery process will be quick and he'll be back to his happy self very soon.

Prayers for Joshy

I just wanted to ask for prayers for Joshua tomorrow morning when he goes in for his surgery. He's got a cold and is kind of congested, so they may reschedule if the anesthesiologist is concerned about that, but otherwise it is a go. We have to be there at 7:30, the surgery is scheduled for 8:30, and it will go probably about 2 hours. It sounds like recovery will be pretty easy unless something unexpected happens, but you never know exactly how a little critter will respond to surgery and everything, so all prayers are appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Mostly for Grandma :c)

We got Joshy a couple new things and set them up last night after he went to bed. This is a video of him this morning coming out from his bedroom to see his surprise. I think the initial reaction is priceless. Sorry about the bad lighting - and turn your sound up! It's long...but the beginning is the best part!

Some of Joshy's words...

Most of this was filmed at the beginning of July...so those of you who have heard a lot of Joshua's words lately may not be particularly impressed...we'll try to get more of them on film for another one - and all his new animal noises. My favorite new sound is what a rooster says. Alas, those are not on here, but Joshy will share those with you soon. Thank you my faithful blog readers and watchers - tell me what you think!

Our camera died...

...it died quite recently, so I better get some of the photos up that I have! Joshua (with his dada's help) put up a wonderful post about our little campout, which was a lot of fun. Here are some other recent pictures! I think I'll post some and then go try to finish a video I've been working on...and maybe get it posted before Nathan comes back from cleaning the apartment he's working on. Ready set go!

Joshua learning to write his name...


Helping put away the groceries...


Making faces with Bapa Rozen at breakfast up in Brier...


Being safely shielded from the zoo of animals...


Seeing cousin Chloe again...trying out her pink phone and admiring one of her purses...

Working hard on that one wonderful stair...

Taking his first shared bath...this didn't actually go over too well - apparently Joshua likes to have baths to himself, we learned. He hid his frustration pretty well for a few minutes...

We miss you Chloe!

Let's see if I can get a video done...it's almost 25 minutes later now that I've finally gotten those pictures on here, so we'll see.

Joshua's first road trip!

Check out Joshua's blog for a good summary of our recent road trip, but you can also look at the album I just put up on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029112&id=27502550&l=e0315&ref=share

First haircut

I have been telling people it was traumatic, and they assume I mean for Joshua...but I just mean for me. Seeing all those curls going in the garbage can was very sad, but we left curls in the back. We waited until Grandma and Grandpa Rozen were here so that they could see both his crazy crazy curls and be there for an important event - that very first haircut! I did it myself while he was sitting in the bathtub, so some hair got in the tub and went down the drain, but I don't think it really clogged it up, so that's good. So I want to post some before, during, and after pictures. As his hair gets longer, we'll have to decide if we're keeping the mullet that will form...probably not, but it looks so stinking cute now. I miss his curls, but it is much easier to take care of. I wasn't super interested in buying baby gel or something like that and he'd wake up each morning and after each nap with his hair sticking straight out or straight up on one side or the other. It was endearing for awhile, but we decided it was time to get it a bit shorter. Ok here are the pictures!

A mystery...

So how old is Joshua now?  Just about 15 months, right?  So I’ve been “postpartum” for 15 months.  I’d say that since about September, life got uncrazy enough to make me feel like I’d have time and energy to do some exercising and get my body back to where I’d like it to be.  So I started out doing some crunches to tighten up that loose tummy skin, but that was entirely unsuccessful – just seemed to make it worse.  Those of you who saw me pregnant probably remember that my tummy went straight out about 10 feet (well maybe not quite that far, but it felt like it when I was trying to wash my hands and couldn’t reach the faucet).  Anyway, I’m back at my pre-pregnancy weight and don’t have much to complain about, I’m not saying that, but my tummy still looks funny – loose and very stretch-marky. 

 

So now I am motivated to do something about it again (yes, yes, about 8 months after I gave up the crunches, but better late than never), and I started looking online for advice on what to do.  At first I just came across all sorts of articles about how that loose skin will never go away and you just have to wait until you are done having babies and then have surgery.  That was very discouraging…but then I finally found some information about what happens to your abdominal muscles when that baby is in there, and which muscles will help (or harm) the process of getting rid of that extra stuff.  So basically what you need to focus on is your Transverse Abdominus, and not with the typical crunches or other ab exercises that you regularly hear about, which only exercise the surface muscles and so push your tummy out even further. 

 

Nope, to strengthen these muscles, the main exercise that I found is called the “vacuum” (or a variation is called the “cross”, which is just the vacuum with your arms extended straight out).  All there is to it is that you stand straight with good posture and your spine straight and suck in your stomach like you’re pulling your belly button towards your spine.  With a lot of repetition, this will help pull the muscles on the sides of your waist inward. This is also a really good exercise just to get your waist a bit skinnier – not only to get rid of post-pregnancy looseness.  Here are a couple of links if you’re interested: 

 

http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article49654.html

http://www.straighttothebar.com/2007/11/specific_training_for_the_tran.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_exercise

 

So today (6/23) I’m starting, and I hope to see some results.  If I can feel comfortable in a bathing suit, I’ll be happy! If it doesn’t do much, that’s fine, too – I’ll know that I tried, and I’ll be ok with my “mommy tummy.” Any other suggestions from moms who’ve been successful would be appreciated, too!

Joshua's words

I was in the doctor's office the other day, and waiting FOREVER for the doctor to actually come in, so I probably read every word of every poster on the wall. One of the posters was about child development, and it said that normal development for an 18-month old child is that they can say 8-10 recognizable words. This made me realize that Joshua's language development is really pretty remarkable. So I tried making a list of the words he says (most of them he says often and consistently, though some of them he's only said a few times, but I of course count them anyway!).

So here is the list of words he knows, and he picks up new ones each day (really!)

• Jesus
• Car
• Mama
• Dada
• Papa
• Mamma
• Banana
• Mindy
• Ball
• Baby
• Bird
• No
• Bath
• Book
• Milk
• Brush
• Meat
• Pillow
• Help
• Door
• Yikes
• Uh Oh
• Whoa
• Wow
• Eww
• Mmmm
• Amen
• Loofah
• Man
• Water
• What's that?
• Bottle
• Cracker
• Cookie
• Feather
• Bye-Bye

***Later addition of some words that I forgot, and new ones he has learned***

• Rowan
• Bumbo
• Apple

And then his signs:

• Yes
• Milk
• Eat
• More
• Please
• Thank you

And animal noises that he can make quite consistently:

• Cow
• Sheep
• Duck
• Elephant
• Walrus
• Baby
• Snake
• Horse
• Lion
• Dinosaur
• Monkey
• Fish

That was all - just wanted to brag about my genius baby. He amazes me.

I couldn't wait...

I wanted to wait awhile before posting another video...and I wanted to maybe have Nathan give this one some titles and music and credits...but if you know me much, you know I'm not very patient...so enjoy!

My little wanderer

A few disclaimers...

1. This video is perhaps a bit boring for some of you who see Joshy often, or maybe who have little ones of your own...but it is mostly for those of you who haven't seen Joshy walking around yet. This is a pretty typical few minutes in the life of our little explorer. Although, he amazingly doesn't get in as much trouble as he sometimes does.
2. I apologize (as should Joshua, really) for the gross-looking carpet - it's getting cleaned really soon. We very much underestimated the amount of damage having Joshy's high chair on the carpet would do. Yikes!
3. Our apartment is a disaster in this video...most of the chaos is put away at night and our home returns to some sort of order.
4. Check out our new vinyl flooring in our kitchen! I love it!
5. For Aunty Mindy - yes he is saying your name over and over through his second lap through the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Priorities!

I decided that rather than start in on my huge list of things to do, I'd post on my blog first. However, I do want to take a trip back in time and write out my to-do lists for the week like I used to do! Then I'll get on to the good stuff, I promise.

For Home/Family/Church:
do budgets
develop photos
post on blog
write birthday cards
plan trip dates
get photos from my baptism (to put on personal history)
scan more pictures for facebook
update my Personal Progress
finalize next week's service project
call about the presidency meeting on Sunday
have presidency meeting
plan lesson
teach lesson
go to doctor appointment
have FHE
exchange lids for bins at Target
put away the bins of Joshua's clothes
go to Mutual
many loads of laundry (it's been WAY too hot to do laundry...but I figure 79 is the coolest it's been in awhile, so I'll do it today)


Ok now for my to-do list for Work:
file things
get last rent payment
exchange ink
pick up forms
prep move-in papers for Saturday
mail move-out paperwork
figure out repairing cat pee damage :c(
get my new Asset Manager's cell number
traffic report
vacancy report
monthly report
update directory on cabinet door
meet with new Asset Manager
mail P.O.s

I've really found it helpful to make a big weekly to-do list, and add stuff to it as the week goes on. It has been a good thing for me, and I've been doing it for three weeks.

Things are going amazingly well at the apartments, soooo much better than last year at this time. Certainly having a toddler rather than a newborn is a lot easier in many ways, but most of it is just knowing the ropes more. Last year, we were just starting out, with no idea what we were doing (both in being parents and being apartment managers), and we had 5 apartments to fill. I shudder just thinking about it. Now for the last MONTH we've been at 100% occupancy, which doesn't mean that we've had no apartments empty, it just means that all the vacant ones or ones on notice have had people commited to them. So that's been amazing. Before this month started, we never went more than one day (15 hours to be exact) at 100% occupancy. Seriously. No good. But I'm really enjoying this. We even have a waiting list, though I don't know how long they'll be willing to wait, so by the time we get a notice, we may have no more waiting list. Either way, that's fine. We've had some stressful stuff come up with a couple apartments, but it's getting resolved, and will be ok. Yikes, I need to stop talking about this stuff, as I had to make a VERY conscious decision to post on here before doing work for the day. Joshy's nap times are my work times, and he's been asleep for almost an hour, so we'll see how much gets done today!

So that's the work situation - what about the adorable baby situation, you ask?

Well, our little critter is changing and growing so much - I love it! Pretty much from the moment he wakes up til the time he goes to sleep (and once or twice I've heard him say it in his sleep), he is asking, "wut dah?" about EVERYTHING. That's his form of "what's that?" So we are answering that question much of the day. He's still not super interested in walking on his own, but he's doing it more little by little. He is definitely into everything, though, and interested in climbing on anything, though we don't have a lot of climb-on-able stuff at his height yet. He'll figure out the couch and chairs soon enough, though. He loves climbing stairs, but we don't have any of those, so he doesn't get a lot of practice.

His language development is definitely going quickly - yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa Palmer's house, he wanted to know what some feathers were on a dream-catcher they have on the wall, and we asked him to say feather, and he said "fev-ver" very well. We were all impressed. He loves to say "Pa Pa" for Grandpa, and points out his "Pa Pa" in pictures for BOTH Grandpas, which makes me happy, since he doesn't see Grandpa Rozen as often. He loves his Aunty Mindy, and is very good at saying "Min-inn" when he sees her picture or sees her. Don't worry Aunty Emily, we'll keep working on Aunty Emmy - I'm sure he'll get it soon.

So, his repertoire of words currently includes (and I'll probably forget some) :
Wut-da? (what's that?)
Mama
Dada
Papa
Mam-ma (though he's been shy about saying it lately)
Min-inn (Mindy)
Buh bye (he LOVES to say buh bye for goodbye and goodnight)
Zee-Zuh ("Jesus," which he says with amazing accuracy when he sees different pictures of Jesus...or sometimes when he sees his Uncle Geoffy - ha!)
Cruh-cuh (cracker)
Buh (bird)
Meh! (Amen)
Buuuuuuh (Brrrr!)
Baw (or something like that...for ball)
MANY different animal sounds (elephant, snake, cow, horse, ducky, sheep) - we're currently working on what a walrus says, but mostly he just cracks up at that one
Yah-ya-yo (e-i-e-i-o, which I think was one of his first words because we sang Old McJoshy so often...but now he says it when we ask him what a farmer says)
Nana (Banana, and many other things in his world, often things that are yellow)
Do! (Door, which he is often very enthusiastic about)
Nn-yo (Unfortunately he is a big fan of saying no now, generally right before he does something that he knows I'll say no to, such as pulling the mouse off the desk or pulling over the garbage can that has recycling in it.

Ok I can't think of others...but I know there are more.

He is very musical, and we got him a little xylophone/piano, which he has been having fun with. He likes to play it with his feet, as well as Grandma Palmer's piano. I was sitting on the bench with him on my lap yesterday, and he started pushing with his feet against the piano, and I was too close, so he almost pushed us both over. That was scary!

He likes to play outside, though we sadly don't have many places for him to play, and I don't have a car to take him to the park, but we're trying to make more time for that.

He's great at throwing a ball - he loves to do that - especially when we are trying very hard to catch it, which is often hard. He doesn't know how to catch, yet (what a baby...).

Much of his time the last couple of weeks has been spent opening and closing the cabinets on our entertainment center and his bedroom door. He loves doors and the loud noises that the little springy doorstoppers make. It cracks me up. I can be doing other stuff while he's playing with his bedroom door, until he shuts it and then laughs a lot when I come knock on the door and ask if I can come in. He's so funny.

I finally took the doors off the bathtub, so he's been taking baths in the big bath now. I got him some floating letters that stick to the tub, and he loves those, and a rainbow loofah, which tickles too much when we try to wash him with it, but it is pretty entertaining :c)

I'm sure there are lots of other new things he's doing, but those are a lot of them, and I'll try to keep the updates coming. He's a great baby - gets into a lot of trouble, but that's ok. He's also very cuddly, which I love.

Here we go with some pictures!

His new xylophone Looking at a daisy with his Aunt Mindy
Playing bocce ball...
He was trying out his swim diapers in this picture, to see if they fit...at bath time he is generally naked :c)

His pinecone that he brought home from church
Look how much hair he has!
He's so cute in shorts
Quite the attack on his dada - he tends to pounce on us if we are laying down

He loves to climb on this basket

Well have a great day! Hope you enjoy the pictures and updates.

Look who's walkin!!!

So Joshua took his first steps on May 1st, but hasn't been interested in doing it again...until today! Enjoy :c) And go check out Joshy's blog for even more entertainment!

yikes!

Well, believe it or not, I have been blogging...just unfortunately not on any blogs that anyone reads. I created a blog (but it doesn't really look like a blog - just an advertising website) for our apartments, and then my boss has been paying me to make more for other apartments - which is sweet! So I keep working on those when I should be blogging on here or the Palmer family blog. So I apologize. And now that the Joshua's First Year calendar is finished, you must all be wishing and hoping for more pictures of Joshua! I need to do updates on what he's doing and what I'm doing, but for now, I'll just post some pictures!

Look at how incredibly curly his hair is getting!!

This is a shirt he got for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa - it says, "I still live with my parents." Ha!
Showin off some of his cute dino pjs!
If you read Nathan's blog, then you've already seen this picture, but this is a snowman that Nathan built - it is a snow daddy holding a snow baby sitting on a bench. Very adorable if you ask me.
I love my cuddly baby!

That's all for now - I'll write more someday - hopefully soon, but I don't want to make promises!

And for Ashley again...

Ash, I hope this gives you good luck for your test tomorrow!

For Ashley

A little bit of Joshua walking with his new car and showin off a little of that tummy...though at his latest doctor appointment we found that he is actually now closer to the 70th percentile for weight, rather than at the 99th...so maybe this explains why he's able to lift himself off the ground now!

Some recent photos!

Here is Joshy modeling the adorable caterpillar outfit his great Aunt and great Uncle got for him - and with his fun car/walker that his friend Rowan got for him. He LOVES walking with it, and was a big fan of pulling at the little cateripillar feet. Thank you Aunt Lynn and Uncle Mark and Rowan for such nice birthday gifts!




Dada took Joshy to Minto Brown Island Park - it's not exactly a playground made for a 1 year old, but Joshua liked the slide and all the birds. Probably his dad was more interested in the birds than he was, though.

We're working on teaching Joshua how to be an expert back scratcher...we'll see how that goes. At least he didn't try to eat it!

My baby is a year old...

It truly is amazing that Joshua is a year old. He is becoming such a fun and hilarious little person. He is starting to get the biggest kick out of trying to repeat stuff. He is good at saying mama, dada, baby, maybe, and nonononononono. I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting. Lately he's been starting to say things consistently, though we can't quite figure out what he's saying. He says bird, ball, blankie (I think), and book making a very similar "bye" sound. He's great at making a noise like an elephant, a lion, a snake (he's a REALLY scary snake), and lately he's been doing well and saying quack...though he will only say it very quietly. I think that is because when I give him his ducky in his crib at night, ducky tickles his nose and whispers quack quack quack, so I think Joshua thinks duckies make quiet noises.

Joshua also LOVES watching movies of himself. When he's eating in his high chair, he'll point to the computer and clap (meaning more) and shake his left hand in the air (meaning yes) as he points at the computer screen, to tell us that he wants to watch his movies. He especially loves the music his dada wrote. He likes the ones without music, too, but he waves his arm to lead the music in the ones that have his signature song.

I think Joshua will be very musical. I'm fairly sure he's left handed, and he just adores music. Whenever he hears it, whether it is on the cd player, the radio, the tv, one of his musical toys, a movie on the computer, or occasionally a cell phone, he starts moving his hand leading the music. And when the tempo is faster, he moves his hand faster...it's pretty impressive, I think! Not that I'm biased.

He does well with his signs - he's good at yes (waving his hand up and down), more (clapping), milk (making a grasping motion with his hand like he's milking a cow...he actually does that one correctly!), and sometimes he'll try to sign berries, banana, finished, and other signs I'm probably forgetting. He understands so much - it amazes me.

His dada started a new tradition of Joshua crawling from his room to the bath tub (quite naked, I might add) after he gets changed, and though he often gets sidetracked on the way there (the floor is an exciting place, after all), he is very good at eventually getting his cute little bottom parked right next to the bathtub for dada or mama to put him in!

He is so close to walking! When we hold his arms and have him walk, he doesn't need us to carry any of his weight, just for a bit of balance, and even then, I think he could take a few steps on his own and do just fine...but I know there is going to be a lot of falling flat on his face in the next few weeks! I think he'll walk soon, though. Now that we've gotten sort of adjusted to him pulling up on everything everywhere, I feel much more ready for him to be walking. We still haven't baby-proofed all the cabinets, though. We're still following him around most of the time that he is wandering, so if we want to do that forever, there's no need to baby-proof the cabinet doors, but I'm thinking maybe I don't want to do that forever.

For Joshua's perspective on his birthday, make sure to check out his blog. He's quite the technological baby - it amazes me sometimes. His dada helps him write emails, post pictures and videos, and even post on his blog. He has his own email address, blog site, youtube channel, and who knows what else he hasn't told me!! I find it very impressive. Sometimes he writes me emails. I don't think he writes his dada emails, but maybe he does.

Anyway, he's a wonderful one-year-old. He was disappointed to not go up to Washington for his birthday, but is rather happy that he gets THREE birthday parties now (two down, one to go!). We're going up the third week of April and he'll be splitting the birthday glory and festivities with his mama. I'm turning 25! But that's another post...

This has been quite a year - I'm so glad we have so many pictures and videos to remember it, as well as all the memories that are quite unforgettable! I love my baby boy Joshua.

A first birthday party...

...comes only twice a year (for Joshua that is). Joshy got to have his Palmer family birthday celebration this past Saturday. We also were celebrating Easter, so I made a bunny cake. This was inspired by at least one (there were probably more) bunny cake my mom made years ago. Here is the wonderful process I went through. At the end you will see my fat baby thoroughly enjoying his cake!

He enjoyed blowing out the candle, and then we gave him one of the ears! At first he was hesistant and just played with the frosting, but as you can see, he REALLY liked it once he tried it! He probably would have eaten the whole ear, so we had to take it away. Then he REALLY needed a bath. What a cute baby!