Joseph is 10 Months Old!

Eek, I can't believe my sweet little guy is 10 months old now!  That means only two more months until the big O-N-E (Please excuse me while I wipe my eyes).  Every day he does things to remind me that he's slowly leaving the baby stages behind and becoming a toddler.  For a while now, he has been pulling up on anything he can get his chubby little hands on, but now he actually walks while pushing things (mostly his car, boxes, and chairs).  He has added Bella and bye-bye to the list of words he can say and also shakes hands now. 

Joseph - 10 Months

I tried to take his picture by myself like I do every month, but it always ended up like this.  Eventually, I drug Joseph, the fabric he lays on, and my camera to the neighbor's so she could help.

This tends to be a common theme with me taking pictures of Joseph lately.  When I tried to take pictures for our pregnancy announcement, he was way more interested in seeing how much grass he could cram in his mouth before I could stop him than taking pictures. 

The picture I finally ended up using was actually him trying to get the darn ultrasound off of his leg.

He's been eating pancakes for a while (it's one of his favorite foods {shh, don't tell him that I put apple sauce in them so he's still getting fruit}), but this month we decided to add some blueberries.  He sure loved them, but boy were they messy!

One weekend this month, we took Joseph to visit Sam's parents.  While there, we went out with his dad to feed cattle and check on any new calves.  Joseph loved it!

Here it is, the car that Joseph absolutely loves!  He loves to push it, ride in it, open and close the door, play with the keys, turn the steering wheel, you name it.  It seriously keeps him entertained for long periods of time.



For those of you wondering, Joseph's first birthday party will be on Saturday May 18th (yay for his actual birthday being on a Saturday) at our house.  We're just planning on doing a cookout around 5.  I'll get some invitations out sometime soon, but I wanted people to be able to put it on their calendars. 

Blessed Again

As a few of you know and many more don't, a few weeks ago Sam and I found out that we are pregnant!  Trust me, we were just as surprised if not more so than you are!  Honestly, it took us a good 24 hours with both us and some close friends praying consistently before we were finally more excited than scared.  I'm only about 10 weeks along, and I know some of you are wondering why I'm telling people already since we aren't even out of the first trimester, but to me there isn't a "safe point" anymore.  Aubrey was proof that unexpected events can happen at any stage.  Besides, we need all the prayer we can get to help us find courage, strength, and joy throughout this journey.  All I want is a happy, healthy, LIVING baby.

I would like to say that I'm now just excited, but I can't.  A pregnancy following a stillbirth is a scary thing, especially when your last pregnancy was absolutely perfect until it wasn't.  So far, my doctor has been great and I know he will continue to be!  I've been going in for visits every couple of weeks and so far have gotten an ultrasound everytime (although I know those will slow down a little in the future).  I did have low pregesterone levels during my first round of blood work, but I am on a supplement for that throughout the first trimester and everything seems to be fine.  Around 18 weeks, I will be referred to a high risk specialist in Oklahoma City because any pregnancy following a stillbirth is technnically considered high risk even though what happened to Aubrey was neither a genetic disorder nor preventable.  Oh well, with a "high risk" pregnancy comes extra visits and ultrasounds, so I'll take it. 

Please don't say, "I told you, just adopt and you'll get pregnant."  That makes it sound like we adopted to help us get pregnant which couldn't be further from the truth.  We've always wanted to adopt.  In fact, we've already talked about when we might adopt again after the pregnancy.  Joseph was meant to be a part of our family.  I think part of the reason we got him first is because God knew I needed him to help occupy my mind if I was going to go through another pregnancy. 

The truth is, I'm still really scared.  I will probably be worried about the outcome for the entire pregnency.  The truth is, I feel guilty when I think about my other friends who suffer from infertility who have never had the opportunity to be pregnant.  The truth is, I worry about how having this baby while Joseph is still so young will effect him.  Although, when I think about it, I truly think Joseph will be a great big brother!

A Haircut Worth Documenting

This weekend, Joseph's hair was driving me crazy.  You might remember that a couple months ago Sam brought Joseph by while I was getting my hair cut so she could trim his bangs and around his ears.  Well, this time I decided that I could probably do it myself.  I mean, I grew up showing (and clipping) lambs and I cut my husband's hair (and no, he doesn't just buzz it), so how hard can it be to trim a 9 month old's hair.  Well, let's just say I will leave this job to the professionals from now on.  First up are a couple of pictures documenting why he needed a hair cut.  His bangs were almost in his eyes and he had hair hanging 1/2 inch over his ears.  (Sorry for the crummy phone photos.)

They looked cute pushed to the side, but to be honest, they looked like girl bangs.

And here is the final result.  It's a good thing he has a cute face and great personality, becuase we sure butchered his hair.

Luckily, he's too young to care what his hair looks like.  I sure hope it grows out by his 1st birthday in a couple of months.