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.

Joseph is 9 Months Old!

I know I say this every month, but I can't believe that our little guy is 9 months old already!  I always knew I would love my kids, but this little guy honestly makes my heart so happy I feel like it might burst sometimes.  Instead of letting me rock him to sleep, he prefers to be put in bed where he goes to sleep himself, but, throughout the day, he will randomly crawl over to me and give me a hug or kiss which just melts my heart.  He now knows how to clap, wave, and give high fives, although he doesn't always feel like "performing" when asked.  Joseph is definitely all boy!  Instead of going aroung obstacles, he crawls right over them.  Even if it takes him multiple attempts, once he sets his mind to it, he will do it.  He loves playing with balls and anything with wheels as well as reading books. 

Joseph - 9 Months



Joseph currently thinks drinking out of Joe's cups is one of the coolest things ever!

Joseph and Daddy at the Super Bowl party we attended.

My friend, Amber, is currently in the photography class after the one we took together.  One of her recent assignments was to recreate a photo she found in a publication.  She asked if I would be willing to let Joseph be her subject for the picture and, of course, I agreed.  This first picture is the recreation.  The rest are just us having fun since he was all dressed up.

He wasn't really giving out smiles that day, but he wasn't unhappy either.  He was just good ol neutral, go with the flow Joseph

Can you guess where I was standing during this next one?

I think I'll give this one to his future wife someday. :)

Valentine's Photo Shoot

As Joseph has become mobile, he has also become harder and harder to photograph by myself.  I knew that I wanted to set up a Valentine's day shoot for him so we could send cards out to our family, I just didn't realize how hard it would be. 

The original "plan" was to take his pictures outside.  After many failed attempts during which he was constantly trying to crawl away, I finally grabbed my heart buntings off the mantle, decorated his crib, and threw him in there.  Luckily, his crib is next to a window and it was a beautiful day so I had decent lighting to work with. 

He is quite the ham and prefers to give me his closed lip, stretched neck smile over a genuine one. 

He also likes to talk a lot, even during photo shoots.  I'm not sure if he gets that from me or Sam, but it allows him to fit right into the Parks family.

  

 The finaly product was this sweet little Valentine's Day card that I think really captures his personality.

Story Time

Yesterday, I took Joseph to the public library for baby story time (a class designed for children birth to 12 months old that includes a few songs with movement, a couple of super short books, and a little free play time with the other babies there) and he had a blast!  For a while now, Joseph has enjoyed sitting in my lap while I read a book to him and occasionally sitting in front of me while I read to him "teacher style," so when I found out about story time, I knew I had to take him.  One of my goals is to raise a baby that enjoys reading as much as I do.  So far, I think I'm succeeding :)

The smile that melts my heart.

His eyebrows are always so expressive.

When I uploaded these phone pics to the computer, I realized that I could have gotten some really cool shots had I taken my actual camera and spent more than 2 minutes taking pictures... J just might have a library photo shoot in his future. 

Joseph is 8 Months Old!

My little boy is growing up way too fast!  It's hard to believe he's already 2/3 of a year old.  Considering how little I had to write about in his last monthly update, I feel like I have tons to write about this time.  He's still a champion eater especiallly when it comes to food off of my plate.  Especially when I eat ice cream and he thinks he needs a bite for every one I take (don't worry, he just gets the vanilla ice cream sans toppings).  He has also fallen in love with cuties (you know, those mini orange like fruits) which are a pain to feed him because I have to dig the meat out of the skin.  Although he's been saying dada for a while now, he finally said mama for the first time this month (on my birthday!).  Previously, he would babble dadadadadada when happy and mamamamama when upset or in need of something, but now he will say the correct two syllable word when he wants our attention.  We now have a crawler in the Parks house which has helped make him a much happier baby.  And, as of this morning, he has a tooth!  See, I told you he had a productive month, I think he was making up for being lazy last month. 

 Joseph - 8 Months

Joseph got his first hair cut this month.  It wasn't much of a cut since he just needed his bangs and the hair over his ears trimmed, but we documented it anyway.  Since I was afraid I would take off too much (I'm kind of a fan of his old man comb-over), Sam and Joseph stopped by while I was getting my hair cut so Kayla could do it. 

He also graduated to a big boy car seat (I ordered it online and didn't realize just how big it was going to be).  He wasn't a fan of it the night we were adjusting the straps in the house, but is fine riding in it in the car. 

This semester, I'm watching a friend's little boy two days a week.  Both boys are used to having the undivided attention of their caregiver, so it has been great for both of them.  It's sweet to see them learning how to play with each other and share.  Look how cute they are on our daily walk. 

In addition to crawling, Joseph can now go from crawling to sitting position by himself.

Sweet Bella has been adjusting well to Joseph's newfound mobility.  On this evening, Joseph crawled over to her causing her to get up and walk away leaving her toy behind.  When she realized he was playing with it, she walked over and, after looking to us for permission, ever so gently pulled it out from under his leg.  Joseph didn't even realize what happened.

Watch out, he's a man on the move.

His scrunchy face smile gets me every time!