Pictures from Christmas Eve with the Studees!

Here is Joshua on Christmas Eve at the Studees. Doesn't he look adorable in his nice outfit? Pictures from Christmas Day with the Bridges coming soon!

Andy gets Husband of year award, 2007

I am at the end of a whole day alone in my house. Heavenly.

As some of you know, I am an introvert. I love people, but get drained by lots of activity and people. So, yesterday (Saturday), after Christmas visits and a busy week, I was pretty beat and not at all looking forward to spending time in Milwaukee with Andy's family. I was trying to think of a way to pump myself up for a the trip, when Andy said he and Joshua would go to the festivities without me. I took him up on his offer after some debate and am so glad I did.

I got errands run, things done around the house, and just enjoyed being on my own schedule for the past 24+ hours. Now, I am eagerly awaiting my boys arrival home and will be happy to see them both.

If you see Andy, give him a big kudos. Apparently Joshua was a bit poopy the past 24 hours and Andy was quite grossed out.

I will post Christmas pictures soon if you are interested.

Thank God for Friends

Greg and Nicole Foster rock my world.

Last week, Andy and I were hit with the stomach flu (and I do mean hit). He was out Thursday and I was out on Friday. On Saturday we were supposed to leave to go to Normal, IL, for a friend's wedding. As I was yakking on Friday night at 11pm I was sure there was no way we could make it. However, Saturday dawned and I felt better. I still didn't want to eat (who could blame me?), but was good enough to travel. We were getting ready to take Joshua over to my dad so we could leave for Normal, when dad calls. Now HE is sick. Uh oh. What do we do? We brainstormed. My mom was off of work at 6pm, and could watch him then, but what do we do in the meantime since we have to leave at noon?

Well, we called the Fosters. I apprehensively asked Nicole if she could watch Joshua for 6 hours, and she responded of course! (I told you they rock my world). In fact, they were going to Bethelhem (A Salvation Army event in Chicago) and would be over in our neighborhood so they could pick him up. What service! It all worked out well in the end. Andy and I got 24+ hours of being adults, Joshua had a great experience, and my mom and dad still got to play with their grandson (which they were looking forward to). Thanks so much Greg and Nicole!

Mom's random thoughts

Here is google's quote of the day. It is how I live my life, actually.
"Household tasks are easier and quicker when they are done by somebody else." James Thorpe

Also, some of you have asked for pictures. Here is a cute one of Joshua and Noah Camping hanging out on Sunday. They had a much more relaxing dinner than their mommies and daddies. Joshua thought it was fun to tackle Noah, which he didn't like at all.



Last random thought of the day. Why does it take 1 hour longer to get out the door to work on days there is snow? Andy and I had a busy morning. He was a rock star and shoveled to the garage and our front steps and path while I watched Joshua. Thanks hon! For the millionth time, I am glad we live in the city and have 30 feet of sidewalk to shovel instead of much more in the burbs!

My 15 month stats

So, I am sure you are all dying to know my 15 month stats. Well, here they are:

Weight: 22 lbs. 6 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 29 1/2 inches (10th percentile)
Head: 48.5 cm (75% percentile)

I am chunking up a little bit, still short (don't hate on the short people, I come from a stock of almost midgets!), and I have a HUGE head. Mom and Dad keep teasing me with a REALLY bad fake scottish accent. "He's got a huge heed! It's the size of Sputnik". Bonus points who can identify the movie that line is from :).

Overall I am healthy and took my shots like a man. A crying, angry man that is.

Pictures Galore!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. Sorry mom has been slacking, she had to work extra last week to make up for the days she stayed home to take of me when I was sick. These pictures run the gamut from hanging out outside to a Halloween party to a birthday party. First prize to the person who knows what I went as!

Grandpa took this cool action shot. Maybe I will be a ball player?



Me in my Halloween costume!


Rolling around the floor at the birthday party. It was so fun I wanted to sleep AND play!

Eating apples

A few weeks ago, mom discovered I like apples, not just sauce. Sometimes when she wants me to keep busy, she gives me a whole one to munch. I tend to spit out the skins so after I am done with the apple mom has to clean me up.

Happy Birthday Grammy and Grandpa

I was a social butterfly this past Saturday as I went up to my Grammy and Grandpa Bridges' to help them celebrate their 60th birthday! It was a lot of fun and I got to charm many of their friends. I also helped out by greeting guests at the door showing off my new walking skills! Here is a picture of me with the birthday boy and girl!

Almost walking

I would like to announce that after much suspense and waiting on behalf of my parents, grandparents, friends and others, I am almost walking. Grandma and Grandpa Studee got a short video of me on Saturday when they were taking care of me. As soon as mom gets that from them, she will post. Now, I like to walk around the house and outside holding on to only one hand!

Par-TAY

Today is my 30th birthday and I am quite happy to reach this milestone. To celebrate, Andy threw a party for me last Saturday night. It was great to celebrate with several friends, my parents, and my in-laws. I know that I have been richly blessed over my 30 years in so many ways. I have a great husband, wonderful son, great family and friends, a cool church body, and so many material blessings I won't try to count them here. To my friends and family far away, I missed you and wished we could have all been together to celebrate! To those of you who came to my party, many of you who got sitters, thank you so much! It meant a lot that you would come out to make my day special. Below are two photos one of me and Andy looking fabulous and one of me and my parents. If you are going to turn 30, might as well celebrate in style!

Michigan fun!

Last weekend we went to Michigan for a family get away and had a great time. We went apple picking, saw Mom and Dad's friends Jon and Kristin, played with the Peaches, went swimming in the small lake near our cabin, and relaxed. The slide show of my crazy adventures is below.

View Album

Get your own

Garfield Park conservatory with Mom's group

Last Monday I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory with mom's friends and their kids. We mainly played in the children's garden and had a fun time! Enjoy the pictures!

Busy week and a half

Hi all,
I have had a busy week and a half and have a lot of new pictures to post. Over the next few days I will get my mama to get them up!

Thursday at the zoo with Grandpa Bill

Today I went to the zoo with Grandpa Bill and Mom. I wasn't too sure about petting the goats, but I loved playing with my stroller. I also got to see a real live owl up close. Perfect chance to use my favorite word!
Thanks for coming out to the zoo with us Grandpa and thanks for taking the pictures :)

In the moment (Laura's post)

I am rarely "in the moment" in fact, I am a very scattered, doing 12 things at once, non focused person. Today, Joshua and I had a busy morning. He is still cranky from his teeth (I think it is his teeth, but I could be wrong), and his schedule was topsy turvy. Also, I had to go out to the burbs to pick up a Craigslist find (Yay cheap used stuff!).
Anyway, after our crazy morning, Rox called to see if I wanted to go to the zoo. I did, but Joshua was not cooperating, so I let him sleep instead of trying to make him do what I wanted. After he woke up from his nap, we just hung out at home, playing in the living room. I didn't mind that he was making a mess, I didn't worry about how I was going to get the laundry done, or anything else. We just played together, and it was perfect.
Now I gotta go clean up the mess...at least I spent a little time today enjoying my son.

Thursday Fun with Grammy Barb at the Nature Musuem

Grammy Barb, Mom, and I went to the Nature Museum on Thursday. Grammy is still in a sling from her shoulder operation, but was able to keep me from crawling off the bench in the butterfuly enclosure so mom could snap a picture. Not only did we explore the butterfly area, but hung out in the kids area. I had a great time playing. Thanks for coming out Grammy, get well soon!

Butterflies!

What is under here?

Scenes from a Chicago street

Here we are earlier this week, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. You can really see Mama's freckles in the second photo. I also look puzzled about something, maybe wondering what Dad was doing with the camera.

Being a (not quite) toddler

We had a fun long weekend of partying outside, hanging out, and relaxing. I have been a little fussy at times given that I am getting my molars. Ouch!! Mom and Dad like the fact that it is making me a bit more cuddly than usual and less squirmy, especially right after naps.

I also mastered a new trick over the weekend. Climbing up the slide at the park all the way to the top. I practiced as much as I could and let Dad be the spotter while mom waited at the top of the slide. It was super fun! No pictures to post, but mom will try to take more soon.

My 1st haircut

The picture above shows me in all my long-haired glory. (The mad scientist look as Grandpa Bill says). Well, Mom and Dad apparently thought I needed a haircut, so Dad gave me one last night. See, no more hair in my eyes! I wriggled through the entire experience, but I am happy to say that he did not give me any cuts. In the picture below you can see my new do!

Mom thinks I look very grown up and more like a little boy than a baby now. Dad is very proud of his handiwork.

Laura (Mama) posts

The most gut-wrenching thing happened yesterday. It was only a matter of time before it happened and it finally did. I work 3 days a week at UIC, near downtown Chicago (a good ride from home). Yesterday, while I was at work, I got the call I have been dreading since I started back at work 9 months ago. My sitter calls me at 9:45 am. I see the name on the caller ID and have a knot in my stomach. You see, Joshua had been acting a little weird for about a day and a half. I chalked it up to post-birthday party letdown and over stimulation since his schedule was not normal for last weekend. Yesterday morning, he was SUPER sad. Very clingy and odd. Nothing seemed to be severely wrong, however, and so Andy dropped him off at the sitters. So when I saw her name on the caller ID I knew it was because he was sick and I was a TERRIBLE mom for going to work anyway.

Now, back to that phone call. The sitter tells me that Joshua has had 2 watery diarrhea diapers so far that morning. He also been more lethargic than usual (odd for Mr. Destructo). I freak out. I let her know that I will be there ASAP, find a few people at work to tell where I will be (since I am leaving), call the doctor, make an appointment for the afternoon, all while beating myself up for working and not being there to take care of my little guy. I had a sad and self-incriminating drive to pick him up.

When I get to her place, he looks really tired, but happier than when I left for work that morning, yay! We drive up to my folks house and chill there. He gets happier and happier and by after the afternoon nap he is his normal self again. I go to the doctor anyway, get reassurance that he will be fine and to be careful what I feed him for a few days and make sure he doesn't get a temperature. So overall it turned out OK. Last night he was back to squirming and discovering everything to make a mess in our house again.

I am sure there will be many incidents like this in the future as I balance being a working mom. I am trying not to beat myself up about this and feel blessed to have such a conscientious caregiver, great family, and flexible and mostly understanding work. But oh, I was so sad :(.

Urban Cowperson birthday fun

So what is with the PCness of the title? Well, mom is too lazy to type out both cowboy and cowgirl as I got to celebrate this fun day with my girl Annikah!

I had a great time hanging out with family and friends. My uncles Tom and Jon even came in for the occasion. I didn't remember who they were at first, but I warmed up to them as you can see.

Although it was cloudy, we didn't get rain until after the party. Mom keeps telling me she can't believe I'm already 1! She tells me I have changed a lot and she and Dad love me more all the time. Praise God for a great birthday party and a fun time!

Over two weeks since an update, oy!

Never fear loyal readers and fans of Joshua, we will be updating again soon. Our home computer broke so we did not have the ability to download cute pictures or write about my adorable exploits. New pictures will be posted after this weekend, when I celebrate turning one with Annikah, family and friends!

Another milestone passed

As of last weekend, I have officially gone off the bottle. Mom forgot a bottle when we went up to Minnesota to visit family (stay tuned for that posting), so she and Dad decided to see how I did drinking out of a sippy cup for milk as well as water. Pretty well as it turns out as she has now banished all bottles to a distant unknown land.

Storytime in the park

Yesterday afternoon mom and me met up with Charlotte and Nicole for Storytime in the Park. There were people telling a story (see above), but Charlotte and I didn't pay too much attention. Insted we had a blast standing up using the stroller and sharing food. Okay, okay, we didn't so much share as I mooched from her!

Fun day in Carol Stream

This morning, instead of napping in my crib, I got plopped in the car and we drove until I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a strange place. Mom and Dad called it "Carol Stream".

We went on this epic treck to support family friends the Ovitts, Mom-Jessa, Dad-Nathan, friend-Kiah, as they dedicated Kiah to God at their church. They go to a small church so I got to dance with Mom and Dad as they sang to God. Then I was dropped off in the dreaded nursery. It was very different from First Free, as I was the ONLY baby there (the aforementioned Kiah was busy being dedicated)! I had the teenage girls there eating out of my hand :). After the service we enjoyed a great potluck with the church to celebrate the special day.

Aside: Mom is still bad about not keeping a camera handy AT ALL TIMES, how many times do I need to remind her? It is a miracle she has any pictures of me ;)

These are a few of my favorite things...

Mom is getting all nostalgic now that I am 11 months old. So, she wanted to document a few of my favorite things at this age.

Me with my favorite stuffed animal "Da Bunny"

My favorite book

Pictures from Summer 07

Here are some photos from different activities in Summer 2007. Mom will be updating this album periodically.

4th of July, I like it!

Last year on the 4th of July, I was in mom's tummy. I would have come out sooner if I knew how fun it could be! We had a party at Grandma and Grandpa Bridges' without them (they were travelling and I missed them!). It was a lot of fun. I had a bunch of friends over, crawled around the yard, played with the water table, and overall had a blast. Then, the best part of the day happened. After a nap, I went to a parade! Not only did a I get to hang out with cool people, but I got to see innumerable fire trucks and floats. What fun! Thanks to all who partied down with me, I even stole a kiss from Charlotte Foster!

Waiting for the party to begin with Dad

Giving Charlotte some love


Mom's friend Jessa and my friend Kiah

At the parade with friends

The Zoo!

On Saturday I took my first trip to a zoo, although I was more interested in looking at the people than the animals. I went with mom, dad, and their friends Hunter and Christen. I had to pretend to be their child so the family could get in for free, but that wasn't so bad, because they are nice. After the zoo, we went to their house to play for a bit. I had a really fun time playing with the ValPak coupons. Mom and Dad didn't get any pictures of me, but I had all the coupons spread out in a nice even layer on the floor!

Mom and me by the elephant enclosure.

The whole family by the underwater dolphin viewing area.

Big day in the City

So, Monday was a big day of Firsts for me.

My first el ride, which was pretty fun, although waiting on the Jeff Park Platform in between the Kennedy is pretty scary. Here I am chilling out once we got on the El.

Then I went to my very first Indian restaurant and hung out with mom's friends from work. They were saying goodbye to some of her co-workers and I had a blast playing with them, especially Manu!

I like getting out and about and hope mom and dad take me more places soon.

Father's Day

This year for Father's day, we went to Grammy Barb's and Grandpa Bill's. I spent a lot of time playing around in the yard while the grownups made lunch and generally adored me. At one point, I discovered a long green rope-looking thing. See at right.








However, after a while, my leg started to get wet. I was wondering what was going on and got quite upset. I decided to let all the grownups know my displeasure. It will be a while before I play with that toy again!

Mama too busy

My mama has been so busy lately, I am starting to run amok!

Busy weekend

We had such a fun time this weekend (although we were very busy).

On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Studee and Uncle Paul came down for a visit, then I took my parents out to a friends birthday party. Mom made me wear a hat at the party since it was outside. Later in the afternoon we chilled in the back yard. I went exploring and tried to eat the grass, but mom and dad kept stopping me.

On Sunday after church we visited my new friend Isaac! Mom and Dad got to visit a little bit with his parents, Kate and Zach. As soon as he gets a bit older, I am going to show him how to get in trouble!

Coming soon

Video documentation of my crawling/scootching skills!

Mother's Day 2007

Here I am with Mom on our very first mother's day outside of the womb. We had a blast playing with Grammy Barb and Grandpa Bill and Grandpa Chuck. I missed you Grandma Donna! Come play again soon.

I love Mama and Daddy!

Here are some fabulous pictures my girlfriend's mom took of me.

Dedication

Last Sunday Andy and I dedicated Joshua to the Lord at church. It was a really meaningful time for us to declare in front of our families and our church family our desire to raise Joshua to know God and follow him. We truely can only do it with His help! We are so blessed by our church and families and hope that Joshua feels that way too. Here is a picture of our little guy all dressed up for the occasion. He is our little newsie!