A Variety of Short Films

Joshua's first steps. 

Joshua and a balloon. 

Peek-a-Boo

1...2...3... JUMP!

APRIL

Chronologically they are backwards again... but I did figure out how to write captions between each of the pictures.

Chunky cheeks

Easter picture with mommy

Joshua on Easter morning. (Yes, I will use this for blackmail)

Joshua's Favorite Song

I sang this song to Joshua pretty much from the day he came home from the hospital. As you can tell he enjoyes it!!

March Madness

(Notice the bald spot in the back of his head from spending too much time on his back)
March brought Dr. Seuss' birthday! We celebrated by wearing our t-shirts. I have one with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Joshua had two shirts for the day. His Horton Hears a Who and The Cat in the Hat. I will even admit that on that day I had ham and eggs as we read some of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories.
It started to get warm enough to go outside without running back and forth to the car. We only live a block away from church so on a Wednesday afternoon for the Lenten Service I would carry Joshua up the hill in the carrier so we both could enjoy some fresh air.
Joshua's sleeping patterns changed again. He began to no sleep as well as he once did. Putting him to bed now became a project. He was eager to sleep on his stomach, but the doctor told me that until he could roll over and decide for himself that he wanted to be on his stomach I should let him fall asleep that way then turn him over, so that's what I did. My dad, step-mom, and grandma came at the end of the month. I hadn't seen family since Christmas (except via Skype) so it was a wonderful visit. They enjoyed seeing how much Joshua had grown.

"Playing Catch-up" Feburary Highlighs

I'm disappointed that I haven't been faithful in posting. I'd like to get better not only so others can see what we're up to, but also because it's nice to have a little detail about some of the pictures for myself. That being said, I'm going to try to catch up on the past few months.

I'm not very savvy when it comes to blogging so my pictures go in reverse chronologically and I have to write about them that way instead of captions underneath them. (Maybe I can get Michael to help me with some formatting things)

February was the Superbowl! Joshua was being a crab because it was getting late, but the thing that would calm him down was if he was facing the tv. It was the funniest thing. We would turn him away and he would start to cry, but if he was watching football he was happy. It was probably the moving and the noise that he found so interesting, but Michael was beaming with pride that Joshua found football so interesting.

We sent out a little Valentine to family showing off Joshua's fun smile.

Joshua started showing an interest in books. I try to read to him at least 5 min everyday. I try to let him "read" some on his own too so that he can explore how books work, look at the words, see what they taste like, that sort of thing.

Near the end of the month Joshua made the transition from bassinet in mom and dad's room to crib in his own room. I choose to make the transfer on a weekend when I didn't have to work in case I missed out on sleep. It was a pretty smooth transition for Joshua, I think I was the one who struggled more. Those first couple of nights I would wake up just to listen to the monitor to see if I could hear him breathing, if I couldn't I would sneek over to his doorway and peer in to watch his chest rise and fall.

The top picture is one of my favorites! It was taken moments before Joshua rolled over for the first time. He and I were home alone and he looked at me like I was crazy as I jumped around celebrating and congratulated him on his accomplishment.

Eight Weeks: It was a busy week!

My sister-in-law Rachel who lived with Michael and I came to visit from Tulsa, OK. She lived with us for almost two years. Rachel was here through my entire pregnancy, but received a job offer and moved a week before Joshua was born. It was great to have her and she was happy to meet Joshua.

I went back to work this past week. During the week I only worked 4 hour shifts, but over the weekend I have a full shift. The eight hour shift was much harder for me to handle. Michael stayed home with Joshua while I was away. They enjoyed the time bonding. I was a little concerned about how it would go. Before I went back to work Michael had only changed one diaper and never changed Joshua's clothes. When I arrived home Joshua was in clean clothes and a clean diaper. (Although Michael refuses to use the cloth diapers. He is happy we have disposable ones on hand.)

Today Joshua went for his two month well being check-up and immunizations. I'm not sure if he cried more or if I did. It wasn't for long, but his cries were hard to handle. He is a small little boy. He's only in the 13 percentile for weight. I thought at 10 pounds he was doing pretty well.

Week 7

Joshua is now 7 weeks old. It has been amazing to see his development so far.

He holds his head up for quite a while.
He has been blowing bubbles.
We have been enjoying the most wonderful of smiles.
He has grown out of several of his newborn clothes and is enjoying the extra leg room of the 0-3M clothes.

Last night was our first BAD night. (I have been spoiled only getting up for one feeding a night) Michael and I decided that we needed to eat better. We forgot about the fact that I am still eating for two being that I am breast feeding. I had one GASSY baby on my hands.

Joshua was extremely fussy with lots of grunting, tears, wild leg kicking. I hate the cries when he's screaming so hard he's not breathing. I felt awful. I may have shed a tear or two myself as I tried to help him get the gas out with tummy rubs, and leg exercises. We were both so tired. As the night went on and I heard the results of some Mylicon (gas relief drops) I thought we were in the clear. Today during the day I realized I was mistaken. It seems that the drops are just as hard on his system as whatever I ate.

We now have the puzzle of trying to figure out what I ate that made my son's life so horrible. Wish us luck.

Our Trip to Wisconsin

Despite our Christmas Winter Storm Michael shoveled out our car and we loaded it up.

We left on Sunday Morning December 27th. The trip took us roughly seven hours. We stopped three times, but only one was because of Joshua. He did a wonderful job in the car.

When we got to Wisconsin we had Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It was great to see my niece and nephew. They have grown so much! It was fun the watch the kids interact with one another and I am excited to see how they will act when they get older.

We got a chance to see my good friend Emily and she got to meet Joshua. It's hard to stay close with friends when we only see each other once or twice a year.

Michael, Joshua and I also made a trip to visit my grandmother. She was excited to see another one of her great-grandchildren. We had lunch with her and visited for a while.

Before we headed back to Minnesota we visited with my dad, step-mom, and my cousin Nikki. The visit was short, but sweet.

Michael and I set up a "Skype" account to keep in touch with his grandparents while we are a state away from them. Anyone interested please add us. Our screen name is: "Schottey.fam"

The drive back to Minnesota was similar to the drive to Wisconsin. Joshua was fabulous. The roads were not as good as they were on the way there. Michael did the majority of the driving and we arrived after about seven hours. I jokingly asked Michael if we needed a mini-van yet. His response was that we would only need one if it were Christmas everyday. We were truly blessed to get to spend time with family and friends for the holidays.

Joshua's First Christmas

Christmas Eve Joshua and I enjoyed the falling snow home together.

There was a winter storm warning and Michael had to work. We only have one car and Michael had it. I thought about walking to church with Joshua because we only live a block away. This would be do-able if it were a normal block and a normal amount of snow. The snow was probably about a foot deep by 7:00p and it's up a pretty steep hill. I'm not the most graceful or coordinated of people, so I decided for my safety as well as his we had better stay home. This was the first time in 22 years that I hadn't been to the Christmas Eve Service. It made me a little sad. I read a devotion and sang a Christmas hymn or two (as well as reading Luke 2) and headed off to bed.


The next morning Michael and I dug out the car to drive up one block to get to church. We were glad that they decided to start late due to the weather. We celebrated Christ's birth together with those who battled the weather. It was a beautiful service.

At home we had a very low-key day. We rented movies and just spent some time together as a family. While Joshua was awake and semi-happy we took a couple of picture before changing into some cozy jammies.

Baptism: December 20, 2009

Joshua was baptized on December 20th.

His sponsors as well as his Grandma Schottey made the trip from Michigan to witness Joshua's entrance into God's family of faith.

Joshua did very well. He opened one eye as Pastor Bovee poured the water over his head, but Joshua didn't make a sound. Then he slept through the rest of the service.

The Sunday School Christmas Service was the following service so we quickly took some pictures before proud parents and grandparents flooded the church to celebrate the message of Christ's birth from the lips of children.

Back at our house we had a nice lunch with good company. It was great to have a close group of friends and family to celebrate with.