O Christmas Tree

I think Christmas trees were the highlight of the season for Joshua! We had 4 Christmas celebrations with family, and I think he spent about 95% of the time we weren't eating in front of (or underneath) the Christmas trees. I think the other 5% of the time he was trying to get to the Christmas tree. It wasn't even that he really cared about the ornaments or the gifts...he loved the lights! I don't think he really played with any of his new toys when there was a Christmas tree in sight. This really surprised me, since he cried the entire time we were putting our tree up. It will be interesting to see if he loves them as much next year!

We Are Still Here!!

I know it seems like I should have gotten some Christmas pictures posted already, but life has been super hectic in the Asbeck household. Christmas was great, but had us pretty busy. Then, Joshua got an ear infection right after Christmas. That meant fussy, feverish baby for a couple of days. Now he has gotten some type of mystery rash that the nurse at first told me was probably a yeast infection due to the antibiotics. Now another nurse says it is probably a reaction to the antibiotics (though not an allergic reaction) & should probably go away...eventually! Needless to say, if he is still dealing with this on Wednesday, we are going to see the doctor. I have also been preparing to go back to work part-time for the tax season. This was unexpected, as I had not planned to work this tax season. I was called the week before Christmas and asked to come back. Now, I just need to clean up the house from all of the chaos! The other reason we don't have pictures posted is a compatibility problem with our camera & Vista. Hopefully we will get our old computer set up again & pull the pictures from our camera that way until we get a new camera that will actually work with Vista.

Christmas at the Zoo

We went & watched the animals get their Christmas presents at the zoo.



You can't really tell, but that is a river otter in the water.

Merry Christmas!!

The white tiger enjoyed getting his gifts.

The lion also celebrated his birthday. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to him during this picture, and it seemed like he liked it!

Belle

Belle enjoys testing out Joshua's Christmas presents. They may have some fights over this one!

Sleeping Baby

This is his favorite sleeping position these days....so cute!!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Thanksgiving Pictures

These are a bit late. You can tell that Belle is thrilled about having her picture made...especially since she is having to stand on a bench!

My Biggest Supporter

He really loves these trivets from Southern Living at HOME. He gets really excited about all of the products, but the iron trivets are pretty much the only thing I let him hold. I will have to get him on video....it is really funny to see how excited he gets about this stuff!

Where did my fruit go??

The little one already seems to be finding ways to get around eating things he doesn't want....other than just throwing food on the floor, which he is quite good at. He had been in a rut where he only wanted peaches, pears & pineapples. And of course that has now changed. After he turned his head to peaches yesterday at lunch, I pulled out some pears. He wouldn't touch them, so I put one in the bowl that he was playing with. As I was picking up other things that he had thrown to the floor (cup, spoon, food, etc), I realized the pear was gone. I thought I had tricked him! So, I put another pear in his bowl, and in a few minutes it was gone too. When I picked him up from his booster seat after lunch, I found two pears in his seat & a big wet spot on his pants where he had been sitting on them. I had forgotten about his little trick of sticking things under himself while he eats. Usually I see him do it & he just smiles at me as I pull whatever food (& sometimes the spoon) back out from under him. Its great to be outsmarted by a one year old!

Speed Dial

I should preface this with the fact that I know nothing about how to operate my cell phone beyond just making phone calls. The most advanced thing I do is use voice recognition to make calls without dialing...and usually that doesn't work out so well. For example, I say "Call John Mobile 1" and my phone says "Calling Parents Home"??? It always frustrates me!

Joshua, like most babies, has a fascination with my cell phone. He has loved to play with it for months, which has never been a problem. Until this week, that is. He learned to open it & is always turning up the ring volume or turning it to silent; turning on the camera; or turning on the voice recognition. Over the weekend, he called my brother, but we couldn't figure out how he did it. Then, he called my dad's work number and John's work number. After about 3 days, I finally saw him hold down a button & then the display said "calling Jason Mobile"...that's how I learned I had speed dial. It was cute at first, but then this morning, he called John's cell phone while John was at Bible study & had forgotten to turn his cell phone off. I thought I had caught it in time, but John said it rang once. Later in the morning, Joshua called my doctor's office (obviously, I have no idea which speed dial number corresponds to each number on my contact list or how they ended up in that order). At that point, I sat down & figured out how to lock the keypad. Now he can play with my phone all he wants without calling everyone!

Birthday

A couple of pictures from his actual birthday.

I think the blocks were really for John! That's ok though....we bought a zoo membership for me.

Birthday Party!

Here's the birthday boy!

We opted for the cupcake since he throws most food on the floor. He was more interested in the flame than the cupcake at first!

I feel like I need to explain what he is sitting on....my mom says it looks like some sort of torture device! He hates his high chair, so we moved him to a booster seat a while back. I have to cover the seat cushion with a towel because he likes to stick his hands in yogurt & then rub them on the cushion. We also have to put a pillow behind the booster seat because he likes to throw his head back & the back of the chair is metal. So, it looks ridiculous but it works!

The cupcake ended up in the floor, as did the second cupcake! He did enjoy the frosting though.

Enjoying his new ride!

Pumpkin Carving

This year I decided to try to carve a pumpkin with something more than just triangle eyes & a crooked smile. I had never attempted this before because I thought it would be really hard...until John told me that I just needed to download a pattern. So, the above picture is what I ended up with. There were some mistakes, but I thought it was pretty good, overall. That is, it was pretty good for about 3 days & then the middle of the carving fell in, so all I had left was "We me"....not what I was going for! So, we had to throw the pumpkin out before Halloween! I'll try again next year!

October Playgroup

Our playgroup got together today and took pictures in their Halloween outfits! Being the scatter-brained mom that I am these days, I forgot my camera. Thanks to Megan for the great pictures!

The moms & babies!

He looks like he is on the prowl.

Playing sweet together.

That is quite a pumpkin patch! I'm not sure if they were entertained where they were or if they were looking for an escape route!

These 3 look like they are up to something...maybe about to try some pumpkin!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch this weekend & had so much fun!

Joshua was fascinated with the pumpkins & loved touching them.

Look at all of the pumpkins!

We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch & found the perfect pumpkin!

Our little lion drew quite a crowd. He wasn't so sure about that many people watching him.

Special Delivery....

The whole family got excited when I received my starter kit from Southern Living at HOME. I think Joshua thought this box was a car just for him! He scooted it all over the floor. He had so much fun while I opened everything!

Like father, like son! As you can tell by Joshua's expression, he loved playing race with his Daddy in the boxes! We all laughed so hard. The funniest part was when John was ready to get out of his box but realized he was stuck! It took me forever to stop laughing so that I could help him get out.

New Business

I have recently become an Independent Consultant for Southern Living at HOME. The company sells home decor, pottery, ironworks, cookbooks, etc. You can view my website, www.southernlivingathome.com/chris2007, for decorating ideas, recipes, information on becoming a hostess or consultant, or to view our online catalog. I am launching my business with a party at my home on Thursday, November 1st. If you would like to place an order online for that party, you can do so by November 2nd by clicking on the "Our Products" link, then "How to Purchase". I am excited about this new opportunity and love the products that are offered!

Finally Blogging

So, after months of discussing whether or not to blog, we have decided that we should. I think I may be the only one around that doesn't blog...John has a blog that he has posted on a few times. This is mainly to share pictures & random stories with friends and family.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

I'm pretty sure this wasn't the intended use for this, but it is the way Joshua likes to use it!

And John wonders what I do all day!

Trying on his Halloween costume....such a cute little lion!

We spent some time at the park this weekend during a family reunion.

Joshua loves to point at everything...trees are his favorite right now.