Time to Leave!!

It is 3:57 a.m. and I am just waiting for the alarm to go off so Steve will wake up and I can take a shower. I am so excited that I woke up over a half an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep. We have to be out of here by 5:00 so we can get to the airport at 6:15. Our flight for Chicago leaves at 7:40. We will fly to Anchorage from Chicago and get there around 1:15 p.m. their time. This is exciting!! Somehow we managed to fit all of our stuff for a week into 3 suitcases and 3 carryons, one carryon which will be eliminated once our human garbage disposal disposes of the food we are taking for him! Pray that we will have a safe trip. I will try to keep you updated!!

So long for now!!

Alaska...here we come!

Tomorrow morning bright and early we are leaving for Alaska. Steve's stepmom is turning 70 next week and for her birthday they are taking everyone one a cruise! How silly is that?? I thought we were the ones that were supposed to buy the present!! I am not complaining though and I am very grateful for the opportunity.
After much time spent shopping for the right formal dress, backpack, pants, etc. I think I am finally ready to start putting it all into a suitcase. So far, my piles of clothes aren't that extremely massive. My goal is to take just one big suitcase, even if it has to be the biggest one!
As for the boy, well, I spent the morning pulling out his winter clothes for next year and trying them on him to see which ones may fit for the trip. Some of them are a little big, but they will have to do since all of his other pants are a wee bit small! I am definitely not investing in pants that he will wear for a week and then outgrow! He is eating almost all table foods now.(He had pizza last night and loved it!!), so that is a good thing. I don't know how we would carry enough food for him to eat for a week. We do have to take food for the trips up there and back, and that is enough!!
Well, it is back to laundry and packing....there are computers on the cruise ship so I will try to update every now and then!! (Just for you Sarah and Kim!! Kim, that means you need to leave me a comment!! haha)
Ciao!!

Strawsipper

After an incredibly busy week that started off with two doctors appointments on Monday, with a little bit of time at Steve's office answering the phones squeezed in between, buying a new washer and dryer (and this is just Monday), followed by more work at the office, an eye doctor's appointment, a playdate with an old friend and her four kids, dinner with the pastor and his wife, dinner with a friend, shopping for formal clothes for the cruise, and getting ready for my parents retirement party and actually having the retirement party....
... I was able to sit down with the boy tonight and feed him some steamed broccoli and carrots. It was rather enjoyable. I could relax and sing him silly songs and make faces at him without having to worry about what was the next thing on my list. After a while, he got tired of the broccoli, so I decided to make his meal a bit more interesting by giving him water from a straw. We learned a while back that he loves it when you stick a straw in water, put your finger on top of the straw to hold it there, and then let it go into his mouth. I did this a few times, and then I decided not to take my finger off the straw and see if he could figure out how to get the water out by sucking on it. He did! So, the next step was to put the straw in the cup and see if he could drink from it. Sure enough, after a few seconds of just chewing on the straw, I felt the coolness of the water go up the straw. Josiah had so much fun and you could tell he was so proud of himself! By the time he was finished he had consumed a whole glass of water!!
Of course, afterwards we had to put him on the potty to see if he would go. Let me just say, he got a treat tonight!! :)

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

Josiah turned one today. We had such fun. Steve's parents have been here since Saturday so they could be here for the special event. We decided to have a small party today to celebrate his birthday with just us and the grandparents. He is having his big party on Saturday. He was being quite the ham today. I almost think he understood that today was a special day.

We started off with a his cake that I made for him. It was a almond cornbread pound cake with a mascarpone cream filling and strawberries on top. (No, Sarah, it was not from the Food Network. It was MarthaStewart.com!! haha) Basically, it was just a fancy strawberry shortcake. And it was very tasty!! We did manage to get a quick picture of Josiah with it before he decided to dig in. It is the only picture I managed to take of it whole and it is a little blurry

His favorite part was the strawberries on top. There were five whole medium-sized strawberries. He picked them off, one by one, and ate them whole. Here is a funny picture of one stuffed in his mouth. (Once again, it is blurry.)

He did eat a bite or two of the cake, but he wasn't too interested in eating it.

It was more fun to take the cake, mush it up, and smear it around on the high chair tray. He was pretty hard to get cleaned up after this. I think he is still a little greasy feeling!

After a quick cleanup, it was on to the present. My parents already had give us his present - a toybox. We had it set up in the living room. He loves to open and shut the lid. It is amazing how the littlest things can entertain them for the longest time.

Here is a picture of Josiah with Nana and Papaw and the toy box.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown (Steve's mom and stepdad) gave Josiah a book and some big legos. They were a hit too!

Here is a picture of Josiah with Grandma and Grandpa and the amazing lego tower he built.

Oh wait, were the legos really for Josiah, or were they more for Steve?? :)

Steve and I gave him a little grand piano. He loved it!! I am so excited and hope he will be interested in music someday.

My little Schroeder!

And, yes, I did take all the pictures and that is why I am not in any. But I am on the video that Steve took! :)

Success (times two)

After the peeing incident, I went out and bought Josiah a potty. It is really cute. It is called the Royal Throne. When you pee in it, it rewards you with music. At first he realy didn't like to sit on it, but now he really seems to enjoy sitting there. He sings songs to himself and makes the "sssss" sound. (We are actually making that sound to try to get him to pee, but he just repeats it back to us. What a copycat!)

Monday night, we put him on the potty. I told Steve he should turn the water on. That is what they always do in the doctors office when they want you to pee in a cup. So Steve turned the water on, and ta da....there came the music. I was so excited. I am sure Josiah had no idea what was going on.

We tried it again yesterday, without the water. Success once more. This time he heard the music playing. I think after a few times he might get the idea of what he is supposed to do. I am sure he will not be potty trained in the next couple of months, but maybe this will help heighten his awareness of it.

Well, I am off to work on birthday dinner....the mister is one today! Unbelievable. More on that later....

Overambitious. Maybe just a little.

So you know those mother's that try to get their kids to learn everything and do everything early. Well, typically, I am not one of those. I do try to teach Josiah things and help his development along, but I am not obsessive about it. Usually. After talking with a friend the other day who had two little boys, I decided to try to start making Josiah aware that he is going to have to use a potty. She said that if you start using the language with him and then show him how to sit on the potty, it makes it a lot easier. So, that is what I started doing about once a day. Yesterday, I was feeding Josiah breakfast when I realized that he was using the bathroom in his diaper. I quickly grabbed him out of his high chair, ran to the bathroom, whipped the diaper off and sat him on the toilet. I was concientious enough to make sure that Mr. Winky was pointed down.

Josiah used the bathroom in the potty.
It successfully went between the seat and the toilet and all over me.

We bought a potty chair yesterday with a guard.
That is what I get for being overambitious.

"Tish!! Tish!!"

The monster has come and gone and my sweet son has finally returned. For those of you who know Josiah, you might be thinking that he is always a sweet child. Well, I wish I could say that was true, but for a couple of very LONG days I wasn't sure I would ever see that sweet child again. You see, I made a BIG mistake. I have been trying to convert him over to eating table food. We are going on an Alaskan cruise at the end of the month and didn't really feel like lugging eight days worth of baby food in my luggage so that he would have something to eat. (Just so you know, on a typical day, Josiah can eat 8 containers of baby food, not including snacks.) I figure, if I could get him eating table food, there would be plenty of options on the cruise to pick from. So, I did what every normal mother does, give their child different foods to try. He has had tomatoes, mushrooms, peas, green beans, and all kinds of fruit. He absolutely loves spaghetti! Then I gave him goldfish. You know, those little cheese crackers that are shaped like fish. All kids eat them, and they are fine. There must be something in them that affected my son temporarily. They turned him into a fish eating monster. He refused to eat his meals. "Tish!", he would say and fuss until I gave him some. "Tish!", he said when I went to get him up from his nap. There were wails and tears when he ran out of them at the swimming pool. In between his anger and frustration, you could clearly hear him calling, "Tish!!" Enough is enough. We could not take it anymore. Steve banned me from giving him anymore "Tish" until he got over his addiction. After a couple of days in rehab, I am happy to say that our son is no longer a "Tish" addict. He now eats his meals and when he is finished he gets some "Tish" as a reward if he eats all of his food. He doesn't scream when they are gone, but just makes the all done sign and smiles. Look at this smiling face. Who would have known those little crackers could make someone so happy(or turn them into such a terrible monster!).

Enough is enough!

Okay, it has officially been over two weeks since I last posted something. I know I have driven Sarah nuts as she checks often for an update and there is....nothing! So here goes. Quick update and quick look ahead. The last couple of weeks has been a blur. Lesson plans. Cleaning house. Trip to the mountains. Swimming. Steve's birthday. With that all in the past I now have to look forward to the following over the next couple of weeks: Cleaning house. Mother-in-law and Stepfather-in-law visit. Sister-in-law and brother-in-law and nephew visit (x2). Josiah's birthday. Josiah's birthday party. My parents retirement party. Getting out invitations for the aforementioned parties. Poker party. ("I'm all in!!") Cleaning out the pantry. Trying to catch up on Josiah's scrapbook. It is just crazy.

Hopefully in the midst of all this craziness I will find time to post some new material, much more funny and interesting than today's. But for now, I am off to try to knock some tasks off my list. Time is short. I have to make the most of it!