Sixteen Months!

Joshua turned 16 months on Sunday!  Every month I think to myself how fast time is passing.  Joshua is now walking pretty fast - almost trying to run.  He loves for us to chase him while he just giggles away.  He goes so fast that often he falls so he's slowly learning to balance.  We've gone through many bumps and bruises and his first scraped knee.
He babbles a lot and his new word is "up."  Sometimes he responds to a question by saying "yeah."  He recognizes and understands most of what we are saying.  For instance, if we tell him to go get his puppy and put it on his car, he will do just that.  If we tell him to bring us the green ball, he goes and gets it.
Joshua is amazing at playing ball.  He can pick up a big beach ball, hold it in the air, and throw it back to us. 
He also loves the pool.  We've only taken him twice, since he got sick the first time. 
I'll post some pics and finish writing his milestones soon.
 

One more month of activities!

Joshua turned 15 months on June 17 and has been walking more than crawling now.  He even tries to run when he gets excited.  At his 15 mo. appt., we found out he has grown another inch and is now 30 in. while he's only gained an ounce since his 12 month appt.  He is my little skinny boy, just like his Daddy!

Steve and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on the 18th and we decided to have dinner at Kenichi downtown.  Can't believe we've been married for 6 years!  And now we have our little Jub-Jub walking around here!
The 19th was Father's Day and Joshua gave Steve a heartfelt card that made his Daddy tear up a little.  Then we had a nice lunch with Mom and Dad and we all watched the golf tournament.

The June 24th weekend we left for Dallas to attend Makayla's 1st B-day party.   Makayla looked too cute in her pink outfit and she seemed to be having fun with all her friends and family.  They had lots of food, a margarita machine, bounce house, and a snow cone machine that Steve and Jason ended up running :)   Unfortunately, Joshua was teething and had a rash and was just not himself.  He still had fun once we went outside and he could walk around everywhere.

We met Jason and Shawn on Friday evening in midtown at Urban Taco.  Weasel and some of his friends met us later and we hung around till 11:00.  My poor parents had trouble putting Joshua to sleep that night because he kept looking for us and Joshua finally fell asleep at 9:45.

Joshua had lots of fun playing with Ammachi and Appachan.  We also were able to meet Julie, Sunil's girlfriend.  They came down to attend Troy's wedding reception.  Joshua even let Julie hold him right before we left. 

The following weekend was the July 4th weekend and Austin banned all fireworks due to the burn ban.  This summer has been one of the hottest summers since I've been here.  We decided to go up to Houston on Sat. and we had a relaxing weekend with Dave and Siji going to a few restaurants and church on Sun. We also got to visit with our dear friends Abby and Tim and meet their 10 month old George.  Joshua loved playing with their dog and would giggle every time the dog would try to lick him. We left back on Mon. morning and spent our 4th of July inside since it was way too hot for anything else. 

Dave and Siji came up to see us this past weekend since Siji was taking her oral exam so we got to see them back to back weekends.  Fri night we went to Suzanne's 30 b-day party and Sat. I attended her shower.  Dave and Siji left after watching a great game of women's World Cup soccer. 

More Walking with Joshua

Not only has Joshua started walking everywhere but he's also talking more; he said "bath" as we were getting him ready for his nightly ritual.  And just yesterday he let me brush his teeth.  What amazed me the most was that when I said "Is Joshua ready to brush his teeth?" he put his hand in his mouth.  He understands so much of what we say. 
I do love watching him walk because he hunches his shoulders and his arms are placed outward for balance; he looks like Frankenstein walking :)

Hope you like the video.

Too many steps to count!

Joshua is taking lots of steps now!  He'll walk till he loses his balance and then fall to his knees.  Its just funny to see him waddle along and mumble his baby talk.  Along with truck, car, and bubble, he said 'book' today, though he was pointing at his puzzle :)
He has been sick this past week - only the 2nd time since he's been born and we think its a direct result from getting in the pool for the first time on Sunday.  On a brighter note, he has slept in his crib for a whole week!  I still wake up several times during the night but I feel like I'm getting more rest since he's not in the bed with us.

Here are some pics of the pool and a video of Joshua walking!

Slowly learning to walk

This past week Joshua took 2 steps many times - the first time was when Steve was holding his baby Bible book and he just stood up and took 2 steps towards him.

Today, he took 5 steps in the kitchen and we can tell he's about to start walking soon!  Hopefully, we won't have to worry about more knee holes in his pants!

Dave and Siji came to see us this past Memorial Day weekend  and we had fun mostly hanging out and relaxing.  There was some outlet shopping and golfing accomplished - (you can guess who did what :)  We also went to Sam's Boat for dinner on Sat. where we sat on the patio.  The breeze was perfect and Joshua seemed to enjoy eating gumbo and fries.

Joshua didn't do so well on his 2nd visit to the church nursery on Sun.  When we came to pick him up, someone was holding him and he had his pacifier in his mouth.  Apparently, he hung out by the door crying and waiting for us to come back.  He doesn't realize that he'll have to do this every Sunday!

14 months and growing!

Joshua turned 14 months old last week and he had a big milestone on that day:  he took his first step.  We were outside by the playscape encouraging him to come to us and he took that step.  We were very excited and of course he thought it was funny that we were making such a big deal of it.  Since then, he's repeated it a couple of times but now when I'm encouraging him to walk, he just laughs at me, drops to his knees, and starts crawling.  My coworkers keep telling me to leave him alone and he'll start walking.   He' so close - he will stand from sitting without holding anything and just stand there for about 5  to 10 seconds.  But as of now, just the one step.

Joshua also went to his first Round Rock Express baseball game on Friday.  It was Family Day at Steve's work and his coworkers hadn't seen Joshua since October.   Joshua loved the playscape, though I had to pull him under the covered pavillion because it rained several times.  Amanda, Steve's coworker, was able to hold and play with Joshua for a while as we ate our burgers and hotdogs.  Joshua also enjoyed a little bit of hotdog.  We later sat on the burn and watched the game until about 8:20 when our little one started rubbing his eyes.

On Saturday, Joshua got his 2nd professional haircut and I have to say he looks so cute.  Of course, he fussed and cried throughout the whole cut.   I felt bad for the stylist though it was the same lady so she is now used to him.
Later that evening, we went to Torchy's Tacos.  Can't believe it took us six years to make it to this place.  Hands down the best tacos I've had in a long time.  I think we'll be going every week till we finally get tired of it.  It was a tight squeeze with Joshua so maybe we'll sit outside or do the drive-thru next time.

On Sunday, we dropped him off at the church nursery - another first.  We haven't sat inside the sanctuary  in a long time so it was nice to try to listen to the service.  I'll admit that I had trouble concentrating because all I could think of was my baby Joshua with a bunch of strangers.  I kept looking at my watch to see how much longer we had in the service.
When we went to pick him up, he was sitting in a chair at the table and apparently sat there most of the time.  (I think because he didn't know how to get down from the chair.)  They said he didn't cry, just sat and played with whatever toys they put in front of him.
Later that day, our friend Kavi and her fiance Subin came to see us from Dallas.  Joshua had a great time playing with them and his new keyboard. 

Florida without Joshua

This post is a week late but we needed a week to recover from Florida :)  We left Joshua with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend to fly to Florida to attend Madhu's wedding.  Initially, I was sad to leave but I knew I had nothing to worry about.

After you've traveled with an infant, you really appreciate traveling without one.  We had gone on so many trips before Joshua was born but this one I felt like we really appreciated.  Every moment was relished from getting through security to attending the reception without having to worry about the next bottle or nap time. 

We got to Florida around 3:00 on Friday and Jason and Shawn took us straight to Beach Place where I got an island mojito (not that great) and then went to Casablanca Cafe where we had a great dinner.  We walked out on the beach afterwards and got some good pics.  We then relaxed at the Jacobs where Vinod, Daison and Anita came later to hang out.  I did not feel well that night from whatever we had to eat but I weathered through.
Though we went to bed around 1:00 - I let everyone know I just wanted 8 hours of sleep since Joshua hasn't been sleeping well lately.

The next morning, after a great night of sleep, we had chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and muffins.  Shawn and I took forever to schedule our hair appt.   We then went to eat these glorified hot dogs at a gas station that the Jacobs and Vinod swore by and yes they really were from a gas station.  But the hot dogs had bacon bits, cheese, potato chips, jalapenos and some kind of chimichurri sauce.  I had to admit they were pretty good.

We then got our hair done and then went to the Marriot hotel where we were checked in for the night.  Steve and Jason had funny stories about dodging the wedding party.  We then got ready for the reception which was in about 2 hours.  We met everyone downstairs in the courtyard where the cocktail hour had begun.  It was just a beautiful area with the beach closeby and the courtyard surrounded by palm trees.  They had great appetizers and we had fun socializing.  We met Hannah, Gavin, and Peyton for the first time and Hannah even let me hold her.
I was able to also meet Gibi, Madhu's wife and they were able to spend some time talking to us at the reception.  Since I wore high heels, by midnight, I was ready to go upstairs to the room.
Shawn joined me 15 minutes later and the guys came up around 2:00.  We all slept in the next day.  We made our calls to our moms on Mothers Day and I could not wait for my baby to give me a kiss later that day. 

We went to breakfast at a place that reminded me of Hula Hut in Austin and the Jacobs left to go pick up Lincoln and Austin.  Steve and I relaxed on the beach under a cabana for an hour and then got ready to check out at 1:00.  We finally saw Austin and took a stop for some gelatto before heading to the airport.
Had a great trip in Florida but I was so ready to see my Joshua.  We got back and he crawled right to me which made me feel so much better.  For Mother's Day I got what Joshua knew I wanted for a long time - Pajama Jeans!!!    Thanks Joshua for the privilege of being your mother!