We are back from a very successful trip to St. Louis(Belleville, IL)! We drove there on Sunday and we got back Thursday evening and on Tuesday afternoon we had signed a contract for our new house!! We're very excited and while we were there, Josh started trying to stand by himself. These 4 pictures sort of show how he tries to do it. He starts off reclined, leaning back on his hands...it's kinda funny because he looks like he's just chillin!! Then he rolls over his ankles, gets on his knees, and then puts his behind in the air!!! :) This is also quite entertaining and tonight he pulled himself up onto his feet by himself....I really feel like he is changing so quickly!! In the last two weeks he has started to pick up finger food to feed himself, crawled for the first time, pulled himself up, has 6 teeth now, and still really won't take a nap during the day!! We are trying to enjoy every minute though and it is very nice having Eric around for the next two months or so before he starts his intern year!!

Well, after I did the post where Josh isn't crawling and gets around in his own way....he decides to start crawling!! :) He crawled for the first time Tuesday morning...he was heading towards the remote for the tv(something I don't let him play with)!! He has been crawling a little bit more each day, but I can't seem to time it right with my camera....so, I don't have pictures yet!! But I will soon!! These are just of his teething drool!!

Josh now knows what the camera is!!! He hears me turn it on and looks up...so, the first picture is him staring at me while I'm holding the camera!! The last three pictures are from last Thursday. It was the national match day for all 4th year med school students where they find out where they 'matched' for their residency program. I liken it to rushing a frat/sorority in college....you put down your prefs and the programs put down who they want and then a computer matches them all together!! We of course already knew where we were going, but we still went because it would be one of the last times Eric's whole class would be together and we got to see some people we haven't seen in awhile and they got to meet Josh too!! It would have been really stressful though...they had everyone's name on an envelope up on a table and right at noon they had everyone go and find their envelope!! The envelope had a letter saying where you would be spending the next 3 to 7 years of your life!! Anyways...it was really fun and Josh slept through the whole thing, but woke up when we were leaving!! The last picture is me with Kristin and Becca...Kristin's husband matched and we will be visiting them in North Carolina!!! and Becca, well, she and her husband have to put up with us for another 3 years in St. Louis!! :)

New bath toy!!! Now that Josh is pushing himself up and sitting up all on his own, his old bath cushion wasn't really working. I loved that product so much that I went and found this one from the same company and Josh really loves it!!! I don't think he'll be falling asleep much in the bathtub any more!!! He's also getting more hair...as you can see in the first picture....I had a little fun with him and made spikes out to the side and on top!! Oh..and his two front teeth are finally coming in too!!! Not much else going on...we're just getting excited to go on our first house hunting trip to St. Louis in a couple of weeks and the weather is getting warmer!! :)

How does Josh get around??? Well, if you are wondering if he has started to crawl...um, no, however he has found his own way of getting to where he wants to go!! I'm not sure what to call it, but he started doing it because he really does not like to be on his stomach. We put him on it and he immediately rolls over onto his back, goes into his 'arch', and then starts scooting around on his head!! :) I realized that we had not taken pictures of this and really wanted to so I could show him one day that he does things in his own time and way!!! :) Since he does it everyday it became nothing new to us, but then I thought that yall would like to see it as well!!! The third picture is him flapping his arms as he scoots and I think the last picture is a good depiction of him on his head!! It really is hilarious to watch!!

These pictures were taken on his 8 month birthday!! He was just hanging out that night while I played around with my camera! The one with him looking up and clapping was for the fan that I turned on and the last picture he is actually laying down!!

8 month birthday!!! Well, these pictures actually weren't taken today...but I still really like them!! In fact, I've had major issues with my camera/sd memory card today..so, I had taken some really good ones, but then my card decided to go on strike and become 'unsupported' by my camera...whatever!! So, after many heated battles between me and the card, I lost. However, these were taken, I think last week...and I will post some from today, hopefully tomorrow!! All is good with us though...Joshua is even more fun today than yesterday...and I believe will be crawling or as they say, 'furniture walking' soon. (and no, that doesn't mean walking on furniture as I first thought it sounded) It's hanging on to furniture and walking!! :)