Our first 'spring' rain???...

OK...so, this post began as something simple. The other night while Josh and Eric were putting the crib together, it started to rain pretty hard. I opened a window upstairs to let in some fresh air and the smell of rain(one of my favorite things). Anyways, Josh and Gidget LOVED the window being open and the rain started to blow in our house. Eric took some pictures of us watching the rain, feeling the wind on our faces and talking all about it....these pictures are really fun, but they lead me astray tonight... I started thinking about Josh and Gidget which in turn led me to go through all the pictures we had of them since Josh was born. Needless to say, I put together a little video of pictures of them together!! That is what led a 5 minute post into a 30 minute post...oh well....I LOVED doing it!! :)

Here's the short video...

Big Brother 'in training'....

Sometime yesterday I told Eric that we had to put the crib together now. We have about 6-7 weeks and counting until baby #2 arrives and I needed to 'see' something babyish. Well, and also to help Josh get used to the idea of the 'baby's bed' being up and that he's going to have a neighbor soon!! :) The first thing Josh did was go straight over to the turtle that we left attached and started playing with it. I believe somewhere in the recess of his mind he remembered those songs and noises. After that wore off and Eric had his tools out....Josh HAD to help and we most definitely let him. He started helping dad with the first piece and then realized that he was missing something....

He had to go get HIS tools too...he ran to his room talking about something and comes running back, carrying his tool kit...

Then Gidget came into the room and well, I think her posture and defeated look says how she's probably feeling....

But, we...or, Eric and Josh, reassembled the crib in no time and Josh points it out everytime we are upstairs now....Gidget, however, is living in denial I believe...

a BIG boy haircut...

I believe I have said to Eric that we will get Josh a 'real' haircut soon...and that started last August!! By, 'real' haircut I mean taking him in somewhere that cuts kids hair...not sitting in the bath while mom does a little trim here and there! This past Saturday, we finally took him to get the haircut...and , OH MY GOSH, there was a lot of hair cut!!! At some places, probably close to 4 inches!! We wanted to get it done partly just to see what he would look like because we always know that the hair will grow back. The weirdest part was that all the sunbleached blonde locks were the ones cut off, so his hair seems way darker now too. We took him to this place called Kiddo's Closet and Clips. We arrived a little early because we weren't sure how he'd respond to the whole environment, but our prepping him and explaining what was going to happen the week prior seemed to really help. When we were getting out of the car he kept patting his head and saying his 'hacu'(haircut)! He was acting as if we'd been holding out on him and that his long hair was driving him crazy. Which, I'm sure if he could tell us that it probably was...I always thought it tickled his ears!! :) I took this first picture Saturday morning so we would have a 'before' shot. When we walked in they gave Josh the option of 5 different chairs to sit in...well, he couldn't really make up his mind, so we made that decision for him! :) This next picture is a before shot too...there were two ladies that were there and did the whole haircut. They were so good with him...in fact, their first question to Josh was if he liked Elmo...I mean, seriously, I thought to myself this is going to go just fine!! He sat in his 'truck', watched an Elmo movie, got to eat some pretzels, and everyone was giving him all the attention!! What is there not to like...

I mean...look...does this not look like fun to sit in and get a haircut!!

The trickiest part was getting his hair wet...which, they distracted him perfectly(it's as if they do this for a living)....as you can see from this picture, Josh was thoroughly enjoying himself!! :)

Now, it's done...and the rest of the pictures are 'after' shots!!

He was happy and was VERY proud of his new 'hacu!'

This was another option to sit in...

looks a little annoyed...mom had the camera out a little bit too much by this point....

He looks like such a BIG boy now.... We're calling it his Big Brother Haircut because he looks old enough to be one!! HA

Um, yeah, I also took little video snipits while I was sitting there...

It was a great day!!!

A Visit from Pat and Madeline....

Our weekend with Pat and Madeline went by way to quickly!!! It started off kinda crazy though....they got here about 2:30 on friday, Eric was home, but I was still out picking Josh up from his MDO program. Then, as I was pulling up there was another car in front of our house and I realized that it was Amanda, the speech therapist! WHOOPS!! Completely slipped my mind that I forgot to call and cancel for last week...seriously, that term 'pregnancy brain' totally applies to me at the moment. I've heard about it, but never really believed it and thought it was just an excuse phrase to throw around. Well, not so much...in fact Eric has wondered how I've gotten through the day a couple of times(with Josh). I mean, Amanda comes every Friday at 3...not that hard to remember.....anyways, talk about a crash in on Josh's routine... He comes home from school, later than normal(mom was running behind...again, I'm usually early to pick him up), Amanda was waiting for us, then there are 2 other people in his kitchen on top of dad being home early!!! WHOA...his world was overloaded(and mine). However, we were so impressed with Josh. He handled everything so well, didn't get too thrown off, and sat with Amanda for 45 minutes doing his therapy while Pat, Madeline, and dad talked in the kitchen!! I thought about it later and realized that a year ago..that would not have been possible. Even 6 months ago he would have been running in circles and screaming trying to regulate himself. He has come such a long way with his therapy...from transitions, using his weights, social stories, keeping strictly to his routine...seeing him in this unexpected situation(thanks to mom) was so encouraging!! Ok, rambled on long enough about that...Amanda left, but then...so did Eric!! He has great luck sometimes, really he does....(can you catch my sarcasm) ;) One of his OB patients went into labor that afternoon and he had to go back to the hospital to do the delivery....SO, welcome to our world Pat and Madeline!! :) It was so funny to me. They get here and we were all over the place!!! But, that's why we love them...they are so easy going and laid back, oh, and very entertaining that it wasn't a big deal at all. The rest of the weekend revolved around food, playing with Josh, eating, oh, and we went to the City Museum on Saturday. Eric and I went there last year with my parents, but hadn't been back since. It was still just as weird and eclectic, but Josh had alot more fun interacting with the place. These first pictures are of the no-board skate park. You slide down, roll down, run down, pretty much whatever you feel like doing!

Madeline giving Josh a piano lesson... :)

This was the toddler area....Josh would have gone down that slide forever...

Such great friends....I was really sad when they had to go on Sunday....I didn't realize how much so until I was in the middle of doing laundry, dusting, organizing my desk, etc (I clean to cope)!!

They are great friends! Oh, and Pat put his coat on Josh before they were leaving....kinda funny...and Josh gave him a going away present...he wiped his nose on Pat's collar!!(the last picture) :) I just hope they didn't catch the cold that the 3 of us have been giving back and forth!!!

Videos from the 2nd snow day...

It was definitely a process getting Josh ready to go outside....he really doesn't like having so many layers of clothes on. So, between the socks and snow boots...then the pajamas under his pants....to the turtleneck under his sweatshirt under his coat and topped it all of with his hat...you got one unhappy camper!! It looks nice out but it was quite cold...I think we were in the upper teens, low twenties in the sun!!

Anyways, he got over it after he realized that mom and dad were not going to be taking any of it off. The videos start off with him hanging out in the garage because he didn't want to step in the snow. Oh yeah, he also had on some gloves that never really stayed on very well....

Continuing on...Josh pointed out his shovel that was hanging on the wall in the garage after he saw dad get his...so, Josh began to help dad.

The 2nd and 3rd videos show Josh really helping dad...he was pointing out where dad needed to shovel!! :)

Then the last several he decided to become Eric's shadow...literally...he copies everything dad does!! It was really entertaining.....