Happy 1st Birthday to Baby J

Can you believe that Joshie is 1 year old? His birthday was yesterday and Mommy took him to the doctor for his checkup. Poor little guy, he didn't sleep well the night before (possibly teething???) and then he had to get three shots at the doctors office. His official stats were 31 inches height (85% percentile) and 20.1lbs weight(20% percentile). These were exactly my stats at the same age, but I weighed about 1.5 ounces less. Wow, that's amazing, isn't it? We are just little carbon copies of each other.

Because the little guy was so cranky on his birthday, we have decided to do a little birthday celebration over the weekend - we had thought about a party, but decided against it. We will probably just get a little ice cream cake and sing happy birthday and that will be all. We did meet my aunt, uncle and cousins out for dinner, but it was short and sweet as Little J was not very happy.

Joshie can get just about anywhere now and is very fast with his crawling. He is definitely a climber and can get up the stairs very quickly. He can also stand up and pull up just about anywhere and is now discovering how he can move his feet to "cruise" along the furniture. Mommy thinks it will be about 1 more month before he starts to walk, but with the way the little guy moves around, it could be sooner. He can say about three or four words (Mama, Dada, ball and "hey") and he has waving and pointing completely mastered. He understands a lot of what we say and will point and look at the light in a room when asked.

Happy 1st birthday little J - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Beach Boyz and Water Babies

Mom, Dad, Joshie and I went on a family vacation this past week to Carlsbad, CA. Carlsbad is just north of San Diego and there are lots of fun things to do there including SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park and LegoLand. We rented a beautiful house right across the street from the Tamarack Surf Beach and our days were filled with wonderful views of the beach and surfers everytime we looked out our windows. The house also had its own COOL pool with a hot tub and a waterfall and we swam everyday and had lots of fun.

This was the first real time that I had played on a beach. I had seen the ocean from a distance when I was about 2 years old, but this time I got to play in the sand and run and chase the waves. Daddy and I played "here it comes" with the waves several times and we both got very wet and sandy. I didn't particularly care for having sand in my pants and protested loudly, but after a bath I was okay again.

See several pictures of us all at the beach and pool, a view of the beach from our porch and a shot of mommy and Joshie on his second plane ride. Upon boarding the plane, the captain let me take a look in the cockpit too - that was a blast and I had lots of fun. I did pretty well on the plane with the exception of a minor meltdown due to my ears popping upon landing.

Warning - Polars bears have invaded California!

Just kidding - I just wanted to make sure I got your attention. Please note that there are four new postings here since my birthday. Make sure you scroll down and catch up with our activities since my big birthday celebration.

Joshie bear has a lot less HAIR!!

Joshie got his first haircut a few weeks ago. For a while, many of you may remember, that the little guy was sporting an outrageous baby mohawk. Well, finally the sides of his hair grew in and then he started to get lots of curls at the back of his head. Mom and dad finally took him to get a haircut when it just got completely out of control - Poor little guy, he was starting to look a little scraggly.

Let's just say Joshie is a little attached to mommy and upon being put into the car chair at the salon, he waited about two seconds before the tears welled up and the screaming commenced. My mom and the hair lady decided that it might be easier if mom held him, so we went to another chair and he sat in mom's lap. It was unpleasant for everyone, but Joshie looks like a little boy again instead of a little street urchin:).

See the before shot of the back of Joshie's head, the middle of haircut unhappy shot and the final happy result.

My, what big teeth you have!

I visited the dentist for the very first time a few weeks ago and it was lots of fun. As I was sitting in the waiting room, mom yelled out "Oh Matthew, there are wild animals behind the door!". At first I that she had finally gone over the edge, but then I noticed a squirrel's tail bobbing around behind the glass and then I saw a mouse tail. "What is that?". Upon venturing over to the door, I opened it up and met my dentist. You see, they weren't real animals at all, just little puppets.

My visit was lots of fun and I was such a good patient. After letting me play with the dentist chair controls, the water and the suction device, the dentist was able to check out all my teeth, clean them and floss them. For being such a great patient, I got several surprises including a new toothbrush, a little camera from the toy chest and a little stuffed kitty cat. I had a great time and my mom was very proud of me.

See a recent picture of me above where I proudly display all of my pearly whites!!

Happy belated birthday Daddy!

Daddy's birthday was on September 19 and he celebrated his 29th birthday for the 13th year in a row! I am not sure how that is really possible but I believe most of what mom and dad tell me so WHATEVER!

I kept asking Daddy if he was having a firetruck party too, but unfortunately, he didn't and he seemed happy just to share a little cake with his family and wear a silly birthday hat just for me and my brother. I loved the cake and Joshie and I loved helping daddy blow out the candles on his cake.

Mom and dad tell me that Joshie's birthday is coming up next - I hope there will be something exciting planned for his big day, but mom and dad say it will only be just a few friends over for some cake. I mean what else is there to do - the little guy still can't even walk on his own. At least I will get to have more cake!!!!

My three year checkup stats - uh, yes, over a month late!

Mom has been a bit delinquent in keeping up the blog lately. Our last entry was on my birthday and that was a month and a half ago. Give the old girl a break - we have been very busy and I have lots and lots of stuff to tell you about including my 3 year checkup at the doctor, my daddy's birthday, my first visit to the dentist, Joshie's first haircut and finally our recent vacation to the beach in San Diego. Check back and make sure to catch up on all the exciting things going on in me and my little brothers' life as mommy plans to post updates for you regarding all these topics. I have posted a few recent pictures of me and my favorite little guy so you can see how we are are both growing and still getting along...famously! (at least for now until Joshie can defend himself a little better):)

So, my stats at my three year old checkup were as follows: 39 inches height (75% percentile) and 32 lbs weight (55% percentile). I did great at my checkup and I thought it was all fun and games. When the dr. asked my mom if I was talking alot, she didn't really have to answer as I filled the dr in on my swimming lessons, schools, bears, fish, pirates and a whole assortment of other unrelated topics! Let's just say he isn't concerned a bit regarding my verbal skills. This was the first time that the dr. checked my reflexes which I found very amusing. He proceeded to hit me in the knees and elbows with a hammer and it made me jump and laugh. Mom promptly explained that only the dr. was allowed to do that and I shouldn't plan to do the same to my little brother upon my return home.

No shots this time, but I did get the flu mist. It is sort of like a reverse sneeze into my nose. The nurse opened a little vial and then shot the stuff up my nose. Cool!