My Silence...it is broken

I have been away on a mental retreat gathering my forces to become the best President I can be for my little group.

I'm now back.....and you should be giddy. (those butterflies in your stomach prove it's true).

Fatherhood is AWESOME! I fall deeper in love with my wife every day as I watch her blossom into the Mother God has called her to be. I fall more in love with my boy everyday that I watch him grow, giggle, squirm, poop, smile (after the poops), grin, chirp, scream....well....everything my mini-me does.

It lays upon my shoulders a completely different set of responsibilities that I am now held accountable for. That can generate immobilizing fear but I have a Father who will provide, a father who is behind me..and men in my life worth emulating to become the man the Father has called me to be.

That is all for now.

Josh
President of goofy grins
Reveler of screaming boy
JandA Corp

Slacking Off

We have been informed that we have been extremely negligent in the picture posting arena, so here are some new photos to appease the masses. However, you don't get a clever story with these - deal with it...

First tub bath - splish splash having a fit

Meeting great-grandma Jo for the first time.

GrandmaJo loving her great grand.

There are no words for this one...

Hanging out on his mat



And this, this little grin melts my heart...

The Momma

Family, Fourth, Fun, and Very Little Sleep

This week my sister Ari, her husband Ashley, and their four little boys came to visit. Hence no posts - who has time to blog about all the fun they are having while they are having it? Not me, I like to soak it all up and then reminisce about it later. Which is why Facebook doesn't really work for me. Its all about updating your current status - no one wants to know that I had Penne Rustica from Macaroni Grill two hours ago, by this time its irrelevant. OK, end of tangent...

My sister and crew came to visit, and while my tiny little house was so chock full of people it bore distinct resemblance to a clown car, it was good to see them - especially Ari. Texas may only be a few states away but it might as well be Botswana. However, my sweet sister braved a thirteen hour car trip with four small boys just to see me and my small boy. She cooked for me, did my laundry, we went out to dinner with some amazing women, she encouraged me in motherhood. We talked, we laughed, I cried - it did my heart good. Do you have anyone in your life that fills up your tank just by being around them? My sister is that for me. She just gets me - maybe it has something to do with being made with the same stuff.

All that to say, the only picture I got of her this whole week was a snapshot of her behind in the background of one of the pictures of her kids. As much as I know you would like to see her hiney, I'm not sure she would appreciate it. So instead here are some other pictures from this week....

London boogeying in the pool.

My man Poindexter.

Ashley delivering a beat down.

Napping on the 4th.
Marshall who's favorite phrase is "What is this?"

Parker on the world's longest slip-n-slide.

My boy chillin' with his Tootsie.

Riggs and Noah who were none too happy that we interrupted their conversation.

Happy Belated 4th of July!

The Momma

Slow news day

We have had a good week. We haven't taken a lot of pictures....or if we did I'm to lazy and the camera is to far away from me right now to upload. No...really....I'm at my parents house and my camera is at home. See, you just thought I was lazy.....oh....wait...I am.

We went to see transformers last night. That was an experience. Noah became an instant fan of Optimus Prime....and sleeping on GeGe's chest. However his little ears were stinging from the moderately bad language...of course everything to him sounds like goobledygook.

Josh
President of Fatherly Duties
JandA Corp.

Impractical Pants

I'm not sure why a baby clothing manufacturer would think it a good idea to create a pair of pants for a newborn without snaps. Surely the most baby-inept person would a least realize that diapers must be changed a minimum of forty two quadrillion times per day. It should be abundantly clear that is extremely inefficient and time consuming to remove these pants for every diaper change and then to put them back on a wiggly, squirmy little body.

As a result of this company's poor design, I have boycotted putting such an impractical thing on my little boy.
My time is very valuable and I can't be bothered to waste precious moments on removing and replacing pants all day long.
I am not the type of mother who would inconvenience herself just for the satisfaction of seeing her precious little man look like such a big boy in his adorable khaki pants. What foresight I had in identifying this potential problem and avoiding it entirely.

The Momma

P.S. I love the matching outfits for the boy and his daddy!

No Picture Update Post

This weekend we have Tootsie in town. She has a show down at centennial park and so she is crashing on our couch. Currently Noah is sound asleep in her arms as she coo's at him.

Her website is http://www.emilyallisonstudios.com

Noah is doing well. He is a little under weight for his age and size and so they want to see him again in a couple of weeks. It's nothing we are worried about because the boy is eating like a champ and is gaining weight rather quickly.

Raleigh dog is doing decently at accepting Noah, but is still having some problems.

Josh
President of Fatherly Duties
Changer of poopy diapers

A Whole New World

At least once a day, Josh or I will tun to the other in disbelief and say "We have a kid." Nine months of pregnancy, eight hours of labor, and two hours of pushing didn't prepare us for this reality. Well, they didn't prepare me - and I'm the one who experienced all of that first hand.

Two weeks to the day that Noah entered this world, I am still trying to adjust to to my new life. Nothing will ever be the same, normal doesn't exist anymore, lack of sleep is kicking my butt - and yes I realize that none of this is profound or new. But its new to me and I don't think anyone can be truly prepared for this kind of change.

So the question is - Is it worth it? The six months of vomiting, the swelling, the weight gain, the heartburn, the labor, the pushing, the lack of sleep, the gazillion dirty diapers, and the complete topsy-turvy nature of my world right now....Yes...
YES!

A million times yes...

The Momma