Happy Birthday Joseph

February 19 was Joseph's first birthday. We had a party for all of his cousins, aunts, uncles and the two grandparents who are in this country. Here are some pictures from the big day.

Here is Joseph in the snow doing his favorite snow activity: eating the snow.



And here is Joseph getting ready to open his birthday presents. He really enjoys his presents. He actually opened most of them. Unlike Christmas.



Here is a video of Joseph being sung to and his birthday cake. I forgot you can't have candles in church until the party started. Don't worry though. We didn't light it.



Here he is enjoying his cake. He ate the frosting off and then, once he was handed a fork, he started eating the cake. He really had fun.



One of Joseph's favorite parts of his party were his balloons. He walked home with Josh and his balloons while I took everything else home. He did not want to come home, he just wanted to play with those balloons all day.

Happy New Year

So I have been really busy this past month. Christmas will do that to you. I have been baking and wrapping and traveling to family parties and trying to relax every chance I could. Here are some pictures of our experiences the last month or so.
This is Joseph smiling at the camera. One of his favorite past times.



Here he is taking a shower with daddy. He loves to play in the shower. He tries to catch the water and laughs when it gets on his face.


Here he is getting ready to see Santa for the first time. He had fun eating all the food and playing on the floor. He is walking like crazy.



Here he is on Santa's lap. Surrounded by his Brown cousins. He did pretty well with the whole Santa thing. He didn't cry, he just looked at Santa as if to say: "who are you and why am I here?"

Here he is marking off the first six months of my Parents mission. There is a link for every week until they get home. He sure has changed these last six months.


Here is my tree skirt that I worked on this year. I finally got it done. Wahoo. I have been cross-stitching it for a long time. But it is done and hopefully next year we can put it under the tree.

This is Joseph showing how excited he is to get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Brown for Christmas.

And this is his first time to play in the snow. He really had fun. He mostly just sat and ate any snowflake that hit his face and also ate the snow that he was tired of playing with.



Here is Christmas Eve. Meeting his new cousin Jace. They live in California and came here for the holidays. Jace was blessed the Sunday before Christmas and then we got to hang out with them on Christmas Eve and New Years Day. Joseph is getting tired and doesn't want to be around a baby. But he loves his new cousin. He is very curious about babies, even though he doesn't see them very often. And here he is on Christmas, trying to decide if Mommy and Daddy really will let him rip the paper on the presents.
He really had a lot of fun for Christmas. He loves his new toys and the wrapping paper and boxes they came in. He is growing up so fast and we will be celebrating his first birthday in less than seven weeks.

Josh and I had a good Christmas. Josh got a new job just before Thanksgiving, so we have been paying off some bills. He works from home so we get to spend a lot of time together as a family. Now we just need to get those pesky bills payed off (Joseph's surgery) and we can work on fixing up the house so Joseph can finally have his own room.

Happy New Year everyone.

Christmas is Coming

I know there is still over a month before Christmas, but I probably won't post until after Christmas. I mean, I still haven't posted anything for Halloween. That's pretty sad.

Anyway, on Halloween Joseph had a small surgery. Nothing real big but I'm glad it's over. He was so good with surgery. We went to a Halloween party that night and you would never know he had been in surgery that morning. Here is a pic of that day.
He is a pirate. Just in case you couldn't tell. He is just too cute to be mean and sinister.
But he does try.

He is going all over the place now. He loves to climb up on the furniture and look out the window. Luckily he also can climb down off the the furniture.



He loves looking out the window and gets so excited when he sees anything. Mostly all he can see are trees, but sometimes he can see a passing car or person. He just likes that he can be in the house and see outside. He's just too much fun.

A couple weeks ago Josh got some Oreos in primary. They were for his birthday and he wanted to share with us. This is Joseph's first experience with Oreos. He loved them. Can't you tell?

Also, this is the face that Joseph likes to make when he sees the camera. I think he thinks this is the smile we want to remember.

A few weeks ago we bought a baby gate to keep Joseph out of the kitchen. Here he is in his prison. Poor little boy.

He's so much fun to have around. I hope that I remember (and have time) to do some more posts before Christmas. This is my favorite time of year and I want to share it with everyone.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! Enjoy your turkey, stuffing, yams, and PIE.

A List of Firsts

So Joseph has been up to a bunch of things lately. He is trying to learn to feed himself. Here are some pictures of his attempts.





He thinks this is so much fun. The only problem is it takes him so long to get any food in him it's time to eat again before he finishes. Luckily he does really good with baby finger foods. It's the big stuff (cereal, pasta, etc) that takes so long. But he is growing up and loving it all.

Another first would be his first "big bang". I don't mean he created anything. I mean, he fell down and got a real big owie. It didn't slow him down. He was right back up trying to stand on everything just moments after it happened. And you'll notice the big smile on his face. He cried for two minutes and then was all smiles.

Another first would be his first Conference. It was really his second conference but he was only seven weeks old for the first so he didn't know anything was going on. He enjoyed listening to the talks. He even sang along with the choir a few times. I think he loves our Prophet. How blessed we are to be able to hear the gospel in so many ways.



I am so grateful for this wonderful little man that Heavenly Father has given me. What a blessing to be his mother and watch him grow and develop. Every day I pray that Joseph will get the opportunity to be a big brother and I can watch him in that capacity.

The only thing better than my little son is his wonderful father. I am doubly blessed to have such a wonderful man who loves me and my son and helps us and shows me what a man he is by playing with and loving his son. I don't know what I did to deserve so many blessings, but the Lord just keeps dishing them out.

The Cutting Edge

No, Joseph has not taken up figure skating. Neither have Josh or I. No, the cutting I refer to is much more exciting.

Joseph cut his first tooth this week. It's so fun to hear him clicking his tooth on this toys and other solid objects that make it into his mouth. He won't let us see it. I have caught glimpses as he opens his mouth for food, but he is very fussy about people touching his face. Especially his mouth.

Also, Joseph got his first haircut a couple weeks ago. It's sad that my baby is starting to look more like a big boy. Here is a picture of the new do.
He's such a cutie. I'm so grateful to have him in my life. Heavenly Father sure has blessed us with a crazy, rambunctious child to help keep us young. Every morning he wakes up with so much energy and Josh and I can hardly open our eyes. He sure keeps us on our toes.

We went to the zoo last week. I don't know how much attention Joseph gave, he didn't seem to pay much attention to the animals. Some he noticed but others, not so much. It seems that the more active they are the more he notices them. He loved the penguins. He could have watched them all day. He also liked the big birds in the bird show. Here are a couple pictures of him with a bald eagle and some other birds.


I think he really enjoyed the carousel. At first when he started going down and around is scared him a little, but by the end he didn't want to get off and he loved patting the polar bear he was riding (that's for you Mom.) He loves things he can interact with, even if it's only in his mind.

But I think his most favorite part of going to the zoo was that he got to play with Mommy and Daddy all day long. He loves being with his dad and they have so much fun playing together.

Like I said, he is so fun and so active. He sure keeps me busy. I hardly have any time for myself. But there isn't anyone I would rather spend my time on. I love watching him discover the world around him. He is climbing over everything and pulling everything down trying to figure it out. Heavenly Father sure gave me a wonderful blessing when he let me become a mother.

Up and At'em

So Joseph is all over the place. He crawls everywhere and he stands up everywhere. Luckily he hasn't learned to climb up on anything yet.

He is also finding all of the different things he can do. Here is a video of one of his favorite pasttimes. You need to listen hard but it sure is funny. Enjoy.

Six months old

So Joseph is six months old now. I can't believe how fast the time goes. He is crawling everywhere. I am struggling to keep up with him. He is also standing. He pulls himself to stand on almost everything. Needless to say he is getting more bumps and bruises than ever before. But he loves it. He thinks he is so much older than he is but he is so happy and fun (as long as he hasn't bumped his head recently)

Here are some pictures of him sitting and standing. Like I said, he pulls himself up on everything. He tried to stand up on his stroller today. It didn't work too well.






We had a ward activity at the park on Saturday. He crawled around on the grass for the first time. He loved it. He doesn't have much room to crawl around at home so he was all over the place. He is just a crawling fool.

It's so much fun to see him growing up. I am amazed at how big he is. He had his six month checkup on Friday. 16 lb 4 oz and almost 27 inches long. I remember when he was just a little thing. He will be going to high school before I know it. It's so much fun to be a mother.