My favorite sound in all the world...

Joshua is laughing now! I caught his first real laugh on video this weekend. Nana was taking some time out from packing and managed to get a real giggle out of him. Up until now, his laugh has come out as more of a cough. He gets so excited he just shakes usually, but this time he actually laughed. I'm so glad I caught it on tape!!

Joshua's laugh from Jamie on Vimeo.

My mom came down this past weekend to help us pack. Joshua loved spending time with her. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands to hold him or take care of things. Thank you, mom...you're awesome. :) Here are some of my favorite pictures of the weekend.

Father's Day was a great day for us. Josh was all decked out in a special onesie and managed not to spit up on it all day! I made banana pancakes for breakfast, Joshua gave Ben a countertop wine cellar:and nana gave Ben a 'new dad' Willow Tree figurine.

Aunt Gina sent this hat to Josh before he was even born I think and now he's finally big enough to wear it. He looks terrified, I know...but he looks awfully cute too!

Happy Father's Day!

I know it sounds crazy, but I knew on our second date that Ben was going to be it for me. Ben called me at 9pm and said he was on his way over, did I want to grab a cup of coffee? In the calmest voice I could muster I agreed...and then promptly ran screaming through the house. You have to understand...I was in my pajamas and ready for bed and he was almost here! I know...I'm a real fireball being ready for bed at 9pm and all! In my defense, I can count the number of dates I had before Ben on one hand (and some of those were my kindergarten boyfriend I think!), so being asked for a second date was unbelievably thrilling for me. I got dressed just in time and we went to a little cafe in Wayne called the Gryphon Cafe. We sat and talked for hours. I don't remember everything that we talked about, but I specifically remember that we got on the topic of child rearing. I think it started with a conversation about spanking and whether it was appropriate or not and it just continued from there. It was amazing...this handsome man across the table from me was saying everything I believed about how to raise children and the roles of a mother and father. I really believe that was when I fell in love with him. As we continued to date, I saw what an amazing man he was in so many areas of his life. He was generous, funny and smart. He could fix almost anything and wanted to travel the world. He was well spoken and fun to be around. In my eyes, he was the beginning, the end and I was pretty sure he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. I knew he was going to be a wonderful husband and an even better father.

Now, I get to witness the amazing father he is becoming and I can say with assurance that Joshua is so very lucky! Joshua will learn patience, love and diligence from his father. He will learn how important it is to open doors for ladies and how to treat women with respect. He will learn to appreciate quiet time in the outdoors. He will learn how to be strong and how to earn respect. I can't wait to see the man my son becomes because of the influence of his father.







Ben's first video as a daddy :) from Jamie on Vimeo.

Happy first Father's Day, Ben! And Happy Father's Day to all you daddys out there. You guys are changing the world. Like the saying goes...anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy.

Videos!

My posts have been getting further and further apart. Mainly because Joshua is a little cuddlebug and refuses to let me put him down for more than 5 minutes! I started to get really frustrated with having to hold him all the time. I mean, my house needs to be cleaned, there are dinners to be made, and I really should be packing. But then I found this poem:

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow,
For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."
~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

I realized that pretty soon he won't want to be held all the time. He's going to want to be a little explorer and mama's arms aren't going to be as enticing. :) So if you keep checking and there aren't any updates, it's because I'm holding my Joshuabean and I can't be bothered with sharing him with you.

That being said, I have some updates for you! :) Here are some videos of Joshua doing what he does. The first one is kind of boring, unless you enjoy watching little old Chinese women doing Tai Chi in the park...

Josh doing "Tai Chi" from Jamie on Vimeo.

Watch for how Josh suddenly sucker punches PsyOp Charlie! Good thing Charlie is a tough soldier! I just think that Joshua is angry with the Army for taking Tio Jay so far away from him.

Joshua's sucker punch! from Jamie on Vimeo.

This is my favorite video yet. Joshua has become much more vocal in the past few days. If he's in the mood, he'll talk to you a little bit, but he's the strong silent type it seems. Then I bought a new CD for us to listen to while he slept. I usually sing the songs to him until he goes to sleep, and now he's started singing back!

Joshua singing from Jamie on Vimeo.

Lots of new friends...

We took a trip up to Pennsylvania this weekend to see some friends and their children one last time before we move. Josh got to meet lots of new friends! First, we stopped off at Rob & Lynn's house to see them. Lynn is pregnant with their second son. Aidan, their little one, will be 3 soon and is such a sweet little one. He wasn't too sure about Joshua though. When Joshua started to cry, Aidan climbed into his chair and just stared at Josh. He really wanted nothing to do with him. Hopefully he'll be much more excited about his new little brother! :)


We spent Saturday night at Tori and Jay's house. Tori and Jay were in our small group at Hope Community Church. Their son, Max, is 5 months old today (Happy 5 Month Birthday, Maximoose!) and is completely adorable. He seemed pretty interested in Josh when we introduced them. . :)

Our final stop was at the Nadelhoffer house. Matt is the head basketball coach at Eastern and Rebecca is the cheerleading coach. I consider them dear friends and I'm so glad we've kept in touch. Their children, Matthew (will be 3 in September) and Natalie (11 months), kept us entertained the entire time. There must be something in the water at Matt & Rebecca's because Joshua was very, very happy the entire time we were there. He smiled NONSTOP at Rebecca - the only other person he smiles that much for is Aunt Jodi!

Matthew was a little jealous of Rebecca holding Joshua. He kept asking her to "put that baby down, ok?". Then he changed tactics..."daddy can hold that baby now, ok?"

After a little while, Matthew warmed right up to Josh. He even gave him kisses and shared some toys with him!Matthew may also be a budding photographer! He took this picture (with mommy holding the camera). Not bad for a 2 1/2 year old, huh? :)We came home with one thing in mind...BUY A RAINFOREST BOUNCER! Tori and Jay had one at their house and I've been wanting to try Josh in one. So we tried, and he sat for 30 whole minutes just staring at it! As soon as we were home on Sunday afternoon, it was off to the store and we came home with one. Hey, in this house 30 minutes without a baby in your arms is unheard of!

Nash family, Emerys and Nadelhoffers, thank you for spending your time with us. It was a great weekend and we really enjoyed seeing you. I hope it's not too long before we get to see you again.

To everyone we didn't get a chance to see (I'm specifically looking at you, Birtwistles, Posts, Wagners & Buzbys!), I'm hoping we'll be back in the area at some point. We'll make a point to see you next time. Promise. Or you could always make a trip to Upstate NY. It's a nice area! :)

Joshua's first party!

These are my friends, Kristen & Niki, and their children - Ethan, Tristan & Savannah. These two ladies are the biggest reason leaving Virginia is going to make me cry.We lived next door to Kristen and just down the road from Niki at our last house and I became really close friends with both of them. We were all together celebrating Savannah's 1/2 Birthday today. Savannah will be one in December, but Kristen's in-laws were in town and wanted to celebrate her half birthday. It was a great excuse for a get together and we all had a great time. Joshua even kept a party hat on long enough to snap a picture. Then there was screaming involved and the hat was promptly removed. :)
My two men! No one is more blessed than me. :)

Two months old!

Today Joshua is two months old. It's unreal, isn't it? Yesterday at his two month check up, he got two vaccines & is feeling a little more clingy than normal today (which I'm totally fine with!) so we've been snuggling most of the morning. He weighs 12 lbs, 4 oz (50th percentile), is 22 1/4 inches long (50th percentile), and his head measures 14 1/4 in. (10th - 25th percentile). Apparently he has gained enough weight so his incredible weight gain has come to a grinding halt. The doctor says he looks perfect and is doing everything he should be. Yay!

The flight up to New York last weekend was difficult for Joshua. Our flight wasn't until 9pm and that is past Josh's bedtime. He slept all the way to Baltimore and then was wide awake for the few hours leading up to the flight. This meant that he was really overtired and cranky when we boarded the plane. He didn't want to eat, didn't want to be held, only wanted to close his eyes and cry. He got better once we were in the air and he decided to be sociable and be happy. Landing brought on a whole other crying fit and he cried most of the time waiting for our luggage. We finally all got to bed and he just wouldn't sleep. He was so, so tired.

On Saturday, my mom had a little family get together and most of my aunts and uncles and cousins got to meet him. And when he wasn't being held by great aunts, uncles & second cousins, Nana and Aunt Jodi were keeping him company.

On Sunday, we drove out to Red Creek and Ben's grandparents & Aunt Julie got to meet him. Josh also met his cousin, Timothy, on Sunday! We met up with Brian & Carly after our visits with Meem & Beeb and Granny & Gramps. After the introductions, we hopped in the car and drove to Rudy's. As a sidenote for those of you who aren't Nodines, Rudy's is a bit of an institution in the Nodine family. It is a little fish fry place right on the lake in Oswego and if you're a Nodine (or marrying into the Nodine family) loving Rudy's is a must. I am simultaneously dreading and looking forward to the trouble these two cousins will get into in the coming years! While Timothy will be the older of the two by a whopping 4 1/2 months, I have a feeling that Joshua will be the leader when it comes to getting in trouble. :)

Joshua & Timothy at Rudy's from Jamie on Vimeo.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I'm so excited that so many people got to meet our little one. I can't wait to introduce him to the rest of the Nodine side of the family!!

The flight home on Monday was a breeze. He ate during take off, slept most of the flight and then looked out the window during landing. He slept the whole way home and slept for 8 hours that night. Meeting family is tiring! :)

Clicking our heels three times...

I told you we'd update you once we found a new place to live. Well, as Dorothy said, "there's no place like home." We have discovered that is true...so we're going home to New York. We've decided to step out in faith and move home at the end of June. Once we have an address, we'll let you all know. We'll be living with my mom until we find a place to call our own. There are so many reasons for this decision, and it was far from easy to make. We love our life in Virginia. We love the weather, we love the history that we are surrounded by, we love our proximity to Washington DC. We have friends that we dearly love and a church that we are comfortable in. What we don't love, however, is how far we are from our families and the uncertainty of living at someone else's mercy because we can't afford to buy a home. Our families are missing Joshua grow up and we don't think that is right. Ben doesn't have a job yet and we have nowhere to live, but we are going to step out in faith and trust that God will provide both of those for us. At least we know that we have family to support us and help us and give us love whenever we need it. That's enough for us. :)