So Proud!

I know I haven't posted in quite a while. The reason for that is that I feel awful. All the time. The only thing that seems to agree with me are iced decaf vanilla lattes. Hey, at least I'm getting my calcium in, right? :) We have an ultrasound tomorrow morning to check on Bean2, and I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow.

I wanted to share a quick video of Joshua with you....

He was so proud of himself! :) And we are incredibly proud of him too. His therapist isn't helping him walk, she's using her feet to prevent him from crossing his ankles/legs when he steps. All that movement is all him. This kid is going to run in no time. :)

Another thing that I'm proud to be able to share with you is that our newest niece was born today!!! Joselyn Aurora Rivera arrived at 11:43am, weighing in at 7 lbs, 9 oz and is a healthy 21 inches long. Both mama and baby are doing well. Josie looks beautiful from the blurry camera phone picture I got...and I can't wait to get more. :) We're heading down to NC on Saturday to spend time with our newest family member...I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

Oh...By The Way...

Joshua is really excited. He has some big news to share......sometime around September 6th, he's going to be a... ...Isn't that exciting? Joshua certainly thinks so. :)

More Coming Soon...

There will be more posts coming soon. Promise. :)

I haven't been updating because our computer is ever so close to dying due to me stuffing it too full. :( I have less than 4GB of memory left on the computer, and one picture takes up around 4GB. See the dilemma? Now, if all of my faithful blog readers want to get together and buy me a 4TB hard drive, I'll be happy to post as many pictures as you want. :) No? Ok then. Until I get a new hard drive (or find a way to put my pictures somewhere else)...these few pictures will have to do.

A Regular Occurance.

Joshua loves to laugh. And it's really easy to make him laugh! A sound (his favorite is a big, loud CHHHH...like a crashing cymbal), or a big bang, or anything that surprises him makes him laugh. Today, I clapped my hands and he started laughing. And I'm not talking about a giggle. I'm talking all out, go completely silent and shake kind of laughing. At least once a day, he has a gigglefest. I've tried to catch it on video before, but he always gets destracted by the camera. So yesterday, I went undercover. We're talking covert ops, people. Ok...really I just put the camera on the desk and then pressed record once he got going really good. :) They say that laughing can add years to your life. If that is the case, Joshua is going to live until he's about 200!

Cousins

Both my sisters and their families came for Thanksgiving this year (minus my dad and Carol, of course. If they had been here it would've been even more awesome!). Gina, David & Elise flew in from CA, Jodi & Jay flew up from NC. It was wonderful.

Elise and Joshua are polar opposites. If something scares Elise, it's bound to make Josh laugh. Elise takes a while (like a week!) to warm up to people, Josh will go to anyone anytime anywhere. Elise is a bundle of energy and can't sit still, Joshua is content to be snuggled and just stay in one place. The one thing they share though, is how unbelievably adorable they both are!

Did I mention how skittish Elise is around new people? Even Joshua (who doesn't talk) is too much for her sometimes. :) Although maybe it was the slightly crazy look on Josh's face that set her off...

Thanksgiving was a huge success. Food, food, food and then we ate some more! Aunties Jodi and Gina helped make some delicious mashed potatoes...

...and Nana outdid herself with the turkey!
There was lots of snuggle time......and Josh and Elise both got to know their newest cousin, Joselyn (due Feb. 19!!!).And seriously...couldn't you just eat her up?!?!
While everyone was here, we had a baby shower for Joselyn......and a birthday party for Elise (it was her first!!!).
Joshua got all dressed up for Elise's birthday and spent a bunch of time in the gait trainer... ...and eventually, Elise warmed up enough to play with him!She even shared her cup with him! Of course Josh thought it was a game, so he promptly threw it on the ground. Elise patiently picked it up and handed it back. And Josh threw it down. After a few rounds of "throw the cup", Elise got fed up and stopped sharing. :)

And have I mentioned how edible she is?!

Oh, I could just eat her up. Except that would probably make her cry. :)

Walking With Mama, Laughing with Daddy

The weather here has been beautiful for the last few days (today it's supposed to be near 70!) so we took the opportunity to take Joshua out for a little walk in the driveway. :) Take a look!

We also made sure to take the time to play with the leaves that have covered our yard.

Joshua really liked it when Nana took him for a spin (seriously, she picked up a good amount of speed!) around the yard to crunch all those leaves under the wheels of his gait trainer!
Oh, one more thing. Have you ever wondered what could possibly make a little boy laugh so hard that he'd fall off a bench? Well, here's your answer. :)

It Makes My Heart Smile

There are lots of things that make me happy. The sounds of birds in my backyard in the morning, a cup of hot tea on a chilly morning, fresh sheets straight from the dryer on the bed, new socks straight from the package on my feet, the smell of something yummy baking in my kitchen, the smell of my mom's house when she's making dinner...the list goes on and on. But of all the things that make me happy, watching Joshua tops them all.

I love watching Josh "work" with Ben in the garage... I love watching Josh "work" with his physical therapist...I love watching Joshua "work" with his occupational therapist...I love watching Joshua pick up new skills (like pulling to stand on the chair!)...I love watching Joshua stand all by himself...I love watching Josh play in the new stander we're borrowing (different from the gait trainer, even though they look similar)...I love watching his face light up when he is playing....I love watching Josh snuggle with his new best friend...And I love, love, love, love watching Josh do anything that makes him giggle like this...

It makes my heart smile. :)

Happy Halloween!

Off the top of my head, I can count about 20 elephants around my house. I love elephants. They are smart and beautiful and majestic and strong and completely family oriented. They have feelings and emotions that mirror humans, and they are incredibly adorable as babies. I have elephant picture holders, elephant drawings, toy elephants, elephant Christmas ornaments, even a carved wooden rocking elephant!

But of all my elephants, this one...

is by far....

my all time....

favorite.

So Behind.

I know, I know. I'm behind. We've had some exciting days & nights here this week and I just haven't had time to post. I've actually had this post waiting to be published, I just didn't get to it. And it's a bit of a mishmash (is that even a word?! No? Well, my blog, my words. So there.) so be prepared to jump around. (Is the House of Pain song stuck in your head now too? Drat.)

This...is Joshua's first art project! We colored in therapy last week and Josh loved scribbling. :) This masterpiece is currently being displayed at Wegmans Corporate (in daddy's office).

What? You've always wondered what Joshua's bones look like? Well wait no more! Here they are!

We had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon to assess whether or not Josh's right hip was intact or not. And as this xray shows...it's kind of not. The acetabulum (the cup part of the pelvis that holds the top of the femur in place) is shallow and forming improperly. So we'll be working hard for the next 6 months to stretch his hip aductor muscles and get him standing so that the hip will hopefully shape up. We'll do another xray in 6 months and if it still isn't right, we'll be doing some bracing to make it right. If that doesn't work, we start looking at surgery. We don't want to do that. So, to help with stretching and standing, Josh is doing a lot of time in this...

While it looks like a medieval torture device, it's really a stander (an old stander!). Our PT loaned it to us so that Joshua can be standing at least one hour a day. Hopefully soon we'll get a newer version that will allow us to roll him around the house while he stands. :)

We went to the End of Summer Chicken BBQ out at Nodine's last week. We got to see Alison...

...and found out that Joshua will have another cousin next year!

Bebe (Ben's grandfather) spent some quality time singing to Joshua...

And Josh got to go outside to play with Timmy on the slide and the tractor!

Grandpa even turned it on so they could listen to the motor...um, purr...Joshua enjoyed it. Tremendously. :)

This is just because I love this face.

And this? This is because I think it's funny.

Joshua got a new gait trainer on loan from our PT (this is #3)...and I think we have a winner! This will be the style that we order for Joshua. He loves being in it and we love how he looks in it. It's wonderful.

I'll try to post some videos of him walking soon. :)