Beach Weekend

Someone said that I'm going to turn Joshua into a beach bum, that would be fine with me! I'd love for him to love the beach and the ocean. Nothing says summer to me like the beach. Actually he's only been on the beach a total of 3 times and none of them was longer than 30 minutes.

Friday we spent with my mom and Joshua was so good! We went to see his honorary great grandmother Bernice who is in her 90's. I have to get a picture of him with her, he really likes her and her puppy Mikey a Shih Tzu. We spent the rest of the time just hanging out, we would have gone swimming except that I left my swimsuit at home! I remembered when we got about 30 minutes away from the house that I hadn't taken it off the hanger and put it in the suitcase. It was too late. So on Saturday I had to buy one, full price. Oh well, now I will wear the heck out of it. We went to dinner at a local pizza place near my mom and Joshua was charming the waitresses. Everyone LOVES his sunglasses! All weekend long I kept getting comments about my cool dude.

Saturday we met some friends and their kids, we had lunch at Margaritaville at Broadway at the Beach. If you've never been to one you should go, they are all over the southeast. There's also a Cheeseburger in Paradise in North Myrtle Beach, it's a little more toned down if you don't like a big restaurant. We may check that one out next time. I just wished Joshua liked going out to eat more, I guess I have to catch him at the right time. Friday night he slept through most of dinner but Saturday only part of lunch and at dinner he was so tired because we wore him out that day. One day a couple of weeks ago we went out to dinner and he slept through some if it and when he woke up he was in a great mood. He started laughing and laughed back and forth with me, something he'd never done before!

Saturday afternoon our friends and their kids came over to our resort and went swimming with us at the pool. We all had a great time. I think Joshua has fallen in love, with an older woman. A 4 year old girl with blonde hair. He couldn't stop staring at her and smiling. It was so cute! I wish I'd gotten pictures but some were taken just not with my camera. I didn't get any when we went out on the beach after they left either, unfortunately. From now on the camera is staying in the beach/pool bag.

We took Joshua out to the beach and we all got in the water. We went out past the breakers, the water was pretty calm so we didn't have to go far. Just where the waves start to form but before they get big and crash. I put him on the canvas float we had and he was having a good time until the waves started crashing where we were. He got water in his face and was not happy, he hates that. Hopefully he'll get over it soon since I think he'll be going under water at swimming lessons. So after two waves breaking and him getting splashed in the face we decided to go back. I had the raft out in front of me when a wave broke and took me straight into shore! It was so much fun! We weren't far out but we were far enough out that I rode that wave a good way!

He was so tired that night from the swimming and the ocean that he fell asleep in his clothes and slept 8 hours that way before waking up and needing to be changed. The next day he slept the whole way from the beach to Jamie's mom's and then fell asleep on my lap, something he never does unless he falls asleep nursing. Then he slept all the way home and again fell asleep in without being nursed. Guess we wore him out.

Party Planning

Yes, I've started seriously planning Joshua's 1st birthday party. I am not thinking about the fact that he's growing up but that party planning is fun! I really think I want to do Noah's Ark as the theme. His naming certificate has a beautiful drawing of Noah's Ark on it so I think that's a good tie-in to it. Also this may be the only time I get to pick the theme as next year he may have things he actually likes. One of Jamie's high school classmates makes beautiful cakes so I have already talked to her about doing Joshua's cake and she has penciled in the day after Thanksgiving for the party. It will either be that day or the day after that and will probably be at my mother-in-law's house. Which is good since the woman doing the cake lives nearby.

Here are the two Noah's Ark party supply themes I'm looking at. Please tell me which one you like best. I don't know how to make comments work so just e-mail me or tell me on Facebook.

Noah's Ark - This one actually says Happy 1st Birthday where the other one doesn't.

Whimsical Ark - I think this one is cuter, less cartoony.

Here are some cake photos. Which one do you like?

Cake

Cake 2

Cake 3

Cake 4

7 Months!!

OMG, where has the time gone? Seriously, my baby is 7 months old today! Holy cow! Here's an update.

Eating - He's doing better with solid foods. Yesterday morning he eagerly ate about a teaspoon maybe 2 of bananas. Later that afternoon when I tried to give him sweet potato it was a no go. Even when he opened his mouth and I managed to get some in, it came back out. Today he wasn't that interested in the bananas but once I got some in his mouth he ate them. He was more interested in the cat walking around and even the walls than eating. I think the cat was hoping she'd get some food out of it but I don't think she'd like pureed banana. I did buy him puffs and he's had a few, not sure what to think of them but I think they're pretty good. I gave one to the cat, she looked at it like 'What's this?' It's not seafood, chicken or turkey so she didn't know what to do with it.

So far he has had: sweet potato, butternut squash, peas, pears, peaches, apples, bananas, rice cereal & oatmeal. The only ones left to try are green beans & carrots. I already bought some combo 2nd foods so he'll be trying apples & cherries, apples & blueberries and mango. Once I know for sure he's not allergic to banana I'll be able to get more combos of stuff he's already had like pears, apples & banana and stuff he hasn't had like apple strawberry banana, apricots with mixed fruit, banana mixed berry and banana orange medley. He'll also be trying: garden veggie (has spinach), mixed veggie (has potato), sweet potato & corn, oatmeal with pears & cinnamon, apple vanilla mixed grain, banana peach granola and papaya. We are waiting until 9 months to start meats so he won't be having any dinners until then and that's after he has his 9 month check-up. Maybe mac & cheese but we'll see how all the others go.

Sitting - Well he's not doing it yet. Not unassisted anyway. I'm practicing with him everyday though so he'll get it soon. He is pretty good at sitting hunched over holding his ankles or with his hands on the floor to support him but he'll only stay like that a few minutes before getting fussy.

Thankfully he's still sleeping through the night (knock on wood) except for a few nights this past week but most nights he sleeps 12 hours with maybe one wake up for his paci. He doesn't nap much though, he has become a cat napper. He takes 3-5 30 minute cat naps a day which make it kind of hard to get anything done. Other than that he's growing like a weed. Now wearing all 6-9 month or 9 month clothes and in size 3 diapers, so far I like the Pampers Cruisers.

A Day In My Life

So my life lately has been pretty hectic. Joshua is teething and it's driving both of us nuts. He is super clingly and fussy. Here's what my day was like today which is pretty typical of what days have been like recently. He woke up at 7 and I fed & changed him. He was back asleep by 8 and slept 'till 9. He then pretty much ate every 2 hours and afterwards fell asleep for 30 minutes. It wouldn't matter if he slept on my lap or somewhere else, after 30 minutes he wakes up. For one of his afternoon feeds I fed him in my bedroom and after he was asleep I laid him down on the bed next to me and after 30 minutes he woke up.

When he's not asleep or eating he wants to be in my lap. I can get away with putting him down either on the floor on his play mat, in his chair, swing or jumperoo for a few minutes. On the floor he will play for a while and then roll over. He then gets upset that he rolled over and starts to fuss. Sometimes he will roll himself back over (usually only to roll again) but most of the time he just lays on his tummy fussing until I roll him back over and if I don't he starts to cry. The swing or his chair will last for about 20 minutes until he gets bored. The jumperoo is usually shorter because he can't reach some of the toys without turning and doesn't know how to turn or jump although he loves it when I jump it for him.

At times he wants to eat in between too or snack but then he's fussy and I don't really know what else to do to make him happy. It's too hot outside to take him for a walk like I might have done earlier in the year and nothing else works. Half the time he pops on and off while fussing. I know his teeth are driving him crazy and I do give him teething tablets or tylenol if I think he needs it.

So I don't get much done. By the time Jamie comes home I am drained. Today he didn't get home until 6 and I had no patience left. I think another part of Joshua's problem is he hasn't mastered sitting up yet, I've heard that once he can sit up he'll be happier, who knows. I am still working with him on it but even when he does sit up supporting himself with his hands on the floor it's only for a few seconds. Hopefully he'll get it soon.

He's also not crazy about solid food. Today he wanted very little to do with it. I tried to feed him peaches this morning but he wasn't interested. This afernoon I tried bananas for the first time and he wasn't having them either. I'm trying not to worry about it since I know he doesn't really need it. Maybe once he can have finger foods he'll do better with it. So that's been my life lately. I hope those teeth come in soon, I can only see the very tips of them but they're there.

Baby Joshua plays peek-a-boo

Baby Joshua in the pool

Baby Joshua at the beach

Baby Joshua in the pool

Our Vacation

We got back Saturday after deciding to spend Friday night at the house Jamie's family was staying at. We got to our resort Sunday afternoon and stayed on the 5th floor with a beautiful view of the beach and a street view too. Joshua LOVES the water! Both the pool & the ocean although he didn't get too wet in the ocean. We got him a cute turtle float w/a sunshade and he was so relaxed in the pool he almost fell asleep!

Unfortunately he's still not a fan of eating out. We did put him a high chair and he leaned over to one side since he's still not sitting up on his own but even there he wasn't too thrilled with it and after about a half hour he gets mad. He did like being outside on the pier and there's a restaurant at the one near where we stayed and he was very happy there. There was a great ocean breeze so it was very comfortable.

Oh and I scored big time at the outlets. Carters outlet is the best! They were having a great sale and I saved 20% on top of it so I got some onesies for $2 and outfits for $5! There were other outlets but I did the best there. The only place I could find sleepers beyond 9 months was Children's Place and I got 3 for $20! Next time I can skip all the other stores and just go to those two.