Happy Birthday to Josh

Okay, I originally tried posting this yesterday, but I had some trouble with getting the pictures to show up again...some day I'll get this blogger thing figured out (maybe).

Yesterday my baby boy turned one...my how the time flies!

This past Saturday the the Orr family came to do some school shopping. Dad Orr was nice enough to hang out here with Joseph and Josh so I got to go do some shopping with Mom Orr, Thomas and Daniel. After the boys got shopped out, we went to Red Robin for dinner...mmm, that place is good! David had been camping the night before, but he made sure he got home in time for Red Robin. :)

After Red Robin we came back here for some cake and ice cream to celebrate Josh's birthday a little early. He downed that piece of cake, that's for sure! I guess he's a boy who takes after his mother in that respect. Most of the rest of us were too full from dinner to eat much, if any, of the cake and ice cream. We had a great time and are so glad the Orr's could come and celebrate with us.

To round out Josh's birthday celebration, Mindy and her kids came over to swim yesterday afternoon, and then my mom came over for dinner and more cake and ice cream. We're so glad my mom is in town to celebrate with us!

Here is an update of what Josh has been up to lately:

• Josh is officially a walker now. For several weeks he knew how to take several steps, but would crawl anywhere he wanted to go, just because it was so much faster. I think last Sunday was the turning point day, though. He started taking off on his own and now will walk all around the house with his arms up for balance. He's getting better and better. When I was telling my mom this, she mentioned to me that now my easy days of being a mother are over. Wahoo??!!
• He has learned to climb down from pretty much anything: the couch, his changing table, the bed. It was pretty nice before he figured that out, especially the bed part, because I could put him up on the bed in our office/guest room while I was working on the computer and not worry about him getting into stuff. Not any more! Now he loves to rummage through all the drawers in the computer desk and pull everything out.
• He also tries to climb up everything. He's super strong and has been able to do pullups on our table for some time now. Now's he also loves to climb up and peek inside the washer (especially as it's filling with water), try to see what's on the counters, etc. I have to watch this one, I tell you!
• We've definitely got a vocal boy on our hands. He loves to yell at the top of his lungs (especially during Sacrament meeting), and will often jabber at us. It's cute most of the time.
• He also loves to read books, and likes to turn the pages himself.
• He eats pretty much everything now, including cut up pieces of meat. I'm really lucky he's such a good eater! Another funny thing he does is that he'll often blow on his food when I bring it over from the kitchen and tell him its hot. So cute!
• Josh LOVES dogs, and most animals for that matter. He gets really excited when we see a dog from any distance.
• Josh now gets to sit front facing in his car seat...wahoo!
• He loves to "help" with the dishes. I swear, he can hear the dishwasher open from clear across the house and will come crawling/walking at top speed to get there before I shut it. He wishes I would let him crawl up on the door, but I really don't want to have to buy another new dishwasher. So he's resigned himself to the fact that he only gets to play with the silverware.
• He's pretty good and playing peek-a-boo, and I love it when I can get him giggling!
• He says "da-da", "ma-ma", and "ba-ba", along with all of his other jibberish. I'm pretty sure he actually knows what those words mean now.
• He's getting pretty good at throwing little fits when he doesn't get what he wants. :)
  

We just got back from his 12 month doctor appointment and here are his "stats":

Height: 30.75"--75% (30.5"--99% @ 9 mos.)
Weight: 20# 12 oz.--25% (19#--25% @ 9 mos.)
Head: 18"--25% (17"--5% @ 9 mos.)

And here are some pictures of the birthday celebrations, as well as a couple of other fun pictures from the past few weeks:

Josh was so hungry at Red Robin that he was about to eat the basket!

Getting ready to blow out the candle...

Mmm...cake!

Uh oh...did I do something bad?

Birthday morning...getting ready to open presents.

Checking out his new race track and cars.

Swimming with Karalee, Aunt Mindy, Bryant and Spencer.

Posing with Mom.

Josh LOVED playing with the M&M's packages from Grandma Flake. (He didn't mind eating them either.)

Josh trying out his walking skills at the new splash park near our house.

Giving hugs to Grandma Flake.

Josh loves to pull things out of our linen closet. This past Sunday David found him asleep like this (this is the first time he's zonked out in a random place, but he does usually sleep with his bum up like this)...