Feline Entrepreneur

Joshua is now big enough to have one of those trikes with the parent handle on the back (it seems like there's probably a better name, but I don't know what it is).  We ordered one made by a company called Alex Toys.  While it had overall positive reviews, people indicated it was a nightmare to put together, but it was great once it was assembled.  I figured it couldn't be that bad, but then I looked at the instructions with hard-to-interpret drawings and no words.  Still, I figured the first couple steps out, but then I went to snap the wheels on, and one of them wouldn't snap on at all.  I tried everything to no avail.  I called customer service, and they're sending me new parts.  But between the useless instructions and the questionable quality control, I'm beginning to wonder if Alex, our cat, with his tiny cat brain, is the mastermind behind this shoddily-run corporation known as Alex Toys. 

Big Kahuna

It's full-on summer at this point, and during the summer, kids go swimming.  So our kid should get to go swimming too.  Although Joshua already had his first experience with a pool earlier this summer, that was just floating in the big pool.  So we recently bought him his own little inflatable baby pool.  This allowed us to let him swim in the exotic locale of our back deck.  Much like his previous adventure in the bath tub, he was fascinated by the water, trying to figure out how it was clear but that he could still touch it and put his hand through it.  He also liked to hit it and make it splash, of course. 

Next time we'll spell it

I like Joshua to get outside most days because I want him to like being out there. So today I decided we would walk to the park and see if he enjoyed it. So I said, "Joshua, do you want to go on a walk?" And then the dogs went crazy. We rarely walk them, but apparently they still know what that means. So they were too excited for me to feel good about telling them no so we went on a short walk all together. Short because Natalie cannot heel (I used the same training method as I did with Terrence who is a good heeler, but she just didn't take to it at all) and didn't understand what was so wrong about walking in front of the stroller. Here is a photo of the chaos I walked with.

Once we put the dogs back in the house, Joshua and I went back to the park and tried the swing and the slide. He liked the swing, though he is small enough that I don't feel totally comfortable with him in that swing. The slide, even though it is plastic, was a little hot for him to enjoy so maybe we will try that again on a cooler day.

A New Car

I wanted to get Joshua a "ride and stride" walker, but I thought they were kind of pricey. Although I do not really enjoy selling on craigslist, you can get decent stuff for kids at a good price if you are patient and I found one on there for only $10. I am really glad we got this one instead of the new one, which was a dinosaur. Joshua really likes it, especially the horn. He pushes it over and over again so it will say "beep beep" and also likes turning the steering wheel to make music. He isn't really too excited about the walking part of it. He gives me this look like, "This is not safe" whenever it moves. So far he either sits by it or walks on his knees behind it. And pushes the horn over and over and is delighted pretty much every time.

Nursery Time

When Joshua was a little baby, it was no problem to take him to church with us because he would sleep or sit there quietly. As he's gotten older, he's started to make more noises (growling, babbling, etc.), and it's hard to have him in the service with us. So we decided it was time to try leaving him in the nursery. So today was his first ever time away from us during church. It was when he'd normally be napping, but apparently he was too excited to sleep, because I went to take a peek at him partway through the service, and I saw him doing this. He seemed happy and apparently had a good time. So now we can have this as our new plan going forward.

A Girl With Wings?

Today we went to brunch at the home of some friends, the Smiths. It was Joshua's first time meeting them and his first time being exposed to dress-up. As always he was pretty low key, but he seemed very interested in it.

Dinner with Dad and Deb

My dad and Deb were traveling back from Texas and happened to be going through Kansas City tonight. The timing worked out perfectly for us to meet them as they stopped for dinner.  We met at Los Cabos, which is one of our favorite restaurants, especially in the summer, as it has a great patio and backs up to a serene landscape.  They have quite a few varieties of salsa, and now instead of having to ask your server for them, you can go up to a salsa bar and get them yourself, which made it convenient for me since I wanted to try every single one of them.  We had a nice meal, and it was a good chance for Joshua to see his Grandpa Jim and Deb.

Glass Smasher

Although we're no tree huggers, Meghan and I both believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to do what we can to protect the earth that God's given us.   One of the biggest ways we do this is through recycling.  We use Olathe's bi-weekly curb-side recycling of plastic, aluminum, paper, etc., but we also recycle larger cardboard and glass by taking them to the large containers in the parking lot of Wal-Mart.  Ripple Glass has a large metal container for the glass.  I love recycling the glass, because it means I get to throw the glass bottles as hard as I want into the bin and watch as they smash against the metal walls or against other glass.  In fact, I won't even let Meghan do it, because I would be deprived of the enjoyment, so recycling the glass is my job.  Here I am with my glass-smashing face, not to be confused with my ant-killin' face or my competitive bowling face.

Tunneling

Joshua loves climbing and crawling and standing. His favorite thing to do these types of activities on is our dining room chairs. This is not very safe, so we got him a tunnel in hopes that he would rather crawl through that than his homemade obstacle course. He does really like this tunnel and likes crawling through it and opening the doors on either end, though he seems to still like the chairs better.

Up on the Housetop

Aside from the damage to our screens and to our cars during the hail storm a couple months ago, I had assumed our roof had sustained some damage.  Today the insurance adjustor was out at our house.  The roofing contractor I plan to use was also there to help point out the damage, as it's in his best interest for the adjustor to decide work needs to be done.  Because I'm a boy, I like to do dumb things like climb on roofs for no good reason other than because climbing on things is fun, so I got up on the roof with them.  Here I am perched on top while they assess the damage.  In the end, she determined there was enough damage, and she's going to recommend USAA buys us a new roof at only the cost of our more-expensive-than-I'd-hoped deductible.

A Whole New World

We didn't really expect gifts for Joshua's finalization, but we did get a few. Today Joshua got a chance to play with them. I feel like he is at the age where he gets bored quickly with old toys so he was really excited to play with some new things.

First Father's Day

Today was my first Father's Day as a father. I figured it would be nice, but it really was even better than I expected. Meghan, Joshua, Terrence, Natalie, and Alex all collaborated to each put their respective hand and paw prints on an art project they made for me, which turned our really nicely despite our apparently uncooperative pets. And I had some time to hang out with my little son, which was great, as he has his cute little personality that makes it fun for us to spend time together. I spent a lot of time just looking at him and thinking about how much God blessed us and me with him. It's been a great day, and I'm so happy to have that little guy as such a big part of my life.

Babies Everywhere!

Today we had our barbecue to celebrate Joshua's adoption finalization. It was really fun and we had a lot of friends and family stop by. We had several babies in attendance. Here you can see Lexi trying to get the bow out of Hadley's hair and Hadley touching Joshua's cheek and Joshua looking a little skeptically at Hadley. It was pretty much a baby party in the nursery.

In the evening we met up with Jeff and Josie, and they brought the newest addition to the Elliott clan, Jonas. He was an adorable tiny little baby, and even though it doesn't seem like we've had Joshua all that long in the grand scheme of things, it seems forever ago that he was that little. We had a nice dinner at Yard House at The Legends and got to hang out as we walked around enjoying the weather (which was finally bearable after an oppressively hot and humid day).

Our House is a Zoo, But We Like It

Today is a challenging day because the day before I have company I always cook as much as possible and do all my prep work so that I can enjoy myself when people are here. It works really well, but it's hard to do all my cooking and baking while also watching a baby. He used to be endlessly entertained by the exersaucer, but now he only likes it for 20 min or so and then wants to get out and move around. So what I do now is confine him to the kitchen and let him crawl around with the tupperware because he loves tupperware for some reason and between that and crawling through the exersaucer, he stays out of trouble for quite awhile. Terrence and Natalie walk around behind him trying to get his feet. It's a cooking experience with a lot of potential for tripping, but I still find it very rewarding.

Ta-Da! (See I Told You)

One of the reasons it has taken so long to complete this curtain project is Jason thought the vertical blinds were okay and the best option for a sliding glass door. I will agree there aren't a lot of great options for sliding doors, which I feel is one reason I see fewer of them in newer houses. However, I really hate vertical blinds and feel they are never the answer. That may have something to do with the fact that in our WT house in Oklahoma that we lived in for three years that was at the end of a dirt road and surrounded by trailer parks that were straight out of Winter's Bone, vertical blinds came with the house and were in almost every single window. Not that I was scarred for life by that experience or anything. So anyhow, our curtain project came out really well and I feel very happy with it and even Jason agrees it is a vast improvement.

Camp Bow Wow

We are having a barbecue this weekend to celebrate the finalization of the adoption. We decided that it would be better if the pets weren't around because there are a few babies expected to attend who may not be the animal lover Joshua is and plus it just gets chaotic when they are around large groups. Alex we can easily confine to our bedroom, but the pugs have to go somewhere so we decided to send them to daycare. So today we had to send them for a trial "interview" to make sure they get along with other dogs. Here is Terrence's certificate of completion. I would like to show you Natalie's too, but apparently the camp staff are speciest and think all pugs look the same because her certificate also has a picture of Terrence on it. They seemed to have fun and came home happy and tired which is the very best kind of pug.

Curtains for Vertical Blinds

When we moved in, I really disliked the vertical blinds we had. I thought we would switch them out that summer. That didn't happen as there always seemed to be something with higher priority. But now, just eight years later, we are finally getting rid of them. Here is Jason putting up the new curtain rod for me.

Finally Final

Today we went to court to finalize Joshua's adoption. It was very quick and only lasted a few minutes, but we were really glad to make it official. Peg, Ron, Julie, and Andrew were able to make it and we went out to get ice cream afterwords to celebrate. Here we are with the judge after court was over.

8 Months

Joshua turned 8 months old today. This has been a big month for him since he has gone from being a crawler to wanting to stand constantly. It's really fun to watch him learn new things so I am excited to see what comes next.

The type of film format, not the motel

Now that we both have children, Jason Keeler and I don't get to hang out very much, but we both had a free night tonight, so we went to go see Super 8.  It was a pretty entertaining movie, and we had a good time and were glad to get a chance to catch up.  Afterwards, I snapped this picture, which turned out a little weird, but since "production quality" was one of the themes of the movie, we decided it would work as the picture to represent our evening.

Table For 3

Today we went out to dinner as we often do on Fridays. We went to Chapala, which is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Now that Joshua likes eating more foods, it is pretty easy to take him to restaurants because he is pretty happy just eating some of whatever we have. Tonight he had some rice, beans, chicken, and tortilla and seemed to enjoy it all.

Conditional Tastebuds

Although Joshua likes most things, avocados have been on the short list of foods he doesn't like. But we discovered recently that even for food he doesn't like, he'll eat it if he can feed himself. Today we gave avocados another shot, and he was able to pick up the pieces and get them near or in his mouth, and for the ones that actually made it inside, he seemed to be okay with the taste. Here he is with a few failed attempts nearby their intended target.

Splish Splash

I don't normally give Joshua baths because I find it easier and more efficient to bring him in the shower, but today we had some extra time because he hasn't quite gone back to Kansas City time so he went to bed a little later than normal. It was his first time in the big tub. He really enjoyed it once he realized he could crawl in the water and splash it. He was also very interested in standing up, but I discouraged that since it was a little slippery and he's not all that steady.

Lugging Luggage

Today was our last day of vacation, so it was time to return home.  Because we had Joshua with us, our luggage was a little more than normal.  The biggest addition was his carseat.  We didn't want to have to rent one, so we brought our own.  Fortunately we were able to buy a backpack which can be used to carry it.  It was incredibly bulky, but it worked.  Hopefully no one thought I was transporting a dead body, because I think one might have fit (I didn't seek one out to try it).  Here I am with three of our main luggage pieces, while Meghan carried the other big suitcase and my backpack and drove Joshua in the stroller.

Swimming with Dad

Today we took Joshua to the pool for the first time. We had brought a floaty ring he could sit in since he is really too young to just "hang on". He seemed to have a good time and enjoy the water, which bodes well for our Hawaii trip later this summer.

The Whole Family

Although we are all here in Las Vegas, our arrival and departure schedules don't all overlap exactly, so we had our family meal today, when we knew everyone was going to be in town and available. We all traveled via the tram to the Treasure Island buffet for a great lunch. It was really nice to have everyone together in one place, as it doesn't happen very often due to everyone's schedules. Afterward, we got together for a family photo.

Top of the World Looking Down on Creation

Today was our first full day in Vegas. Tonight was our scheduled date night, which Mom and Ron made possible by watching Joshua for the evening and buying us tickets to Cirque du Soleil's O. We had really great seats, which allowed us to be all the more impressed by the amazing feats of the performers. Before the show, though, we went out to eat together, and we had a delicious meal in the restaurant with the best view in town: the Top of the World rotating restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere. The view was simply amazing. Combining that with the food, it was one of the most memorable dinners we've ever had.

Very Grand Indeed

Today we spent most of the day at the Grand Canyon North Rim before driving back to Las Vegas. Jason and I were a little skeptical that it would be anything great, but it was really spectacular and a very worthwhile trip. Here we are standing on top of Angel's Window. Joshua was in the carrier for most of the trail-walking we did and he did great, though he did refuse to wear his baby sunglasses.

Valley of Fire

Last night we arrived in Las Vegas, and today we began our two-day mini roadtrip to see the Grand Canyon and other sights.  Today's main event was stopping at Valley of Fire State Park, which is about an hour outside of Vegas and on our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  I'm not sure why this place isn't more famous, because it really is amazing.  Have you seen Total Recall?  If so, you've seen this place.  It's "Mars" in the movie.  The rock formations are so ridiculous it's hard to believe they occur naturally.  My favorite part was that aside from two particular places in the park, you're free to climb any of the rocks, which I most certainly did.  The park way surpassed our expectations and was a great start to our trip.

First Flight

We've known for awhile that we would be flying to Las Vegas and that it would be Joshua's first time on a plane. We were prepared for the worst, especially since we had two flights due to a layover in Denver. If things went terribly, we expected the scornful glares from the "Can't you control your baby?" crowd and the looks of despair from the "I'm not going to be able to sleep at all on this flight because of that baby" people and perhaps even a few looks of sympathy from those who have been there before. But it wasn't nearly that bad. Overall, he was great. He looked around and babbled quietly like he tends to do. He didn't seem bothered at all by the pressure changes, which was good. He was a bit overtired, so we had one two-minute stretch of classic crying-baby-on-a-plane time, but outside of that, he did a great job. We're proud of him and are no longer dreading the trip home next week.