I Need A Troubleshooting Guide...

So Josh seemed to get a lot better the week of his birthday, but still wasn't 100%. He had a rough time sleeping at night... Finally by Thursday of last week, I told Jim I was going to put him to bed at the first sign of him being cranky and see if that helps him sleep better... Fully expecting it to backfire on me and have him wide awake at 3 am.

So while eating dinner, about 6:30 pm, he decided to start throwing his food off his tray and just got mad... So I took of his tray, cleaned him up, and to bed he went. He cried for about 5 minutes but then finally gave up.

He slept until 6:45am the next morning!!!! It is amazing how wonderful Jim and I feel after a solid night of sleep! :)

So moral of the story... if your child wakes up with a few hours of going to sleep... try putting them to bed about 30-60 minutes earlier. Waking up only a few hours after going to bed signals an over tired child. I bought that darn - "solving your childs sleep problems" in November and still find myself forgeting some of the basic steps... like that one. Thank goodness I look back at it from time to time!

The Big 1st B-day!

Well it was finally here... the big day we'd been planning for... (actually Jim did all the planning!). Since Josh was born on May 5th, and that was a Monday... we celebrated his first birthday on May 3rd which was a Saturday... and also my birthday.

The Walsh crew drove in late Thursday night and spent all day with Josh on Friday. The went shopping, cleaned up the house, got my tires rotated and even an oil change. That night we went out to Victoria's for an Italian dinner. It was really really good. We are finding we have reached a more difficult stage with Josh when it comes to going out. He just can't sit still. So if he doesn't have food to eat in front of him... he wants out. So we let him roam around the tables.... walking from chair to chair. The people around us thought it was amusing and would encourage him to keep going. So at least others in the restaurant didn't mind.

Saturday was the big day. My mom and sister took me out shopping to get some fun going out tops... we got back to find the house all together and decorations all done. We relaxed a little before the party started at 2pm. We had a cinco de mayo theme complete with Margaritas, Corona's, tacos, and of course the only "real" b-day cake around... DQ Ice Cream Cakes. It was a pretty good turnout. Josh was still a little under the weather... but all in all he was a good sport and enjoyed all the company and presents. Ridiculous amount of presents. Our family and friends continue to be so generous!

That night, Nana LuLu (my mom's new nickname) and Pappy, and my brother Jack and his girlfriend watched over Josh while the rest of us went out to celebrate my b-day. It was a really good time... we went to one bar on the ave... and stayed there the entire time. It was SO fun to hang out with my sister, bro-in-law (BIL) have fun. We ended the night rather abruptly... when my non-aggressive BIL decided to take care of a very intoxicated guy who kept trying to dance with all the gals... it was quite hilarious... and definitely the talk all the next day. Very amusing.

Sunday was church and then breakfast back at our house. It was a good way to end the weekend. My family took off around noon and then the Kirkwoods hung out until about 1:30pm. We took advantage of the nice day by sitting outside and putting Josh's new radio flyer together. Josh is already showing potential to become an engineer... notice the picture - already telling his dad and g'pa how to put it together.

Enjoy the rest of the pics...

Hand, Foot, and Mouth... WHAT??

So Josh woke up on Tuesday with a temp of 102.5.... And of course we decided not to send him to daycare. I called to let them know that he was running a fever and they commented that he may have "Hand/Foot/Mouth" virus. I was like - um okay. I read up on it in my "first year book"... Symptoms are fever followed by blisters in the throat, on the hands, and soles of feet. I immediately try to see into Josh's mouth without much luck. I then decide I should call the doc. So the nurse tells me that 102 is pretty high for that type of virus. But if it is, it will go away on its own and to only call back if the fever remains for 72 hours. By about 1pm... I decide it is time to make an appointment because I just don't want to chance another ear infection.

On the good side... no ear infection. On the bad side... he has the virus (or disease as the nurse kept saying). Why do they call it a disease?? It makes me feel like it is going to be permanent if it is a disease. I then make sure to ask the doc what I need to do to ensure the company coming that weekend doesn't get sick. She replied, "disinfect everything with some diluted bleach water" but adults rarely get this. So I called all the friends with kids to give them the warning. Most of them appreciate the heads up and opted not to come... A relief to me in a way.

The rest of the week was horrible for Josh. He was just plain miserable and only had blisters in his throat. We just kept giving him popsicles and really warm milk/water. And LOTS of tylenol and motrin. Oh - that is another thing - why does Motrin work SO much better than tylenol??? We ended up just doing Motrin for an entire day... and that seemed to go much better. Jim and I took half days all week to make sure he didn't have to go back to daycare. It also let the two of us catch up on some sleep because he seemed to only take a good nap during the day.

Ahh.... parenthood and daycare...

11 Months Old!!

So we are quickly approaching Josh's 1 year old mark... So I figure it is a good time to let you all know what he is up to these days...

• Favorite foods - cottage cheese, string cheese, yogurt, ice cream, hmm... good thing we live in WI...


• Favorite activities - Walking/pushing his tonka truck in the house and the turtle outside in the driveway. Swings and slides...


• Favorite quiet time - reading books... seriously we read about 5 a day... even the girls at daycare comment about how often he will bring a book over to them so they read it to him. Very cute!


• Favorite words - BAH... and of course Mama and Dadda


• Latest accomplishments - putting his arms up in response to "How big is Josh?", walking about 5 steps without holding on, putting things away... he loves to help clean, pick up the dog food and put it back in the dish, and put the tops onto bottles.

Our little man is getting so big... We are looking forward to the big birthday... less than 2 weeks!!!

Pictures: He loves playing with the dog dish... sometimes we see him putting the dog food back into the dish... but more often than not... we find him trying to eat Hilo's food... so this is him caught in the act.