Keddiebears

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T22:00:00.010-05:00

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Our 2011 Christmas card

2011-12-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

This year, we simplified things a lot for our annual Christmas card. No professional family photos this year, and, unfortunately, not enough time for a handwritten note like we did last year, which really disappointed the etiquette stickler in me. But know that we thought of each and every one of you fondly as we put together and addressed our cards this year, and that we wish you all much joy this holiday season!

(By the way, that photo of Joshua on the back of our card is hands down my favorite image of him from this year. And we thought it was the perfect photo for spreading some holiday joy!)

Merry Christmas to all of you, dear friends and family!

Christmas craftiness

2011-12-21T23:15:00.000-05:00

One more post for tonight's blog burst... I think it's okay to go ahead and post this since the grandparents who regularly read this blog have already received their Christmas present from Joshua, and the other, less tech-savvy grandparents will be getting theirs on Sunday. :)

In a fit of craftiness on a rare weekend off, I decided to actually DO some of the many fun ideas I've pinned on Pinterest over the last year. (Side bar: have you gotten hooked on Pinterest yet? It's such a fun place to dream about the many fun ideas that I would, of course, perfectly execute, if I only had the time...)

The first project I took on was a fingerpainting canvas, adapted from the idea originally found here. I got enough white letter stickers to spell out Joshua's name twice (the white blended in with the blank canvas, which I think helped prevent the wee maestro from getting distracted and trying to pick off the letters), then set up a little paint station for him. This was his first time playing with paint, and I think at first he was very distressed at how messy his hands got. I would dip them in the paint and try to show him how to smear it on the canvas, but he would immediately lift his hands up to me and complain until I wiped the paint off. So the first try was a bit of a fail.

Then I gave him a paintbrush to play with, and all was right in his world. :) Of course, because he was sitting in his booster seat, and because I'd squeezed the paint onto plastic plates, he apparently thought I was giving him a new utensil to try eating a new snack... It's a good thing the paint is nontoxic! But I eventually convinced him that paint =/= food, and we started getting somewhere with the project.

Once the paint set, I peeled off the letter stickers, and was pleasantly surprised at how the canvases turned out!

After the paint project, I tried to take Joshua out of his "smock" (a large t-shirt that I never wear), but he kept running back to it and asking for the shirt, so I relented and let him run around the house with it on for a while. What an adorable little artist!

Then, later that weekend, I tried my hand at another Pinterest project. Or perhaps I should say, I tried Joshua's hand at it... ;) We have a yearly tradition of choosing an ornament that somehow epitomizes the past year for our family. You can find blog posts describing past years' ornaments here. This year, we decided an ornament made by Joshua would be a fun addition to our family collection. So I decided to try replicating this super-cute idea...

And, okay, by "replicate," I mean "copy exactly." But look! It's Joshua's hand! And super-cute little snowmen! He was very curious about just what exactly I was pressing his hand into, so he actually held still and just watched while I placed and pressed his hand. Then after 24 hours for it to dry, I got to bust out our fine-point Sharpies and play artist myself for a bit. And I'm really happy with our little homemade ornament -- the first of hopefully many homemade additions Joshua will make to our collection!

Christmas Vespers 2011

2011-12-21T22:48:00.001-05:00

Sunday evening, December 11, was the annual interfellowship Christmas Vespers. And as always, it was such a beautiful service! There were a record-breaking 38 students in the choir, which sounded absolutely majestic in the soaring splendor of Rockefeller Common Room, singing music beautifully arranged, as always, by Jamie Rankin. We also had a harp, several string instruments, a percussion section, some woodwinds, and Rob Dunlop '01 coming back for his umpteenth year as the French hornist. :)

The readings, though familiar, always bring home to me new facets and applications of the Incarnation. And we had some seriously powerful soloists this year! The songs chosen for this service always move me to tears, and this year was no exception.

David Buschman gave a touching message on how the Old Testament comes to a point or apex with the birth of Christ, which then spreads the message of God's salvation to all peoples everywhere -- the hourglass view of all history, if you will.

It was so restorative, in the midst of this busy season in our lives, to come together in worship and be reminded anew of God's great gift of grace.

How to illustrate a successful children's book [VIDEO]

2011-12-21T22:15:00.001-05:00

Attention all aspiring children's book illustrators -- here's a tip from our very discerning 22-month-old that will guarantee instant success with the obsessive toddler set!

Include on every single page a tiny, cute critter, utterly unrelated to the story itself, but noticeable enough for toddlers to latch onto the unrelated critter in favor of anything else going on in the story itself.

Maybe this is just Joshua, but in no less than five of his books (all five of which are his current favorites, by the way), the illustrators have included a random little critter which repeats on every spread of the book. For instance, in the newly-released "Charlie the Ranch Dog," by Ree Drummond (a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman), there's a little chipmunk that sort of acts as Charlie's little sidekick. I say "sort of," because the chipmunk is never mentioned in the story itself, nor does it actually play a role in moving along the plot. And yet, there he is, hidden on every page -- and Joshua loves finding him. He knows where the chipmunk is on every page and will gleefully flip through the book, shouting "munk! MUNK!" and pointing him out.

And it's not just some newfangled trend, either. The 20-year-old Helen Oxenbury book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" has a plucky little dog on every page. And "Goodnight Moon," the undisputed children's classic, has a little mouse hidden on every full-color spread. Now, the mouse is mentioned twice in the book, but I still think this counts.

Let's watch as Joshua demonstrates how fun it is to fixate on the little things:

This video is actually a couple weeks old -- Joshua can now rip through the entire book forwards, backwards, and upside down and immediately point out the little "mow! mow!" on each page. I have to say, I can't wait until he's old enough to read through the "Where's Waldo" books -- I have a hunch that he's going to love those!

Thanksgiving with the Keddies!

2011-12-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

Let's see if I can get a Thanksgiving post up before Christmas... :)

We hosted David's family for Thanksgiving this year -- it helps having David's brother and his wife living in Manhattan now. (Still getting used to thinking of Iain and Erin as married!) So David's parents drove out from Indy, and Iain and Erin took the train down from the city, and we all missed Donald, who's out in South Korea now...

The last time we hosted Thanksgiving, I was heavily pregnant. And now look at our great big boy, imperiously commanding all of us on a brief walk around the neighborhood!

He had so much fun exploring with Grandma and Grandpa -- and I don't think they really minded being ordered around by such a benevolent dictator. :)

(Here's where we switch to iPhone/Instagram pics...)

After a lovely, Wegmans-catered Thanksgiving dinner, we all hung out with Joshua and his books and trains. Mostly his books -- he loved having so many new adults to beg to read to him!

Then on Black Friday, we made a trip into the city to hang out with Erin's family. It was Joshua's first time on a train -- and both Joshua's and Grandpa's first time on the New York subway!

We then walked the High Line, a really lovely park converted from an old elevated rail line. Currently, it runs from the meatpacking district up to Penn Station, but I believe there are plans to expand it further north. I'm afraid Joshua wasn't terribly impressed -- but at least he got a nap in during this very busy and exciting day!

All in all, it was a lovely holiday weekend with family. We have so many things to be thankful for!

The Joshua update

2011-11-27T00:41:00.001-05:00

Clearly, I've given up on regularly tracking Joshua's daily, or even monthly, milestones... But here's an attempt at preserving some of the memories and developmental milestones from the last few months!

One of his favorite games this fall has been finding the smallest possible nook or cranny into which he can fit himself, and then cramming himself into it, waiting with gleeful anticipation for us to find him and yell "boo!" At our apartment, that's the eight or so inches between a buffet and the wall. But over at his buddy Phil's house, he's managed to squeeze himself into spaces that can't be more than five or six inches wide, much to our amazement and laughter. He just looks so darn cute as he squishes himself into the space and grins out at us...

In the last two months or so, Joshua's vocabulary has exploded. Back in August, he had a few command words, and would dutifully repeat some words after us, if we caught him in just the right mood. But since about 20 months, he's become a regular chatterbox! He'll gleefully repeat pretty much anything you ask him to say, but he also has dozens and dozens of words that he'll say of his own volition. It's so exciting watching him make connections and figure out how to express what he wants. And it's remarkable how quickly he picks things up! Case in point: his own name. He started responding to us asking "what's your name?" with bemused giggles and the occasional "mama?" Within a day, after just a little coaching, he learned to respond with "Dosh-oo!" The next day, it was "Dwosh-oo," then "Josh-oo!" Just a few days later, it was a full-fledged (and extremely adorable) "Josh-oo-a!" His name is, I think, the only 3-syllable word he's managed so far, but I tell ya, more will be coming soon, at this rate.

Speaking of new words, one of the best new acquisitions to date is "please." :) He went through a phase where he would point at what he wanted and then grunt at you insistently. Our wonderful nanny, Hana, was the first to have success in breaking that particular habit -- she taught him to grunt and then say "please" (or, in Joshua vernacular, "pease! pease!"). It was actually really cute, what with the deep guttural grunt immediately followed with this tiny chirping "pease!" More recently, he's begun to drop the grunt entirely, usually pointing insistently and then saying "pease," sometimes without our prompting. So heartmeltingly sweet!

Joshua has also clearly inherited our organizational tendencies. Though he's very much a toddler, prone to tossing his toys around and delighting in making messes, he also has a strong natural bent towards straight lines and meticulous organization. He's taken to putting all of his cars neatly in a row on the table as part of his game play -- either lined up next to each other all facing the same direction, or lined up end to end. He also knows how to put his books away after dumping them all out on the floor. And perhaps his most useful new trick is throwing away trash -- he'll pick up bits of paper or tissue and march them over to the trashcan and dutifully throw them out. He'll also take our trash (packaging from online purchases, napkins from dinner, etc.) and throw it away for us -- he's already becoming useful around here!

He still likes carrying around identical or similar objects, but these days, it's usually particular pairings of his toy cars. His current favorites are his red fire truck and yellow SUV, but in a pinch (i.e., if one or the other is lost under a couch), he'll run around with his taxi and police car. But it's always these pairings -- lose both the fire truck and the taxi, and you'll be faced with toddler confusion and meltdown.

If I'm ever in danger of forgetting that our son is pure boy, I'll be forcibly reminded with his multiple requests for "airplane" and "fly" and other physical games. Joshua loooooves roughhousing, and never laughs harder than when he's being flung up in the air. He'll come up to you, give you his most entreating look, and ask "Flyyyyy? Pease! Pease!" It's quite the upper body workout, but so worth it for the glee on his face!

This fall, he's also learned to love going on walks with us. During the day, while I was at the office, David would take him for long rambles around the neighborhood, over to the nearby shopping complex, or down the canal and up as far as campus. For the longer stretches, Joshua would ride the stroller for most of it, but his little legs can go as much as a mile before he'll start asking to be picked up. He's also learned to hold our hands when walking outside -- more often than not, he'll reach up imperiously and demand that we both hold his hands. As that's a habit we want to encourage, we always give in to those demands. :)

Though Joshua's vocabulary really has been growing in leaps and bounds, he's also reaching the stage where he has desires that he can't express clearly -- or worse, where he's learned how to express a desire, and knows that we understand him, but for some terrible, unknown reason, we're maliciously denying him his request. Or at least, that must be how he feels, given the extent of his meltdowns... Most recently, he's started getting frustrated when David sits in a particular spot on the couch -- the spot where he wants to bounce up and down. He'll come up to David, and say things like "moooove" or "pease!" If that doesn't work, he'll dig his arms underneath David and attempt to physically move him. And when that doesn't work, he'll go into full out meltdown mode. His tantrums don't really last that long, and he generally knows that he's not going to get anywhere with us with the meltdowns, but it still makes this softie of a mama feel bad.

The worst tantrums Joshua throws directly at me are centered on my iPhone. I've loaded a few toddler game apps onto it, and he loves sitting in my lap and tapping on the screen to make different things happen. But when I move to take it away from him, he'll start pleading with me -- "Phone, mama, phonnnnnnne! Pease! Pease!" His addiction to my phone is such that when he catches a glimpse of it, he'll start demanding to play with it. So we've decided to cut him off cold turkey. Which makes it difficult for me to take iPhone photos or videos of him... I've realized, though, that if I take my phone out of its case (which has a lovely family photo printed on it), he won't want it immediately. I think he assumes that the black iPhone is his daddy's boring old phone? So while we work him through a toddler 12-step program to wean him from his phone addiction, I can at least buy myself enough time to take quick snapshots of him now and again. ;)

And to show that our son isn't just a screen junkie -- he absolutely loves his books. Every single one of them. As of a couple weeks ago, he was in a phase where he would bring you a book, plop himself down in your lap or next to you, and point at your mouth saying "pease" until you started reading to him. And then he would repeat over and over and over again, sometimes with different books, sometimes with the same book from the very beginning. He has a few particular favorites -- he loves pointing out the chipmunk on each page of the beautifully illustrated Charlie the Ranch Dog, and naming each animal throughout The Mitten, and I think he really likes my rendition of Chugga Chugga Choo Choo. These days, though, he seems to prefer "speed reading" through the books himself, flipping through the pages with just barely enough time to look at the pictures. But when he's tired, or in a patient mood, he'll still let us read to him. It does our book-loving hearts proud!

I wish I had time to blog more regularly, if just to capture each of these little memories more completely... He's growing up so fast!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

2011-11-26T17:49:00.000-05:00

OK, so I have to confess -- I found my idea for Joshua's Halloween costume this year on Pinterest, so I can't exactly claim creativity points on this one. But I still think our wee Clark Kent is the cutest Clark Kent ever!

We already had most of the pieces of this costume -- a cute little navy blazer for him to wear to weddings and for Christmas, plus Superman PJs (because every toddler boy looks ridiculously adorable in Superman PJs!). The only thing missing was horn-rimmed glasses. I found a $3 pair on Amazon -- and it's a good thing I didn't spend any more on them, because the first time I let him play with them, in hopes of getting him acclimated to actually putting them on his face, he gleefully snapped off one of the stems within seconds. Oops. But I taped it back on, and let him just hold them during our little Halloween "photo session," and I think it still works!

So without further ado -- the cutest Clark Kent / Superman ever!

And my very, very favorite:

[Just as a comparison: I can't believe how much he's grown up since last Halloween!]

Interfellowship Friday, fall 2011

2011-11-26T17:30:00.000-05:00

At the end of October, we had an Interfellowship Friday large group meeting -- it's fast becoming an every-semester tradition, which is awesome to see! The speaker this fall was R. York Moore, a National Evangelist for Intervarsity, and someone deeply involved in the work of the International Justice Mission, an organization dedicated to freeing modern-day slaves and using the rule of law to end human trafficking. York gave an inspiring message on justice and the role that we as Christians are all called to play in doing God's work. It was a message that I particularly needed to hear, and one that I'm still working through, so I was very thankful that I got to attend this session.

It's also always encouraging to see the different Christian groups gather together to worship. "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!"

A fall day full of photography

2011-11-26T16:19:00.000-05:00

One beautiful Saturday in October, I had not one, but TWO awesome get-togethers with friends who have been bitten by the photography bug. It was so good to reconnect with my old friend, the camera... :)

The first get-together was with a group of amazing women I initially met through an online photography forum, but have since gotten to know in real life and now consider dear friends. I brought Joshua along and took some photos of him for the first time in weeks -- and took advantage of having other photographers there to get some really cute shots of the two of us together! (The two below of the two of us were taken on my camera, so I'm not 100% sure who they were taken by, but I think both were shot by Kim Schmidt, local photographer extraordinaire and amazing kid-whisperer!)

Then later that day, I got together with a bunch of PEF girls who were itching to go off-campus on a photography ramble. We first went out to the hiking trails in the Mountain Lakes Preserves, and then to an overgrown 17th-century cemetery in the middle of West Windsor fields. As I didn't have a (delightful but in need of much supervision) toddler along with me this time, I had more of a chance to actually take photos on this excursion!

I'm thankful for every opportunity I have in our crazy busy lives just to enjoy sharing a hobby with friends. And I'm so thankful for the wonderful friends with whom I made these memories!

Greg's 40th birthday party!

2011-11-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

The next major "event" from this fall was our dear friend Greg's surprise birthday party. Earlier this year, Greg helped plan a surprise baby shower for his lovely wife, Aime, so she decided to return the favor with a surprise birthday party for him. Surprisingly (hehe), both parties were actually surprises to the guests of honor -- they're both either really sneaky party planners, or really gullible guests. ;)

Joshua was unfortunately under the weather that weekend, so he and David had to stay home. But there were tons of other little kiddos to play with at the party -- as well as good food, good friends, and great conversation!

And one shot of Greg's family members who came into town to celebrate his birthday with him:

Happy birthday again, Greg! Wishing you a richly blessed and joy-filled next forty years!

PEF Beach Retreat 2011!

2011-11-26T15:04:00.000-05:00

And now we've made it to the beginning of the school year! :) PEF kicked off the year with its annual beach retreat, and I took a half day so Joshua and I could go for part of it!

The theme this year was hospitality as evangelism and outreach, and I think the students really, really took the messages to heart. It was incredibly encouraging to see students reaching out to incoming freshmen, thinking about ways to expand their natural friend circles, and just seeking to love the entire body. And now, three months into the school year, it's still going strong.

And here are just a few (okay, a ton...) of my favorite photos from the retreat!

Iain and Erin's wedding!

2011-11-26T14:42:00.000-05:00

Also back in August, David's brother Iain got married to the lovely Erin! I was the semi-official photographer, and it was so sweet to (try to) capture just how *happy* they both were. It was a tiny wedding -- they had actually only given us a few days' notice, so it was just immediate family, and not even all of our immediate family, given the time constraints and difficulties with traveling. But those of us who were there were overjoyed to celebrate with the happy couple!

Congratulations again, you two! We love you both!

Vacation in Indianapolis

2011-11-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

So hmm, it's been almost four months... Yikes. Life has just been so full and busy for us! But I'm determined to not let this blog die -- so I'm taking this holiday weekend to try to catch up on everything that hasn't been blogged this summer/fall! These will likely be mostly photo dumps without as much scintillating commentary, but at least I'm finally getting something back up on the blog...

Back in August, we got to spend a lovely vacation with David's parents out in Indianapolis. We had so much fun being taken care of, and the grandparents loved playing with Joshua -- it's pretty clear that Skyping with them has taught Joshua their faces and voices, so he was comfortable with them from the get-go. And he loved exploring and re-learning their house!

We took Joshua to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which is apparently the largest children's museum in the US. Joshua enjoyed most of the exhibits, but wow, did he LOVE the water table... We tried directing him away to see some of the other play areas, but every time we let go of his hand, he made an immediate beeline back to the water table. And who can blame him -- it really is so much fun to splash around without restraint!

And then we had a day trip to the Indy Zoo!

And perhaps my favorite photo from this trip: a sweet moment between Grandma and grandson.

I would close by saying something about how we can't wait to see family again, but, well, we just hosted them for Thanksgiving. :) Hopefully I'll get to posting about that sooner than four months from now!

Another potpourri update

2011-08-06T10:35:00.003-04:00

What's that, Joshua?

You're wondering how there could be a Keddiebears blog burst without a post dedicated to you? No fear -- here we go with another bullet-pointed attempt to keep up on your daily milestones!

The photo above reminds me -- I cut Joshua's hair myself for the first time, and we both survived! As you can see, it was getting pretty scraggly, especially over his ears... His first visit to a salon, kid-friendly though it tried to be, was not exactly a roaring success, so I decided to give it a try at home. In preparation, I spent a fair amount of time watching YouTube videos and googling for tips -- my favorite hit was this 25-step guide to cutting a toddler's hair... Surprisingly, though, our experience went fairly well. I set up his travel high chair on our porch, downloaded a Backyardigans video onto our iPad, and very gingerly set about trimming his hair while trying to keep his attention focused on the cartoon. Which mostly worked -- though every time I brought scissors near his ears, he would crane his head around in an attempt to look at and/or lick them. So the sides of his hair are very, very uneven. Sigh. But we made it without any injuries, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to cut his hair at home at least until he's old enough to want something cooler than what I can manage... :)
Joshua's vocabulary has been exploding in recent weeks. He has two "command" words down pat -- UP!, and CHEESE! (which sounds more like "chizzzzz"). He'll imperiously yell "UP! UP! UP!" right at his chosen target until said target picks him up; he's getting better about letting you off the hook if you tell him "not right now," though. :) And when he's hungry, he'll march over to his high chair and start saying either "UP!" or "CHEESE!" until you get him some food. But he's also starting to expand his regular vocabulary, which is really exciting to watch. Some of the many words he now clearly understands and (mostly) clearly enunciates: mama, dada, bye-bye, hi, hello, light, hat, chase, knee, wall, apple, vroom. And he's been attempting "dinosaur" -- his version consists of him getting very, very excited when he sees toy dinosaurs and yelling "DIE! DIE! DIE!" :) And he's also fairly reliably repeating us when we ask him to say words (like book, spoon, fruit, train, fan, and any number of animal noises). So much fun!

Joshua has also recently experienced crazy leaps and bounds in comprehension. And obedience! The other day, David was getting ready to take Joshua out for some errands, and told him, "Let's go out!" And Joshua immediately toddled over to the shoe closet, found his shoes, and brought them to David for help in putting them on. Such a smart wee boy! :) He also responds to "Do you need a diaper change?" (by running to his changing table and waiting), "Leave the ___ alone" (by sloooowly and reluctantly moving away from the tempting forbidden item), "Put the ___ back" (by actually putting the item back in its proper place!), and so much more. It's incredible how much he clearly understands what we're saying to and near him -- we're going to need to start watching what we say around him!
Speaking of understanding the world around him... He seems to think that all little rectangular objects are phones. The other day, he grabbed the power cord to my laptop (which he knows he's not supposed to play with), but before I could tell him to put it down, he picked up the (little black rectangular) power brick, put it to his ear, and said "Hello?" I'm afraid we were too busy laughing to discipline him for playing with the cord... :) Other objects he's used as a "phone" include a large Mega Block, rectangular fridge magnets, remote controls, small cardboard boxes, and of course our phones themselves, when he can get his hands on them!

The three of us have also recently invented a fun new alphabet game. Joshua loves running laps around our dining room table, so I'll sometimes sit off to one side and say "boo!" or "hi!" when he rounds the corner and sees me. He started to repeat what I would say, so for fun, David tried getting Joshua to repeat the alphabet after him -- and it worked! Though currently only up to the letter J (he seems to have trouble with the hard K sound), and only when Joshua is in the mood to perform... But it's so ridiculously cute, seeing his little legs run and hearing his renditions of the letters A through J. Especially when he gets distracted by how similar "G" is to his version of "cheese," and gets stuck on one of his favorite words. :)
Joshua also knows an ever-increasing number of body parts. He has obediently pointed to his head, ear, belly and knee for a couple months now, but he's recently added to his repertoire cheeks, hair, mouth, belly button, legs, feet and toes. His response to "cheeks!" is the cutest -- ask him where his cheeks are, and he'll think for a second, and then put both hands on his cheeks ("Home Alone" style) and give you a huge grin. We love demonstrating that particular party trick. :)

We've also started allowing him to feed himself his yogurt with a spoon. He's a very independent little guy, so he's been wanting to grab the spoon himself for a while, but it's taken his OCD parents a considerable amount of time to be ready for the mess that this entails... The first few times were incredibly messy -- he would stick the spoon into the yogurt, then gleefully wave it around in the air, flinging yogurt on the floor, in his hair, all over his tray... But after just a week or so, he started to get the hang of the whole self-spoon-feeding thing. These days, he gets probably about 80% of the yogurt actually into his mouth? Progress!
And we've made some real progress on teaching him not to throw his milk sippy cup. For months (it feels like), he would take a sip of milk, then fling his cup as hard as he could. I think he thought it was a fun game? And of course, because we want him to drink his milk, we would always pick it up and give it back to him. Our usual methods of discipline weren't working -- we tried getting him out of his high chair and putting him in his play pen after he threw the cup, but because it's kind of a long process to get him in and out of his chair, we think the separation wasn't sufficiently linked to his action of throwing the cup -- he'd just look up at us, very confused, and then would immediately throw his cup again once back in the chair. So a couple weeks ago, David decided to just take all his food away when he threw his cup, leaving Joshua strapped in his chair with his tray and food just out of his reach on the dining table. Joshua felt this separation more keenly -- he would reeeeeach for his food and whine (or yell "CHEESE!"). We would then calmly but firmly tell him that if he wanted his food, he needed to stop throwing his milk, wait about 30 seconds, and then give him his tray back. And wonder of wonders, this effectively communicated our point to him! He'll now drink some milk, look quizzically at his cup, and then gently set it down on the side of his tray. And though he tests us still, he also now knows that throwing his cup will result in having his food pushed away for a time, so the throwing has dramatically decreased.

Our wee monkey now also climbs all over everything -- including up onto the back of our couch. Which is not a little terrifying... We have to spot him now when he's on the couch, not because we worry about him falling off, but because we worry he'll climb right over the back of it and fall off the other side. So yes, David was just off to the side while I fired off that shot on the right. We're trying to teach him not to climb up the back at all, but until we can get that lesson down, we're removing all the decorative pillows, which only serve as stepping stools for our little guy... (Also, notice how he still has two identical objects in his hands, even as he climbs over guests like Bryce and all over the couch!)
And his current favorite activity is squatting to read. Not sitting, but squatting -- he'll take a beloved board book, squat on the floor to flip through its pages, and happily "read" for several minutes at a time in a full squat. The kid must have incredibly strong hamstrings and calves by now!

So there's your latest installment of all things Joshua! And that brings us to the end of this blog burst... Thanks for sticking around with us, despite the long periods of radio silence!

Morgan and Brian's wedding!

2011-08-01T10:49:00.001-04:00

On July 16, David's cousin Morgan got married! We made a day trip of it out to Harleysville, PA, and had such a wonderful time catching up with family and celebrating Morgan and Brian. There were so many lovely family touches to their wedding -- a cousin playing the prelude and another as the matron of honor, a marriage quilt made up of squares designed by friends and family, black and white family wedding photos as the centerpieces, and so much more. What a wonderful celebration of the joining of two families!

And Joshua continued his good wedding streak, very contentedly being held and played with by other family members, enjoying his kids' meal of chicken fingers and mac and cheese, and clapping with glee at all the fun noises and sights at the reception. :)

Morgan and Brian, we're so glad we could be there with you as you joined your lives together! And we're definitely looking forward to the next cousins' get-together!

July 4th trip to southwestern VA

2011-07-30T21:12:00.100-04:00

As long as I can remember, my dad has dreamed of someday owning some property in the mountains somewhere, where he could build a family vacation home close to the Appalachian Trail and retire to a life of hiking, fishing, and playing with his grandkids. Well, that dream just got a little closer for him -- my parents recently purchased a property in a lovely and remote corner of southwestern Virginia! It's still undeveloped (currently rented out to a farmer to pasture his cows), but my parents have all kinds of grand plans, and are really excited about slowly implementing them over the next several years.

So over the 4th of July weekend, we took a flying trip down to meet up with my parents and brothers and spend a couple days in Hillsville, VA. We were only there for a couple days, but it was such a fun time! The last time my family had seen Joshua was over Thanksgiving -- i.e., before he was even walking. It's incredible what a difference seven months can make... :) My parents were continuously marveling at how fast Joshua can run, and what a funny little personality he has. He invented a game to be played with my brother Eric and my dad, where he would reach across the table for a high five first from Eric, then from my dad. And then he invented a game for my mom, where he would squat to pick up gravel or sticks or other little objects, then look for her and share his spoils with her. SO cute!

Our trip started with dinner at the Old Mill at Mabry, which has an old water mill and some walking trails. Joshua totally led the way in exploring the area. :)

Then the next morning, we drove over to visit my parents' new mountain property. And by "drive," I mean off-road over hills and fields, briefly getting stuck at the bottom of a particularly difficult hill, but finally conquering it with our rented all-wheel-drive Jeep and making it to the top. (And by "we," I mean David -- thank you, honey, for taking on that stressful task!) My parents are thinking of building at the top of that particular hill, which would give them some really beautiful mountain views -- we can't wait to see how it all turns out!

And then later that day, we went on safari. Because that's what one does when one visits southwestern Virginia, of course. ;) My mom found a brochure for the Fort Chiswell Animal Park, a really cool zoo/conservation area, where you can take a guided bus tour through the 45-acre park and interact with camels, water buffalo, zebras, and so many more animals. Joshua was entranced -- even though he was hot and tired, he was still super excited every time an animal approached the bus. What a fun family excursion!

And one of the many videos we took of Joshua on safari! (More can be found in the 2011 Videos gallery of our SmugMug.)

What fun memories! We're looking forward to many more down in this little corner of the country!

Someday, I'll get perfect outdoor Father's Day pics...

2011-07-24T14:33:00.061-04:00

Remember last year's Father's Day photos? Perhaps I was a bit ambitious back then, hoping to get perfect, placid, D-A-D shots with a 5-month-old who had never really spent much time outdoors... But surely it wasn't too naive of me to try again this year, with a much more worldly and experienced 17-month-old, right?

I was determined to continue the tradition we'd started last year of getting D-A-D photos in honor of Father's Day. And while Joshua has continued to be somewhat skeptical of grass, we have had some successful "photo shoots" outdoors this spring (like the wonderful evening walk we took out on the Battlefield), so I allowed myself to dream dreams of perfectly-lit, bucolic outdoor photos of a smiling toddler obediently holding the wooden letters...

Perhaps I should have been warned by the fact that on that lovely evening walk, Joshua flatly refused to walk on the grass, running for the comfort of the paved sidewalk whenever we let him go. And by the fact that the wee emperor has been on a throwing kick, gleefully flinging his toys all over the house...

I took him outside the day before Father's Day (yep, I didn't even give myself any extra lead time to get these photos done), stuck him on the grass, handed him the D, and sprinted back to take the photo. And this is the very, very best I got:

Furrowed brow, confusion, and extreme distaste at the feel of wet prickly grass at his feet. And not two seconds later, the poor D was flung to the ground.

I tried again a few times, but wasn't fast enough to get a shot with him holding the letter. This was the *only* A photo I got:

Not exactly the face I was hoping for...

Tired, sweaty, and on the verge of a meltdown (him more than me, though I was probably close!), we packed it up and brought it all inside. Once we were back in the comfort of home, Joshua was actually curious about these white wooden letters -- he kept rooting around in the bag for them and trying to carry them off to his room. So I figured I would run with it, and try again on the daybed in his nursery.

Turns out, all he needed was for the photo session to be put in terms of a new game. One where he grabbed the letter, put it on his face or on top of his head, and then tried to throw it to me while I sat on the floor next to the bed. :) We had some close calls (thankfully, the letters never hit my camera, though I did get a direct hit to my knee), but I think we got some really fun photos this time around:

These really capture Joshua's playfulness and joy, and are so HIM at this stage of his life. So even though it's not what I had originally planned, these are perfect. Which is a good reminder for this type A over-planner of a mama... :)

And here's the final, official Father's Day 2011 set:

Happy (very) belated Father's day to all you wonderful dads out there!

Rachel and Shay's wedding!

2011-07-17T13:49:00.060-04:00

On June 12, we drove out to Long Island for the wedding of one of my college roommates (and one of the very first people I met at Princeton), Rachel! The wedding was held at the DeSeverky mansion, a former DuPont mansion and one of the most beautiful wedding locations we've ever been to. If it weren't a 2.5-hour drive away, I would seriously consider taking Joshua there just for a photo shoot! It was an absolutely lovely backdrop for a beautifully romantic wedding. (For some truly amazing photos, check out the sneak peek from their pro photogs here -- and check it out, Joshua made it into the sneak peek!)

Rachel and Shay really did have such a lovely wedding. They met in Israel while Rachel was posted in Tel Aviv with the State Department, so they officially got married there back in April. But I personally was very, very glad that they had a ceremony close enough for us to drive to in a day with a toddler. ;) Joshua had SO MUCH FUN celebrating -- he played with a fountain off to the side during the ceremony, was enchanted with the hora, clapped along after all of the toasts, and generally charmed the pants off of all and sundry. And we had a lovely time being there for Rachel and Shay and catching up with dear old friends. We all really should get together more often!!

(And this was the first big event I got to use our new 70-200mm telephoto lens -- I looooove this beast of a lens!)

Morgan's bridal shower!

2011-07-17T13:08:00.043-04:00

[After another super long blog silence, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things... I'm unconscionably late with this post, so I'm backdating it a few weeks. Stay tuned for more catch-up posts to come!]

Another McMillan cousin got married this summer! Seeing as how we've already been to her wedding, it's probably about time for me to post about her bridal shower earlier this summer... :)

Morgan had a really lovely shower back in early June, hosted by her bridesmaids and friends of hers from church, out in Perkasie, PA. Which, it turns out, requires you to take a number of back roads to get to from central Jersey... I don't think I've ever been so thankful for GPS. It was a really pretty drive, though, with a beautiful home and fun party at the end of it!

Morgan was as beautiful and happy as ever. :)

Tons of gorgeous and delicious food:

And so much fun was had by all!

So glad I could be there to celebrate this wonderful time in your life, Morgan! [And hopefully I'll get your wedding blogged sometime this week while we're on vacation! :)]

PEF Reunions and Graduation

2011-06-26T22:18:00.000-04:00

Just to wrap up the PEF-related year-end posts... One more photo-dump for tonight!

The last weekend of the school year is one of the busiest for the PEF staff. Friday and Saturday are filled with Reunions craziness -- thousands of alumni and their families descend on campus, and a couple hundred of them are PEF alumni who come to our events. SO much fun to catch up and engage in the orange-and-black craziness, but so busy...

And then the Monday following is a big dinner for the senior class and their families, with graduation on Tuesday morning. This dinner is always such a bittersweet time -- a beautiful celebration of four years with the graduating class, wishing them well as they go off into a new season of life...

Congratulations, again, class of 2011! Godspeed, and God bless you all!

PEF Senior Testimonies 2011

2011-06-26T21:58:00.000-04:00

The last two Friday Night Fellowships of the year were devoted to testimonies from the graduating seniors. Unfortunately, Joshua and I weren't able to attend -- though the testimonies were recorded, and I hope to listen to them sometime this summer. (All photos below taken by David, who did a wonderful job!)

Class of 2011, we miss you already! May the Lord bless you and keep you as you move on beyond Princeton!

PEF year-end events!

2011-06-26T21:36:00.001-04:00

Finally, finally, I'm getting around to blogging about all the busyness of the last couple months! First off, a post about two of the PEF year-end events -- the Olympics, and the spring picnic!

It's still so funny to me how athletic and hip PEF is these days... What happened to the "last desperate alliance of geeks and Asians"?? :) We love the Olympics, though -- it's a fun way to spend a Saturday during reading period. And it's full of awesome photo ops!

Another reading period event was our annual spring picnic, right before one of the last Friday Night Fellowships of the year. I posted a bunch of Joshua photos from that night in the last potpourri update post -- he had so much fun running around and making friends that night! And I think the students all had a pretty good time, too.

I especially love this first photo, of Isedua and Joy. I took a fun photo of them their freshman year, and two years later almost to the day, they decided to try to recreate it!

So okay, I couldn't resist including just a teeny bit of Joshua in this post as well. :)

Stay tuned, more catch-up posts to come!

No way out but through...

2011-06-18T17:30:00.000-04:00

It's been kind of a downward spiral, my relationship with this blog of late... I want to blog. I have so many random little notes scribbled to remind myself of little things I want to share here for posterity's sake. But it's been SO long, and I have SO many stories to share, that I start to get overwhelmed at the backlog... So I wait a little longer, until I have a bigger stretch of free time. And then the backlog grows... But! There's no way out of this backlog but through (because trust me, we're not giving up on this blog!), so here goes nothing... I'm breaking the dry spell with another bullet-pointed potpourri of an update! This time with random, mostly unrelated, but all super-cute photos!

Joshua has become quite the host. :) We have two grad student small groups, one of which is held at our house every Wednesday night, the other of which is hosted at different homes on Sunday afternoons, but sometimes ours. And we live in an apartment building where people have to buzz at the front door to be let in. These days, whenever Joshua hears the buzzer, he'll jump up from whatever he was doing, run to the intercom, and point as hard as he can to the switch until someone pushes the button to open the door. Then he'll run to our front door and stare at it until his friend walks in. So cute!

He clearly believes that people come over to our place for the sole purpose of playing with him. Which is almost true... On Wednesday nights, he'll play with everyone there until his bedtime, which usually means that we get a fairly late start on the actual Bible study. :) A few weeks ago, David tried to get the discussion started, and jokingly told Joshua to go off and play by himself. Joshua obediently toddled off, and David situated himself to start reading the scripture passage. Just as he started, though, Joshua came toddling back, with a determined gleam in his eye -- and maracas in his hands. So much for quiet playing on his own!

One more quick small group Joshua story... He's learning to share! The other week, he was stooping by our coffee table, pulling DVDs off the shelf, while people were coming in and chatting. Joshua picked up one of the DVDs, walked over to Richard, and handed it to him with a huge smile on his face. He then made a game of giving Richard a DVD, walking off a few steps, then running back and asking for it back. After a few passes of this, Joshua ran off to his bedroom -- and came back with his beloved "Dear Zoo" book, which he then shared with Richard. So heart-meltingly sweet!

Joshua looooooves pushing buttons -- on his toys, on our electronics, on his shirts, on his belly... :) My parents got him this great ride-on school bus for Christmas, which he's played with since then, but he's recently really gotten into it. There are buttons you can push to make honking noises and to play a song, and he figured out how to push them all by himself! Of course, that led to him trying out his new button-pushing skills on things like our printer, our CPU tower, and our remote controls... We've had some luck teaching him not to touch the computer table, but it's clearly still a huge source of temptation for the little guy. Putting him in his playpen still works as a good discipline/diversionary tactic, so that's what we're sticking with for now, but we're going to have to branch out and actually read some toddler discipline books soon, I think, so any recommendations would be appreciated!

In an effort to help Joshua move past frustrated whining/tantruming into communication, I started asking him a few weeks ago to say "up" whenever he came to me whining and wanting to be held. To be fair, he was communicating, and loudly -- but we'd still prefer that he learn to use words rather than whining/crying! And "up" is a word he'd used with some frequency in the past. So I figured I would try to see if I could get him to say "up" whenever he wanted to be held. And wow, did that go like gangbusters... It took a couple days of calmly saying "up" to him while he was whining, and only picking him up when he verbalized the word, but he caught on much faster than I expected! Because we wanted to cement the meaning of that word in his mind, we would cheer and pick him up every time he said "up." Which may have backfired a bit... Now, he expects to be picked up every.single.time he says "up." And he knows we know what he means! So next on our list of things to teach Joshua is the meaning of "not right now"...

Speaking of "up," though -- Joshua has recently learned how to climb up onto the couch by himself! He first figured out how to shimmy backwards down off of the couch and our bed, which was a huge safety milestone -- we no longer fear that he'll fall off and hurt himself. And then he gradually reverse-engineered that move. :) He'd shimmy halfway down off the couch, then struggle to figure out how to get himself back up on top. And then he figured out how to use his beanbag as a boost to get up onto the couch. And now, he can climb up all by himself -- he starts out on his tiptoes, throws his head and torso onto the couch, streeeeetches out his right leg until his knee is on the couch, and then pulls/climbs/rolls the rest of the way up. So determined and cute!

Joshua knows so many body parts now! He'll point to his head, ear, nose, belly, and knee fairly reliably, and he'll point to my eye, nose, cheek, ear and chin. Of course, he has to be in just the right mood to comply with our requests, the stubborn wee boy... But it's clear that he knows these words!

We took him in for his 15-month checkup (yikes, over a month ago now, so these stats are old...) -- he weighed 23 lbs., 5 oz., was 32 inches tall, and had a head circumference of 19 inches. And Dr. N was very pleased with his growth, and babbling, and gross/fine motor skills. It's such a blessing to have such fast and easy well-baby visits -- we're so thankful for how healthy our little boy is!

Joshua has four molars fully in now! For a while, we thought he might be working on some more teeth, since he kept chewing on his hands and drooling more than usual, but I think it was actually the back/inner half of the molars. These four molars have fully broken through now, and he seems to be back to a manageable level of drooling. :) Teething hasn't seemed to really bother Joshua at all of late -- I'm hoping this continues, and that we'll have an easy go of the rest of his teeth!

An old friend of ours, John Paul, came over for dinner the other night -- he and his wife are out in Chicago now, but he just got a tenure-track position at Rutgers, so they'll be moving back into the area this fall! Woohoo! One thing I didn't know about John Paul until this dinner visit -- he's totally a baby whisperer. Joshua is generally iffy about new people, and usually squirms and runs away when other people try to hold him. But John Paul gave him his space, and Joshua was fascinated by him... By the end of the evening, Joshua was climbing up onto the couch to be right next to John Paul, and cuddling up to him, and sitting peacefully in his lap while we all talked. David thinks this is because JP is half-Asian... ;) I'm hoping this is signalling the end of stranger anxiety -- especially since Joshua has been more and more okay with new people over the last month. (Like at the PEF graduation dinner, where he was happily held by Dr. Chen for over ten minutes, giving me and David a chance to actually eat!)

Joshua still loves having identical toys, one in each hand. And though I joked a while back that he seemed to have a preference for truly identical toys, that actually seems to be coming true now -- he'll sort through his blocks until he has not just two random blocks in his hands, but two green, identically-shaped blocks. Sorry, kiddo, looks like you got your parents' OCD tendencies...

And he's learning to help us clean up! He's known what the word "inside" means for a while now, and has been able to put toys inside random bins and drawers. But lately, he's followed along after me to pick up his blocks and put them in the right bag. And just this week, after he goes on a bender and throws all our DVDs out on the floor, he's begun stooping down to pick them up and put them back on the shelf! Of course, he generally follows up by throwing them back down on the floor... But still, progress!

And that's all I've got for right now, for random Joshua update tidbits... Stay tuned for posts on all the various events we've been to since the beginning of May!

Easter with our small group!

2011-05-15T13:35:00.000-04:00

Just one more Easter catch-up post!

We had a lovely Easter dinner with friends from our Sunday night small group. Good food, good friends, good times... :) The majority of my photos from the evening are of the kiddos -- they're just such fun models!

Hope you all had as lovely of an Easter as we did!

A family Easter photo

2011-05-15T12:55:00.000-04:00

One of the many reasons why I was looking forward to this year's Easter activities was because I was determined to get a halfway decent photo of the three of us all together. As you may recall, this was the one and only Easter family photo we got last year:

While, of course, we all look fabulous, it does leave a little something to be desired... :) Just for the record, Joshua was looking super cute last year in his Easter outfit:

Look at how tiny he was!!

He was definitely just as cute, and even more dapper, this year:

(In shorts later in the day, since it got so warm!)

So I was aiming for a photo of the three of us, and just hoping to have all of us at least kind of looking at the camera. And also hoping that none of us would be eating bagels at the time. I set my expectations super low this year. :)

We handed the camera off to Dan H., and asked him just to snap a few shots while Joshua was in a relatively good mood. But as soon as we started trying to get him to look at the camera, a swarm of students surrounded Dan and did all manner of hilarious ridiculousness in an attempt to coax a smile out of our little guy. He was a little bemused at first, I think, but then he decided it was the funniest thing ever and GRINNED his heart out at all his silly friends.

What a sweet moment!! We're so thankful for all the wonderful friends Joshua has in the students -- he clearly loves all of you. :) Thank you all for this wonderful family photo!

Good Friday / Easter 2011

2011-05-14T18:26:00.000-04:00

On the evening of Good Friday, we had our annual interfellowship service of readings and music -- always a beautiful night of worshiping together and refocusing on the Cross. I'm always moved by the music, challenged by the scripture and message, and refreshed by the fellowship. (A big thanks to Bonnie and Andrew for watching Joshua and enabling both me and David to be at the service this year!)

Then on Easter Sunday, we celebrated the resurrection with a sunrise service on Frist south lawn. Sunrise was a bit too early for Joshua this year -- now that he's on a dependable morning schedule, we wouldn't dream of waking him to take him out earlier than usual! So I have no photos of the sunrise service... I hear it was beautiful this year, though. Easter being so late in the year, it actually wasn't as cold and wet as it usually is for the sunrise service!

The service is followed by breakfast in Dillon Gym, and then a service of Christian baptism down in Dillon pool. This year, five women were baptized, each giving testimony to the work God has been doing in their lives. What a wonderful time of remembering God's grace in our own lives, and standing alongside those making a public declaration of faith!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Catching up, in photos!

2011-05-14T17:41:00.002-04:00

Yikes. Has it really been over a month since our last post? Sorry for the long blogging silence... It's been something of a hectic month for all three of us, what with my job really kicking into high gear, David being slammed with year-end events, and Joshua doing his high-energy toddler thing... :)

But not to fear -- we're still around, and haven't given up on this old blog yet! I've got a few catch-up posts in the works, but wanted to dive back in with a collection of Joshua photos from April. Enjoy!

He makes this face a lot when he's thinking, or about to engage in some mischief...

"I have no idea how these books ended up on the floor..."

Life is much better with an identical object in each hand!

Eating a peanut butter sandwich like a big boy!

Very excited about his sandwich and peas, which only sometimes end up in his hair

Still unsure about this "grass" nonsense; much happier with daddy on the sidewalk

Running around in his diaper on a hot evening, ready for his share of the PF Chang's takeout

Wee Lawrence of Arabia, with his sleepsack on his head
More substantive updates to come this weekend. Thanks for sticking around through this latest Keddiebears dry spell!

"Um, bye-bye!" [VIDEO]

2011-04-09T16:55:00.000-04:00

I actually took out the camera today! Hurray! :) I'll have more photos posted soon, but I just had to share this absolutely adorable video. I was trying to get some photos and videos of Joshua enjoying his latest game of putting toys inside other objects, and got a few of him playing with this monkey rattle. But check out the very end of this video!!

Joshua does have quite a few words now, but he rarely says them on cue. So this was super exciting! :) Look at how smart and cute he is!!

Drips and dribbles

2011-04-08T22:23:00.001-04:00

OK, so I didn't expect to go quite this long between blog posts... Who knew that returning to a full-time BigLaw job would take up so much time and mental space? :) I have, however, been jotting down little bloggable moments over the course of the last few weeks, so you're going to get them all in one big potpourri post!

But first, the new job. Three weeks in, and I'm still really liking it. It feels GOOD to be needed and productive again! It's definitely an adjustment, but the area of law (labor and employment) is fascinating, my cases are interesting, and I really like all of my coworkers. What more could a working girl ask for?

And now, complete with bullet points, all the random little stories I've been wanting to tell over the last three weeks!

Joshua is stacking blocks now! He still vastly prefers just taking one in each hand and running around like a maniac, but as of about three weeks ago, our demonstrating block-stacking just clicked, and he balanced one block on top of another. And then another. And then another. He kept looking at us quizzically while we cheered him on -- like, "come on guys, this is no big deal. Give me a real challenge!" He also stacked blocks on command for his grandparents and Uncle Donald while we were skyping with them. We had the laptop on our coffee table, and put one of his blocks on the table in front of it, and jokingly ordered Joshua to stack his blocks -- and he did! So not only is he a fine motor skills genius, but he's also amazingly obedient and polite!
The other day, I was in the kitchen (which we have gated off for his safety), rinsing out his sippy cup. He was playing in the living room with David, when he tripped and fell, and started whining a little. David looked him over, and seeing that he was perfectly fine, told Joshua to be a big boy and keep playing. Joshua looked at him, picked himself up, marched over to the kitchen gate, stared right at me, and started saying "Uh-oh! Uh-oh!" Clearly, the kid knows from whence his help comes. :)
Joshua has his first molar! The outer half of it has cut through his gum, and he's working on the inner half, and possibly also on another molar on his other side. So he's been drooling and chewing on his hands like crazy. But other than that, he doesn't seem to be terribly bothered by the teething. So he now has 9 (maybe soon to be 10) teeth!
The new routine hasn't really bothered Joshua much. He really loves Carrie, and is fascinated by Phil, and is warming up to Jennie. And it's such a good thing for him to have the opportunity to play with others on a regular basis. What's been messing him up more, though, is our taking him to Sunday School. He's in the one-year-old class, and he has SO much fun there, what with all the fun playmates and the chance to play with musical instruments and different toys and all. (And the class is taught by Jeff and Tae, who he already sees every week at our Sunday small group!) The problem, though, is that kids' Sunday School is only at the 9:30 service -- which is right in the middle of his morning nap. He's old enough now to power through skipping the nap, but he gets so worn out (understandably, since not only is he not napping, but he's also running around and playing as hard as he can), and he crashes hard on the way home from church. So hard, in fact, that he stays asleep as we take him out of the car, through the parking lot, up two flights of stairs, and into his crib. And then he's thrown off for the next day or two. So we're trying to figure out how best to handle this one... It's good for him to learn to play with others, and we want to build in the habit of going to church as a family. It's just unfortunate how the timing plays out...
In other church and playing-with-kids news -- we went to a leadership brunch last Saturday, as part of the stewardship campaign for the church relocation project. (Guys, it's actually happening. How exciting is that??) They provided childcare, but I think it was mostly envisioned for much older kids -- there were a few high school babysitters watching a large crowd of kids in the gym. So I ended up staying there with Joshua, and watching while he stared at the big kids. A group of boys were playing basketball at one end, and Joshua was so fascinated by them. He stood on the sideline and just stared while they ran back and forth dribbling the ball. After a few minutes, it was like he'd decided he had figured out the point of the game, and was ready to join in -- he started running after the big boys, with his hands raised high in the air, as though he were saying, "Hey guys, over here, I'm open!!" It was so cute, but also so sad -- he just wanted to play with the big boys, but he was clearly way too small. I scooped him up to make sure he didn't get trampled, and tried to explain to him that he would be big enough in a few more years. And then little 3-year-old Laura S. saw that Joshua was a little sad, so she gave him a smaller ball to play with, and all was right in his world. :)
Peanut butter sandwiches! I was a little worried about possible nut allergies (not that there's any history of it in either side of the family, but still, the idea of anaphylactic shock is scary!), so we waited until he was almost 14 months to try offering him peanut butter. But WOW, does he love it! He now has half of a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day (along with some steamed veggies, usually peas). He's slowly learning to actually bite into the sandwich, rather than pull apart the bread slices, tear off little bits of bread, and smear peanut butter all over his tray, his face, and his hair... It's the little victories, y'all. We treasure every bit of peanut butter that goes in his mouth rather than in his hair.
Drawers and bins! Joshua figured out how to open and close drawers a while ago, and he would amuse himself by opening the (now emptied) drawers of our little side buffet -- I think he just likes pulling on the little knobs. But recently, he's discovered how to put things inside the drawer. So now, he'll go into his nursery, pull his sleepsack off his bed, bring it out into the living room, and when he's done playing peekaboo with it (video example of this from back in January), he'll open a drawer and put the sleepsack inside. SO cute!! He's also learned to put little toys back inside the toy bins, which gives us great hope for him learning how to clean up after himself soon. Of course, more often than not, he'll put his cars on the bookshelf, and blocks inside his toy bus, and DVDs inside his diaper bag... But he's learning the basics of putting things on or in other things, so that bodes well! :)
I have taken zero photos since I started my job. Oh wait, that's not completely true -- I have taken cell phone pics. But that's it. I'm hopeful that with the weather finally starting to get a little more spring-like (after that one golden evening, it went all New Jersey and turned cold and snowy and wet again), we'll have some opportunities to play outside, and I'll have the mental fortitude to get back into the photography thing. But since I always prefer blog posts with photos, I'll post my three cell phone pics here, even though two of them were already posted on Facebook.

Joshua with his beloved blocks after our family walk; Joshua in his coat and super-cute hat made by my friend Jodi (just three days after the spring evening walk); and Joshua at church, scared of Alex's thesis beard.
And that first picture reminds me -- I think I've mentioned it here before, but in case I haven't, Joshua seriously loves having two identical objects in his hands. Usually, it's two of the smallest Mega Blocks (which also made an appearance at his first haircut). But he'll also carry two plastic cups, two cars, two DVDs... He seems to be happiest when the objects are exactly identical -- I think he's shown a slight preference for carrying two green blocks rather than two different colors. Then again, he also seems to love carrying "Hotel Rwanda" in one hand and "50 First Dates" in the other... We're working on teaching him the difference. :)

And that's it for my scrawled notes. Good to know that even when life is crazy busy, I'm still mentally chronicling our lives for all of you, right? :)

On the eve of a new job

2011-03-20T22:00:00.001-04:00

"Work plunges men into the world of things. The Christian steps out of the world of brotherly encounter into the world of impersonal things, the 'it'; and this new encounter frees him for objectivity; for the 'it'-world is only an instrument in the hand of God for the purification of Christians from all self-centeredness and self-seeking. The work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task, the 'it.' In work the Christian learns to allow himself to be limited by the task, and thus for him the work becomes a remedy against the indolence and sloth of the flesh. The passions of the flesh die in the world of things. But this can happen only where the Christian breaks through the 'it' to the 'Thou,' which is God, who bids him work and makes that work a means of liberation from himself.

"The work does not cease to be work; on the contrary, the hardness and rigor of labor is really sought only by the one who knows what it does for hm. The continuing struggle with the 'it' remains. But at the same time the break-through is made; the unity of prayer and work, the unity of the day is discovered; for to find, back of the 'it' of the day's work, the 'Thou,' which is God, is what Paul calls 'praying without ceasing' (1 Thess. 5:17). Thus the prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of his work. It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy. Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer; not in the unreal sense of a constant turning away from the task that must be done, but in a real breaking through the hard 'it' to the gracious Thou. 'Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus' (Col. 3:17).

"Then from this achieved unity of the day the whole day acquires an order and a discipline. These must be sought and found in the morning prayer and in work they will be maintained. The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. The organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this break-through to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. 'Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men' (Col. 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed God to give us the strength we need for our daily work."

Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Joshua's First Haircut: A Drama in Three Parts

2011-03-20T15:38:00.000-04:00

OK, so maybe not really three parts... But this really was a terribly dramatic experience for our little guy! (And then when I converted the photos to black and white to try to get around some color cast issues, David commented that it isolated the crushing pathos and strong emotion in each one -- and then suggested that I do a side-by-side comparison with Edvard Munch's "The Scream." :))

Yesterday, we took Joshua for his very first big boy haircut! I've trimmed the hair over his ears before, but I wasn't confident in my ability to give him a full haircut. Plus, I really wanted the photo ops at the cute little kids' salon, and had this pretty picture in my head of Joshua giggling away in a brightly-colored chair, and having precious photos of a Big Milestone Moment...

Yeah, it didn't quite happen that way.

Joshua has been a little bit off all week (his naptimes have been fluctuating a little, and daylight savings time didn't help), and he didn't really nap well yesterday afternoon. But he seemed to be in a pretty good mood when we decided to head out to get his hair cut. He brought two of his beloved blocks with him, and happily babbled at me on the drive over.

He was curious, but cautious, when we walked into the salon. Bright colors! Fun noises! Other kids running around! He explored a little while I checked him in, and seemed to be doing fairly well.

He was a little concerned when we strapped him into the chair. And then highly consternated when the strange lady snapped a cape around his neck. But then when she started spraying his head with water, and then scraping at his scalp with a comb?

And then holding his head still and folding his ears down and doing WHO KNOWS WHAT with a metal SOMETHING-OR-OTHER that made SNIPPING SOUNDS? Yikes. Not even his blocks could comfort him.

Poor little guy. He did calm down a bit near the end, when a 7-year-old girl came over and told him all about how she remembered her first haircut and it didn't hurt at all -- such a sweet little moment. :)

And now our adorable little guy looks even more like a handsome little man. I've got to get some photos of him with his new 'do looking happy, but here's at least a not-screaming-in-anguish one:

Poor baby. It'll be a while before we're all ready to try this again... I'm thinking I need to learn how to cut his hair myself!

A golden evening

2011-03-19T20:27:00.000-04:00

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day out here in central Jersey -- 75 degrees, perfectly sunny, balmy breezes, just gorgeous. This being New Jersey, we knew that there was a non-trivial chance that we would get snow and ice the next day... So we went out for a pre-dinner family excursion to bask in the beautiful golden evening!

We decided to head down to the battlefield to go for a walk, and to re-introduce Joshua to the great outdoors. The last time he played outside, he wasn't really crawling yet... How quickly they change and grow! So this was Joshua's first experience walking outside!

It's really fascinating viewing the world through his inexperienced eyes. We set him down on the little paved path that runs along Mercer Road, expecting him to take off running as he always does indoors. Instead, he stared at us quizzically, peered at the ground, and took very, very halting steps forward. Every single little variation in the ground posed a puzzle -- is it low enough to step over? Does it require getting down on hands and knees to crawl over it? Is that a hole? Is it shallow enough to walk over it? Is it small enough to walk around it? HOLD ON, is that a strip of GRASS running through the asphalt?

It took him a little while to warm up to the idea of walking along the sidewalk. But our little guy was so brave -- helped in part, I think, by the blocks he clutched in each hand the entire time. I like to think they provided a degree of normalcy and comfort to him, being talismans of the comfortable world of indoor play... :) But after a few minutes, he was running ahead of us gleefully. And by the time we reached the end of the sidewalk, he did NOT want to turn around to walk back!

What a gloriously beautiful evening! And what a perfect way to spend time together as a family!

The times, they are a-changin'...

2011-03-19T15:11:00.000-04:00

As a general rule, I make a point of not talking about my job on this blog. For one thing, this blog comes up on the first page of Google hits if you search my name -- so discretion really is the better part of valor. :) And for another, there's attorney-client privilege, and confidential information, and all kinds of other issues that aren't worth tangling with. Besides, we know most of you come here just for the cuteness that is our son!

But there are some big changes on the horizon, so I wanted to mention them at least in part here -- to chronicle our family life faithfully, and also to ask that you pray for us as we make these transitions.

So about a month ago, I started looking for a new job. Given how terrible the legal market is right now (link to an article that I think should be required reading for all considering law school), we were steeling ourselves for a months-long search and the potential of long-term unemployment...

But in this-is-happening-so-fast-our-heads-are-still-spinning fashion, I managed to land an amazing job in just two weeks. It's in the Princeton office of another large firm, located just across Route 1 from our apartment -- so I'll be doubling my commute, from 2.5 minutes to 5 minutes. :) I'll be working in a very busy but really stable practice group, responsible for a lot more and getting a ton of hands-on litigating experience. And I get such a great, friendly vibe from everyone I've met over there so far. I'm really excited about this new opportunity!

It does, however, mean that I'll be back to working full-time. And this is a true BigLaw full-time, with what promises to be a fairly grueling pace. We've spent the last couple weeks busily rejiggering the rhythms of our lives in preparation for this change... Joshua had been spending one day a week with his buddy Phil in a nanny share arrangement, so we've worked out a new arrangement where he'll be over with Phil three days a week instead. Two of those days, he'll be watched by Carrie (as he has been for the last several months). The third day, he'll be watched by the B family's second nanny, a wonderful woman named Jennie. Thanks to Hilary and Steven's assistance through all of this, the logistical details of drawing up and signing a contract with Jennie's agency has gone incredibly smoothly, and we're hopeful that this will all work well for Joshua!

David will also be picking up a good deal of the slack at home. I'm low-balling my expectations for my free time at home -- because then, if I *do* get home in time to feed Joshua dinner, that will be a pleasant surprise... My current plan, though, is to at least wake up every morning with Joshua and spend that time with him every day.

And we got ourselves a second car this week. It's a little ridiculous, since neither of us will be commuting more than about three miles! But given the time pressures we'll be facing, we decided it would be wisest to have the second car -- so, for instance, it'll be easy for me to drop Joshua off in the mornings and for David to then pick him up in the evenings. (And since our first car is a blue car named The Colonel, it makes sense that our second car is a red one named The Major, right?)

We're very thankful for this new job for me, and through this whole process, we've seen abundant reminders of God's faithfulness to our family. So we're clinging to that faithfulness as we transition into this next season of our lives -- I start my new job on Monday morning! Please do be praying for us, though. And forgive me if the blogging becomes even more sporadic. :)

Oh, and what's a blog post without a photo, right? Here's one quick snapshot of our little guy, cracking himself up with the funny noises he's learned to make with his tongue -- I've got to get this on video sometime soon!

Joshua discovers a loophole

2011-03-07T20:37:00.000-05:00

As anyone who's been to our home (or seen photos taken in our apartment!) would know, we're a book-loving family. We have this awesome wall of bookcases in our open floor plan living/dining room, with books jam-packed on the shelves all the way along the wall. And, well, they're colorful, and bright, and make a really satisfying thwack when they hit the floor... So one of the biggest temptations in Joshua's young life is the desire to toddle up to the bookshelves and FLING books onto the floor.

We've had some success in the last couple weeks, though, at teaching him not to do that. He would run up to the books, fling one down, and we would say "noooo, Joshua, leave the books alone!" Then we would promptly pick him up and put him in his playpen. It's more of a distraction than anything else -- his music-making toys are in there, so we were using the pen as a diversionary tactic. But our willful little guy did NOT like being removed unceremoniously from the books, and would protest loudly when we put him there.

It was fascinating watching him learn the cause and effect of it all, though. After just a couple days of consistent playpenning, we noticed a few changes. Joshua would toddle up to the books, stop short for a moment, look around at us, then fling the book down and then run away as fast as he could. He clearly knew what he was doing. :) Then about a week later, the cutest thing happened -- he stopped at the books, and instead of flinging any of them to the floor, he started lovingly stroking the spines, saying "nooooo, nooooo..." I guess he picked up on what we were saying to him!

It looks like he's finally learned to not throw any books to the floor now. But what's really interesting is watching him test the limits of this rule. We do allow him to play with our DVDs (none of which we watch these days, anyways, thanks to internet streaming!). And of course he's allowed to play with all of his own toys. So this is what he's taken to doing lately:

And a quick video!

He's discovered and is happily exploiting this loophole. He's totally going to be a lawyer just like his mama. :)

Interfellowship March Mondo Meeting

2011-03-07T20:36:00.001-05:00

Last Friday, we had the very first interfellowship large group meeting, sponsored by PEF, Manna, PFA and AIA. We've done joint praise and prayers before, and joint worship nights, but as far as I know, this was the first time that the groups actually canceled each of their regular weekly meetings and encouraged everyone to come to the joint meeting instead. This was all student-led and student-initiated -- it was so cool to see how excited everyone was for this joint meeting! What a beautiful display of unity!

The whole "Mondo" thing really took off, too. I'm not sure who first came up with it -- I'm betting it was just a simple alliterative device, calling it the March Mondo Meeting. But the "Mondo" was off-beat enough to catch people's fancy -- there was so much Facebook chatter about going to Mondo, or being Mondo excited, or just simply the word "Mondo" followed by multiple exclamation points... :)

All told, there were around 250 people gathered together that night. And it was so much fun! The worship sets were led jointly by the worship leaders of the different groups, which led to a wider range of songs and styles than at a normal PEF meeting. And what a blessing it was for brothers and sisters to be standing and singing together in unity! The message was delivered by Dr. Greg Waybright, senior pastor at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, former president of Trinity International University, and Jamie Rankin's old college roommate. :) He's come to Princeton a number of times in the last few years, and every single time, he remembers specific conversations he's had, and follows up on previous prayer requests -- he's very impressively sincere. His message that evening was on Christian unity, and he struck just the right encouraging and exhorting notes with us.

I was so thankful to be able to be there. We had Hilary come over to play with Joshua a little and then put him to bed, so we were both able to be fully present at the meeting, without having to worry at all about our little boy. :) And of course, I took tons of photos!

And then just a few photos of the fellowship time afterward, in Murray-Dodge:

And just two more photos, because they're so perfectly hilarious!

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." --John 17:20-23

Adventures in self-feeding

2011-03-07T20:35:00.001-05:00

We're slowly getting more adventurous about the food we serve to Joshua. He's been ready for all kinds of table food for a while now -- it's just that David and I are having to steel ourselves for the inevitable and extensive mess that arises as a result of toddler self-feeding. It's so much easier to just spoon-feed him, wiping him down after every bite, controlling the mess as much as possible... But at some point, the control freak has to let go, and recognize that the boy does need to learn to feed himself, eventually... :)

So, baby steps! We started out by letting him try a toddler breakfast bar one morning. And he went to town on that thing -- he loved the strawberry-banana filling, and was so good at taking bites by himself and not choking on it! We were so proud.

A more recent addition to his dinners has been steamed broccoli. The first piece I gave him was perhaps a bit too big (he hadn't quite figured out how to hold it and take bites), so after one small gagging incident, I've taken to chopping up the florets into teeny pieces. But wow, does Joshua love broccoli! He'll literally lick his bowl clean!

He's slowly figuring out the whole "bowl" concept -- about half the time, he'll take a piece from the bowl and put it directly in his mouth; the other half of the time, he dumps the bowl onto his tray and then throws the bowl on the floor. We're working on table manners...

But he's generally good about keeping the bowl on his high chair tray, if it's filled with ravioli! This does really push us out of our OCD comfort zone -- Joshua loves squishing the ravioli in his fingers, and then rubbing it into his hair. But he also loves eating the ravioli, and will blow through two or three whole bowlfuls at a meal! Here's a cute video of our ravioli-eating machine in action!

We'll be sure to keep you all posted on what new and exciting culinary adventures we embark upon! :)

A surprise shower for Aime!

2011-03-07T20:34:00.000-05:00

[Yep, it's another Keddiebears blog burst... I'm just going to have to make my peace with the fact that I can't blog more regularly about our wild and crazy lives. Thanks for bearing with us! :)]

A couple weeks ago, on February 19, we had a *successful* surprise shower for our dear friend Aime! I feel like it's rare that surprise parties actually end up being surprises -- especially when the guest of honor is as wily and smart as Aime. :) But our lovely hostesses Andréa and Hilary managed to pull it off... And did so very beautifully!

Aime and Greg are expecting a daughter in early April -- and this baby has been eagerly anticipated by so many, for so many years. They've chosen the name Eliana, which means "God has answered," which is incredibly fitting for this baby who is the answer to so many prayers. We just can't wait to meet her, and this surprise shower was a wonderful way of showing Aime just how excited we all are for her and her family!

Just a few of the lovely details (girly jungle theme inspired by the bedding the parents-to-be have chosen), including a homemade cake baked and decorated by Carrie, and a beautiful diaper cake made by Mary:

The arrival of the guest of honor -- I still can't believe she was actually surprised!

And then a ton of fun and games! There was the always, um, appetizing melted candy bar dirty diaper game...

And then one really fun "feed the baby" race. Where both the baby and the feeder are blindfolded -- because, you know, feeding a baby really is that messy and difficult. :) And much hilarity ensued:

Poor Andréa is wearing sunglasses here because she'd had a pretty nasty corneal laceration, at the unwitting and excitable hands of her 13-month-old... She'd had Caleb on her lap to read him a book, and he flailed his arms, somehow managing to scratch her eye. Thankfully, there was no permanent damage, but she was functionally blind on the day of the shower. So she did what anyone else would do in her position -- she kept planning the shower and doing the non-lab work of her PhD program and caring for her family and just generally being Superwoman... :) But even Superwoman can't write if she's blind, so Bonnie filled out her guesses for her in Aime's baby pool.

Aime is such a radiantly beautiful woman just in general, and pregnancy certainly suits her. :)

Aime with the two hostesses, and then with her college friend Annie, who is also expecting a little girl in early April!

Aime, we love you! And we're all so incredibly excited to meet Eliana!!

Joshua's first year collage and slideshow!

2011-02-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

Just barely getting this post done before Joshua turns 13 months old... I've finally finished Joshua's first year retrospective slideshow! It's a collection of some of our favorite photos and videos of our dear wee lad -- and believe me, it was hard to winnow it down, because there's no such thing as a bad photo of our cutie. :)

But before I post the video, I have to post our "Joshua Watch" collage, in celebration of making it all the way through a year of monthly growth comparison photos with Mr. Tiger. There were definitely some months near the end there where I didn't think we'd be able to get any more usable shots of Joshua at least kind of lying back next to the tiger, but we managed to eke it out! Any future children will have their growth comparison photos taken propped up in a chair or doing something more interesting than placidly lying back. ;) But in continued celebration of Joshua's first birthday, here's a little collage of all twelve of his Joshua Watch photos:

And then the slideshow video. WARNING: It's long (almost 13 minutes), and super high on the cheese factor... David has been poking fun of my song choices all week. :) And he specifically wanted me to point out that his contribution was Randy Newman, not "let them giggle." But I say, if you can't be sappy and sentimental about your baby turning one, when can you be?

Hope you enjoy this year-in-review of our amazingly cute, sweet, wonderful little boy!

Joshua's new BFF

2011-02-13T00:18:00.000-05:00

So that one girl from Alabama who came up for our Longwood Gardens get-together? That was Melissa, who got to stay with us last weekend for her visit. :) She's an absolute sweetheart (and an amazing wildlife and nature photographer), and we all had so much fun hosting her!

But especially Joshua, I think. He discovered within minutes of meeting her that she had a collection of tasty lens caps just like mama's, and was completely won over by her from that moment on. :) He was definitely on his best behavior for our house guest -- up to and including a rare dinner out, where he peacefully played in the high chair and ate most of a kid's meal!

I got this sweet series of photos of Joshua playing with his new friend, and just had to create a blog post specially for these shots. :)

Melissa, we all loved having you visit us. Joshua misses you!

Longwood Gardens photo get-together!

2011-02-12T23:53:00.001-05:00

I've mentioned this here before once or twice, but the single biggest reason for any growth in my photography skills over the last year is my membership on a private photography forum, where I've found so many other women who are as passionate about photography and dedicated to learning more about all of it as I am. But I've also actually made some really dear friends through this forum -- much, I think, to David's chagrin. :) Because yes, on paper, I suppose it does sound weird to have "e-friends." But what can I say -- I'm just community-oriented no matter where I go! ;)

So occasionally, there will be a local get-together of women from this forum. Last fall, a few of us in NJ/NY/PA went to Terhune Orchards for some photography fun. As a follow-up to that trip, we decided to do a day trip to Longwood Gardens for some experiments in macro photography. I thought it would just be a small handful of us again, and was looking forward to seeing the local ladies I'd seen at earlier gatherings. But somehow, this get-together just exploded. A couple girls from Maryland decided to make the trip up, since it was just a couple hours away from them. That got a few girls from the DC area interested in joining in. Then some from central/northern Virginia decided to make the much longer drive up. Then one girl all the way from Alabama had a free plane ticket to use, and decided to spend it on this trip. Before I knew it, there were 21 of us signed up to come!

It was such a fun trip -- in part, of course, because of the opportunity to spend several hours just focused on playing around with a type of photography I rarely, if ever, get to mess around with. And Longwood was full of absolutely stunning flowers to practice on. But mostly, I loved getting to hang out with these incredibly fun, kind, interesting, and all-around lovely women. :)

So this was me pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, playing with a friend's extension tubes (which dramatically shorten your lens' minimum focusing distance, enabling you to approach 1:1 macro work with non-macro lenses), and also getting some faux macros with my 85mm lens and some creative cropping...

And here's me jumping right back into what I'm used to doing -- candid shots of people having fun. :)

And a group shot of all of us, taken on my friend Michele's camera (check out her blog for some truly amazing macro work, and for tons of incredibly useful photography tips):

I may never be a macro photographer (I have SO much more respect for those who consistently pull it out and get beautifully composed macro shots -- it's hard figuring out focal planes and good compositions while working with such small focusing distances and shallow depths of field!), but it was a ton of fun pretending to be one for a day. :) And I had such a blast with all of these fun girls! So glad so many of us could come together for the day!

Joshua Watch: Twelve Months

2011-02-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

We did it! We made it all the way to twelve months of "official" monthly photos of our dear little boy! And let me tell you, we just barely eked out a proper tiger comparison shot this month... Any future kids we have will have their monthly photos sitting propped up in a chair from the very beginning. :) Here's the one and only photo we got this month of Joshua kinda sorta lying down next to Mr. Tiger...

It's hard to believe that Joshua is already a year old. I've been so emotional about this birthday, especially as I've been going back through old photos (finally getting around to creating a first year slideshow for him, which will hopefully be done sometime in the next few days!). It's crazy how quickly he's grown and changed from helpless newborn to rambunctious toddler...

And my goodness, how rambunctious he's grown! This month, of course, he had his first birthday party, and went on his first winter retreat. But in basic developmental news... He learned how to climb stairs! We live in a single-story apartment, so he's never really had the opportunity to climb on stairs. But earlier this month, while we were over at the Kaariainens' for small group, he started playing at the foot of their staircase. Within an hour, he had figured out how to propel himself at top speed up the stairs, and did so over and over and over again, laughing every time he managed to make it to the top landing. Going down stairs is still beyond his skillset, but he was happy enough to be carried down so that he could turn right around to start climbing again. What a fun new game. :)

He's also learned to point at things. It all started while I was reading to him. In an effort to teach him words and pictures, I've been pointing excitedly at his picture books ("Look, Joshua, that's a COW! A cow says MOO!!") -- so I think I've inadvertently taught him that books are meant to be pointed at. :) Now when I sit him on my lap to read him a book, he'll excitedly point at everything -- because that's what you do with books, right? It's still more him just running his index finger over the pages rather than pointing at specific pictures, but we're working on that! And he's moved into pointing at things in real life in an effort to communicate his desire to put said objects in his mouth -- the remote control, our phones, our glasses...

His vocabulary has also been growing this month. He'll somewhat reliably imitate us now, especially on the words "book" and "up." He learned how to say "uh-oh" on the retreat whenever he dropped something (thanks in large part to the Sallade kiddos and many many students!), and that's now his very favorite word. I think the glottal stop in the middle is a lot of fun for him to say. :) Other fairly reliable words include mama, dada, and night-night (or rather, "nah-nah," but he's said it a couple times when he was tired and wanted to take his nap!). Oh, and this isn't a word that he says yet, but we've taught him to put both hands on his head when we say "head" -- it's the first body part that he reliably recognizes!

Speaking of body parts (awkward segue, sorry!) -- we've got growth stats this month! At his 12-month checkup last week, Joshua was 21 lbs., 13.5 oz., and 30" tall, with an 18.5" head circumference. He's back up to the 50th percentile for weight, and continuing on the 75th percentile for height, and Dr. N. was very pleased with his growth.

OK, before this ridiculously long post gets even longer... A quick storyboard of Joshua's 12-month photos! Note how he tore off and tried to eat his sticker...

Our little baby isn't really a baby anymore. He runs everywhere now, so I guess I really do need to start calling him a toddler... We love you, our little toddler, more than words can say. What an incredible year it's been!

PEF/Manna winter retreat 2011!

2011-02-12T23:28:00.003-05:00

[Watch out -- here comes another big blog burst! Complete with storyboards -- I've been having too much fun creating storyboards lately, and I think this will also help with formatting the blog books we create each year. Which is good, since I'm still only halfway through formatting our 2010 blog book...]

The last week of January, our whole family went up to New Hampshire for the annual joint PEF/Manna winter retreat! It's actually been several years since I've been able to go on this retreat -- I haven't wanted to take the week's vacation in the past, since it's one of David's busiest weeks of the year, and therefore not much of a vacation for him. And of course, last year, neither of us went on the retreat because Joshua was due to be born that Monday, and was actually born early that Wednesday morning. :) But now, with our fun little toddler in the picture, we decided that making a family trip of it would be worthwhile. And oh, boy, was it!

This retreat has always been one of our favorite weeks of the year. It helps, of course, that David and I met for the first time on this retreat... :) Intersession break is the one true break during the school year, since Princeton has its fall semester exams after winter break. So this week between the semesters is about the only time that students really have time off, which changes the whole tenor of the fellowship. And it was so much fun bringing Joshua this year -- we were worried that he might have stranger anxiety the whole time, but he rose to the occasion, and then some. He was so excited to have so many new friends to play with! It was a wonderful place to celebrate his first birthday. :)

And it was a wonderful week of refocusing for all of us. The theme of the retreat this year was the beatitudes, with a mini-message on each individual beatitude. It was a simple but powerful theme, focusing on the character traits of the Kingdom. At the very end of the retreat, before we packed up the vans and headed back home, the entire group recited the beatitudes by memory -- and I was moved by how heartfelt the students' response to the message was. As we're all caught up in the busyness of the semester again, I pray that we will still be clinging to this vision of the Kingdom, and seeking to live it out daily here.

So... pictures or it didn't happen, right? :) I took hundreds of photos that week, all of which are archived in our SmugMug galleries (click the "photographs" link in our header above), but here are a few of our favorites!

Joshua's first experience of the winter retreat! Complete with ridiculously cute bear hat. :)

Indoor fun and games in the chalet, where Joshua and I spent pretty much all of our non-napping time.

The annual (friendly!) PEF vs. Manna basketball game!

"Snow Bowl" 2011! That is, snow tackle and ice-throwing -- conditions were too rough for the full tag football game this year, so they just spent time running and tackling each other. Because, you know, that's much safer...

And the big huge group shot at the end of the trip! (Minus one car, which had to leave early.)

We're so thankful for the opportunity to spend the week with so many dear friends. What a wonderful break from our normal lives! And Joshua is very much looking forward to the next retreat. :)

The seven stages of descent into sugar shock

2011-01-16T21:33:00.001-05:00

#1: Normalcy. Assume that mama is just offering you a normal meal and obediently open wide for the fork.

#2: Wonder. Receive first-ever taste of chocolate and refined sugar.

#3: Curiosity. Go in for a closer examination.

#4: Bliss. Savor the wondrous taste of sweet, sweet sugar.

#5: CAAAAKE!!

#5a. Interlude while mama asks daddy to grab a bib...

#5b. Stare longingly at cake while mama tries to keep you tidy.

#6: Double-fisted enjoyment. Two hands means cake gets in twice as fast, right?

#7: CAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!

All photos taken by our friend Jason -- thanks for taking camera duty during the cake!

The best birthday party ever!

2011-01-16T15:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Joshua's joint first birthday party with his nine-days-older buddy Caleb. And oh, wow, did we all have a blast!!

Andréa (Caleb's mom) and I decided that we wanted to do a Canaan theme, because our sons' names are Joshua and Caleb, and because we've joked about the confluence in names for the whole year that they've been alive. :) (See Numbers 13-14, Joshua 1-2, and Joshua 5-6.) So in keeping with the theme, we sent out these invitations:

Front (with address info removed) and back
Caleb had just learned how to point the week before we took these photos, so I was THRILLED when he held up his one finger -- how perfect for a first birthday party invitation? :) And just to explain all the cheesy little Canaan-themed elements: a map of Canaan as divided by the 12 tribes on the front, and the walls of Jericho along the bottom of the back, complete with Rabab's red rope.

Also -- look at how tiny our boys were!

We continued the theme in our party decorations. One of the things the spies brought back from their exploration of Canaan was a cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it. So we used artificial ivy and purple balloons to create giant grape clusters. :)

And our cake was made in the shape of a castle, to represent the walls of Jericho. Before singing "Happy Birthday" to the boys, we passed out party horns and noisemakers (our "trumpets"), especially to the little kids, but most of the grown-ups got into it, too. And the sound of trumpets and shouts caused the walls of Jericho to fall down. Into nice, chocolatey pieces. :)

And oh, my, did Joshua love his piece of cake! I'm going to write up a whole post devoted to Joshua's reaction to his first taste of chocolate and refined sugar, but for now, here's one of my favorite photos of our little guy double-fisting it in an attempt to get it all in his mouth as quickly as possible (taken by Jason -- thanks!!):

SO many dear friends came to celebrate with us. I think we had something like 37 adults and 15 kids? It was so wonderful celebrating our boys with all of these friends. And our boys really enjoyed it, too! Both Caleb and Joshua did really, really well the entire time, despite the crowd and noise and new faces. Caleb was a master at crawling in and through different groups, sharing his toys, and charming all of the guests. And Joshua was such a sweet host, toddling up to each new arrival with a big excited grin, flapping his arms in welcome, and charming all of the guests. :)

And just a few cute ones of the boys playing together after all of the guests had left:

How incredibly fun it was to celebrate Joshua and Caleb's birthdays together! We're so thankful to have such wonderful friends standing alongside us in this journey of parenthood. Thank you all for loving our sons so!

Introducing The Colonel

2011-01-14T22:16:00.003-05:00

Not everyone knows this, since we didn't blog about it or post it on Facebook, but just before Christmas, David was in a car accident. He was fine (with the exception of a nasty bruise on his thigh from the seatbelt buckle), and the other driver was fine, but our poor car was mangled. And we found out last week that dear Rosie was totaled.

Alas, poor Rosie! (I knew her, Horatio...)

Rosie right after the crash (yes, David ended up on the median); Rosie at the mechanic's
So it became clear that we needed a new car. We'd been doing tons of research (because yes, that is how we respond to every new situation), and basically concluded that we didn't want a minivan or an SUV -- we don't need all that space just yet, and it wouldn't be a wise financial move to spend all that money on such a big car (and on gas, and insurance, etc.) when a smaller car would do. But at the same time, we do hope to have more children within the lifetime of this new car, so something bigger than a sedan would make the most sense...

Enter the Mazda5. :) It's one of the only "mini-minivans" on the market in the US, and it was Consumer Reports' top "family hauler" this year. (And let's take a moment to marvel at the fact that we are in need of a "family hauler" now...) We test drove one last week, and it's as good in person and on the road as it is on paper -- so we bought it!

We'd decided long ago that our first "family" car would be named The Colonel. Because it would be the Keddie Family Car, or KFC -- get it? Get it?? :)

So here he is in all his glory! (And yes, perhaps it is a bit odd to refer to our car as a "he" instead of a "she" -- but come on, it's an homage to Colonel Sanders, so I can't very well call him a her...)

We'll miss dear Rosie, but we're excited about The Colonel. And we're taking him up to the winter retreat in just over a week, so he'll get his first real test at hauling people through the snow!

Some new year cuteness

2011-01-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share some of our first photos of 2011!

Our boy has very good taste in TV shows...

(No worries, we put Firefly away before Joshua could do any serious damage!)

He also really, really, really loves cheese. (It took him a few tries, out in Indianapolis, to get used to it -- perhaps we shouldn't have started him out with extra sharp cheddar and a very smoky Gouda...)

[Nerdy photography note: all of the above taken with the 24mm f/1.4L -- SO incredibly excited about this lens!! Thanks for selling it to us, John and Lucy -- we'll take very good care of the precious. :)]

2010 year in review

2010-12-31T19:31:00.000-05:00

2010 has been an incredibly blessed, full, amazing year. I mean, we went from this:

To this:

So yeah. It's been a literally life-changing year.

I can't even begin to sum up this year in single post -- this whole blog just barely begins to scratch the surface! But we'll continue the tradition from last year, and pick just one photo from each month in an attempt to pull this year's blog book to a close. :)

JANUARY

The birth of our beautiful baby boy!

FEBRUARY

Learning how to be parents, and loving every trepidatious, sleep-deprived, wonderful minute of it.

MARCH

At six weeks old, Joshua went on his very first road trip! Many sweet moments with his great-grandparents and grandparents, but this is one of my favorites.

APRIL

Joshua got taken to his first Easter sunrise service and baptism. I'm afraid he wasn't terribly impressed; but at least he looked good!

MAY

Mama got a new camera (that handles low-light photography much better). And Joshua continued to charm all the ladies at both of our grad student small groups!

JUNE

The annual staff fun night to celebrate the end of the school year! (OK, so Joshua may not be IN this photo, but I was wearing him in our front carrier when I took it, so, um, he helped?)

JULY

A trip to North Carolina, where Joshua taught Uncle Eric his trademark skydiving move.

AUGUST

A road trip to Poughkeepsie, where we crossed the pedestrian Walkway Over the Hudson, which you can see parts of in this photo of Joshua's beautiful, beautiful eyes. :)

SEPTEMBER

Joshua's first experience of the beach, on the beginning-of-the-year beach retreat at Ocean City, NJ.

OCTOBER

Cutest tiger ever!

NOVEMBER

Loving on my parents' silverware at Thanksgiving dinner down in NC.

DECEMBER

Filled with Christmas glee at Grandma and Grandpa's -- walking and everything!

*****
Like I said, this is necessarily only the tiniest of samplings of this incredibly full year... I just checked our SmugMug, and we have 5283 photos uploaded for 2010! (Which is actually fewer than for 2009, but I think that's because we *only* went to six weddings this year...)

We have so much to be thankful for this year. And we're so looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2011! Wishing all of you a wonderful new year!

Joshua Watch: Eleven Months

2010-12-31T14:19:00.000-05:00

STOP THE PRESSES! We actually managed to get a good tiger comparison photo this month!!

It helps that he was a little tired when I first put him down on his back next to Mr. Tiger... I'll have to remember that for future months. :) Of course, Mr. Tiger had his usual effect shortly thereafter -- Joshua got his second wind and started playing rambunctiously in his nursery. But I got this one placid photo! Huzzah!!

Joshua did treat me to a new form of mischief this month, though...

Oh, little boy, you will be the death of this mama's photography dreams... ;)

This month was a HUGE one for Joshua! The biggest milestone, obviously, was him taking his first steps. Within less than two weeks from his first tentative steps, he was walking more than he was crawling, and confidently toddling all over our apartment. It's incredible how FAST his learning curves are! These days, the only time he crawls is when he wants to get to something to help pull himself up to standing. And he doesn't always need to pull himself up on something -- he's managed to stand up on his own, in the middle of the floor, just by pushing himself up off the floor and using his wee abs! Such a strong boy!

Joshua has also gotten even more playful this month. He learned how to clap (though he still can't make much noise with his hands yet), and will gleefully flap his hands together or hit his chest Tarzan-style when excited. It's much more fun, though, to clap two toys together -- he still loves banging coasters, but he has now added Mega Blocks (a jumbo version of Legos) and wooden blocks to his banging repertoire.

And he's learned how to play peekaboo! This is seriously the cutest thing ever -- he'll grab a blanket or his sleep sack and put it on top of his head, and then fling it down with a huge smile on his face, waiting for you to yell "peekaboo!" at him. I really, really need to get this on video! He also got this great peekaboo lift-the-flap book for Christmas, and delights in lifting the flaps to find the babies. It's so awesome watching him learn to love his books!

We're also transitioning him away from purees and towards table food. He's figured out how to take bites of larger things, so we're slowly giving him larger pieces of bread to gnaw his way through. And he'll mostly eat nicely off a plate -- as long as there's food on it. Once he's finished his diced carrots or cheese cubes or bits of meat, you've got about two seconds to refill the plate before he picks it up and throws it on the floor. :) We're working on his table manners...

We did have one negative milestone this month -- his first real injury. In Indianapolis last week, we were all hanging out in the family room after dinner, and I think everyone was assuming that someone else was taking point on watching Joshua. A steaming mug of hot tea was left on an end table within Joshua's reach, and he toddled over to grab the cup, and poured its entire contents down his front in an attempt to drink from it. I'll never forget the way he screamed... We immediately took off his clothes and put his little neck and chest under cool running water. Thankfully, the tea mostly hit his clothes, with just a little splashing at the underside of his chin and at the top of his chest -- none of it hit his face. We took him to urgent care, where they told us to put bacitracin on the worst of the red marks (there was some peeling under his chin) and keep an eye out for infection. Surprisingly, after that first terrible scream, Joshua seemed completely fine -- he was toddling about in the waiting room, flirting with the nurses, and didn't seem bothered at all by pain. And the marks are all but gone now, a week later. Still, we will never, ever, ever leave any hot drinks unattended in the same house as our curious little guy!

(I was unsure about including this particular memory in the Joshua Watch, but I wouldn't want to be accused of sanitizing our baby's history... So there, Keddiebears isn't always totally saccharine! ;))

But I've got to close this out with a little bit of sweetness... Our absolutely adorable little 11-month-old! Who looks more and more like a little boy every day...

Can't believe we only have one more of these posts left! You're growing up too fast, little one... It's so incredible, though, watching your mind and body and personality develop. We love you so much!

Christmas recap

2010-12-31T13:11:00.000-05:00

We had such a lovely visit over Christmas in Indianapolis! It's always so much fun to spend time with David's family -- and it was even more so this year, because Joshua is at such a fun age right now! (Though of course, I'm always saying that about him, no matter what age he is...) Joshua has really mastered the toddling, and he charmed all and sundry by toddling up to each person, a toy in each hand and a huge grin on his face. Christmas would have been joyful and fulfilling even if all we did was just sit and stare at our wee boy!

But of course, we did so much more. I actually didn't take a ton of photos that week -- I was mostly just enjoying Christmas through the eyes of our curious little toddler. :) But I did get some fun Christmas morning present-opening photos!

For the grown-ups, we had a grab bag gift exchange this year, with everyone contributing a few little treats and fun gifts. And there was much hard negotiating afterward -- exactly how many chocolate-covered coffee beans is an orange cream worth, anyways? And there were some notably amusing gifts thrown in there as well...

And I got Joshua all dressed up in a cute outfit for church, and actually managed to get a few decent photos of him, despite his crazy-fast toddling ways!

Coaster in hand, of course. :)

All three of us so enjoyed our visit! Joshua's first Christmas was such a sweet time of family and fun. And we're all so looking forward to the next time we get to hang out with all of you!

Joshua gives Christmas two thumbs up!

2010-12-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

Or maybe that should be two stacking cups up...

What? Doesn't your family watch "Star Wars" on Christmas morning?

OK, his pants are a skosh too long... But how cute is his outfit??

I love my boys.
Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T21:26:00.000-05:00

Lo, how a rose e'er blooming,
From tender stem hath sprung!
From Jesse's lineage coming,
As men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind
With Mary we behold it,
The Virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright,
She bore to us a Savior
When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of Glory
Was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger they found Him,
As angels heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere;
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death he saves us,
And lightens every load.

2010 Christmas card!

2010-12-22T13:15:00.001-05:00

And our final catch-up Christmas post for today... :)

We love sending out Christmas cards every year -- it's a fun way to reconnect with old friends, even if pretty much all of you keep up with us through the year via this blog or Facebook. There's just something so much nicer about getting a piece of real mail and having a photo to put up on the fridge! (And yup, we're the family that keeps all holiday card photos up on our fridge all year long -- I only took last year's photos off when we started getting photos for this year! So to those of you who put in the time to choose photos and design cards, know that at least one of your creations will be admired for a full year!)

This year, we had such an amazing selection of family photos to choose from, thanks to Deb and Matt Cull! Because we loved them all, we decided to try to fit as many photos on one 5x7 card as possible. ;)

I left a blank space on the back of the card -- because I was determined to actually write a personal message on each one this year. I actually really enjoyed that exercise -- it was wonderful spending that little bit of time thinking about and writing to each and every person on our list.

So consider this blog post a continuation of that effort at reconnecting with all of you. :) Wishing you all much joy this Christmas season!

Christmas traditions: This year's ornament

2010-12-22T13:01:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite personal Christmas traditions is picking out an ornament to commemorate the year that has passed. We started out with a bride and groom in 2006, and added an NYU Law ornament in 2007, Princeton's Fitz-Randolph Gates in 2008, and a "parents-to-be" stork in 2009.

So it's only fitting that this year's ornament be dedicated to the birth of our first child. I found these super cute personalizable ornaments on Etsy, and knew immediately that this was this year's ornament:

How adorable is this little ornament? And yes, I fully plan to get something similar for each of our putative future children. :)

2010: the year we became parents. We're so thankful for all of the amazing ways God blessed our family this year!

Photo session with Deborah Cull Photography!!

2010-12-22T11:48:00.001-05:00

And a brief break from the Christmas blogging...

We had a wonderful professional photo session with our dear friends Deb and Matt Cull -- Deb was Princeton '03, and is an absolutely amazing photographer. They live in Florida, but were up here to photograph Andrew and Miriam's wedding back in October, so we jumped on the opportunity to get some family photos while they were in town!

And oh my goodness, did we get some absolutely breathtaking photos...

I'm only posting about them now because we just got our prints from that session hung up on our walls. It was SO hard picking just a few to print -- if only we had unlimited funds and wall space and could get ginormous canvas prints of all of them! :)

So here's our new photo wall display!

The first side (going along the wall towards our kitchen) has my canvas of Joshua (still one of my favorite photos I've taken of Joshua to date). But the rest are all the work of Deb and Matt.

David had the idea of doing a "faces" and "places" theme for our display, as a hat tip to iPhoto. :) So side one is our "faces" wall -- the Joshua canvas, a photo each of one of us with Joshua, and a sweet family photo to tie it all together. And side two is our "places" wall -- the large canvas was taken on the bench in the garden where David proposed, the vertical photo with that beautiful stand of trees is on the Princeton Battlefield, where we used to go on long rambles back when we were dating, and then a photo of us in a little library at the Grad College (where we spent some of our first dates) and one on the little bridge on the golf course that we crossed right after David proposed.

We love, love, love our photo display. :) And because my photos of the prints don't even begin to do them justice, here are the images we chose!

Deb and Matt, thank you once again for such a fun session and such amazingly beautiful images! We treasure each one of these prints!

Joshua's introduction to Christmas

2010-12-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

So Joshua had to miss out on both the PEF Christmas party (started at 9:30, he was asleep the whole time upstairs) and the Vespers service (started at 9pm, he was asleep at Steven and Hilary's the whole time -- thanks again, Hilary, for watching him!). But of course we're doing our part to introduce him to the trappings of Christmas this year!

Our first attempt at a family tradition: Christmas PJs! They came just in time, too -- he's fast outgrowing his cute little duckie pajamas, and they're also not quite warm enough for the extreme cold that set in so quickly this winter. So now Joshua is sporting the latest and finest in Christmas fleece sleepwear!

Next up: Christmas presents! His NC grandparents sent up several large packages, addressed to "Josh Keddie" (and yeah, I know that's our son's name, but it's still so weird to see his first and last name written out together like that!). Joshua doesn't quite understand the idea of opening presents yet, though he sure does love playing with packaging paper and ribbons! But he's also really loving his first Christmas presents:

And finally: Santa hats! I wish I could take credit for the cuteness to follow, but it's pretty much all thanks to John and Lucy... We were all at Bonnie and Andrew's housewarming/birthday party, and John and Lucy showed up in their cute matching Santa hats. Joshua was fascinated with the bright red of the hats, I think, and we had some failed attempts at getting photos of him sporting the hat by himself -- the hat would stay on for about half a second and then Joshua would pull it off in an attempt to get it in his mouth. :) But when I scooped him up and put the hat on him, he was happy to just look cute with it on. And then right before John snapped a shot of us, Lucy plopped her hat on my head. Resulting in the following best Christmas photos ever:

The only thing that could make these better would be to have David in here with his own Santa hat. So yeah, I'm working on that... ;)

It's so much fun sharing the little joys of the season with our little guy! Rest assured, more Christmas photos will follow!

Christmas Vespers 2010

2010-12-22T10:46:00.001-05:00

The next Christmas event on our schedules this year was the one that is perhaps my favorite Christmas event every year -- the Christmas Vespers service. It's such a lovely service -- lessons and carols, a choir, beautiful solos, a brief homily, all with the aim of refocusing our hearts and minds on the miracle of Emmanuel, God with us.

And again, this year was no exception. The students handled all the surprises and hiccups before the service (75 too few chairs; a random stage left over in the common room) with such aplomb that no one even realized that any of the changes (lovely wooden chairs hauled in from the dining hall; hello, big huge stage at the front of the room) weren't part of the original plan. And it really was such a beautiful evening of interfellowship worship!

The choir and musicians on the stage

Dion leading the congregation in carols

The pure joy of Stephen's solo in "Emmanuel"

Pastor Matt's homily

Some of the sophomore girls singing together

And I absolutely loved Becky's rendition of "Welcome to our World." In large part, of course, because of her beautiful voice, but it's also one of my favorite Christmas songs:

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that You don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home

Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world

Christmastime is here: PEF Christmas party!

2010-12-22T10:22:00.001-05:00

[We're in Indianapolis for Christmas! And I finally have the time to sit down and blog about all of our many, many Christmas events and happenings over the last few weeks... So sit back and enjoy the latest blog burst!]

Friday, December 10 was the annual PEF Christmas party -- such a fun time of taking part in as many Christmas traditions we can fit into Murray-Dodge! :)

The party takes place after a normal Friday Night Fellowship -- which means it doesn't get started until about 9:30pm. (Crazy college students and their crazy late-night schedules...) We both really wanted to be there this year, but felt it would be hard/unfair to ask a babysitter to come over and stay until like 1 or 2 in the morning... So we brought Joshua along. :) We also brought along his Pack n Play and sleep ducky, and baby monitor, and sleep sack... He had a lot of fun staring at new faces and charming people with his ability to walk a few steps, and then got whisked up to the third floor to go to sleep. It did take a little while to get him to fall asleep in a new and different place, but once he conked out, he was out for the rest of the night! Despite his over-anxious mama running up and down the stairs several times an hour to check in on him... I tell ya, I got my exercise that night!

The fellowship team always goes all out to decorate for the Christmas party, and this year was definitely no exception. Murray-Dodge is such a beautiful old building to begin with, and it looks so magical all decked out for Christmas!

And the students deck themselves out, too. ;)

There's the annual gingerbread "house" contest ("house" in air quotes because very few of the entries are actually houses, and those that are tend to be things like the magical Weasley house!):

Weasley house; (C.S.) Lewis Library

The making of the Golden Graham Bridge
And then of course there's caroling in the main room, with Jamie at the piano:

And just a ton of overall fun!

What a wonderful start to this year's Christmas season!

We have a walker!!!

2010-12-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

Joshua took his first halting steps this week!! We were at small group over at Hilary and Steven's, hanging out at the end of the evening and enjoying some really tasty chocolate treats. Joshua was standing, as he does a lot of the time now, and he saw me holding a box of chocolate-covered almonds. They were just out of his reach, but close enough to him to be tantalizing -- so instead of plopping on his bottom and crawling over to me, he reeeeached out with his hands, and then took his first few steps!

We then got him to repeat his new trick. Carrie put a few almonds on a plate, and held the plate out just beyond his reach. And again, he reached out and tottered forward a few steps, following the plate as she pulled it away. So exciting!! Of course, he then got upset that he wasn't allowed to have any of the chocolates -- all that effort, for nothing. Poor boy, I would have been upset, too!

But since then, he's been testing out his new skills and walking like a champ, even without the lure of forbidden chocolate. :) He'll still generally only take two or three steps at a time, but he's doing it really consistently. Before we know it, he'll be running all around the house...

Just this morning, I had the camera out in hopes of catching his fleeting baby steps on video. What I got was beyond my wildest dreams -- a really long stretch, several seconds long, of him tottering his way towards me!

(Please excuse my crazy over-excited voice... I've got to learn to modulate that for these videos. :) And please also excuse the fact that I cut the top of his head out of the frame for much of the video -- I was much too excited to pay attention to my camera screen!)

Joshua Watch: Ten Months

2010-12-07T23:19:00.120-05:00

You know how I've been saying the last few months that I really can't guarantee another good tiger comparison shot, with Joshua placidly lying on his back next to his tiger? Well, folks, I'm afraid that day has finally come... Joshua is a man on the move, and there's no way he's going to just lie back like a baby for a silly old photo. Not even if he's distracted by a book, or by the tiger itself... Here's the very best photo I got of him next to his tiger this month:

I managed to buy myself about three seconds of quiet time by giving him that book. But it wasn't long enough for me to jump up on the bed (which I have to do these days in order to get him fully in the frame)... Seriously. He's a man on the move.

Just for kicks, here are some of the other outtakes from this month's attempt at a tiger growth comparison photo...

Sigh. It's a good thing he's so incredibly cute... :) I think for the next kid, we're going to have to start our comparison photos with him or her propped up in a chair -- clearly, lying back is just for babies!

This month has been one of steady incremental development -- no big "firsts," per se, but tons and tons of growth and skill-building! Joshua is a speed demon at crawling now, and is incredibly agile in doing so -- he loves crawling around and through our dining table and chairs. It's like he purposely sets interesting and challenging goals for himself, and the smaller the space, the more he loves figuring out a way to crawl under and through it! He's also getting much faster and more sure of himself in cruising around our furniture. He loves walking the length of our sectional couch, rotating between holding onto the couch and holding onto the coffee table -- especially if there are coasters or napkins on the table within his reach. And very little is outside of his reach these days!

Joshua has also grown in playing independently. He very much prefers being near us -- if I'm at the computer, he loves playing under the computer desk (though we've had some luck in teaching him not to reach for wires or the trash can). If David's at his laptop on the dining table, Joshua is right under the table, or at the bookcases just next to David's chair. If either of us is sitting on the couch, he'll plop himself down next to the coffee table and occasionally pull himself up to pat our legs with glee. But in doing all of this, he's been learning to entertain himself. Give him a coaster, or better yet, a magazine that he can rip up, and he'll play happily by himself for several minutes at a time.

Which makes the times we're actively engaging with him even sweeter. :) He's learned the basics of being chased this month, and he will shriek with glee if I start crawling around after him. I think he gets a kick out of seeing us behave like he does -- he'll laugh so hard when we crawl with him, or bang coasters like he does, or shake his rattles. It's so adorable!

He's also saying "mama" more consistently these days, and introducing so many new consonants in his steady stream of babbling. I think he may have learned the word "bonk," which I usually say when he sits himself down from a cruising/standing escapade. And lately he's been saying something that sounds like "wow" when he plays with his toys. It's mostly still just babbling, but it's incredibly cute!

And speaking of cute... :) More Joshua photos, from his 10-month "photo shoot"!

Our rosy-cheeked wee lad with a favorite book

Getting into trouble... On tiptoes to reach the books, and checking to see if I'm watching as he reaches for the outlets and the diaper pail

The beginnings of a cheesy camera face?

Ahh, here are some real smiles!
Happy ten-month birthday, sweetheart! You bring us SO much joy!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-04T22:49:00.084-05:00

We flew down to North Carolina to spend Joshua's first Thanksgiving with my family -- ten months old, and he's already been on four flights! (Though that's nothing compared to his buddy Luke... What was it, 16 flights in his first year? Impressive!)

We ended up staying in a hotel while we were down there, in order to better guard Joshua's sleep and naptime routines. It's actually kind of funny, the lengths we go to in our attempts to make sure J-bear gets all the sleep he needs... He's very much used to his routine, where we'll sing a little lullaby, put him in his crib, give him his ducky, tell him we love him, and then walk out of the room. In our little hotel room, though, as long as we were within eyesight, he thought it was still playtime... So we ended up hiding in the little (2x5) corridor next to the bathroom and the room door, hunkered down with reading material and waiting until it was clear that he was totally asleep. Next time, we're totally getting a suite with multiple rooms. :)

But Joshua seemed to really enjoy the hotel experience! Complete with his cute little travel highchair, and the ability to wander around, socks in hands, and explore new territory...

PJs, a comfy and cool highchair, and yummy Cheerios -- what more could a boy want?

Playing with socks, and playing with papa!
And of course, it was wonderful spending time with my family. They hadn't seen Joshua in person since our last visit, when he was only five months old... He's kind of grown up a little since then. :) He did have a little bout of stranger anxiety when we first arrived -- which wasn't exactly helped by my dad greeting him by growling fiercely right in his face. Poor kid got all startled and then started screaming in fear. :( And poor grandpa -- he was just trying to get his grandson to laugh! It took some soothing to get him to calm back down, and once I had my dad offer Joshua some Cheerios, all was right in his little world, and he warmed right up to his grandparents and uncles.

Still looks just a tiny bit scared here, but really, he did warm up!

Showing Grandpa how much he loves this little spoon

Seriously. He loooved that spoon. Thanks, Grandma, for letting him play with it!

Thanksgiving dinner from the vantage point of a wee babe

And just one more of Joshua and his beloved spoon
All in all, a very lovely first Thanksgiving for our dear little man! We really do have so much to be thankful for!

A bridal shower for Rachel!

2010-11-30T22:14:00.073-05:00

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I got to go up to Queens for the bridal shower of one of my old college roommates!! Rachel is working in the State Department these days, and is currently posted in Prague (after having been posted in Tel Aviv), so it's rare that she's in the States. So you better believe I made the time to make the trek all the way out to her parents' house for this beautiful bridal shower brunch!

Rachel and Shay are such a cute couple -- they're really perfect for each other, and it's so beautiful to see that. And it was so much fun getting to celebrate Rachel with other dear friends! We had quite the roommate mini-reunion -- it was SO good getting to see all of these girls.

Princeton girls! Karen, Diana, Yashih, Rachel, Shauna and me
The shower itself was lovely. Hosted by Rachel's mom and sister, there were so many sweet little touches -- including a surprise guest at the very beginning! Rachel was given a little gift to open, and then was told to guess who from her past had come to celebrate with us at the shower -- it was a favorite teacher from grade school, who had apparently made a huge impact on Rachel's life. Which says something sweet and nerdy about our dear Rachel. :)

The clue: a little flamingo figurine

Surprise!
We played silly games, ate delicious food, showered Rach with gifts, and had a wonderful time together.

Rachel, you're so beautiful -- can't wait to see you on your wedding day! Much love to you and Shay!

PEF Barn Dance!

2010-11-29T21:47:00.083-05:00

[Sorry about the long posting silence... It's been a busy few weeks, and we've got a very busy few weeks coming up! I'm back-dating some of these posts, just because I'm a little ashamed at how long it's taken me to blog about these fun events...]

I remember now why I didn't end up blogging about the PEF barn dance last year... It happens in November, right on the cusp of the crazy busy holiday season. And it's about the most difficult setting for decent photos -- dim lighting plus lots of fast movement equals difficulty getting the shots. Especially if you're basically shooting in auto mode, which I was last year. (Still annoyed about that, by the way... I can't believe how long I was in Program mode!) Usually, the barn dance is held in the Rocky Common Room, which is a beautiful old hall -- with dim lights and really high ceilings so you can't bounce a flash effectively. So last year, I made do without a flash or with attempts to bounce my flash off a wall, and then painstakingly went through hundreds of photos trying to find a few keepers... and never got around to blogging about it.

This year, though, the barn dance was held in the Wilson black box theater. I was all excited, thinking I'd have a nice low ceiling for decent bounce flash, and looking forward to what I could get this year now that I actually know how to work some of the dials and buttons and doohickeys on my camera. :) And yes, there were low ceilings -- but they were black. As were the walls. And the floor. Which makes sense, given that it's a "black box" theater... But they ATE my flash. Literally zero light bouncing back! So -- I had a crash course in trying out my new Demb Flip-It bounce card. Which I think has a much steeper learning curve than I was expecting... I still haven't quite figured out how to make the bounce card work better than just plain old direct flash would work (i.e., not very well at all). But I had fun playing around with it, and now have a whole new thing to learn and (hopefully) master!

But enough techy photography talk. There's a mighty fine shindig to blog about!

The barn dance is always so much fun -- it's so different from your typical college night out! There's square dancing, called by our very own Bill, a pie-eating contest, limbo... All manner of down-home country fun. :) And everyone really gets into it, coming dressed for a country dance -- who knew Princeton students had country dance clothing in their preppy closets? ;)

Square dancing fun...

The end of the pie-eating contest:

And some good old-fashioned limbo competitiveness!

We had to leave early to relieve our babysitter (thanks again, Andrea, for staying with our little boy!), but this was a super fun way to spend a rare date night. :) Looking forward to the next big PEF shindig!

Thankful

2010-11-25T10:30:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this face:

And this face:

And this face:

I'm also really thankful for this face:

And really, well, all of these faces.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Two(-ish) years, 200(-ish) posts

2010-11-23T14:33:00.000-05:00

I realized the other day that we just passed the two-year anniversary of this here blog. :) And at about the same time, we crossed the 200 post milestone as well.

Now, I'm no Pioneer Woman with a huge blog empire and massive following. And I'm afraid I have no corporate sponsorships to offer an anniversary giveaway or something similarly fun. But I did still want to mark this momentous occasion somehow...

So I decided to revamp the blog! Gone are the blue and brown stripes and textured blue background. Hello, green polka dots, cleaner lines, and snazzier header! (I'd also hoped to install a custom font for the blog post titles, but that appears to require coding beyond my meager abilities... But look! Pretty new header!)

Notice the beautiful family photo in the center of our new header? That was taken by the fabulous Deborah Cull Photography -- we had a family session with them last month. I'll be sure to post more of our favorites, after we get our print order in -- because yes, we're finally getting some family photos to hang on our walls! So exciting!

We wanted to thank all of you for reading and keeping up with our little lives. From the very first post where we fully accepted the Keddiebears "brand," through the bump watch and Joshua watch series, it's been tons of fun chronicling our lives here. And we're always surprised at just how many people are following this blog!

So yeah. Thanks for reading, for commenting, and for keeping in touch with us. We love you all!

Coasters are the coolest!

2010-11-13T14:53:00.005-05:00

So lately, Joshua has discovered the wondrous joy that is the wooden coaster. :) We have an old set of six wooden coasters from Target, which are apparently perfectly sized and shaped for little hands to play with. Joshua discovered the wonderful thwacking noise they make when you bang them together -- or against the coffee table, or against the hearth, or against the wall... And, well, he's been enchanted ever since!

The coasters usually reside in a stack on the shelf in our coffee table. So these days, once Joshua gets put down on the carpet to play in the living room, he'll immediately crawl over to that part of the table, pull down a couple coasters, and happily play for hours. It's so adorable!

The other day, Joshua was sitting on the floor with a coaster in each hand. He then wanted to pull himself up to stand so he could bang the coasters on the top of the coffee table, but couldn't figure out how to gain enough purchase on the table to pull himself up -- because, of course, his hands were full. Much though I tried to explain to him that he needed to let go of one of the coasters, he just couldn't bring himself to part with either, so he gave up on the standing thing that day. Over the past few days, though, he's become more adept at pulling himself up, and he's finally managed to pull himself up to standing using just his wrists, freeing his hands to cling to his beloved coasters at all times. :)

So we're thinking we need to get him some wooden blocks or something similar for Christmas? That, or we should never get him toys ever again, since he totally prefers random household objects to the toys we've already given him...

And what Keddiebears post would be complete without photos? :) Video at the end as well, so you can see just how earnest Joshua is when playing with his coasters!

Double coaster joy; pulling up to stand; "Yeah, I'm standing. It's no big deal."

Stacking and thwacking

We just love this little face!!

Halloween and Steven's birthday!

2010-11-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

I'm really late on blogging about this, but -- here's what we did on Halloween! :)

Our friend Steven (known around these parts as Phil's dad) turned 30 on Halloween, so Hilary threw a Halloween/birthday party for him that evening after small group. The kiddos dressed up (along with some of the adults!), and we all had a grand time eating Indian food, watching the kids play, and greeting trick-or-treaters.

I think it's so funny watching Joshua and Phil together. Phil is about 4.5 months younger than Joshua, but he's bigger and heavier... So I'm always a little surprised that he's not sitting or crawling or anywhere near as active as our little guy! He's certainly getting more interactive these days, though, and it's a joy watching our boys get to know each other and figure out this whole playing together thing. :)

Before the costumes (since Joshua in his very padded tiger costume wouldn't have fit in his carseat):
playing with Phil's toys, Phil's mom, and Phil. :)

The birthday boy and his son

Phil the puppy and Joshua the tiger!

The B family in their Halloween/birthday getup

Joshua got overheated in his tiger costume, so we took off the top part
Most of the gang who were there -- yay for small group friends!
We always have the best time at Hilary and Steven's parties. :) Thanks again for hosting us and giving us great memories for Joshua's very first Halloween!

Joshua Watch: Nine Months

2010-11-06T09:30:00.002-04:00

Oh, man, has this been an active and mobile month! Here's the one and only tiger shot I got with Joshua during his nine-month "photo shoot":

I got this shot in the split second he was on his back after David tickled him to wear him out just a little, right after David stepped out of the frame and right before Joshua rolled over to tackle his tiger and then crawled as fast as he could out of the room... Whew! I make no promises about having a tiger comparison photo for next month...

But yeah, this month has been huge in terms of developmental milestones! At the beginning of the month (at 8 months and 1.5 weeks), Joshua pulled himself up to stand for the very first time. He was crawling around on the daybed in his nursery, reached up for the railing, and pulled himself up to stand. We were so excited! Shortly thereafter, his new favorite game became standing on the daybed and slapping at the alphabet cards we have on the wall next to the bed. He laughs especially at W is for Wolf (so silly that a wolf would ride a bicycle!) and X is for Xanthos (silly card makers had to dig into ancient mythology to come up with an animal for X!).

Within another week and a half (at 8 months and 3 weeks), Joshua took his first hesitant steps while clinging to the coffee table in our living room. We now have a cruiser! He doesn't do it very often -- he's clearly a goal-oriented little guy, and won't just cruise for cruising's sake. But he will take a couple steps if it will take him from the couch to the coffee table... especially if there are coasters or books on the table for him to pull off. :) We've basically repurposed our wooden coasters as toys for him. They're apparently much more fascinating than the pile of baby toys he's been given so far!

He's incredibly fast at crawling these days. And he loves following us around and exploring the entire apartment! We've had some success at training him not to go certain places -- when he starts heading in the direction of the kitchen or the bathroom, we'll sternly say his name and tell him to turn around. I think he's puzzled any time my voice drops anywhere out of the silly and fun high register I usually use with him, so he'll stop short when I use a lower register to say his name, and then turn around to try to figure out what's going on. We've been mostly successful in teaching him not to play with the cords to our laptops and the books on our lower shelves, which is encouraging!

And in other news, Joshua is now a full-fledged babbler! The floodgates opened midway through the month, when he all of a sudden just started a steady stream of babbling while crawling. He would lock onto a target across the room (usually the coasters or the desktop CPU), start crawling towards his objective, and so very earnestly babble along the way -- "DA RA RA ba ba ba gee gee GEE GEE!!" It's so incredibly cute. And then he started babbling "mamamamama," which he promptly figured out how to shorten to "mama... mama..." Our doctor says we can count that as his first word, so that's been written up in Joshua's baby book. :) And I suppose it's possible that he's thinking of me and/or looking for me, right?

Joshua clearly understands at least a few words, too. We've trained him to know to lift up his arms to be picked up when we say "up!" And a few days ago, after I said "up" and picked him up, he looked at me and said "up!" Granted, it was more of an "aahhp" kind of sound, but I think he was imitating me and trying to say the word properly. So exciting!

Oh! And we've got baby stats for him this month, from his nine-month appointment! As of 10/27, Joshua weighed 18 pounds, 12 ounces, was 28-3/4" tall, and has a 17-3/4" head circumference. So he's about 25th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. Dr. N. was pleased with his growth, so I'm not going to worry about him not weighing as much as some of his 5- or 6-month-old friends (ahem, Evan and Phil)! He's also cut his top two teeth, which are totally changing the look of his smile again... He looks more and more like a little boy than a baby every day!

Speaking of looks... I know most of you just want the Joshua photos. :) So here you go! Our attempts at a nine-month photo shoot...

Target acquired...

Mission accomplished

Pulling up, standing to survey the possibilities on the daybed, and reaching for the pillow while still standing

Standing and smiling -- apologies for the baby handprints on the mirror!
It may be more exhausting taking care of our very mobile and curious little boy, but it sure is a ton of fun!! We love you, Joshua, and can't wait to see what new milestones are on the horizon for you!

I'm a wee tiger!

2010-10-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

A tiger says "ROAR!"

Watch me hunt my prey!

Mama? Are you watching?

Ooh, this camera lens looks tasty...

GREAT BIG SCARY ROAR!

Wait, come back, mama! Didn't mean to scare you! Don't wanna be a wee tiger any more -- wanna be your little boy!

(And just because David immediately thought of the famous "death of a loyalist soldier" photo when he saw this one...)

Halloween costumes are FUN!

Photography get-together at Terhune Orchards!

2010-10-22T15:56:00.000-04:00

So one of my kind of embarrassing secrets is that I spend a ton of time on an online photography forum... It's a wonderfully vibrant community of women interested in photography, with a huge range of skill levels (from total newbies to pros), and it's the single biggest reason for any growth in my photography skills over the last year. Plus, I've made a ton of wonderful friends through it!

As it turns out, there are a number of members who live in the NJ/NY/PA area. So we decided to meet up for lunch and an afternoon of fall photography fun down at Terhune Orchards -- located a very convenient 15 minutes away from me. :) Which also helped ease David's mind -- just in case one of these women turned out to actually be a creepy 50-year-old man, David was close enough to be able to come rescue me. ;)

It was SO fun meeting up with these women, and spending a few hours leisurely photographing things to our hearts' content. Don't get me wrong -- I love photographing my family and PEF events, and everyone is very patient and understanding of my desire to get the shot. But there's something different about being able to go on a photography walk and not feel bad about holding up your group, or sprawling like a fool on the ground, or really taking the time to experiment with different settings. Plus, the four girls I met up with were super fun to just hang out with!

Amanda, Chris and Audrey chimping

My first attempt at using the 85mm as a faux macro

Candy apples! And panning!

Barbara and Audry

Chris and Amanda

Amanda got the cutest shot of this little guy

Such beautiful autumnal colors!

Crazy chicken scrabbling wildly about amongst the flowers

And one more pretty flower shot

Amanda, Audry Barbara, and Chris, thank you so much for coming all the way out to central Jersey for a get-together! Hope we can do it again sometime soon!

A playdate with Anna J!

2010-10-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

We joke a lot about little Anna being Joshua's future wife -- complete with Lady Catherine de Bourgh quotes ("It was the favorite wish of his mother as well as hers!"). :) But in all seriousness, we do hope Joshua and Anna will grow up to be friends. And it's so sweet to see them starting to interact with each other!

Lucy and Anna came over to play the other day, and we had so much fun watching the babies together. Anna is about four months younger than Joshua, so she kind of sat back and watched intently as Joshua ran roughshod all around her... We're working on teaching him how to be a more gentlemanly host. :) For instance, here, it looks like he's lovingly stroking her hair, but he's actually leaning on her head, and trying to figure out how to use it to torque his body around, so he can walk off the edge of the bed.

Oh, Joshua...
And that brings me obliquely to another developmental milestone -- Joshua is regularly (and constantly) pulling himself up to stand these days!

Yeah, I'm standing. It's no big deal.
We had so much fun playing with little Anna, head-leaning-body-torquing incidents notwithstanding. :) And from what I've seen on her dad's Facebook page [link should work if you're friends with him], it looks like Anna is training to be able to push back against Joshua's friendly rough-housing... Can't wait to see how these two grow and play together!

Miriam and Andrew!

2010-10-21T22:44:00.000-04:00

Get ready for another big blog dump over the next day or two... :) We've had a very busy few weeks, and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it all!

A week and a half ago, on 10/10/10, two very dear friends from our small group got married! Miriam (whose bridal shower I went to a few months back) and Andrew had an absolutely beautiful day for an outdoor wedding -- perfect fall temperatures, beautiful autumnal skies, and bright golden sunshine. The ceremony took place outside of the Nassau Inn, and though Mir and Andrew were worried about it taking place at the same time as the Princeton Public Library's centennial celebration, the little plaza where the ceremony took place was private and secluded enough to create an intimate, romantic feel. And wow, was there romance galore in this ceremony! :)

It was also the first Messianic Jewish wedding I had ever attended. Pastor Matt officiated, but they also had a family friend serve as a co-officiant, leading in Hebrew prayers and blessings. The ceremony was designed to show the interplay between the old and new covenants, and it was a beautiful demonstration of God's love and grace. The New Testament reading was Philippians 2:1-11, one of the strongest gospel calls I'd ever heard at a wedding.

And, of course, I took tons of photos. :) The pros hired for the wedding were none other than Deb Cull and her husband Matt! Deb was a classmate of mine, who now lives down in Florida -- it was so good to see her again! (And we actually got to spend a fair amount of time with Deb and Matt that weekend, because we hired them to do a family session for us! Can't wait to see those photos!) So I know my photos aren't anywhere near as amazing as theirs must be, but I still had fun playing around -- taking care, of course, not to get in the way of Deb and Matt as they worked their magic. ;)

(Apologies for the HUGE photo dump -- it was just such a beautiful wedding!)

Friends! Danny and Anna; John and Angel

Andrew and his parents

Beautiful bridesmaids

Miriam and her parents; Andrew as he waited for his bride

I loved Mir's dress! And such sweet hand-holding. :)

Exchange of rings

The first kiss!

Breaking the glass, and honoring the parents

Mr. and Mrs. Black!!

First dance

Fun times at the baby table

David taking Joshua out onto the wild and crazy dance floor :)

Hanging out in the lobby, where Joshua could crawl and stand to his heart's content

Playing peekaboo over the couch arm!

Whoa -- it's a bear!!

Awwwww... :)

Andrew and Miriam, many congratulations again!! We love you, and are so excited to be standing alongside you as you begin your married life together!

Baby BOOM! (video)

2010-10-08T15:20:00.000-04:00

Just some baby laughter video fun to brighten up your Friday afternoon!

Just some outdoor (85mm) fun!

2010-10-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

Because I know most of you come here just for the Joshua photos... :)

It's been getting cooler here, finally, and the autumn sunshine has been just beautiful. So I took Joshua outside last weekend for some fall photo fun! And check out his absolutely adorable little owl onesie. :) It takes a bit of legwork, but I'm determined to find him boy clothes that are just as cute as little baby girl clothes!

[Nerdy photography note: I'm totally, completely, absolutely in love with the 85mm focal length. That is all.]

Joshua Watch: Eight Months

2010-10-05T10:07:00.000-04:00

Eight months -- two thirds of a year old! And what a big boy Joshua is now, crawling and everything... We just barely managed to get a decent tiger shot this month. I make no promises for next month. :)

Obviously, the biggest developmental milestone this month was Joshua's learning how to crawl. He started scooting at almost exactly 7.5 months, and then full-fledged crawling happened a couple days later. And a couple days after that, we caved and got one of those big SuperYard ~~baby jails~~ -- er, that is, play pens, which is now taking up the bulk of the space in our living room. He's okay with being put in his play pen about 50% of the time, and that's only if we get down into the play pen with him at first... David pursues a stronger policy of letting him fuss in his play pen, whereas I'm much more softhearted and will go to him if he gets really loud. Which has resulted in Joshua playing peacefully and quietly in the play pen for David -- but if he sees me in the room, he will turn deliberately towards me and start yelling and raising his arms up, and won't let up until I give in and pick him up. He's a smart kid, that one...

He's also a very quickly growing kid! Ever since we started him on solids last month, he's been bulking up... We haven't had him weighed since his 6-month appointment (he goes in for his 9-month appointment on Oct. 27), but he certainly feels denser these days. :) He continues to love eating solids -- the only things he hasn't like so much, interestingly enough, are fruits. He'll happily eat as many mushy peas and spinach purees as we'll offer, but he turns his nose up at bananas and flat-out refused to eat peaches. Crazy kid.

This month, we also introduced some meat purees, and started him on some finger foods -- it's the cutest thing, watching him try to feed himself puffs. He'll grab a puff and clench his fist around it, and then try to jam his whole fist into his mouth... We're slowly teaching him how to grasp them with his thumb and forefinger instead, with varying degrees of success. He does much better with Mum-Mums, these baby rice cakes, which are shaped like flat little surfboards -- he can grab them on one end and happily munch on the other.

And this month also saw us getting more adventurous in our family excursions. All thanks to our more adventurous friends. :) We took Joshua swimming for the first time, with his little buddy Phil -- many thanks, Hilary, for the extra swim diapers and the use of your neighborhood tot pool! It took Joshua a little bit to get used to being in cool water -- he loves his baths, but those are nice and warm. But once he got used to the feel of the water, he loved it -- he did his "skydiving" move while I was holding him chest down in the water, and really seemed to like how buoyant he was. It's a shame we didn't take him earlier in the summer, but now we have something to look forward to for next year! And, of course, we took him to his first playground earlier this month as well, to play with his friend Caleb.

The last big change for him this month was the start of the school year. For David, not for him. :) With David needing to be on campus multiple days a week, and me working in the office, we decided it would be best if we could get one day of childcare every week. And that childcare has come in the form of our very dear friend Carrie! She's nannying for Phil B. four days a week, and for Joshua on Wednesdays. We were a little nervous about this transition -- our Joshua has protested violently most of the changes in his little life thus far (the bottle battles, the transition to solids, etc.), so we didn't know how he'd react to being taken care of by someone new for a full day. But he clearly loves Carrie. :) We're so thankful to have someone we trust so completely taking care of our little boy once a week!

You'd think there would be fewer and fewer "firsts" as these month updates go on, but I fear I've actually been getting longer and longer every month... Thanks for making it all the way through this one! As always, here are some adorable photos of our little man, for your viewing pleasure!

"No more tiger photos, okay, mama?"

Yup, we're a Canon family

OK, usually he still eats his books... So when he started "reading," I had to fire off a ton of shots!
We just can't get enough of this smile!

It's so much fun watching you grow, baby boy. We love you so very much!

What's been keeping us busy: Joshua crawling (videos)!

2010-10-03T20:51:00.001-04:00

So the other major thing that's been keeping us on our toes and becoming more fun (albeit time-consuming) by the minute? Our little guy is now officially mobile!

Here's a video I took a few weeks ago, while he was still trying to figure out how to position his knees to get proper traction and forward movement.

Two days after that video was taken, he was a full-fledged crawler. Here's a video I took last week, when he turned eight months -- you can see how his new-found mobility wreaked havoc on my attempts to take his tiger comparison Joshua Watch photo. :)

Even though this second video is less than a week old, it still looks so awkward and slow compared to how Joshua crawls now... It's incredible how quickly he picks things up and grows and develops! He still hasn't figured out how to turn while crawling -- he'll stop, pull himself up to sitting, pivot on his bottom, and then start crawling in a new direction. But I bet he'll figure out this last little step within the next few days!

It's also been fascinating watching his personality as it emerges under these new circumstances. He's definitely a strong-willed and stubborn wee lad -- I'm afraid he comes by that honestly through both his parents. :) Now that he can propel himself around the apartment, he's decided that his favorite toy in the world is the power cable to our laptop. Followed very closely by the DVD player, and then the cable hooking up our computer to our TV. And really any electronic cords and cables. We'll tell him no, redirect him, put him back in the very middle of the room -- and without fail, he'll look around, figure out how to reposition himself, and then very determinedly start crawling his way right back to the cable we took him away from. Sigh. Time to figure out how to teach/train/discipline an eight-month-old...

It's so much fun playing with him, though. I mean, it always has been, but now there's this whole new world of movement and mobility. He's so pleased with himself when he can get to where he wants to go. And he's so inquisitive -- he'll crawl all over the apartment just to be able to personally inspect every bit of carpet fluff and every chair leg he can propel himself towards. Such a strong and smart little guy!

Added bonus -- all this burning of energy means he's been napping and sleeping really, really well lately. :) Here's hoping he keeps this up!

What's been keeping us busy: PEF events

2010-10-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long radio silence! We've made it past the first few weeks of the school year, which means we now have a little bit of room to breathe... It's been hectic, but a lot of fun. David is always so energized at the beginning of the school year -- which is good, because there's a TON to do! I've posted a bunch of these photos on Facebook already, but since this blog serves as our family chronicle, we figured we should at least mention some of what's been going on in our lives these last few weeks.

So! The afternoon we got back from the beach retreat, we had the interfellowship welcome -- all of the Christian fellowships on campus got together on Murray-Dodge lawn to welcome the freshmen and reconnect with the old-timers. It was a beautifully sunny day, and while David met some of the freshmen guys, Joshua and I wandered about and charmed all and sundry. :)

Then later that week, we had the PEF open house. This year, for the first time, we had our open house on an afternoon during freshman week (instead of late in the evening, competing with a ton of other events -- that's right, students' schedules are a lot freer at 1pm than at 11pm...). And we actually had a great turnout of freshmen! It's always so exciting to meet the latest influx of eager and zealous Princetonians. :)

And as a final frosh week welcome event, there was a game day out on Poe Field. We were only there for the soccer part of the afternoon, but it looked like a ton of people showed up and had a blast out on the field. (When did PEF become so athletic??)

And some portraits and little kid fun off on the sidelines. :)

Gotta love the beginning of the school year. :)

Beach retreat 2010!!

2010-09-17T16:47:00.001-04:00

PEF has (in my unbiased opinion) the very best way of kicking off the school year -- a three-day retreat at Ocean City, NJ!! We of course go every year, it being David's job and all. :) But this was the first time in years that I was able to attend the whole retreat -- the beauty of being part-time means that I only had to take one day's vacation. And it was definitely worth taking that one day off, to reconnect with PEFers... and to introduce Joshua to the wonders of the beach!

So we all met up for breakfast bright and early on Thursday morning. At least, the students all thought it was super early -- we had been up for hours, as normal, since our cute little alarm clock almost never goes off later than 6am. ;) Joshua was on his best behavior, though, and had fun being held by new people -- no real stranger anxiety yet!

Then it was off to Ocean City! We stayed at the Ark Retreat Center again, this great old house just a few blocks from the beach. The first scheduled activity? Hand-addressing flyers to be delivered to every single incoming freshman. Gotta love the abundant supply of free labor... I, of course, was too busy watching Joshua and taking photos to help out... :)

And then, to the beach!! I was a wee bit nervous about sun protection for our little guy, so perhaps I went just a bit overboard... But how stinking cute is he in his little sun suit and floppy hat??

OK, I've got to tighten this up and include fewer photos for the rest of this recap... :) Thursday night, we had the traditional walk on the boardwalk and Ferris wheel ride. I had Joshua in the front carrier, and we felt he was perhaps too young to go on the Ferris wheel himself... Maybe next year!

And just a few more photos of the typical PEFer's fun in the sun...

The retreat was SUCH a fun time!! What a wonderful way to get revved up for another school year. Joshua is very much looking forward to spending more time with all of you guys!

A playground playdate

2010-09-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

Last week, we took Joshua out to the playground for the very first time! Normally, we're total homebodies -- Joshua is happy to play with his toys in the living room, and if we're feeling really wild and crazy, we'll mix it up and play in his nursery!! Real daredevils, we are... :) So it's a good thing we have friends like Erik and Andréa to push us a little bit out of our normal routines!

It's been such a joy watching our little boys play with each other. They're just getting to the point of noticing other babies, and Caleb can really bring out the giggles in Joshua. :) So it was a lot of fun going to the playground and watching them play!

Caleb, having the more adventurous parents, is a total natural on the swings. Joshua was a bit more unsure of it all... But as long as daddy was there and helping him out, J-bear had a pretty good time!

Nerdy photography note: I also got the chance to play with my 85mm f/1.8 lens -- such a sweeeeet focal length!! The photos below with the prettiest compression and background blur were taken with that lens. :)

I'm kind of a swinging champ. It's no big deal.

Unsuspecting Joshua; unsure Joshua

Nothing says "Let's be friends" like a poke to the eye!

Yummy sand toys; heart-melting smile!

Heart-melting smile, part 2!

The beautiful G family
We all had such a blast -- we're definitely going to have to do something like this again, now that cooler weather is finally here!

How hard can it be?

2010-09-06T10:17:00.001-04:00

[I already posted these on Facebook, but wanted to include these here for posterity. :)]

Our Sunday small group is made up of eight couples. All told, we have six babies -- two 2-year-olds, and four babies born within the last nine months. One whole side of the room is usually taken up by playing babies... We're seriously looking into starting a nursery of some sort, and soon!

Last Sunday, all six babies were there, for the first time in a while, what with summer travel plans and all. So after the study was over, I was taking some photos of the cuteness of our kiddos all playing together, and one of the moms asked if we could take a big group photo of all six of them.

Sure, I thought, how hard can it be?

Natalie: (Not pictured because she didn't want to be on the futon.)
Jemina: If Natalie doesn't have to be here, why do I?
Aliina: Look at my pretty knees!
Joshua: Wait, you're not mama...
Phil: Hey guys, what's happenin'?
Caleb: Don't wanna sit -- wanna eat this book!

Natalie: (Laughing hysterically because of her mom's tickling)
Jemina: Crazy lady, what are you doing to my friend?
Aliina: If you must scream, don't invade my personal space whilst doing so.
Joshua: YOU'RE NOT MAMA!! WHAT'S GOING ON??
Phil: Is it time for my close-up?
Caleb: Sitting is for suckers, I'm a new crawler on the move!

Natalie: OK, the tickling was fun, but I'm outta here.
Jemina: Seriously. Crazy lady. What are you doing to my friend?
Aliina: I said, stop invading my personal space!
Joshua: I DON'T LIKE THIS! PICK ME UP! PICK ME UP!
Phil: La dee da, ready for my close-up...
Caleb: Hmm, how does one crawl off a futon?

Natalie: Whee! More tickles!
Jemina: Can I get a little of that action?
Aliina: If you're going to cry, I'm going to cry, too!
Joshua: GET ME OUT OF HERE!!
Phil: Dum dee dum, still looking good for my close-up...
Caleb: Commencing scouting operations!

And the very, very best of the bunch -- where all of the babies are at least sort of looking in my general direction, and none of them are full-out crying (though Joshua is definitely still thinking about it...):

At least they're all super cute. :) I'm glad we got at least that one shot at the end (and the whole sequence is pretty funny, in retrospect), but I'm thinking it's going to be a while before we try this again... Six- and eight-year-olds are easier, right? Right??

Joshua's baptism!

2010-09-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, August 29, Joshua was baptized!

The service was officiated by David Kim, a minister ordained in the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) who is also a member of our church. David is also the executive director of Manna, the Christian fellowship I was primarily involved in back in college, and he was a real mentor to me for so many years -- so it was really fitting that he was the one to baptize our little son. :) We also had a number of dear friends take part in the service (and at the last minute, too -- sorry for not being totally on top of all of the details!) -- Matt led us all in worship, and Aime and Andrew did scripture readings.

It was a beautiful afternoon service, held at Hope Presbyterian Church down in Lawrenceville. Joshua, I think, was perhaps a bit overheated in his pretty pretty church clothes, and wanted to play rather than be quietly held in my arms, so he got a little fussy during the first part of the service... And he was definitely voicing his opinions to us all when we handed him over to David. But as soon as the water hit his head, he calmed down. Later, one of our friends commented that it was the perfect analogy to how we're all brought into the kingdom -- kicking and screaming, but then recipients of God's grace. :)

David's baptism charge was to us as Joshua's parents -- to recognize that we are but stewards of his life. We can't control him or live vicariously through him, but rather, we have been given the awesome responsibility of raising him up in light of God's covenant promises -- to guide him and direct him, always remembering that he is a child of God. It's a sobering duty, but also a joyous gift.

We were touched by how many wonderful friends came to stand with us at Joshua's baptism. Part of the service is a series of vows made by the congregation to pray for and stand alongside us as Joshua's parents -- we're so blessed to have all of you in our lives!

And what blog post would be complete without photos? :) ~~Joshua's future father-in-law~~ -- um, that is, our dear friend John Jameson took several photos of the service and the hanging out afterwards. His work is always beautiful, and this was no exception!

Waiting somewhat patiently at the beginning of the service

David Kim during his charge

Yup, we were all in blue

The baptism

Family photo with David Kim

Newly-baptized wee lad!
Erik was telling us that in his family, there's a saying that babies who are loud during their baptisms are destined for the ministry -- they just want to have their own voices heard in church!

Joshua and his ~~future bride~~ -- er, little family friend, Anna Jameson
What a beautiful time of fellowship, as Joshua received the sign of God's covenant promise!

Joshua Watch: Seven Months

2010-09-05T23:34:00.000-04:00

J-bear is SEVEN months old! And there's no question about it now: he's definitely taller than his tiger. :)

(Side note: I'm SO GLAD he cooperated for this one shot. His rolling around isn't quite as bad as it was last month, but he's learned that there are so many cooler ways to play than just lying on his back like a baby, so more often than not, he's struggling to get himself in a sitting position so he can better see the world around him!)

And that takes us to the biggest developmental milestone from this month: sitting! He started sitting up unsupported earlier this month, able to stay upright once we put him down in a sitting position. And then he had one slightly difficult night in a Pack n Play, which gave him the last little bit of incentive he needed to learn how to get up into a sitting position all by himself! It's become second nature to him now -- we put him down to play on his back, and within seconds he's rolled over onto his belly, gotten up on his hands and knees (almost -- he still can't quite get his left leg straightened out from under himself), and then he pushes himself up to a sitting position. Because that's how big boys play.

He's such a willful wee boy, too... If he doesn't want to be on his back, he won't stay on his back! And that includes on the changing table. Sigh. He can be very determined about wanting to roll over to play with the blinds (we've hidden the string pulls away far out of his reach) -- who cares if he's undiapered and dangerous?? We've taken to pinning him down with one arm while doing the diaper change. It's surprising how adept you become at one-handed maneuvers as a parent...

It can sometimes be a little frustrating trying to train Joshua away from certain behaviors. He's certainly too young to understand or respond to discipline. The rolling on the changing table thing is kind of cute and manageable. The bigger issue we're dealing with right now is biting while nursing -- which HURTS now that he has two very sharp teeth. Which leave puncture wounds. I've tried pretty much everything Dr. Google has recommended, to no avail... Any suggestions would be appreciated, but I think we're looking at the end of nursing. :(

However! Joshua more than makes up for these little difficulties with his ever-happier personality. This month, we've seen so much laughter, and we've learned how to make him laugh at us, which is so rewarding! The biggest laughs we've seen so far, though, have come from his playing with other little kids. Jemina, the two-year-old daughter of some small group friends, brought out the first belly laughs from our little guy by coming up behind me and playing peek-a-boo with Joshua. He was startled, and then just laughed and laughed -- during prayer time, but we'll work on better praying etiquette later. :) And the second time we heard Joshua's belly laughter was when he was playing with little Caleb, who is 9 days older than he is -- Caleb kept trying to eat Joshua's toes, and Joshua kept laughing and reaching for Caleb's head. So sweet to see our boys actually interacting, rather than just playing near each other!

Joshua also clearly loves music -- just like both his parents! The surest way to calm him down is to sing to him. Lullabies, upbeat kids' songs, Broadway show tunes -- he loves them all! His latest favorite is "Edelweiss," but he also definitely responds to songs from Phantom of the Opera, which his very first babysitters, Katie and Rachel, discovered earlier this month.

And one last developmental bit in this very, very long update -- our kiddo LOVES eating solid foods. He'll grab the spoon and guide it into his mouth, and hold his mouth wide open to demand more. We've tried a number of pureed vegetables (sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, squash, spinach), and he loves them all! Here's hoping we don't have a picky eater on our hands...

If you made it this far, congratulations! Your reward is a set of photos of the cutest little guy in the world. :)

Much more fun than being on your back like a little baby...

C'mon, mama, can't I just play without you getting all paparazzo on me?

Sitting up, and playing with Mr. Tiger, like a big boy!

Soooo close to crawling...

He terrorized that blanket, and then started trying to eat his month sticker, signaling an end to this photo session

But he's still cute as a button!
Joshua, we love you so much. It's so exciting to watch you grow!

Visit from Grandma and Uncle Donald!

2010-09-05T21:56:00.002-04:00

[We've got a lot of catching up to do, so this is the first in a whole bunch of new posts!]

Last week, David's mom and oldest brother came for a brief visit! It's been a while since Grandma had gotten to hold and play with Joshua, and Uncle Donald hadn't yet met him. So you can imagine how much fun was had by all. :) Unfortunately, Donald was struggling (mightily) through a pretty bad summer cold, so he didn't get a chance to hold Joshua... But we've promised him the chance to change Joshua's diaper the next time he comes for a visit. ;)

Because our apartment is relatively small, the nursery also serves as the guest bedroom. So we put Grandma up in the guest bed there, and Uncle Donald got the couch in the living room -- which meant Joshua was set up in his Pack n Play in our bedroom. We were hoping, since Joshua spent the first week of his life sleeping in that Pack n Play, that he would be totally fine with the change... It didn't work out as smoothly as we'd hoped. The first night, we put him down, giving him his ugly doll and duckie and pacifier as normal, but he started fussing shortly thereafter. We've been following a policy of letting him cry just a little before going to him, so we went with that for a few minutes. When I went back to check on him -- he was sitting bolt upright in the corner of the Pack n Play! It was the first time Joshua had managed to get into a sitting position all by himself. I guess necessity (or frustration) really is the mother of invention... Thankfully, Joshua got used to the new sleeping arrangement fairly quickly.

We took a day trip up to Poughkeepsie on Thursday to visit Iain, the middle Keddie brother, and his girlfriend Erin. Iain managed to find a suitably family-friendly brunch place that still fit with his (our) yuppie tastes. :) We got a wooden high chair for Joshua, but he found a seat he much preferred:

Then our big excursion for the day was crossing the new Walkway Over the Hudson, an old rail bridge converted into a pedestrian walkway. It was a spectacular vista, and a really nice walk/hike -- it's not often that you get to walk 212 feet over the Hudson River! It was a gorgeous day, too -- and of course I took tons of photos!

The gang on the road towards the Walkway

Carrying Joshua's chariot up to the Walkway, while keeping him sound asleep!

He eventually woke up -- and had the most gorgeous diffuse light hitting his beautiful eyes!

The Walkway; a view of the Walkway from later on in our walk

Every time Joshua got a little fussy, Uncle Iain ran ahead to amuse and entertain him

The Mid-Hudson Bridge, the road bridge we took to cross back over the river

The (narrow and vertiginous) sidewalk alongside the Mid-Hudson Bridge
We all (Joshua definitely included!) had such a good time hanging out with family. :) We were only sad that the visit was so short! Looking forward to the next time we all get to be together!

A Brooklyn playdate!

2010-08-27T20:54:00.000-04:00

It's not often that parents will drive over an hour to make a playdate happen for their son. When that happens, you know that either (a) the parents are willing to do anything for their son, (b) the playdate partner must be the coolest kid in the world, (c) the parents are dying to hang out with the other parents, or (d) all of the above. :)

In our case? Definitely (d)!

Last Saturday, we finally made it up to Brooklyn to visit our dear friends Emily and Brian, and to meet their son Evan! Evan, of course, has already had his debut over here on Keddiebears Central, but we hadn't actually had a chance to meet him yet. And Emily and Brian hadn't yet met Joshua. This was a situation that seriously needed to be taken care of -- especially since they're all moving to Texas in just two short weeks! :(

So we decided to make the trip out on Saturday -- and we had SO much fun!! Evan is such a cute little chunker. He's almost exactly three months younger than Joshua -- and he's at least three pounds heavier. :) Joshua, I think, was fascinated by him. Our little guy is definitely starting to notice other babies, and it's such a joy to watch him try to play with them. Evan was a very patient host, as Joshua attempted to grab and eat his feet. :)

The J's took us around the pretty and hip parts of Brooklyn -- we took our strollers along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, had brunch at a trendy (and family-friendly) restaurant, got dessert from Jacques Torres, and just had a grand old time.

Matching strollers!

Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan

Family photos!

This shot says SO MUCH about Brian and Emily... :)

Mmm, massively oversized cookie ice cream sandwich...

Evan laughing at his daddy

Emily, Brian and Evan, thank you so much for being such wonderful hosts! So glad we could squeeze in a visit before you head out to Texas... We'll miss you all so much!!

Sitting up like a big boy -- and Joshua's video debut!

2010-08-23T21:24:00.005-04:00

Over the last week, Joshua has figured out how to sit up all by himself! We've been trying to teach him how to sit up unsupported over the last few weeks, by sitting him down on a blanket, and then watching as he sloooowly tipped over and face-planted... But all of a sudden, about a week ago, Joshua figured it out. And now it's his favorite thing in the world to do!

Not only can he now sit up by himself, but he's also figured out how to pick up a toy, flail it about, and bring it to his mouth -- all while not tipping over. :) Such a smart and strong boy!

He's gotten confident enough in his sitting abilities to happily sit and play for several minutes at a time. Long enough for this shutter-crazy mama to get some really cute shots of him sitting up all by himself!

And what better way to commemorate this milestone than to present to the world Joshua's blog video debut?

We're slowly uploading the few videos we've taken of him, so hopefully there will be more embedded video on this blog in the near future. :) Enjoy!

Stephen and Grace!

2010-08-21T08:43:00.000-04:00

So after saying goodbye to the new Mr. and Mrs. Hwang, we drove down to the outskirts of Philly for Stephen and Grace's reception! We got to make the trip down with Pastor Matt and Karen -- it's always so fun to hang out with them. And we all reveled in how popular we were, being invited to multiple weddings on the same day... :)

I'm really glad we ended up planning it this way, to go to Jon and Melissa's ceremony and Stephen and Grace's reception. I wish we could have been at both weddings for the whole celebration, but given that we needed to split things up, I think this worked out the best way possible. There were SO many old friends at Stephen and Grace's reception -- Stephen and I graduated from Princeton the same year, and pretty much everyone from our class who went through PEF was there! We also saw so many folks we hadn't seen in years -- some since our own wedding, some since graduation... It was so wonderful to get to reconnect with old friends and meet their spouses and babies!

We were seated at the baby table. There were six couples there, with three babies, two pregnant ladies, and five kiddos left back at home. Craziness! Our little corner of the reception hall got a lot of attention, I think... :)

I didn't get many shots of the "official" wedding activities -- it's HARD getting good shots in a large reception hall. And I wanted to leave that to the pros -- i.e., Deb Cull '03 and her husband Matt! But I did get some fun candid photos...

Joshua's all, "don't cry, baby Titus!"

Musical chairs, and passing the babies around...

Lucy and John with Anna; David and Joshua watching the wedding slideshow

Sneaking a kiss while cutting the cake; best man John's toast

Such a fun wedding reception! We actually stayed until the very very end -- the wait staff were setting up for the next reception and had to kick us out! We just had that much fun... :) Stephen and Grace, it was wonderful celebrating with you guys! Many, many blessings on your married life -- we love you both!

Jon and Melissa!

2010-08-21T08:15:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday (8/14) was the second of our wedding double-header days of the summer. This time, though, both weddings were scheduled for about the exact same time, with one in Princeton and the other in Delaware/Pennsylvania. We really couldn't miss either wedding -- how could we not be there to celebrate this most important day with such close friends? So we decided to go to Jon and Melissa's ceremony, and then drive down to attend Stephen and Grace's reception. :) Maybe a little crazy, especially with a six-month-old in tow, but we made it work -- and we're so glad we did!!

So Jon and Melissa were the second '09 wedding of the summer, after Drew and Alison. There was another subsection of that class represented at this wedding -- it was so good to get to see these folks! This ceremony was held at All Saints' Episcopal Church, a bright and airy kind of sanctuary, and was officiated by Pastor Matt. One cool backstory note: Pastor Matt also officiated at the wedding of Jon's parents. :) This was apparently the first time he had done the weddings of multiple generations in the same family. What a sweet point of family connection!

Beautiful light, beautiful subjects... :) Alison and Drew, and Elizabeth and Molly

Melissa and her dad!

Melissa and her dad, and Jon and his brother Alex

Exchange of vows

First communion as husband and wife

First kiss, and being announced as husband and wife!

Mr. and Mrs. Hwang!

We milled around after the ceremony while the bridal party was getting official photos taken. I didn't want to get in the way of the pro photographer, but I did manage to get some cute shots off to the side. And, thanks to Grace Ristuccia (haha, still trying to get used to that name change!), we also got a very sweet family shot of the three of us!

Aren't we cute?? Please note J-bear's preppy sweater vest outfit. :)

The lovely ladies

"Quick, Melissa, look all romantic-like and beautiful!"(Yeah, she's got that covered on a daily basis.)

Roommates of the bride and groom

Such a handsome couple!

Melissa and Jon, it was a true joy to see you married. :) I'm so glad we could be there with you that day! We love you, and will continue praying for you way out in South Bend!