We are finally done!

On Sunday, Aug 17th, was our 12 month Homestudy. Yeah!!! We are officially done with all the stuff we needed to complete for Josh's adoption. We really liked our social worker and hope to keep in touch with her.

I started a new schedule again. I am now working 11a to 11p with my preceptor and will eventually work 3p to 11p three days a week. So far so good. My preceptor is nice and starting this Monday she will no longer be in the room to help me. I'm on my own. She thinks she will be done precepting me within the next couple of weeks. The best part about the new schedule is we are needing a babysitter even less than we thought we would, the new schedule works out better for Jamie (the lady that watches Josh), and I'm home and in my own bed every night.

Disclaimer: For those that are bug squeamish please turn away now!

Josh loves to check out everything and that include the freshly molted cicada. He even holds his hands out gently to hold the cicada.

It was tickling his hand.

O.K. all the bug pictures are over now.

Almost every night we go outside and play on the swing set. Do you think he likes it?

That's our cute boy!

Josh is playing with sidewalk chalk for the first time. I think this will be a little better when he can draw better, but he still had fun.

Well, Josh has now decided that he doesn't like sitting in a high chair. So, we are now setting him at the table. He doesn't do to bad. He just needs to learn how to act at the table.

Of course our booster seat would help, but it's at Jamie's house. We'll get it the next time we go over there.

Nobody ever believes us when we say that Josh is rotten and now we have proof. Look at those horns he has.

Matt put up Josh's steering wheel up. He got the steering wheel off a bus at work. Josh loves it!

We have a couple more videos for everyone. The first one is Josh playing with his new steering wheel and the second is from a trip to the zoo. As we watched the baby walrus he played with us as we bobbed up and down. It was to cute.

Wow, Josh is growing!

It is truly amazing to watch Josh grow. Here are some random thoughts about Josh growing:

• He finally got his last canine tooth on Monday. We thought it was never going to break the skin.
• Everyday he seems to have learned a new word. We can't even being to guess how many words Josh has now a days. Josh is also starting to use two words at a time more often.
• He continues his great love of books and we will continue going to the library for story time when it starts back in September.
• He is also growing stronger physically too. He can walk longer, push heavier things, kick better, jump, and lets not forget he is getting heavier to carry too.
• He has definitely become more stranger wary which is a good thing.
• He has learned landmarks while we are driving. Josh know which house is before the fire station so he starts his version of a siren when he sees that house. He also knows the gym and starts saying "Patty" (his favorite nursery lady) when he sees the gym.
• He has started to put his toys away when asked and sometime by himself, although this is still a work in progress.

We got lots of pictures for everyone this time.

Here Josh has his pet snake. He now asks us to get her out so that he can hold her. He is very gentle with her.

This is what happens when Josh has asked you to "rean" (read in Joshism) for the twentieth time and I do mean twentieth time. He loves this book.

O.K. we had not bought Josh any new toys in a long long time and we couldn't stand it anymore. So, we got him a giant Tonka dump truck and a whole bunch of plastic animals. He had so much fun playing with. Watching him play with them it made buying them totally worth it.

Next few pictures are from my niece's first soccer game on Saturday Aug. 9th.

Marianna kicking the ball.

Here she stopped to pose for a picture and say Hi to everyone.

Josh loves to play with balls and he just couldn't help himself when he saw all the soccer balls.

The two boys (Josh and Alex) get along so well together even though Alex was kicking Josh a little bit when I took this picture.

I took this picture because it reminded me of almost a year ago when Josh was raiding the nannies purse while we waited for him on Gotcha day.

The weather has been so beautiful it was perfect for a little boy to play with his BIG dump truck outside. Josh ran all over the yard with his truck.

Did you know that you could sit on a dump truck like this? Who knew?

Look rocks!

Tonight Josh took some of his plastic animals in the tub with him. Animals need a bath too. He is constantly lining them up so he lined them all up on the tub too. Did you know that a brown bear was bigger than a dinosaur?

One last thing. Today was Josh's first day with the Bowersox's. Matt said that when he dropped Josh off he headed right up stairs to play with all the toys. Although he did not take a nap, Andy and Jamie said that he was good today and that he ate a ton. Image that. He had fun playing with their daughter, Gabi, and their dog, Malcolm. We are so blessed to have wonderful people in our lives to help us out in a time of need.

Love, M, J, and J

One year ago

Here is a recap of what happened one year ago on Aug 2, 2007. That was the day that we saw Josh's picture for the very first time. We were shocked yet excited to get a boy, even though we had been thinking girl for three years. That day was filled with a flurry of e-mails, phone calls, and tears of joy. My favorite memory is Matt saying that all he heard on our phone call from Great Wall was his name is boy, he was born on boy, and he is from boy. Of course after all the chaos, the reality of finding a boy name, painting over Maya on the wall, and buying boy clothes set in. Yikes!!



Fast forward to Aug. 2, 2008. We spent the morning going to the gym and grocery. In the afternoon we romped in the pool and on the swing set. Our celebration came after dinner when we all went to DQ.


Our treat to all our loyal viewers: a video of Josh playing in his pool. (We just got a new point and shoot camera that is Josh proof and it also takes videos. Yeah!)



Love, M, J, and J