It is time for a little Josiah update! He is REALLY trying to crawl...goes backwards in a quick manner now and is increasingly frustrated about it. Every great once and awhile he goes forward, but not as much as he would like! Enough about the crawling update...J can also wave bye-bye. Is it consistent? No. He always picks up new things and doesn't repeat them. This morning I said bye-bye to him while he was in my mom's arms and he put his hand out to wave every time we said bye-bye...granted he was waving backwards, but the point is, he was getting the concept. The fact that I get to see him learn new things every day never gets old. I am completely taken by this little boy and love him more and more each day.

P.S. I am entering J in the cutest baby contest through the Journal Star so it is time for all of you to get your vote on....:)

Josiah's first haircut!

I know, I know, I should be fixing my last blog before writing a new one, but I am sure that my beloved friend Amy will help me fix it when we work together next...thanks in advance doll! Anyway, we had another milestone today. J has been looking scruffy lately so I finally broke down and took him to my Grams's home to have her trim his hair. He was pretty good for the most part, but at the end, he started to fight. He made it through and even let grams rock him to sleep after the whole ordeal!

P.S. Seth wants everyone to know that you shouldn't give a baby prunes twice in one day....yeah, it's pretty bad! :)

Okay, so no matter what I did, I couldn't get my last writing to post correctly...it was too slow and wouldn't let me correct it. :(

My baby is eight months old!!!

Well, Josiah was officially eight months old yesterday! I have no idea where the time has gone. What I do know is that this little boy has healed me in so many ways. He has brought a great amount of happiness into my life and I feel very blessed! I thank God for him every day. At night, I find myself (as well as his daddy) peeking into his crib just to watch him sleep. He is the most amazing little man and has quite the personality already. He growls at us and laughs at himself and us all of the time. In fact, the other day, Seth and I were playing with him and he started to purposely shiver and laugh. This, in turn, made Seth and I laugh, which made him keep doing it. I am realizing that he is a ham just like his mommy!!!He is also beginning to rock back and forth on all fours, which means crawling in in our near future....oh my....he will soon be even more mobile!!!! Anyway, I decided to post some pics of J the past eight months in honor of his special day. I know, I know....this is boring to my readers, but I have decided that this blog is for me. I have not been as good as I would have liked at charting J.'s "firsts" and such, so I think this is the best avenue for me expressing my feelings about being a mommy. I am hoping that I will continue this so I can look back on it always! So here we go...I am posting some of my faves...thus far!

March 2008...the journey begins!!! Look how little and PERFECT he is!!!

April 2008-J is 1 month old and very alert for his age. He was so strong and able to hold his head up pretty well.

May 2008 (2 months)- Josiah had his baby dedication at Riverside Community Church on May 11. It was a truly special day for our family (it was also my firstMother's Day and J was 2 months old). We made a promise to God that we would raise our son with the Lord's guidance. It was a day we will never forget. Pastor John said a prayer over him and our wonderful families gathered in a circle around our family to lift us up in prayer. We were all very emotional! I pray that God will be with Seth and me as we raise our precious son! Aside from this special moment, we began to see J do mor things. He followed objects that we placed in front of him and he was smiling and making sounds for the first time. He was also beginning to move around more!

June 2008 (3 months) Josiah was very active during this month...he was able to laugh out loud and even rolled over a couple of times! Mommy was so proud of him...wish I could put that video on here, but for some reason I can't get them to upload!

July 2008 ( 4 months) Josiah began to take solids this month! At his four month appt, the doctor gave him clearance to start and he was a great eater right away! He also began talking/babbling lots more this month!

August 2008 (5 months)- Josiah started sitting up a little by the end of this month with either the support of mommy/daddy or his beloved boppy! He is eating more and more different fruits and veggies. Squash was and still is one of his faves. He also loved bananas! He became more loving this month and would give his version of a sloppy, wet kiss!

September 2008 ( 6 months) J became more mobile this month. He was an "independent sitter" and seemed so much bigger. He still was eating like a trooper. He loved all of the fruits/veggies that mommy had pureed for him. He also would start to move around a lot and roll more when on his tummy! This was also the month we learned that Josiah would soon be a cousin...in April!

October 2008 ( 7 months)- Josiah was sitting up and rolling everywhere during this month. He was talking constantly...still saying da da all the time, and an occasional ma ma (how does that happen?) He was a darling monkey for Halloween and is showing that he, like King Josiah, is very strong! I don't know if there has ever been a little boy that was more loved (unless you have your own of course:)).

November 2008 ( 8 MONTHS!!!!!) So where is my little guy today??? We are getting so close to crawling. He is now lifting his belly and rocking!!!! It will be any day now! J also went on his first road trip this month and did very well! We went to Charleston to see Aunt Bets for her birthday! The pics of him in his costume with her and his Mimi and Pap are from that visit!

Josiah's favorite toy is mommy's cell phone so this month's pic is him and his celly!!! :)

One more thing...since I didn't have a blog space at Halloween, you may not have seen the cutest little monkey that ever existed, so here he is...

I am a ditz

I sort of had a rough week...I felt so exhausted and J wouldn't sleep properly at night so Seth and I have been really worn down. Wednesday was an especially bad day for me. I was running late to work for the first time ever in my six years at OSF and still had to drop J off at my mama-in-law's house. I was in a panic because I couldn't find my purse. I had gotten about a mile from home when I realized that it was gone so I went back home and woke Seth up at 5am to help me look. We never found it. I was so upset when I started out on my journey and kept wondering where my purse could be when all of a sudden I heard a thump and remembered that I had put the purse ON TOP OF MY CAR!!!!!! Some very nice gentleman stopped and picked up everything that had fallen out of it and had waited at an old bar outside of P-ville to return it to me when I came back. I really don't remember the last time I felt that stupid...okay, so maybe it was last week... maybe I did a number two in a bathroom that had no running water. That may have been worse, but that story is not appropriate enough to make my blog page. Does anybody else ever do stupid things???

Applesauce

I just wanted to add that I made applesauce today and I loved every second of it...made me feel really domestic. Granted, my mom was there to assist with the process, but I still felt very accomplished!!! Go me! That is all.

P.S. J LOVED it...well at least the second time he ate it...it is slightly bitter (got to keep it natural) so he made quite a few faces, but now he LOVES it!!!

P.S.S. One last thing...Josiah pulled himself up halfway outside of his crib today. He is really gaining strength in his legs. He still does not lift his tummy to crawl, but rocks back and forth and eventually goes backwards! Ha! He gets so frustrated about that. He is rolling around everywhere these days and you never know where you are going to find him when you lay him down a certain way. He is a very happy boy and is smiling and talking ALL of the time. I have no idea where the chatter comes from...must be his father, right? He does seem to talk about his daddy more than mama! We hear "da da" quite a bit! Oh well, he has an awesome dad and I pray that my son takes after that man.

I am officially a blogger!!!!

Well, this is something that I have wanted to do FOREVER!!! I really wanted to start a blog when I was pregnant with my now eight-month -old, Josiah Russell, but never got around to it. I have seen so many moms chronicle the lives of their children on these things and I wanted to be a part of that!!! So, all of that said, let me introduce myself. I am Traci Quin and I am happily married to my phenomenal husband, Seth. We have a son together named Josiah (previously mentioned) who keeps us VERY busy! He is a wonderful blessing to our family! I guess I don't even remember my life before him. Anyway, I am not a stay at home mama, I work about 20 hours outside of the home. I am a registered Respiratory Therapist for OSF St. Francis Medical Center! I can't really say I love it (any time away from my baby, however small, makes me sad), but I absolutely love the people I work with there. They definitely make it better! Seth and I have not only been blessed with our wonderful son, but also have wonderful parents and siblings that we love so very much! Seth and I aslo share life with a solid group of friends that have helped us through sooo much in life and we love them as family!!! So welcome to my chronicles...I am so glad you came!!!