Josiah's Journal Entry 6: I am Batman

So my mom's like "hey, you're 11 months old plus a week.  I should take your picture".

And I'm like "Ya mom, you better get on that".  Pardon me while I roll my eyes.

How does a picture capture capture that I say "mama" and "bu-bye"?  How do pictures capture anything close to our lives?  It's just a still shot of the millions of seconds from my life that is fill with small temper tantrums, hair pulling, giggles, and laughter?  How is still photography supposed to demonstrate the emotion I feel when I read Sandra Boynton books?  She's so deep.  She gets me…

Anyway, ahem, I suppose still photography can show that I have 6 teeth and 1 more on the way, I guess it can capture that I give books to mom and dad thereby communicating with them that I want them read to me.  Now.

So anyway, I am SO over these monthly pictures, so imagine my surprise when mom pulls out this Superhero outfit.  I've heard the talk around the nursery, Batman is way better than Superman so I can only guess that this is of course a Batman outfit (since mom and dad only let me watch the occasional Elmo short or Train video-no superheroes…yet).  

I always pictured Batman with pants.

Thanks mom for making this monthly picture op. so much less lame than the others.

I've got my awesome cape…wait, stop calling me Superman, I'm Batman.  

These great socks that match my awesome cape.  Guys, I'm serious, stop calling me Superman, I'm BATMAN.

These great gadgets in my hand that will help me defeat the bad guys...Knock it off!  I AM BATMAN!

Wait a minute…this isn't Batman's costume.  The kids said he wears black…I must be Superman.

I've been betrayed!

Behind Bars

Let me tell you how I got here.  I never pictured myself behind bars, but the higher powers in this house have been plotting this for some time.  It looks fun from the outside, but I feel like a puppy.  Apparently this walking thing was cute for about a month.  Then I picked up the pace a little.  You know, you gotta make them sweat.  It's not like mom and dad actually NEEDED to get things done around the house.

I will find a weakness.  Don't they know this can't hold me?  ME, Josiah "No Fear" Johnson.

Remembering simpler times when I roamed the halls with my teddy.

Is this punishment for making a kid cry at the T-house?  I didn't mean to.  

My love is just too big for some people. 

Josiah's Journal Entry #4: Jo in the sno'

Today, I want to share with you the dangers of being alone with my mom.  She is goofy and fun and silly, but sometimes she gets these crazy cock-a-mamie notions in her head of things that are "fun".  Let me tell you, in no way do her ideas translate to me as "fun".

Do I look like I'm having FUN??!

Our friends so kindly let my mom and me use their backyard...if only they had been home this morning then maybe I could have been spared a few tears.

Eating the snow wasn't bad.  That was actually a little yummy.  There was so much of it untouched by anything!  That was neat to mess it all up.

 I can't move.

Mom be all like "let's be cute so I can post this on facebook" 

and I be all like "how about you stop taking pictures and take me inside where it's warm?".

And then I said "sure, pull me in the 100 year old sleigh that's probably not actually supposed to touch any sort of moisture lest it rust to pieces, the less work I have to do..."

Josiah's Journal #3

I do what I want.  

I'll climb the stairs if I want to.

I'll whine until you pick me up if I want to.

I'll eat microscopic things off the floor if I want to.

I do what I want.

Will someone please tell my parents that I'm not a dancing monkey?  

Yes, I can walk.

I can also make my diaper super messy…why don't they ever show anyone that?

People.  The world doesn't stare at you when you walk.

They tell me it's because I'm cute.

Today I am 10 months old.

My favorite thing to do (other than walk around holding my toys) is drop things from my high chair and see if they magically reappear on my tray.  

I have 6 teeth and they hurt!  Who needs teeth anyway?

I like to make my parents think I don't know their names…sometimes I call daddy "mama" and sometimes I just start mumbling "dada".  It's pretty funny to see mom and dad start pointing to themselves repeating the same word over and over.  They haven't quite caught on yet that it's all for my own entertainment.

I am the king of this castle.

I feel like there is probably a Weird Al song about this...

Oh technology, why do you plague me like you do?

You wait until unassuming me has not backed up my hard-drive in over a year.  You lurk in the shadows waiting, waiting until I'm most vulnerable, until I have uploaded every single picture ever taken of my 6 month-old precious baby...and then BOOM!  You retreat into the darkness, like Gollum and his "precious".  But I've fooled you!  The best pictures are still on facebook and shutterfly, and printed in albums in my living room.  Mwahahaha.  I have crushed you, you first world problem, you!  Dozens of memory cards have not yet been erased.  Wedding pictures, newborn pictures are on CDs...you think you got me.  You can't win!!

I'll bet Weird Al has a song about hard drives crashing.  I would find that humorous about now.



It is a bummer though.  But let's be real, my husband and baby are so much better than the 2D version.  I have the real thing.  I was telling Wes how I was bummed that I don't have pictures of us from the last 7 years just hanging out.  "We have so much time to hang out" he responds.  How true. 

Over the years God has been reminding me how it's not mine-material things, and now he reminds me yet again.  The pictures and videos don't matter and there is so much time to make more memories.



Josiah's Journal Entry #2

a haiku

i do what I want

i scoff at mommy's schedule

you can't make me sleep

Observations since daddy's departure:

Mommy drinks a whole pot of coffee now.

Stop.Taking.Pictures.

She may try to tell me when to eat and when to sleep, but here...here on my throne of toys, where I can stand, where I am easily 2 feet tall without her help, I am king.

Speaking of sleep, I figured out a new game.  It's hil-a-rious.  Mom puts me down and as soon as I see the light disappear from the closing door, I roll over.  I wave to mom in the camera...as much as my undeveloped motor skills allow and whine a little to see how long until she comes to get me.  Today this went on for close to 30 minutes.  But what started out as a game quickly got out of control.  Suddenly I couldn't STOP rolling over. It's like my body just wouldn't listen.  I tried to tell it, Stop, I'm tired, knock it off, I want to sleep, but it's like it had a mind of its own.  That was rough.  

But other than that, uh...I like my feet.  Feet are the best.

my daddy comes home Friday

we miss him dearly

the coffee is gone

"Of Motherhood and Me"

4 Months Old

I thought babies meant constant crying, vomit, and poop.

There are days...there are certainly days...

I thought it meant no personal time-ever.  No time to read a book, talk to a friend on the phone, or chat with my husband.

There are weeks that leave me stranded on the island of "Everything goes out the window because baby needs you", but it's because Wes and I are the only two people in the entire world who have been entrusted with Josiah and he NEEDS us with everything in him RIGHT NOW.

Those first few weeks I thought "I can't do this.  I don't sleep, I can barely function, I haven't eaten more than one meal a day in 3 days".  But thanks to the help of my amazing husband, great friends, and fabulous family, that went away...or at least wasn't so heightened.  

Precious lessons I've learned in 4 months 

"Of Motherhood and Me..."

Disclaimer - These lessons pertain to our family.  Every family is different.  Every baby is different.

A schedule saved my life.  

I was told early on that even thinking of going on a schedule before 4 or 5 months was useless.  After a very difficult day one month in, I mean tears from morning to night (and he was unhappy too) I decided that we were going to go for it.  Three days later it was like magic.  I like structure and apparently my baby does too.  I've actually finished books!  Wes and I have had conversations!  And I've had hour-long conversations on the phone!

Structure is my friend.

After seeing a really cool MOPS project from a friend, I decided to make one of my own.  It has helped to ease the 4 o'clock stress of "what am I making for dinner??" as J is crying because he's hungry, the dishes haven't been done, and my phone is ringing.

It is not failure to say "It's hard".

I was a bit of a wreck those first few weeks.  I am thankful for friends who could see through the unintentional facade and stopped over in between services on Sundays or made a Target run for me knowing what I needed without even asking.  Medicinal help to even out the emotions and hormones was what helped bring me back to Earth.  This is the biggest transition we'll ever go through.  I take advil for a headache...I don't always just suffer through when I need nyquil, so yes, I'm going to treat the imbalance that giving birth has done to my body.

I ask for advice, but don't compare.

I am constantly asking friends what they did when "fill in the blank".  That is the GREAT thing about having community.  We tried what this person did, didn't work.  We tried what this person did, didn't work either.  Ah, yes, what this friend did worked for us too.  It's wonderful to hear "it'll happen to you too, he WILL sleep 12 hours eventually".  What a wonderful thing to be encouraged.  I am so thankful for community.

I would never make it if it weren't for the Lord and his blessing of an incredibly husband.

Enough said.