7 Months have come and gone.

7 Months!

Let's just let that sink in for a moment. 

SEVEN.

Has it really been a whole giant 7 months?

 Yep. It certainly has.

Our little wonder has grown so much! He seems to be gaining weight with him month of growth-- about 16 pounds at the 6 month appointment, 17 pounds or so at 7 months...I guess we'll see how long that trend keeps up.

Joshua is taller than ever--someone actually asked me the other day if he was 1 year old yet. Not quite folks. Not quite.

I had to hold the chalk board and show mom. It had to be that way...

He sure is stinking adorable though, isn't he?

Mastery of the art of sitting up. Please ignore my dad's funny expression. It's mom's fault. ;) 

 This month we have learned SO many new things!



Finger feeding is definitely on the top the list. Highly prioritized, independence is.

Joshua practiced sitting up and grabbing friends--he got VERY good at holding on to our friend Lincoln while they watched some safari animals.

He's just waiting until he can catch up to Lincoln in mobility, but they are best buds already: Joshua's got a hand on his back in this picture. Actually, it was a handful of his shirt, but same idea.

This last month we took our first trip as a family. Any guesses on the method of travel?

That's right folks. We're in an airport. Flying with an infant is pretty easy when they sleep the whole time. Sure wish this little beast had slept more than he did. But when he did sleep on the plane ride, let me tell you, it was something to behold.

We loved visiting Oregon and seeing a whole new host of cousins!

This was our motel room in Ashland.

Someone was super excited to be awake and ready to go. Seriously, he has the cutest smile.

Loving some baby food time during conference with Aunt Tammy and Joseph.  Joshua didn't just wear bibs back then. He wore capes.

This is a testimony to how much Joshua loves his cousins. He goes for their face with wide open baby kisses.  Joseph got the full face kiss. It just means they taste really great.

Don't worry Aunt Tammy.

He does this with his Aunt Brooklyn too.

...
...
...


It just is a different way of saying "I love you."  ;)

Cousin Jacob.


Yep. I love him lots Mom. See.


His cheeks taste wonderful.

Handsome boys at the baptism! All dressed up in Sunday clothes!

We've been doing baby sign language with Joshua for basic things like milk, more, eat, food, drink, cat, dog, etc.

Not sure if it was a fluke or not, but when he first met Tammy and Ammon's dog, Dobby, he patted his leg and got all excited. (Patting your leg is how to say dog in sign language).

Joshua was given plenty of doggie kisses up in Oregon. But they were kinda slobbery. I'm sure he just wished he got slobber all over Dobby to get back at him for all the crazy kisses.

Canadian geese nest up north in Oregon.

We had a wonderful time up in Oregon with family. This guys live so far away it seems like they grow a mile every time I see them again! We'll miss them and hopefully see them again soon!

Avocado, cheese, and banana food. If all else fails to entice this little man, he will gorge himself on avocado and banana. He's getting quick with those messy little hands!

Play date with mom's friend from when we were 8 YEARS OLD! Crazy right?

Good thing her baby is so stinkin' adorable!

Best pals forever right there!   Princess Aurora needs a super flirty Prince to whisk her away one day. I think Joshua is putting in the application to be her knight in shining diapers in the future.

Bonus Features this month:

*** TEETH!  Joshua has TWO sharp little daggers on the bottom gums. Took some hard work to get them and it looks like the top 2 aren't far behind!

*** First signs: Milk and "all done"

***Worming crawl. He doesn't go far, but he can inchworm around a portion of the floor to reach for the cats. I am willing to bet that the cats will motivate him most to start crawling...

Easter was a beautiful day in the Peterson home. Early morning church got us going bright and early!

Easter basket favorites included the matching ties (which were spilled on with prune juice during Priesthood), and the fun bumblebee toy.

I am so immensely grateful for my Savior and that he provided the way for us to be together forever in eternal families. Because of Him, I have the precious opportunity to be Joshua's mother. 

He is a JOY to be a mother to. I wouldn't ask for anything more. 

Next up: 

Mobility...here I come!

OH....oh! We're halfway there!

Pretty incredible how much growing a little body can do in 6 months.

Of course, if I bring that up, then we have to get into how incredible it is that he can grow from an embryo to a baby in a short couple of weeks, and have fully functioning organs by the end of a brief nine months. Though it certainly didn't feel brief to me...

These last 6 months though, wow have they been brief.

Classic pooping face...I couldn't resist...

I feel like there isn't enough time in a day for us to do all the things I would love to do with Joshua, but then it's like there isn't enough time to do anything except play together cuz he's just that much fun!

Eating is an adventure. Sometimes he nose dives into his food.

We love jabber talk. His favorite sound is nananananannana. We show him a banana when he says this. lol

He also enjoys rolling on the floor, trying to grab things off of the table, going to the park with cousins, bike riding with mom (and falling asleep real quick), wiggling like crazy on the floor to get attention (which he's doing right now), trying lots of new foods, nearly sitting up independently, and all around getting ready for exploration.

Jabber talk in the jumper. 

Boy is he gonna be a handful when he can crawl.

Favorite moments this month include:

* watching him "stomp" on the drain in the tub after Danny gives him a bath. He's so fascinated by the sound it makes and that circle of silver that is the drain.

* watching Danny make him laugh. They are adorable together.

 Staring at the drain over here. I'm not ready for bath time to end quite yet...

Sometimes I wear my food. 

* Waking him up in the mornings (if he isn't already awake and chattering) and watching his face light up as one of us gets him out of the crib. his arms and legs flail like crazy cuz he gets so excited.

* Giving him food as he makes a spitting noise with his mouth. I can't figure out the write letters to make the onomatopoeia for it...lol. thpt? maybe...

I can't get enough of this cute kid! 

* Going swimming 2 times at the pool and seeing how great he is at kicking and floating! :)

I'm getting so independent Mommy doesn't know what to do about it! (trying to put the spoon in my mouth, all kinds of grabbing, and plenty more).

5 Month Adventures (and acrobatics...)

5 months.

That's right. (He's so cute when he's smiling eh?)

My little Joshua is 5 months.

He's almost half a year old. It's making me sad. He's not supposed to grow so fast...

This month, we've had a lot of new adventures with sitting, rolling, eating cereal, and, hallelujah--SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!

As you can see, he's sitting fairly well for short amounts of time if he supports himself using his arms (with mom/dad's help to get to that point). SO CUTE, don't you think? The day I took the pictures he did the best he's done so far with sitting up. He even looked up at me like he was trying to ask, "Mom, whatcha doin' up there...?"

Rolling has been fun...sometimes we roll from our tummy to our back.

Other times we decide to just halfway roll from our back to our tummy and hang out there to look at the world. 

Mommy is getting good at taking wacky pictures...It's not her fault I look off in strange directions when she's trying to capture a moment.

 Discovering NEW food. This was fun. I got to sit on the table till mommy decided the bumbo had served it's purpose. (huhum...arching my back to try and launch myself off the table...not so safe anymore).

Sometimes, when I'm getting cereal, I decide mommy isn't doing a good enough job with the spoon. So I take over. Much better this way I think.

**Mommy's note: You don't realize how much acrobatic skill it takes to feed a baby food...they just want to look EVERYWHERE except at the food, and when they open their mouth, you have to swoop in and then pull the spoon out in one zippy movement. The first few days, I kid you not, I actually felt sore from dancing around to try and coax him to open wide.**

Aunt Jenna loves to come over and feed me my cereal. when I'm supposed to be eating...

I just get a bit distracted and stare off at other things, like Mommy taking pictures, or the cats on the ground, or the little jitterbugs on my bib, or the drop of cereal that landed on the tray and just pulls my fingers towards it with some sort of magnetic force...you get the picture, right?

We took a morning field trip a week or so ago to tour the Gilbert Temple. Wow was it sparkly. I couldn't help but stare at all the beautiful lights and pictures, but mostly the lights. Daddy had to hold me laying on my back so I could just gaze around at the closest thing to Heaven on Earth.


And probably even look up to see some special people who were touring the temple on from the other side as well.


*Mommy's note: What a special experience it was to go with my childhood and now adulthood best friend and her mom, and brother and boyfriend to tour this temple. It was an incredible building and the Spirit there was so strong. I know families can be together forever and I know temples are the places that make that possible.*

 Do you see this happy face!? This is cuz I just woke up from an awesome nap, and I have this awesome mommy who helped me learn to sleep through the night, so I don't have to be sad in the middle of the night cuz I'm tired anymore. I sure LOVE my sleep, and I'm good at it too!


Oh, and do you see my cute diapers! they're the best, and since it's practically summer already, sometimes mom lets me wander....or just lay here and think about wandering...in my diaper. FUNNESS!

Mommy still needs to baby proof the house...better hurry before I start crawling.

Well, I'm 5 months old and lovin' it people. On to better things...like grabbing glasses to stuff in my mouth. Taking pictures gets boring after a while.

Four Month Adventures!

 Four Month Adventures!

Height: 26.5 inches long-90th percentile
Weight: 15 lb. 1 oz.-50th percentile
Head Circumference: 16 3/4 in.-60th percentile

Shots: no fun, but he did SO well! He cried just for a few seconds, then was back to smiling at me and the nurse. He's such a sweetie!

These past four months have gone far too fast! I cannot believe how quickly time flies as a mom and I'm only at four months with this little guy! I don't know what I'll do when one day I wake up and he's turning 5 and going into kindergarten, and then the next, graduating high school and going on a mission!

All signs of growing up too quickly for mom's taste aside, motherhood really is the best.

Seriously, I never thought being a mom could be so emotionally taxing, mentally exhausting, and wonderful all at the same time. Like today, I'm all worried about starting him on solids...the doctor says I'm good to start rice cereal in small quantities. A week or two ago, I was anticipating being able to do that because I hoped it would help him sleep more soundly at night. Now Joshua is sleeping through the night fairly consistently (HUGE blessing), and I'm apprehensive to start him on cereal because I don't want to mess up what we have right now. Plus, starting him on rice cereal means he's really growing up. Like, close to not needing mommy for food growing up.

It makes me a little sad...

But at the same time, I can't help but be excited for the next phase of babyhood. The crawling, the walking, all that jazz. (call me crazy, but I can't wait!)

This phase however, has been a bit of a roller coaster: Holidays happened, fireworks taught us a little about fear, and sleeping through the night has been a stress, but thankfully a success!

Here's a few pictures to highlight our 4 month adventures as a family. :D

Danny and I made gingerbread houses (just from a kit--I'm not that crafty people). It was pretty fun, and then we got bored and kinda went nuts with putting the candy on... thus the house on the far right with the tall chimney. It tried to be taller, but all the deco frosting in the world couldn't have held it up straight.

I love my husband and how incredible of a father he is. Joshua absolutely adores him and I can't wait to see how their relationship grows.

 Christmas Eve, Joshua got to play baby Jesus in the family Nativity play at Grandma Debbie's house. He was an excellent actor. He didn't make a sound due to the amazing pacifying skills of the binky!

In all seriousness though, I loved watching him. He was entranced watching all his little cousins around him acting out the story of Christ's birth.

I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have that Jesus is our Savior. It's because of him that families can be together forever.

Christmas morning is by far one of my favorite times of the Christmas season. As a kid, I LOVED sitting by the tree in the early hours of the morning with my siblings and just looking at the brightly lit bows of the tree, and the shimmery paper on the presents. Even when I was old enough to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas, I still felt like it was a magical experience to behold. I would sit at the top of the stairs with my little brothers and sisters as a teenager and just look at the tree in all its magic.

It was really special for me to see Joshua looking up at the tree and touching the pretty presents with a look of rapture on his face. He was completely enthralled.

We took some family pictures by the tree that morning. This is one of my favorites because Joshua is trying to leap out of our arms. ;)

He's getting pretty agile for a 4 month old. Whenever he sits on someone's lap, he doesn't like to sit for long. He'd much rather jump up and down, and up and down. We're in for some bouncing off the walls one of these days.

New Year's Eve was different than the ones Danny and I have had together in the past. We had a little baby who was not at all interested in staying up late. He wouldn't sleep though, because there was too much going on. Shortly before we left, Grandpa pulled out the fireworks and started setting them off with the other kids and his friends.

Mommy wasn't impressed. The little ones were okay, but the cracking thunderclaps were not our friend. Joshua heard the first one as Danny walked past the firework as it was getting set off (he didn't know it was going to happen so fast). Joshua has never screamed so loud (except maybe when he first came out). I was so worried about his tiny little ear drums, and was ready to take him inside and leave--but Grandpa said they wouldn't do any more.

And then they did an experiment with one: they didn't know what to expect from it. But none of us expected it to launch out and around instead of up, with a thunderous crack. Joshua was done after that and we left pretty quick. Fireworks. Not mommy's friend.

Before Daddy had to go back to work, we took a trip to family pool time at our gym. For those who don't know, I teach swimming lessons, so I'm big on starting them young. Joshua had the cutest suit, courtesy of the Ramirez family who I teach every summer.

He LOVES the water. As soon as we got in he sighed and just kicked back, floating on his back with Danny supporting him. His hair looked even redder in the teal water. Hilarious and so cute! I hope it stays bright red. It's adorable.

 We took a trip to the zoo with mommy's childhood friend, who  has a little baby girl named Aurora. They have an arranged marriage.

Just kidding.

But seriously, she's adorable and they might just have to be best friends growing up. ;)

We saw the giraffe (he adores his Sophie toy), and the spider monkeys, the orangutans, and the lions and tigers, the baboons, and much more! What a fun place to go! Can't wait till we're a little older and can enjoy it a bit more.

Joshua wouldn't sleep in the stroller during his nap time. Let's face it, would YOU go to sleep if you could listen to the nature sounds all around you and look up at the brilliant blue sky?

I certainly wouldn't.

We like to be outside.

Danny worked hard to get our backyard grass looking green and now we have a shaded backyard with lots of green grass. Joshua and I had a little play time out there the other day.

 He's doing so well sitting up in the Bumbo seat!

I can't believe the doctor is already telling us to start him on rice cereal. I think he's ready, but I don't think I am! I want my little cutie bug to stay little!

He's quite the flirt, dontcha think? Cute little flirty eyes.

Well, toodaloo! We'll be back next month with more pictures and I'm sure more adventures!

--Danny, Danet, and Joshua