A big day in the life of our little man

Yesterday, Joshua took his first steps! He has been interested in standing over the past week or so, but he usually refuses to take any steps unless he is holding on to something. Yesterday, Joshua took several steps toward David. He was very proud of himself. He continued to practice throughout the day, and he thinks it is such a funny game! We also noticed that Joshua has a new tooth. Teeth are kind of old news at this point, but it is his first molar, so it is kind of exciting! Our little guy is growing up extra fast in time to be big brother! Baby sister is due in exactly 2 weeks... whatever that means!:-)

Nesting... of a different variety

I am two weeks away from a full-term pregnancy! This reality has truly been hitting me over the past week or so, and I have officially gone into "nesting mode." The trouble is, how do you nest in a home you will keep for only a few more months? When you don't want to buy anything extra because you already don't know how you are going to pack what you already have? The first thing I did was make lists. It is a small thing, but it helped me feel more prepared. Today we got down all of Baby Sister's new clothes so that we could wash them. It might seem a bit early since the due date is a month away, but it has been taking a day or more to get a load of laundry done with our electricity cuts lately! The picture is of Joshua helping me sort colors to wash clothes. As I prepare to sleep tonight, we have diapers about the size of my hand and one load of almost-dry preciously petite pink clothes, and I feel like I can say we are ready enough for Little Sister whenever she decides to join us! (And please, Baby Girl, don't wait until you are too big to wear those itty bitty diapers and newborn-sized clothes!)

New milestones every day

Well, we are nearly to Joshua's one year birthday, and I cannot believe how time has flown. Every day, there is something new in his little life! As of two days ago, we have officially retired our bottle collection. Perhaps I should say that we gave it a little break until baby sister is ready for that step. This feels like a huge deal to me, and I have to say that I am looking forward to starting the process again before too long. Remind me that I said that when Joshua is walking and I hardly slept the night before because of said sister.:-P Another noteworthy milestone is what I would call our first meaningful communication with Joshua. As he pushes and explores his boundaries as a little individual, we are learning daily. I have gotten so flustered at meal times that I understand the desire to teach babies sign language. I decided we will at least teach Joshua "more" and "all done" to avoid that nagging whine for more and the throwing of food to indicate the end of the meal. I haven't been very consistent with teaching, but yesterday Joshua reached his hand out each time he was ready for more cantaloupe. It isn't the "correct" sign, but it serves our purposes well!

Everybody is moving!

As of yesterday, Joshua is officially a forward mover. He has been sliding himself backwards for about a week now, and he has now mastered forward motion. At first, I don't think he realized what this would mean for his life. Yesterday, David had to put something very exciting on the floor in order to entice Joshua to crawl. He still seemed to prefer sitting still. Today, however, he has really embraced his newly found independence. He has approached the refrigerator, the DVD player, and the trashcan... and he has reminded my why my life was so much simpler when he relied on me to move! Sorry I don't have a picture to show, but I am camera-less. In other news, I can feel the little kicks of our baby girl, of course, only at night when I am getting ready to sleep! Sorry I don't have a picture to show, but I am cameraless.

Girl fever?

If there is such a thing, then I have it! A couple of days ago, I started thinking about the winter and about things we might need for our kiddos to be prepared... yes, come winter, we will have more than one star of this blog! It still seems surreal! However, as I looked at those preciously pink BabyGap First Favorites online, I just melted. And now, I am hooked. Maybe other Moms are different in this area, but one reason I am glad to have had a boy first is that I think EVERYTHING would have been pink if we had a girl first. I mean everything. We refrained from getting all things blue with Joshua, so we will be able to continue to use the main "equipment." Baby Girl Balch will, however, be wearing lots of pink and lots of dresses. (This coming from the Mom who rarely wears make-up and would live in running shoes if I could...)

Our 4th member

We went to the doctor yesterday and found out that Joshua has a little sister! We are so excited! Everything looks great and healthy with our baby girl, and we are thankful. It is a blessing to get an ultrasound every month in this country. We are about 16 weeks into her little life, and we will continued to keep you updated! Thanks for the prayers!