long awaited photos

back by popular demand….(you know who you are)

A first birthday party

Well here it is, the update you’ve all been waiting for and the update that I didn’t get around to writing (until now)

So, Joshua had a great first birthday party (nearly 2 months ago as I write this post). All the grannys and grandpas turned up to celebrate and Masja baked lots of cakes – although none for Joshua, much to his disappointment.

In other news he has also started to walk!

Because of my slack nature on this blog, I think i’m going to switch it just to a photo diary, based on Flickr. I’ll sort out the link soon and post it at the top of this blog so that you can all follow Joshua’s progress.

This therefore marks the last entry on a fabulous year for all of us.

Lots of photos to follow now

Lots and lots of love to you all EM&J

interaction

Looking through some of the old videos and photos of Joshua, it was funny to see how little hair he had. Although people told us that, we never really noticed until now. So, a couple of photos just to prove that he is advancing with not only hair, but also his levels of interaction with us.

Action and interaction often trigger a response – crying or laughing usually. The video deals with the latter.
Enjoy

EM&J

On the move

Just a quick post to share some little film clips.No music, no commentary, just Joshua being very pleased with himself that he’s now mobile.  

Happy Christmas

Right, finally found some time to write another post. Happy Christmas to all. This was him just before Christmas.

Now, during Christmas, Joshua decided that now was the time to begin crawling.

We thought it would be a relief, but actually it just means you have to up your surveillance on him as he’s a magnet for finding things that he’s not allowed (power cables, coal, glass, etc).

Here’s one such example of him running out of the living room.

He is SO proud of himself as well – as you can see here

Not going to write too much more in this entry, and as you might have guessed, the entries are becoming further and further apart. I’ll update again at the next milestone.

I’ll leave you with a photo of the Joshmonster on his first Christmas having fun opening his presents with Bazzledoo (or Grandpa, as he’s also known!)

Lots of Xmas love

EM&J

finally on the bike

We’ve been waiting a while, but the little guy has now grown up enough to sit in his own seat on the bike.
This comes as somewhat of a relief, as he now weighs over 10Kgs which becomes quite tiring to carry around.
He seems to be taking it very much in his stride though; playing it rather too cool… – as you can see

Luckily, Masja enjoys it too, and we had a fabulous day to practise this new skill this weekend.

But the best came when I was cycling to the side of them both later on (on a quieter cylcle path, of course). I think I managed to capture the essence of Joshua’s comfort with his new mode of transportation. I’ve already conceded that he’s already far cooler than me, but with these pictures, it seems he’s also too cool for the bike seat.

It’s great now to have the freedom to ferry him around on the bike, it both increases our range, and saves both of our backs from not having to carry him in a sling.

It was a lovely day yesterday, and after our little adventure, we thought we’d take a couple of photos of Joshua lying down in the sunlight indoors – isn’t he growing up fast!

Enjoy, and until the next time

EM&J

joshua’s first meal

Well, it wasn’t actually his first meal, but the first one that we got on camera.

We’ve got a high-chair for him now. I was informed by Masja that there was only one type of chair that we could get, and despite my initial skepticism, I’m a full convert to the Tripp Trapp chair (www.stokke.com). Simple, adjustable and takes up very little space, which in our house is a priority.
Joshua’s now strong enough to sit in it (but can’t quite site up on his own yet without side and back supports – that still involves a lot of face-plants). He loves his chair.

We then started to feed him mashed parsnip which he found to be quite agreeable.

He’d previously only had a few mouthfuls of rice porridge, which has got to be the blandest substance on earth. Nothing seems to phase him though when it comes to food, he started to put away the parsnip as if it was second nature.

Of course he endeared us with the mandatory display of smearing as much food on the face as in the mouth, but that’s just fun at the moment. I can however, envisage a time in the not so distant future when the fun may be replaced by tiresome – but we’ll see.

He’ll still remain the sweetest boy regardless…

Here’s why,

Much love

EM&J

daddy day

Had my first real daddy day with the Joshmonster today. I’m taking one day off every 2 weeks to spend with him. Not much to report, although he has started to take a liking to solid foods now. We’re feeding him a sort of rice porridge thing. It looks disgusting but it falls (broadly) under the food category so Joshua’s of course very interested in the whole thing.

I tried my first black and white photo session with him today, and he was remarkably cooperative. Hope you enjoy them, will write again soon

Oh, one last thing. Completely forgot about a video that Masja took ages ago of Joshua playing around with his friends at the baby massage class he was at. HAVE to share this one

Lots of love
EM&J

Rolling half way

So, Joshua now finds it more fun to be lying on his tummy than on his back. This is good, as far as he’s concerned, as he’s able to roll himself over.

When he’s done so, he looks very pleased with himself. Like this.

Problem is, that he can’t roll back over again. When he finally realises that he’s run out of energy and wants to be on his back, he lets us know – loudly.

Fortunately, he’s usually in a great mood otherwise, and loves to play with mummy and daddy.

He’s generally an absolutely model baby, just the sweetest boy you’ve ever met.

Masja’s going back to work soon, so he’ll have to start going to creche 2 days a week. I’m sure he’ll be fine as he’s a super sociable boy – but i’m sure that something will get thrown up that we’ve forgotten about.

Anyway, to finish this post, a quick picture of Joshua two mornings ago. Couldn’t resist getting my camera for this shot.

Lots of love, until the next time

EM&J

After the holidays

So, our holiday is over, and looking at the dates, it’s also a month since I updated this page. Lots to tell.

Since the last post, Joshua is a month older and is broadening his repertoire of party tricks and experiences.

He has of course visited England. We took him for a walk in the downs by my parents house.  I decided to take a shot of him surveying his country

He can also now roll over, although only when it suits him. He certainly doesn’t keep pace with the abandon with which his Dutch cousin Robin embraces it.

He really enjoyed his holidays, so much so that he refused to smile for the first 2 days after we got back. He was obviously missing the 24/7 attention he was getting from all sides, along with the incredible weather that we had in both France and England.  He got over it after two days, but nevertheless, it was impressive to see that even at this age they have a clearly developed personality and are able to display it.

France was lovely, I could select loads of pictures to share, but I think one in particular stands out as being my favourite. A neighbour of Hubert and Marijke in their village in France has a classic 1966 2CV. Great fun. I thought it would be a good car for Joshua to take his first driving lesson in. Accompanied by the steadying hand of Opa (Hubert) he could just about reach the steering wheel.

And so back to England, where Joshua liked nothing better than lying on the grass looking up at the leaves on the trees swaying in the wind. We’d have to cover him up more often than not to stop his white skin getting burnt by the sun (a condition that his dad is more than aware of). The comfy duvet that was also donated to him for lying on outside was often the source of much envy. Occasionally, Joshua would show the good grace to share his little outdoor bed with his wider family. Uncle Adsy was the one who’d be first in line to profit on Joshua’s generosity.

England was also nice as the whole family was together for the first time in 3 years, due to people travelling around the world.

It was left up to the photographic skills of my friend Will to capture this historic coming together on (digital) paper. Note Joshua’s newest cousin, Evan, and the bottom right of the picture.

Lastly, for this post, I wanted to give you a couple of photos to show just how much he’s growing up.  He’s already in some clothes that are for 9 month year-olds, and showing no signs of slowing down his growing.

Oh, nearly forgot, he can now sort of sit up. Not quite, but nearly. This is great for him as he can look around much better and take in everything that’s going on – a very inquisitive little baby.

OK, off to the park today – hope the weather holds.

Until the next time (it’ll be less than a month, I promise!)

EM&J