Darr Family Blog

Yesterday just flew by…I just realized a few minutes ago that I didn’t do my normal blog post for the week. We had a super-fun week last week. Monday went by as usual. One awesome thing that happened was that Paul got Joseph to go into the play area! We’ve had to slowly introduce him to the new texture of sand.

Playing in the sand.

Tuesday brought a meeting with some therapists (recommended by Joseph’s pediatrician) who decided that Joseph is a little behind in his chewing/eating skills. The result: twice a month an occupational therapist will come out to the house and work with him, as well as give me  pointers on some things I can do to get him eating solids better. After they left, we went out to play for a bit in the back yard. One of Joseph’s new favorite things is his basketball hoop and ball.

Tuesday also brought…Grandma and Grandpa! Paul had Scouts, so it was just Joseph and me going to the airport to pick them up. We’ve had a pretty low-key visit, hanging around the house, just relaxing. Joseph loves having more people here to give him loves and pay attention to him. He wasted no time showing Grandma what he likes to do with shoes:

This weekend was General Conference, so we had two days full of uplifting messages (plus the fun of getting to see Amberly singing in the BYU choir that did the music for the Saturday afternoon session). Saturday morning, before Conference started (it doesn’t get broadcast in South TX until 11 since we’re an hour ahead of Salt Lake), we decided to take Mom and Dad to visit something extremely Texas-y: the Alamo! It was a really good trip:

We’re looking forward to another full week with Grandma and Grandpa before they have to go back home on Saturday. It’s been awesome having them here (I didn’t realize just how much I’d missed them until I saw them waiting for me at the airport). 🙂

 

This week has been pretty great. Joseph has been surprising us left and right. Whether it be by deciding to be a daredevil, or by accessorizing himself…it’s been an adventure. He’s shown us how quickly he can pick up on a new action, as well as how quickly he can blurt out new words (this week, the main one was “Thomas!” when he saw Thomas (the Tank Engine) and Friends come on). He’s discovered Blue’s Clues (and LOVES it). He’s also decided that play-dates are AWESOME (he was a lucky boy and got three different play-dates this past week). He gets super-excited when we go on walks, too. He loves being outside (which is so much better now that the weather is warming up) and usually fusses when it’s time to come in. Here’s a few photos that describe perfectly how our week went:

 

Today was Easter, so we decided to do some fun stuff with Joseph. He loved seeing his Easter basket full of fun stuff (A dark chocolate bunny, a new board book, and a new toy truck). Once he discovered that the truck made noise, that thing captured his attention for quite some time.

Paul hid some plastic eggs (filled with goldfish crackers and stickers) in different parts of the living room for Joseph to find. Once he caught on (after the 2nd egg), he got into the hunt.

After his egg hunt, we decided it was time for Joseph vs. his first-ever chocolate bunny (we got him a dark chocolate one since dark chocolate has the least amount of milk-fat which means the least amount of lactose for our little lactose-intolerant guy). We put him in his high-chair (shirt-less) and let him have at it. At first, he didn’t really know what to do, but then he tasted it a little. He mainly had fun finger-painting with chocolate. 🙂

After a much-needed bath, lunch, and a nap, we got ready to go to church. We picked up a sweater-vest for Joseph to make his church outfit a little more special for Easter. I think that we have one of the cutest little babies in the WORLD!

We had a good time at church…Joseph is still in love with nursery and loves the other kids there. Paul said that when they first got in there today, there were some kids that were having a tough time and were crying. Joseph has always been sensitive to other’s feelings (especially other children). Paul said that Joseph tried to comfort a few of the criers by giving them hugs (which they weren’t too receptive to, but we still thought it was pretty sweet). When we got home, Paul got dinner ready while I fed Joseph dinner. Before getting his dinner ready, I was able to catch this cute little scene:

Our dinner was SUPER yummy. Paul made lamb chops (on the BBQ) with a really good rub/marinade, boiled red potatoes, and a salad. Yum!

Finally, to wrap up the evening, we went for a walk around the block. Most of the day was muggy and overcast since we had a thunderstorm coming in. When we left for the walk, it was a bit more refreshing, and I was able to take a picture of a beautiful sky :

What a wonderful reminder of the beauty that Heaven;y Father has created!

 

 

This week flew by before I could even really realize it. It’s probably because not too much out of the ordinary happened…we just plugged along as usual.

Joseph is really good about playing on his own when I need to get stuff done. One afternoon, after getting him up from his nap, I had to run back downstairs really quickly to do something. I came back upstairs and found him in his room, playing with his toys. I love this little man!

Another thing that we like to do to make time pass by quickly (especially if he’s a little cranky, or if it’s right before bed time and we need him to stay up just a LITTLE longer so that he’s not waking us up before 7:00 the next morning, lol) is to put on some music (Pandora has really great kids’ songs) and have a dance party.

Joseph will get all excited and start running around, waving his hands around. Tonight we did something different where we danced with him (as in holding his hands). He really liked doing that, as well.

New Words: Joseph has added quite a few words to his vocabulary this week. He has added: shoes, socks, sandals (can you tell the temperature has been fluctuating a bit?), sit, and Amen (he just did that one today, at church, after everyone else said it…that was one proud momma moment!).

Funny of the Week: Joseph was being a bit cranky, so Paul decided to switch the TV over to Netflix and get one of Joseph’s “shows” (i.e. one of the cartoons that he normally watches on PBS) going. As the Netflix screen appeared, Joseph stopped fussing, got excited, and said (as far as we can tell), “My TV?!” When the screen came on with all the choices of shows (it shows a picture of the show along with the title), he got even more excited (insert “Woah! Wow!”). We found it hilarious that he was THAT excited about watching HIS TV!

Epiphany of the Week: I have found that if I want to put the groceries away in peace, all I have to do is turn on an episode of Blue’s Clues (but be prepared for unexpected results). I got almost all of them put away before Joseph even noticed. He came into the kitchen as I was starting in on the last bag (full of canned stuff). Since it was all unbreakable stuff, I let him help (he likes to hand me cans one at a time as I put them away). When we finished, he looked around expectantly, looking for more stuff to put away. When he realized that all the other bags were empty, he got pretty upset…enough to cry. I had not expected that to happen. I felt pretty bad. I made it up to him by laying down on the ground and starting up a tickle-fest. He switched back to happy pretty quickly.

Yay for Mommy Moment: Today I played a piano solo in church. I was pretty nervous about it, since I haven’t done a solo since…high school, I think. I’ve played for primary and even for a couple of choir things (back in CA), but I don’t get as nervous with those things since the singing pretty much drowns out any mistake that I may make. I decided that I would practice my piece every day, five times a day (Mom would be proud). I had about 2 weeks notice, so that was plenty of time to get in a lot of practice. The result? An almost flawless performance (I only hit one stray note, but since it was a slip of a note that I had just played, it didn’t even sound wrong)! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father blessed me with a love for music and is giving me a way to share the talent with others. I’m also grateful that my mom was willing to give me lessons (and was careful to let me go at my own pace so that I didn’t become frustrated and want to give up..I think that really made a difference)!