Darr Family Blog

Our week started off with trying a new way to take our walks around the neighborhood. Joseph has a back pack that looks like a puppy (it’s a hand-me-down from Aaron and Tara). It straps on and has a really long tail that acts as a leash. We strapped him into it and decided to see how it went. He loved it! I think he loved the new sense of freedom that it created. 🙂

Here’s our little Superman! He certainly is my superhero…he makes me laugh, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and makes me want to always strive to be a better mom. I love this little man!

I found the hat that Joseph wore last summer and decided that I needed to see if it still fit, or if we needed to buy him another one. Not only did it still fit, but he didn’t want to take it off! 🙂 I love that he always seems to have a smile at the ready. He makes my life so much fun!

The last half of the week, Paul’s evenings (and all of Saturday) were pretty jam-packed. He was able to order the supplies (including a ton of sand…no, really…forty 50-pound bags) and assemble the play area that he’s been planning out. It turned out SO great! Joseph loves playing with the sand toys, but isn’t too keen about the walking on the sand quite yet (or touching it, for that matter…he doesn’t mind scooping it, though). We know that will come in time, though.

Our St. Patrick’s Day was pretty low-key. We got up and pretty much did our normal Sunday stuff. It was pretty fun to go to church and see a lot of green on everybody. We made corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot and had some friends over for dinner. It was so much fun! They have two children: a boy about Joseph’s age and a sweet almost-brand-new baby girl.

The two little boys had so much fun playing with the piano. It’s so awesome having so many great families so close to us. We’ve been able to make friends quickly and are really starting to feel like San Antonio is home. 🙂

Here’s your video for the week. Today was a gorgeous day (we had a huge thunderstorm last night that seemed to clear everything out), so we spent time after church swinging, playing with bubbles, and then walking around the neighborhood.

His new thing to do this week is mimic us when we say, “Achoo!” He finds it hilarious, and so do we! As for the rest of the week, here’s the highlights: I didn’t post about Joseph’s first week in nursery, so I need to do a little bit of catch-up. He had a blast last week! I went in, put him down, and he made a bee-line for the toys…didn’t even look back. When I left, there was another parent in there, watching the kids until the head nursery leader could get some more people to sub (since the regular leaders were sick and hadn’t had a chance to get subs). I asked if she could give the subs Joseph’s particulars (lactose intolerant, first time, I would be in Primary if they needed me, etc.). She remembered to tell them everything except that it was his first time, and I guess he was doing so well, they didn’t realize that it was his first time, until the water cups came out. Apparently, Joseph thought it would be fun to knock them all over…oh dear. When I came to pick him up at the end of church, they told me, “Oh…he did SO well! We didn’t realize it was his first day until he started knocking water cups left and right…then it occurred to us that he might be a rookie.” I was a little embarrassed, but I couldn’t help but laugh about it (especially since everyone else was). After all, it was only water! Here is a picture of him all dressed up and ready for church:

The rest of the week seemed to rush by, and we got to Saturday before I even realized it (oh, Joseph had his 18-month well-baby visit during the week. He’s 28 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 33 inches tall…we joke that it’s a good thing that we moved to Texas, because he seems to be built for football!). About mid-week, we decided that since Sea World is so close to us (about 20 minutes), we’d go on Saturday (after a baptism that I needed to be at to play the piano) and get season passes. Well, Saturday morning dawned cloudy and wet. I think I was the most disappointed. We had pretty much written off going, but as I was driving home from the baptism, the sun broke free of the clouds and it cleared just enough (though it was humid as all get-out) for us to go. Joseph LOVED it! We didn’t see any of the shows, since we got there sort of late in the afternoon and had already made plans with friends for the evening, so we just walked around and saw a few of the exhibits. We stopped off at the penguins first. When Joseph saw them, he said, “Woah!” and his eyes got all big. The same thing went for the puffins…then we got to go see the dolphins. The dolphin area is open so that you can walk right up to the edge of the water and see them. That was when the huge smiles started. Joseph absolutely fell in love with the dolphins. He watched as they jumped out of the water, did tricks, stuck their heads and flippers out of the water, and swam all around. When it was time to move on, Joseph started to cry…he didn’t want to go, lol. Daddy did a good job distracting him and getting him back into the good mood that he’s almost always in. After the dolphins we went and saw the aquarium fish and also the sharks. All-in-all, a great afternoon.

Before I went to the baptism (and before Sea World), we spent the morning running a few errands and then hung out at home. As one of our errands, we were able to get a tube for Joseph to explore in. He has shown interest in them before (at other people’s houses), so we decided to get one for him, since they are pretty cheap. It took him a bit to remember how exactly to use it, but after watching Mommy and Daddy a few times, he remembered.

That’s pretty much our week in review! I’m already looking forward to this next week to see what adventures unfold. 🙂

 

So, I decided that I needed to go back and get Joseph another chair (mainly so that we didn’t have to lug his green one up and down the stairs, but it’s probably good to have another one so that if he ever has friends over, they can both have a place to sit). Joseph loves these chairs! I think they’re technically outside chairs, but whatever. I like how low they are to the ground. It’s so easy for him to sit in them!

Joseph loves to “help” me with stuff (in other words, he likes to play with stuff that I’m using to complete jobs). In this case, I had just changed a light bulb (the burned-out bulb was still a little warm, so I used the glove to protect my hand). Joseph loved playing with it and the empty light bulb box. Other things he likes to “help” with is laundry (emptying the laundry bin) and cooking (he is ridiculously excited if I give him a spatula, measuring cup, etc.).

He loves to put stuff on his head. He likes hats of all sizes, and is willing to turn anything into a hat. In this case, it was a bit of cardboard…silly boy! He also likes to step into our shoes and try to walk around. I think that we’re going to need to build up a dress-up supply for him!

The big event last night: first haircut! He just needed a little trim around the ears and along the back of his neck (he had one REALLY long curl that would just get tangled up and looked scraggly). As we got him ready for it (put him in the high chair, got him some toys to play with, etc.), I found that I was petrified! I was afraid that I was going to mess it up, or that he was going to wriggle and I would inadvertently snip his ear or something. The result: Paul did the cutting while I kept Joseph occupied. I sang songs, traded out toys, held his head still for tricky parts, and the like. He didn’t freak out at all (he fussed a bit when we were getting his hair wet with the washcloth, but that’s normal), but he was squirmy! He wanted to know what in the world Daddy was doing! All-in-all, it came out really good, as you can see in the “after” picture. 🙂

Finally, a picture to commemorate being 18 months old. This picture captures him perfectly! There are times that he is SO mischievous! He also likes to have fun, and is easy to please. If he’s fussin’ or in a grouchy mood, we can almost always make it better by doing a silly dance, singing a silly song, or instigating a tickle-fest. He really is a joy to live with. We’re looking forward to the adventures that are in store (like later today…he gets to go to nursery for the first time!)!

As for other news, my back is doing much better (I’m ALMOST back to my normal self. I still have to rest a lot and take it easy so that I don’t re-injure myself). I was even feeling well enough to take Joseph to the Market Day that’s held near our house. I didn’t find anything that I couldn’t live without at any of the booths, but we did make a stop in one of the antique stores (they hold the Market Day on the main road of Old Town Helotes, which is full of antique stores, thrift stores, and the like) and found this little gem that now resides in my kitchen.

We also got new bedding for our guest room, so now it’s 100% ready for people to visit! Yes, we went with the Texas theme on purpose, lol. We wanted it to be fun for us and for our guests. Joseph’s reaction when he saw the new bedding: He first said, “woahhh” and then he ran over to the side of the bed, laid his head on the pillows, patted the bed and said, “awww”. If it meets the king’s approval, it MUST be good!