The Many Faces of Joshua

Here are some pictures of Joshua from this morning:
1) Joshua playing w/ Dino.
2) Joshua loves to say "cheese" when we take his picture.
3) Kevin taught Joshua to make a "scary" face - he is actually growling and crinkling his fingers but it's hard to tell in this picture. 4) Kevin taught Joshua to make a "silly" face - he is actually making the puppy dog face that Kevin is famous for doing when he used to pick up the ladies.

My Friend Chucky

With much needed relief this weekend, TT came over on Saturday and took her favorite nephew to the park and to Chucky Cheese. Of course going to Chucky Cheese does not include eating pizza like it does for most toddlers, but none the less Joshua had a blast at both the park and at Chucky.

Joshua and his new Best Buddy "Chuck"

Joshua driving the "Bob the Builder" tractor in the toddler area

This was a much more successful outing since the last time we went to visit Chucky, both Harrison and Joshua got stuck in the rat tunnel and Greg had to rescue the boys. Lucky for TT Joshua expressed no interest in revisiting the maze.

On Sunday, we had an opportunity to go see the movie, "The Last Kiss," when Grandma Stephanie came over. What a nice weekend! Only if this could become a routine - ha ha!

A Mother's Love

Who would have ever thought that you would be the love of our lives! Each day you amaze us and just when we thought we can't love you anymore, we realize that we love you more and more each day. You are a great teacher and thank you for teaching us (okay really me b/c your Dad is already all these nice things) to be more patient, understanding and kind. Despite your refusal to try new foods, sit still, listen to us and your terrible 2s temper tantrus, you are the best son a mother and father could ever dream of having. We are very proud of you and love you so much that it sometimes hurts Lerue.

Let's Party!

We celebrated Joshua's birthday at Monkey Joe's with 11 other toddlers. All of the kids had a blast climbing, sliding, jumping and running around the play center. I'm not sure who was more tired, the kids or their parents! After running around for practically 2 hours, we had pizza, cookie cake and cupcakes. Joshua attempted to blow out his candles and we were impressed that he almost did it by himself, but his Dad provided a little hot air so the wax wouldn't drip onto the cake. Below are pictures from the party.

Joshua and Connor climbing up one of the slides

Joshua, Tim, Rowan and Connor going down one of the slides.

Joshua, Rowan and Tim riding the icecream truck - "hands up!"

A thirsty bunch - Joshua, Stephanie, TT, Kevin and Harrison (it's no wonder the boys are so thirsty!)

Kevin and Harrison having a water break

Joshua having a water break

The Ladies - Jenn and Kate and Hollis and Kerri

J-man getting ready to blow out his candles


J-man - he's not scared to eat some cookie cake!

A Hot Summer Day at the Pool

On Sunday, we cooled down at the pool. It wasn't as exhausting as his party the day before, but going to the pool is a lot of work since J-man is on the "go go go" non-stop. Joshua likes to go to the pool. This is his second pool season and he enjoys it even more this year than last year. His favorite things to do are go down the slide, play with other kids, especially his buddy Harrison, and play with his water toys. Look how he's grown in the past year!



Joshua and me when he's 13 months. Notice that I have to hold him at all times b/c who knows what he's going to do. He's so cute and chubby in this picture. Love his belly and little rolls.




Notice how Joshua's thinned out some. He's a big boy now and can play w/o us holding on to him every second on the steps now. Kevin and Joshua are filling up his water gun. He's about to get in trouble b/c he keeps trying to drink the water and we won't let him b/c it's just gross.




Joshua had to put his water gun away b/c he kept trying to drink the water. "Away, away Joshua."



Greg and Harrison Weber and Joshau and Kevin playing in the pool afer just going down the slide for the 20th time. The kids LOVE the slide.




Harrison and Joshua having a good time playing on the steps of the pool. They love to splash each other!

What are you looking for Joshua?

There's your turtle!

We had such a nice birthday weekend. The party was a huge success and a lot of fun. Opening gifts and the party coupled with pool time made an awesome weekend for Joshua. Thanks to everyone who made his birthday so special!

I love Birthday Presents

Joshua turned 2 on Friday and we celebrated by going to the doctor for his 2-year well check up. No shots, so it wasn't too bad of a visit. The doctor said he's doing really well, and the only thing we need to work on is his eating - shocker! After the doctor appointment, we came home and went to the pool. Boy, did he have fun. We were there for almost 2 hours playing with Ali (little girl across the street - she is 5 and loves Joshua) and then later w/ Harrison and Greg. After the pool, we came home, had some dinner and opened up a few gifts. Here he is with his duck , bird and owl. I asked him, what does the owl say and he replied "whooo."

Chatter Box

Joshua's new favorite word = "Away" as in get away "Away mama" or as in put it away in reference to him wanting his milk in the fridge. And this morning he said to Kevin, "here you go Daddy" as he handed him a train. It's with a toddler accent, but we can understand him and it's so much fun!

Water Park

Joshua's school has its very own water park in the back of the facility. Thursday night was family night and Kevin, TT and I went to watch Joshua in action. The kids had a blast and so did we as we chowed down on hamburgers and watched Joshua and Tim play and splash in the water park (it's really a slide, some water squirt things and a fort like thing - but the kids love it).

Joshua dragging Tim to go find buckets.

Hilarious - Dads in work clothes while the boys play and get them wet!

Boys and another big kid taking turns filling their buckets up w/ water.

Joshua getting ready to throw water on TT and me.

Joshua checking out how much water Tim has left.

Boys throwing water.

Getting ready to go down the slide...

Wee... here he goes! This amazes us because a few months ago Joshua would have never done anything where he would get water in his face and now he goes down this slide all the time. Thank goodness he's not afraid of water splashing him in the face anymore.

Joshua sheilding himself from the downpour of water!

What a fun night! Even TT had a good time despite being bit by bugs and almost breaking her ankle when she attempted to walk through a bed of rocks in 3+ inch high heels. Kevin didn't even ruin his work clothes while playing w/ the kids and chasing them throughout the park - impressive.

Next weekend we celebrate Joshua's birthday party w/ about a dozen toddlers. Wish us luck!

Fathers and their Sons

Greg and Kevin getting their drink on at UGA

Greg and Kevin hamming for the camera.

Harrison and Joshua - these apples didn't fall far from the tree! :)

These two will ride the same bus when they start Kindergarten at the same elementary school the same year. Watch out class of 2021! I wonder what Harrison's and Joshua's alter ego names will be...

Playing Hard!

I love cars!

3 Generations of Milman Men

Double-fisted before 2 - Impressive!

Daddy That Way!

Joshua and Kevin took a walk before I took him to school. He LOVES to be outside! He's very curious and loves to point things out to us lately. It's so awesome watching him grow and really special to see him learn new things. While he's exerting his independence, he's still as sweet as ever! When I was getting ready to take off for school, Kevin asked me to roll down the window so he could give Joshua a kiss goodbye. After he kissed Joshua bye, Joshua said, "one mo daddy." And of course Kevin gave him one more and then Joshua pointed to me. I asked him, "do you want Daddy to give Mommy a kiss?" And he said, "yeah, momma, yeah." Love him!

Joshua bossing Kevin - pulling him where he wants his Daddy to go.

"No, no, no, no" - Finger Waiving and all!

Going for a walk - looking and listening for the birds. (This is probably one of my favorite pictures.)

Making the House OUR Home

After a whirlwind of decisions - should we stay or should we move to Houston-we decided to stay. With that being said, we started working on our mile long list to turn our house into a great home that we always wanted. One of the check list items is to replace our window treatments. We are installing 31/2 inch wood plantation shutters up on the entire front of the house, wood wovens in the basement and dinning room and honey comb shades in the back, upstairs bedrooms. The honeycomb shades and the wood wovens were installed last week. We love them, especially the honeycomb shades b/c we think that it's the main reason Joshua napped for 1 hour and 40 mins on Saturday and 2 hours and 30 mins on Sunday. Wow! That sure beats his 30 min naps and then me driving him around for another hour ever weekend.

Dinning Room w/ the Wood Wovens

TV Room in the Basement

Guest Bedroom in the Basement - No More Worrying About Kids Spying TT

Honeycomb shades in the back bedrooms

We decided to install blackout honeycombs so when the shades are down, it's dark in the rooms. The blue room in Joshua's room and you can sorta get the idea how the shade works. And yes, I know the crib is backwards... we had to turn it about 8 months ago because Joshua was climbing out of the side where the rail is lower. The green room has its shade down and you can get a better idea how it darkens the room when it's down. We hope that Joshua will permanently napl like he did last weekend and if he does, these shades are worth every penny and then some!

I'm a Big Boy Now!

The new thing that we do at the Milman household is we go down the slide at our n'hood pool. Kevin took Joshua down the slide for the first time and Joshua LOVED it. Now we practice all the different ways we can go down the slide. Hopefully a future post will include pictures of them going down the slide!

Daddy showing Joshua where to put his arms.

Joshua practicing looking at the camera while going down the slide (okay, that's a little fib - he's watching Sagwa the Cat on the Sprout Channel).

Our night time routine includes lots of different things, but it most often includes terrorizing the cats and making messes. Luckily, Fox and Nala know the pecking order around here and they pretty much tolerate Joshua.

Joshua trying to sneak up on Fox.

Joshua looking for his "Daddy" so they can play flashcards.

Joshua is going to be 2 on July 28 - where has the time gone! It seems like yesterday we brought him home and were scared to death that we were going to break him. It's amazing how much he's grown over the past year. He's talking some now - even gives us a sentence or two on occassion. "No momma, Joshy want Daddy." "No, dumb dumb down." "Uh-oh, pooh pooh, yeah." Speaking of the ol' deuce, we are making progress on his interest in the potty. If he's naked, he'll pretty much go pee in his potty now and I'd say 60% of the time now he'll either alert us that he has to go "uh-oh pooh pooh" and we'll get to the potty on time or he'll let us know he's gone and needs to be changed. I think we may try to start potty training in the 3 - 5 months. I'd like to wait a little longer once he's in his big boy bed, but we shall see. I think seeing the older kids at "school" is motivating him some to take an interest in the potty. Thanks Creme - at least you are good for something.

We are obsessed with Dora now. Dora this and Dora that - all we hear about is Dora. First it was the Wiggles, then it was the Doodlebops - more specifically Moe and now it's Dora and sometimes her sidekick Boots. Kids! We like to watch Dora, it's better than those crazy "bops!"

I'll try to post more often. Believe it or not, I've actually had work to do the past two weeks - shocking!