I'm busy...

...but not too busy for a few pictures. We had Si's 9 month check up the middle of this month. He is doing just perfect! He is 18.5 lbs and 27 inches long. Around 25 percentile. I will post something more interesting this weekend. Caleb says he's been on video duty so stay tuned...

We had a picnic in the back yard the other day. A perfect location for a naked baby and teething biscuits.

Okay, this hat does come off a little girly in photos, but I am convinced that it will be super adorable when it fits him. We are going to the OR coast in August so he'll need some shade for that fair skin.

A TOOTH

3 days shy of 9 months and Siah has his first tooth! We were beginning to think he would be just like his mom: no teeth on the first birthday. But now, after lots of drool, the pearly white on the bottom right has finally poked through! Yeah, Si!

THANKFULLY, he hasn't been too fussy so we are hopeful this teething experience will be smooth sailing.

Josiah was being hilarious today. We hung out in the backyard this evening after the gym and Si was so excited to chase Shep around the yard. By the way, Si has a favorite KidZone worker at the gym, her name is Hannah and we are always happy to see her there. Also, Hannah informed me today that Si is in love with a little girl there. She is about 4 I'd say. I guess it is safe to assume he likes daycare now....and we thought he cried because he missed us. Turns out he just needed to make some new friends!
Since I am off topic anyway, might as well brag that I have been to the gym at least 4 times a week recently. One of these days I will include pictures of how buff I am. (but don't hold your breath!)

Anyway, back to the back yard. I took some pictures of him "on the day he got a tooth" I think the fact that most of these are blurry as well as viewing the video below will make it obvious why I was unable to actually take a picture of his tooth. Maybe this is the time that the picture-taking slows down...won't be able to get him to sit still.

So no pictures of the teeth, but trust me; it is there.


This is the best video ever. I am starting to get an idea of the chaos soon to engulf the Fields house. Shep and Si were actually playing together; Shep trying to keep his toy away from Si. (At least I think he was playing!)

The Great Outdoors

Spring has definately sprung in AZ. And our little man has discovered the joys of grass, dirt, rocks and dog toys!

We have spent so much time outside lately and Josiah loves it. We have a neighbor (with two girls by the way) who assured us that all babies will stay on a blanket outside on the lawn because they hate the feeling of grass. We thought that sounded a little odd when he said it but since Si wasn't crawling yet we didn't have any evidence to the contrary. Let me asure you that the blanket would have to have walls and barbed wire to keep him off the grass. If Shep can be on the grass; Si can be on the grass. We have quite the explorer on our hands. It is no surprise really. The only surprise really, being a "nurture" minded person, is how close the apple really does fall from the tree! Caleb was ALWAYS into everything as a child....and as an adult. Little Fields appears to be quite inquisitive too...uh oh.

Si has been crawling really well for about a week now. It is so fun to get to see him get to where he wants to go. We can physically see now what he has been thinking he wished he had all this time. The knobs on the drawers of the entertainment center is apparently the big prize.

And our new-most-used phrase: No, Josiah, look at this!

On another note, that tree in the background, in the pot, is now enjoying some wiggle room in the ground after it failed to grow at all or yeild a single piece of fruit after three years. I guess "dwarf mandarin" doesn't mean it fits in a pot! Maybe next year we will actually get some fruit.

We went to the Tempe Art Festival last weekend for some people-watching and junk food-eating...and art.

(Notice Siah's rosy cheeks)

We weren't at the fair for more than 2 minutes before a woman (perfect stranger) looked at Si and then shot daggers at us and said (under her breath) "sunburn" like Caleb and I were the worst parents ever for having Si in the sun all day without sunscreen. Did I mention we had been there not more that 2 minutes at that point and had 50 proof slathered all over our poor son. You may know the kind of comment; she wanted us to hear her but didn't want it to be direct enough that we would call her on saying it. Well we did. Caleb gave her a piece of his mind and I'd say she will think twice before being passive agressive with perfect strangers again.

So here is the explanation for those of you who thought the same thing. Si has rug burn on his face because he still uses it to balance himself during his explorations. A perfectly good explanation if you ask me.

Speaking of exploration; here are a couple of videos of Siah escaping to the great outdoors.

the beginning of mobility

...and we're off! Now that Si is getting from one place to another with slightly more agility, it seems like there are hazards and cords and sharp obstacles everywhere. A little scary to say goodbye to the ease of immobility, but we are so excited too! We have a crawler (almost, he still rolls to get most places quickly) and life as we knew it is over! Amazing. We are on to new adventures and couldn't be more excited.

Check out our progress! What a cutie, huh!?

Perfect Timing

What an incredible weekend we had recently. My parents are in the middle of a home remodel with painters and plastic everywhere and long overdue for a visit to see their grandson while Caleb and I were long overdue for a date night. So mom and dad flew down for the weekend! They got away from their makeshift studio apartment and paint fumes and got to spend some time in the sun with one of their favorite families :).

Josiah welcomed Mooma and Papa with open arms and Shep was rather fond of the added attention too!

We decided to check out the Wildlife zoo this weekend. It is on the other end of the desert, so we spend a lot of time trying to decide if it would be worth it. It was so worth it!

While Josiah is too young to really appreciate the regular zoo, he loved this one. there is an aquarium there that he loved and all the other animals were close enough for him to really see. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it! Better hurry, I have now heard that funding for the zoo is in question so it may not be around for long! (That will be a sad day.) Actually, we were wondering the whole time we were there why there weren't any PETA representatives picketing outside.

We'll just enjoy it while we have it!

8 months so soon

Josiah is 8 months old! WHAT?! How has that happened? Our little man is absolutely incredible. We can't believe he is growing up this fast. Month 7 was probably a great one for Josiah but it was a little crazy for his parents. Caleb and I had a whirl wind month of work which made our home life a little crazy too. The biggest thing we lacked was time together as a family (and sleep, but who's counting), I am sure there are others that can relate. We love that we don't have to use regular childcare, but we have felt a little more like "two ships passing in the night" that we envisioned in our initial "plan" for life after our child entered our world.

Well, we at least saw this season coming and we coped; I guess that is about as accurately as I can put it. We are at the end of 6 weeks of a lot of overtime, or as I like to think of it as a salaried employee; volunteerism. WE MADE IT and finally got a whole day as a family without so much as a work phone call to interrupt our time. We went to the zoo, hung out at home on the grass in the warm sunshine and just enjoyed being a family. I think it solidified the fact, for Josiah, that he does in fact have two parents.

Josiah thinks his dad is hilarious! Which is great for Caleb who doesn't always have the most generous audience for his jokes at our house!

We hadn't seen this guy yet. He seems to hide out whenever we come to the zoo; giving us a beautiful landscape of grass and dirt to view..Got you this time, Tiger.

Bananas are definitely one of Josiah's favorites, unfortunately we usually have to counter balance them with prunes which is not one of his favorites; not even close.

Within days of our beautiful, sunny zoo day, we had one of the most powerful rain storms I have seen. Our family had a blast bundling up and watching it from the porch. We don't see too much rain anymore, but this one was a doosy! Not like Oregon and Washington that just drip constantly, this was the real deal. Thankfully it only lasted 20 minutes and then we were right back to status quo; a status quo that I have come to love in my nearly four years so far in the desert.

Team in training

Here is a glimpse into play time at the Fields house. Josiah doesn't crawl yet but he can palm a basketball! Okay, not quite that, but we have brought out an assortment of balls and Si seems to be partial to the basktball at this point...or is it orange he's partial too? hmmm...

Josiah is doing much better for those of you who were worried. He was stricken with RSV + Sinus Infection + Ear Infection + Diarrhea + Diaper Rash...all at once. Poor little thing must have felt just awful but he was so brave! Besides being a little whinny, he was such a trooper! We have had breathing treatments and antibiotics for the last week and I think we are almost better. Still staying at home with him since he apparently is contageous until he is a-symptomatic as far as the RSV is concerned. That means no gym for now. Although I blame them anyway! When I brought Si to the doctor for this whole mess; she asked if Josiah had recently started daycare or something....hmmmm. Since we joined that darn gym I've been sick twice, Caleb once and low and behold, Si gets RSV. All those immunities, there is probably the equivelant of a force shield around the Fields house now. Nothing else is getting in here.

We have had a really busy February with work. Caleb and I are truely experiencing the "two ships passing in the night" thing for now as we finess our way through way too much work and not enough hours in the day. Thankfully we know this is a season (and a relatively short one) that we should be making our way diligently toward the end of. The light at the end of this tunnel is that my parents are coming for a visit next week and we have planned a date night and a work day (safety proofing and deep cleaning) into the weekend. Oh, who are we kidding, probably not the deep cleaning part so much, but at least we hope to be more organized and hope to alleviate some of the more glaring safety hazards in the house.

Here are some pictres of recent days. Does this look like a sick kid to you?!
We hear veggie sticks (shown above) are the best finger foods because they are so easy to hold and then desolve in your mouth. True, unfortunately I like them too, and don't really need vegitable flavored potato chips

Assuming the position; almost ready to take off! He really has stepped it up after we made sure his toys were just out of reach!

AFTER (above) BEFORE (below)