I breastfed Joel for 18 months and during that time I would always rock him to sleep while he nursed. Even though he no longer breastfeeds I have continued to rock him to sleep every night. It's just our thing. I rock him and pray and he holds my hand until he falls asleep, and then I put him in bed. I cherish that time at night because I know I won't be able to do it forever.

He has already grown so much that it has become much harder for me to lift him up over the side of the crib to lay him down.. So, we decided it was time to make the switch to a big boy bed. I was nervous about how he would do.. mostly because it took forever & a day for him to start sleeping through the night and I didn't want to ruin that. But thankfully we haven't had any issues. Every morning when he wakes up he runs straight down the hall to our room, swings open the door, and jumps into our bed with a huge smile on his face. It's one of those moments I wish I could record in my memory forever.

{I bought a pillow for him but he doesn't like it so it usually ends up on the ground at the foot of his bed.}

Pumpkin Patch & Halloween 2012

We took Joel to the same pumpkin patch we went to last year. He had a blast! I wish we could settle down in this area just so we can go to that farm every year.. It would be a fun family tradition! {It's fun to look back at last year's pictures and see how much he has changed! click here to see our 2011 pumpkin patch pics}

We bought two pumpkins this year--a small one for Joel to paint and a big one to carve. Joel had a blast painting his pumpkin! Somehow momma got stuck carving the big one though.. I think it had something to do with football but I'm not 100% sure.. hmmm.. haha! I didn't do anything fancy with the carving but I think it came out cute. + Joel likes it, and that's all that matters!

 

Halloween was cold and rainy so we went trick-or-treating at the mall. This was Joel's first year to go trick-or-treating, and I really wished we could have taken him around the neighborhood... but I think he had a good time, even though he had to stand in long lines for one piece of candy. His face would light up when he would show us all the goodies he had in his pumpkin. It was too cute! :-) Oh, and he totally chose the Iron Man costume. I wanted him to be a puppy but he picked Iron Man. Figures right? haha He was SO excited when we first put the costume on him.. He did circles in front of the mirror and kept smiling.. it was priceless!

 

Look Who's Walking!

Last week Joel started taking a few unassisted steps and he hasn't stopped since! He is getting better every day, and it totally blows my mind! Seriously--didn't he JUST learn how to roll over?! ;) People aren't kidding when they say don't blink!

Here is a quick video that I got today.. {He walked all the way to me but my camera decided to stop recording half way through! Ugh!! Figures right!}

He definitely knows he is doing something big because normally his whole face lights up with excitement. It has to be the cutest thing ever! Makes me sad that Jer is missing it.. :( 

ONE YEAR OLD!

My precious baby boy is one year old today!!

I took him to an indoor playground today to celebrate and he had a blast! We stayed there for three hours and he played nonstop. The only thing missing was his daddy. :( {Mean 'ole Uncle Sam decided Daddy was needed elsewhere for a few weeks.}

We had Joel's birthday party last Saturday (the 28th) since Jer had to go out of town. The best part of the party was seeing Joel demolish his cupcake! It was too funny!!

This year has flown by way too fast! And honestly, I still can't believe God blessed us with this little miracle! Last night as I was rocking him to sleep I cried while thinking about how far we've come. For years I felt so hopeless and thought we would never be able to have a baby.. and yet, here we are.. blessed beyond measure with a gift sent straight from Heaven above! I will never be able to thank the Lord enough for my sweet boy!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, JOEL CAMERON!!

MAMA & DADA LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE!! 

First Haircut

Joel's hair was getting a little out of control. It was super long in the front (just down the middle), and it was starting to flip out by his ears. Daddy said it was time to get a haircut, so off we went to the barbershop..

He wasn't too sure about it at first. Oh but when the clippers turned on he totally freaked, and he was definitely sure he wanted the heck outta there! He was all smiles once we got to the car and he was able to have his first lollipop though. :) (and before I get rude comments--he only had the lollipop for a few seconds!)

I seriously felt terrible for making him freak out like that though! I wished I would've just cut it at home. The lady cut it shorter than I was ready for wanted anyway. Plus he looked way too grown up afterwards, which made me want to cry!! I want him to stay a baby forever! Waaahhh! haha

Snow!!

A few weeks ago we had a snow storm! Joel LOVED it. He would take off crawling as soon as we sat him down in it. He had a hard time moving in his little snow suit though. Speaking of his snow suit.. We couldn't stop laughing when we first put it on him because he couldn't move and it reminded us of the kid on A Chr!stmas St0ry! haha!

Jer was so sweet surprised me by making a snowman family for us. It was too cute!

All the snow brought back memories from my first snow storm here when I was prego. Jer and I had fun looking back at a few of the pictures we took during that time..

First Halloween



Our little monkey :)

We stayed home on Halloween and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. It was fun! Joel liked going to the door to see all the kids dressed up. He also had fun trying to get the candy bowl that I had set up by the front door. ;)

We had Fall photos taken a few weeks back, and were able to get a couple of Joel in his monkey costume. He was so cute!

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we spent the day at a local farm with our friends the C's. We walked a corn maze, picked out Joel's first pumpkin, and attempted to take took a couple family photos. We had a great time with our friends, and definitely enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather! (I may or may not be getting spoiled by the PNW weather. I will never admit it though. HAHA) I can't wait to take Joel again next year. :)

4th of July

We had a great time celebrating Joel's first 4th of July!

Our fun started on Sunday night.. We stayed up past our bedtime and joined our friends, the C's, for a local firework show. {It was the first time I've ever been freezing cold while watching fireworks by the way, which was super weird to me! I'm use to sweating my butt off in the southern heat!} We were nervous about how Joel would handle the loud booms but HE LOVED IT! He seriously giggled the entire time! It was too cute!! (I've been kicking myself for not taking a picture or a video of him that night!)

On the 4th we hung out with the C's again. We went over to their house and had a yummy lunch. Afterwards we all went to a street fair in B-Island. The fair turned out to be really lame but we enjoyed the company, sunshine and fresh air.  :)