February 23 was weigh-in day for the Malheur County Fair steer projects. Matthew decided to weigh and tag two steers and will make the final decision regarding which steer to take to the fair later in the summer. The Black Angus steer (Lloyd) was raised by Papa Mike and the Hereford steer (Harry) was raised by us. To be eligible for the Malheur County Fair, the steers had to weigh less than 900 pounds. Lloyd was the larger of the two and weighed 855 pounds, while Harry weighed 745 pounds. Let the fun begin!
This year, we had the pleasure of attending the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Ontario. This is an amazing fundraiser for the foundation. It consists of a very nice dinner, raffles, games, and auctions. The local banquet is very well organized and fun to attend. During the past couple of years, we have taken Matthew and Peter with us, and they have had a wonderful time. The games are fun for the kids, and the foundation even has a gun donated that is given away to a youth in attendance.
This year, one of the auction items was a seven week old golden retriever/yellow lab puppy. From the moment we walked in the door, Peter fell in love. The puppy was one of the last items to be auctioned off after dinner, so Peter spent much of the evening sitting next to the puppy's kennel talking to her and petting her. Throughout the night, Toby would ask Matthew and Peter if they wanted to play games or buy tickets for raffle items. Their responses were always the same - "No, we would like you to save all of your money for the puppy." At one point during the auction, Toby began bidding on an item that he thought the boys might like, and I thought they were going to cut his arm off so he would stop bidding! They were furious that he would even consider buying anything for them other than the puppy!
Finally, the time came when it was time to auction off "Sage." Toby did not tell the boys that he was going to buy the puppy. Instead, he Toby them that he would have to wait and see. As the bidding began, Toby raised his hand and was in the lead. However, as the price got higher, he decided to stop bidding. At this point, Peter, who was sitting next to Toby, placed his head in his hands on the table. I could tell that he was crying, but did not want anyone else to see. It was so sad that I almost started crying! It obviously affected Toby too because he started bidding again. Peter's head was in his hands though, so he did not know that Toby was back in the lead. Finally, Toby was determined the highest bidder and won the puppy! He leaned over and whispered to Peter that the puppy was his. Peter raised head up and was astonished. He was sure that Toby had stopped bidding early in the auction. When he realized that Toby was telling the truth, he leaned over and gave Toby the biggest, longest bear hug I think Toby has ever received. Then, I was in tears! It was such a happy moment!
Obviously, Peter spent the rest of the evening with his puppy who he renamed "Daisy." She is such a sweet and adorable puppy and has adapted quite well to our crazy home full of boys!
Oh sweet boy, I cannot believe how quickly you are growing! It seems like you have transformed from our baby boy to a toddler overnight.
Gone are the days of having you play on a blanket with your toys. As soon as we set you on the floor, you are gone! This month, your crawling has transitioned from your initial army crawl to a full hands and knees crawl, and boy are you fast! Also this month, you have started to pull yourself up to furniture. I cannot believe that our baby is standing and developing the skills to walk!
You have always been a talkative boy, but this month you learned how to produce actual words. Your first word was Mama and your second was baba. This is really not a surprise because it is evident that you are Mama's boy. You do just fine at daycare and when other people watch you; however, you definitely prefer Mama. I don't mind at all though, as I am savoring every minute of having you as my baby because I know how quickly you will grow! One of my favorite times of the day is rocking you to sleep each evening after everyone else has gone to bed.
You currently weigh 21 pounds and are wearing clothes that are fairly true to size. You are wearing 9-12 month clothes which is a drastic change from each of your brothers. Matthew, Peter, and William were all such big babies that they were wearing clothing sizes that were almost double their age. It has been nice because you have been able to wear each size much longer than your brothers.
We began introducing you to normal food this month, and you love it! It seems as if you actually prefer the food we are eating over the baby food. Even though we are still trying to feed you the remaining baby food that we have, you do not seem interested. Instead, you try to get the food that is on the table. Once you finish the baby food we have, we will transition you to eating only the food that we eat! It will be very easy, as we have not found any food that you will not eat. If we set it on your plate, you eat it. I swear that you are the best eater in the family right now! I am happy to report that even though we have been introducing you to a variety of foods, your eczema has not flared up too much. You continue to have a few spots that appear on your back, but your face continues to be clear!
You are such a delightful and happy boy Joseph. You bring such joy to our lives, and it is so amazing to watch you grow and develop new skills each day!
This year, Matthew requested that we have his birthday party at the Willowcreek Store. This worked out well for me because I didn't have to prepare my house for a party! Bev and her staff served up delicious french dip sandwiches, fries, and a salad bar. The food was excellent. We also had red velvet cake, chocolate cake, a cheesecake, and of course Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Matthew had so much fun celebrating his 11th birthday surrounded by family and friends!
We have a crawler! You started crawling this month and are so happy that you can now follow your brothers around the house. Your method of crawling is quite unorthodox, as you do not get up on your hands and knees to travel. Instead, your crawl can best be described as an army crawl. Your belly does not leave the floor, you pull with your arms, and push with your legs. You have become quite fast using this method! Here is a video:
Because of your increased activity, you really have not gained any weight this month. You are holding steady at 20 pounds. Instead, your weight has been redistributed, as you have quickly moved into 12 month clothes. As you have gotten older, you have developed a love of food. You will eat anything and must be going through a growth spurt because you seem to constantly be hungry. The bottle does not satisfy you very often; you would much rather have real food. You continue to love your pacifier and require it most evenings to go to sleep.
This month, your first two teeth broke through. It seemed like you were working on those teeth forever! The two bottom, front teeth broke through within days of one another and are very visible when you flash your handsome smile!
Your two bottom teeth are so cute!
At the beginning of the year, you developed a base case of croup. Early in the evening, you acquired a barking cough. It was still early, so I contacted the on-call pediatrician and she advised that if the cough seemed to get worse or if you started having difficulty breathing that we should go to the emergency room. Because all of your brothers have had croup at one time or another, we were familiar with the signs and continued to stay up with you through the night. Your dad and I would take shifts sitting with you wrapped up in a warm blanket outside, as the cold air can help calm the inflamed airway. If we sat outside with you, your breathing seemed to improve; however, within a few minutes of returning to the house your symptoms would worsen. Finally, at 2:30 a.m., I decided to take you to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room, we were immediately seen and the doctors began administering medication to help improve your breathing. After trying multiple treatment options, we finally found one that worked. Luckily, you were not admitted to the hospital, and we were able to return home late in the morning. It was an exhausting night for everyone!
Joseph, you are the happiest little boy. You are happy from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep in the evening. You are starting to develop quite the personality and even a little temper. We have found that if you do not get picked up when you want picked up or removed from your high chair when you are done, you throw a little fit! You have also decided that you are too busy to have your diaper changed, as it is a struggle to get you to lay still while we are changing you. You have things to do and people to see!
We absolutely adore you and your sweet personality and can't believe how quickly the last eight months have gone by!
