Aunt Millie came to visit us this weekend

Aunt Millie arrived Friday evening. When she knocked on the door, we had just finished giving Josh a bath. He was still naked and wrapped in a towel. Aunt Millie was so excited that she wanted to hold him right away - no waiting to put a diaper on! Well, you can guess what happened next. Yes, Josh proceeded to pea all over Aunt Millie and the couch. What an introduction!

On Saturday, we all slept late. Aunt Millie actually woke up and then laid back down for a nap. I think it's pretty much unheard of for Millie to sleep that late - I have to admit that I actually wondered if she was okay when I saw her asleep at 10:00 AM.

Saturday afternoon, Aunt Millied helped me clean my sewing machine and I started piecing a baby quilt. I bought the fabric before Josh was born, but never got around to working on it before I went on bed rest.

Saturday night, we went to Mom and Tim's for a nice dinner. Josh slept almost the whole time we were there. This morning (Sunday), Mom came over to see Aunt Millie before she left to go back to Monroe.

My favorite moments this weekend were listening to Aunt Millie talk to Josh - she kept referring to him as "little person" and herself as "big person". It was so cute! And she kept telling Josh to move his arms around to get them strong so that he could fight the boys at school. She told him that he was gonna whip their butts and then turn around and run!

Aunt Millie also brought Josh a gift - a time capsule. It's a metal canister that we can fill with items from Josh's birth and his first year, as well as pictures and letters from special people in his life. Then, he can open it up years from now on a special occasion like his 18th or 21st birthday or his high school or college graudation. We already started putting things in the time capsule, like our hospital bracelets, a People magazine from the week he was born, a newborn diaper (he's already outgrown that size), a receipt from the movies, and a letter from Aunt Millie. I think the time capsule is an awesome gift and it will be so much fun for Josh to open when he is older.

Here are a couple of pictures of Aunt Millie and Josh.

Let us know if you're visiting Josh's blog!

If you're visiting Josh's blog, please leave us a comment. If I know that this blog has visitors, it will help motivate me to update with more pictures!

Aunt Millie is visiting us this weekend, so Josh has been busy getting to know Aunt Millie. Tonight, we brought Aunt Millie to visit Mom and Tim.

Be back soon with more pictures!

More pictures of Josh

Here are some more pictures of Josh from the past couple of weeks.

Josh on Daddy's motorcycle.









Josh snuggled up in a blanket on the couch.

Naked Josh - so cute! There was another shot that was better and more close-up, but I decided not to post it on the Internet, since it was X rated!

Josh and Mommy on the back porch at home.

Josh with clean hair - it looks so cute and blonde when it's freshly washed! I love combing his hair so it sticks straight up!

Josh in his crib "talking" to Teddy.

Josh's brother Mark

Josh's big brother Mark came over this weekend and spent the night with us. Mark and Josh got to know each other and hung out together with their dad. Here are some pictures.

Here's a cute picture of Josh and Daddy from this weekend

First mail

Josh already received his first mail this week. It was his Social Security card and it came addressed to him - Joshua Cole Arnett. Doesn't he look excited to be getting a Social Security card?!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day! We had such a nice day. We took Josh over to Mom and Tim's for the first time. This was Josh's first outing (except for his doctor's appointment last week). Mom and Tim offered to babysit Josh so that Jerrud and I could go out to dinner and have a little break! We had a very nice dinner at Mi Cocina.

Me and Josh on my first Mother's Day.

Me, Mom, and Josh!

Here's a fun picture of Mom and Tim watching Josh make faces. He has so many different expressions - it's so fun to watch him make faces. A lot of times, he's making faces with his eyes closed - it's all about the eyebrows and the mouth!

Pictures from the hospital

We had pictures of Josh taken at the hospital on Saturday - just before we checked out. You can see them online at the following web site.

http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/default.asp

Under "Search by family", enter:

Baby's birthday: May, 1, 2007
Mom's last name: Arn
State or Province: Texas

Click on "Find the Baby!" and it will find "Joshua A". There are two links to his pictures and each link has 3 different pictures. It will ask for a password - enter "Arnett".

More special gifts!

We were really blessed to receive some very special gifts for Josh from our family.

A very special gift from Mom and Dad was a beautiful cradle, handmade by my dad. It was Mom's idea and she approached my dad to see if he would be willing to make the cradle for us. Dad agreed and Mom provided the cradle bedding. We were just blown away when we saw the cradle for the first time. It is so beautiful and Dad did such a wonderful job on it - it will definitely be an heirloom in our family that we can hopefully pass down to our grandchildren one day. Dad has been working in North Carolina on a project and he literally took parts of the cradle back and forth from the farm in LA to NC so that he could work on it during the week. It is truly a labor of love.

The beautiful baby afghan in this picture was crocheted for Josh by Mom (MiMi). Mom told me that she crocheted it in one month. She took it with her on trips and would work on it whenever she had time (on the airplane, in the hotel, etc.).




Another special gift was this quilt, that Aunt Shelly made for Josh. This is the first quilt that Shelly has made and it turned out just beautiful. Shelly's friend Glenn is a quilter and he helped Shelly with choosing the fabrics and how to make the quilt, but she did all the work herself, including the piecing and the quilting. I love the colors that she chose for the quilt - it turned out really fabulous! (And yes, Josh is crying in this picture!)

First time in the stroller

Yesterday afternoon, we took a walk in our neighborhood in the stroller. The doctor said it would be good for my recovery to walk and it would help Josh learn the difference between day and night (being out in the sunlight).

Here are some pictures of Josh in his stroller. (These pictures were actually taken at the end of the walk, not the beginning.) It felt really good to be outside after 2 1/2 weeks of bedrest and then 4 days in the hospital.








He slept through most of the walk, or at least his eyes were closed. He squinted when the sun was shining on him, even though his eyes were closed. And he was startled by the sound of a car when it passed us.

We took a bottle with us just in case, but we didn't need it.

Special gift from Grandpa Jerry's co-workers Tim & Bob

When Grandpa Jerry arrived at the hospital last week, he brought Josh a special gift from his co-workers, Tim and Bob. It is a $5 gold coin, minted from "1/10 oz. fine gold".

We managed to get Josh to hold the coin in his tiny hand even though he was sound asleep in Mommy's arms.

Josh's room (Chevy / Bel Air theme)

Here is a picture of Josh's room. Originally, we did not plan to have a theme, but then we decided to go with a Chevy / 1950's Bel Air theme. The framed picture over the bed is a original Chevy brochure from 1954, which we ordered off of eBay.




For those of you that haven't seen it, here's a picture of our 1954 Chevy Bel Air.






Here is a picture of Josh sleeping in his crib this morning. Such a big boy!

Josh is 6 days old!

Today was our second full day at home with Josh. Josh had his first doctor's appointment with the pediatrician today. He came home from the hospital on Saturday at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and today his weight was up to 8 pounds, 14 ounces. We are so happy that he gained half a pound!



I put a cute outfit on Josh for the trip to the doctor's office. I want to make sure he gets to wear all the cute outfits that he was given as gifts before he outgrows them!

Tonight will be our first night at home alone. Mom (MiMi) stayed with us the last two nights. She was SO much help to us!

Seth came over to the house yesterday and spent some time with Josh. He is going to be a great uncle!

It's beginning to thunder and rain and this weather is supposed to continue for the next few days. We love this kind of weather for just relaxing and being cozy inside, so this is going to be perfect for our first few days at home alone getting used to the new routine.

I am so thankful for the support of our friends and family this past week. It has been so much fun seeing family and friends in the hospital and at home. Josh's visitors included Mom (MiMi) and Tim (Tutor), Dad and Phyllis (grandparent names TBD), Aunt Shelly, Uncle Seth, Jeanne and Derame Mitchell, Janet Cearley with Regan, Jackson, and Nobuko (Janet's mom), Karen Fichte, Tanya Williams, Courtney Georgeff, Ellen and John Hollister, and Glenn and Linda Farmer.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate Shelly starting this blog for us. (I am going to do my best to update it whenever I can!)

Josh is 4 days old!

Josh went home from the hospital today! It was an exciting day! My mom and Shelly arrived at the hospital, then my brother Seth came from College Station and met Josh for the first time!













Here's Josh and his Uncle Seth...












Mom and Dad have a moment before we check out of the hospital room. We had to see the doctor, get all our last instructions from the nurses, sign a bunch of paperwork, get together all the stuff we had brought from home (we practically moved in!), and THEN get Josh all situated in his car seat! Then they wheeled me down the hall in a wheelchair and down the elevator to where the car was waiting...

























When we got home, Josh met Bones, we saw the new cradle (made by Grandpa Jerry), and ate dinner that Linda and Glenn Farmer brought to us! It was a great evening!

Josh is 3 days old!

Today was probably the quietest of all the days since Josh was born!

There was the possibility that we would have gone home today, but after seeing the pediatrician, it seemed that we needed to stay another day. My dad and Phyllis came up to the hospital for a while, and Shelly came up for a few hours in the evening (she left at about 2:00 in the morning!).


Here's a few photos from today...