Josh's Surgery

Josh has naughty ears.

There is always an infection.

Always.

So yesterday, he got tubes.

Luckily his tonsils looked good - so no worries there. Just a quick 15 minute surgery for the tubes.

Josh and Daddy in the waiting room.

Josh was begging begging begging

for a drink and food.

We arrived at 0645 -

Surgery was scheduled for 0745

In the Pre-Op room We got back about 0720

Cuddling with Daddy

Watching Curious George

Glad to have pup-pup to keep Josh company

...while we waited...

Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?!!

Reading stories with Daddy...

waiting....

At 0800 Josh got medication to help him relax

Then we went for a wagon ride

He was waving, and blowing kisses -

Until the medication kicked in

and then he kept falling over

So we headed back to our room to cuddle.

Finally, cuddling Momma

The medication had kicked in.

Josh couldn't hold his head up.

He was drooling, and his eyes were so droopy.

It was pretty funny.

Josh went back into surgery about 0820, and was back to us about 0840. He was happy when he got to us, he was kissing all the nurses, and waving and then, the medication wore off and we had a monster on our hands... screaming, kicking, biting, hitting, scratching...he was one unhappy boy.

We packed up and headed home at 0900. After a good nap Josh woke up to find Grandma and Grandpa Marshall in our living room. He was super excited!

We spent the rest of the day enjoying time with Nick's parents. It was so thoughtful and nice of them to come down check on Josh.

Josh was spoiled! Thanks everyone for your support!

He got balloons and a cute stuffed puppy from the Marshall family (Aunt Adrienne, Uncle Gus, and Kids)

Balloons from Grandma and Grandpa Rawlinson

Bubbles and Treats from the Webbs

Already we can tell a difference in Josh. He is much happier He acts excited when he hears something new - it must sound different to him, without all the fluid in his ears.

Hopefully soon - he'll start to talk but for now, we love his cute sign language!

ENJOY

There are quite a few new posts below!

One Year

One year ago today,

we met, and fell in love with the cutest boy ever...

Josh,

We are so glad you are part of our family,

We love you lots and lots!

This is one of the first pictures we took

and sent of Josh to our family and friends.

One Happy Family!

The Caribbean!

We decided it was time for a vacation.

We headed off to the Caribbean for 10 days -

without Josh.

It was much needed, and full of fun and relaxation,

but we sure missed our little man!

We traveled with our friends Blair and Vanessa,

and Vanessa's two sisters-

we all shared pictures, so this is only a 'few' that I have!

Monday March 14th

St Thomas and St John

We docked in St. Thomas early Monday morning, got a taxi - and headed for the ferry to St. John. After spending much money - and experiencing some tropical rain - we discovered the most beautiful beach . ever .

The Taxi Ride to the Ferry

Toes in the sand - HEAVEN -


Nick enjoying the crystal blue water


Paige and Vanessa Snorkeling
It was amazing.
Lots of fun plants, coral, and fish.
of course - all the pics are on a under-water camera
waiting to be developed.





We'd like to move here. How about you?

St Thomas

Tuesday March 15th

At Sea

We relaxed. Ate food. Napped. Read.

And had a formal night.

Aren't we so pretty?

Wednesday March 16th

Barbados

In Barbados, we took a 5 hour catamaran trip.

Snorkeling, Beaches, and ...

Swimming with Sea Turtles!

It was great!

But all of those pictures are on the under-water camera!

The Barbados Coast

Us on our Catamaran!

Our Towel Animal that night -

Thursday March 17th

St. Lucia

In St. Lucia we took a rain-forest tour

-via -

ZIP LINE!
It wasn't as 'cool' as we expected,

But we still had fun.

We didn't dare take our camera on the zip line -

but in hindsight - we should have.

(sorry Nick!)

Cool House in St. Lucia.

Everything was painted such cool colors

This is how they keep track of Cows on the island.

with a leash!

After the Zip Line -

I went back to relax and read on the ship.

Not Nick . . . He went Shopping!

The group found a small flee market

and underneath one of the tables,

discovered the cutest little boy...

His grandma let our group carry him around for awhile.

Nick said he was darn cute,

but it made him miss our little man more!

Cute Little Girl playing the steel drums!

Friday March 18th

St. Kitts

In St. Kitts we hired a taxi driver,

to take us to a beach,

pick us up,

drive us around town,

and then drop us off to shop.

Our beach was called

"Ship-Wreck"

There were tons of MONKEYS!!!

Here is one enjoying some sugar-cane!

Nick, trying to figure out where the heck he was!

Our Taxi driver picked us up from the beach,

and gave us a tour of the island.

Blair, in our group, asked if the island had Mormon Missionaries.

(Blair asked that everywhere, because he served in some of these islands)

Our taxi drive said yeah - they have a church!

He asked if we were 'Mormon'

and took us to see 'our church'

It was so small!

But so clean, and cute!

There were some boys playing in a

large Mango tree in the church's yard.

They shared a mango with us.

It was delicious.

Enjoying the Sunset on the Ship

Saturday March 19th

St. Maarten

In St. Maarten, we rented a jeep - and explored the island.

St. Maarten is half french,

and half dutch.

On the French side,

we found a cute little shop

that served French food, candies, and pastries.

We were in heaven.

We also stumbled upon the ONLY

nude beach on the entire island.

Lucky Us.

The water ...

is amazing!

Nick - enjoying the view

Our last night -

being served, pampered, and stuffed with deliciousness.

This is our waiter and his assistant.

Our last towel animal,

we forgot to take pictures of all of our animals -

but they were all very cool!

Sunday March 20th -

San Juan

On Sunday we disembarked the ship.

It was the fastest, most organized thing I have ever seen.

We were off the ship, bags in hand, in 10 minutes.

It was amazing.

We had the entire day in San Juan.

We rented a car, checked into our hotel,

dropped the bags off, and set out to explore!

With all 6 of us in our rental, and Paige at the wheel ...

our first stop was the rain-forest.

On our first - pull off site -

Nick found a large leaf...

Go Figure!

The flowers were so pretty!

And so much greenery!

While we were driving through the winding roads,

it started to rain.

HARD.

It was amazing.

This was all dry, and then within seconds,

the waterfall.

Watch out for Flash-Floods!

I always knew something was up with Nick!

We stayed in a hospital.

No Joke.

Our hotel, the Howard Johnson,

was on the 4th floor of the hospital!!

How ironic!!

But... it only had 2 queen beds.

So we pushed them together...

and tried to sleep.

Monday March 21st

Home Sweet Home

We flew out Monday morning -

well at least we were suppose to!

We opted to take a later flight,

for $650 vouchers apiece for a later flight!!

AWESOME!!!

We got home around 2am -

and promptly woke up Josh!

He just kept starring at us,

rubbing his eyes,

saying 'Dadda?'

and laughing.

It was a great vacation,

but coming home to this cutie pie -

was the best part!

A HUGE thanks to Paige's sister Aubrey, and her Mommy - for taking care of Joshy!

He was spoiled rotten! We are so lucky to have you!

Swimming

Every so often, work has a free family swim night,

at one of the local pools

Josh loves loves loves to swim

so we decided - why not.

This was Josh's first time at this particular pool-

normally we just head to Grandma's

But it is winter. :(

Exploring the water and toys with daddy.

Oh daddy -

You let the fountain get me!

Don't worry - Josh thought it was a drinking fountain -

and went in for more!

Enjoying the little slide.

Unfortunately - I neglected to take pictures of

Nick and Josh on the big slide.

Josh had to wear a life-jacket,

and he went down on Nick's lap.

The first time down,

I could hear Josh screaming ... "WEEEEEE!"

He loved it!

And would take of running for the stairs to go down again!

Nick is such a trooper - and a great daddy!

Playing in the fountain again



Time to head home.
Josh is a fish.
Just like his mommy.
He was fighting to get out of the water,
even though his lips were turning blue,
and he couldn't stop shaking.
So Darn Cute.