Pictures

Nothing quite as gross as a baby on the beach...



And last...my beach boys

Two Stamps

Yesterday, Matt and I celebrated our second anniversary. This year has been quite a year for us. Matt began grad school, we had our first child, we joined a new church, we traveled (with said baby, not too easy a feat), and started a photography business. whew, I'm tired just thinking about it! I know there are more things that I am forgetting but....

It's been an amazing year! There has been much learning, continuing to learn how to be married (one of our pre-martial counselors told us that it takes between 3-5 years to build a strong marriage, and we are hoping we are well on the way), learning how to be parents (a lesson that never ends I imagine), learning how to live in the most wickedly expensive state in the country (hopefully we won't be learning about this for forever)!

Yesterday we drove down to Santa Cruz to the beach. We ate lunch and stayed on the beach for a while, giving Joey his first dip in the ocean and time playing in the sand. He LOVED it! (pictures to follow). In the later afternoon Matt met a client (whose wedding he'll photograph in April) at her wedding/reception site for a few minutes and then we all went out for a glass of wine. Matt and I cruised some Santa Cruise shops afterward, and finished with THE BEST sushi dinner ever! It was a great day. Joey was a trooper (not really getting in his naps), staying cheery and happy even though we were out late. It was great to spend a day out, together as a family.

I am so happy with our marriage, our little family and our life. I feel very grateful to have a husband as sweet and caring as mine. Matt has worked very hard to help the business take off and support us as a family. The other day he said... that he was really doing something now that he thought he was good at, and that he liked. Well he is terrific at his photography, and it makes him happy, and me happy. We are very richly blessed in our life. What a second year! I can't wait for more!

Are we cute, or what?

Virginia in California

One of the most exciting things (at least for me!) this summer, was a visit from my dear friends the Karunakaran's, here in CA. The Karunakaran family are friends from Harrisonburg, and Covenant Presbyterian (my church in VA). I lived with their family before I moved to Honduras, and again (they weren't sick of me yet!) before Matt and I were married. They are so special to me!!

When we were visiting the East Coast a few weeks ago, we found out that they weren't in Harrisonburg, and we wouldn't get to visit with them there, like we usually did. Fortunately for us, they were on a tour of the West Coast and were flying out of San Francisco! After arriving on a Saturday night (they had plans to leave Monday morning) they came with us to church on Sunday, and later that day we visited the Jelly Belly factory. We also celebrated Susie's birthday on Sunday night with some cake and sparklers! Come Monday Susie, Miriam and Bethany wanted to stay with us (they were flying out of S.F. on Tuesday evening) and we convinced Dan and Eva to enjoy a night by themselves at their last stop (just a few hours away). Matt graciously watched Joey all of Monday while the three girls and I went to the mall, "Waterworld" (a great water park), and to see Journey to the Center of the Earth. These girls are such a joy for me to spend time with!!

On Tuesday when Dan and Eva returned, after some packing, we all trooped off to visit Chinatown in the city. We had a great time poking in shops and trying on clothes and after a great meal we said a sad goodbye. :-( Although we were hoping they might miss their flight and have to stay longer.... they made it. ;-)

Miriam and Joey at the Jelly Belly Factory


Matt and Joey sporting their ultra-cool J.B. hats


Dan and Eva!


Are 3 pretty girls too much for our little man to handle..... definitely not!




The birthday girl even let Mocha play with some of her ribbons...


Tuesday morning while the girls recovered from our late night, 3-D, movie adventure, Eva and I did a little shopping... Dan and Eva were so generous with us and wanted to buy Joey a present. All of the Karunakaran children enjoyed their walker so much, that we searched high and low for a walker for Joey. Joey really likes his walker now, and it's great to have, since we gave away all his baby-baby things. Here is a picture of Mocha enjoying the just-assembled walker while Joey was napping...


Joey also got another present! I know, so exciting. The Karunakarans bought Joey the Peek-A-Blocks, learning blocks. (I think these are really amazing!!)

They each have a letter on them, and then something inside that begins with the letter. The "K" has keys inside that move and rattle, the "P" has a penguin with falling snow, the "H" has a horse that you can turn. Joey loves to knock over the blocks when they have been stacked up. He appreciated the presents so much!! Thanks you guys!!

We had a really great time, the whole time they were visiting! I can't wait to see them when we are in Harrisonburg again! The girls were a great help with Joey and he had such a fun time playing with them. Matt taught everyone to play guitar hero, and he had a great time playing with them also! I can't rave enough about this visit. I'm still sad it had to end!

"All Done"

Parenting is such a funny thing. I know the things I am learning now, are just the tip of the iceberg and it's gonna be a GIANT iceberg, but sometimes it's just so funny! People joke that you spend all this time trying to teach your children to talk, and then you spend the rest of the time, trying to get them to be quiet. Well we are working hard to help Joey learn how to "talk" with his hands for right now. We practice saying "more", "mommy", "daddy", "milk", "hi", "bye-bye", and "all done". I have been wondering how much Joey understands "all done" for a while. He will do the sign when he is finished with a meal, after I have said "all done!" and done the sign myself. Now I'm sure he understands. A few days ago he started doing it, on his own, in the middle of the meal, when he is ready to be "all done". He does a particularly emphatic sign when it is a meal that he is not a fan of.

So while I am thrilled that he is learning to communicate (yea Joey!!), I'm also wondering why I taught him to say "all done" in the first place! Overall, though, we are very proud of our little/big boy!

Does anyone know the sign for "you need to finish your food and then you can be all done" ??

A New Read

I stumbled across this blog today from my friend, Lisi's blog. I thought it was great. If you have some time, I would definitely recommend a read! Enjoy!

Holy Experience

Josiah Thomas Beardsley

Ahhh, the post you've all been waiting for. What, you don't really care what we were doing a month ago?? huh?? You think I should be more up-to-date with posting.....well, do I have a post for you. This Friday, August 15, 2008, Josiah will be 11 months old!! 11 months! So here is an update about the past 11 months, a few days early. We hope you enjoy!

A few pictures to start us out:






And now the FAQs.... Joey weighs about 20 pounds (and I don't know how tall he is now, sorry!), which puts him in the 15th percentile, which is better than when he was under the 1st percentile, at 6 months. whew! He eats a ton so I don't really know why, but other than a little doctor pestering, which we have to endure, Joey himself seems very contented. He is still nursing (about 3 times a day) and he eats almost everything now! We are still holding off on a few of those key things he isn't supposed to have until after a year, (milk, egg whites, citrus fruits and strawberries, and of course, peanut butter). I'm looking forward to the time where he can mostly eat what we are eating! For now, I still make most of his food, but as he gets pickier (blah!) I usually feed him a jar of something he really likes (like sweet potatoes, or a baby dinner) and give him a few bites of that, and then a few bites of whatever dinner I made for him. He mostly eats purreed meats, rice and veggies for dinner, cottage cheese, or yogurt mixed with fruit and tofu for lunch, and oatmeal or cream of wheat mixed with a banana or fruit for breakfast. I try to give him lots of snacks during the day. Some of his recent favorites are: crackers, animal crackers, saltines, nutra-grain bars, cheerios, toast with jelly, and rice rusks. (those things are strange, and have no taste at all!)

Joey sleeps well, IF I can be diligent about his waking up schedule. He wakes up between 7:30-8:30, and I have to get him up then!! If I don't (well sometimes I mean to get up but I keep thinking I'll get him in a minute and he sounds so happy and is just playing nicely!) he sometimes just falls back asleep, which sounds nice in theory, but when he wakes up at 9 or 9:30, he is:

1. starving!
2. grumpy!
3. soaked!

You think I'd learn my lesson (because washing p.j's and crib sheets and loving a grump are not worth an extra hour of sleep!)....but sometimes at 7:30 I feel a little tired. So my lack of scheduling aside, if he is gotten up at a good time, he takes a nice morning nap at 10 or 10:30 and then an afternoon nap at 2 or 2:30. If he is NOT gotten up early, he can only take one nap.
He is, though, old enough that one nap is an option. We can make it through a day without major meltdowns on one nap, provided that I have enough snacks and juice.
He usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on what we were up to. He likes to read stories before bed and naptimes. He likes turning the pages, and tasting the pages.

Joey and Mocha have a fun relationship. I think they are both intruiged by each other and enjoy each other. Joey went through a phase where he would laugh whenever he saw Mocha. Sometimes Mocha will lay at Joey's feet when he is playing in the exersaucer. Joey likes to "pet" Mocha, which involves pulling on his fur, or whacking him, and Mocha is pretty tolerant most of the time.
Of course, Mocha has his own "older sibling" jealousy issues that we are working through:

Joey is crawling well now, and I haven't seen him army crawl in a long time! He is into everything! He knows that he can open cabinets, and he likes to play in Mocha's water, and find anything that is not a toy, so he can bang it, chew it, break it, throw it, eat it, roll it, chase it, or just pull it out of it's spot.


Joey has 7 teeth and loves that now he can take a bite of something and chew it up (no molars yet, but he can gum it up...).

He likes to watch older children and can even "play" a little bit! He's still very friendly with unfamiliar people and is often held by different people at church, without minding. He goes to the nursery at our gym and church without a glance behind him and is very adaptable. He is learning about "no" and what it is o.k. to touch and not to touch.

He still likes to swim in the pool that we have here!


Joey is not talking yet, but he babbles more than he used to. He waves Hi and Bye-bye whenever he can, and I think he is trying to sign "all done", which we've been working hard on! When he does, it looks like he is saying hi and bye-bye with both hands. He is working on learning more and drink.
Joey loves to be tickled, squeezed, thrown around, and chased. He likes anything that involves motion (he was saving it for outside of the womb ;-) and to get a snuggle you have to catch him asleep! He is very sweet, and loving and happy and we are so excited to be celebrating his 1st birthday in a little over a month. He is a wonderful blessing to us!



(Stay tuned, because I'm sure I am forgetting stuff that I'll share later!)

The Hennessey Clan

Here are some pictures from our visit with my side of the family (after Asheville and Harrisonburg) We were able to see my entire family including all of Joey's Great-Grandparents! He loved all the attention!:

We stayed with my Mom's parents in Winchester for a night, and saw them after our travels also! Pop-pop was a pirate for our visit! :-)

And Joey had a great time "playing" (throwing on the floor) with "toys" (random objects that were new to him) and visiting!




We spent lots of fun time with my family in Woodbridge, and Northern VA:









My friends from forever... Marnie and Jeff Laurion got to meet Joey for the first time! We were so glad to see them!


This is the view from the top of the Newseum in D.C.

Father and Son

I have some great pictures of Matt and Joey from our travels!




I don't know anyone who can make Josiah smile and laugh more! I am so lucky to have such a great husband, and Joey couldn't have a better father! I love to watch these guys together!