2009: A Year in Review

Happy New Year! This is from our Christmas letter, with links inserted:


As you know, 2009 held a special blessing for the Biddison family: the birth of Joshua Roger on March 24. Now sitting and babbling, Joshua especially loves being held and playing with his dog Bella and big sister Katie.

Katie is now 2 ½ and constantly cracks us up with her new phrases and songs. Our favorite current KatieWords are “moocus” (music) and “pockisool” (popsicle). She loves music and has especially taken to Sesame Street, Veggie Tales, the Muppets, and the movie “Annie”. Forever her mother’s daughter, she enjoys belting out “Tomorrow” at the top of her lungs.

John ... is a wonderful, hands-on father. He is teaching Katie to cheer for the Ravens (“caw caw!”), the Orioles, Hopkins lacrosse (“popkins”), and Maryland.

Jen still enjoys being a stay-at-home mom, and hasn’t been as overwhelmed by two kids as she had expected to be. She continues to be a part of Community Bible Study, maintain the family blog at http://ittybiddi.blogspot.com, and work a few hours a week as part of her web consulting business.

Other notable happenings of 2009 included a trip to Seattle in May to celebrate the wedding of Jen’s brother Stephen to the lovely Lindsey Rowe; the sad loss of Jen’s Grandma Roberts in early November; and several visits to John’s parents’ beach house in Bethany Beach, DE.

We pray the Lord blesses you and your family with a wonderful Christmas and 2010.

Merry Christmas!

Silent night, Holy night

Son of God, love's pure Light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth! Jesus, Lord at Thy birth!

Christ the Savior is Born! Christ the Savior is Born!

Happy Nine-Month Birthday, Joshua!

Joshua's nine-month birthday coincides with today, Christmas Eve, so we won't have our 9-month appointment (with measurements) until January. It's safe to say, however, that Joshua is a BIG BOY. He was 20 lbs. a month ago and seems to be bigger every day. Many of us have complained about our backs after holding him -- that includes Joshua's mommy, daddy, and strapping Uncle Daniel. Katie still weighs a little bit more, but since she's taller, she seems lighter, while Joshua is DENSE -- more pounds per square inch. :-)

Joshua is cutting his sixth tooth, which will give him all four front teeth as well as an extra one on both the top and bottom of the right side of his mouth. Sometimes he audibly grinds his teeth, and I joke to myself: "What kind of mom must I be that my nine-month-old baby is already grinding his teeth?" He also loves to chew on things. He enjoys gnawing on chins, particularly mine and my mom's. Favorite foods right now are diced veggies and fruit, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, meatballs (thanks for the tip, Sarah!), bread... well, basically any grown-up food he can get his hands on.

Joshua continues to practice his "da da da"-ing, and started headbanging this week. John and I each had a headbanging phase, so watching Joshua shake his head up and down sent me into hysterics. Other favorite activities include playing with balls, clapping, rolling around, and watching Elmo when he comes on (poor second child -- he didn't stand a chance of avoiding TV with a big sister who loves it so much).

Joshua is also THISCLOSE to crawling. He will lunge from a sitting position and get one knee under him and try to lunge further, but can't quite get that second knee facing the correct direction. I expect he'll figure it out by the end of the week.

Happy nine-month birthday, Joshua! And merry Christmas to all of you!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

We got a record December snowfall this week, and have enjoyed being snowed in as a family. What could be better than being snowed in with the three people you love most in the world? We've also been enjoying the snow. Highlights included watching Bella "snowplow" through the backyard to make paths for us to walk in, marvelling at snow that came up to Katie's waist and my knees, and Daddy teaching Katie how to make a snowman.

Joshua the Christmas Model

Sing along with me, to the tune of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"...

Joshua the Christmas Model
Had a very runny nose.
Good thing we've got a blog up
To show off all his festive clothes...

Yep, the kids have been sick more than they've been well for the last month, so I haven't had many opportunities to show off the collection of Christmas outfits we have for Joshua this year. When Katie was a baby, we had one Christmas outfit -- just one -- given to her by my grandma. Joshua has FIVE Christmas outfits this year.


First, from the pajama collection, a Santa-themed piece handed down to us from my friend Marce:
Continuing in the pajama theme, here's a reindeer-themed sleeper that says "Baby's First Christmas," given to Joshua by his Oma.


I bought this onesie, which reads "good things come in small packages," at the Old Navy outlet when I was looking for a long-sleeved red T-shirt for Joshua to wear under another shirt in colder weather.

Our friend Heather lent us this preppy little outfit since her sons are older. What a handsome little man!

And my personal favorite, the Santa suit. Thank you to Sharon for sending us Cousin Andrew's old Santa suit! I picked up a little hat at Michael's to complete the outfit. This photo was taken at the end of an evening when Joshua and I went out party-hopping. Needless to say, he got a lot of attention!
Merry Christmas from the Santa Baby!

It's Suspiciously Quiet...

I wasn't sure Katie had napped this afternoon, but got her up after hearing her move around upstairs for more than an hour. We played for awhile and then I let her watch Sesame Street while Joshua napped and I got some stuff done. After awhile I realized she was VERY quiet. Sure enough, still on the couch in front of the TV...

Joshua at 8 1/2 months

Teeth: I just discovered Joshua's fourth tooth. His teeth are coming in a very unusual pattern. Here are the ones he has so far:

Look out, young female "Twilight" groupies -- at this rate, my son is going to be a Vampire Baby!

Talking: Recently Joshua started saying "Da da" very distinctly. Yes, he uses it for general babbling. But this week it's obvious he's using it to mean his father. Whenever he sees Daddy, hears him on the phone, or even sees me answering a call, he starts cheering, "DA DA! DA DA!" It's quite adorable.

Eating: Joshua may only have four teeth, but he's not content to eat mush anymore. He may let me spoon food into his mouth for a little while, but then he tries to grab the spoon and cries if I don't give it to him. I tried a food grinder this week (thanks for lending it to me, Katie M!), and he enjoyed trying to scoop the tiny pieces up off his tray -- but boy did that make a huge mess (see above photo). The grinder makes tiny pieces suitable only for spooning into a baby's mouth -- the pieces are way too small to eat by hand. So now I'm just tearing up my own food into small pieces. I'm nervous about it, but he seems to be doing well so far. He's downing Goldfish, turkey, ham, bread, grape pieces, mashed potatoes, Cheerios, green beans, and anything else he can get his tiny little hands on.

Tiny? Well that may not be the best word -- he's over 20 lbs now, closing in fast on his big sister.