i didn't like it that much

doug and i have spent the last few months laughing hysterically, every time someone brings up disney cars and joseph loses his shiz. 

let me be quite clear about this. joseph lived and breathed lightning mcqueen and disney cars. i can't even emphasise that enough. like i cannot tell you how much he loved it. i swear we watched cars 2, once and sometimes twice a day, for about a year. 

we had everything lightning mcqueen. he would watch the movie, in his lightning pjs, or clothes (we are talking shirt, shorts, undies, socks, jumper, and even shoes with cars on them) playing with the cars from the movie, doing puzzles of cars, writing the names of the cars... while eating off his lightning mcqueen plate with his lightning water bottle. not joking. 

if we saw anything lightning mcqueen, he needed it. here we are spending our birthday money from aunty jenny.

birthdays were so easy. lightning mcqueen all day erry day.

i mean look at that happy face after unwrapping more cars stuff.

cars shirt, eating his cars decorated cake from nanna

and cars pj's brought home from the disney store in utah, again playing with cars toys.

but now, he claims, "i didn't like it that much!!" and then gets mad and storms off. well my son, i can assure you, you did like it that much. and more.

off to the hospital for dental surgery, in a lightning jumper, with a cars backpack.

the happiest day of his little life, at the cinema for the first time, to see cars 3. i have never seen a kid more excited in my life. that's when we were introduced to jackson storm, the first car to beat lightning mcqueen, who became joseph's arch nemesis. he was so mad about him beating lightning that he never got over it, in fact he had a pair of cars 3 pjs that had jackson storm on the front and after a little while, we had to rip the tag out of them, so lightning could be on the front and jackson had to be on the back.

yep. didn't like it that much.

i do hope these photos have proved just how much he "didn't like it" as i'm roaring with laughter all over again posting them up now.

he even got a ride on lightning mcqueen electric car for christmas from poppy and grandma. i can't describe the joy he experienced that day. 

anddd the lightning library bag nanna made you. joseph, you may not have liked it that much... but we sure remember it differently.

rip to lightning mcqueen in the kendall house, cause alex isn't even allowed to watch it now.

joseph is three!

my baby turned three today... and i am on the other side of the world! it seemed like the weirdest thing ever, with madeline and i watching him open his presents on facetime, but he didn't seem to be phased, because as far as he could see, mummy was right there!

little j with his mainly cars themed haul. he was so chuffed with his little bike (thank you gumtree!) and fold out lounge. this kid is so easy to please, anything red with cars and he is thrilled. 

it is crazy to think that six months ago, he was barely speaking at all, just the odd word here and there, and mostly just grunts, to the little chatterbox he is today. i just love his bright and energetic little personality!

bless my mum, she made joseph this adorable little cake and popped a lightning macqueen on top to make it to his liking and as you can see, he was thrilled to bits!

i love my little joseph so much and can't wait to cuddle him to bits when i get back... being away from him on such a special occasion certainly wasn't ideal, but i am sure that it will be easily forgotten at his age and he won't hold it against me.  

happy birthday little one. i hope three is the best year yet and that it's full of fun, just like you! ♥

a big boy haircut

we finally managed to get this little man in the chair at the barbers today and i cannot believe the difference a cut made. i think it aged him about 12 years and i can't even deal with it. i mean seriously, he's gone from being a baby to a little boy!

all his hair, gone! it's been so long since he let anyone touch his hair that we had started to call him samson... whenever you would ask him if he was going to have a haircut, he would cry no no! and then run away. even at the barber he sobbed and sobbed when we put him in the chair and eventually we had to let him watch a little video with the disney cars in it, whilst sitting on dougs lap in the chair. but we got it done! big big thanks to the awesome barber eli at babaz in ellenbrook... we are thrilled with little j's new cut. ♥

and last of all, here's a before shot of our little man before we got him in the chair... i still can't get over the difference!

2 years old ❤️

i can't believe it, but somehow i woke up yesterday and this adorable little blonde haired, blue eyed boy with possibly the sweetest face you've ever seen got older yet again and now he is two years old! and getting cuter by the day...

he woke up to these presents on the table and was so thrilled to see they were all for him that he made quick work of climbing onto a chair and getting in to them. 

i loved watching his face light up as he opened them and saw what was inside, squealing with delight. i love how excited he gets.

this month he cut his other two molars and some nights were not very fun, because he would wake up very upset and make sure i knew all about it. some panadol and teething gel seemed to help (sometimes...) he was obsessed with a fold out book that he got from a friend of ours for his first christmas called "my big fold out book of things that go." it's full of tractors and planes and trucks and he just loved it. it was pulled out day after day until it fell to pieces (and we are still looking for a replacement copy) he even said tractor and digger one day when we were looking at it which was a real feat as he still doesn't have a great deal to say. i know he'll get there, but he just doesn't seem to be keen on talking and makes his point in other ways. it's all about the trucks and cars for sure, when we see a ute, truck.... anything on the road he squeals and points to it and always has to have something with wheels in his hands or around about him as he plays. it's so cute that you can tell what kids love even at such a young age.

he is loving the wiggles song and does the finger wave every time he hears it... and even more so twinkle twinkle. i think i have heard him humming the tune as he totters about the place at least 5 times a day. madeline started school this month and he gets so excited looking around her classroom when we drop her off and again at the end of the day when she comes rushing out to us. i love that they love each other so much even though sometimes it means i have to listen to them squabbling. he loves to love and makes a big deal of smooching me on the cheek loudly when he is in the mood and will do it over and over. i just can't get enough of his cuddles. 

i can't believe he is two... and that he is all mine ♥

joseph is 23 months

cheeeeeeeeeeeese! i am 23 months now mum mum mum! only one more month until i'm 2! i still cannot get over how fast these past 2 years have gone, yet here i am, planning a little birthday party for this cutie! 

this month our joseph decided he had a hat obsession and spent most mornings collecting up his favourites from daddy's wardrobe, lining them up on the bed and then modelling them for me one by one. 

he got a 4 wheeler motorbike from his grandparents (dougs parents) for christmas and he loves the noise making buttons and scooting through the house at top speed.

joseph learnt (and quickly mastered) how to open doors and has made quite the game out of wandering into the kitchen everytime he is hungry and opening the pantry door (and still, as he has the last few months, the fridge door) to see what's on offer.

he cut three of his 2 year old molars and kept waking up on cue every night at 10pm to remind me something was wrong, silly mummy couldn't work out what it was until i did some investigating one night... ouchie!

andddddd, he made one attempt at climbing out of his cot and fell down smack on his bum... i think it was enough to put him off as he hasn't given it another try...

he and maddie love to play together (most of the time...) and i love to hear them laugh. i am so so lucky to be their mum. ♥

22 months old...

please little man... stop growing! somehow 22 months have flown by and here we are again... only 2 more months until my baby is 2 and this mummy is devastated at the very thought of it.

finally young master joseph has learned that bedtime is not the devil and settles happily into his bed and goes off to sleep instead of screaming for hours... when i tell him it's "bedtime joseph!" he even runs off into his room and tries to climb up the bars of the cot to get himself into bed, waiting for his daddy or i to lift him in.

this month joseph learned to say grandma, (an-maaa) after he heard madeline yelling it at the shops when we were looking for dougs mum. he also made his other grandmother laugh hysterically when we were facetiming one morning and we paused to bless the breakfast and he turned to the phone, put his finger to his mouth and shooshed her. it was too funny.

he has finally mastered please (eeeeeeeeeeee) and ta (ahhhhhh), which makes me happy, good manners are important to me, even in young children!

he is still completely obsessed with his toy cars and when his supply ran low last week, i went around looking under furniture and managed to locate 12 of them in one hit... clearly he has a good time with them.

he is one of the cutest kids alive, i am certain of it... and we are so happy to have him in our home. ♥

one of the outtakes... what a cracker of a kid!

21 months of joseph

what's that? another month down? um excuse me father time, can you slow down a little please? i would really appreciate it. our little joseph is at such a cute age and i want it to last as long as possible. 

he is still not a fan of bedtime, but he is getting there... the last few nights have been looking promising so let's keep our fingers crossed. he loves to pounce on unattended shoes and clop through the house and smile at any spectators as he does so. his current food obsession is watermelon pieces (i mean seriously, who could blame him, he obviously got that from his mama and his nanna!)

he is a little speedster and has perfected zooming through the house on madeline's little pink trike, the speed at which he takes the corners actually frightens me a little, i really need to make a video! when he wants to be cuddled, he loves to cuddle, especially first thing in the morning when he is busy watching his favourite show, "dinosaur train". he is trying to copy most of the words we shoot at him nowadays, but often misses the first syllable, meaning we get things such as um (mum) and ad (dad) even though he has got those two perfect more often than not.

when daddy comes home from work, he drops whatever he is doing and rushes for him smiling, with his hands in the air, wanting to be picked up and tickled. it's the cutest thing ever!when he is excited or sees something new he says: oooooooooooh! and... he hates to have his hair washed. let's hope that ends soon, cause it's getting old, very quickly!

he is certainly growing up, but for now he is my baby... and i am willing him to stay that way. ♥

joseph is twenty months

is it really that time again? another month has passed? well our little man is now 20 months old and getting into all kinds of mischief! he is obsessed with splashing in the fountain and throwing the pebbles into it, even though it makes his daddy angry, which makes him giggle even more. he has finally worked out the toddle bike that madeline used to ride and is scooting furiously up and down the backyard much to maddie's glee now that he can keep up with her. 

if something frightens him, he comes rushing to me calling, "mama mama mama!!" it is so adorable. i was nearby when he accidentally turned on the dryer the other day playing with the buttons and he quickly rushed off to me calling me. i love hearing his little voice and i am hoping he learns more words soon... he learned to say emma this month and everyone thought it was his cousin emma, but it was actually from watching the wiggles mini show emma, maddie used to sing the song over and over and over e-mm-a emma! e-mm-a emma! until one day he just her off and screamed emma himself as if to shoosh her. hilarious. 

he still loves his toy cars and everywhere we go he seems to have at least one wedged in his hands, more if he can manage it. he loves all his toys though and when he wakes up in the morning if there is nothing waiting to lift him out of his cot, he reaches over the end to grab the toys that are there and plays with them in his cot for a while. 

he is such a bundle of fun and energy, running everywhere and is so very rarely still. we love him so much and so glad he is ours ♥

nineteen months

again? wasn't it the 20th last week? this kid is growing up far too fast and it is frightening the heck out of me! 

he is completely toy car obsessed. he always has one (or two or three or even four, as many as he can fit!) clutched in his little hands and loves to drive them up and down any surface he can find, including my face! he is a real little boy, and loves dinosaurs and cars and making noise and getting dirty. we have only been at the new house for one day and he is already out the back at every opportunity possible throwing rocks into the fountain, splashing about in it, and running around like a mad man. he is definitely a boy. he also loves to make the brmmmmmmmm noises for his cars and clipclop noises for his little toy horse (bullseye from toy story)

he loves his cocoa pops for breakfast in the mornings and is that obsessed that one morning when i forgot to buckle him into his high chair (oops mum fail) and left the room for a minute with madeline in tow, he climbed out of his chair, down into the chair maddie had been sitting in and polished hers off too. crazy town! i nearly had a heart attack when i saw what he had done.

when we serve the food up, we call "joseph! prayers!" and he quickly pushes his arms together and squeezes his eyes shut (most of the time into a squint so he watch what we are doing) then waits patiently for us to say amen! before he gets into his food. adorable! 

he also loves to wave at people, he still doesn't say much, other than to yell and point to get what he wants, but as soon as you tell him "say bye joseph" he instantly breaks into a huge smile and waves madly as we walk away. 

cutest boy ever! ♥♥

18 months old ♥

it's happened again! baby joseph is another month old, and it is now a year and a half since this little one joined the kendall crew. your favourite song is "if your happy and you know it" and if you hear someone in the house singing it, you immediately begin to clap your hands along to the tune and smile that huge smile of yours. you love all the nursery rhymes you hear and always want your mummy and daddy to put on the 'mother goose club' (a channel with a group of children singing nursery rhymes and childrens song) and you would watch it and dance along all day long if we would let you. you love to dance along to music and your newest move is to stand still and stomp with one leg and use the other to dance in a circle. adorable.

you love to (sometimes!) play quietly in your room and read your books and occasionally i'll find you in there quite content and playing all alone. you've learnt what it is to be quiet and if we tell you to shoosh, you'll place your finger at your lips and make the shooooooosh noise. 

your last two teeth (for a while i hope!) have popped through just this week, completing your little set of 16 baby teeth. you have the sweetest toothy little grin and those dimples! to die for. you're still having troubles with your teeth though and you've become very clingy again... to the point that when i try and take you to nursery at church you cry and cry and sob until i have to come back and get you. sigh. attached to mama much?

you love your morning fruit and vegetable juice with mama, so much so, that sometimes when you finish the cup (seriously, he downs those in 20 seconds sometimes!) you'll come running back into the kitchen waving your cup and pointing it at me, waiting for a refill,

you've finally given up breastfeeding, we got down to one feed a day and then finally none, amazingly enough, it was exactly the same time wise that your big sister gave up. how funny!

you still don't talk too much, just a few words and not often.., we spoke to the child health nurse about it today and i mentioned that you understand everything we say, point at what you want and really make yourself known... thankfully she gave me the answer i had hoped for, that she also thinks there isn't anything wrong and you'll speak when you're ready, most probably when your chatterbox sister isn't there to say everything for you! haha. 

we adore you! you are sweet and cuddly and just our little joseph! ♥

seventeen months ♥

another month has raced by and now he's another one older! :( where is my sweet little baby going?

he is obsessed with switching power points on and off, slyly looking at us while he does so... on off on off on off on off... he also loves the tv remote, turning the tv on, changing the channel, turning the volume up load! 

he's also taken up crawl around the floor with your nose down like a sniffer dog... it is hilarious to watch and makes me laugh so hard.

he loves toy cars and zooming them along the ground, swinging in your swing for hours on end and chocolate! he can't get enough of it in his little face and always point at wherever you have seen it come from and make a lot of noise in the hopes that mummy will give in and let you have more.

he stood at the side of your bath and said "up up up up up!" over and over until i put him in, so excited to get in and splash about. there are two teeth poking through in his bottom jaw, ready to complete your set of baby teeth. ouch! 

he are still trying very hard to talk and making lots of noise, but certainly getting his point across. 

as adorable as always!

we have a 16 month old!

this boy is the funniest! 90% of the time he is happy and laughing and trotting around the house making mischief. he runs quickly on the spot sometimes when he is excited, a few quick steps and then rushes off again, funny little thing.

he has so many troubles with his teeth though, such a change from madeline, hers just came through without any problems, where this baby is always grizzling and grabbing at his gums when one arrives which seems to be every second week. boo. he has 14 teeth now! someone call the dental police!

he has started to do what we call baby yoga, when he leans forward and put his hands then head on the ground and makes a triangle shape, all the while giggling and looking side to side to make sure we are watching. he and maddie are always together, up to something...

nothing has made me laugh harder than this though. joseph has worked out where we keep bowls in the cupboard and obviously associated them with food, so when he is hungry, he trots into the kitchen, helps himself to a bowl, then comes and hit me in the leg with it. as if to say, "what are you doing woman! get me some food!" it is the funniest thing!

he is still not saying much, i guess it's hard to get a word in edgewise with madeline around, but he has started to say up!

we love him!

baby boy besties

i am in love with these two boys

melchizedek and joseph, born 7 months apart, who already love to see each other and laugh and squeal excitedly when they do.

they are even happy to sit and pose together for their mamas to watch them and snap pictures.

the sweetest boys there are, as different as night and day, but already...

the best of friends ♥♥