Well, a long month has passed, and we are finally all home to stay. We have been all over the place for the last month, doing a major road trip where we met lots and lots of people for the first time. I have to say that we are AMAZED at Joshua's travelling over so many weeks, he was a real trooper and did a great job over thousands of miles. We are including lots of pictures of our adventures, and just some of the special people that he met along the way. We went swimming, visited the Lincoln Park zoo, saw Mount Rushmore, ate at LOTS of yummy places (yay Chicago) and visted and visited and visited with lots and lots and LOTS of relatives and friends, who were all so gald to meet the newest Pagel/Schroeder.
The trip went: Edmonton - Whitewood SK - Winnipeg, MB - Winkler, MB - Eau Claire, WI - Chicago, IL - Cedar Rapids, IA - Des Moines, IA - Omaha, NB - Rapid City, SD - Great Falls, MT - Calgary, AB - home! Our new van has over 8000kms on it already. We are so glad we had it, though, as it is a wonderful road trip machine!
I just got back from 8 days in Cincinnati, OH, where I attended the WASBE (World Association of Bands and Ensembles) conference. It was SO hard to leave my little sweetie pie, but he was spoiled by his Grandma Laura and Grandpa Rich while I was gone. He is sleeping like a champ, which is new since I left, so I am eternally grateful to my mother-in-law as well as my husband for this. We should have trained him a lot sooner!!! The conference was truly amazing and I am re-inspired about my career, and am once again convinced that balancing my professional and personal lives will be challenging but very worthwhile.
As for Joshua at age 6 months, we are quite sure that he has said both Ma-ma and Da-da, can roll all over a room, had his first REAL crawl yesterday (he's been VERY close for weeks) jumps like crazy in his "bounceroo" - he gets air all the time! - and is weighing in at close to 19lbs. He is constantly rubbing his gums, though no teeth are palpable just yet. He is a very happy boy and we are continually reminded how lucky we are to have him. I truly don't remember life before him, nor do I really want to!
