Little Man

Our little man

our baby boy

you bring us so much

pure, pure joy

6 Days..and Toddlerhood ...

Six days from now Joey will turn one. He will no longer be my "fill in the blank"-month-old, he will be my one-year old.  I think I will refer to him as 13 months, 14 months, etcetera because I can. 
Today Joey officially became a toddler. Does that mean he is no longer a baby? Agh. Are babies toddlers?  Are toddlers babies?  Are they mutually exclusive because I cannot digest the thought.  Why does motherhood make me so sentimental?  I don't think I can blame it on leftover pregnancy hormones anymore. Ha..

And because I want to remember, this is how it went.  After really taking his true first steps as a very wiggly seven and a half month old (two or three of them, from me to his playhouse in his bedroom) and a parent imposed hiatus from the ventures of walking, Joey took his first self-motivated, completely independent sequence of more than three steps today.  He has been able to walk for quite some time now.  Most people have not seen him do it because I really don't think he actually liked doing it until today.  Regardless, he has only been walking when really coaxed off an object like the couch or if we hold him up and then have him walk from person to person. 

Today, I was sitting on the couch watching him while he was playing independently.  I had ruffled the toys in his little wicker box so that the toys that had been on the bottom were now on the top and I was watching him explore.  He was holding his little ball that is half green and half pink and makes a chiming noise when he shakes it and standing unassisted next to his box shaking away.  I thought to myself how there was a marked difference in him today.  All of the sudden he was constantly just standing and holding on to things like toys or remotes (!) instead of the couch or the wall or something else to support him. 

He stood there shaking and shaking and I watched, amazed at how he was just standing there playing as if he does this all the time.  And then, like it was nothing, he walked slowly, perfectly, and cautiously, pausing to catch his balance, and kept going all the way from the box he was standing by to his little play table that was pushed against the wall.  It took him about eight steps.

I immediately called Joe and recounted the story to him.  I could hear the excitement in his voice and in that moment I remember feeling just how grateful I was that I was here to watch this moment in time.  So grateful. I hung up the phone with Joe and Joey did it again. And has been doing it all day. He's a toddler now, just like that.  This has been such a special day.

Nemesis

Joey's arch enemy.

The PURPLE PEOPLE EATER.

This thing eats people.  Joey is sure of it.

Obviously this is something we need to work on. :o)

We get courage from mommy's lap.

Enough courage to even touch the monster.

Even if only with one very little finger.

And with some prompting the bravery keeps flowing.

By the end of our little ritual we can even sometimes catch a little smile.

Sadly, the whole saga repeats every time the Purple People Eater appears.

But we're working on it.

In the meantime it's a little sad but really so cute.

Joey, What's a Monkey Say?

Turn your volume up, Joey has an itty bitty voice. :o)

We're working on puppy dog, kitty cat, snake, monkey, and mouse.
We'll keep practicing, but he's clearly trying.

We're so proud of our little monkey!

7/7/10

Two years ago on our first anniversary we were doing this

Sunset cocktail cruise in Bermuda.

After our morning consisted of this.

This year, on our anniversary, we were joined by this little man

And after my boys greeting me in the morning with flowers and a delicious family breakfast

We packed up and headed out to spend our morning at Claws and Paws.

A mommy and her baby joey ... get it? Ha!

Look at who we found at Claws and Paws!! It 's Felicia. J was so excited! He just kept waving.

Felicia! Papa, what is she doing here?!

Joey's favorite animal by far was the Mountain Coati. (?!?)

I have no idea why, he wasn't very bright or loud.

The Mountain Coati loved J too and came right up to him. It was cute.

He also loved some of the birds which were on display, like these little guys.

Mr. Giraffe was also quite a big hit.

J couldn't get close enough.

Well, hello Mr. Giraffe.

Daddy helped Joey get a better look.

For a second, I envisioned what would happen if the giraffe decided to come see Joey just a little closer.

  But I guess giraffes don't eat babies. :o)

Our favorite part of the day by far was getting to meet these little lories.

And I really mean meet them. Look at Joey's little face! Ha.

It was such an awesome experience! So fun! I think Joe may have had the best time of all.

Hi birdie.

The birds really took a liking to my two J's.  They each made some new buddies.

Aren't these pictures awesome?!

This is Joey being a "So Big" silly monkey. Ha! The shirt was from Lola .. perfect for the park.

Measuring J's foot against the dinosaur's.  We hope to repeat this picture every year. 

It will be so neat to see the difference!

After the park we came home and all took naps.  It was h.o.t. and Joey wasn't the only one who ended up sleepy. Plus, who doesn't love a nap?

Later that night Joe and I dressed up and headed off to Rossi's sans baby.

We ate at Rossi's on our anniversary last year too and had to leave early because I was so sick due to the little baby in my tummy.

It's so neat to think of how things have evolved over the past three years.

We had a happy anniversary this year indeed.

I can't wait to see what the next one brings :o).

Check It ...

 J at 11 months and 3 days.

Notes for us, so we don't forget: Joey actually took his first steps at seven and a half months.  He was so fearless that we stopped encouraging walking because we realized it was dangerous for him.  He just simply was not concerned about falling. Somewhere around nine months he started to get cautious and now he is still afraid to let go.  He is now starting to gain his confidence back little by little at 11 months old

Three Years Ago Today

We were getting ready to be married.

At our rehearsal dinner. Look at our cake!

At our house before we went our separate ways for the night.

This was the last time we saw each other before I walked down the aisle.

I am so grateful for my marriage. For my sweet, strong, compassionate, providing, supporting, loving husband.  These last three years feel like they have just flown right by, I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow we will celebrate the foundation of our life, the foundation of our family, and our public declaration of our love and commitment to each other.  What a wonderful thing we have to celebrate!

Love you babe! *smooch*

Joey, you are 11 months old!

My Sweet Little Love,

     I remember thinking when you were five months old that I so loved that age.  Five months olds play, but are still so dependent. They smile and reach, but still lay on their backs in your arms and drink you in.  I couldn't imagine anything better. Now you are eleven months old and I now know there will never be a need to imagine anything better. Every day, everything just keeps getting better. You continue to bless us with your magical self and we are loving watching you grow.  I never imagined I could love you so much.

You are oh so active now and into everything.  You are such a good boy though, so it is wonderful to watch you explore your world.  You are starting to listen and understand what the word "no" means.  You usually get told no when you are moving towards a fan or the dogs' food bowl.  You find both of these things just too good to resist.

Earlier in the month we were playing in your playroom and you kept crawling up to your fan and trying to stick your fingers in.  I would tell you no each time, and mostly you would stop short of the fan as I verbally warned you.  After a couple of repeat performances, I watched as you crawled up to the fan, stopped about 8 inches in front of it, sat down and shook your head no.  You glanced my way and then just sat in front of the fan letting it blow on you without touching it even one more time.  You reprimanded yourself! Bless your little baby heart. You are so good, so sweet, so well intentioned.

You are starting to understand so much now. It is amazing to watch you grow in your understanding of the world that surrounds you.  You wave at people all the time now, you love everyone (family, friends, and strangers alike), you wiggle your fingers to get people to sing the Thumbkin song to you, you are able to climb up onto the bottom step of the staircase, you play sleep if someone lays their head on a blanket or pillow on the floor, you play peek-a-boo with whatever you have (a bib, the curtain, etc.), you give five, you kick your feet when we practice swimming with you in the big pool, and you love love love to roll your trucks and trains around when you play. You figured out how to turn your walking toys around once they hit a wall all on your very own. You like to turn the lights on and off with grandma and you continue to love your peek-a-boo lion book. You much prefer the big pool to the little pool and you really enjoy playing in your water table on the deck.

      Your personality continues to be absolutely delightful.  You give unsolicited kisses (so sweet!), but you reserve most of them for Mommy. You laugh so heartily at things you find funny or ticklish.  Daddy is hands down the funniest person you know.  He is really the only person who can consistently solicit a belly laugh from you without even touching you.  It seems that you think everything he does is even funnier when we're in the pool.  One of my favorite things that happened this month is that you decided that you love to snuggle again. Last month, once you started to get very mobile, you really didn't like to be held very much unless you were being carried.  You learned how to wiggle to get yourself down and would consistently try to get out of being restrained.  For some reason, this month things are much different and you love to snuggle up and lay with me to watch sesame street or even sometimes to take a nap.  We do this almost everyday and I always think about how grateful I am to be home and have these moments with you. 

     You are still basically the same size you were last month, still wearing all the same sizes.  You continue to eat well and sleep wonderfully.  As has been the case, you are willing to eat anything and will eat lots of it.  Your favorite place to sleep is still your crib, and you still take two naps and sleep twelve hours at night.  For some reason, you sleep best when you are home with Mommy.  We are so lucky because you still just let us set you down in your crib and walk away.  You roll over immediately and happily fall asleep.  I was so worried that once you got mobile and were able to pull up etc. our luck would run out with your easy bedtimes but so far everything is still so wonderful.  You still only have your two bottom teeth, but they are now more clearly visible.

     Baby J, this is your last month as an 'insert number'-month-old. Soon you will be my big one year old and I can't even type this without feeling the lump in my throat. I will treasure this month as it is bittersweet for me -- I love watching you grow, I know we are so blessed, but there is part of me that just wants my baby to stay little.  Maybe Mommy and Daddy will just give you lots of brothers and sisters and we will always have a baby in the house. Ha. We are planning your birthday celebrations, have been for some time now, and are so excited to celebrate the incredible joy, love, and light your have brought to our family in your first year.

Love you to the moon and back,

Mommy