Friday, July 24, 2009

Four Whole Months?!?


Well....Joe turned four months old this week. Four months! That's one third of a year! It's shocking for me to say this now, but I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. If you had asked me one month in, I couldn't have imagined how well we all would have adjusted in just four months. Actually, I probably would have said I didn't know if I'd make it four months! (I couldn't see past the sleepless nights at that point)

He's grown so much! We don't know exactly how much he weighs but he is definitely filling out his 3 month clothes and he's got chunky little legs, arms and cheeks now! He goes to the doctor on Monday for his 4 month vaccinations so we'll have the official results then. I can't wait to see! And yet....sometimes I'm so sad to see him growing up. Everyday he looks more and more like a little boy.

For any Aggie's out there, you'll appreciate that he had his first trip to Freebirds (burritos for anyone not familiar). He slept through the entire visit. I had him in the sling and as loud as it is in there, he slept like a log. THAT's how much he loved Freebirds. I'm sure he'll be a regular.....once he's on solid foods that is.

We also went to the day care center Joe will be attending and met his teachers. The class is really small. There are four babies (all boys) and two teachers. He'll have lots of time to play and will even be learning sign language. I can't wait to see how that works! He starts day care on August 3rd, but Grandma will be staying for a while to pick him up half day and ease him in gently. He's a really easy going baby, so hopefully it will be an easy transition. I really don't know how we are going to do mornings once Grandma leaves. Mom and Dad are going to have to do alot more planning ahead of time....for sure.

Joe's been really busy lately. Here are a few of his latest activities:
  • Watching TV - It's facinating. He will just stare at the TV when we turn on Noggin. If we are holding him and we turn away from the TV, he will turn his whole body around to watch it again!
  • Touching EVERYTHING with his feet - he loves to touch leaves and push around papers and kick around in the sink water.
  • He's starting to reach for things and grab a hold of toys. He doesn't have great control over his hands yet, but he's learning.
  • Talking - he loves to tell me about his day when I get home from work. He even makes facial expressions to go along with the stories. Its so convincing! I think he'll be talking soon. He clearly has a lot to say.
  • Hugging - ok...this one may just be accidentally on his part, but I love it anyway. So does Grandma.
  • Teething - we think he's started teething. He's chewing on his hands and our hands, drooling like crazy and crying like he's in pain until he starts chewing on something. I think it's too early for this....I hope that doesn't mean it will go on for longer than it needs to.
Alex and Maddie are on vacation this week in California and I know Joe misses them. They are having tons of fun, but I'm sure he'll be so excited to see them when they come back tomorrow and happy, happy, happy their back.

Friday, July 10, 2009

What's been going on with us lately

My niece and nephew, Easton and Lauren, came to visit from San Diego. We were so excited to see them and they were so excited to meet Joe for the first time! It's been about 7 months since we've spent time with them. We took them to visit NASA and The Children's Museum and rode the train in Hermann Park. Mostly, we did a lot of swimming since its been SO hot here and Joe got to show off his new water moves. He's a natural if I do say so myself.





We attempted to take Joe to his first July 4th fireworks show. I say attempted, because we were great all the way up until about 5 minutes before we needed to leave. Then the meltdown ensued. Needless to say Alex, Maddie and Paul had to go without us. We did manage to get a really cute picture of him in his "All American Hunk" outfit that was purchased just for the occasion.

The major news of the week is that we had Joe's follow up appointment with his pulmonologist to take a reading from his monitor and see if he has officially been episode free for a month. And the verdict is.....YES! NO MORE MONITOR! He's a free baby! I think Mommy and Daddy are happier than him. He actually didn't seem bothered by it at all. He didn't even wake up when the alarms went off....but we sure did.

For anyone keeping track, Joe is now 11 lb and growing like a weed. He looks so "healthy" these days. I visited a friend of mine who just had a baby on July 3 and her daugher is about 6.5 lb. She looked incredibly tiny. It's hard to remember that Joe was even smaller than that! We were so excited when he reached 5 lb when we brought him home and look at him now! Amazing how time flies and how fast they grow. Everyone always says that but now that I'm living it I can see how very true it is.

I promise to do better about writing posts. I really never realized how very little time I'd have to do these things once I went back to work. But I quickly found out.