Joey's First Christmas

I remember last Christmas (2009) I was 32 weeks pregnant. huge... miserable...but also waiting with anticipation for my sweet baby to be here. I remember thinking that this time next year I will have toys everywhere and excitement of my little guy. Well fast forward (way to fast) and Joey's first Christmas has come and gone. And I think Santa left every toy he made this year at my house. :)


For Christmas eve we went to Mom's house. It has been a tradition as long as I can remember that on Christmas eve my mom's side of the family has always gotten together. We used to always go to Grandma's house when was little. We always had good food and then opened presents. I remember being so excited to open presents and get home and wait for Santa. It is one of those feelings of anticipation/excitement you don't get to feel that often. For the past few years it has been at mt mom's house. But this year was different. It was the first Christmas without Grandma being there. She passed away in September, but I am sure she was looking down from above watching her children, grandchildren and great grandchild celebrate this holiday. Christmas will always remind me of Grandma. She loved Christmas. When Joey is older I will tell him stories about all of the Christmas Eve's I can remember. And we will creates new memories and traditions so that he will always be able to remember.

On Christmas day we wnt back to Mom's. Christian's mom and sister came up from Florida for the day. And Joey got more toys. I seriously don't know where I am going to put all of this stuff. :) It seems like time just goes by to fast. Especially now. I sometimes wish I could stop time. Just pause in a moment and treasure it for ever. I guess that is why I take so many pictures. I look back at them all the time and remember his little smiles and faces he would make. He is the most amazing gift I will ever get. Better than any Christmas gift could ever be.

Going to see Santa

We attempted to go see Santa Claus at the Mall in Hilton Head last Thursday. You would think that the week before Christmas Santa would be there at 3 pm. WRONG. Apprantly Santa is only available on the weekends from 11am to 6pm. I forget sometimes that we live in such a small town with the biggest joke of a mall there ever was.

So we tried again this week and Santa was there. Joey did really well. He wasn't afraid of Santa at all. He just looked at him and smiled. Although he did look at Santa's glasses a few times with all intentions of taking those things off. :)

So yet another one of Joey's first to add to the list. his first time sitting on Santa's lap. And tomorrow night Santa will visit him for the first time!

Oh Christmas Tree

The tree is officially up! It took much longer than it ever has before. That would be because of a little guy name Joey who is capable of crawling and getting into ornaments. And when mommy does not let him get them he is very mad. lol. You can try bribing the child with every toy he has, but with there are tubs of sparkly new things good luck with him not wanting to get into it.

After it was done though and I held him next to the tree and the lights sparkled in his eyes he suddenly had the biggest smile on his face. it is one of those moments that will always be frozen in my memory. It is another one of those firsts that you only get to experience once. Of course there will be many more Christmas trees and he will smile bigger each year, but that first look will remain priceless.

So later this week, we will make sure that daddy gets up the lights on the outside of the house and the rest of the ribbons and I will of take pictures of everything. I am so excited about Christmas this year. I can't wait for Joey to get to experience the fun of all things Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2010

Joey's first turkey dinner

Yum. Yum. Yum. Its was great food and fun as always for Thanksgiving. The turkey and gravy and rice and butter beans and mac and cheese and all of the other goodies were so very good. We went to mom and dad's as usual and our friends Jen and George came with us. Their family is in Ohio and they go home for Christmas, so they stay here in Hilton Head for Thanksgiving. Also joining us were long time friends of the family Sherry and George. Yep. We had 2 George's for dinner. :)

It was Joey's first Thanksgiving. Not that he really understands what "thanksgiving" means. I am certainly thankful for him. He was so much fun to watch as he picked up little pieces of turkey and rice. It was his first time eating this type of turkey. He did ok with it. much of ended up on the floor, which Hercules was happy about. He had his 1st Thanks giving shirt and his turkey bib, so if anything he was adorable!


 We got Joey these really cute first Thanksgiving pajamas. We bought these a year ago on clearance for like $2. He wasn't even born yet. We did the math and figured he would be about 9 months old, so we got the 9 months size. It fit... barely. He wore them last night. I love that the feet say little....turkey. so cute! 

So he is at Mimi's house for the weekend, while mommy and daddy deal with the crazy Black Friday shoppers tomorrow. Should be interesting! As least we get a good nights sleep before dealing with all of the crazies. :)

Keeping up with Joey

It still amazes me that in 9 short months, Joey has gone from this tiny (ok... who am I kidding, he was never exactly tiny) little helpless guy to a rolling over, sitting up, crawling, pulling up, standing on his own guy. He is interested in everything around him. it is so much fun to watch him learn and grow. He figures out toys in no time, pushing buttons and pulling on them. HE IS SO SMART! and fast. I mean you put him down and he is across the room. I'm lucky if he stops for 5 minutes because a toy has caught his attention. The more buttons, noises etc... a toy has the better.

He is so curious about his surroundings and I swear he finds the tiniest pieces of paper or fluff from a dog toy. Tonight he explored into the kitchen and found the end of the splenda packet that I must have dropped this morning when I was making coffee. He points at it with his finger, but if its not picked up quickly by mommy or daddy then its going  straight to the mouth. speaking of mouths. poor kid is teething again. I think #5 with be making its debut soon. which probably means #6 isn't to far behind. We seem to get them in twos.

He had his 9 month checkup last week. He is weighing it about 22lbs and is about 30 inches long. still in that 50-75% range. He is able to eat meats now so we have had fun with that this weekend. He likes chicken, but he isn't so sure about hamburger meat. No food is safe now, because if you have it then he wants its. We were eating popcorn and watching a movie last night and he was reaching for the bowl. "NO" isn't in his vocabulary yet (but we are working on that one).

Pumpkins and monkeys and candy... oh my!

October was such a busy month! and boy did it fly by fast! Joey turned 8 months on October 12th. We took some great pictures with the pumpkins we picked at the pumpkin patch at Cahills market in downtown Bluffton. We went with Leah and Alice to go see the pumpkins. they had so much fun together.

Of course to Joey all things are "a drum" so he found the pumpkins extremely fun to beat on.

He is getting stronger and stronger and is doing this kind of army, inch worm, crawl thing. He sure can get to where he wants to go.  And he is pulling up on anything he  can get his hands on. This guy is strong! So string that he now thinks it is funny to pull his bibs off. This is not funny to mommy, because he drools so much he soaking wet after a little while.

We also had Joey's first Halloween. even though he is little and can't eat the candy it was till fun to dress him up in his monkey suit and of course made for some adorable pics! We went to Mimi and Pop Pop's in Savannah and went to a few neighbors houses. He wasn't so sure about the costume but was a good sport about it. Next year he will be walking running around so that should be fun!

My first Halloween... lol!

Joey in his bib that Mimi gave him

We have a tooth!!

So after months of drooling and gumming everything in sight, Joey finally cut his first tooth! It is on his lower right side. and boy has he earned this first one.

I have to say that so far this whole teething thing has been the most difficult thing of parent hood. I know he is only 7 months old and there will be more stressful things to come. I did OK with lack of sleep and "mommy brain" many days. I did OK with going back to work and having to take him to the sitter for the first time. He (I) only cried for a minute for his first shots, but there have been some days I have almost pulled my hair out with these teeth. I just feel so bad for him. And of course I know it could be worse. I have heard some crazy stories. and he is a tough little guy. 

The one next to it is going to break through any time now.  So he will have that cute little smile with only 2 teeth. Although I will say I am going to miss that little gummy grin. :)

Mmmmmm... Carrots are good!

Today we gave Joey his first official solid food! Ok... well as solid as baby food can be. He had carrots. After a few faces of uncertainty, he actually seemed to enjoy this new experience. I have to say, at least the carrots smelled better than the rice cereal, so I would imagine they had to taste better too. Baby food sure looks alot different then what I remember. It used to be little round glass jars and now it comes in little rectangular plastic containers. The good thing is they are resealable and you can refrigerate them for up to 3 days. Being that we are trying "food" a little bit at a time, Joey will be munching on this one tomorrow also.

Adventures with rice cereal

At Joey's 4 month checkup the Dr. said we could start trying rice cereal as an introduction to solids and when he gets closer to 6 months to start some of the solids. We have been working on eating rice cereal for a few weeks now. At first Joey was not so sure about the whole sitting in the high chair thing. He is quite the wiggle worm, so he thinks its funny when I try to put him in there to move his feet. On the first try we got a few bites in. He was still trying to push it out with his tongue and made the funniest faces when he was attempting to "eat". Each night he eats a little bit more and now he opens his mouth for me when he sees the spoon. He loves sitting in his high chair now too. So this week I think we are going to attempt carrots as our "first food".

Mommy's all-star

I love baseball. Yep. it is probably my favorite sport. I always remember watching baseball on TV growing up. I even went to a few Atlanta Braves games with my Dad. I remember the stadium being so big... but maybe it was because I was "little". I played softball in middle school and high school. It was so much fun. It is such a classy sport... well if you can call a sport classy. The uniforms are usually nice and neat. No crazy colors or logos (for the most part). It has tradition.

Baseball is the one sport that my hubby and I can agree on. We are both Yankees fans. I'm not sure when I became a "Yankee fan", I know when I was little I watched the Braves, but some where along the way I started watching the Yankees. I think its the pinstripes... they do have a great looking uniform. :) But they have some great players. I was so excited last year when they won the World Series. I even wrote in Joey's baby book. So one day he can say "the yankees were World Series champs when I was born!" that and it snowed! (It never snows in Hilton Head, SC) but that's a whole other story.

So tonight Joey watched part of the All star game with us. I'm not sure what he really sees when he looks at the TV, but he sure seemed interested. I have never been to a Yankee game, well i have never been to New York for that matter. So I hope that the love of baseball and our 1st Yankee game is something me and my little all-star can share. :)

Joey's first vacation!

The first year of a baby's life is filled with "firsts". Even though all of these things your baby will probably do a million times, there is something special about capturing those first moments. Joey is 4 1/2 months old now and we have had so many fun firsts. This past weekend we had a bunch of "firsts". Not only did we have our first vacation with a 5 hours drive to Florida to go see Nana, but he also got to experience the beach and the pool for the first time.

We left on Friday morning... days, yes days before this I was doing laundry and packing Joey's things. Being this was the first time we have gone out of town with him, i really wasn't sure how much or even what to take. So I started with the obvious... diapers, wipes, formula, etc. That was easy. you can never have to much of any of that. But when I went to try to figure what clothes to bring... well... I think I went a little overboard. He is going through this phase right now where he is drooling like crazy (I'm pretty sure he is teething) so we go through a bunch of bibs everyday. Sometimes is so much he gets the tops of his shirts wet (which he hates) so we end up changing that to. So I packed a bunch of bibs, a bunch of onesies and some other stuff. needless to say we had more stuff for the kid than for ourselves. lol.

The trip started out well. He had his toys in the back and then took a nap. We stopped in Darien, GA to change and feed him and walked around for a little bit at the outlets there. I wanted to get him out of the car seat. Then we got back on the road. We stopped at the Florida visitors center and got out and stretched again. And of course did the obligitory photo in front of the "Welcome to Florida" sign. We were probably about half way there and he just started crying like he was saying "I'm over being in this car, get me out!" I couldn't blame him... I was tired of being in the car myself. I ended up jumping in the back seat, making him a bottle and feeding him as we were driving. he went back to sleep and was fine until we got there. We got checked in, had dinner and he was so tired I laid him down on the bed and he was out. Little itty bitty guy in the king size bed was too funny.

On Saturday we woke up (at 7am... Joey doesn't understand vacation time yet) and got ready to go to the beach. this meant lots of sunscreen and his new monkey swimsuit from Gymboree. Then we lugged the cooler and our bags and towels down to the beach. I guess all of that walking made him sleepy, because he was passed out by the time we got down there.

Once he woke up, he played in the sand and got to put his feet in the ocean for the first time. He wasn't to sure about the water (it was a little cold).
Then we went up to the pool for a little while. i had bought this great turtle floatie thing for him at Target and was excited to try it out. he was not so excited... After that it was time to go to the room and take a nap... all of us. :)
So we learned a lot of things from this first trip as a family of 3. Well... we learn new things everyday being parents. you figure out what works best and what to never try again. You realize that not everything you read while you were pregnant will happen and that it is possible to do stuff with a little one. the biggest thing you learn is that you have to plan things, yet still be flexible. because what baby needs/wants comes first. We have 3 more days of vacation left... then back to work. Joey starts with his new nanny on Friday and his 4 month checkup is in the morning. So a few more "firsts" will be added to the list. It is hard to believe its almost July. Time does fly... even more reason to really enjoy all of the "firsts". :)

Rolling over

The days of being still are gone for my little guy. He is officially rolling over. both ways... from his back to his front... from his front to his back. There is no keeping this kid still. He has been really good at getting on to his side for a while now. in the past few days he has finally figured out how to get his arm out of the way and get all the way over.

He goes to the Doctor for his 4 month checkup on the 24th of this month. One of the things they check for is to make sure he is strong enough to push himself up. Well no problem there... He loves sitting up already with help, so I'm sure he will be sitting up on his own in no time.

My First Mother's Day

There are many things in your life you get to experience for the first time. Today I celebrated my First Mother's day as a Mom (Not that I haven't been a "mom", because of course I have my furbabies... Lexie, Maggie and Annabelle.) But today meant so much more because now understand what it feels like to have a child on Mother's Day. It makes you respect and appreciate all of the Mom's out there.

We went to Savannah today and had lunch with Mom, Dad and Bren. After that we took Joey to meet his Great Grandma Christine for the first time. Grandma is in a nursing home so it has been difficult to take him before now because he was so little. She was so excited to meet him and he smiled and smiled at her.

                                 Joey and his Great Grandma Christine

The older you get you understand how important family is. Even though Joey is little now, one day he will be able to look back and have all of these wonderful memories that we are creating everyday. Life goes by so fast that sometimes we just have to stop and reflect on what is really important. The little things don't matter and even though there are rough times as long as you have the ones that love you... You can make it through anything.

My favorite boys! You are my world! I love you!

What day is it?

I woke up Monday morning at 7:15 am to my alarm going. Normally I wake up because Joey is stirring and is about to get up. But on this particular morning the alarm went off. I hit the button and rolled over. Christian said to me " Did you get up with him?" I said "no, you didn't?" He said no. I had to think to myself... What day is this? Maybe I was disoriented because I had just slept a whole 8 hours. I can not tell you the last time I slept that long. Must have been before I was pregnant, because I certainly didn't sleep well during my pregnancy. In the beginning because I had to pee all the time and then as the bump got bigger, there was no getting comfortable.

Anyway, back to Monday...  It was the first night my little guy slept through the night! He slept from 11pm to 7:15am. I was so excited. But somehow during the day I didn't feel as rested as I thought I should. Maybe because I have gotten used to only 5-6 hours of sleep at a time. Either way I was still really happy about my 10 week old sleeping through the night. not only that, but Tuesday and Wednesday night, he slept 7-8 hours. So hopefully this is the start of some longer nights of sleep. :)

Back to life, back to reality

It is true that the older you get the quicker that time seems to pass. When I went on maternity leave it felt like it was so far way when I had to go back to work. I remember counting the weeks in my head and think "yay, I still have a while". But the days (of feeding, changing, napping while I could) and nights (of feeding, changing, napping while I could) went by quickly and now its back to work. 

Even though I have been doing my job for over 3 years now, it was still a bit strange to go back to work. It felt almost like the first day of school... where you know you have been to this place before, but you have been off for the summer.  You get to see your friends that you have not seen as much (and of course you all have stories to tell) So much can change in a few months. You have not set an alarm clock in a while and your sleep schedule may be a bit messed up from staying up late ( or in my case staying up late and then getting up to feed the little one). Your a little bit more grown up now and have a new exciting year ahead of you. And even though you know that you have to get back in to your routine, their is something somewhat refreshing to be back. You have a renewed sense of trying to be the best you can be and you tell your self you will do better than you ever have.

So today was my first day of school... err... I mean work :) 

Today was also Joey's first day at "daycare". Yes, mommy did cry. Even though I am so lucky to have him at someone's home and she is great with him, it was hard to leave my little guy. You get used to holding him and making silly faces and taking an afternoon nap together. He was such a little trooper. He was smiling when I left and didn't think twice about me saying goodbye. I guess it one of those many moments in life that I will not want to let him go (literally and figuratively). It's just another one of the many firsts that we will have with him. Another point in time that has passed in the blur of memories I am trying to keep in my head and my heart. 

That is, after all, the reason I have this blog... so that I can remember. :)

 

Joey's 1st Easter

Holidays always seemed to mean so much more when we were kids and now that I have a little one of my own it is great to be able to "relive" the excitement of a holiday with him. Now I know that he is only 7 weeks old and he doesn't understand that the Easter Bunny came to see him last night and left a basket full of goodies, but it was still fun for me (the mom) to be excited about the bunny stopping by.

We went to see the Easter Bunny on Thursday at the 
Mall in Hilton Head and got his picture taken. He was very good and not scared of the giant furry bunny holding him (we will see if he is just as good when it comes time to see Santa). I always feel like he is a "big" little guy, not fat, but he is long and already weighs 13 lbs. But when he was in the bunny's arm's he looks so tiny... it was so cute. The photographer  
was great and he will be 
doing the Santa pictures 
to, so we will definitely 
be going back to him 
in December. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Today we went to Savannah to see Mimi and Grandpa. I got him this cute little outfit from Carter's and he had a "baby's 1st Easter" bib. I have found that it is tough to find a big selection for under 6 months, it is mostly sleep/play sets. It was a gorgeous day out and nice to just hang out and relax with the family. We had some yummy food and got to play with Joey's new toys that Mimi got him. She got him this great Tummy time mat. It has a froggy on it (after monkeys and elephants, froggy's are his next favorite thing) .  :)

Can you forget how to drive?

So I have not driven my car for about 9 weeks now. For the 4 weeks before I had Joey, it was because I couldn't. I was uncomfortable and in pain. Then once I had him, well it was still uncomfortable and I was in pain for a few weeks. That and when I went anywhere it was really only to the doctor and I was always with Christian, so he drove. 

Today I had my 6 week checkup (I can't believe that this Friday it will be six weeks since Joey was born). After we left the doctor, we had to take Christian's truck to get the oil changed. So I needed to follow him in my car to drop the truck off. All of a sudden I thought to myself... I have to drive?? This is weird. Not bad weird, just weird. It was then I realized how long it had been since I drove. I have a 2008 Honda Civic SI. It is stick shift. This is when I thought to myself... Can you forget how to drive?? It's like a bike right? You don't forget right? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY CAR, And I have always loved driving... but do I remember how to drive?

The best way I can describe how I felt when I got in the driver seat was the way you feel when you get in a car you have never driven before, for the first time. You have been a passenger in the car. You know how to control the radio and how all the buttons work, but you have not been behind the wheel.

 This is me the when i got my car 2 yrs ago... about to drive it off the lot

So I get in... I of course have to move the seat up (since I'm shorter than my hubby). I put it in first gear and off we go. To make this an even stranger "first drive", it was the first time I had Joey in the backseat as a "passenger". It was strange at first, but it is like riding a bike. You don't forget. and I have to say it felt good to drive again. It just another step to get back to "normal". Well as "normal" as life can be after you have a child. 

We also had another first today. We took Joey inside his first restaurant while we ate. Ok, not like a sit down and get served restaurant... it was Jersey Mike's (they have amazing sandwiches by the way), but still a food establishment. He was an angel of course (he was asleep the whole time). But again, it felt good and "normal".  :)

Our first outing

First of all it was absolutely gorgeous today in Hilton Head... Sunny and in the 70's. Spring is definitely right around the corner. It has been 3 1/2 weeks since I have really been out of the house, except for a few of Joey's Dr. appointments. Since the weather has been so nice lately I have really wanted to get out.Christian was off work today so we packed up Joey and headed out.

We needed to go to Target for a bunch of stuff and I really wanted to go to Carter's and get some things for Joey. It was a perfect day to walk around the outlets and was Joey's first time in his stroller. He is outgrowing his newborn stuff so I wanted to pick up a few things in his next size. They have some adorable things for the spring and summer! We got a few great little outfits (of course once he can fit into them I will post pics).

After we left there we decided to go to Panera and get some food (I love their salads) and went to a little park and ate lunch at a picnic table. It was amazing to just sit there in the quiet afternoon and have lunch with my little family. Being that the past couple of weeks have been a bit chaotic with figuring out a newborn, feeding, diapers and the lack of sleep, it was nice to just have a some what relaxing afternoon.

Joey was asleep for most of the trip. Being in the car and the stroller I'm sure helped since he was in motion. I was proud of him for being such a good little guy. I have to say I was pretty proud of myself too. It's a scary world out there with a newborn. Today was the first of many outings we will have and each day I will continue to learn something new from my amazing little boy! :)

Bath time

Since Joey's umbilical cord fell off yesterday, we were able to give him his first official bath in the tub today. Up until now we have only been able to give him a sort of sponge bath with a washcloth. It's very important not to get that little stump wet or it can get really stinky. At first he hated getting "washed" probably cause it was cold and of course its something new to him. He did get used to it after a few times. He always liked to get his hair shampooed though. Daddy would hold him over a bowl and I would pour the water on his little head and wash his hair.

We registered for this adorable tub that is in the shape of a whale. Our good friends Jen and George got it for us at our shower. I was so excited that we finally got to use it today. I was very proud of my little guy. He didn't cry or scream at all. Although in the pictures he is making some funny faces. It was so much easier to be able to give him a bath in the tub. I actually feel like I got him clean. :)

Tummy Time

On Friday when Joey turned 2 weeks old we started Tummy Time. Since he is such a strong little guy and has been trying to hold his head up since the day he was born I knew he would enjoy this. He was looking all around with his head up. So now each day we spend a little time on his tummy.