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. :)

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

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!

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) .  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In Savannah, St. Patty's day is a huge deal. I haven't been to the parade or the festivities in a few years. Being that I have a 5 week old, obviously we were not going this year... But we did have on our GREEN (ok so my PJ shirt happened to be green and Joey happened to have on a green onesie) After I fed Joey this morning, we laid around and watched the parade on TV. I definitely plan on taking Joey to the parade next year. He will be over a year old and should be fun for him and mom and dad. So while most people were out drinking and doing crazy things, I spent the day with my little guy... I couldn't have been happier. :)