The Latest

Okay, so I don't have any pictures this time but Joel has been so funny lately that I wanted to make a post of all the funny things he's said or done lately. I'll start with the most recent.

Tj's parents have a dog, Molly, that Joel loves!!! Anyhow, tonight while we were over there they went on their normal walk and towards the end Tom let Joel hold Molly's leash. Well when they got home he wouldn't let go of it! So Tom had to unhook Molly because Joel wasn't letting go of that leash. Then once he was out of the stroller he was trying to hook the leash back on Molly. Tj eventually did it for him and then it was a classic case of who was walking who?! It was very funny. Joel finally wore Molly out and was pretty disappointed when Grandpa put the leash away.

So Joel has a whole mouthful of teeth coming in. Cindy noticed the first one earlier this week when they were playing. It was one of his top molars on the left side. Then today I noticed three more. The top molar on the right side is coming in and he has two bottom teeth that are getting ready to push through. It also looks like his canines are going to come through shortly as well. Poor kid. He's been a bit temperamental and now I guess we know why! So we've taken all the teething toys back out for him. It's pretty rough.

Well we're one step closer to getting ready for the baby. I spent all week cleaning and sorting the boys room and this weekend we got the dressers that Tj's parents bought for us delivered. I think we're going to switch them around though. I had the chest of drawers put in the boys room but I think I'm going to have it moved and have the dresser in there and then we'll put the chest in our room. We just have to make sure the dresser will fit. Then once we get that moved (we being Tj) I'll start taking out the baby clothes and moving Joel's clothes into it. Then the only thing left for that room will be to move the desk out and set up the pack-n-play. Only.

Joel's playing has been cracking me up lately. His newest thing is that everything has become a phone. It started with one of Tj's book lights. I couldn't figure out what he was doing until I realized that he was treating it like he does when we put the phone to his ear. He'll listen and then pull it away and look at it and then put it back to his ear. He jabbers and jabbers away. So far just about anything that he can hold to his ear that even slightly resembles a phone has become his phone. I did buy him a little play cell phone the other day at the store and that has become his favorite toy for the time being. He loves that he can push the buttons and play with it and nobody tells him no.

Hmmm, I know I'm forgetting stuff. He's just such a funny kid. This afternoon he took his nap next to me. And when he woke up I was pretty much awake but still had my eyes closed. He took his little hands and was trying to pry my eyes open for me. Then he was giving me kisses to make sure I was awake. He's pretty funny.

I guess I'll give a little pregnancy update. We're now officially down to less than a month. I can't believe it! With Joel the pregnancy seemed to last forever and this one is just flying by! I guess time is crazy like that. I'm to the point now where I'm exhausted all the time. If I don't get a nap during the day (which usually only happens on the weekends) I'm zonked out by 9pm. My doctor was a little concerned about my sugars and so I've been on a limited "diet" to exclude a lot of sugar so that's been a bit trying. On top of that I learned my lesson last time with Joel and have been watching my salt intake so my feet and legs don't swell up like hot air balloons. So yeah, between watching sugar and salt my diet has been a bit boring. At least it's only really for this last month. The baby is still moving. He doesn't seem to be as active as Joel was but he still makes sure that I'm aware that he's there. Other than that life keeps trekking along.

Sea World

So I'm getting better. It only took me a week to get these pictures up.

Last Saturday Tj took Joel to Sea World with Grandma and Grandpa Rosen and Tj's cousin Brooke who was visiting from Idaho. They had such a good time. I knew that Joel would love Sea World because he's such an animal lover and especially likes watching fish. He really seems entranced with them.
He really enjoyed the shows as well. He seemed amazed at all the sights and sounds from the show. I'm surprised that he sat through two entire shows. I will have to see if I can upload video. They took video of Joel enjoying the shows. It is so funny! Tj got an annual pass so I'm sure there will be many more father-son outings to Sea World before the pass expires.
Here are a few pictures from their day.



Joel and Dado at the fish tank.

Watching the fish swim.

Trying to give the dolphins kisses.

Watching the dolphins swim.

Food Glorious Food

Dinnertime!!!
This last week we let Joel feed himself his dinner with his own spoon. Now he's been eating foods that we could cube up and he could use his fingers to eat with. But this was the first dinner casserole that he needed to use a spoon. He did a pretty good job. It's hard to tell from these pictures because you can tell he got so much on his face and bib but he did get most of it in his mouth. He was loving it!!!

And then the clean up........

Ice Cream!!!!
Joel got his first self-feeding of ice-cream on the fourth of July. Two of the little girls there decided to share their ice cream with him. Before long he had three spoons and ice cream from head to toe. The hosts were enjoying watching Joel feed himself that they wouldn't let me stop him for the sake of their carpet. He loved the ice-cream while eating it but a couple hours later it came back to hurt his stomach. Poor kid, loves milk and milk products but they give him such a stomach ache.

Lemons!!!!
The other night we went to dinner and the waitress brought Tj a plate of lemons for his Diet Coke. Joel would not leave them alone so we decided to let him try one. HE LOVED THEM!!! Crazy kid. By the time he got done there was nothing left but the rind.

Joel is getting so big and he's ALL personality! I can't believe how often he makes me laugh. He must get that from his dad. He is running around and keeping us entertained. Luckily he keeps himself busy. He's amazing and we feel so lucky to have such a good kid. Everyone always comments how mellow and good he is. I'd love to take credit for it but he's just always been such a good kid.
He's talking more although most of what he says we don't usually understand but we keep encouraging him to talk. He understands what we're saying though. He plays pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo, will go and retrieve his toys or whatever we need him to get for us and LOVES music and dancing. He feeds himself and his favorite foods are fruit-especially watermelon and mandarine oranges- and carbs- wheat rolls, potatoes and pasta.
Anyhow, here are some of his most recent pics.


When I'm cooking dinner he will
come up to the gate and make
faces for me. It cracks me up
every single time. He's just such
a riot!!!!

Joel feeding himself dinner.

Check out those teeth. He now has 8 teeth.

Waving. He has learned to wave and will wave

when he's leaving or when others are leaving.

He's also learned to blow kisses.

Us with Aunt Reaghan and Uncle Matt.

So I know I'm SUPER behind in my postings. But I'm trying to do better. Anyhow, here are pictures from our trip to AZ. We had a really good time. Joel loved hanging out with Grandma Monie and his cousins and aunts and uncles. He had started walking pretty tentatively before we left for AZ but once we got there he just took off trying to keep up with all his cousins.
We had a great time visiting with everyone and hated to leave. But we're hoping to get out there again soon after the baby is born.
So here are some of the pics from our trip.


Playing at cousin Emma and Matthew's house.


Sleeping cousins


Joel and Aunt Dana


Emma and her Daddy

Joel playing with cousins Matthew and Emma

Joel with mommy, Uncle Brody and Emma


Joel and Aunt Sandy


Joel and Great Grammy Ethel