Monday, Monday, Monday....

Yeah! The good news is that Joel slept from 12:30 last night until 8:30 this morning! The bad news is that I was up for an hour and a half in the middle of the night anyway with the flu! I had to call for reinforcements this morning, and Grandma saved the day (I really don't think she minded a little extra baby time!). Joel was in a good mood pretty much all day, and after I started feeling better I spent well over an hour laying on the floor with him and playing with his rattle and jungle mat. He was so happy! He also took a nice nap this afternoon and is currently sleeping now, so maybe his sleeping issues are behind us. Let's hope so anyway! Did I mention that we have the sweetest, most adorable son EVER? Usually after one of his "grumpy days" he has a couple days where he is really sweet. I live for those! I'm getting ready for bed, so good night all.....more later!

Having WAY too much fun with his rattle! He makes me smile!

100% perfect!

FINALLY!.....Sleep!

Yeah! Rob FINALLY got Joel to sleep about 9:45 tonight. The poor little guy was completely wiped out....his eyes were red and puffy and he could hardly hold his head up. Hopefully this little glitch with his sleeping is a passing thing. It was so nice when he was sleeping all night! I bought him a little machine that projects simple pictures on to the ceiling. Hopefully that will help him calm down at night and ease him into sleep. Wish us luck....we have to wake him up in an hour and a half to eat and then its back to bed (we hope!). Good night.....

Sigh.....

Oh boy, today has been a long one! We got up and went to church this morning, where Joel was really well behaved even though the service lasted an extra half an hour. Afterwards we went to a church luncheon where he was very popular, and he did really well there but he was getting tired and hungry so we left. He slept in the car on the way home (10 minutes tops) and has not slept at all since then (it is now 5:30). He has literally been screaming ALL afternoon. We were sure he would fall asleep, so Daddy went to play golf with his friend Abel. The only time he doesn't scream is when I am holding him. Right now he is sitting in his highchair working himself up into another big fit. I tried Orajel on his gums in case he is teething and that does seem to calm him down for a little while. He is eating fine and does not seem to be having any issues other than he won't sleep. I'm afraid his attitude (and mine!) are going to get worse as the afternoon goes on if he doesn't fall asleep soon. He did sleep better last night and did not get us up so early. Mommy has a headache and needs a nap herself! I am going to try another bottle here soon and see if that helps. Hopefully he is just going through a growth spurt or something and really isn't trying to drive us crazy! He's lucky he's so cute.....I can't stay irritated with him long! Wish me luck...

Elmo lovin'!

Busy, busy, busy.....

Mommy's Angel.

Truer words have never been spoken....especially given our new sleeping issues! Yawn.

Sleep deprivation.....

YAWN!!! Okay....I don't know what is up with Joel, but he has developed a habit of waking up between 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning wanting a bottle. We have not changed his food or his feedings. I was hoping it was a fluke the other morning, but this is day four and no end in sight! I'm not sure what we will try next. He was sleeping so well for such a long time we got spoiled! Wish us luck....

AAARRRGGGGHHHH!

Oh my, oh my, the boy is testing Mommy's patience today! He has done nothing but whine all day long. I have discovered that I have little tolerance for the non-stop, consistent ALL DAY whining. Daddy is trying to work with him now, but the yelling continues. He slept for about 2 hours this afternoon on his stomach for the first time. He continues to do well with rolling over and holding up his head....even while yelling! Daddy is going to give him a bottle in about half an hour...hopefully that will put him to sleep for a while. Mommy, meanwhile, is going to take a nice bubble bath and try to ignore whatever is going on in the living room. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow......Fingers crossed!

Stronger every day....

Joel is growing by leaps and bounds and continues to keep us on our toes. He now rolls over completely on his own, but still has some trouble getting his arm loose once he is on his tummy. I recently got him a three-piece sailor suit to get his 6 month pictures taken in. It is really cute, but I don't know if it will work for the pictures or not since he can't sit up by himself yet and it gets all bunched up. He looks adorable, but does resemble a bellhop! :0) The one picture where he is making a face is really funny! He was being goofy and I actually caught it on film! Bailey seems to be warming up to him, which is a good thing. She doesn't jump if he touches her anymore, and actually came over a couple of times and laid on his blanket beside him. That makes Mommy happy! It's hard for us to believe that he is going to be six months old soon. We love him so much.....More later!

Showing off lifting his head after rolling over. (Notice how impressed Bailey is in the background!)

Okay, so this is what I saw when I went in to check on my sleeping baby boy! He somehow gets his arm and/or leg under the bumper pad and through the crib slats. That arm wasn't so bad because I could push it back onto the mattress. Later that day he was screaming and when I went in to check on him he had wedged his leg up to his thigh in this same position. It was fairly tight in there. We haven't figured out how to prevent this yet, but thankfully he has only done it once. Boys will be boys I guess!

Joel helping Daddy with the laundry. He was so silly!

Mommy's little sweetheart!

This cracks me up! He looks like a bellhop!

Ahoy matey!

Learning New Things....

He did it! Joel rolled over all by himself yesterday, multiple times. He's so cute....he is so proud of himself after he does it, until he realizes that he can't flip back over yet and gets mad. He's growing up so fast! He's had a rough day today. He was really good in church this morning. Some humor for you.....once during the minister's sermon, Joel was sitting on my lap and let out a huge burp! People around us started laughing and he just sat there with a big smile on his face! Also, when the minister announced the last hymn, Joel let loose with a big "raspberry" noise. Apparently he doesn't like that song! :0) We love him so much. He has been really irritable and cried a lot today. We think he might have gotten a little spoiled with all the visitors and travelling the last couple of weeks and needs to "readjust" to the fact that Mommy and Daddy can't hold him all day long. He has only slept an hour today, and woke us up at 4:00 this morning for a while. Poor baby....it's rough being popular! More later.....

Playtime!

Joel is enjoying all of the extra attention this week from his cousin Leigh Anne and Uncle Randy. Today Leigh Anne got him to roll over several times, almost but not quite on his own yet. He is lifting his head better now once he gets on his stomach, but he still wants turned back over RIGHT NOW! He ate carrots today and did well with that. He must be going through a growth spurt because he has taken a lot of naps the last few days. It's pretty quiet around here! He loves the Elmo that my mom got him. He smiles and "talks" to him. He even hugs him, which I have to say is completely adorable! More later.....

Joel and his first OSU baseball cap! A little blurry, but still cute!

Playtime with Elmo!

Joel loves it when Elmo talks and blows him kisses.

Oh how we love our Elmo!

Adorable in baby blue!

Learning new tricks.....

Our boy continues to grow and learn new things every day! This morning he found his toes for the first time. It's funny to watch him grab them and hang on, but it makes for challenging diaper changes! He is not quite rolling over on his own yet, but will roll over if you get him started. Once he is on his belly, he starts fussing until you turn him over. Also yesterday he learned the "raspberry" when eating. I think he kind of scared himself the first time he did it, but he quickly discovered how fun it was to shoot peas everywhere! So far he has tried sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, and peas. He really hasn't seemed to dislike any of them, but he really seemed to enjoy the squash and the peas. The peas were a little pasty at first, but he caught on. Right now he is entertaining Daddy, Uncle Randy, and Leigh Anne with his antics and funny faces. We wouldn't trade him for the world!

Big stuff! (Oops...I used this picture twice but I can't figure out how to remove it here without removing it from the previous post. Oh well.....it IS cute! :0) )

Smiley little guy!

"Mommy Lesson" of the week....

Yesterday I learned another valuable "Mommy Lesson".....don't make the baby laugh while he is eating squash unless you really enjoy orange spackle all over your kitchen, in your hair, and up his nose! :0) Joel is such a happy boy most of the time, and I love to hear him laugh. He was giggly and talkative yesterday while I was feeding him, and just when I put a big spoonful in his mouth he squealed and laughed and spewed squash everywhere! I can't believe one spoonful of squash could go quite that far! He was pretty pleased with himself. He also discovered that he can smear his hands in his face and then pat his head to get Mom's attention. Feeding times are not exactly relaxing, but he seems to enjoy himself! He's so darn cute though that I don't care how big a mess he makes. As long as he is smiling and laughing, it's fine with me! More later....

Joel and Caleb Heckel...finally, a boy to play with!

Joel and Jolyn Baker...playdate buddies!

Joel's First Playdates...

Joel had two playdates today....his first! We went to see Missi Beman and Carly, Nora, and Zoe for lunch and then went to meet with Stacey Heckel, Ema, Caleb, Cory Baker and Jolyn in the afternoon. He is too small to do much more than sit and watch the other kids, but he seemed to enjoy himself. His sleep schedule was messed up a little bit so he was a little cranky, but not too bad. He liked watching Caleb and Jolyn, who are closer to his age, rolling around on the floor and crawling. It won't be long and he will be able to keep up with them! Tonight my family came for a cookout. We made homemade ice cream and Mom brought homemade apple dumplings. Yum!! Joel was worn out by about 9:30, and has been sleeping in his swing ever since! Hopefully he sleeps well tonight.....

More food!

Joel has been eating sweet potatoes for a couple of days, so I tried green beans this afternoon. He LOVES them! He was laughing and screeching the whole time! Unfortunately he gets a little too excited and spits them everywhere! He really is pretty tidy about eating. However, he is learning how much fun it can be to smear our hands in the food and then rub it all over the highchair tray. He makes me smile...... Also, I took some pictures today of him in his camouflage onsie and shoes for my dad. He is a hunter and would like them, I'm sure! I'll try to post one, but I've been having some problems with loading pictures today. More later...

Our Big Boy....

What a big day for Joel! Today is his five month birthday, so of course we had to take the picture with the bear. This is becoming VERY challenging, to say the least! Joel doesn't want to sit with the bear and instead pulls on his leg, nose, or whatever else he can grab until the thing falls over. Then he's quite proud of himself! I can't wait for his six-month photo shoot....Sears doesn't know what they are in for! :0) Also today was the first time he had baby food. It was quite a production! I put together his high chair this morning and Daddy came home for lunch to participate. Sweet potatoes was the food of choice. I was a little concerned about what he would do since he was sleeping right before he ate, but he was very alert once the spoon came out! He was so funny....he took the food right away and was pretty tidy about it. He was smiling at Rob a lot and managed to have two whole bites before he stuck his hands in it and smeared it everywhere! (Note the "Chick Magnet" bib! :0) ) We didn't give him too much since we wanted to see how he tolerated it. I'm guessing he does fine since he gobbled it down without any problem. He's so adorable! We'll see how he feels after his nap; we may try some more tonight before we go to dinner with Rob's cousins. All for now...

Face full of sweet potatoes! A very happy big boy!

First bite...no spitting!

Playing with Daddy before eating. So cute!

Five months old!

More visiting....

We got back from Cincinnati around 8:30 tonight. We visited Rob's sister Susan and her family and our friends David and Melissa Amsbaugh and their sons. We are quite popular now that Joel is here! :0) We had good weekend and Joel did really well for the most part with being away from home. The best part....he slept all the way home (over 2 1/2 hours!)! NO screaming! He's been a little touchy tonight...but he was last week after getting home from Columbus. Hopefully he sleeps as well as he did after that trip! I think he had a little reaction to his shots this time, and he does seem to have little welts where he got the injections, which he did not have last time. Before heading for Defiance, we visited David, Melissa, Tony and Danny so that Melissa and the boys could meet Joel. While we were there, we took Joel's picture in the Boston Garden chairs that David has in his basement. It was our little homage to Rob's favorite basketball player of all time....Larry Bird! The picture is really cute, but Joel wasn't too sure about the whole thing! It's almost time for the last bottle of the night, so good night all!

Joel on the authentic Boston Garden Chairs and with the Larry Bird doll at David and Melissa Amsbaugh's house in West Chester. Larrrrr-ry!

Sarah and Joel.

Joel and his cousins, Sarah and Katie.