Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! 2009 was a great year for us and we are hoping 2010 is better still! Joel seems to have really changed a lot just in the last week or so. He is now pulling himself up on his knees a lot and seems much more capable of getting and reaching what he wants. He also seems more "mature" to me for some reason. He has had some problems with sleeping lately, but hopefully now that his cold is getting better that will improve. Rob's brother Randy and his family are here yet tonight and we are having a very quiet, subdued New Year's party. Hopefully Joel will not be awake to ring in the new year, but you never know! He is in the kitchen now watching Uncle Randy make chili. He's the life of the party! :0) Earlier today we tried to get him to wear the 2010 glasses and the New Year's hat....with mixed results! He is so sweet and adorable that even his little temper fits are tolerable. For the time being anyway......! Happy New Year to all!!!

The most loved baby in the world! :0)

Such a happy boy!

Ready to party! :0)

Rockin' the mohawk!

Best Christmas Ever....

We have been having a really great Christmas this year! On Christmas Eve we took Joel to early church and then to his Great-Grandma's house in Wauseon for dinner with the Baldwin side of the family. On Christmas morning we opened gifts at our house and then went to Wauseon for Christmas with the Barnes side of the family. On the day after Christmas, Rob's family started arriving for Foster Christmas! We have had Rob's three siblings and most of the nieces and nephews here for a few days. Joel has loved all of the attention, but he has had kind of a nasty cold and has not slept at all well for a few days. This makes me very nervous, since he will be staying with Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jason in a week or so while we are gone to Hawaii. Hopefully he starts sleeping better soon! He is having kind of a hard time getting used to sleeping in the pack and play rather than his crib. He is gradually getting more used to it, but he has a ways to go! Anyway, he has gotten some fun presents and lots of attention from family we don't see very often. We have Christmas with my immediate family on January 2nd, and then we are done Christmasing until next year. This has been our best Christmas ever. It sounds so cliche, but Joel is the greatest gift of our lives and we can't even express how happy we are to be celebrating his first Christmas. Ho! Ho! Ho! More later....

Next year's Christmas card! :0)

Entertaining all those girl cousins!

Joel and his Uncle Randy.

Joel, presiding over family game night!

Entertaining the family by chasing Bailey! I love the look of determination on his face!

Joel loved standing up (with some help from Daddy!) and balancing with this box. He kept getting cranky when we sat him down. It won't be too long before he is pulling himself up and standing without any help at all!

Joel's newest trick.... on Christmas morning for the first time he pulled himself up on his knees in his crib and peeked over the side when we came in. He's learning so much new stuff every day!

It's true.....he likes the boxes and bows better than the gifts!

Joel on Christmas Day with PawPaw and Grandma at their house.

Christmas Day in Wauseon.

So sweet!

Silly Christmas baby....!

Christmas morning at our house.

Joel and his Great-Grandma. The lantern was a gift.....

Joel and his PawPaw.

Joel and his Aunt Lisa.

Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve...on the way to Grandma's house. (Over the river and through the woods?) :0)

Play Ball!

I couldn't help it.....Joel looked so cute yesterday in his little baseball jammies that I had to take the pictures with his mitt and ball. Isn't he adorable? :0) He's getting so big! He is feeling better today I think, even though he had "crusty nose" this morning when he woke up. He actually went to bed around 9:30 last night and slept until 7:30 this morning. He was awake a couple of times during the night, but he just chattered for a while and went back to sleep. That's WAY better than the non-stop screaming! He really hates the "nose sucker" thing, and I think he is starting to have a phobia about the Kleenex! Every time I grab one and come near him he screams and buries his face! Poor little boy! Hopefully he continues to feel better and is back in sync for Christmas in a few days. More later...

Feeling better?.....Maybe

Joel did a little better last night. Rob got him up around midnight to change him and give him a little Pedialyte to see if we could ward off the middle-of-the-night scene from the night before. He changed him and we suctioned his nose (he's NOT a fan!) and used saline to clear his nose. He cried for a while and wasn't too interested in the bottle. Rob was up with him for a while and finally laid him down about 1:30. Joel cried for a while but eventually fell asleep. He didn't make any noise again until about 7:30 this morning. Mommy and Daddy needed that! He got his first dose of the new medicine last night, but the doctor said that would take a couple of days to kick in. Maybe not! He was in a pretty good mood this morning and his nose did not seem to be running quite so much. He was awake for about two hours and ate well, but he was clearly sleepy and was rubbing his eyes a lot. I put him to bed and he fell asleep almost immediately. Yesterday the doctor told me to keep his room around 65-68 degrees. Yikes! That seemed too cold to me. His room is fairly cool, but I don't know that it is that cool. Anyway, he seems to be feeling better and will hopefully keep improving every day. More later...

Our Own Little Rudolph....

Poor Joel! Last night Joel woke up at 12:30 and was awake, screaming most of the time, until 4:30 this morning. He was coughing, wheezing, and sneezing a lot. First thing this morning I called the clinic and got him in to see Dr. Foldvary. I was worried that he might be getting an ear infection and wanted him to be seen before the holiday. Dr. Foldvary examined him and said that he was concerned that Joel might have RSV, even though he is getting the preventative shots for that from the Visiting Nurses. I'm not sure what RSV stands for, but I know it is a lung problem and it isn't good, especially since Joel was a preemie. They took a sample and told us they would call later with the results. It only took a couple of hours, and Dr. Foldvary himself called back to let me know that the test was negative and that he likely has an upper respiratory problem or possibly some kind of allergy to dust or something. He called him in a prescription at the pharmacy and that should kick in in a day or so. He said that Joel's recent sleeping problems could be due to his trouble breathing. I guess the allergy thing is possible, since we have been doing a lot of cleaning lately and have probably stirred up all sorts of stuff. Plus, our neighbor put up a shelf in Joel's room and I cleaned the carpets, probably both of which released all sorts of stuff into the air. Either that or the poor kid just has a cold! He got his first dose of the new medicine tonight, so hopefully he will start feeling better. His tiny little nose is beet red and running constantly. He is still in a pretty good mood, considering how yucky he must feel. He looks so pathetic when he smiles at you with those puffy eyes and his nose running down his face. Plus, he is still drooling a lot, so he is a mess! Hopefully he sleeps better tonight, although Rob just came from our bedroom and said he could hear him making nosises in his room already. Let's hope he falls back asleep.....Good night! (By the way.....Joel weighs 21 pounds, 8 ounces today!)

Joel's room after our neighbors "helped" us put up the shelf my Dad made for Joel. It looks really nice and holds a lot of stuff!

Joel with his toybox barn that PawPaw made for him (I thought the overalls were a nice touch!). :0)

Unexpected Bailey kisses....

Joel's first snowfall...December 19, 2009. He is so cute in his snowsuit, but he is growing out of it quickly!

The way he studies that thing, Joel might have a future in engineering! :0)

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, Rob and I are officially exhausted! Joel has taken to waking up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours at a time here recently. Last night he had me up from 3:15 until 5:30, when I finally just laid him down and went back to bed. He cried for a while but did eventually fall back asleep. We are clearly not used to "newborn" hours anymore! I don't know if he has teeth coming in, a cold, or maybe an earache? We simply cannot figure out what is going on, and are praying it is just a phase he is going through. I'm a little concerned how he will do over the holidays with all the commotion and a mixed up schedule. I'm sure he will be fine, but I don't know how much sleeping he'll do. We are so excited about Christmas! Mommy wrapped Joel's Santa present tonight. Wrapping is my least favorite Christmas task, so I started with a fun one! He doesn't understand what is going on....he'll be so confused! By the way, my husband swears that he looked at him and called him "DaDa" tonight. I told him that he is just hallucinating because of lack of sleep! I suppose it is possible, but he seems a little young for that. Who knows......I don't want to rush anything. He'll grow up fast enough! He is really getting good at crawling and makes his way around the living room pretty quickly when he wants to, or when he is chasing Bailey! (That poor dog has earned a spot in doggie Heaven, that's for sure! She is sooo patient with him!) He found her feeding dishes the other day and those of course enthralled him for quite a while. Taking care of him is way more challenging than ever now that he is semi-mobile. Mommy needs a nap! More later.....good night! (The pictures below are there to show some of his orneriness lately.....he keeps us on our toes!)

A fascinating new discovery....Bailey's food and water dish. YUCK!

"What? You want me to lay back and relax? No thanks....I'm a BIG boy now!"

Sneaking up on an unsuspecting Bailey!

"Me, take a nap? I think not!"

Rub a Dub Dub.....

This picture might be my favorite picture ever taken of Joel! He was so fun today with his "big boy bath" in the kitchen sink. It was a first for both of us, and a rousing success!

Watch out, Bailey.....

Poor Bailey! Joel has gotten really good at crawling this weekend, and today he spent the better part of half an hour chasing Bailey around the living room! He had some pretty good stamina going! He gets this determined look on his little face, sticks out that lower lip, and away he goes. Bailey would run away from him, but then stand there again until he caught up to her before she ran off. He grabbed her a couple of times, but she didn't seem to care too much. I kept trying to get her to jump up on the couch where Joel can't reach her, but she didn't catch on right away. It's amazing.....just last weekend was the first that he really crawled any significant distance, and now he just zips around the room! He likes to push all of the magazines off from under the coffee table and roll around in them. That gets old for Mommy! He did sleep really well last night, so maybe he has turned a corner again there. Also, this morning in church when we first sat down he was gagging and choking a little bit. I opened his mouth just in time to see a red piece of yarn go down. Apparently the little bugger has been pulling the pieces of yarn off of the tassel on his hat. We also found some in the back seat of the van. He threw up a little and then seemed fine. One of the women we know from the church is a nurse and we asked her about it. She said it was such a small piece that he would be fine and would likely have an "interesting diaper" at some point. Can't wait for that! Anyway, he is such a good boy and is growing up so fast. I was looking at his scrapbook today and he doesn't look much like that little guy anymore. He's so adorable! Good night....

Happy Holidays....

Joel has been a little bit of a stinker here lately! He has been getting us up in the middle of the night, and tonight, despite the fact that he had only a one hour snooze all day, he screamed and yelled and didn't go to sleep until after 11:00. He has GOT to be exhausted, so hopefully he'll sleep all night. He's out cold right now! This afternoon we went Christmas shopping in Defiance with Grandma. He was a little cranky but not too bad for having such a short nap. We were going to see Santa at the mall, but since it cost $14.99 (!) we didn't. On the way home, we saw that Santa was "in" at the little cottage uptown, so we stopped in for free! I really like this picture of Joel with Santa....it's the only one so far where he is smiling! (I think that had something to do with the candy cane!) I think this is the last Santa visit of the year. It's so fun! He is crawling all over and can't seem to pass up an opportunity to pull on the Christmas tree. He doesn't even seem to care when he gets poked in the face by a branch. Goofball! I also posted here a couple of pictures of one of his meltdowns this week. I know, I'm a bad Mommy for taking his picture when he was so mad, but it had been a long day and Mommy was going a little goofy herself! He definitely has a temper and wants what he wants when he wants it! We'll have to work on that.....More later!

Love it! Yes, Joel is practically a professional when it comes to sitting on Santa's lap. This is actually the first Santa picture where he is smiling! He was pretty pleased about the candy cane!

Joel VS. the Christmas Tree, Round #100 for the day..... (looks like he won this round, since the snowball ornament is on the floor!!)

Mad, MAD, MAAADDDD!!!!!!

Still mad.....what is taking so long with that bottle? :0)

Christmas Fun...(for Mom anyway!)

Joel woke up in a really good mood this morning (after having me awake from 4:00-5:15 this morning...YUCK!!) so I took advantage of that to try and see if I could get him to cooperate for some pictures in front of the tree. He was fairly cooperative, but most of the pictures turned out blurry...a constant thorn in my side. These were pretty good though. I had to bribe Bailey with Beggin' Strips to get her to sit still. She wasn't very thrilled about it, but she will do anything for a Beggin' Strip these days so she went along with it. Joel is really noticing her a lot lately and likes to grab her and pull her hair. Bailey is amazingly calm about this, and we always grab Joel's hand and help him be gentle with her. He is getting better about it, and doesn't seem to pull quite as much as he did at first. He likes it when Rob feeds him on the couch because Bailey lays up against them and he can feel her fur while he is eating. So sweet! Joel is crawling more and more and getting better and better at it. Now if we can just get him to stop waking up during the night we would be all set! It is weird...he goes in streaks where he won't wake up for weeks at a time and then he will for several days. If he is going to wake up it seems to be between 4:00 and 4:10 am....almost without fail. I sometimes wonder if something doesn't wake him up at that time, but I can't for the life of me figure out what that would be. It's a mystery! Oh well, tonight is Daddy's night, so we'll see what happens! Joel went with me to have lunch with my friends Tiffany and Andrea today and did really well. He is quite the social butterfly! Lunch with the girls wore him out and he took a nice nap this afternoon. Hopefully he is out for the night now! More later...

I did it! After several attempts, I got the elusive "Joel and Bailey together in front of the Christmas tree" shot!

Soooo adorable! Doesn't he look sweet and innocent?

Ho!Ho!Ho!

Notice the ornery little twinkle in his eye.....I'm sure he's contemplating how to knock the tree completely over!

He REALLY likes this branch! I like this picture because it looks like he is looking at the "Joel" ball above his head.

My Evil Little Genius......

Joel is changing so much every day....it just amazes me! This morning I spent three hours putting up the big living room tree while he napped (three hours...it was a minor miracle!). It was completely done when I got him up. He was so cute when I brought him into the living room after his nap. His eyes got big and he turned and looked at me with a HUGE smile! He loves the decorations! Anyway....he is doing really well crawling now....it seems like he picked it up overnight! I laid him on the floor to play, and he immediately rolled right over to the step-on thing that lights up the tree. He looked at me, rolled over on it, and screamed with delight when the tree shut off! I then spent the better part of the next two hours trying to keep him away from it! The fact that it glows bright orange doesn't help any. It's like a magnet for his little hands! He also found a snowflake ornament that he can reach, and very nearly brought the whole tree down on top of him. I'm too stubborn to move the ornament and am convinced that he can learn to leave the tree alone. I guess it's going to be a battle of wills between Mommy and baby. (I'm guessing he'll win!) More later.....

Nine months...and Mommy's tired!

Happy nine-month birthday, Joel! The morning started out with the famous bear shot. He was fairly cooperative this month, but he's way more interested in mauling the bear than he is in sitting nice for Mommy. The poor bear might have to retire early! At 10:00 we had his appointment at Sears. My friend Shelley met me there to help watch him while I ordered pictures...THANK GOD!!!! I might have gone crazy without her! We were the first appointment of the day and didn't get out of there until 11:45! Joel was not in a very good mood this morning, and the photographer was not as patient as the others have been. The pictures are pretty cute, but we had to work really hard for them! Joel absolutely would not smile....even his beloved Elmo couldn't pull one out of him! I'm sure we looked ridiculous....three grown women singing "Row, Row, Row your boat" and rolling around on the floor trying to make him smile. By the time we got to the Christmas pictures, he was done. He didn't cry much, he just looked grumpy! Plus, I think he is getting teeth and his cheeks seem to break out when that is happening. He's perfect as far as I'm concerned! I can't believe that our next appointment will be for his first birthday already. It will be here before we know it. Tomorrow night we go to Wauseon to help put up Mom and Dad's tree and to celebrate Uncle Jason's birthday. Since Joel loves his tree so much it will be interesting to see how he does with a much bigger one. Hopefully he is in a good mood. More later.....

Mommy is a sucker for those big blue eyes!

Little snowbunny!

One of my favorite! He refused to stay up on all fours....ORNERY!!!

Believe it or not, this wasn't posed. He was fidgeting, trying to get off the pillow and ended up like this! What a ham!