Updates.....

I haven't been on the blog for a while....life has been busy! Joel continues to grow by leaps and bounds almost every day. He is certainly no longer the helpless little creature he was in the beginning. He is a Big Boy! Rob and I just got back from a week in Hawaii for a Starkey Leadership Conference, and Joel spent the week with Aunt Lisa, Uncle Jason, Grandma, and PawPaw. I'm pretty sure he has them all wrapped around his chubby little finger at this point! :0) He did really well while we were gone. He actually started pulling himself up to a standing position and got two top teeth while we were gone. His hair is getting thicker and curlier, especially when it is wet. He is babbling all the time and is rarely quiet. He is an accomplished crawler and I spend most of my days trying to keep him out from under the coffee table and out of Bailey's food and water. He's constantly on the move.....and may be my new weight loss program if I have any hope of keeping up with him! Before we left on our trip, I called the doctor to renew his prescription for his wheezing. They told me that they would not refill it until they saw him, so I hurried up and ran him out to the clinic for that. To make a long story short, he ended up needing a Nebulizer for a week while we were gone. I felt REALLY guilty about leaving him then (not that I didn't feel bad enough already!) but he did well with it. He is still fighting a runny nose and sometime cough, but hopefully he is feeling better. He actually slept through the night the last two nights for us....it's a miracle! :0) Before we knew he had to go to the doctor, Rob and I put him in his Christmas sled and took him out in the snow. He was unsure about it at first, but was smiling and giggling by the end. I think we had as much fun as he did! My favorite thing lately is when I cuddle him with his bottle before he goes to sleep. It's about the only time he is still anymore, and it fulfills my need for a "baby fix"! He's so adorable! Today we played for about an hour with his John Deere ATV that he got for Christmas. He can straddle the seat now and holds on to the handle bars while I say "Zoom! Zoom!" and push him around the room. He is definitely heading quickly toward toddlerhood.....too fast for me! More later.....