Awwww!!!

Ah, yes....Joel has a pretty rough life. Laying in front of the fan watching Elmo on TV. Livin' the dream!

Some explanation.....This is how I found my son one afternoon when I went in to get him up from his nap. He had emptied most of his drawers and was basically trashing the whole room. I thought the maniacal look on his face was worth sharing. The boy is a little off sometimes..... :0)

Nap time!

Our little computer fanatic!

This picture makes me chuckle!

Zooin' It.....

Last Friday, Aunt Lisa and Grandma took Joel and I to Fort Wayne Children's Zoo for my belated birthday outing. Joel had such a good time! We had never been there, so it was all new to us. He got to get close to peacocks, kangaroos, and giraffes. He was jabbering the whole time and pointing at EVERYTHING! He also rode the carousel (loved it!) and a live pony (not so much). He did well on the pony at first, but once we went around the first time and he saw Grandma and Lisa he bailed off the pony and was done. Aunt Lisa took a picture of the pony coming back to the stable with no rider! He seemed to really like the carousel and was waving and chattering. He didn't want to get off! Of course we had to ride the train, too! His eyes were really wide and he seemed completely amazed the whole time. After the zoo we ate and stopped at the mall briefly. He was soooo tired on the ride home...he just crashed! He is doing really well and is changing daily. He is DEFINITELY a little boy now....no more baby! He has a sweet personality 95% of the time! We won't talk about the other 5%! More later...

Mommy's favorite! :0)

Aunt Lisa and Joel. I'm weird, but I love pictures like this of people walking away!

Grandma and Joel on the train at the zoo. He loved it!

Such an angel face.

End of the day....and still going strong!

Oh my goodness! All this activity wears a little fella out!

Getting Back on Track...

Things are finally getting back to normal (?) around here! Joel has been under the weather for almost 2 weeks. We finally took him to the doctor and he got antibiotics for a sinus infection. (You know it's bad when the doctor looks in his mouth and says, "Wow, I bet you're a barrell of laughs." :0) He actually had at least two back teeth coming in and nasty bacteria in his throat from his infection.) He was a very, very unhappy little boy for several days. He cried and had temper tantrums about everything. I refuse to accept that this is just him "being 2"! He had no appetite...and I mean he ate nothing. He saw the doctor on Monday and is doing MUCH better now. His attitude is much better and he is back to being my sweet little guy. He has been very loving and cuddly lately. He has also been going through a bit of a "Mommy" phase since he's been sick. I'm not complaining! :0) He is also sleeping better and seems to be adjusting to his new bed (mattress). Once we figure out the siderails we will be putting up his twin bed. Time is flying by! He is still not saying many words but knows exactly what you are saying to him and does pretty well following more complex instructions. He also loves doing laundry...go figure! I have also discovered that if I need some time to do something he will sit willingly in his highchair for a while and watch sesamestreet.org. That has come in quite handy lately! He has also mastered the gate at the top of the basement stairs, so I spend a fair amount of time chasing him up and down. He's getting pretty fast! Even when he is driving me crazy he is still my sweet angel. We love him so much and it still seems like a miracle that he came to us. Not that I don't have a "Mommy moment" every now and then..... Hopefully the weather will get better soon and we can spend time outside. The walls are starting to close in with all this rain! More later...

Shop Til You Drop...

What a busy day! This morning I loaded Joel up and took him to Archbold to check out an indoor play area at a church there that I have been meaning to check out for a while. It is at Archbold Evangelical Church, and it is awesome! Joel had a good time crawling all over it and reaching the different levels. He wore himself out! It is free and open to the public, so we will definitely be back on rainy days or for a change of scenery. It will be great for next winter! After that I drove us to Fremont, Indiana to meet my friend Megan and her son for some outlet shopping. We had a good time, and Joel (and Owen, too!) got some really cute summer clothes. Joel was happiest when eating his ice cream! Joel and Owen got along really well. Owen just stares at Joel like he is trying to figure him out, and Joel basically torments Owen by teasing him and poking him! He was pretty gentle, for the most part. On the ride home, Joel slept....FINALLY! He went down tonight at about 9:30. I think he might be getting a cold again. Yuck. He ate much better today than yesterday, so I can quit worrying about that. I'm always worrying about something! Anyway, tomorrow we are staying home all day and trying to get some suff done here. More later.....

Joel, sacked out on the way home from Fremont,Indiana. I like to take pictures of him sleeping now, since it rarely seems to happen any more! :0)

Joel and Owen entertaining each other while we shopped.

Joel and Megan shopping at the outlets. Only we could turn it into a photo op! :0)

NICU Reunion and Mother's Day...

Yesterday was the NICU Reunion at Miami Valley Hospital where Joel was born. My mom went with us for the day, since she wanted to see "where it all began". There were so many people there! We did not get to see our favorite nurse, but we did see a couple of families that were there the same time we were and one of Joel's doctors. Joel was pretty tired by the end of the day, but he had a good time running around while we were there. Lots of people commented on his curly hair and how cute he is! :0) We saw some kids with some very significant health problems, and it reminded us how lucky we (and Joel!) are that he is healthy and happy. We are blessed! After the reunion we stopped briefly at the Ronald McDonald House and then came back to Defiance. We took my mom out to dinner for her birthday. By the end of the evening, Joel was ready for bed! We continue to have some problems recently with his sleeping patterns, although he has done well for the last couple of nights. Today he decided that he wasn't going to eat, and he didn't fall asleep until after 10:30 tonight. Hopefully this gets worked out soon and he will be on a more predictable schedule. Ever since he has started sleeping on the mattress he has had some issues. This too shall pass! This morning we went to church. It was our week in the nursery, and there were actually other kids there for Joel to play with for a change! He did really well with a 1-year-old. He was gentle and played with him pretty well. They cracked each other up pounding on the table! After church we came home and Joel did eventually nap. Rob grilled steaks for dinner for Mother's Day and we took a nice walk. Joel finally fell asleep, and we are ready to crash. It was a good weekend and we continue to be reminded of how blessed we are and how much we have to be thankful for. More later....

I thought this was cute....Joel playing with another little boy in the nursery at church this morning.

Happy Mother's Day to ME!!!

Our boy!

Sweet Miss Bailey Smithers!

Joel & Grandma on the way to her birthday dinner.

Us at the NICU reunion with one of Joel's doctors.

Joel & Grandma checking out his name on the baby wall.

Joel discovered that he likes popcorn! He kept going back to the machine over and over again. We weren't sure which he liked better...the machine or the popcorn!

Daddy & Joel playing games at the NICU Reunion.

My angel...

YAWN!!!...

So.......after sacking out completely yesterday afternoon for a nice long nap, Mr. Joel Aiden Jeffrey decided last night that there would be no sleeping for Mommy! He got up shortly before midnight and was ready to be a wild child! He was running and bouncing on his bed, squealing and throwing his toys everywhere. Rob rocked him for a while and we thought he would go back to sleep....WRONG! I ended up going in his room with him and laying on the floor by his mattress. It was a total battle of wills. Guess who won? NOT ME!! He FINALLY fell asleep laying on me at 4:00 in the morning, and I stumbled into bed shortly thereafter. It would have been bad enough, but I had only slept three hours the night before. I thought he would sleep in this morning, but he was wide awake and ready to go at 8:15. I was not. He was in a pretty good mood all day given his lack of sleep. We had lunch with my friend Megan and her son, Owen, who are visiting from Tennessee. Joel fell asleep for about 20 minutes in the van, but other than that there was no nap. I left him home with Rob while I went to the grocery store. When I got him Rob said that they had played outside until almost 9:00 (!) and that Joel had pitched a fit about coming inside. We has able to get him to fall asleep with a bottle....a bad habit but one we are having a very hard time breaking. The transition from crib to regular bed is not going very well based on the sleep patterns here lately. Hopefully he sleeps all night because we are leaving early in the morning for the NICU reunion in Dayton. Hope it's a good, tantrum-free day! More later...

Apparently Joel Likes His New Bed....!!

WOO! HOO!...

Joel slept from 10 last night until almost 7 this morning....AND took a 2 hour nap this afternoon! We're back in the sleepin' zone!!!! (Keep those fingers crossed.....) Plus, Joel's John Deere sheets came today. I thought they had tractors all over them, but as it turns out it is only on the pillow case. Of course, he loves it and we had to run out and buy a pillow! He's asleep now and I hope he stays that way for several more hours! He's so much more fun when he's sleeping well! Love him! More later.....

I Forgot....

By the way, I'm pretty sure Joel thinks the gate across his doorway is for Bailey! He delights in shoving her through the open gate and then clicking it shut behind her. Pray for us that he doesn't figure out how to open the gate.....! Again I say Poor Bailey! She has snuck in a nap or two on his mattress, but he tends to run her out when he finds her. Poor old girl!

No More Baby.....

Today was a sad day for Mommy. I had to take Joel's crib down, mostly because he was trying to climb back in and got his leg stuck pretty tight. I've done pretty well with getting rid of most of his baby things, but the crib was a tough one. He's now sleeping on a mattress on the floor until he is doing better staying in one place all night. He actually did take a three hour nap this afternoon....his first since sleeping on the mattress. He was tired from "helping" take the crib down! We do have side rails that I tried to assemble (with limited success!). We'll have to work on that. The last few nights have been rough. He has been waking up around 4 quite a bit and we have been struggling to get him back to sleep. This morning he never did go back to sleep, so I guess that partially explains the nap! He's getting to be such a big boy. Sometimes I miss my baby! Couldn't love him more....now if we could just get some sleep things would be great! More later...

Busy Weekend....

We had another busy weekend around here! My dad was admitted to St. Vincent's Hospital in Toledo early Friday morning, and there were a couple of trips back and forth before he was released on Sunday. On Saturday, Rob and I took Joel to the zoo in Toledo for a couple of hours before going to the hospital. It was fun! Joel was in a pretty good mood and was jabbering and pointing at everything. We saw the polar bears, the seals, the goats in the petting zoo, and some other critters. Joel especially liked the aquarium, and let out a giant squeal when he saw the giant shark hanging in the lobby! We really wanted to have him ride the train, but the train was shut down when we got there. We will definitely have to do that next time! We are members, so we can go as often as we want to. Joel had a great time, so we will be back! After the zoo we visited PawPaw at St. V's and then went to dinner with Grandma and took her home to Wauseon. On Sunday late afternoon we had a picnic in Wauseon to celebrate my birthday, Grandma's birthday, and Mother's Day, since we will be at Joel's NICU reunion next weekend. With all of this going on we also are still dealing with sleeping issues now that Joel is sleeping on a mattress on the floor in his room. He is doing okay with that, but he's not quite back to his normal routine. We'll keep working on that! More later...

Cutie Patootie!

Baby Jail!

Yum! (Elmo forehead sticker courtesy of PawPaw!)

Enjoying CAKE at the "Happy Birthday Mommy & Grandma and Happy Mother's Day" picnic.

Lovin' the outside!

"But I don't WANT to leave!"

Mommy and Joel!

Joel was not too sure about the goats in the petting zoo. He wouldn't get too close, but liked to watch the other kids pet them. Maybe next year...

Zoo treats!

Joel loved the polar bears! One of them was really active...swimming, diving, and playing with his bucket.

I liked this one! Daddy and Joel enjoying the zoo.

Big Boy Bed! He looks so little....

Big Boy Bed...

Well, it was bound to happen soon, I guess, but we still weren't ready for it! Joel is no longer sleeping in his crib since he is now able to climb out with no problem. On Friday, Rob came home from work early so that I could go to Toledo with Lisa to see Dad in the hospital. I was in the kitchen, Rob was in the bathroom, and I THOUGHT Joel was napping. The next thing I know I hear giggling and the pitter-patter of little feet and there he was, grinning from ear-to-ear and dancing around the kitchen! I couldn't believe it! We put him back in the crib to see if he would do it again, and he immediately swung his leg up and scooted right down the side. It actually took him less than 15 seconds! We tried having him sleep on a little cot that Grandma and PawPaw give him, but eventually moved one of our single mattresses on to the floor in his room. The first night, he was in our room bringing us toys at 4 a.m. and was awake until after 6 a.m., then awake again at 6:30. Yikes! That took us back to newborn days! :0) On Sunday we got a gate to try. It's really a pretty nice one, and you can open it with one hand. We don't think that he will be able to open it because you have to hit two buttons at the same time and push down to get it to open. Famous last words! Last night he woke up at 12:30 and was REALLY mad! Fortunately we were able to change him, give him a drink, and Rob rocked him to sleep. He slept until 6:30. When he woke up he kind of amused himself quietly for a while and wasn't upset like he was the first time. Today he has studied that gate and seems to enjoy locking Bailey in and out of his room. I ordered him some twin bedding today. I know it is inevitable, but he is growing up way too fast for me! I thought we had more crib time! He was sweet and cuddly this morning, so that made me feel a little better. Hopefully he sleeps all night and wakes up in a good mood again. More later...

"I'm outta here!"

Almost there....

The dismount!