7 Months Old!

Over the 11/20/10 weekend, Joseph Pierce started pulling to standing.  He can sometimes move his little feet a slight bit, and has very good balance.  He can get EVERYwhere he needs to by "army-crawling" - but he can find his knees, and rock.... and just over Thanksgiving, he made a couple of movements on his knees.  Also, at Rick & Sandy's for Thanksgiving, he climbed two stairs!! 

Joey continues to be a happy,laid-back baby as long as his belly is full and he's well-rested.  If he's fussing, you can guarantee that one of the two previously-mentioned things is off.  He is getting up every day at 4am for a bottle, but then he goes right back down.  He is still averaging nearly 30 ounces of formula a day, and is not a big fan of his "baby food," but we keep trying.  He's wearing size three diapers, size 6-9 month clothes, and is sitting up in his baby bathtub now.

I can hardly believe it's been seven months since he entered our lives.  While everyone says his happy nature is because he's a boy, I'm still sticking with the story that it's because he's the second-born.  What a peanut.

Hello, Handsome!!

Usually, Gigi's phone has a screensaver of Molly and/or Melanie.  The other day, Molly picked it up and it had a photo of Joey staring straight at the camera.  She said "Hello, Handsome!!"  I love my nieces and nephew. 

Happy Birthday Friends!

On 11/20, a group of friends went out to celebrate Laura's and my THIRTY-FIFTH birthdays.  We had a good time, and the photo above shows Laura in her natural element entertaining children.  Laura and I have been "best friends since fourth grade," and I am older than her by an eleven days that she never lets me forget.   Aunt Julie stayed with the kids so that Jeff & I could have dinner with grown-ups. 

On the day after Thanksgiving, we met to surprise Suzi for her FORTIETH birthday, which was actually on Thanksgiving.  I have looked up to Suzi my entire life, and it was so fun to be there with her friends from elementary, high school, college, and beyond, to help her celebrate her birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We truly have SO many things to be thankful for.  I can't even begin to list them here, but let's say that at the top of the list is a wonderful family who loves our children.  That might be cliche, but I hope some day Mel & Joe realize how lucky they are not only that they have all four of their grandparents very involved in their lives, but that these four grandparents love each other - and them - enough that they spend holidays together.  That is very unique, and Melanie, when asked, tells me how lucky she is for this. 

She had been looking forward to our trip to Yorkville for weeks, naming all the people who would be there ("Uncle Rick, Aunt Sandy, Becky, JJ, Uncle Randy, Aunt Cory, Charlie, Sammie, Gigi, Poppy, Grandma, Pappaw....")  We also saw Sandy's sister Diane & her husband Larry; a little too much to prepare Mel for.  Melanie & I went ahead of time to buy JJ some treats, which somewhat helped ease the transition.  She was still fairly terrified every time JJ got close, but it was definitely progress from the last time we went there.  Eventually, we will get over this dog aversion.

I so missed getting the family pictures we usually get when all the Worzalas are together.  I guess that means we'll have to do it again SOON!

Medical Update

Joey's eyes had been goopy, so I talked to the dr's office on Monday, and the nurse said if they're still goopy in a couple of days, call in for a prescription.  I called Wednesday thinking it would be an easy thing to do before the holiday weekend.  Alas, it wasn't.  The doctor reported that if kids have "goopy eyes" at this age, it is often an ear infection - bring him on in!  So the day before Thanksgiving, we were with Dr. Peterson, who diagnosed Joe with a left ear infection.  That explains his crazy sleep for the past few nights.  Just one round of antibiotic later, he seemed "back to normal."  And his eyes cleared up.  Weird connection.  My natural question inquired if we would've been more diligent about his antibiotic three weeks ago (which we gave him, but he often spit out, we might have missed a couple of doses....um, yes, we're fabulous parents...) - Dr. Peterson said this could very well be a completely different thing.  She also said it wasn't highly contagious, so we continued on to our Thanksgiving plans, including infecting our favorite Worzala cousins!

Then came Friday morning.  Melanie slept with me in Becky's bed on Thanksgiving night (she is only allowed to do this on "special occasions.")  She woke up Friday morning freaking out because she couldn't open her eyes.  Once she saw them in the mirror, she thought it was hilarious.  Not sure what her goopy eyes mean compared to Joey's.  She doesn't seem to have any ear problems - she's old enough to tell us if so.  Both of them are very "snotty," and runny all over.  But otherwise, they're the same kids as always (I tried to come up with a different adjective, but no one adjective describes both of them, so I had to go with "same kids as always")

I love this picture of them together.  I hope I can get the same pose in 10 years, and again in 15....

Fun with Grandma & Papaw

Grandma & Papaw Worzala came to town for the combined birthday weekend (Ron's was November 10, mine was November 13).  First of all, this cake cracked me up, since Jeff was the one who ordered it, and I'm not sure the last time I heard him call either of us by these names:

I woke up on Saturday morning to Melanie coming in my room and saying "Happy Birthday Mommy." A great start in my opinion!  I then took a long walk - just my iPod and me - on the Zionsville Rail Trail.  Around noon, Grandma & Papaw got to town, and Diane & I went to lunch (Plum's in downtown Zionsville; a whole other story!), got pedicures, and did a bit of shopping.  A great way to spend the day!  We had a great dinner of steak & crab legs that night.  Sunday after nursery duty (which Melanie insisted upon "helping me" with), I had my favorite lunch of Chipotle, and we spent the day getting things done around the house - such as replacing the ceiling lights in the upstairs & downstairs hallways!  I know, I know -it's a glamorous life!!  Later Sunday evening, Jeff & I got a "date night" at Noah Grant's, which was delicious.

We had a great weekend with G&P Worzala, until, of course, the bug got Grandma overnight Sunday.  She's finally now back to "normal" - so we hope she trusts us enough to come back and visit us again soon!

I love you, I love you, I love you

Mel either whispers or SHOUTS her love for her baby brother on a nearly daily basis. If you ask her to tell Joey her "secret," she'll whipser her love to him.  Otherwise, her new thing is shouting it at the top of her lungs. When she tells him, it's either in the format "I love you I love you I love you" or "I love you buddy."  Nothing is better.

Learning Emotions

Melanie has been cracking us up lately; she's been learning the facial expressions for various emotions.  We've been working on sad face, mad, surprised, happy, "thinking," (we're stretching it here - she keeps asking for more), tired, etc.  She won't always pose for the camera with them, but here are a couple I've captured. (sad, mad, happy)

Rough start to the week

Monday, I wasn't feeling well and stayed home from my small group gathering.  While we were eating dinner that night, Melanie pulled what she was eating out of her mouth and proceeded to get sick all over her plate.  She was understandably pretty lethargic the rest of the night, and surprisingly passed up an opportunity to sleep in my bed.  As I was putting her to bed in her own room, I showed her the trash can she would need to use if she felt sick again.  She walked over to it, threw up a few times, and then went to bed.  She slept through the night, seemed fine the next morning, and the only remnants of the illness are the stories she tells us about getting sick.

Tuesday morning, as we were all getting ready, Joey fell and cracked his head on the side of the bathtub (wood siding).  After I calmed him down and took him upstairs to change his clothes, my fingernail cut his arm.  Rough morning for the little guy.

Tuesday evening while Melanie and I were at gymnastics, Jeff was reportedly on his "death bed" - and he was sick all that night.  I slept on the couch to avoid that.  Wednesday he felt better, and by Thursday he seemed to have shaken whatever it was he had.

If this is the worst that happens, we are doing allll right!

Don't forget me!

Mr. Joe has made leaps and bounds lately. 

While he seems to be once again getting up each night for a bottle, he is now pulling up on his knees, and also getting pretty darn close to sitting up on his own (can sit up from his mild boppy prop).  He is also finding his knees more and more often when he's "scooting" around - leading me to believe he'll be crawling on them soon.

He is, just this weekend, moving from his multi-cat-naps each day toward two long naps.  One time I went to get him up from his nap this weekend, he was sitting up, leg through the crib slat, just waiting.....

Aunt Cory felt his teeth coming in this weekend!  That explains the fussiness and drooling.  He has also been a star at dirty diapers - most recently spraying Mommy's pants and the carpet.  Fun times.

His cough persists, so hopefully a round of antibiotics can clear this up once and for all!

We Love Cousins

Melanie had a fantastic time on Saturday playing with her cousins Charlie & Sammie.  It's so fun to see her so comfortable with Randy, Cory, Charlie & Sammie, although she only gets to see them every month or two.  She did a great job despite no nap, and I think Joey loved hanging out with a boy!!

Sunday, Melanie enjoyed a day with Molly and her new friend Emily (our family friend, fifth grade).  Of course it took Mel a while to warm up to Emily, but it was great girl-bonding while my mom, Julie, and I cooked all day.  During the day, Melanie learned the word "cousin."  I loved hearing Mel and Molly shout it back and forth while they played.  And by the end of the day, Mel was asking for Emily, letting her carry her around, and calling her her friend.

We love cousins.

Doctor updates

Both the kids have had their flu shots, and so we have a new weight for Melanie.  On 10/29/10, she weighed 24lbs, 6oz.  Joey, on 11/4/10, weighed 16 lbs, 4 oz.  The 11/4 visit for Joey was to follow up on a cough that he can't seem to shake.  He otherwise seems to be just fine - but I realized the cough has been lingering for several (okay, like six?) weeks.  Dr. Megremis did a full check-up, and then sent him down for chest x-rays.  I got a call later that evening that everything checked out just fine - so no pneumonia, but also no foreign objects fed to him by his big sister!  I'm just to continue monitoring the cough, and call him on Monday with any updates.  We are very thankful for healthy, happy kids!

Happy Halloween!

So I think we're on the hook for trick-or-treating in the future!  Melanie is figuring it out.  Next thing we know, she'll figure out where Mickey Mouse lives and learn about Chuck E. Cheese.  Hmmm....
I worked with Mel this year to teach her about the costume part of Halloween, so that she could pick her costume, and help pick Joe's.  Melanie was a ladybug and Joey was a bumblebee.  Once she finally made up her mind, she did a good job sticking to it.
The weekend started early for Melanie, as she went to Beef & Boards ("The Little Mermaid") with Gigi, Aunt Julie, and Molly.  She did all right, but got scared toward the end.  The verdict is that she was likely scared by the big, loud king who was yelling at the mermaid "Melody."  Easy mistake!  She sat out the end of the play in the lobby with Gigi, and had fun playing with them for the remainder of the day.

Saturday, Melanie & Molly went to a costume party at Gymboree.  They were both really into the activities, and had a great time playing together.  As you can tell from the photos, Mel's costume apparently got a little cumbersome for her while playing.

Sunday, we went to the "Pumpkin Path" at ZPC, where Melanie warmed up her trick-or-treating skills.  I love how Melanie is holding onto the baby carrier strap in this picture.

Then, we had to wake her up from a nap to go to the neighborhood Halloween parade.  I struggled with the decision to wake her up, but she'd been looking forward to the parade all weekend.... I think it was worth it!  She got some candy there, and then we trick-or-treated at Paula & Tom's (Paula had made special cookies!) and then went home to welcome our own trick-or-treaters.  Melanie shocked us by being completely excited about handing out candy to all the kids.  During any lull, she would announce "I want to see more kids."  Every time the doorbell rang, if she wasn't sitting on the stairs waiting for the kids, she would beeline for the door to see who was there.  It was awesome.

That's right, I didn't get a good photo of both the kids together in costume.  Maybe I'll try again this weekend.  The family picture was going to be a good one - both the kids were complying for a few minutes, but other kids kept running in front of the camera, so Mel lost interest.

Another highlight of the weekend was that both kids napped at the SAME TIME on both days.  Magical.