Joey Update

A couple of pictures of Joey here....the bottom one is Joey sleeping on his big-boy cot at school.  It cracks me up that he sleeps on a cot, so Miss Bailey took a picture for me.  You can't truly tell it's a cot, but you'll have to take my word for it.  He's doing great at school; he is now walking full-time, encouraged, i'm sure, by the other kids in the "ones" classroom.  He comes home filthy dirty from all of the food and play; but he's doing great.  He's on one nap a day at school, which is counter intuitive to his sleepy nature; he's making up for it on the weekends!  There's just too much for him to do and explore at school, so he's satisfied with just one nap.  In the overall picture, he is wearing daycare clothes, since he pooped through every available option of clothes he had in his cubby.  Fabulous day.  I just thought the blue collared shirt was cute, so i had to get a picture of it...

During bathtime this week, Melanie brought a bag of cheerios (she has been calling them "gummy cheerios" for some reason) into the bathroom.  She left the bag on the counter, and both the kids took a bath.  After the bath, Joey got the bag, and the gummy cheerios were promptly all over the bathroom floor.  I found those things in every crevice of Joey's body.  I have airbrushed out a part of that picture, to make it suitable for internet viewing.

When I left on Thursday evening, Joey had two teeth and was walking about 80% of the time.  When I returned, he had four teeth and was walking 100% of the time.  That, of course, made it seem like I was gone longer than 3 days; but I had anticipated the changes, so I was okay.  Both the kids had a great time while I was gone, and there were only three accounts of bloodshed.  My parents helped a lot, so that Jeff didn't feel too trapped.  He, predictably, did a better job being on his own all weekend than I would have!

Melanie Update

Above is a synopsis of our trip to Purdue, Mel's weekend with me gone for three days (including naps BOTH weekened days!) - and some silly pictures, including her favorite pasttime of jumping on the bed (complete with singing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed").  Melanie is getting close to being able to fully dress herself - she still struggles with her shirt.  So the picture of her putting her pj shirt on captures a time she got fully dressed on her own.  We'll ignore the fact she slept with her shirt on backwards that night - I couldn't burst her bubble.  The picture of her in our bed (without sheets) was Sunday, Jeff was cleaning up in the kitchen, and came in to check why she was being so quiet. He found her asleep in our bed of her own accord. 

A couple of verbal highlights of the last few weeks....Melanie spent her time at Purdue searching for Purdue Pete's hammer.  She has a book where we search all over campus for his hammer, so she decided to spend her time there doing some investigative work.  She found it in a couple of places, and was very proud of herself.  While watching TV with her Daddy over the weekend, the Old Spice commercial came on (complete with a very attractive man).  She said "Daddy, I want to touch that boy."  Uh-oh.  I always tell Melanie that I love her "to the moon and back."  She has started saying it to me, too, which is awesome.  I recently asked her if she knew how much I love her - she usually has the correct answer.  I was prodding her on, by asking, "Do I love you to the wall?" to which she corrected me with the right answer.  Now, she says that I love her "to the moon and back and to the wall."  Mel recently told me "Shut your mouth, I'm talking!"  I think she got the clear message that this was not okay - after school that day, I asked her if she remembered what she said that morning.  She responded "I will not say that again, Mommy."
When I returned from my weekend away, there was nothing better than a big hug and an "I missed you, Mommy."

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Melanie's Birthday, Continued

Melanie's birthday celebration continued the Sunday after her birthday, with a party at Gigi & Poppy's.  We spent the afternoon at Purdue doing family pictures, and then had dinner in Frankfort since they were still in Florida for Melanie's birthday party.  Mel was a little confused by the continued parties; she told me more than once "It's not my birthday, Mommy."  Nearly three weeks after her birthday, Paula & Tom gave her a present, since they had also been traveling.  Melanie denies it is a birthday gift.

Girls' Night Out

With one of the nine thousand Groupons/Living Social deals Laura has bought, we enjoyed a wine tasting on Thursday night.  We got to taste 20 wines, and then choose one to have a full glass of, as part of the deal.  It was a private party, so it was just the four of us at the chateau de piqu tasting room by Castleton.  It was a great GNO with lots of laughter.  We brokered a deal with him so we'll be going again soon!  His only mistake was guessing that all four of us (one in her twenties, two of us 35, and one 37) are in our "late 30s"!

Joey's First Haircut

Before....

After.....

Joey got his first haircut on March 8.  He did an amazing job, and was in a good mood the whole time.  His game was throwing combs on the floor.  Despite what it looks like above, he did not sit in a chair all by himself for the cut - he sat on my lap.  Because Jeff is his daddy, we used a coupon for a free cut at Sport Clips.  The lady did a great job working with him.  I think his hair is crazy-short now, but he definitely needed a cut!

Grandma & Pappaw

Melanie had a great time with her Grandma & Poppaw Worzala over her birthday weekend!  She got to show them all of her toys, tell them lots of stories, and show them her new trick of saying "I can't dooooo it!" about everything.  That is a habit we are (so far) successfully breaking her of; but it was very prevalent over the weekend!

Melanie asked where Charlie was pretty frequently (Cory and Charlie stayed behind for a previous engagement) - but she had a great time with Sammie and Uncle Randy.  The girls decided to swap pajamas, which was a big hit.  They did a pretty good job sharing with each other, and Mel introduced Sam to her favorite show, "Strawberry Shortcake."  

Pappaw is getting his girl fill, after two sons and a grandson!  The girls love him!

Let's Party!!

We celebrated Melanie's third birthday with a party at Traders Point Christian Church on Saturday, March 5.  Melanie had about 10 of her friends & cousins to help her celebrate.  She had four friends from the neighborhood, one from daycare (with his sister), and four cousins - Molly, Sammie, Wyatt, and Bella. Her Grandma & Poppaw Worzala also came to town to help her celebrate her birthday!

We had a great time; we started the festivities in the large playground at the church.  Then we rounded the kids up and came back to the room for some cake and presents.  When it was time to return to the room, Melanie insisted on everyone lining up behind her so she could be the "line leader."  This is a very important job at her daycare.  As she opened presents, she would not tell her friends "thank you." She would say "no you say it!" when I reminded her.  She got a lot of great gifts, and has been very busy with them all ever since.  My plan, to keep a few of them back and introduce them at later dates, did not work, she had them all out of their boxes by Saturday night.  

My friend Ali Cotton did the cake - I think she did an AMAZING job!  It tasted great too!

 

Birthday Girl

We spent Melanie's birthday evening at Chick-Fil-A, so she could enjoy the playground.  Ironically, we met another little girl there, celebrating her third birthday with her family as well.  She was also born at Clarian North on 3/3/08!  

Melanie's daycare class celebrated her birthday with lots of treats.  They do a once-a-month celebration for all birthdays that month.  Since Mel is the only one who has a March birthday, they did the party on her big day.  She took cupcakes, and was pretty excited about it.

After we returned from Chick-Fil-A, Melanie opened a few gifts. Several days after her birthday, I gave her a present we had forgotten about - a pair of Dora pajamas from Joey.  She could not have been more thrilled to receive a gift from Joey.  Questions like "Who took Joey to get this?" were interspersed with "Thank you baby brother," "I love you, JoeJoe," "Thank you for buying me pajamas, Joey!"  

This is her new favorite puzzle.  It has 24 pieces, and she can do it by herself.   

 

Joey wants in on the action....

Happy 3rd Birthday Melanie Grace!

This was Melanie's "golden birthday" - turning 3 on the 3rd!  And, in the third month of the year.  Gotta love those threes!  Mel and I had a girls' night the evening before her big day, and she got her nails painted for the very first time.  In the morning, I found her left thumb's polish in the back of her mouth.  I guess I can take note and skip that finger in future nail-polishing excursions.

I wanted to get a picture of Melanie as she was first waking up on her third birthday.  This is what I came up with.  Her mood improved as we opened the door and she saw pink streamers hanging from her door.  She sleeps in front of the door (as pictured) every night.  We put her in her bed, but after we leave, she moves to this location.  She doesn't cry, or protest about anything; she just prefers to sleep on the floor.  At least she's sleeping....

Children's Museum

The day after our return from Florida, Melanie and I met Suzi  Wyatt (and "Market" (Mel's interpretation of "Morgan" and Aileen)) at the Museum.  Melanie was feeling way less than fantastic, but she inSISted on going to the museum.  To the point of waking herself up coughing as we turned onto the road for the museum, saying "Mommy, I don't feel good..." with my response being "we need to go home..." and her throwing a crying fit because she needed to go to the museum so badly.

She was a mess during the trip, but as she ate more, she got some energy, and we hung out for more than two hours.  It was PACKED - we had to park a few blocks away from the parking garage.  Several times throughout the visit, I asked Melanie if she was ready to go home, since she was such a disaster.  She would cry and insist on staying.

She went on the "up and down" horsey on the carousel, and saw trains, dinosaurs, Dora & Diego, among other things.  The thing that cracks me up about the train picture above is that when I took it, I had no idea that Wyatt was in the background.  He's such a poser :)

Family Vacation....

Joey is 10 months old!!!!

 

Joey is doing great.  He's standing unassisted for prolonged periods of time, and has taken several unassisted steps.  We're all rooting for him to be able to do circles around Melanie soon...and give her payback for the last ten months of overpowerment.

He still only has his two bottom teeth.  He's eating everything that Melanie is at daycare....which I love, because they serve such a larger menu than we do at home.  He still takes about 4, 8-oz bottles each day.  He's generally sleeping through the night, sometimes nearly 13 hours.  Yay Joey!!

Size three diapers, size 9 or 12 month shirts and 9 month pants.  LOVES the bathtub (can go from crying to dancing in a flash if he sees he's getting a bath).  Loves exploring new things, is a little cranky about not being able to do what he wants (age? ear infection?  time will tell)....Still in his infant car seat, but ready to move to a bigger-kid car seat.  The "binky" that is with him in the bottom picture is the standby for all situations.  He sleeps with it, needs it anytime he gets fussy, etc.  He is addicted to his left thumb, just like Mel; unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be okay with just any "binky" - just this one.

Time flies when you're raising babies!!!