Happy First Birthday, Joseph Pierce!

 Joey is ONE!!  He is still in contention for World's Happiest Baby, as long as his ears aren't bothering him.  He is a champion sleeper; 12 hours at night, and, if he's not at school, he can put away a couple of multiple-hour naps.  He's in 12 month clothes, size three diapers (which are getting a little small), has now transitioned from formula to whole milk, and we're working on eliminating the bottle.  He loves bananas, mandarin oranges, cheesy puffs, and most "snacky" foods - we're working on the substance! He sucks his left thumb and has to have his blankie with him at all times.  No substitutions, just the one in the picture.  He babbles a lot, but doesn't have words outside Mama and Dada.  He likes to clap, is learning to wave, and his new trick is the fishy-face.   He loves to climb - out of the tub, into his new firetruck, onto his sister's bed.  He has four teeth (two up, two down).

We are blessed with Joey's smile, laid-back nature, and snuggles.

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Joey's birthday on Saturday, April 23 with all four grandparents, Randy, Cory, all three cousins, and Tom & Paula Elam.  He had a good time at his baseball-themed party; although he apparently wasn't a fan of the cake, which ended up on the floor!

One of Joey's (and everyone else's) favorite gifts was a firetruck from G & G Worzala.  He also got a lot of other great toys, many of which the four older kids would argue over until mean Aunt Angie would take them away.

Joey was sent home from daycare the day before his party with a fever.  He remained pretty warm all weekend, until we finally took him to urgent care on Sunday evening with a suspected ear infection.  It wasn't an infection, but the doctor drained quite a bit of fluid from his ear, and he stayed home from daycare on his birthday, to hopefully recover from all of the gunk he's been fighting.