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Sunday 9.14.08

Lots of updates…

1. Joey turned 1!!!!  We had a great celebration with our families.  We had a Curious George birthday party and Joey loved it.  We had a BBQ and then had cake.  I made the cake myself and decorated it too.  I made Joey his own little smash cake.  He was very hesitant at first; he seemed to not understand that it was food.  But he figured it out and loved his new treat!  He wasn’t nearly as messy as I thought he would be.  The balloons were a big hit as well as the other great gifts he got from everyone.  

2. We got a second offer on our house, higher than the first offer.  We’re still waiting for the bank to approve but we’re very optimistic that with two offers we’ll be able to get this house sold fast.

3. Joey is walking!!  He started out taking a couple steps (on his birthday party actually!) and then progressed into taking about 10 steps.  Then in a matter of a few days, he’s now going about 15 feet.  He loves practicing his new skill.  He’s getting better and better every day and we’re just amazed at how quickly he’s learning.  He won’t be crawling very much longer.  He is also now almost completely done with formula.  We’ve been adding whole milk to his bottles for a few days now and he doesn’t seem to notice any change!  In another week we should be completely transitioned to milk- and our checking account will thank us!  :-)

4. Youth ministry is going to be starting back up on October 1st.  We’re very busy preparing everything for the kickoff.  We’re currently working on leader training and recruiting as well as planning out small group lessons and activities.

5.  Joey also has finally moved into the “big boy” bathtub.  He was very resistant to parting with the little plastic tub that he’s been bathing in for so long.  We tried about a month ago to move him to the regular bathtub but he freaked.  Well, this time he loves it.  He has so much more room for all his bath toys and lots more room to splash around. 

 

It’s been a busy time but we’re doing well.  We’re so thankful to have our families here, it’s been such a huge relief for us to have so much help with Joey.  It’s such a joy to be able to share this special time in his life.

Annette

Tuesday 8.26.08

We've been busy!  Joey is as curious as ever and loves to get into everything.  With his mobility improving every day, he's excited about all the new things he can do.  His top two teeth are coming in, which has made for a whiny, crabby week.  The last two days have been much better. We can see the tips of the teeth ready to break through.

 

It's fun to watch him explore and learn.  He loves to copy what we do.  His coordination is getting very impressive.  He is also loving the ability to feed himself finger foods.  We're so excited about his birthday this weekend.  We're doing a Curious George party with our families.

 

Ministry is going well, we're getting ready to start the new school year.  The kids are great and so are the staff.  We're excited to grow and add new faces as the year goes on.

 

It's so nice to be here with our families.  We've been able to spend so much time with them the last two months.  Seeing them with Joey is a confirmation of our decision to move back.

 

We also got an offer on our house.  Be praying that it goes through smoothly.

 

Annette

Sunday 8.3.08

We celebrated Dad's birthday today.  It was fun to have everyone together- Casey and Joey had fun playing together.  Joey is doing better- we've had a rough month of sleep after back-to-back ear infections.  He's also working on getting a couple more teeth, so we've been up a lot during the night.  But he's doing great otherwise!  He's standing on his own for a few seconds and getting close to walking.  His little personality is growing every day.  We can see a bit of a temper in him right now- he doesn't like to be told 'no' and he'll let you know how he feels about it!  He's very curious and also very determined.  We're very excited about his birthday this month; it's hard to believe it's been a year already!

Annette

Sunday 7.13.08

We've had quite a few big changes lately.  Joey dropped to 2 naps per day and is still adjusting to that.  For the last few nights, he's been waking up around 1:00 or 2:00 am and thinking it's time to play.  It takes him about a week to adjust to a nap change, so hopefully that will end soon. 

 

He also went swimming for the first time in a big pool.  We've tried twice in a little baby pool but he would climb right out.  Jon and I went to a friend's house and swam with Joey in their pool.  He LOVED it!  I held him most of the time and he splashed around and laughed.  He also sat in his little floatie toy too and enjoyed that. 

 

We've been busy trying to keep up with him too- he loves to stand up on everything and is now learning how to climb up on things.  He climbed into the dishwasher while we were emptying it last week and now has made it his mission to find more things to climb into.  He keeps us busy!

 

Annette