My Happy Place

I love my time off with my family. I love seeing Jenifer in action as a mommy. I love seeing Joey's face light up when he hears my voice. He loves it when I rub his head. My hand covers the whole top of his bald little head, and I rub it back and forth wagging his head from side to side. I guess this must feel really good to him because he giggles when I do it. Sometimes he even asks me to do it by giving me a look and trying to rub his head with his little hand. He also gets excited to be put into his car seat. He seems to have a hunger for adventure. I am looking forward to all the milestones we have yet to reach with him, but I am in no hurry. I am enjoying every moment I get to spend with my family.
I have a mental exercise I like to do. I have this favorite place in the whole world to be. It's My happy place. When I am there I focus on every little detail that I can discern. Then later, when I need to control my mind, I recall these details. When I do this I can tune out pain, I can calm anxiety, I can even resist being tickled (as long as Christie is in a different state). This is a handy trick to learn. I would encourage everyone to try it. It really does work. If you had asked me this time last year what I was thinking of in those moments, I would have told you of a waterfall in Caches Valley GA. that very few people ever get to see.
If you ask me that same question today. I'd tell you that I am thinking about time spent at home with Jenifer and Joey. That's right, my new happy place is home! At least until we get to spend some time at the waterfall as a family.

Chrome Dome

Hi there. Just a quick blog entry to show off our matching haircuts!

First Tooth!

Joey got his first tooth today. Jamie had just left for work and I decided to check Joey's gums. It had been a couple days since I had checked them. I ran my finger over the top of his bottom gums and felt something sharp. I sort of screamed used my thumb to push his lower lip out of the way and looked at a brand new tooth poking through the gums. Joey was just giggling and laughing through my poking and prodding. When I ran my finger over his gums he did not holler or show any sign that he was uncomfortable at all. Other than the occasional faucet of drool running from Joey's mouth he has shown no indication that this was so close to happening. It was so fun discovering this change.

I called Jamie right away and told him. He was at work by then. After talking to Jamie I grabbed the camera and spent the next 5 minutes or so trying to coerce Joey into holding his mouth open while I kept his lower lip out of the way while I tried to get a picture of his brand new tooth. Joey was so very cute the whole time I was trying to do this he was just smiling and laughing and giggling.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Rocking and Rolling

Joey Rolled Over!

Monday March 9th Joey crossed his legs arched his back and rolled over from laying on his back to laying on his stomach as you see here.

Joey was playing on the floor on his blanket for a while. He had a toy on the floor with him and he was chasing it around the blanket. He would get hold of the toy play with it drop it wiggle around too far to reach it then wiggle back within reach of it again. Along with playing with the toy when Joey worked his way to the edge of the blanket he would turn onto his side grab the satin bound edge of the blanket and either suck on it or rub the silky cloth on his face. (I understand it, I did that when I was little too.) Well after several times of working his way to the edge and enjoying the silky fabric he just turned to his side and kept on going. It took effort it wasn't an accident.

This whole time I was on the floor next to him talking on the phone with my sister. I was stunned for a moment when Joey rolled over. Once I had a chance to take in what had just happened I told my sister what Joey was doing. Next I jumped up and got my camera to commemorate the moment with a photo. Joey was happy, he did not fuss a bit about being on his tummy. Tummy time is not Joey's favorite thing but being in control and putting himself there seemed to sit well with him tonight.

What fun it is marking progress, we're so glad we could share this news with you.

Beware of Baby

Don't be deceived by this baby's cuteness, he pinches.

All jokes aside, Joey has learned to pinch and he is quite good at it. I seriously need to trim his nails every three days especially since he's learned this latest trick. Joey is fascinating to observe from day to day, he takes in so much of what goes on around him and he picks up on how things work so quickly it amazes me.

I put up one of Joey's crib toys in the last week. It looks like an aquarium, it lights up and plays music when you press a button. I've shown Joey what it does, at that time he didn't seem at all interested. Since then I have laid Joey down in his crib with his head near the toy pressed the button so it would play for him while I left the room for a moment. Upon returning I was surprised to find that Joey had wiggled and scooted around to where he had his feet towards the toy and he was kicking it, pressing the button in doing so. I didn't realize right away when I returned what was going on because the toy was off. I pushed the button to make the music play and when I did Joey kicked it shutting it back off. We went back and forth like that for a minute, it became a game. I stopped pressing the button but Joey kept on kicking it turning it off and on repeatedly, he was so pleased. I really think Joey enjoys toys that he can control, he enjoys a little octopus toy that you pull a teether style toy and it plays a short verse of music and now the crib toy seems a good fit too.

Joey is growing so quickly and learning so much. He is fascinated by his toes. Joey is not quite sitting on his own yet but he is getting closer every day. He wants to be able to do this though so we will hold him in a sitting position, with his interest in his toes though I frequently have to stop him from leaning to far forward if I didn't he'd topple over.

Joey is also becoming increasingly vocal. He makes all sorts of sounds and he's beginning to make strange faces while he's talking which is beginning to change the sounds he makes. I hear all sorts of things forming in his language. Several days in a row now I've heard him repeat back sounds to me. In the evening when we're winding down I'll cradle him in my arms and we stare at each other. I will tell him "I love you" and he will repeat the sounds ah uh oo. It is just the sweetest sound ever. This evening while getting him ready for bed I heard a more distinct mmm sound I nearly jumped when he did it I thought he was going to say mama.

I talk to Joey all the time. I'm trying to not baby talk him too much since I've read that its better for his vocabulary in the long run not to baby talk to him too much. But I do repeat key sounds to him that I think will help him observe the sound and how they are formed. I frequently repeat the sounds ma ma ma ma, da da da da and ba ba ba ba. I do lessen the gap now and then creating the words mama, dada and baba. Till Joey is ready though Jamie and I will be listening intently when he speaks anxiously awaiting his first words.