Look How I've Grown!

Joey had his eight week checkup today, he is a healthy growing boy. Joey is now 11 pounds 15 ounces and 22 3/4 inches long, he grew two inches and gained nearly four pounds in the last four weeks.

I know its hard to fathom the changes so I've gone through some photos to try and illustrate the change. The first photo was taken October 22nd while Joey was on his play mat, note the outfit he is in, it fits nicely sleeves are not short and he has room to grow in the mid section and length wise as well.

Note the second photo though it was taken while he was laying on his changing table. This photo was taken on November 20th. Joey is in the same outfit, on this date the sleeves were short, the mid section did not have much room left for growth and the length was at capacity. We retired this outfit after November 20th.

November Pics

I have been pretty busy lately as you can probably tell from my infrequent updates. I am also way behind on commenting all of the blogs that my friends have. I will try and get to that soon. I updated the Photobucket account yesterday finally. Today I figured out how to embed a Photobucket slide show on my blog post. This slide show is some pictures from the November daily pic album. I will play around with this feature more in the future so that it might be a bit easier for you to check for updates. You will still be able to see all the pictures by following the link and password instructions at the top right of this page.

For some strange reason the computer keyboard I am using will not enter an apostrophe, so I am trying to avoid contractions and possessive nouns.

Joey is doing really well... Jenifer is taking him to get some of his shots today so we are crossing our fingers that it will go easy on him. I am sure she will have a story to tell about that later. Joey has not started sleeping through the night yet but we are thinking it might happen real soon. The doctor said that once they get above 12 pounds is when it seems to happen. My guess is that he is there. Jenifer is excited to get the official weight today at his doctor appointment.

Last night was a real treat for me. He was totally awake, not fussy at all, and really making good eye contact and even smiling some. When he does get fussy it is usually about food or gas... That boy of mine can suck bottle dry in no time at all and still want more. I think it is time to move up to the next size bottle.

My next big improvement to the Jungle will be to post some videos here.

Until then I hope you all stay happy and healthy!

Later!

Mommy Time and Music

I have always loved music, music of all types, I hope to pass this on to Joey. While I was pregnant I enjoyed listening to my playlists of music I've built up on my ipod while Jamie and I were in the truck on road trips. I felt Joey respond occasionally to some music, he'd kick and let me know he was there and the music was coming through loud and clear. I took his response to mean he approved and enjoyed the selection.

So today while spending time with Joey while he was awake we had some fun with music. It started off with me singing silly camp songs to Joey, things like John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, Fried Ham and I Had a Little Chicky (want to see some camp song lyrics check this site; http://www.ultimatecampresource.com) then I started up itunes on my computer and we listened to music I have stored there. Joey seemed very content and I enjoyed singing along with the music, crooning to him and delighting him with my vocal styling. (He's not a tough critic thank goodness.) We listened to and I sang along with; Aerosmith Sweet Emotion, I don't Want to Miss a Thing, Walk this Way (I think he really enjoyed this one), Alan Jackson A Love Like That, Alicia Keys No One, Big & Rich Ride a Horse Save a Cowboy, Black Eyed Peas Don't Phunk with My Heart, Bono (from the Across the Universe Soundtrack) Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Billy Miles Sunshine and finally Bowling for Soup 1985. We ended the music lesson there, by then Joey had finished a bottle and was grinning at me sleepily as his eyes fluttered and his eye lids shut for his mid day nap.

Mommy time today was a lot of fun. I hope I can make you grin that goofy grin of yours again soon Joey.

Slide Show

I haven't been very good about posting or commenting while I was on night shift. I start back on day shift tomorrow and I'll try and do better... here is a slideshow of the daily pictures for November for Denise. I hope everyone is healthy and happy and has a wonderful turkey day planned!!!

Click here for a Slide Show The password is still junglepass.

Caption Challenge

I have had some fun with Joey's pictures by adding captions. I thought with this picture I would share the fun. If you think of a funny thought that you think might be going through Joey's head, feel free to leave it in a comment for everyone to read. I also wanted to mention how red his hair looks in this picture. Sometimes it looks blond sometimes it looks red... but there is no question what color is showing through in this picture.
Here is the update: I am working 7 night shifts starting tonight. Jenifer and I are happy to welcome her sister Larae into our home for a week long visit. Larae arrived yesterday evening and was very excited to meet Joey. Larae is from the left coast and she and Jenifer stayed up until 2am last night chatting. I am thinking they will both have jet lag today. We still don't have an accurate way to measure Joey's weight at home. I tried putting him on the bathroom scales and got a reading of 10.5lbs... but on a scale with a 0-330lb range that isn't very accurate. We do know he is gaining weight at a healthy rate and he certainly has a healthy appetite. I found out last night that he can get excellent distance when he spits up... I was laying in the recliner with him on my chest... his head next to my chin... when old faithful hit my ankle with some projectile puke.
Ahh the joys of daddyhood.

Daddy's Turn

Today was the first day that I got to be home alone with Joey. Jenifer went to get her hair done and do some shopping... a much deserved break for her. What did I do with my precious one on one time with my son you ask??? I put him in his best camo outfit and we watched hunting shows on TV over a nice bottle of formula. I also shared with him in the great family tradition of napping in front of the TV after a good meal. Watching him finish a bottle and seeing his eyelids drift shut is a powerful nap inducing force. I tried to keep from feeding him a second time until Jenifer got home so that she could feed him... but he wasn't seeing things my way. Jenifer walked in the door as he was working the last drops out of a bottle. With his Mommy home and dinner time rapidly approaching I set about the task of cooking our Low Country Boil. Now I am sitting here blogging and smelling the brownies Jenifer is cooking for our sweet tooth. Joey is tuning up for yet another feeding. I hope when he's done with this one we are in for a good night's sleep... but I'm not counting on it. Regardless of how tonight goes... today was a good day.
I hope you are all happy and healthy
Later.