Joey's First Food

Dean and I finally admitted to the fact that our baby is growing and is one hungry, hungry hippo. Joey has been showing developmental signs of "food readiness" for the past week or so. He can sit while assisted and hold his neck steady and the biggest sign is that he has started reaching for our food and drooling like a water fountain whenever we are eating. I really thought he was going to get up and walk across the room last night to have a bite of pizza. Seriously, the kid was starving!!!

We had hoped to put off feeding him solids until 6 months. There is no real reason for this, we just thought that sounded about right because that was how old Ben was when he started eating solids. Our doctor told us at Joey's 4 month appointment that it was up to us, but we could feed him whenever we were ready. Well today, a couple days shy of 5 months, we were ready.

The adventure began this morning. Ben and I were making banana nut muffins and Joey was watching Ben mash the bananas with a foot long string of drool hanging from his open mouth. I don't think Joe blinked for about 5 minutes. He wanted that banana. I ended up putting a tiny bit of the mashed banana on my finger and holding it up to Joey's mouth. I swear he licked it voraciously from my fingertip, looked up at me with a huge gummy grin, yelled out with joy, and began banging on his highchair tray as though to demand more. Ben and I both gave him a couple more bites and he was delighted!

This evening we mixed up some rice cereal and breastmilk and Ben fed Joey his first bites of cereal. Joe lapped it up without any hesitation...in fact, by the third bite he decided that Ben and I were too slow and he needed to take matters into his own hand. He attempted to grab the spoon and shovel bites into his own mouth! I even had to thicken up the cereal because it was too thin! I would say this kiddo was ready to eat. He kept sighing and patting his tray as though to tell us "it's about time you ding-dongs realized I was hungry! FEED ME!"

Ben did a great job and we were all impressed with Joey's eating skills. What a big boy!

Surprise Trip!

For the past couple of years we have taken a trip in the spring to Florida and this year, not having the foresight to know that Joey would be the easiest baby on the planet, we opted not to take a "spring break" trip. This has caused all of us in our householdto be very stir crazy and eager to get the heck out of Indy. Ben has been asking to go to a hotel and go swimming and since his wish is our command...we scheduled a surprise trip.

Ben went to school like normal this past Wednesday, but was surprised to be picked up at 2:30 by daddy and even more surprised to find mommy, Joey, and a car full of luggage in the parking lot! We told him that we were taking him on a surprise vacation. Ben was absolutely thrilled and shouted "are we going to Disney World?!" Not quite. How about Cincinnati?

We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge (Ben calls it the great big bear wolf hotel) and have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. If anyone in the midwest is looking for a great destination for their family, this is an awesome option. We stayed in a kid kabin suite and Ben literally had his own little cabin within our hotel room with bunk beds and his own tv. He thought this was awesome! Being the pack rat that he is, he emptied his suitcase and put all of his belongings, including all of the little shampoo and soap bottles that were in the room, in "his room."

The hotel features an indoor water park and Ben and Joey were mesmerized by all their was to see. I was really surprised how much Ben enjoyed the waterslides. I knew he would enjoy the pools, but by the end of the first night he was going down the waterslides all by himself! He also enjoyed the wave pool, lazy river, and water forts throughout the park. Joey loved looking around and watching all of the kids play. He was a trooper as always. He did dip his toes in the water and seemed to enjoy that...the experience elicited an immediate "blow out" of his diaper so I am guessing that is how he shows his pleasure at this point?!

We ordered pizza and had a picnic in our hotel room the first night and our entire family was in bed by 8:30 p.m. We are a wild and crazy bunch!

The next morning started off kind of shaky. Ben woke up and said his "toe was asleep." It quickly became apparant that he literally could not put any weight on his left foot. He would fall to the ground upon trying. I know it sounds like he was being dramatic, but it was actually pretty scary. He was in no pain and we couldn't see any bumps or bruises on his foot, but everytime he tried to stand with both feet on the floor he would fall down. After about an hour of this, Dean took Ben to the Immediate Care Center. After negative x-rays and examinations, it was determined that Ben was suffering from partial peroneal nerve palsy. There was a rail on the bunk bed and Ben slept with his left leg thrown over the top of the rail. The doctor surmised that this position must have compressed the peroneal nerve running along the back of the knee, causing temporary paralysis of his foot. The funniest thing is that this type of condition is often seen in drunk people because they pass out and don't feel the tingly sensation that accompanies the onset of this palsy...perhaps there was more than just gatorade in Ben's sippy cup last night?!

We were relieved that nothing was broken, but were still pretty concerned about poor Benny. After a couple of hours he was able to walk , but dragged his left foot and could not feel it at all. It was pretty pitiful. I told my dad that it is really remarkable how quickly you can begin to appreciate something you have taken for granted for so long. Ben is a very athletic kid and I was heartbroken at the notion that he may have serious damage to his foot....I'll skip forward in the story to let you know that he is totally fine now. He was unable to walk normally all day Thursday, but awoke Friday 100% normal, as though nothing had ever been wrong.

Back to Thursday, we went to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and Ben and daddy sat behind home plate and had several foul balls come their way (it was "so cool" according to Ben). Joey and I went for a walk. It was an absolutely beautiful day, but a little too sunny in the seats for Mr. Joe Joe. He was the hit of the ballpark, however, and we made lots of friends on our walk, including the Reds mascot (Ben was kind of jealous).

After the game, we headed back to the hotel for more swimming fun, dinner, and another early bedtime, though I think we at least made it past 9 that night!

Friday we swam in the morning and then headed home. It was a great trip and a much needed get away. Both boys were really well behaved and Ben is eager to return. It was a very successful surprise trip!

Ben Strikes Again

So I go to pick up Ben from school today and I walk into the classroom. Ben is intently coloring and his teacher, Miss Amy, says "Hi!" Too which I reply, "Hello." Upon hearing my voice, Ben's head snaps up and he says in the only volume with which his voice operates, which is very loud, "HOLY CRAP YOU SCARED ME!" Miss Amy, Miss Missy, and I started laughing hysterically and Ben said again, "Holy crap you scared me, mommy!" I finally composed myself enough to inform Ben that crap really isn't a nice word and we need to stop saying it. Ben said "Ok...but you did scare the crap out of me!" Oh Ben. Later this afternoon Aunt Sissy came over and Ben requested McDonald's for dinner. On our way to Mickey D's Aunt Sissy asked Ben what he wanted to be when he grew up. Ben thought for a moment and then said, "an astronaut." Sissy said, "cool, what do astronaut's do." Ben gleefully exclaimed that astronauts "fly to space and shoot aliens." I think he really wants to be Buzz Lightyear and not necessarily an astronaut. The only other funny Benny story I can think of happened last week. I said something brilliant, naturally, and Aunt Sissy said "oh, Ben, your mommy is so funny." Ben looked at her like she was insane and said in a very big boy matter of fact manner, "No, she really isn't." Whatever, I beg to differ!

This is dedicated to the one(s) I love

I stole the cheesy title from my Dad! Today we celebrated Joey's dedication (a ceremony for babies that parents choose to participate in to dedicate their child's life to God. Kids in our church can then make the choice later on to be baptised) with many of our closest friends and family members. It was a great day and I was again reminded how great it feels to have the people I love most on earth (we missed you Uncle Craig) under one roof. Cherrylynn and Cadalyn were even in town and joined us for the occasion, which was such a treat. I can't believe how big my sweet CJ is getting. She is such a cutie pie.

Cadalyn, Cherrylynn, Joey, and Angela

Joey was a trooper for his big day. He woke up in an excellent mood, which is pretty standard for most of the members in our household. We are definitely morning people! Joey was all smiles as he ate, took a bath, played, ate some more, and then puked all over me right as we were preparing to walk out the door. I have lost a lot of my baby weight but still have about 8 pounds to go and my clothing options are somewhat limited at this point. Rather than panic, which I think Dean really expected me to do, I calmly went to the bathroom, wiped the chunks of curdled milk off of my shoulder, my back, and my upper right thigh, dried my shirt and pants with a hair dryer as best I could and headed out the door sporting a lovely odor of baby vomit. Nice.

Angela Chaplin thinks Joey looks like Bampaw...their hair style is definitely similar!!

Nice smile Boog

The ceremony was really lovely and Ben was a hoot as always. He kept waving to people and trying to stand with his hands clasped in front of him like I was. The best part, however, was when my sister, Michelle, whom I had asked to take pictures, snapped a shot and Ben turned to me and quite loudly said "Mom, tell Sissy I don't like having my picture taken!"

Despite another spit up incident (perhaps I sampled too much cake/brownie batter last night?!) right before Dean handed Joey over to our minister, Joey did a great job and the ceremony went off without a hitch. Everyone came over to our house afterwards for lunch and it was a great time.

Aunt Barbie, Angela, and Joey

Uncle Clint videotaped the dedication ceremony and we took several pictures throughout the day. I hope Joey enjoys looking at these pictures some day and seeing how much we all love him. Most importantly, I hope both of my boys never forget how much God loves them and how unbelievably blessed Dean and I are to have been given the opportunity to know and raise these two sweet boys of ours. God bless our boys.