




We had a very nice holiday in Corsicana, Elm Mott, and Elk. We went to my Aunt and Uncles for turkey dinner and then over to my Grampy's for another plate! It was nice to see the family and kiddos. We got to meet Addison for the first time, such a cutie! We also visited my Memaw in West. She really enjoyed seeing all the kids. My dad got a new big screen and Joseph's eyes were glued to it every time it was on. No turkey for Joseph this year, but maybe next year he can have a leg or two. We are looking forwards to Christmas!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thanksgiving fun
Posted by LB at 9:55 AM 0 comments
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Decades Party for Marilyn


We had a fun party for Marilyn's 60th birthday. Becca came up with an idea to have a decades party and people could dress up if they wanted. We had cute decorations ranging from the 50's to the 80's and balloons and good food. Max and Evan had fun dancing and eating lots of candy from the candy bar! Joseph enjoyed crawling around and he loved looking directly into the strobe light...It was a fun time and nice to see family friends!
Posted by LB at 10:39 AM 0 comments
Happy Birthday Evan!
Birthday Boy!
Max!
Joseph signing "fan"
Becca and the boys were here for a week and we were able to celebrate Marilyn's birthday and Evans! It was great to see and spend time with the cousins. We had dinner at Red Robin for Evan's birthday. THe boys got balloons and Max and Evan had yummy ice cream. Joseph only got mac and cheese, mama didn't want him to have ice cream just yet :) Can't believe Evan is 2 !
Posted by LB at 10:10 AM 0 comments
Friday, November 25, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
1 year well-visit
http://dleiphoto.smugmug.com/
Daddy was laying on his back on the floor and Joseph brought him a book and climbed up in his "lap". LOL It's a good thing Dada had this book memorized!
Poor Joseph and his girly bandaid
Since Joseph was sick with fever the week he was suppose to have his well visit, we rescheduled and went on Monday. We saw a different doctor this time because Dr. Byrd was sick. I really loved this doctor, he seemed well experienced and his cousin went to school with our ENT, Dr. Roy! We also had a discussion about Joseph's misdiagnoses of laryngomalacia and this doctor had 2 babies with that diagnoses and actually had heart problems-not laryngomalacia. It seems as if ENT's are quick to diagnose malacia issues. I still pray other families and doctors will learn from our own experience.
Joseph was in a great mood at the doctors office. He talked and babbled the whole time and the doctor assured me his speech was coming along great! Joseph had a HUGE mosquito bite on his head the doctor said I could give him oral Benedryl for the swelling.
Stats:
Weight 21.5 #, 43%
Height 30.5", 60%
Head 47 cm, 70%
The doctor had a small concern about his growth, but he said they would not jump to conclusions about anything. Joseph has dropped in every percentile and only grew 1/2 inch since he was 9 mths old. He went from being in the 97% to the 60% in height. His head only grew 1 cm also. I am not concerned at all. I think he just grew real fast at first and now he is leveling out. Dr. Byrd will take a look when we go back in a couple months.
Joseph got 4 shots and I got one :(
He screamed bloody murder, but once i picked him up and gave him a cracker he was fine the rest of the day. He goes back in December for the booster shot for the flu. Me on the other hand... they gave me a flu shot and I was sick all night with fever, aches and pains. I feel fine now but it was awful!
Joseph is really enjoying picking out which books we read now. He will hand us one and sit in our lap. We've hung a swing on the back porch which he loves. He also loves riding in the wagon. He loves being outside! Joey is teaching him to go down the stairs feet first, and get off the couch feet first. He loves when Dada gets home from work because that means playtime. We love listening to him "talk". He makes a cute little baby talk voice when he talks about Kitty. He loves pointing out a picture of a baby and saying "Bebe". He now blows on his food if it is hot or not. He knows his tongue, nose, ear, and hair. He knows his socks and shoes go on his feet. I'm sure there are more but that's all I can remember.
I still can't believe he is 1 ! I'm so glad he's mine!
Posted by LB at 4:14 PM 0 comments
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Dry Double Lake

Mama relaxing while baby naps
This was taken on the way home...you might be wondering why the baby has no pants on, read on to find out...
CLick for larger views

We were SO excited to take the camper out on it's first trip! We took a mini family vacation up to Double Lake. The park ranger had called Joey to tell us the lake was all dried up from the drought, but we had no idea just how dry. Wow, we were able to walk across the lake on dry land. It was pretty sad, we had never seen anything like it. We enjoyed hiking around the lake with baby in stroller and just letting him and Gina play around the camp site. We didn't see much wildlife except for a few birds, squirrels, and a bunny. I was worried about where they were getting water. Joey assured me they drink he morning dew from grass...but I think they all looked thirsty. The first night it was freezing outside and I got cold inside, but we had a space heater to keep warm. I didn't want to use the campers heater cause it smelled bad when it turned on. The baby slept (more like cried) in his pack and play, but I've decided it's not coming with us next time. The second night I finally just put him in our bed and he slept better. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep...
So Joseph has never had diarrhea his whole 1 year of life...that is until we go camping. He broke in the camper good with many, many poopie blow out diapers. We're talking up the back and or down the leg. He messed in ALL his pants I brought him. And that's why he has no pants on in the picture above. He had been on antibiotics that caused his digestive system to get all out of wack for about a week! He's better now :) Overall it was a fun weekend and we are looking forwards to going again! We love our camper!
Posted by LB at 5:57 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 7, 2011
Lucy and Lily fun
The girls posing with their cupcakes! So cute!

Lily insisted on wearing the sock puppet as a sock on her foot
Smiley Lucy with my Joey Jr
These are about the last I'm posting from Joseph's birthday weekend. I hope the cousins come to visit again soon! Next week we will have the boy cousins visiting! We can't wait to see Evan and Max!
Posted by LB at 7:21 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
ONE, 12 months, 365 days
http://dleiphoto.smugmug.com/
Can you believe it has been one full year? It is amazing what all this past year has taught me. Our family has grown in so many ways. We may never know why certain things happen, but I do know we are living a happy life now with our healthy baby.
Joseph is doing SO many things! He walked all by himself on October 16th, the day before he turned one. He took a small step here or there before that date, but on the 16th he really did it all himself. He is starting to wave by moving his little fingers around. He can make "twinkle stars" with his hands when we sing. He LOVES putting anything into a box, can, really anything with an opening. He will take something out and in for a pretty long time! One day I gave him a spoon and a cup and I got a lot done! He loves to try and repeat sounds we make. He can blow, growl and bark like Gina, say dada and mama. It might be my mommy ears but I swear I've heard him say, Gina, Gigi, and byebye. The one word he says all the time is uh-oh and MOOOOOO, I'm pretty sure he thinks everything is a cow. We are starting to learn body parts, right now he knows NOSE, and working on EAR. He's a fast learner :) He still loves to be read to and I love reading to him, mainly because that is the ONLY time he will sit still in my lap.
Joseph is eating lots of things!! I've got to give myself credit for giving him a cupcake on his birthday. I wasn't sure I could do it, but it was pretty easy, and he didn't even seem that interested. New foods are peanut butter, egg white, spaghetti, mac and cheese, tried milk but he doesn't want it, pumpkin, salmon, ricotta, breakfast casserole, tortilla chips, and spinach dip! His breakfast consists of oatmeal with a veggie and maybe an egg, lunch is based on yogurt with a protein like tahini or peanut butter with a fruit or veggie, and I am trying my hardest to offer him whatever we eat for dinner. He loves those Magic Pops we get at HEB and he still enjoys his whole wheat crackers. He doesn't want anything to drink except water or to nurse. We were nursing 3 times a day, but he got sick so now I'm back up to 4 times a day.
Joseph was sick last week and this week is on antibiotics. He ran 103 fever for 2 days. I had to reschedule his 1 yr well visit, so we haven't been in for that check up yet. I also had his 1 yr pics taken. I'm posting one but there is more to come.
We had a check up with Dr. Roy, his throat doc. We are weaning him off the medicine by letting Joseph grow and not upping the dose based on his body weight. At 18 mths old we will start lowering the dose. Dr. Roy will do an in-office scope in the future, but the date is not set. Dr. Roy is happy with Joseph's condition. Dr. Roy also recently gave a seminar for other doctors and used Joseph's medical history. It was how not to misdiagnose babies with subglottic hemangiomas. I hope by him educating others that this will not happen to any other families. Dr. Roy is a wonderful man and such a blessing to us.
As I start year 2 of being a mother, I pray for guidance as Joseph grows and learns about life. I hope Joey and I can teach him about all the good things in life and protect him from the bad. I can't imagine my life without him. I heard this once maybe from a movie and it is so true: You don't realize just how much your mother loves you, until your a mother yourself.
Posted by LB at 3:21 PM 0 comments
My Halloween Wreath


Mom and I went to Michael's on Saturday and they had all the halloween on sale. I couldn't resist buying some stuff to make a wreath. I've needed something new for Halloween on my door for a while. I said bye to my faded, purple skeleton I got at the dollar store 5 years ago.
Posted by LB at 3:11 PM 0 comments
Soccerhead Pumpkin


Who's been eating the raw pumpkin?

LAST YEAR 
Daddy always has the best pumpkin ideas! This year he wanted to do a soccer theme. Joseph was big enough to help out :) He really enjoyed picking up the pumpkin skin from the ground and putting it back into the hollow pumpkin. If he wasn't doing that then he was trying to eat the stuff. He watched daddy carve for a good while and then he played with the pumpkin lid by taking it off and on.
Posted by LB at 2:57 PM 0 comments
Cluck Cluck Halloween



This Halloween we decided to take Joseph trick or treating. He didn't even seem to mind his chicken costume. We took him and Quinn around to a few houses in our neighborhood. Of course Beck the barracuda joined in as well. Afterward, we ate some chili and listened to Gina and Q run around and play. Joseph loves to watch Q run and scream, he gets so excited he sometimes lets a little scream out himself.
Posted by LB at 2:48 PM 0 comments




