Galveston

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1 year today!

A year ago today Joseph was scoped and admitted to ICU with his CORRECT diagnoses. I am so thankful we have had a wonderful year with no more visits the the hospital or ER. On Monday we have an appointment with Dr. Roy for his check up he gets every 3 months. I'm posting from my phone so no picture today!

15 month doctor visit

I'm sure he's telling me something VERY important about his band-aids
And yes, he put the kleenex all back in!
His first (of many I'm sure) scraped knee : ( it came about when he was in a VERY bad mood when we got home from the beach and he didn't want his pants on to go play outside and this is the result...
Brushing his teeth!
Last week we made it to see Dr. Byrd for his 15 month well visit. After Joseph made friends with everyone in the waiting room, we were called to the back. He did so good except when we tried to weigh him. He caught a glance of the digital numbers on the front of the scale and he kept leaning over to see how much he weighed. All the office ladies were watching and laughing, he would not sit up! I think the nurse just took an average weight. I had a few questions for Dr. Byrd and she examined him. Joseph stood real still while she listened to his tummy, heart, and back with her stethoscope. He let her do everything she needed and he didn't put up a fight. He is growing and developing properly, he is above average on his words! YAY, he can say over 20 words. She said animal sounds count :)It seems like he is saying something new every few days. I am surprised to learn he only needs 2 to 3 cups of milk a day. Right now he is getting almond, coconut, cow, and mama's milk :) Of course he doesn't get the first three everyday, I like to rotate... She said it is ok that I am still pureeing certain foods as long as he does eat a variety of textures. We do need to practice with him drinking out of a cup. We always use a sippy cup or straw cup. So after the two horrible shots we came on home and hopefully we won't be back until his 18 month well-visit. So here are the stats!
weight 22#6oz, 44%
height 31, 44%
Head circumference 47 1/2, 70%

We see Dr. Roy on Monday the 30th for his throat!

Dinner with Skinners

A couple weeks ago (I'm trying to get caught up!) We had dinner with some very special family friends! Shannon was a bridesmaid in my wedding and she is now about to graduate with her masters from Baylor! She is a super busy girl and she had never met Joseph before. So we took a trip to Cypress to have dinner with Jan, Jeff, and Shannon. Joseph got to meet "Bear" the bunny! He wasn't sure at first, but he touched him and felt his soft fur. We had a nice evening and hope we see them again soon!

New Years Eve

This is the last of my holiday pictures! We went to church New Years Eve and snapped some photos with the beautiful nativity scene. My parents babysat Joseph and Joey and I spent the evening with my sister and their friends. It was a nice, low key night. Anything would have been better than last year- we were in the hospital over the new year...

Memaw and Aunt Eileen

Over the holiday break we went and visited Memaw and Aunt Eileen in the nursing home. Joseph went straight into Aunt Eileens lap for a while! It was so cute. Then once he got down he was running all over. He especially loved the big bird cage. I would hold him up to see the little birds and every time one of them moved he would laugh and laugh. They were decorated for Christmas still so he also made the animal sounds for the old folks at the nativity scene. Memaw enjoyed seeing him and we had a nice visit. I'm glad we made time to go.

15 months old

Loves being outside
Silly Mama
I love that belly hanging over
He loves his straw cup
Bath time!
On Tuesday my baby will be 15 months old! My how the time has passed!

Food:
Joseph still has breakfast based on oatmeal and yogurt for lunch or dinner. I always add something mixed in, usually a veggie or a protein. His third meal I really try to give him what we are eating. He has had a little ground meat but that is anout it as far as meat goes. He can use a fork and get the food into his mouth. He enjoys fingerfoods, but I still spoon feed him oatmeal and yogurt. I also still puree certain fruits for him. He is getting easier to take out to eat now that he eats more variety. I've introduced Crasins, and some dried banana and strawberry to him. I need to get him some raisins next! He also really enjoys any type of milk out of his straw cup. He eats a lot of beans! This week I overheard Joey telling him not to swallow the bean like a pill. I didn't think much of it until I changed his diaper the next day. Let's just say I was very grossed out and Joseph did NOT chew the beans he had for dinner.

Words:
"Eat" he can say and sign
Animal sounds: cow, sheep, frog, penguin, bird, lion, bear, big cat, kitty, dog, rooster, elephant
"Bee"
"Duck"
"Baby"
"Mama or Mimi as he sometimes calls me and dada"
"Bubble"
"Bye Bye"
"Circle"
"Two" -this is all numbers to him
"uh-oh"
sometimes "Gigi" and I swear I heard him say Tee Toe once, we are working on Poppy and Ghee
"Bath"
"book"
"Fish"
"pea"
"Bean"
"Cheese"
all car noises
Airplane noise

Joseph's obsession
The last two weeks he has been overly obsessed with bubbles. He says the word "bubble" a lot. I had Aunt Lacey get him bubblebath for christmas and if we forget the bubbles at night he is sure to tell us. Also, the bubble machine Poppy gave him for his birthday has been used a lot lately. If Joseph finds any type of container that is similar to a bubble container, watch out cause he won't leave you alone until he sees some sort of bubbles. Even when he was eating his green peas this week-he called them bubbles! So cute, but I did correct him and he says "Pea" now.

Signing
It is adorable to watch him sign! Some of his signs aren't perfect but we know what he is meaning. He can sign: sit down, more, eat, drink, all done (this is usually his hands over his ears), hurt, and fan. Sometimes he does crazy things with his hands and i think he is trying to tell me something.

Body parts
Joseph can point out: Elbow, ears, hair, nose, feet, eye (sometimes), belly button but we say "pupek" as we say it in Czech, we are working on head and hand. He has found his nostril a few times. It is SO funny because once he gets his finger in the nostril he just keeps it there. LOL

Joseph loves to be outside and he could ride in his wagon all day if I would pull him that long. He still loves playing with Gina and Daddy. He loves seeing the other children at storytime and music time. He will not sit in my lap anymore but wants to be up with the other children. He loves for me to pick him up and dance if music is on. He enjoys his new CD player in his room. We have 1 kid CD from Aunt Becca that we listen to over and over :) Sometimes he just stares at the player. The CD is personalized so the singer says his name in each song, no telling what he is thinking! He still loves to pick out books for us to read, and that is one activity we do on and off all day long. Joseph is still a good sleeper, he naps twice a day and goes to bed around 9pm and wakes at 8ish.

He has his 15 mth check up on Tuesday, more shots. Then again shots at 18 months. We will see Dr Roy on the 30th for his throat. The medicine is still keeping that under control. I am slowly applying for full time work which means my stay at home mom days are coming to an end. Some days I'm ok with this and other days I'm not. I do feel Joseph will benefit from being in a social environment, BUT it is going to be SO hard leaving him each day when I start work.

Guess that is all for now. I'm sure I forgot to mention some things but he is growing and getting smarter every day!

Fun with the cousins

Family Christmas photos

Grampy and Joyce
The kids
Lacey, Russell, Lucille and Lillian

Corsicana Christmas

Opening gifts! Once this book was opened he immediately started reading it
Adorable hat and of course he got some new tractor wheels!
Spin spin spin!
And a little people airplane!
The Tuesday after Christmas me and the baby drove to Corsicana to stay a week! It was a nice holiday. Joey drove up on Thursday and stayed till Monday. So my family celebrated Christmas the Friday before New Years! We had it a little late but it fit into everyones schedule. Joseph was showered with some great gifts! I LOVE the adorable hats he got!

Happy New Year!

Love his little face

One Christmas Party

Joey and I were invited to one Christmas party this year. I was pretty upset when I learned it was the weekend he was camping. So I decided to just bring my mom along with me instead of my hubby. One of my mom's group friends from Memorial Hermann was giving this party, so all kids were welcomed. Joseph had fun playing the piano and cuddling with the huge bear!

Houston Christmas

A Christmas eve dinner- Olive Garden
Opening stockings from santa!

Fondue!
Christmas Eve and Christmas day were spent here at home. Joey's parents were out of town so we had Uncle John over for Christmas eve dinner and movie, then Christmas breakfast and dinner. On Christmas eve the 4 of us went out to Olive Garden then came home and watched The Christmas Story. Sunday morning we went to church and then had breakfast and later we fondued chicken, steak, mushrooms, cheese, pickles...just about anything we felt like frying :) We had a nice time. Marilyn and Randy had sent gifts and Santa came and stuffed our stockings. Us big kids had fun opening gifts :)