Children's Museum

I won't write much, since I did just blog this morning...that must be a record!! :) We went to the Children's Museum this afternoon with Amy, Logan and Olivia. Joey had a blast and was in awe of everything. These were a few of his favorite attractions. He especially liked the water exhibit and the water fountain. :) As you can see by his hair on the way out, he was drenched! But we had fun, and now he's in bed, so I can get some rest.

We are both very ready for Joe to get home tomorrow!

Prayer request: a former co-worker of my mom's was killed by a train yesterday in Chicago. Please pray for her family and for my mom as they deal with this.

Cool Joey

We received some really neat sports clothing from a friend from college a while ago who's son is older, and now Joey is starting to fit into them. They are adorable!

Doesn't he look like a little man?!

Joey also has sunglasses that he actually keeps on in the car (for a while anyway) because he figured out it really does help keep the sun out of his eyes.

Mommy and Joey are both cool!

Well, I've been doing the single mom thing since Wednesday morning because Joe is at a PT conference in Chicago. He gets back Sunday night...not soon enough! I can definitely tell that Joey misses his daddy (so does mommy). He's more cranky and clingy than normal...not fun for me! But we're doing some fun things today with some friends---yoga, lunch and the Children's Museum. I'll post some pictures of the museum later.

Happy Valentine's Day from Joey

Joey had a great Valentine's Day night. After dinner mommy made brownies and let Joey lick the spoon. This is the first time he's gotten to do this...he thought he was in heaven!

This is how he looked at the end of his little feast.

He then went straight to the bath to wash off all the residue. He got to use his new froggy towel, which made him very excited.

And then he took off the froggy towel.

He then got to open a Valentine's Day card from his cousin Michael. He was so excited to see Michael on the picture card; he kept saying his name over and over.

His night ended by opening up his Valentine's Day gift from Gramma and Papa. (Daddy and Mommy just got him a balloon...which he actually loves.)

All in all, it was a fun night for Joey, mommy and daddy. Mommy made a yummy Cajun Chicken Pasta for her and daddy, and then they got to watch a movie.

I got tagged!

I got "tagged" by my sister-in-law Val to write about 6 things that you probably don't know about me...and probably don't really want to know.

1. I can't stop eating candy once I've started. I seriously have to make a conscious decision to move the bag away from me or I'll keep eating them. Right now my vice is candy hearts and sweet tart hearts, but it can range anywhere from Nerds to Gummy worms to Runts (just to name a few.) I seriously almost get mad (okay envious) that Joe can put one little piece of candy in his mouth and keep it in there for like 15 minutes, and then be all done eating candy. Who can do that?! I think I can thank my mom for this wonderful trait!

2. On the note of thanking my mom for things...I sneeze in sets of three or four...just like my mom! I think it secretly drives Joe crazy that I do this, but I have to remind him that I am not TRYING to sneeze that many times, I just do. About a month ago, I got a little upset at him when he made fun of my sneezing (pregnancy hormones?) and since then he just gives me a nice "bless you" with a smothered grin when I sneeze. Thanks hon.

3. I doodle when I am talking on the phone (unless I am in front of the TV with no pen and paper.) I think this habit started in college while taking notes for 7 years. You should see my notebooks from college and PA school...maybe I should enter them in an art contest? I think maybe I listen better when I am doodling...or so I tell myself. Now, I'm not talking just a few little marks, I'm talking like page (or margin) covered in designs. Maybe it's that I like to pretend that I am creative and can make cool looking abstract designs.

4. I can't stand smelly things. Feet that smell are especially gruesome to my nose. I am kind of a freak about it (again, just ask Joe.) I actually ask him to change his socks when he gets home from work...who wouldn't have smelly socks after a long day of dress socks and dress shoes? I even think Joey's feet smell at times, and I have to put new socks on him. If ever I think my feet are putting off any kind of malodorous scent...it's right to the tub to wash them off. Maybe I just have a sensitive nose, even when I'm not pregnant. If I smell someone else's fart, I am instantly looking for a match or air freshener (or politely asking them to do it.) I don't think any of this is wierd, do you??

5. On the subject of farting (I know, not very lady-like), I have a phobia of being made fun of for tooting...unless I've known you for over 10 years or are married to you. :) I'm pretty sure this goes back to my childhood days when my brothers would sing, "Michelle my belle you always call tooterville." Quite traumatic to a little girl...many times I cried, and then of course ran to my dad to tell on them. Besides, I couldn't help the fact that I had issues with dairy!

6. I have a specific order of getting ready in the morning. I have it timed out so that I know just when I have to get out of bed to get ready on time. Here's how it goes: after hitting snooze a minimum of three times, it's out of bed to the shower (where of course I have a certain order of washing my hair and body...get wet, shampoo hair, rinse out shampoo, put on conditioner, let conditioner sit on my hair while I lather loofah and wash body, rinse conditioner and done!) Then it's comb out hair, put on some of my makeup, dry hair with blowdryer, put on eyeliner, brush teeth, use straightener to finish hair, finish makeup with mascara and eye shadow, go get dressed, put on deoderant, finish with jewelery and perfume. Then I'm off to get Joey and get out the door. I can seriously get ready in about 15-20 minutes, including shower, if I am able to do everything in order. I have no clue why, but if I get out of order then it can take me much, much longer. I don't think I'm OCD...

Well, now you know some things about me that you never really wanted to know in the first place. I hope you don't mind the post all about me and nothing about Joey (luckily I posted earlier today about Joey!)

So, since I was "tagged" to do this, I am tagging Kelly, Meredith, Krista and Christy to also tell us 6 quirky things about yourself that we may not know. It's actually kind of fun to do once you get started, so get started!

Fun with Papa and Gramma

My parents were here visiting this weekend. We had a great time, and Joey had a ton of fun with Gramma and Papa. Sometimes my mom comes to visit us by herself, and Joey always asks where Papa is when she gets in the car. Well, this time he got them both (and mommy and daddy got a good break!)

My parents wanted to take Joey somewhere "fun," so we went to a little arcade/play place at one of our malls here. Most of the games were too big for Joey, but he loved all the lights anyway.

Trust me...I had to have a lot of help getting out of this little ride (not made for pregnant hips!)

Here is one of the big games that Joey was enthralled by.

Okay, seriously, I'm a little freaked out by the clown too...I don't blame Joey.

This was actually Joey's favorite "ride." He went up and down a million times with Gramma and Papa.

Since Joey didn't really use any of the tokens, the big kids had a little fun.

Denying the rumors that he can only play basketball...

On another note...As I am blogging I am enjoying my first one of these of the year...

Oh, the guiltlessness of being pregnant!!!

Fun in Arkansas

This past weekend we went to Arkansas to visit our best friends, Dave and Mere, who have Connor (2) and Audrey (10 months). We also went to see Joe's brother James play basketball at JBU---more about that later.

Connor and Joey had a blast playing together. It was go, go, go while they were awake. Poor Audrey had to try to stay out of the way of the crazy boys. Here they are jumping on the hide-a-bed while the mommies weren't looking. :)

Joey usually loves to watch Elmo, and only Elmo, but he soon learned that it is all Curious George at Connor's house. After the first morning Joey learned to ask for "Ju" instead of Elmo. Here they are watching---this lasted all of about 5 minutes, don't be fooled.

Here is one of the boys' favorite things to do together. Connor has this cool tent system with balls and tunnels. It was fun to see them be crazy. Again, poor Audrey had to watch out for dear life as she crawled through the tunnels.

Contrary to what you've seen above, we did occasionally put our boys in something other than pajamas...okay usually when we went out. :)
Here is a picture of all three of the kids together out with the snowman that Connor and Mere built the day we got there. The next day it was about 60 degrees so the poor snowman was no more.

On Saturday the girls had a baby shower for me and my good friend Christine, who is having a little girl in March. It was such a fun shower. We went to a tea shop, had lunch, talked, played a game, and opened gifts. It was the best. It was fun to catch up with all of my girlfriends without having to watch any kids! :) I received some wonderful things...little girl clothes are WAY cuter than little boy clothes!
Here is a picture of me and Christine with the three girls who put on the shower for us: Krista, Amber and Meredith.

And here is a side shot of the two pregos. Christine is very much enjoying only having one child in her belly this time (she has twin 2 year olds also.) And I am very grateful that I have never had two children in my belly at one time.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. That is, until James' basketball game. Here's the short version. James played the first half, but then got hurt during the second half. Joe took him to the ER in Siloam Springs. After waiting awhile and getting an x-ray, they found out that almost his entire foot had been dislocated. They had to transfer him to a bigger hospital, put him under general anesthesia, and put the foot back into alignment. He has been in tremendous pain. And they will have to take him into surgery later this week to put in pins and screws to secure the foot so that he can eventually walk on it again. He will be off his foot for a few months in a cast. Apparently this is the worst possible injury you can have of the foot. Please pray for James as he goes through this long recovery and still tries to keep up with school. On a good note, James will most likely be coming to live at our house this summer, so then he will have a good physical therapist to take care of him!