Baby Steps

Joseph Asher just turned 10 months old and I'm pretty sure he's not my baby anymore, he's my TODDLER! He only has a couple bottles of formula a day, instead drinking juice out of a sippy cup. Also, he's eating regular table food now. He loves macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, baked beans-- the only thing he refuses to eat are bananas (he takes after Aunt M!) and anything green (green beans, peas, spinach). He loves fruits though-- apples, oranges, pears, grapes, strawberries. The kiddo has a sweet tooth.

Speaking of teeth, he has at least FOUR now! The two front teeth on the top are kind of crooked and have a sizable gap between them. I guess he takes after mom that way. They haven't come completely in, so we can't tell if they are going to slowly move towards each other or not. We'll see! Just in case, I'll start a change jar marked "orthodontist".

The two biggest changes for Joe (that are possibly related) are that he has started full time day care and has taken his first steps! That's right, after almost four painful years of semi-unemployment, I finally got a full-time job in my field. So, Joe is now going full-time to the day care where he had been going one or two days a week. He LOVES it. There are three other older boys and a younger girl and a younger boy. He follows the older boys everywhere they go! Of course, because they are walking, he wants to walk too. He's trying very hard! Check out the video:



His personality is still sweet, friendly and full of happiness. Joe Daddy cut a hole in Joe's favorite big box and they played peekaboo together yesterday. Enjoy!

Joe's 1st Professional Photo Shoot

While in Georgia, my brother surprised us with a photo session for me, Joe Daddy, Joe, himself and his son. It was a lot of fun! The pictures turned out great! I put a tiny sample here, but if you want to see the whole set, click here!






Joe turned TEN months old a couple of days ago. I can hardly believe he's so old already! I will update soon with a Joe Progress Report. Until then, enjoy Joe's photo shoot!
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Where Do I Begin?!

The past six weeks have been a whirlwind, which you might have guessed since the blog went on hiatus. Well, we're BACK and I have come with almost 200 pictures, so hopefully you'll forgive me. Some of these pictures have a weird date stamp in the corner -- my camera must have been going out after so many pictures! I'll edit them eventually.

Let's start where we left off: GRANDMAS!



Joe Daddy's Momma (henceforth referred to as Joe Grandma) had a business trip to NYC and stopped in for a day to see Joe. It went fabulously. Joe Grandma was fantastic with Joe (no big surprise since she has two young kids herself). She was sweet and playful and Joe had a great time with her. After that, I felt like I should throw caution to the wind and invite my mom out too. My mother will henceforth be referred to as Joe MomMom. Her anxiety level is pretty high, but Joe's feathers didn't get ruffled and he seemed to enjoy her excitement. It is sad that Joe only got to see real blood relatives once during his first year, but hopefully that will improve over time. It would be a shame for our families to miss out on such a great kiddo. Click here for the set of pictures and videos from the Grandma/MomMom trips.




Next came Aunt M's New Years trip. We went down to DC and snagged Uncle J too and had a great time for Joey's first NYE. This was also the beginning of our two week adventure down the east coast. The first stop was DC where we got to see Uncle J's place for the first time and take a tour of the US Botanical Garden. Click here for the set of pictures and videos from the NYE trip.




The next leg of the journey was Virginia where we met up with Joe Daddy's Aunt Kim and Uncle Walter. Words really can't describe how fantastic it was to see them. I guess the best thing I can say is that it felt like home... or what I guess home is supposed to feel like. Joe LOVED hanging out with them and crawling around with Walter on the floor. I can't believe it took us so long to go visit them when we've been out here on the coast for so long. I also can't wait to see them again. Click here for the set of pictures and video from the Virginia leg of the trip.




Finally, we went down to Georgia to see my brother for the first time in about four years. My last trip to see him went poorly, so we were somewhat apprehensive going into it, but it turned out to be absolutely amazing. My bro has done a lot of growing up since the last time I saw him, thanks no doubt to having a little boy of his own (Christian). Joe followed Christian everywhere he went, we had a great time with Christian's Momma's family, did a lot of radio stuff (my bro is a station manager / morning show host), and just had a fabulous time all around. I also had the best BBQ I've ever had in my entire life. I can't wait to go back again! Click here for the set of pictures and video from the Georgia leg of the trip.

Since coming back, we got our Earth's Best prize loot! Diapers and wipes and food galore! It was definitely worth the hour of effort to make the video!


Also, I got to visit the boys I used to nanny and they got to spend some quality time with Joe. I love seeing my "practice kids"! I know I'm a better person and a better mom because of the experience I had raising them for 2+ years.



I'm sorry I got so behind on updating the blog, but I promise that I'm back and I'm going to update again in the next day or two with details about Joe's growth and pictures from his first ever professional photo shoot! Get excited!

Much to Be Thankful For

WE WON THE BABY FOOD CONTEST!!!! Thanks to everyone who checked out / rated / commented on the video! I received a thick letter in the mail on Monday that said (among other things), "Congratulations and give Joey a big hug because he has been selected a face of Earth's Best Generation Pure in the Earth's Best Most Memorable Baby Feeding Moment Contest. Out of the hundreds of videos we received, Joey's enjoyment while eating our wholesome and nutritious foods is truly representative of this pure generation of healthy little eaters!"

As a winner, Joe will be featured on the new Earth's Best website in January and we receive a month's worth of diapers/wipes/food! Hurray!!! Special thanks go out to the two stars of the video, Joe Daddy and Joe, and also thanks to Uncle J for watching about three different versions of it and giving feedback along the way.

I came in to wake Joe up from a nap and he was lounging with his feet up. All in a day's work, I guess, haha!


Now that he can crawl well, get into everything and stand/climb, he tries to get into the fridge. I have a great video regarding this, but for now, here's a picture:


He outgrew his froggy baby bath tub and has moved on to a big inflatable duck. If you squeeze the beak, it quacks! He's so spoiled! Joe loves baths, though... he likes to pretend he's in a rain shower or just lounge in the water.


My mom's sister got Joey a Harley onesie and Harley wooden puzzle. It's now Joe's favorite toy in the living room. He loves picking up the pegged pieces and chewing on them and banging them on the table. Thanks, Annie! Maybe one day, you can show him a real motorcycle!


Joe is growing up and becoming more independent every day. But, he still loves his time with mommy and daddy.



I will leave you with my favorite video from the past couple of weeks. As you saw in one of the previous pictures, Joe has learned how to get into the refrigerator and while recording it, I asked him if he could figure out how to do something in particular. Twenty seconds in, the magic happens. He's so awesome!



Oh, I forgot one thing... Joe is going to meet his first ever blood relative (other than Joe Momma and Joe Daddy of course). Joe Daddy's Momma (Joe Grandma?) is going to stop and visit while she's on a business trip in NYC and see Joey for the very first time. I'm cautiously optimistic. But, seriously, how could you not love these faces? Fingers crossed!

My Movie Stars

I had mentioned in a previous post that I was entering Joey in a contest. It's the Earth's Best Most Memorable Feeding contest and the winner gets a month's supply of diapers/wipes/food. Earth's Best is heading into their 25th year as the first maker of "pure" baby food on the market. Well, our video was approved and made it into their list (of about 150 videos). They will choose 25 winners as the "25 faces of Generation Pure" who will be featured on their website starting in January. Winners will be notified mid-December. We'll see what happens! Here's our entry:

New Discoveries and Funny Hats

Joe is now standing all the time on anything he can get some leverage on. He's pretty fearless and will reach up for anything on his tippy-toes with no hands holding on. Aunt M is coming to see us for New Years and I've been saying that maybe he'll take his first steps while she's here!


Joe and I went to visit a friend and see her little girl Sofia on her 3 month birthday. Joey tried to put his hand in her mouth and bonked her once in the side of the face, but overall he seemed to be gentle with her and they enjoyed looking at each other. It's love.


After much speculation on my part, I was finally able to catch Joseph "in the act" of turning his crib mobile on and off. Sometimes I thought I heard him doing it, but as soon as I would come into the room, he would just plop and roll around and pretend like "nothing to see here folks!" But this video makes it official:



After multiple requests and much harassment from friends and family, I finally got a couple of good pictures that show off Joey's teeth. Feel free to click on them to get a 'close-up' look.



Finally, I leave you with these cute pictures of Joe and his daddy in some hats that I got for free recently. They came from our favorite local Mexican place. Ole!

Not a Baby Anymore

I don't know exactly when it happened, but somehow Joe went from being a tiny little baby to a little boy. He can feed himself his own bottle, he can feed himself Cheerios and he can pull himself up to standing. Here he is using the coffee table to stand up:



We just finished baby proofing things based on a fast-crawling floor-level Joey and we are now trying to baby proof a whole new set of things (tops of coffee tables, bookshelves, etc). We can barely keep up! I think the closest we've come to danger is that Joe may have eaten about half of a kleenex tissue.

Joe's got two teeth on the bottom now and it looks like one is trying to come in on the top too. He's done pretty well dealing with teething pain by chewing on everything and kind of humming/moaning while doing it. While doing this, he and his daddy came up with a new game -- **NOTE: There's some problem with the video/audio matching up, but you can still get the idea:



I saved the best for last -- I introduced Joe to blocks a few days ago and for some reason, he thought it was HILARIOUS. So, enjoy the sound of Joey-laughter!