Joseph Stephen - Seven Months Old

Dear Joseph,

Even though I was adamant that you would be called Joe or Joseph, you have acquired a couple of nicknames. They include: Baby Joe, JoJo, Joe Bean, and Joey. It seams as if everyone has a nickname for you! I can't say that I like the fact that you have nicknames, but it has gotten so out of control that I often find myself using one of them! Daddy's favorite nickname for you is Joe Bean, Peter calls you Joey, Matthew refers to you as JoJo, and William calls you Joe Beeeeeeean. Speaking of William, he loves you to death! However, sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between the Love and Death. Sometimes he is so sweet to you, but there are other instances when we find him trying to sit on you/hug you. We are trying to emphasize being gentle! You get your revenge though. When he is asleep, you crawl over to him and start pounding on him, pulling his hair, and try to sit on him! It is actually very comical.

It is amazing how much you have changed in the past month. You are sitting up independently and are on the verge of crawling. You will get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth. It will not be long before you are very mobile!

Currently, you weigh approximately 20 pounds and wear 9-12 month clothes. You appear to be going through a growth spurt and will eat anything! In addition to enjoying most Gerber baby foods, you devour graham crackers. You simply cannot get the cracker into your mouth fast enough! It creates quite a mess.

Joseph, you are such an amazing little boy and bring such joy to our lives each and every day!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Cousins

Madison - 1 1/2, William - 2,
Kennedy - 7 Months, Peter - 8, Matthew - 10, Joseph - 6 Months

We were very lucky to have my step-sister Jodi and her family fly up to spend Thanksgiving with our family this year. While they were here, we decided to take some pictures of the six cousins together. Jodi, Matt, Madison, and Kennedy came out to Jamieson for the photo shoot. We were very lucky and found some time in between thunderstorms to take some shots. I thought the photos turned out pretty well considering the lack of attention span of the kids, especially the youngest four! Trying to get four children ages two and under to stay focused and look at the camera can be quite challenging! We had a lot of fun though and can't wait to see them again!

Jump!

Joseph Stephen - Six Months Old

Joseph,

This month has been a month of firsts. Unfortunately, they have not been very good firsts! To begin, you had your first night away from Mommy this month. I think it was more difficult for me though because you seemed to adjust beautifully. This month, William had to stay the night in the hospital with croup, so I stayed with him. While we were at the hospital, you stayed with Mema. You seemed to really enjoy your time with Mema because the two of you just cuddled all day and night while William was in the hospital.

A few days after William came home from the hospital, you developed your first cold. Fortunately, your cold did not develop into croup like it did with William. You did have a runny nose, congestion, and a pretty bad cough. It is so pitiful when you are sick because there really are not a lot of treatment options available. We tried to make you as comfortable as possible, and you handled your first cold like a champ!

This month, you also tried your first real food. We temporarily introduced you to sweet potatoes and applesauce and you loved them. I say temporarily because we are putting off giving you baby food for a short time because of your eczema. According to the doctor, eczema can sometimes be induced by food allergies. As a result, we are transitioning you from Similac Sensitive to Enfamil Nutramigen which is a hypoallergenic formula. We are hoping that this transition has a positive effect on your eczema. Although you do not seem to like the new formula as well as the old formula, if it will help clear up your eczema it will be worth it! While we are making this transition and seeing if it makes a difference, we are not introducing any other foods into your diet so we can be certain that any changes are a result of the formula and not a different food.

You continue to grow and become more and more active every day! Currently, you weigh 19 pounds, 11 ounces and are 27 1/4 inches tall. One of your favorite activities is scooting around in your walker and follow your brothers around the house. It is amazing how accurately you can navigate corners and doorways with the walker. If you are not able to get to where you are going, you back up and try, try again!

We have been so busy this last month that I did not take your six month photo with your six month sticker! Fortunately though, we took photos with your cousins Madison and Kennedy while they were here for Thanksgiving. You looked so handsome and performed beautifully during the photo session!

We love you so much!

Mommy and Daddy

Purdum's Pumpkin Patch

 

Each year, we try to go to Purdum's Pumpkin Patch to find the perfect pumpkin. Purdum's has an expansive patch and offers free tractor rides to and from the pumpkins which is always fun for the boys. This year was a very special trip because Toby was able to go with us. In the 10 years we have been going to Purdum's to pick out pumpkins, this is the first year he was able to go with us. Although it was a very cold fall afternoon, we had a lot of fun and found some perfect pumpkins to carve!

 



 

 

Ralph S. Mouse

Have you ever read the book Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Clearly? I did, and I hated it. Do you want to know why? Because I hate mice! Even cartoon mice! In my mind, they are dirty, filthy rodents. Despite this fact, there are a million movies and books with mice - Cinderella, Aristocats, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, I could go on for hours. I am not sure what the infatuation is with these hideous little creatures!

Now to the real reason for this post. On Sunday, Matthew and I were up at about 6:00 a.m. I was working on block sets (yay!) in the kitchen and he was reading a book in the recliner. All of a sudden, I saw a MOUSE skitter across the kitchen floor and under the refrigerator! I immediately was disgusted and wanted to move out of my house. Yes, when I have a mouse in my house, I literally want to move out. I hate them that much! Since moving is not really an option, I whispered to Matthew to get a mouse trap and set it by the refrigerator to see if we could catch the gross rodent. While he was walking to the refrigerator with the set trap, the damn mouse ran from the refrigerator to the stove. So, Matthew got another trap and proceeded to set one on each side of the stove. Our plan was to catch the mouse regardless of which way he came out.

Throughout the day, we continued to check the traps and no mouse. Then, I checked and the trap was GONE! No, I am not joking - GONE! At first I thought that Matthew was trying to pull a prank on me and that we caught the mouse and he had disposed of it without me knowing. However, to this day he pinky swears that he did not do it. You know, to a fifth grader pinky swearing is serious stuff! Matthew and I have concluded that one of two things have happened, and they are both bad! Option 1 - we caught the mouse, he was still alive, and he is somewhere in our house dragging the trap behind him. Gross, I know, but better than Option 2. Option 2 - William found the mouse in the trap and did something with it. The thought of this happening absolutely horrifies me!

On Sunday, Matthew was convinced that Option 2 had happened. As a result, he started interrogating William. This was pretty comical.

Matthew: William did you find a mouse?
William: Yes.
Matthew: Where did you put the mouse?
William: The mouse is on the t.v.!

William was watching the movie Aristocats - and of course it has a mouse in it! Matthew continued to ask William about the mouse and the trap all day without any luck.

Today is Tuesday and we still have not found the mouse trap. However, this morning while Toby was getting Matthew and Peter up for school, he saw a mouse. I keep telling myself that it was the same mouse and that we only have one mouse in our house. Positive thoughts right! All I know is if we do not remedy this problem quickly, Toby is on his own - I am moving out!