Joey's Wife

I am proud to announce that at 249 AM (Eastern Time) today, Joey's future wife, Miss Riley, was born! We are so happy to hear that she has finally decided to join the outside world! Becca was supposed to be induced and as she was calling to see if there was an open bed at the hospital, her water broke and her plug fell out! Miss Riley was letting everyone know that no one tells her when she's going to do something! She is going to do something because SHE says it's time! :)

The happy parents are both doing great and are loving every minute with their new beautiful daughter! Congratulations Becca and Mike!! We love and miss you!

Family Hike

My mom hiking group has decided to start doing a hike on the weekends once a month. We do have some members, as well as our spouses, that are working parents and don't get to join in on the fun during the week. I think this is a fantastic idea! Michael usually has to work on the weekends, but luckily, he was off for most of the day for the first family hike!


The day was absolutely perfect! The temps were in the 40's, the sky was crystal clear, and the scenery was amazing!

It was pretty awesome seeing all of the Dads out hiking with the babes. The men had a chance to talk to other Dads about daddyhood which I'm sure doesn't happen often.

Joey got a pretty good nap in during our hike, too!

However, he was our adorable snot-nosed little kid (literally!) when he woke up! :)

Cinco Mos

Can you believe Joey is now 5 months old? I can't! I remember when we were in Hell, also known as the entire time during those first 4 months of his life, and we thought "what the hell did we get ourselves into!?!?" However, Michael and I are really enjoying this parenting thing now! It is absolutely fascinating watching Joey grow and learn every day! Here are some of the things that Joey is up to these days!

He has shown a HUGE obsession with us when we are eating and drinking (as you all saw in the beer video). We finally got him a sippy cup. He really does not like it. I think he feels like this is a bottle and the beauty of the "drinking out of a cup" thing is being a "grown-up". A sippy cup is for kids!

So, we let him drink some water out of a cup!

I think he was a little surprised when he got some liquid in his mouth! He still wanted more after that, though.

He has his two bottom teeth! (Which do hurt me by the way! I'm not sure how much longer this breastfeeding is going to continue now. Joey treats my nipples like they are Laffy Taffy!)

Joey has begun to eat solid foods! His first was a banana, and now we're trying oatmeal cereal!
He thinks the spoon is really cool, but...

he'd much rather eat his food straight from the bowl!

He's a messy eater, just like his Daddy!

We are giving him the bottle when Tia is babysitting. He now insists on holding the bottle himself! He is the same way with his pacifier. He wants to put it in his mouth without your help! (Oh, and we just bought this new bottle, Tommee Tippee. Best bottle ever! Joey took right to it, and he's not soaking wet after a bottle feeding!)

Joey really gets into his baths now. He is a splish splashin' fool!

He also sleeps in his crib, in his own room! This took a little time, patience, tears, anxiety, and more, but it was all worth it! Our little boy is even on a bit of a sleeping schedule now!

Crazy how fast our little man is developing! Happy 5-month Birthday, Joey!

Cat-like Reflexes

I was driving Michael, Joey, and myself home from Wasilla after dark. Michael and I were conversing about the day's events. Then, all of a sudden, a huge dark brown thing is right in front on the car! Oh my God, it's a moose! A big moose. A moose that is way larger than my little Prius. We're on the highway...this really happens? I'm going to hit a large mammal with my car on a busy highway? You hear stories like this all of the time, but it's never going to happen to me. But, oh, it's happening. Right. Now. We were in the right lane. I see the moose. I can see the brown color of this moose's eye, she's so close. I don't know what came over me, but I swerved to the left, thinking "Whew! I missed hitting this thing head on"! But then I remember stories of moose that will run right into the side of your vehicle. Oh my God, Michael and Joey are on that side. I speed up as fast as my little Prius will go. I swerve back to the right once I think I've passed that moose. I am frantically looking to the side and front of my car making sure that have cleared the seen moose and that this moose didn't have friends in tow. We made it. We didn't hit that moose, or any other moose that night. Thank you God. Thank you so much for looking out for us. After I knew we were safe, I broke down in tears. Wow, that was so close. I then start going through all of the "what ifs?": If we would have hit that moose, we probably would be dead. My Prius is no competition for a moose. However, if we were in the Durango, we probably would have flipped with the way I swerved the vehicle. What if I was looking over the the left that very second? What if Joey was awake and crying and I was paying more attention to him crying than to the road? What if? What if? What if? Well, those "what ifs" didn't happen. We made it. My cat-like reflexes came out. Michael told me that it was more like my motherly instincts came out. I think I may have to agree with him on this one. I know that I may have reacted the same way if I didn't have Joey or Michael in the car, but I know that they both were the first things on my mind when the moose was by the side of the car. If I don't get this Prius away from that moose, she is going to run into us...into Michael and Joey. I must get my family out of danger. When you think about saving your child over yourself, then you are a mother. Just something else that proves to myself that I'm becoming more and more of a mom every day.

In Print

One of the Mom groups I belong to was featured in the Anchorage Daily News today! This hike was through Kincaid Park, the Jodphur entrance. A photo of Joey was also posted in the photo gallery of our hike! Joey's not even 5 months old yet, and has already been (going to be) in print twice! Go Boyyyy!!! Once again, we will be taking requests for autographs now. :)

High Roller

Joey is a high roller now! I am so glad that he rolled for the camera. I know all of you Joey stalkers would want to see this "first"!

Strollin'

I thought I was going to lose my mind while dealing with teething hell today, so I decided to take Joey for a stroll. I've been thinking about trying Joey out in the actual stroller itself...without the car seat. Maybe he would like the stroller better if he wasn't so restrained?

He seemed to LOVE it! We ended up walking three miles because he was so quiet and content! Maybe it's because he can look out into the world now, instead of at my chest all of the time!