Joey Says

Joey has been quite the little comedian the past few days. The things that are coming out of his mouth are hysterical - not only because they sound so grown-up, but because they also make you stop and realize that what he is doing is immitating everything he hears chris and I say!
A few of my favorites from this week's list are:
1) "mommy, I be back in 2 minutes. I something to do.". He then opened the upstairs linen closet and began organizing the shelves.
2) we were making our afternoon "up a tea" (cup of tea) - his consists of 1/2 apple juice, half warm water from the tea pot, a lemon wedge, sugar, and a tea bag that I cut the tea out of - and after he stirred it, he took a sip and said "mmm, puuwfect"
3) at bedtime Joey has a monster list of obsessive compulsive things he must say and you MUST repeat back. Added to the the list this week - "mommy's a gwail (girl), caree's a gwail, daddy's a boy, joey's a boy!"
4) as Carlee was putting a matchbox car in her mouth - "caree no eat that. That no foop (food)
5) whenever Carlee reaches for something he doesn't want her to have - "no car car, that's danger!"

The Great Crib Disaster

Nothing like getting thrown right back into "real life" after a vacation. Carlee has been up almost every night since we have been home and naps have been nearly non-existent the past few days. So when she woke up crying after only 40 minutes of napping today, I decided that rather than get her out and rock her (which I KNEW would not work) I'd try to get in the crib with her and see if she would go back to sleep.

Now, you might think this is a dumb idea, but I have been getting in Joey's crib for almost a year now and have never had an incident. It's just like when you lay with an older child in their bed, only with a crib you have to hurdle over the top.

So Carlee and I were snuggling for a few minutes, and then she decided that it was play time. I continued to lay in the crib watching as she pulled herself up and was jumping up and down while holding on to the side of the crib. It was really cute to watch her and she was so delighted, so I just continued to lay there. And then it happened.

I sat up - shifting all the weight to one end of the crib. And then - swoosh.... The end that I was sitting on was a lot lower than the rest of the mattress!

So here is the issue. Joey's crib is held up by metal bars that look like this:



This method is apparently stronger than the method that Carlee's crib uses - which is this:



So the metal bars on Carlee's crib buckled under the pressure of my not so infant like body and bent!



It wasn't until I was trying to bend the bars back to their original state that I noticed this little warning on the crib:



Well, after I did my best at a repair job, I finally gave up and waited until Chris came home. I was able to bend the bars back some, but not enough to make it level and SAFE for Carlee to sleep in. Luckily, Chris came in with the big tools -



And when he needed a little help, Joey was right there with his own set of tools...




An hour and a half later, the crib was fixed and back in order. It was 45 minutes past Carlee's bedtime and she was READY for bed! (Remember, she only napped 40 minutes today!) So I fed her a bottle, and laid her in her newly restored crib where she fell fast asleep.

And then not even an hour later, she woke up crying. WELCOME BACK MOMMY!

Carlee Update

Carlee is growing up WAY TOO FAST! In the past two weeks she has learned to do so many things! I can't keep up with the baby book at the rate she is meeting these milestones!

First, she learned to clap her hands when we sing "clappy hands" or as a way of requesting the song! Sometimes she'll even put her hands up over her head at the end while we say "SO BIG!"

She also learned to go from laying down to sitting on her her own, and then about a day later was able to stand up when supported by a toy or chair. She can't pull up on her own yet, but tries, then cries, and then waits for me to prop her up. Once she is up she squeals with delight! Pretty much all she has wanted to do for the past few days is stand up. She also has already managed to do a few "steps" while holding on and has been practicing moving her foot up and down to figure out how to walk.

In other news, she is also learning to wave "bye bye." This one is a little trickier for her and she only gets it on occassion.

She can also drink pretty well from a sippy cup and can handle puffs, yogurt melts, and small pieces of pancake or bread without a flinch.

For some reason, it's only during lunch - but after each spoonfool of food she says "mmmmmm." It's really pretty cute!

Today, she figured out how to go up one step to get out of the toy room - so much for leaving her in there and knowing she is safe!

There is one thing she has decided to take her time on and that is teeth! 8 months of on and off teething and still NO TEETH! I guess she has to leave SOMETHING for later! :)




Bath Buddies - another recent development



Standing



The Elated Face I was speaking of!



Trying to Hold Herself Up Just a Little Longer...