My Little Helper

(These pictures are a few months old because I meant to write this blog a while ago but am just now getting to it!)

Joey is a chore-a-holic! He loves to do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that Chris and I do. To Chris' disappointment, some of the things he enjoys doing (because he sees me do them every day) is put on rings, bracelets, and necklaces, put on his "make-up" with my extra make-up brushes, put moisturizer on his face, and brush his hair with my round brush!

These are all quite girly things, but there are lots of other things he enjoys doing as well - chores!

First up ~ he loves to help clean anything with a wet rag. Windows, the high chair, furniture. While I dust and clean - he dusts and cleans!





He even gives Elmo a bath when he's all done dusting the furniture!!



A daily task that Joey really enjoys is helping me to unload the dishwasher. He is in charge of all the silverware. He takes out each utensil and throws them up in the drawer - then I organize them in to their proper spots later!



On to his FAVORITE: Trash Night!! Luckily for Joey, we have two trash nights!! He shakes the bag out and everything! It's hysterical to watch!





Last, but not least, in the photographed chores is laundry. He does it all. Put the clothes in, take them out, close the detergent drawer, and push the buttons to turn everything on!






There are lots of other chores Joey likes to do, but not all made it on photograph! The first job he ever got excited about was feeding the dog. He used to scoop the food, poor it in the bowl, and then clap when Charlie would come over to eat it. After about a month though, he discovered how much fun it was to take the food out of her bowl and throw it in the water bowl. So this was the end of feeding the dog! I don't let him do it anymore because after numerous "time-outs" for throwing the dog food, the throwing didn't stop. It was just too much fun and so the time out was worth it!

Just recently Joey has gotten really into cleaning up toys after he is finished playing with them! Shocking to me, but he loves it! When we are outside and I tell him it's time to clean up, he pushes each and every car and toy up the driveway and into the shed. Also, when I turn off the water in the shower, without direction, he begins putting all the toys into the bucket! He likes everything to be neat and orderly - something Chris is happy about!

As Joey gets more and more independent, he finds more things he wants to do all by himself. Some are chore related, but now it is expanding on to other things - like putting on his own shoes. It is so neat to be able to watch him grow, learn, and develop every day! You can almost see his little brains working away as he figures new things out! What a blessing he is ~ my little helper ~ my little life!

Joey Makes a Discovery!

Chris was able to pick up and set up the baby's crib last night! So this morning, after breakfast, Joey noticed through the open door that something NEW and AMAZING had been added to the baby's room!

He got a big smile on his face when he saw it from the kitchen, pointed to it and said, "ahhhhh???" (his way of asking if he can go look)

I told him to go check it out - and here's what happened!

Looking at me to see if this is for REAL!:


Trying to climb in and contain his excitement at the same time:


AMAZED at the mobile:


And finally, testing out its sleepability:


He had so much fun playing with the mobile, reaching for the blinds on the window next to the crib (we'll have to figure something out when the baby learns to do this), and alternating between jumping on the mattress and laying on it while snoring!

Finally, after about 20 minutes, I had to end the fun and to get Joey and I dressed and off to my OB appointment.

He COMPLETELY flipped when I took him out! He cried like you would imagine a boy crying after seeing his dog get run over by a bus! :) He was so upset.

So this has left me thinking. Does he think I built him and extra room - complete with a crib? Is he going to be even MORE upset when the new baby comes home and he realizes that SHE gets to sleep in this wonderful new crib? Only time will tell - but I'm starting to get really nervous for how he is going to take the arrival of the baby who is going to zap away 50% of his daily attention!

Getting Ready for Baby

The nursery for the NEW baby (I still feel like Joey is my baby) is starting to come together! Last night Chris finished rebuilding the entertainment center that is going to be her armoire. It's painted a beautiful white and when you open the cabinet doors there is a bead board backing and a rod with all of her cute clothes hanging up! It looks fantastic!

The finished armoire got me motivated to work on her dresser/changing station and finish buying the things I need for her crib. Joey and I made a trip to Babies R Us today and bought all the mattress pads, extra crib sheets, changing pad, changing pad covers, burp clothes, a pretty pink blanket, and a whole host of other things!

I'm so excited for Chris to come home and see her dresser all set up and decorated. My favorite part is the home made frames I crafted last night to match her bedding!



Her crib came in the other day and Chris is going to pick it up on Wednesday night and hopefully assemble it too! :)

Still on the to-do list for the nursery is to buy a rug, move the glider from Joey's room to the baby's room, buy a small side table to go next to the chair, paint some picture frames, finish making her bow holder (another craft of mine), buy a camera for the baby monitor.... The list goes on and on! But at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Once the nursery is done I can move on to other things we need - such as a double stroller!! All these things to buy!! So much fun - I couldn't be happier to shop! Just hope Chris is happy when he sees all the bills - oh wait, I pay the bills - we're safe!! :)

Joey and Lila Sitting in a Tree

Joey and his friend Lila have had playdates at each other's houses before, but they have never gone on an adventure together! Joey really likes Lila, so he decided to ask her out on a day date to the Please Touch Museum!

Please Touch is about the best idea ever for toddlers and kids! Everything is kid sized and EVERYTHING is TOUCHABLE!

Since they are still too little to go on a REAL date, I told Joey that he had to bring me along and Lila had to bring her mommy along as chaperones. He was okay with the idea because he knew that meant that he wouldn't have to pay! :)

On the way down, Joey fueled up on some honey nut Cheerios and talked to his stuffed monkey George to get some tips on how to act cool with a girl!

When they arrived, Lila and Joey greeted each other and off they went! They had the best time! Joey was so excited about all the trucks, that he forgot to think about what Lila wanted to do.





Luckily, being the older and wiser woman, Lila came over and very enthusiastically said "Joey! Want to go to the supermarket?!!!" Then Joey remembered that this wasn't just his playdate, and off to the supermarket they went!




After the supermarket, the two love birds made a few more truck stops, and then headed over to the hospital where Lila played doctor and Joey fed some babies.



Joey was so funny when he saw all the cribs lined up with the babies in them. At first he started snoring and tried to climb inside the crib!

We tried for a joint photo, but the kids were just so excited that they couldn't sit still long enough! This is the best one I could get!



After the picture, it was off to the duck pond - Lila's favorite! Joey had to stand on my lap to be able to reach the water and Lila did her best to steal all the ducks before any of the other kids had a chance to get them! :)





We ended the visit with a quick look at the swans and then off to drive one last truck!




By the time we got the kids in the car, they were fully entertained, and the two pregnant mommies were fully exhausted! Everyone had a great time and Joey is looking forward to a second date with Lila. Next time, he promises to bring her a flower (something George told him he should do!)

Only My Husband

Yesterday Joey woke up REALLY early and wanted to go downstairs immediately. To avoid loud crying and whining that would wake Chris up, I grabbed my toothbrush and headed downstairs.

Wasn't that really nice of me? I knew Chris wouldn't want to be woken up at 6 am when he didn't need to be up for work that day until 8. You know, it's the nice things you do for your spouse since you love them.

So the day goes on, and I never end up bringing my toothbrush back upstairs. It remained next to the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

After a long day of crib shopping at a store an hour away, and having dinner with Chris' parents (who were watching Joey despite his fever so I could crib shop), Joey and I returned home at around 7:30pm.

By the time 10:30 rolled around I was exhausted and heading up for bed. I went to grab my toothbrush out of the downstairs bathroom, but it wasn't there. I figured Chris had brought it upstairs for me.

So when I got upstairs and saw that it wasn't in my drawer I asked Chris if he had seen it.

His response, through hysterical laughter: "Ummm, that wasn't your toothbrush downstairs was it?"

"Yes," I respond. "I brushed my teeth downstairs this morning so that Joey wouldn't wake you up."

The laughter gets more hysterical. There might even be a tear rolling down his cheek now. "Oh, I used that earlier to clean the grease out of my chain saw!"

SERIOUSLY??? You saw a toothbrush, that is the same color as mine, lying on the bathroom counter, and thought, "Hey, this must be an extra toothbrush - I'll just go outside and clean the grease out of my chain saw!"

Only in my house - and only my husband! Gotta love him!

Words!

A few months ago I was worried that Joey only had a few words and everyone kept telling me that all of a sudden he would have a word explosion. Well, just as he turned 18 months - the explosion happened!

It seems like every day a new word pops out of his mouth - and they all sound so cute!! Here's the list of words he can say so far:

mama
dad
shoes - my personal favorite because it sounds so stinkin cute
yocks (socks)
trash
oof oof (dog)
mooooo (cow)
yeow (what a cat says)
yeiiii (what a horse says)
bop (binky)
truck - his most favorite thing in the world
up
ope (open)
cat
yes
eyes
neoo (nose)
pop (Popi)
hi
bye
poop
he he (help)
shzeese (cheese)
non (Noni)
shhhuck (stuck) - this one is usually accompanied by a bunch of spit!

Absence makes the Heart grow Fonder!

Vacation was AWESOME! It was so nice to be on our own for an entire week! It's been 14 months since the last time Chris and I went to Florida together, so the break was much needed! The best part about the trip was how excited I was to get home and see Joey. Leaving your child behind makes the end of the vacation a good thing instead of a sad thing!

I don't think I was prepared for Joey's reaction when we got home though! Chris and I figured that he would either run over and give us hugs - or he would say hi and keep going about his business as if we never left.

Well, instead, he spent almost an entire 5 minutes staring at us like he had just seen two ghosts. The look on his face was utter amazement - as if he thought we were never coming back and he just couldn't believe we were standing in the living room! It made me a little sad to think he thought we had left him forever!!

The next morning, he would not go ANYWHERE in the house unless Chris and I were both with him. We were like one little unit moving around our house together! It was cute to know that he had missed us and was glad that we were back!

Now that it has been a few days and he's sure that we are staying - he's right back to his old self.

Today was one of the best days I've had with him in a long time. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Tumbles (his gym class) in the morning, then out for a bagel and coffee with his friend Kyle and Kyle's mom after Tumbles. Then when we got home we played outside with his radio flyer car (Thank God for the 43 degree sunny weather!!). Then we had lunch, read a million stories and now he's napping. All these things are so normal for us, but since I am so rested and missed him so much while we were gone - I am really enjoying and appreciating our daily routines!

As hard as it is to leave your kid(s) behind and go away for a while, I really think it is the best thing you can do as a parent. It gives you a break, and recharges your battery. If I can look forward to a week of play dates and grocery shopping then the saying must really be true - Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder!!