Happy Birthday Joel!

     Joel turned one on Wed. Sept 4th. I can't believe it! Where did this year go? It has flown by! Joel is the dang cutest kid I have ever met! I might be biased though. He is seriously so happy all the time. He takes everything in stride and he laughs so so much. Everyone who meets him tells me he is the cutest sweetest baby ever. It's true. His new favorite thing is to open his mouth and go AWE! It sounds weird but it is so funny! He is taking tentative steps but hasn't totally switched over to walking yet. He still has no fear for his life, he dives off, into, and through everything. Pulls anything he can and off and out of anything. We lovingly call him baby hulk. His weight has kind of evened out since his surgeries but he is still nice and tall and has the biggest feet! He is my cuddle bug and I love it!!! All you really need to know is we think he is pretty awesome and are so lucky to have him in our lives!

     So his birthday was on Wednesday and we wanted to do something fun. If you know me, you know I am a birthday party crazy lady so the fact he was really going to get one was breaking my heart. So Monday morning I decided we needed a party. So this was very last minute and I planned a cute little car themed dinner party for us for to have. Sophia loved it and Joel had no idea what was going on!

Birthday Boy! 

Balloon Wall. This was so easy to do and so cute! I will have to do this for more indoor parties!

The whole get up!

Sophia thought the cones were party hats! She kept trying to wear it.

The birthday cake! Turned out cuter than I expected and was fairly easy!

That's right! Digging right in there! After a little help he was ready to attack that cake! 

Joel did a little redecorating on the cake! We thought it was pretty good!

The after mess.

All Joel wanted to do was eat the presents!

This was how present opening went, Sophia opened, Joel played.

His sweet new motorcycle walker, which I got for a steal of a deal!! 

It's hard to believe this precious boy is one! I am feeling very nostalgic right now! What happened to this last year? How I love this boy! 

~A 

Six months!

     This baby is six months old! I can't believe it. Every time I tell someone my heart sinks a little. He is growing to fast! I feel like yesterday I brought him home. Now he is halfway to a year. We absolutely adore this kid! He is seriously the happiest, chillest baby ever! Unless he is hungry. You do not withhold that bottle from him ha ha.  

      This last month was a big month for him. He broke in two teeth on the bottom, he holds his own bottle now, he is a rollie pollie. He is seriously all over the floor it is so funny. Sophia was never like that. He likes to scream, something I think he picked up from his sister. He has started eating solid foods. I don't think he likes the texture of baby foods but he will eat them. He makes the funniest faces while you feed him. He loves just mashed up food better. At his last check up he weighed 19LBS!! This kid is a fat one! We love it. He has some serious thunder thighs that are so great to squeeze. He is super ticklish and his giggle is to cute. He smiles at just about anyone but has a particular fondness to Sophia, mommy, daddy and papa. He is just great!  

Trying out his cute new shoes, they were kind of a flop. They do not stay on his feet.

He loves to suck his bottom lip and make a smacking kind of noise.

I love this face! 

Love those fat thighs and that he always holds his legs up in the air like this. 

Sophia decided Joel needed to dress up with her. My kids got some serious style ha ha.

Wearing an old retro sweatshirt from when uncle Seth was a baby! How cute is it even 14 yrs. later!

In his very first church outfit! Finally found one with a tie and vest! SO handsome! 

~A

Week by week.

I have seen several different books and cute crafty things where moms do a week by week of their pregnancy. Now normally this involves pictures and cute pages put together in a book. I am not that dedicated but I saw a cute blog today where she just posted it and then saved them all in order and I thought that is simple enough. So I am going to test it out and see how much I actually keep up on it ha ha.

WEEK 1-4: Prayed and hoped for you but didn't know you existed.

WEEK 5: Took a pregnancy test. It came back negative, I was very disappointed and confused.

WEEK 6: Was convinced you were here, took another pregnancy test came back negative again.

WEEK 7: Pregnancy test finally came back positive. Due date late Aug.

WEEK 8: Getting my hopes up that the nausea would be really mild this time around. I was wrong, nausea started full force this week.

WEEK 9: Nausea gets really bad the doctors put me on Zofran. BLAH.

WEEK 10: Had my first doctors appointment. The doctors tried to find your heart beat and couldn't so he pulled out an old ultra sound machine and said you were measuring small. Everything else looked good.

WEEK 11: Had another ultra sound on a new machine, heard your heart beat and your were measuring small. He said I was two and a half weeks behind. I am really only 8 weeks. BOO. This explains why my pregnancy tests came back negative. I took them too early, but I heard your heart beat and you were healthy. We got our first picture of you and the nurse kept calling you a gummy bear, dad thought that was funny! Due date Sept. 10th.

WEEK 9 and 10:(because I got pushed back): More nausea. Your big sister knows something is up and constantly lays her head on my belly, I think she likes to hear you swim in there.

WEEK 11: We had a scare and thought you were coming early.

WEEK 12: The doctor tells me I have a prolapsed cervix but that you are healthy and doing great, which was a big relief! I am put on a 'gravity is not your friend and take it easy regiment' but  we were pretty much doing that already anyway. Thought the nausea was going away, Mom Was WRONG!

WEEK 13: Had my second official doctors appointment, heard your heart beat again. It was nice and strong this time. You are growing the way you should be and momma is hanging in there. We spend the week at grandma Robertson's and she takes good care of us!

WEEK 14-15: Mom has her first emotional break down. Don't worry these happened a lot with big sister, only having one so far is a accomplishment.(Don't let mom watch 'A baby story' while emotional!). Dad came home a surprised mom with an hour massage gift package! That cheered mom up quick! Mom is still sick, hoping to get better quick so I can get my massage!

Cravings/Things I can actually eat thus far: Root Beer, cinnamon toast, ritz crackers, apples, water(lots), otter pops, grapefruit, and frozen bean and cheese burritos.

WEEK 16: Found out you were a boy! We are so excited to add a little boy to our family! Daddy and mom decided your name will Joel Zike Robertson. Mom also felt you moving around this week and you started kicking too. Your big sister loves to say your name, it sounds more like YOL when she says it.

WEEK 17: Mom is still sick but Loving all the movement she is feeling from you! You kick her a lot when she lays on her back. Mom is worried because she is contracting and has had a lot of pain this week.

WEEK 18: Finally half way through this week mom started to feel better! YAY! We got our first boy items for you this week! So many cute things to make and buy. Had another doctors appointment this week, the doctor said preterm labor doesn't usually coincide with a prolapsed cervix. That was a big relief to mom! He also told me pain was going to happen because you are so low, I will have a lot of pressure and stretching a pains. He told me to take it easy. I try but I am not very good at that. Both of your grandmas get mad at me for that ha ha.

WEEK 19: Dad felt you for the first time this week! He loves rubbing my belly now that he can feel you! You tend to be stubborn and stop kicking when he touches my belly. If he is patient he can usually feel you. You got another cousin this week! Baby Addie was born and you two will only be 4 months apart growing up!

Cravings/Things I can actually eat thus far: Root beer, Cinnamon Toast, Authentic Mexican food (no taco bell or junk like that and no more frozen burritos), Ice water!, Curly Fries, Milk and Oreos.
               NOTE: just because I crave these doesn't mean I eat them everyday!

I am 20 weeks today! Lets see what happens the next few weeks! Half way there!

~A