Home Sweet Home

At last - I have gotten around to posting pictures from our trip to New York a few weeks ago. We arrived to a blistering cold New York on Friday and on Saturday, we had a big family gathering so everyone could see Joseph. The big highlight was Joseph getting to meet his second cousin, Renee (my cousin John's little girl). She is only 3 weeks younger than him and they had fun checking each other out and trading spit by sharing their toys.

A pic of my cousin and I at Christmas 1981 - I was 9 months, he was 5. He was nice enough to share his new truck with me. Didn't my grandparents have a sweet couch?


All grown up and holding each other's babies:

Our grandparents holding their two great grandchildren:

My other Grandma & Grandpa playing with Joseph:

Joseph with his honorary Aunt Jo. She's not actually an aunt by definition but she has been my mom's BFF since before I was born and that makes her an honorary Aunt.

On Sunday, we headed to the even colder state of Vermont, where we spent a few days at my parents mountain house. It was freaking cold, that's all I can say. Richard took Joseph out in his snowsuit and dragged him around in a hamper. I took the pictures safely (and warmly) from inside. My mom and brother were actually insane enough to go snow shoeing through the woods. Anyone who knows me, knows that was NOT going to happen with me.

Joseph also enjoyed getting up REALLY early in Vermont. He loved waking up Uncle Jeffrey by crawling all over him. It was especially early for Uncle Jeffrey, who was still operating on Pacific coast time. Uncle Jeffrey promised revenge when Joseph is about 16. At some point when we are all on a family vacation, he's going to get up at 5 am, make a ton of noise as he makes breakfast and annoy the heck out of Joseph...who will undoubtedly refuse to get out of bed before noon at that age.

My mom dragged out some of my old toys and Joseph enjoyed playing with some of them.

Like my little rocking chair:

And my little cart. Joseph liked being pulled around the house in it.


A picture of me in it sometime in the first year of my life:After several days of bone chilling weather, Joseph was tired of being in the house all day so we headed to the "mall" about 20 minutes from my parents house. It's Vermont...its not much of a mall. It's anchored by a Big K-mart and a Sears that's smaller than most Gap stores. What this mall does have is a SWEET dollar store. Its worth the 20 minute drive, trust me. We always find some great stuff. On one visit my brother found a suit jacket for $1!!! Surprisingly, it was sort of hipster-esque....the problem was that when we got it home, we realized it smelled REALLY bad. This time, Rich scored the big find with a gold plastic grill...yup, it was only a $1!!! We almost bought him a plastic gold necklace that said "Bling" on it...but we didn't want to spring for the extra $1...ya know, tough economic times. The ironic thing is that Vermont has to the least "blingiest" state in the country. Well, maybe it comes in right ahead of Alaska.

Rich showing off his grill:

Kids these days. They just don't get scared like they used to...

As many of our loyal followers have noted, Joseph is generally a VERY happy little boy. It is seldom (if ever) that he is pictured without a big smile on his face. He seems to like everyone and everything. However, we recently discovered that Joseph has a deep fear of...wait for it...wait for it...Nutcrackers.

We discovered this fear while packing Christmas decorations into the attic. Joseph was ambivalent at best regarding the process until the Nutcracker suddenly appeared. While we may be terrible parents and likely scared our chid for life, it was too cute not to catch his reaction on video. Yes, we did show the Nutcracker to him again...not once...not twice...but three times.

We can't know for sure, but I've concluded his fear is in anticipation of attending far too many ballets over his life. I for one don't blame him for being terrified.

The End of an Era

For the last 8 years, I have had the same anti-George W. Bush signs either on my corkboard at college or on my refrigerator. It has never been removed - with the exception of when my college roomate, Erin's, very conservative mom came to visit and she took it down because it included the F bomb. Tomorrow it will be retired. Here are some pictures of my refrigerator on its last night dedicated to communicating my dislike of Dubya to the world (or anyone who comes in my kitchen).

Obviously, the "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb?" piece was added after the 2004 election. And with that, I leave you with this question...Really, how could that many people be so dumb?

P.S. - I will have pics from our trip to NY and Vermont posted soon. We are just busy unpacking from the trip. We are also trying to clean up the house for the realtor to come and look and tell us how much we might be able to sell this bad boy for in this crappy market. We are starting to seriously think about a bigger house - 2,000 square feet is starting to feel mighty cramped with Joseph and all his stuff. And no - I am NOT pregnant again. Everyone seems to assume that when you say you need a bigger house.

Vote Early and Often!

After spending significant time with both our families, there is debate over who Joseph looks like. Therefore, we are putting it to a vote. Please review the pictures below and vote for who you think Joseph looks the most like. The poll can be found on the sidebar.

Crystal (9 months) - circa December 1981:

Joseph (8 months) - December 2008/January 2009

Richard (7 months) - circa April 1979
Joseph (8 months) - December 2008

Our mailman:

Polo Fields

Today I spoke with a former college track teammate and friend who is in the hospital after recently receiving a stem cell transplant to win the battle with Leukemia. He commented that it was nothing compared to some of the work-outs that our coach used to inflict upon us. We specifically recalled the "Polo Fields", a work out that consisted of:

• 3 mile warm-up to the Polo Fields
• 10 repeats of 1/2 mile in 2 minutes and 20 seconds
• 3 mile warm down back to campus

We laughed together that the hardest part was always the run home. It consisted of more walking than running, but we always finished.

Steve, you'll finish this workout as well...its nothing compared to the Polo Fields.

Gag Reflex - the Joseph edition!

Someone once told me that your baby either has sleep issues or eating issues and if you have problems with neither, count yourself as one lucky Mommy.

For the first 5 months of Joseph's life, we had sleep issues. MAJOR ones. Now he is a great little sleeper, but in the last month we have developed eating issues.

We've been attempting finger foods the last few weeks and our attempts have been major failures. Joseph will put a puff, a cheerio, a pea, or something similar in his mouth, start to gag (not choke) and then promptly vomit. In my online research I have discovered while not a common problem, some babies do have this reaction to finger foods. It's a double whammy of a baby who doesn't deal well with textures and a strong gag reflex (this was inherited from his father - see "Gag Reflex" post from Dec. 3 below for details). Some who have dealt with this issue suggested making a slow transition from the purees to more textured foods like mashed bananas or cottage cheese. So I bought some cottage cheese, which seemed rather thick, so I even diluted it with some formula and gave it a try today. I was really hopeful that he would eat it down like a champ. FAIL! He did his normal...nasty face, gag, throw up routine. We even caught it on video. Please beware that it may not be appropriate for others with weak stomachs and strong gag reflexes.

I am not terribly concerned about this finger food issue. Other people assure me that babies tend to outgrow this by 10 months to a year (I assure you, with Joseph we will be closer to a year - that's just how it goes around here). However, we are having issues even with the purees. Joseph doesn't like to sit still. He hates to be confined somewhere, which makes sitting to eat a struggle. See video below for his normal reaction to being forced to sit and eat.

Note how he pushes the spoon away and refuses to open his mouth. Now if we put him in front of the TV, he's so transfixed, he opens his mouth for the food, swallows and wants some more. This next video was taken about 5 minutes after the one above with the same can of peas but his chair has been moved from the kitchen to in front of the TV. Suddenly, Joseph will actually eat them, although clearly not enjoying them.

Call me a bad mom, but for right now if 10 minutes of TV 3 times a day, is getting my kid to eat, I'm taking it!

Christmas pics...as promised!

As promised, here are some pictures from our trip to Kentucky for Christmas.

My niece, Kairi, had her first birthday on the 18th. We celebrated her birthday at a big party the Sunday after we arrived. This picture is her trying out her birthday present from Mommy and Daddy - a big dinosaur that moves and roars that she can ride on. She loved it in the store but was rather unsure of it at her party. Here is Mommy and Daddy trying to convince her she actually likes her rather expensive present.

Eating breakfast after Aunt Kipling put cousin Kairi's barrette in his hair:

Being completely amazed by something on his Jumperoo:

Excited by Brobee's sweet ass dance moves on Christmas morning:

Enjoying Christmas breakfast with the family:

With Aunt Kipling on Christmas morning (notice his cute monogrammed overalls - they would be covered in vomit about an hour later):

A few days later (overalls have been washed) with two of the other Joseph Richards:

Checking out the oldest Joseph Richard:

Fun with Grandmommy:

That's a photographic summary of Joseph's first first Christmas. His second first Christmas will happen next weekend when we head to NY to see my family!!