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!!

All Joseph got for Christmas was...

a stomach virus! And his two front teeth (yup, in the course of 2 days Joseph's two front bottom teeth magically appeared!)

Joseph's First Christmas.....what a Christmas it was. I wish I could say it was a joyous event filled with wondrous, exciting moments for Joseph. Unfortunately, for Joseph (and Mommy and Daddy) it involved more vomiting and diarrhea than anything else.

The stomach bug was circulating through my in-laws before we ever arrived in Kentucky and unfortunately, we did not escape it by coming at the tail end of the circulation. We arrived on Saturday and I woke up late Sunday night completely sick. I spent all of Sunday night and Monday throwing up every 30 minutes to an hour. Somewhere near the end of the day Monday, I was pretty sure I was going to die laying in Rich's old bed curled up in the fetal position and wrapped around a vomit bowl. Luckily, I survived the night and woke up feeling somewhat better on Tuesday. Richard got a milder version on Tuesday and Wednesday and we both just had little energy to do much more than lay in bed. The whole time we commented on how lucky we were that Joseph wasn't sick and what a tough little guy he was. All that changed Thursday morning (aka Christmas morning).

Joseph slept surprisingly late (like 6:30 am) which is unusual and always gives rise to worry around our house. Rich gave him his bottle and 2 minutes later was yelling for me because he had thrown up all over (all over his very cute "Joseph's First Christmas" embroidered PJs). We were worried this was the start of the stomach flu but Joseph seemed perfectly happy. We stuffed him with some pedialyte to be sure, but by noon without further incident, we thought maybe he had just chugged his 8 oz. bottle too quickly that morning. We got ready to head to Rich's grandparents, about an hour ride away. I dressed him in his white polo and $50 monogrammed Pottery Barn Kids corduroys. We got about 5 minutes from his grandparents when Rich's sister, who was sitting in the back with Joseph started yelling, "Guys, he's throwing up all over the place". We pulled over and by the time I could get to him in the back seat, the poor little guy (and those $50 corduroys) were covered and he was still throwing up. After a 10 minute clean up job and some crying from Mommy and Joseph, we got back on the road, headed in the opposite direction. He threw up again about 5 minutes before we got back to my in-laws house but by the time we got home, he was completely happy! We gave him a bath, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

He acted completely normal the rest of the day but was miserable on Friday. He slept 5 -6 hours during the day and was just not himself. The stomach virus with the aforementioned teething were not a pleasant combination. We still continue to have diarrhea incidents and occasional vomiting. (I actually had to stop in the middle of writing this to go change him and rock him back to sleep after a minor vomit incident tonight in a hotel somewhere near Dollywood in TN). He has clearly lost weight and we just want to get him home where if it doesn't get better, he can at least see his own pediatrician (who has received numerous calls over the last 4 days).

Here are some pictures from his less than stellar 1st Christmas:

A shot of his special Christmas PJs - before he went to bed on Christmas Eve

With Great Nana, Cilla and Daddy on Christmas Eve

Joseph's version of opening gifts (notice the very non-Christmas PJs he is wearing due to his vomit incident in the morning)

And a video of Joseph's favorite Christmas gift. I don't let him watch hardly any TV with the exception of Yo Gabba Gabba! everyday at 4:30. He loves this show and gets so excited by the dancing characters. I also let him watch it because it makes feeding him dinner easier. Joseph doesn't really like vegetables (which is dinner every night), particularly green vegetables and he'll scream the whole meal...except if he is watching Yo Gabba Gabba!. Then I can shovel green beans or peas into his mouth while he sits transfixed. His Aunt Kipling bought him a large dancing Brobee, which he quite enjoyed dancing with, until Brobee hit him in the face, which Joseph did not appreciate.

I'll post more pictures from our week in Kentucky over the next few days but I am exhausted from dealing with his sickness, the 5 hour drive today and the thought of another 3 hours of driving tomorrow.

No Paternity Test Needed

You may all recall a post I made a few weeks ago titled "Wild Thing- I think I love you" where I discussed how wild Richard was as a child and how Joseph had his father's personality. I specifically mentioned the fact that he loved to turn himself around in circles over and over and over again, to the point of being sick. Well, apparently this is an inheritable trait. See video below for proof.

So forget that Joseph has Richard's ears and chin, this is the best evidence I have that Richard is in fact Joseph's father. This whole spinning in the exersaucer thing started yesterday. We were in the kitchen and I was busy washing bottles, putting dishes away and baby talking to Joseph with my back turned when suddenly I realized there was this annoying "whir whir" sound really loudly behind me. I turned around and Joseph was spinning himself as fast as he could over and over again in the exersaucer. His head was thrown back and he was giggling away. I could not stop laughing. He did it again today and I got a good minute of it on video. You can tell he is quite pleased with his new trick. He continued to do for about 3 more minutes after I stopped the video. At which time, he looked rather dizzy and got a nasty case of the hiccups. Oy vey!

The other wild thing Joseph did today was catapult himself out of the Bumbo chair. He was playing with his toys and I was sitting next to him and suddenly he arched his back and flexed his legs so hard in frustration to be set free, that he fell right out of the chair. Luckily, I caught him before his little face could smash into the carpeting. Another reminder that Bubmo chairs really should never be used unsupervised or on raised surfaces.

Every day I realize this child is just like his father. Today, while thinking about this fact, I remembered that Christmas commercial where the little boy is putting out cookies for Santa and writes on a note "I have been a very, very, very, very, very good boy this year". He then remembers incidences such as coloring on the walls, leading a muddy dog through the house, destroying his sister's dolls, etc and starts crossing off the very's. Eventually he recalls so many naughty things he did, that he just writes "I really tried to be a good boy this year". That will be Joseph's letter to Santa every year, I am sure of it. Richard says he can relate well to that commercial.

I have often asked Richard why he was so bad (I hate to say bad, no kid is bad...we'll say challenging) and he claims its not because he wanted to do bad things or planned to do them, there was just always something there tempting him...and temptation ALWAYS got the best of him. Once it was in his head, it had to be done. I have heard a number of times about Richard's incident with an exacto knife. He was about 5 or 6 years old and he happened across an exacto knife in a drawer. Of course, it tempted him and he ended up taking it and jabbing it over and over again into a cardboard box. Well being that he was 5, the eye-hand coordination wasn't fully developed, so one nice strong jab missed the cardboard and went straight into his thigh. He knew he was in big trouble so instead of telling his mother, he found a bandaid and put it over the huge gash in his leg. He kept this painful secret for about 2 days until his mother saw it.

Note to self: Check Joseph for various injuries twice a day after age 2.

So the adventure of raising mini-Richard begins. Who wants in on the pool of how many times we go to the ER by age 5?

DISCLAIMER: At no time has Joseph's paternity been in question. At no time has Richard requested a paternity test be performed. We will not be on Jerry Springer any time soon with my crying that I don't know who my baby's daddy is.