Several posts...

August 20, 2007 13 weeks (just over 3 months)
I had my second Dr. visit today, routine stuff, no weight gain for me over the past 4 weeks due to all the sickness I am having. Blood pressure is great, plus I got to hear the baby's heartbeat again (we heard it 4 weeks ago at our first appt when they did the sonogram). It was great, 175 beats per minute, which is good. My belly doesn't seem to be growing very fast, so it's kinda weird!!! I think I felt a kick last night, but it is so hard to tell this early on.
JoElle was hugging Tim and me a lot last night and giving prolific kisses to Daddy! She also hugged the baby (my belly!) and gave the baby kisses. She is such a sweet child!
She got into my prenatal vitamins today and poured them all over the counter. She didn't swallow any...she knew they were mine.
JoElle loved the clouds tonight. She was talking about the different colors the clouds are at sunset and she exclaimed "The clouds are beautiful!"
Besides princesses, JoElle loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She has most of the intro memorized. She walks around saying "Coming up next on Playhouse Disney!" It's funny! She loves "Toodles" which gives Mickey his tools when he calls for them.
JoElle's cousin Elena will be attending JoElle's school starting next week and JoElle is really excited! She told me Aunt Carrie was at school today (she went up there to enroll Elena). She kept smiling when I told her Elena was going to her school next week. They will be in the same class together. It will be lots of fun for them!!
One of JoElle's best friends since she was 8 weeks old (Trinity) is no longer at her school. Her parents had to take her out. JoElle looks forward to seeing her every day; they share things with each other, like little trinkets and treasures they bring to school to show each other! I hope Trinity comes back soon, it's sad to lose such a dear friend.
Hmmm, what else? Cousins Peyton and Madison came over on Saturday and Peyton wanted to spend the night!! He went to a b-day party first and kept talking about going to "Jojo's house." JoElle is real interested in Madison, who is almost walking now. JoElle tried to hold her in her lap, but Madison moves so much now, it didn't really work! Peyton wanted JoElle to play with her in the playroom, but she wouldn't go, so I told her she was going to make Peyton sad. So, from then on out, he kept telling her "You're going to make me sad, Jojo, come with me!" And then she would!

June 14th, 2007 Happy 3rd Birthday Peyton!
We hope you had a wonderful birthday! You are special to JoElle, she loves you dearly.
Love you!
Aunt Megan, Uncle Tim, and Jojo

June 14th, 2007 Staying in her bed, finally!!
JoElle finally is staying in her bed again at night! For the past 6 months, since she turned 2, JoElle has not slept in her bed all night. She always ends up in our bed, scared. Last night she stayed in her bed. She is so proud of herself, she will tell me in the morning "I stayed in my bed ALL night!" and she is just beaming with excitement! Even when we have to put her back in her bed, I praise her.
Other quirky things about JoElle: she loves lipgloss, princesses and painting her toenails and fingernails. She loves having friends come over, especially new friends! She loves parties and loves to sing Happy Birthday. JoElle keeps asking for Christmas to come back and for the Easter Bunny. She constantly reminds me that the Christmas tree is in the attic. She LOVES to pick mint! JoElle likes to shop, she will not hesitate to tell me she wants to go shopping at either a)Target b)Walgreens (she likes to buy medicine for hersel!)
JoElle likes to water the plants outside and pick out new flowers to plant. She is now reading books to herself, making up the words, oh yeah she LOVES to dance, her dancing is more "grownup" if you will because she likes to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" on t.v. and she imitates the dancers. She still loves gymnastics and is great at forward rolls/ flips. She can now do the balance beam all by herself and can ALMOST flip by herself on the bars. She is really strong, really skinny too! But has an endleess supply of energy. We had to ask her teachers to wake her up from naptime an hour earlier than the other kids just so that she can go to bed at her normal bedtime, 9 p.m. She was starting to have trouble going to sleep and was staying up to 10 or 11 p.m., even with a busy day at school or at home with us/ being out and about. It is working right now, but I imagine she will be a night owl like me sometime soon.......
Her best friends at school are Trinity and Sandra. Sandra loves JoElle!
JoElle tells her teachers that she can't drink milk at school, she tells them "No, I need water, I can't drink milk" and she will ask them if they try to give her pudding, "Does that have lactose in it? It hurts my tummy" and if they tell her yes, she will tell them what she can have instead. I like to tell her that she is a smart cookie, she likes that!
JoElle loves to go to Starbucks with me, she gets iced water (she can't drink anything there, she can't have soy milk either) She loves to hang out inside Starbucks with me and at home, she makes me iced mochats (this is how she says it!) out of water.
Sometimes, if I am stressed out, she will tell me to go to Starbucks! What a wonderful daughter :)

June 7th, 2007 Interesting prayers: out of the mouth of babes!
JoElle is offering some intersesting prayers! One night, she prayed for mommy, daddy, like normal, and also for her baby sister! Keep it mind, she doesn't have a baby sister! She is really wanting a baby sister or brother. She calls her baby dolls her baby sister!
Also, she started to pray "to not be scared" her words. She is scared of monkeys, bears, dinosaurs, and monsters outside. So, she runs into our room nightly. Sometimes more than once a night. But, now she is telling herself, out loud, "I'm safe in the house"
Daddy and JoElle will banish the monsters and other animals and this seems to make her feel better. She will also do this for her babies so that they are not scared!

May 28, 2007 JoElle plays with Trinity
JoElle was excited to have so many people over for Memorial Day. She got to see Trinity again, it has been a long time since we got together! Her parents, Natalie and Anthony, brought her. Tandi and Fred came over, my brother and also Nana. We had a full house and she loved it!
Trinity and JoElle played with bubbles, JoElle's coins, her shoes, and they jumped off the recliner over and over. Oh yeah, can't forget how they ran around the living room shouting "Tiptoe, tiptoe!"

May 27, 2007 Peyton's house
JoElle woke up this morning and asked Daddy, "Can I go to Peyton's house?"
When we got to Peyton's house, Peyton was so excited, he ran around the house! They had fun playing and yelling. They completely destroyed his play room, too. It was so much fun watching them have fun together.

May 17th, 2007 God made the sun
The sun was setting and it was one of those orange and purple sunsets. JoElle pointed to the setting sun and exclaimed, "Look at the sun! It's beautiful! God made it."
She expressed such an awe for God's hand in creation that it brought tears to Tim's and my own eyes.
Isn't it wondeful to see God's creation through the eyes of a little one? Just remember how special little children are to Jesus. In fact, He instructed us to be like little children in order to inherit the kingdom of God!
The next day, we saw birds flying around as we drove to school. This time JoElle pointed to the birds and explained to me, "The birds are looking for food." I asked her, "Who feeds the birds?" and she replied, "God feeds the birds."

May 26, 2007 Visit to the cemetery
JoElle, Uncle Aaron, and I visited Grandpa's grave. It has been 5 years somce JoElle's Grandpa (my dad) went to be with the Lord. I showed JoElle where he is buried and also explained that he is in heaven with Jesus.
I also showed her my brother, Travis', grave right next to Grandpa's and my grandparents. JoElle helped me to pick up flowers to leave. She ran around barefoot in the beautiful St. Augustine grass. She likes all the statues and walls with relief scenes from the Bible. She liked the Last Supper and a statue of Mary holding baby Jesus. She told me "Mommy, I want to give Jesus a flower" so she left a flower at his feet.

May 5th, 2007 Mayfest
We had fun at Mayfest today! JoElle painted a house (with real paint!), decorated some musical instrument with glitter, made spin art, ate a corny dog, and danced!!! She liked dancing to all the music.
JoElle has developed a fear of a bear in our backyard. She has a HUGE imagination like her Daddy. She thinks there is a bear outside. Sometimes she is just kidding, sometimes she really believes it!
She tells me she got bit by an alligator, too.
The other day in the car, I was laughing out loud, and JoElle asked me, "Mommy, what are you laughing about?" which made me laugh harder :)

April 7 and 8th Easter 2007
WOW! It was freezing today, literally. We had snow flurries all day Saturday. I couldn't believe it! JoElle, Uncle Aaron, Daddy, and I enjoyed Eggfest at our church to celebrate Easter, and it was quite cold. JoElle still had fun picking up Easter eggs, riding a train, and seeing animals (she doesn't like touching them).