Word, word, words

Every day, Alexa is learning to say one or more new words, she is constantly repeating what she hears!

Her favorite word this past weekend was "Happy" and she used it ALL weekend, all the time.

She also likes "Peyton" (her cousin!) When we got into the car the other day, Alexa announced,
"Bye Peyton!" He was not at our house and we had not been talking about him, so Alexa must have just been thinking about him! He is really sweet with her and she likes him a lot. He is like her big brother.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Today is JoElle's Grandpa's birthday (he is in heaven with Jesus and all of our friends and family who have gone before us). We were at the funeral home for my cousin Amy's wake. She was only 30 and just passed away from leukemia after finding out about three weeks ago that she had it. Please pray for her and her little daugher, husband, and her parents and brother.

My dad is also buried at this cemetery, but we didn't get a chance to go by today as it got dark too quickly. I did take JoElle out there on the anniversary, May 26th. So she has been out to see the graves where Grandpa and Uncle Travis are buried.

At the wake, she had a ton of admirers like my Uncle Herb, Aunt Carol, and Trisha, and all my other aunts and uncles. She was slobbering on her cousins Emily and Bailey and they thought it was gross! She loved playing with them though!

Over the weekend, JoElle got to eat BBQ and Chinese food (she loved both) but then again, we haven't found any food this girl won't eat! She loves food! She loved climbing on the steps inside cousin Peyton's house. She is a pro at it! JoElle was jumping on Peyton's kitty and trying to ride him. The kittty liked all the attention from her.

Today we visited a wonderful small group Sunday School class at our church. Tim and I were both praying for a place and God led us to it today! Also, we visited choir practice at our "new" church (we've been members at Fielder Road Baptist since Easter of this year) and we will be joining this week. Since JoElle doesn't go to sleep early anymore, it doesn't matter if we stay out later with her. She does great when we stay up past her "bedtime"( whatever time that happens to be each day! )

Walking by pushing

JoElle just learned how to walk around pushing her toys- she is using toys that aren't actually meant to be walkers as walkers! She also learned how to use an old walker that our neighbor gave us. The other night, on the 20th, she just took off with her toy piano, walking around the house! When she would get stuck in a corner she would keep pushing and turning until she got out of it; she is very determined.

Today I visited JoElle for lunch and when I got there, her and her friend Toby, who is a year old, were both standing at a swing, dancing and chatting. Then, the two of the started using a toy as a walker together. It was so cute! They were walking around together. They also like to bang on the other cribs together and wake up the babies. Whenever Toby, Becca or Cassidy try to sleep, JoElle yells so that they will wake up and play with her! She won't stop until they wake up for her...!! JoElle also loves to rearrange the room, she moves the cribs around all the time.

JoElle just started refusing a morning bottle this week, instead she wants breakfast at daycare. Ms. Judy fixes really good pancakes and muffins, in fact, the other day JoElle ate 1 1/2 pancakes for breakfast at school!! She has a great appetite, and her nose is stuffy all the time from allergies, so she is getting tired of eating from a bottle.

Aunt Ana, Uncle Dan, and cousin Peyton are moving this weekend to their new house in Keller/Watauga, so Grandma is bringing cousin Peyton over Saturday while they move, so we are going to have lots of fun! Then we are going back to Peyton's house; he has stairs so it should be lots of fun!!

JoElle still loves to say "Da Da" although she will throw in "ba ba" and "la la" as well. The other night, Tim and I were both trying to get her to say "Mama" and everytime we said "Mama" she would answer "Dada!" It was cute!! She loves Daddy so much, especially when he tickles her and plays with her. She giggles like crazy when Dada tickles her!

So much is happening every day, it is really amazing! On Sunday, JoElle learned she can stand in the middle of the floor without holding on to anything; she is really learing some great balance. She can even stand up in the middle of the floor without pulling up. She is so flexible too everyone says she needs to be a gymnast.
JoElle loves talking, she jabbers all day. JoElle loves to eat finger foods, her two faves are green beans (which she eats everyday, her daycare likes to fix them for her) and as of today, tomotatoes from our garden in the back yard! We thought she was finished with lunch today and then I was fixing her bottle and she grabbed our tomatoe from the counter and devoured it! Then she ate another later on in the day from Uncle Aaron. At least she likes good stuff :)

JoElle is getting closer to walking, she loves to crawl. Cousin Peyton, Aunt Ana and Grandma spent the night Saturday and Daddy and Uncle Aaron went to see the TCU vs. OU game (Aunt Ana and Uncle Aaron are both horned frogs!) We had so much fun; JoElle was following Peyton around and imitating him. Once, he pushed her and she pushed him back...We took them to Ridmar mall to play at the indoor playground that they have and they both had a blast! JoElle made two new friends, a cute little girl and a cute little boy. She was chasing after them and giggling. They kept coming back and smiling and giggling at her too! A mean little boy came up to JoElle and intentionally pushed her down; I almost made him cry though by telling him he could have hurt the baby and he needs to tell her sorry. JoElle wasn't crying, I guess she is used to it from daycare!! She bumps her head all the time, no biggie we just clap and say "Yay" and she smiles! (That is, unless she is tired or sick)

Over the weekend, JoElle started crying every time Grandma or Aunt Ana left the room; she seems to think that Ana is her Mom too, she is getting the two of us a little confused :) I guess we look enough alike and talk alike! She loves to crawl to both of them so they can pick her up too!

We finally got to see cousin Isaiah and cousin Elena again (I think it has been around 2 1/2 months since we have seem them) Elena is already 4 months old, much bigger now. It's hard to believe that the two of them are cousins as Elena still doesn't have hair! Isaiah was making JoElle laugh, reading a book to her, hugging and kissing her and just having a ball with her!

Sitting alone, first tooth

( 5 months old) I can't believe how much JoElle has learned within the past week! She can sit all by herself, even without anything propping her up. I am amazed; she just learned this yesterday, but has been practicing for a while.

Her first tooth started to cut last week, it is showing and is so cute! Now her second one is popping up; she stopped sucking on her hands (which used to be her favorite thing to do) She must have chomped down on her finger once or twice...!

JoElle is SO close to crawling. She can crawl backwards and scoot while she is on her back; but she gets so frustrated that she is not going forward!! She is reaching for EVERYTHING, drooling on everything, and putting everything in her mouth.

She got pink eye last Friday, and now she has a cough again from a litlle boy in her class. JoElle weighs in at 15 pounds now; perfectly average. We visited our old church, First Baptist Euless, on Sunday since she couldn't go to the nursery at our own church (Fielder Rd Baptist). She had fun and it was great for her to see everyone again; it has been about two months since we were there last, the week after we dedicated her.
SO....any day now she will be crawling............

Happy 1st Birthday Peyton

Cousin Peyton had his first birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese today it was lots of fun!! Peyton and JoElle both loved the disco lights and the people singing happy birthday and dancing! Peyton got a bunch of great toys; JoElle will have lots of fun over the coming months playing with Peyton and all his great toys! Aunt Ana, Uncle Dan and Peyton are moving closer (they are 1 1/2 hours away right now) to Keller; so it will be great to go visit them at their house once they move in July.

Ana graduated from her residency on Saturday; she is finally done with ALL her education. We are excited for her and very proud of all of her hard work and stamina. I don't know how she does it! She is truly amazing and a mom on top of it all! While we went to celebrate with her, Dan, Aaron, and my mom, Tandi babysat for us.

Tandi said within 5 minutes of our leaving, JoElle was awake and ready to play! So she played for two and half hours before finally conking out for the night! JoElle loves Tandi, before we left Tandi was talking to her and smiling at her and JoElle was loving it and grinning back!
At the church nursery today, JoElle's teacher told me when we picked her up "JoElle sure does like toys, she has been playing this whole time. She loves banging on this toy that makes noises when you bang on it!" Boy don't we know how much she loves toys! She has many different toys and she plays with each and every one. JoElle learns a lot from all the older kids in her daycare class; right now she is the only baby in her class. the rest are toddlers from 12 months to 16 months, and she watches them and imitates them and then they also play with her.

Teething and new cousin, Elena

JoElle's first girl cousin, Elena Ray Coats, was born on April 23rd, 2005. She weighed in at 5 lbs 2 oz and 18 inches long; she was several weeks early and is a cute, healthy baby.

Cousin Peyton is crawling and pulling up; he is so very close to walking!! He loves to touch JoElle and touch her hair. Her toys are yummy as he loves to put them in his mouth, too! Peyton likes to come and play with her toys and she just watches him.

JoElle is teething now...she was pretty fussy today at different times and she was gnawing on a wet washcloth just now like there's no tomorrow!