Blankets and watering the plants

JoElle suddenly loves blankets and has re-discovered her mobile in her crib; she stares at it as if it is new! Sometimes she just wants a break from everything and we put her in her crib to chill. When we put a blanket on her, her face lights up and she smiles! Then she grabs the blanket and pulls it over her face while kicking her little legs all over the place. Eventually she sticks her hand in her mouth and falls asleep.

Her latest food is carrots; so far she likes them.

JoElle loves to touch everything now, she likes to feel all the different textures around and then of course tries to grab whatever is in sight! On Saturday, she was trying to grab my plate at Corner Bakery, so I handed her to Grandma; one of the guys working there kept walking by and everytime he did, JoElle flashed him a HUGE smile!

JoElle likes for me to put her in front backpack carrier and water our plants with me. We have flowers, bamboo, cannas, mint, lilies, a pepper plan and tomato plants to water. I put her little hand in the water and she is interested in watching the water spurt out of the hose. When we were watering our tree, she was grabbing the leaves. It is fun to be with her to explore and discover new things!

JoElle: 4 month checkup

JoElle went to the doctor Tuesday, May 17th for her shots and 4 month checkup. She handled the shots very well. How much does she weigh now?
JoElle is 13 lbs. 12 oz. and 24.75 inches long. Her weight gain has slowed; she is in the 50th percentile (average) for her age, but her height is 75%!

Maybe there is hope for her yet, she may not be a shortie like her parents!! Daddy wants her to play in the WNBA after all!! Her head is so tiny, she can't wear very many hats....her head is in the 25th percentile.

Her Dr. told us that she says a lot of babies, but none have such a personality like JoElle does at her age! She loves to smile and giggle at everyone, she is definitely a people person. I wonder where she gets that from!!???!!!???
When Dr. Sampson tried to stick the tongue depressor in JoElle's mouth, JoElle tried to chomp on it!

Pray for us as we are giving JoElle a bottle of regular formula that is lactose free to see if she can switch from the very very expensive hypoallergenic formula. JoElle needs to start eating solids as she is consuming a lot of formula each day......
But before we start her on cereal, the Dr. wants us to get her on regular formula....JoElle has been sleeping 12-13 hours each night for the past month and a half and we don't want to disrupt that!

JoElle 4 months

JoElle has SO much energy! I have been sick twice in the past threee weeks, and she finally is sick now, but she is still happy as always. Yesterday, she went to the dr. with me after work/daycare and the ENTIRE time she bounced in my arms and smiled at everyone. If someone wasn't looking at her, she would stare at them until they looked, then smile at them so they would smile back! This girl loves attention, as if she doesn't get enough of it at home and at daycare!!

Everytime I visit her at daycare during my lunch, she is the only baby up while the other babies, most of them toddlers, are knocked out. JoElle is getting all of the attention and loving it! I think she probably stays awake for this; she really loves her teachers!

JoElle is starting to stay up a little bit later each night; she falls asleep a little later, at 7:30 or 8:00 now instead of 6:30, so we are getting to spend more time with her. She is grabbing EVERYTHING! JoElle is almost sitting up and almost crawling, probably only a few weeks away from both; but I am not sure that Tim and I are ready to be chasing after her...she already is packed with so much energy, I can't imagine what it will be like soon!!!!

We visited Aunt Carrie, Uncle Billy, and cousins Isaiah and Elena Sunday. Elena is doing well, she is eating like crazy and gaining weight! I got to hold her and feed her and she was looking for Mommy because she heard her voice, she looked at me like "who are you?"

JoElle was thoroughly entertained by her cousin Isaiah. He was making her laugh by making silly noises and dancing in front of her. Too bad we don't have him around when she wears us out....my mom told me JoElle shouldn't be the first, she has so much energy she needs an older brother or sister to keep her busy!

But soon she will be able to play with her cousin Peyton and Elena will be joining them too, so that will keep her busy over the weekend! Peyton will be a year old next week, June 14th. I can't believe it's been that long already!! Before I know it, JoElle will be one, too.

I already miss being able to hold her close to me, she is becoming very independent and wants to turn around, look at everything and bounce on my lap. The only time I can hold her tight is when she is sleepy. Everyone told me how much love you have for your children, but I never could have imagined it to be this wonderful. I love her so very much and Tim does too. It is wonderful to see the two of them. She looks for him always, loves for him to make her laugh; she is already starting to laugh when she looks at him. JoElle loves Daddy's attention and he loves to give it to 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!

JoElle: 3 month checkup

JoElle was 12 lbs 7 oz at her last Dr. appt at 3 months old. She is about 25 inches long now. She loves to smile at everyone! JoElle is teething and loves to gnaw on everything, especially her hand. She puts herself to sleep by sucking on it.

Growth Spurt

JoElle has hit a little growth spurt in the last few days, she is gobbling down bottles and is still hungry and now her jeans and sleepers aren't fitting- they are too short!

She loves day care and they love her. JoElle has lots of little friends who talk to her, touch her hair, and try to rock her in her swings. When I come pick her up, they try to help me fasten her in her car seat and try to rock her!

Her teacher Ms. Jennifer says JoElle smiles all the time and is such a happy baby! Her teacher Ms. Susan tells me JoElle loves to grab the toys on her activity center and she pays attention to everything, really studying the world.

She has been sleeping through the night for three weeks now, she falls asleep by 6:30 p.m. and sleeps until I wake her up to leave at 6:30 a.m. WOW! What a difference from the first two weeks!

JoElle loves to smile at everyone who talks to her and smiles at her. We read the Bible to her along with Dr. Seuss and some cute baby books she can put in her mouth! She will sit on my lap and touch the books, listening and sometimes cooing. She coos in the car to the music like she is singing! JoElle likes to suck on her fingers, her lip, and she sticks everything in her mouth. JoElle also LOVES to watch t.v. She gets mad when I turn it off; she watched an entire Baby Einstein video Saturday while standing in her activity center, cooing at the colors on the screen.
We are having so much fun with her!

April 2005

JoElle has been in daycare for 4 weeks already! Her and Peyton took Easter bunny pictures together. She loves to smile at us and her teachers, too.

We are attending a new church- for various reasons- Fielder Road Baptist. It's closer to home than FBCE and we really love her teachers in the nursery. They look forward to her coming!
She is sleeping throught the night now! This whole week, she has slept from 7:30 to almost 7:00 a.m. Sometimes I have to wake her up to leave for work because she is still snoozing...