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! )

Happy Birthday Grandma

Grandma just had her birthday on Oct. 14th, so JoElle made her a picture with finger paints! JoElle gave Grandma her handprints and footprints, and then she at the paper and the paint :)


Lately, JoElle has been laughing a ton; she has picked up a new laught that sounds kinda fake, and she will go around laughing at anyone and anything. She tries to throw a little fit when we don't let her do something she wants to do, like eat the carpet, but she gets over it really quick. JoElle cries when Momma leaves the room, but she gets over that quick too!


She also is staying up much later, until 9:00 and sometimes 10:00 p.m. She wants to stay up and play with Mommy and Daddy. JoElle is already sleeping like a toddler, she is taking only one nap, from around 11:00 to 1:00 p.m. and that is it!
As I type this, JoElle is with Daddy at Granny and Grandad's house. She loves their doggy, Tee (who lives mostly outside). JoElle loves to stand at the window in the back door and talk to Tee. Tee is a little scared and runs off!
We are about to go to cousin Peyton's house to play with him and tell Grandma happy birthday!

Our little girl has been sick all weekend (vomiting and other unpleasant things) but she is still in such a great mood! She helped us with the laundry...while enjoying playing in the basket! Cousin Peyton, Aunt Ana, Uncle Aaron, Grandma and Granny all visited on Saturday. Then Saturday night we met up with Granny and Grandad at Cheddar's. When Grandad took her walking, JoElle saw Daddy (he was at a homecoming game in OK) and jumped out of Grandad's arms!

JoElle has been wanting me to hold her a lot this weekend, everytime when she doesn't feel well, she wants me. But this evening I was about to give her a bottle and put her to bed, and she wanted her Daddy! I am staying home from work Monday to take care of her and let her get some rest. I am not sure if she has food poisoning from spoiled baby food, a stomache virus or an allergic reaction to the milk in her baby food...
We bought her a new walker that she can also ride on, she likes it. I think she is teething again, it feels like some more top teeth are coming in. JoElle already has 6 teeth.

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!

"walking"

8 months old:
JoElle learned how to use her walker on September 20th; in fact, she turned her toy piano into a walker! She took the seat off and started pushing it to walk around! I can't believe she is so close to walking already. I wanted to cry becaues she is growing up so fast!!

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!

Standing alone

Almost 8 months old:
JoElle can also stand up by herself without holding on to anything! She figured it out on Sunday, September 4th, when she was watching her cousin Peyton standing and walking all over the place. Now she is practicing this new skill all the time! JoElle can also stand up from sitting without holding on to anything, it's pretty impressive!