Halloween Boys

Happy Halloween! Today was a big day for the boys. A Halloween parade for Johnnie & Joey's 1st Halloween on his 10 month birthday. I hope everyone had a wonderfully fun day. Here are a few photos from today.Joey is such a joy. He is such a good baby. Usually very happy as long as he is fed & not being forced to nap. He is very playful & already such a boy. Loves his trucks & mostly just loves playing. He barely ever naps & spends all day playing. He is constantly pulling himself up to a standing position & walking along the furniture. He is finally consistently sleeping 10 1/2-11 1/2 hours a night after weeks of crying it out. Stubborn! And very persistent. Sweet & so in love with his mama. Constantly babbling "baba & mama". And making a lot of noises wit his mouth.I can't believe we only have 2 months before our baby boy turns 1 but let's hope that time goes slowly.

These two Halloween photos sum up Joey's personality. He spent his 1st Halloween as a bumblebee. So calm & serene. But once he was done, he turned in to a Yellowjacket. Boy was he angry! Check back Tuesday for the rest of today's photos & some weekend fun.

10 on Tuesday

1. Rick has been gone for 1 week now. 1 to go. The boys & I have a pretty good routine going. Johnnie woke up crying out for "dad-dee" 5 nights in a row but is finally sleeping through the night. He has also started referring to everything male in our house as "my daddy". The toy construction worker, his stuffed animals, all the men in books & the toy pig.

2. Speaking of Rick, he called tonight to check in on us. He called at 7pm & it was 10am tomorrow in China. He's having a great time but says his days are jam packed with lectures, company visits, sightseeing places like the Great Wall & just soaking in the culture. I will get Rick to share some pictures after he gets back.

3. Johnnie has started to do some bigger boy things including feeding himself at his little table.

4. Here he is with his yogurt.5. Taking very big bites.6. The boys are really starting to enjoy playing together. Pushing trucks around, chasing each other around, splashing in the tub & wrestling.

7. Joey obviously loves it. He was having so much fun laughing while Johnnie kept tackling him & as tough as he is he is still not as tough as Johnnie. 8. Joey has started walking around the house using his walker. Shouldn't be long now before he tries to walk without assistance. 9. This morning driving to work I heard Yummy noises coming from the backseat. Joey makes these noises with every bite of food so I was wondering why he was making them since he didn't have any food. Then Johnnie started saying, "Mama, Jojo took my baba." (Johnnie still has a bottle of whole milk every morning.) I told him to take it back but every time he tried Joey gave him the "Heisman." One hand holding the bottle & the other arm straight out pushing Johnnie's face away.

10. 43 weeks old. Joe's favorite activity is eating. Eating a lot. He is eating a ton of food these days. This weekend he tried fish & chips for the 1st time. He loved it. This makes me giggle because Johnnie won't touch fish. At least I have 1 good eater. The only problem is that if he's hungry & you don't get him food fast enough he screams until he gets it. His current favorite dinner is cereal & a whole banana.

Flashback Friday

Halloween is quickly approaching so for this Friday I wanted to post a photo from this time last year. We went to visit the pumpkin patch of course & not much has changed. Johnnie was smaller last year but he still loved those little baby pumpkins. And our family photo only had 3 of us but just like this year I was pregnant then too (with Joey of course).

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday morning I woke up to find that fall had officially started for us too out here in Southern California. So as not to feel left out by all my friends posting pretty photos of their trees changing colors I took a photo of the tree in front of our house. See our LEAF changed too. That afternoon we drove out to Tanaka Farms in Irvine to visit the pumpkin patch. We always take the opportunity to get a family photo if we can. And this was possible because Auntie Kayci came with us. She made sure that Joey was involved in the petting zoo as well. As you can see he was trying to get a look at the animals. Johnnie mostly ran away from the animals when they approached him, but with some coaxing from daddy he was willing to pet a few. Joey's 1st photo with pumpkins. He was basically this excited all day to be here. Johnnie played around with the wheelbarrows full of pumpkins, trying to pick them up with no success but many declarations of "HEAVY". But when it came time to choose one to take home he was happy with this one. Can you see it? And one last photo to give you an update on the littlest baby to be. Here I am. 1/2 way done with my pregnancy. Just slightly bigger than the pumpkin, right? A girl can dream. I'm off to drop Rick off at the airport for his school trip to China for 2 weeks. Hope he has a great time & hope the boys don't tire me out TOO MUCH!

Beach Evening

Yesterday while Rick was finishing up his last project before leaving for China, my sisters & I took the boys to Redondo beach to let the boys play in the sand & it gave me the opportunity to get some photos before the sun went down for the evening with my new camera. The boys had fun with their aunties. Johnnie kept running back & forth retracing his footsteps in the sand. And here are Johnnie's & my footprints. I wish I had gotten Joey's too but he was tired & cranky by this point. So I ended the evening with this last photo of Johnnie. He would walk toward the water & then run from the waves yelling "Ocean Coming".

10 on Tuesday in Pictures

1. At Kate & Tyler's 4th birthday party this weekend Johnnie took a bite of a cupcake. Big news for him since he doesn't usually eat sugar. He licked the frosting once & took a bite from the bottom & then moved on to trying a lollipop.2.3.4. He looks like he enjoyed it, which he did for about 20 seconds. Then he took one last lick & passed it on to Joey.5. Poor Joe didn't get to keep it, but he did manage to enjoy his day. And he kept laying his head down on his tray. He does this all the time. Puts his head down sideways & grins at us.6. Kate & Tyler are very sweet & gave Johnnie a bunch of their tracks & trains & of course he had to play with them as soon as we got home.7. Last night it was warm when we got home from work so we fed the boys dinner outside. Then Joey watched as Johnnie pushed his truck around the yard before we took them for a ride around the block in their wagon.8. 41 Week Photo. The wagon ride ended with baths in the sink.9. Joey is constantly pulling himself up using the backs of our legs to be picked up. And he usually cries when we don't. Tonight he was just happy holding on to daddy.10. And he is so easily distracted once he's up. Doesn't he look so cute?

10 on Tuesday

1. Let me start by saying all the boys & men in my house are sick. I'm trying to stay healthy but I'm surrounded by running noses, coughing, sinus headaches & diarrhea. I hope they all get healthy soon.

2. Lately Johnnie has wanted us to leave the water running the entire bath so he can have the water run over his face & play with it.3. Doesn't he look happy wasting water & increasing our energy bill?4. We have finally started bathing the boys together. I have tried a couple of times but Johnnie likes to kick, splash & be crazy so it has been pretty hard.

5. Daddy was trying to get them to laugh at him but we only got some smiles.6. After 2 pregnancies I need to buy more maternity pants for work because mine are worn out. As much as I like being pregnant, I really dislike spending money on clothes that can only be worn for the next 5 months. I guess on the bright side if there's a baby #4 I will be able to wear those clothes again.

7. Check out Joey's hair after bath time. And can you see his little fang near his hand?8. I am so ready for the HOT summer weather to go away. I'm actually looking forward to wearing winter clothes. And I think sleeping will be more comfortable once it's cooler.

9. Joey is constantly walking along the furniture & ALWAYS looking back at us to make sure we're watching.10. Joey's 40 Week Photo. Wearing his new onesie. I guess he's officially a part of the Red Sox nation now. Go SOX!!

The check-up

The boys had their check-ups today. 9 months for Joey & 2 years for Johnnie.

Both are doing well. Growing. Talking. Babbling. Trying to walk. Running.

Johnnie is 34" tall (25%). Joey is 28" tall (50%).

Johnnie is ONLY 22lb (10%). Joey is 17lb 5oz (10%).

Joey sadly now seems to have a 24 hour stomach virus that kept him home today & is hopefully now on the mend.

Overall the appointment went well especially since it didn't include any shots. No tears equals a good visit.

The weather is cooling down outside so I think we are entering fall. Hope you have a great cool weekend.