So much to Blog, so little time...

Okay, so I feel there's a lot to catch up on, so be prepared for a lot of pictures and depending on how much time I have, a lot of writing. First up,

Galveston!

We took soooo many pictures; here is just a small sampling:

Joanna and Daddy on the deck of the house we stayed in.

Mamma and Pop with all their kiddos. Awwwww. From left: Uncle Mark, Mamma, Pop, Uncle Mike, Aunt Mindy, Aunt Missy, Daddy Pretty. This bridge thing took us from the house to the beach without having to crawl through the brushy stuff.
It was cold on Saturday. I did not come prepared for cold.
Brrrr..... Matt's nephew Josh with his son Brendan, 18mos. So cute!
Joanna and Mommy
Joanna and Daddy on Sunday, which was nice and warm. We got Joanna all decked out in her swimsuit and cover-up. Of course, the water was a little chilly for us to actually let her get in :)
Feet in the sand for the first time.
Mommy and Joanna collecting pretty shell pieces. All tuckered out. She actually fell asleep on the short walk back from the beach and stayed asleep for over an hour!
Isn't this swimsuit adorable?! Look closely, what do you see?
There are actually 3 generations in this photo. Matt and his nephew Josh with their kiddos. Brendan and Joanna are first cousins once removed because Joanna and Josh are first cousins.
This was when we were about to head out on Sunday evening. We got Joanna all ready for bed so she could sleep on the way home. Do you see the giraffe PJs? I love how she's looking out the door at Brendan. There was a deck out there with like 87 steep steps, so that's why she wasn't allowed out there. She's too fast and unpredictable, and she doesn't know how to go down stairs yet.

Our next adventure of the week was taking care of Anna while her little sister was born. The girls are a little over 5 months apart, and they play pretty well together. There are of course the occasional disputes of the toddler property law, but mostly they are very sweet. I decided to stroll the girls to the park on Tuesday, which they very much enjoyed. I don't think I heard a peep out of either the whole trip; they loved the walk. We stopped at the gazebo for a photo op -- look how they're holding hands! Such sweet girls! I couldn't really aim the camera here because I was holding on to the children. I was pretty sure Anna could stay on on her own, but I knew Joanna couldn't, and I was also thinking they might just up and push each other off. We also swung (swang? swinged?) for a while which they loved, and I got to work on my arm muscles.
Next up are random pictures of the exciting developments of Joanna's new life as a non-baby-not-yet-toddler.

This is kind of disgusting, but what can you do. I forget what she was eating here, but her mouth is completely jammed full and she's trying to wash it down with milk. She was a mess after this meal.

This was just this weekend. See the tiny toes?!This is at Matt's brother's house, but we have a similar fireplace which is why I'm worried. If you can't tell in the picture, she has climbed UP onto the fireplace (a foot or so step). I'm now looking for ideas on blocking the firebox once she gets up there. We have stuff (pillows, keyboard) on our hearth, and so far it hasn't occured to her to climb up, but I know it won't be long. :(And her she is IN the basket of toys. That's how to play. And now for our most recent big girl change. Here is Joanna after her final ride in the infant seat. She's officially too long for it, but she's still not heavy enough to forward face in a big carseat.
So here she is rear-facing in the convertable seat. Pretty cushy, huh Joanna? She doesn't seem to mind/notice the change.
But later that night: "Just one more ride, mom?"

Joanna's been sick this week. Yuck, but I was expecting it after the weaning :( Poor Joanna. She had a cold last week, then a couple of days of seeming healthy, then on Wednesday she got a fever which she hung on to until Saturday. It was her only symptom, besides the extreme (even for her) crankiness. I took her to the doctor (her first sick visit!) on Thursday and of course he couldn't find anything wrong with her. Her ears looked good (yea!) and the strep test came back negative, so he thought it could just be a little virus. Who knows. We kept her on Tylenol and just babied her as much as we could. We saw a different doctor for the first time; ours was on vacation. Vacation?! While Joanna is sick? I can't believe it! Oh, well. This doctor was very nice, too. Here's the unbelieveable (to me) part: she weighed in at 18lb 1oz! Oh my goodness! That's a gain of almost two pounds in less than a month! She's never gained weight like that -- wow!

Up until last week, Joanna had perfect attendance at school. She has now missed TWO weeks in a row! I'm going crazy! It is too hard to work without MDO! And my house hasn't been vacuumed in FOREVER! I took her up to the church on Thursday because I still had to work, and because it was picture day, which she was NOT going to miss. Unfortunately, she couldn't take a picture with her class, but she got her individual one done. I LOVED the photographer. She was young, high energy, and great with the kids. She also took like a million pictures, so I know we'll get a great one!

Our most recent big event was a really big one. Like 40 kind of big, you know.

Matt's birthday!!

The reason this sign looks like it's being reused is because it is. It was out at the beach for Matt's parents. The funny thing is that Matt's mom and dad are Monte and Joann, but this sign originally said Monte and Jordan. We hung it anyway 'cause we thought it was funny. I made a button for Matt to wear on Friday -- don't you love it? Anybody else see Joanna on that little face?
Friday we partied at Aunt Mindy's house; Saturday we partied at Uncle Mark's house. Here is just ONE of Matt's cakes:
After blowing out the candles. I guess he was glad he had the energy.
Awww.... Doesn't look 40, does he?
I love this. Matt's mom always writes all kinds of birth info on her kids' birthday cards. Matt's Uncle Dick and Aunt Charlotte were also in town this weekend. Joanna and I had never met them.
Just ignore the crying baby. Pretend she's smiling instead. Joanna with Uncle Mark and Aunt Allison.

We've been so busy but had so much fun! Joanna APPEARS to be back to normal health-wise, but we'll see. There are all kinds of illnesses she hasn't had yet.

If you're reading this, don't forget to post a comment and let me know what's going on with you. I LIVE for comments!