Neptune Festival

This weekend is the 36th annual Virginia Beach Neptune Festival. At the oceanfront they have a big parade, a 8k/5k run, and the featured event is the North American Sandsculpting Championship. Nan, Pop, Joseph, and I went to check out the cool sandcastles (while Joe is out on the carrier). It was super windy at the beach and I was shocked to see that the castles actually "stayed" and didn't fall apart with all the wind. Joseph got to wear some of his new fall clothes and he stayed warm! What a fun morning (minus the wind)!

Catching up!

We visited Chick-fil-a in the mall on Labor Day since our hubbies were away! Joseph and his buddy Logan were all decked out in their ECU jerseys and looked oh so cute! If you wore a sports team logo to Chick-fil-a on Labor Day, you got a FREE chicken sandwich! My friend Karen (Logan's mom) and I weren't too sure if the boys were going to get a free sandwich, but to our surprise they did! And....they both gobbled them up too! Karen is an ECU graduate so she had on her ECU gear and I wore my ODU football shirt! 4 free chicken sandwiches for us!!! Yum!

We have season tickets to the ODU football games and here is my college roommate and I at the very 1st game on Sept. 5th, 2009! The Monarchs played great and so far they have a 2-0 winning streak! Keep up the good work boys! The next home game is Sept 26th!

Had to take a pic of "Big Blue"!

Joseph's updates.....Joseph weighed 23 lbs and was 31.5 inches long at his 15 month appt. He didn't gain any weight since his 12 month appt., but his dr. assured me that since he is now walking all the time, it's common for babies to maintain their current weight, or even lose weight since they are getting more exercise. I am just so thankful that he continues to be so healthy and a great eater and milk drinker! He drinks 18-24 oz of whole milk each day and has been since he turned 1 year old! Yay Joseph!

Joseph has had a HUGE attachment to his bottle, so it's been a little difficult trying to transition him to the sippy cup. He loves to drink water from the sippy cup, but when it comes to milk.....he REALLY wants his bah! He is making progress though! Yesterday was his first day of drinking his milk from the sippy cup all day! I've found that he likes a certain kind of sippy cup called "Nuby" that has a silicon spout on it. Yesterday morning when he woke up, I tried giving him his milk in the "Take and Toss" hard plastic sippy cup (which is drinks water from each day), and he had the biggest temper tantrum ever....kicking and screaming in the floor and many tears running down his face. He was MOST upset! I decided I wasn't going to "give in" like I usually do and just go pour it in the bottle to solve the problem. This time I poured it into the nuby sippy cup and he was MUCH happier. He gulped down all 6 oz with no more tears or tantrums. He continued to drink his milk from the nuby sippy cup through out the day and did great with no problems! So far today he's not had a bottle either and is doing just fine! So here is the scenario....one type of sippy cup for his milk and another type for his water. :) Silly boy! My diaper bag is ALWAYS overflowing!

Joseph continues to LOVE his nighttime routine. He gets a bath at 7pm and then we read books and drink milk until it's time for bed at 7:30. He wears a sleepsack for each nap and to bed each night (he's been wearing one since he stopped being swaddled at about 3 months old). It zips up the front and he has his arms free, but his legs are inside the sack part at the bottom. He loves his sleepsack and I guess it feels really cozy to him. He still knows how to crawl around in it and stand up while wearing it, so it doesn't really limit his ability to move around his crib. He has a favorite "lovie" that he grabs immediately when I put him in his crib named "Bun Bun". It's a bunny head with a blue velvet and white satin cape. He snuggles it up by his nose and just adores "Bun Bun"! I found it at a specialty gift shop here in Va Beach while I was pregnant, and when he really started to take a liking to it (around 4 months), Nan went back to the gift shop and bought 2 more (just to make sure we always have a Bun Bun)! (Sorry for the really long paragraph....but for some reason this blog site won't let me put spaces between some paragraphs). :(

Here is Joseph with his Bun Bun and sleepsack!

Molars....Joseph's top gums have been black and blue for over a month now where is molars are trying to come thru. His left, top molar finally poked thru on Sept 7th and we're still waiting for the right one to appear. It's been a very painful process for him and I will be so relieved when they all come in (as I'm sure he will be too).

We've been enjoying the cooler weather the past couple of weeks here in Va Beach! We're staying busy with the playgroup and the new 1 year old library class sessions began this week for the fall. Joseph still LOVES books and is now walking around with them and bringing them to us so that we will read them to him (ALL DAY LONG). He loves turning the pages and studying each picture on every page. I hope his love for books with continue!

Hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying fall like we are! That's all for now! :)

Picture Time

Joseph turned 15 months last week! We've been pretty busy the past few weeks. The weather has been beautiful here with highs in the 70's! Makes me ready for fall! Last week I hosted a playdate at my house for Joseph's playgroup and it was tons of fun! The babies all seemed to enjoy playing with all of Joseph's toys! Joe has been back in Key West for a couple of weeks and we look forward to him coming home next weekend! He won't believe how fast Joseph walks all around the house when he gets back!

ODU now has a football team and I am super excited to be going to the first game this weekend with my old roommate from college and my dad! Joe is sad that he will miss the first game, but will be back for the next one! We have season tickets and are really looking forward to having fun at the games this fall! Go Monarchs!!!!

I set up some backdrops and lighting at my house to capture these pics! I also added a new album on the right of the screen (August 2009). Happy September to all! CC