Friday, December 11, 2009

Beautiful Key West and 18 months

I had an amazing time on my "Babymoon" in Key West! Joe and I rode beach cruisers all around each day and enjoyed the warm weather! We spent an afternoon at Fort Zachary Taylor Beach!

The water was so warm!




We spent another afternoon going out on a boat to a reef area where we went snorkeling!








Joe bought this hammock about a year ago when he was in Key West and brings it each time he goes there now! So relaxing!


These crazy roosters are EVERYWHERE! They are very loud and we even saw a few of them get into little fights with each other.



A view from the plane when flying in to the area.



We are at Mallory Square checking on the sunset in this pic!


Southernmost Point in Key West....... 90 miles to Cuba!

I posted all my pics from Key West under "Photo albums" if you want to take a look!
Not to worry about little Joseph......While I was having a wonderful time in Key West, he was at Nan and Pop's house having a great time himself!

He loves opening and closing the trash can. Yuck!Oh, and then he found all the plastic containers! What fun!








This child LOVES going outside and Nan and Pop took him out about 15 times each day! He even wanted to go out when it was dark and his bedtime.

Our Christmas stockings this year!



Joseph turned 18 months on November 28th. He's been a very busy little guy these past few months and has certainly developed a liking to the stairs and going outside. He knows to bring me his socks and shoes if he wants to go outside! So cute! We took him to his 18 month well baby appt. and he weighed 25 lbs. (36th percentile) and was 33 inches (70th percentile) long! His new favorite words are "lights" and "Hi Joseph"! Unfortunately Joseph has developed a reaction to the acid in several fruits within the past 6 months. He had 4 big vials of blood taken at his appt. and it has been sent to test for certain food allergies. His face gets really rashy and splotchy when he eats these certain fruits and his bottom get inflames also. So far the foods that he reacts to are blueberries, raspberries, apricots, oranges, pickles, and tomatoes. He ate oranges once and had such a severe reaction that the skin on his bottom started bleeding. He also had pickle juice this past week (his OT wanted to use it to "wake up" his mouth when she was working on biting and chewing with him), and his entire body broke out in hives and he had a severe reaction to that. He loves spaghetti so much, but it looks like we will have to start using alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Today Joseph had an appt. with the pediatric dermatologist to assess his skin. I was told the name of the dr. and didn't think much of it while we were waiting. When the dr. walked in, she looked and me and we were both in shock right away! She went to college with me at ODU and she was also my sorority sister in ZTA! She is now a physician assistant and works with CHKD specialty group! (CHKD is the main children's hospital in Norfolk, VA and Joseph's pediatrician is affiliated with that hospital). It was great catching up with her and she was also very helpful with prescribing the right ointment for Joseph's face and also giving us specific instructions for what to use on his body for lotion and what to wash him with. She said he has eczema and also a skin reaction to what he is eating. We came home from the appt. tonight and after his bath (with his new bath wash) I put the new prescription ointment on his splotchy red parts of his face and it seems to clear up almost instantly! I sure hope it will continue to help. I'm eager to find out exactly what foods little Joseph needs to avoid in the future.
Here is Joseph at 18 months.....








Baby girl Capalbo is also growing right along and seems to be doing well! She is moving all around inside these days and is very active. I have a 4D ultrasound scheduled right before Christmas and then my next dr appt is Jan. 4th. I will have to go early in the morning on the 4th for a glucose test where I drink the nasty drink and then an hour later they test my blood for gestational diabetes. I didn't have gestational diabetes with Joseph, so I hope and pray I don't have it this time either. I have no will power when it comes to eating while pregnant!

Well, that's all for now! We hope you all are enjoying this holiday season and spending time with the ones you love! We certainly miss my brother during this time, but we know he is having his first big Christmas up in heaven with Jesus! What a wonderful celebration that must be!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Updates

I had my 20 week ultrasound on November 18th. Baby girl was very active and all her measurements were perfect! Here she is laying on her back. Her head is on the right side (looking up) and then her neck/backbone, stomach, etc. towards the left. We continue to be so very thankful that she is growing well and is healthy. Joe and I took a weekend trip to Baltimore, MD (the weekend before Thanksgiving). We had a wonderful time at the Baltimore Aquarium, shopping, and eating great food. Joseph stayed with Nan and Pop and had a fun time playing with his toys at their house, and going outside numerous times to ride in his push car and just to see everything outside. Nan also took Joseph to his last library class of the fall session on Thurs. morning so we could get an early start in the car to Baltimore. Joe and I had a nice, relaxing weekend!






Joe standing by the submarine with the shark face! This submarine was something you could pay to go on and tour, but we chose to spend all our time inside the aquarium instead.








The smallest monkey in the world. It doesn't look too small in this picture, but that's because I zoomed really far in to take the pic.















A scuba diver feeding the sting rays in a large tank of sting rays, sharks, and turtles.



















The dolphin show at the aquarium was great! It reminded me of Seaworld!










We drove back home from Baltimore on Saturday and then we had a photo session with my friend Christene on Sunday to capture some family beach pictures. She takes incredible pictures and has such a talent. I had hoped to use one of the pics she took for our Christmas cards this year, but unfortunately Joseph was NOT a happy camper during the session. We had just found out that he had a double ear infection and it was a really windy day on the beach. We were all freezing and his ears were hurting so bad that our session only lasted about 10 minutes. Joseph is currently on his 3rd antibiotic since his first ear infection back in October. We sure hope it will clear up after this round of antibiotics. Here are the best pics we got that day....










We spent Thanksgiving with my parents at their house. Nan and I put together the traditional Thanksgiving meal and Joe carved the ham and turkey. Joseph was starving for his lunch by 11:30am so Pop fed him some of the Thanksgiving items that had already finished cooking. He ate turkey, sweet potatos, lima beans, and a roll.



Joseph had a full belly and was off to do his favorite past time activity......READING!







We gave him puffs when we sat down to eat around 12:30pm and he's NEVER too full to eat puffs!


After Joseph's afternoon nap, we headed down to the end of the street to take some family pictures. It was a beautiful afternoon!




















Joseph got his Christmas money and thought it would be better if it was in his mouth.







Hi Joseph video! Just click on the arrow (triangle play symbol) on the bottom left.