The Ward's: December 2008

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

For our loved ones far, far away...here are pictures and a video from our Christmas Day!

Joe & his first train set

Joe, modeling his new kicks

Joe and his wingman, Chris

This is Chris's first Christmas, and look at his adorable little PJs

Silly, boys!

Joe loves his new toy!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Joe--enjoying a peanut butter blossom this afternoon--well deserved.

Joe got his tubes put in today. Everything went well and we were back at our house by 830am. The first thing the recovery nurses said to us as we walked back to get him was, "Youve got a biter!" In his confused state of coming out of the anesthesia, he was biting and actually caught one of the nurses fingers...oh well, what can you do? Once we got home, he laid done for a 3 1/2 hour nap...and has been running ever since. Yes, that's right...running...no one put that in the side affects of getting tubes placed in your ears! He's growing so fast. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers...they were answered!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

18 months

Joe had his 18 month check up a few weeks ago at our new Ped's office. He was 24 pounds and 30 inches long (although, I'm not sure that is accurate because he was 30 inches at 15 months and he has quite a few pants that are too short for him). He had another ear infection, so we were sent to the ENT. Of course, the ENT recommended tubes--which we were expecting. So Dec 23, Joe will be getting his tubes placed. We are hoping it helps his speech & balance (along with slowing the number of ear infections WAY down)...he seems to walk a little like his grammy at times and she has vertigo...so its a little concerning. We'll try to take before and after videos of walking to see if there is any evidence of improved balance. At the ENT, the audiologist tested Joe's hearing and they found some impaired hearing consistent with his fluid not draining appropriately....so surgery #2 for Joe will be soon. I've been asked by many people if I'm worried about him having surgery and my immediate answer is no. After his 1st surgery, we had to deal with a catheter for a week...so this is going to be a breeze. We still will need prayers since there is always a risk with any surgery...although, surgery or not, we still need prayers on a daily basis :) Below are some pictures from this month...enjoy!

Joe falling asleep while eating...this is the first time he's done this for me. He's done it a few times at Miss Allison's. He was really worn out from all the Christmas shopping we did!

"beep! beep!"

Oh the Christmas tree--its been a small challenge to keep Joe away from the Christmas tree this year...he looks so cute while he's looking at the ornaments. We've had only 1 ornament that won't make it back on the tree and a few gifts that look a little "wrinkled" from Joe trying to get behind the tree so he can try to plug in the lights...no worries, no shocks yet...but the boy loves light sockets! The "child-proof" plugs that we have, he can remove. They are recommeded by Parents Magazine, but I must say they don't work. We will be buying new ones very soon! And in the meantime, not to worry...we are watching him very closely.
Have a great week!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving weekend

Early Christmas present from Marmee! Thank goodness it has seat belts!

We had a great thanksgiving weekend! Joe's Marmee and Auntie Marti came to visit us in Dallas. We did lots of eating, shopping and playing! Here are some pictures...we missed the rest of our family and friends but with our work schedules, it didn't work out for us to go to Arkansas for the weekend. We look forward to the week after Christmas so we can see lots more people! Especially, Taylor Elizabeth...who was born yesterday at 1138am. We are so excited for Jay & Jan...and the newest Grandparents in the world...Mac & Cindy. They all look so proud in the pictures we've seen so far. 1 more month and we'll be there!!!