Health and Medical Update
As I said before, this month Joey only had one very quick nurse appointment in his pediatrician's office to get the second round of his flu shot and one more vaccine. We have one more similar appointment in a couple weeks before we see the pediatrician for a check up in December. This time around Joey was so distracted by Daddy's funny faces that he didn't even cry with either shot!
At the end of this month Joey also has a Neurological Development check up. Since his diagnosis in utero and working with Children's Hospital, Joey is a part of a research study that monitors development of babies born with congenital heart defects and tries to find if there are any links between the two. This is his first checkup since before his surgery when he had his last MRI ever. Part of the study included MRIs throughout, but because of his pacemaker, he will not be able to participate in that portion of the study anymore. He will be a part of this program until he is about 6 years old, so I am interested to know what types of things they will do during his checkups!
Firsts and Milestones
I feel like I have been saying this for the last couple of months, but Joey is *this close* to crawling. He is much better on his hands and knees now and can actually push himself to that position very easily, but he has only moved his hands and knees a tiny bit! The closest he has been I just happened to catch on video...
Joey can also get himself to a sitting position all by himself. He loves to sit and play with his toys, but still loves to roll all over the place and kick, kick kick! The crib, the couch, the wall... he kicks everything.
A few weeks ago, Joey celebrated his first Halloween! A couple of days before the real festivities, we dressed him up as a little Harry Potter because Joey's friend Josh got him a Harry Potter onesie that finally fits him! We even added a little (fake) scar to Joey's collection, so that he REALLY looked like Harry.
On Halloween Day, Joey dressed up as a shark! He tolerated his costume pretty well, as did Scruffy, but only stayed awake long enough to take a couple photos and see a couple trick-or-treaters.
Joey has officially grown out of his infant car seat! He just tried out his new big boy seat on a long trip out to the desert, and he slept the whole way! So I guess he likes it!
Two bottom teeth have surface with only two rough days of teething pain, each about five days apart. As far as other teething symptoms go, nothing is too out of the ordinary. Lots of drool, some fussing, and chewing and sucking on everything. But the funniest things are the sounds this boy makes to ease his teething pain. He makes fart noises nonstop and sometimes will roll his RRRRs over and over again. I think the vibration makes his gums feel better. (As I write this, he should be asleep in his crib, but instead he is making his high pitched R rolling sound!)
Two bottom teeth have surface with only two rough days of teething pain, each about five days apart. As far as other teething symptoms go, nothing is too out of the ordinary. Lots of drool, some fussing, and chewing and sucking on everything. But the funniest things are the sounds this boy makes to ease his teething pain. He makes fart noises nonstop and sometimes will roll his RRRRs over and over again. I think the vibration makes his gums feel better. (As I write this, he should be asleep in his crib, but instead he is making his high pitched R rolling sound!)
Likes and Dislikes
I think an overall "like" for Joey is just food in general. He likes everything that we give him! This month we added peaches, yogurt, asparagus, pumpkin, carrots, oatmeal and Cherrios to his list of foods. He is getting really good at eating from a spoon, but he is still trying to figure out the whole "put Cherrios in his own mouth" game. He gets really frustrated that the Cherrios stick to his hands and don't go into his mouth fast enough!
Joey's favorite toys are definitely his toy plane, rattling ball and tags, strings and straps on everything! But his most favorite thing that can keep him occupied forever is the door stopper! He loves to pull on it and hear it "boing" over and over and over again. It's so funny! Why do we even buy kids toys?!
Family Update
Jamie and I are so lucky to have such a great baby boy! We are enjoying every minute of being Joey's parents! We had a blast on our first Halloween as parents, and we can't wait to do more family costumes in the future. We got a membership to the Arboretum and we love taking Joey there to look at the plants and animals and to take long walks and play on the grass.
Joey had a lot of family events this month including a baby shower for his soon to be second cousin, Baby Girl Hansen, another baby shower for his future girlfriend Baby Girl Harkins, the Sbicca Family October birthday celebration that celebrated our cousin Mike, Grandpa Don and Joey's Great-Great Aunt Jean, and to a bowling birthday party to celebrate our cousin David! Shortly after last month's update, Joey's second cousin, Caroline, was born and he can't wait to meet her!
We also just took our first family holiday photos at the Arboretum this weekend I brought my camera and snapped a couple shots of Joey, and Jamie and Joey together, Jamie got some great shots of Joey and me, and we set up the tripod and the timer and got a few family photos as well! The hardest part was being dressed in Fall/Winter outfits and taking photos on a hot 90 degree day! Although we rushed through it so that we didn't overheat, we got some great shots! Below are only two sneak peeks... you will have to wait to see the rest!!
Thanks for continuing to visit for Joey's updates each month! See you all next time!! Happy Thanksgiving!
