One Year Old.

Hello again, we are so excited about our boys first birthday that we can hardly contain ourselves. It is amazing how quickly the time goes by and how he changes day to day. Sometimes he even amazes himself. As you can see getting him to sit still for a photo has become a bit of a challenge but we enjoyed it all the same.
We had his birthday party on Saturday. He was not so sure about the whole opening process but liked the end products as you can see.
Silly mom thinks she is going to get me to look at the card and help unwrap these things. Why do that when I can play with the camera and aunt Cece while mom does all the work.
The cake was hilarious, most of it was simply squished and admired for it's painting abilities until he decided that it was not such a pleasant sensation to be so darn sticky...
So we unstuck the boy and everyone said their good byes to the birthday boy as he soaked in a warm tub. All in all Joey had a great time. He was thrilled to have so many folks admiring him. Despite skipping his afternoon nap he kept a very chipper mood right until the end when he decided it was time to be cranky simply because he was so over stimulated. But this did not last for long, a bottle and some mommy cuddle time and he was out like a light. Of course it was only five o'clock so mom had a long night when he woke up completely refreshed and ready for action at nine. No worries, a birthday only comes once a year so we stayed up and played and watched Christmas cartoons. OK I watched the Christmas cartoons. Joe played with his new toys.

Love you all Nikki

A couple of firsts...

As you can see the first airplane ride was not a big deal. Joe had a bottle at take off and slept all the way to Washington DC were we ended up sitting in the airport for 7 hours because United airlines are incompetent. But I am not going to get into that. Joe tolerated the wait very well he smiled and played and entertained all the strangers who stopped to say how cute and charming he is, Unfortunately he used up all his energy so that by the time we got to Oma's and he met Angie, Bobby and Eileen he screamed for about 20 minutes straight. He did settle a little and play with cousin Bobby and Angie and he was pretty good for Auntie Eileen when she held him but they did not get to see him at his most charming and rested self. I guess that means they will have to come visit us at Lansing Hollow Farm. Yeah!

Joe also met his cousins, He was really quite fascinated and became very fond of them in the short time we had. Even now when I try to show him pictures of his Cousins on their blog he looks around the room as if hoping they are here in person to play with(by with, I of course mean beside) . It was really sweet he mauled Paul a few times but no harm was done to the hearty little 4 month old whose curly locks were just to much to resist. Cousin Luke was really wonderful with Joe he shared toys that up to this point had been exclusively his at Oma's house and even helped me feed Joe. I can hardly wait to get these three back together.

So technically this is not the first snow but I was not about to take a preemie out in the snow for pictures last year. So here is Joe's first time experiencing all that is snow. This face lasted about one minute and then my little man's hand got cold and he started screaming at me to get him the heck out of this cold wet stuff and back into his warm house! I don't think snow is going to be appreciated until next year when he can walk.

I would love to stay and post some more but between decorating, cleaning for the birthday party and trying to get Christmas cards done I am a little busy this week.

Love you all and hope your holiday season has been as happy as ours.

Nikki

Peek A Boo

Hello, is anyone out there?
Oh there you are. I learned that I can play hide and seek with out mom's help this week. I just grab any old thing like the blanket or sheet on a bed that is already made and if they won't come off then I grab dad's flannel and the game is on. Of course mom has to start saying 'where's Joe' the instant I cover my face or it is not as fun.
Then I pop out and everyone is so surprised to see me that I generally start the whole thing over again.

We are all doing well, just getting geared up for our trip to Washington. Traveling with an 11 month old is not very high up on Ed's list of things to do but he is making the best of it. The travel part is not bothering me, it is the time change and little man's schedule that concern me most. We are either going to have a very happy trip and one confused little man by Friday or a grumpy little man who can't figure out why mom doesn't want to wake up at 4 am and go to bed at 5 pm. Aside from these little worries we are both very excited to be seeing friends and family, as well as introducing everyone to Joe.

Love you all and those on the west coast we will be seeing you very soon.

Nikki

11 months old today

Hi everyone we are having a great day. Well we were until about two minutes ago when cranky tired baby showed up. I am not sure were Joey went but in his place I have a very cranky little man who is telling me that I should not be on this computer and that he needs all of my attention. It is a real shame because before he showed up Joey and I were playing a rousing good game of peek a boo with one of his blankets. Hopefully my happy boy will return after he gets a morning nap.

Love you all Nikki

PS I saw a couple of snow flakes this morning when I was out at the barn.

Two days in a row!

Good morning,
This is my foot,
Well I've been sitting in the same spot for two seconds, gotta go!
Oh yeah, here's a picture of mom's new truck. She loves it but I am still deciding.

Hi everyone, pretty shocking. I actually managed to get on the blog two days in a row. Hope everyone had a great weekend. We kept busy; Grandma Elsie came down Saturday and watched his cuteness while daddy and I worked on projects out at the barn. We had to put a divider in one of the stalls to separate the goats from the pony. Miss Parfai is a bit of a monster about sharing space with anyone. She's been in her own stall and the girls have been staying out at night, but it is getting chilly and it's time the little queen bee learned her place. So into a pony stall she goes. I put her in the round pen with Dancer who will not put up with her attitude but does not hurt her. Although Miss Parfai would beg to differ, she got more exercise that day than she's probably had in a year.

I'm still working on more projects than possible before Joey's party but I know super Ed will step in and save me from myself. The porch is finished and the old vinyl tiles are off the kitchen floor, now I just have to paint the stairs, touch up the fireplace wall, place the stair treads, remove the old staples, patch the holes the electricians made... you get the idea.

Of course it is so easy to get to all this done with little Joe around because he never demands attention. Yeah right! Well I better get going and pick out which project is next on my list.

Love you all Nikki

Happy Halloween!

Not quite crawling yet but getting there soon, he hopes!

Daddy's favorite Giraffe!

Joey and Jasper, goodness I don't know how professional photographers do it,

It never fails, baby looks at the camera and puppy looks away or vice versa...

What a cool Holiday. I used to love it as a kid and now that I get to dress my own kid up it is even more fun. We had a quiet holiday since Mr. Joseph has recently started skipping naps some days and going to bed at 7pm. Of course I was hoping he would take a nice long nap so we could go to the party at the fire house but alas it was not meant to be.

Grandma Elsie came to have dinner and Joe was dressed in his costume charming us with all his wiles. Which is quite easy when it comes to mom, grandma and dad. We are basically wrapped around his little pinky. After dinner I took him to the local cafe to see everyone and then we headed home because he started screaming at the top of his lungs for his bed time.

Here's some pictures of the boy and his new dog.

Love Nikki

It's been awhile

Not completely my fault that it has been so long since the last post. We had a thunderstorm and the cable line got struck by lightening. Unfortunately we had everything but the cable plugged into the surge protector. Our computer was not so happy. It took a while to get the repair folks out here. Then I was just busy with all sorts of stuff that was not so fun.

Many of you know that we had to put Cole down at the end of August. He started having some issues with aggression, he attacked Pasha twice and chased one of the cats. Unfortunately unbeknownst to me he got the cat Owen also, pounced on him. The cat died a day later from internal injuries. We decided it was better to be safe then sorry and Cole had a lovely last week getting everything his way. We all miss him terribly but know that it was for the best.

Pasha and Moreau seemed to revive well and were having a good time running about. Poor Moreau was getting stiffer and stiffer so we took a trip to the vet to get her some drugs for her arthritis. We discovered that she had lost 10 pounds in 7 months. After the blood work came back the Dr figured it to be a tumor so we started her on drugs to encourage her to eat. This worked for a couple of days and then she started leaving food in her bowl. Last Wednesday she would not eat her breakfast at all and when she was out side she fell over and could not get back up with out my help. When she fell the second time and started panting heavily in pain I knew it was time. Our vet made time for me and let me bring her straight in so she would not suffer. I am trying to see the bright side that she had a good long life and was healthy and active right up till the end but some days are harder then others. I know they say that dogs do not grieve but I have to disagree, Pasha seemed lost. The only bright point was a puppy that came home on Friday night. Jasper has given Pasha a new lease on things and she is running around like the crazy puppy she once was.

Joey is thriving and growing and oh yeah his birthday present came a bit early. She is the cutest little pony. I will post pictures of everyone.

I better get back to my house work. I promise it will be much sooner when I post next.

Love you all, Nikki

Joey's first fair

We took Joey to the Altamont fair on Friday. What a hoot. Well it was for me any way. Having grown up in Washington state in a small town that was known for it's fair it was hilarious to see how the other half lives. Needless to say it does not hold a candle to the Puyallup fair but it was perfect for a first fair for Joey.

The petting zoo was not as interactive as the one I visited as a child but it was a lot more exotic as you can see by the picture of the camel. Of course when I was taking his picture he would not look at me or the camel but once Ed walked him around the corner he caught site of it and was fascinated. Nothing else was worth looking at in his opinion.

Ed could not believe I was paying for a pony ride but it was a great photo opportunity and who knows one of these days I might actually get his scrap book started.

Fact of the matter is that aside from the camel and the pony ride Joey pretty much slept in his stroller except when we sat down on the bleachers at the horse show to feed him but still it was a fun day and I know that next year will be even more exciting.

On other fronts we are still waiting for Joe's new teeth to make an appearance. We have plenty of angry red bumps in his poor gums and a cute little man who is stuffing everything into his mouth and rubbing his gums to make them feel better. My fingers are crossed that they will pop through this week and give him a little relief. Through it all he is very sweet although his temper is a little shorter some nights so mommy is not getting as much sleep as she would like.

Well I'm off to the barn to get some cleaning done since I worked all day yesterday.

Love you all Nikki

Howdy Folks.

Great day for a ride. Joe's idea of a ride is a trip around the back yard. Start em young I say, although I am sure both grandma's are cringing. Joe and I are still trying to talk daddy into a smaller pony since dancer is a little wide for Joe, but at the rate he is growing who knows maybe we shouldn't bother with the mini version.

His grandma Elsie and I weighed him today out of curiosity, 22 lbs. Holy cow I hope he slows down soon, otherwise the clothes I bought him for winter will fit him in September.

Oh well, such is life with a growing boy.

We finally figured out which teeth are coming next and giving him so many problems. The upper eye teeth are on the way. He has very prominent swelling and redness there. Poor baby.

Speaking of which my little cowboy is calling.

Love you all Nikki

Bath time and other stuff

Hello everyone, Joey had an early bath today due to an outstanding painting session with his banana and rice cereal. It was everywhere, hair, nose, ears and toes. So we had some fun in the tub as you can see by the pictures. Splashing is a new talent he has acquired and he is becoming very good at it. He even gets me on the rare occasion. This is always delightful since he smiles about getting mommy wet.

Well I have to go, I have just been informed that it is time to try that crawling thing again. We aren't making much progress but we are having fun working at it.

Love and kisses, Nikki and Joey

Guess what I ate today?

I know it looks like he was not that impressed with his newest food due to the fact that he is wearing a good portion of it, but Joey loves sweet potatoes. Yes, some of it is indeed up his nose. What can I say my boy has talent. He was none to pleased when I cleaned it out. He laughed while I cleaned his face, right up til I got to that cute little button of a nose then I was no longer a fun mommy. Oh well, can't win every popularity contest. At least he doesn't have orange crusty sweet potatoes hanging out of his nose.

On that note have a great evening...

Love Nikki

PS here's another really cute picture from the seventh.

Happy 8 months

I can hardly believe it but my son is 8 months old today. It seems crazy. We have been cleaning out all the nooks and crannies in the house getting ready to have a garage sale. In the process I have run across two items that simply blow my mind. One is his premie diaper, I can hardly believe those used to be to big for him and the second was his ankle bracelet ID from the NICU. It fits on my thumb. When I look at Joey now I can hardly remember the little elf that came home with us. Here is his one month old photot and his current to give you all a walk down memory lane. Gotta go the elf has turned into an imp and wants attention.

Love Nikki

The girls have arrived.

Lansing Hollow Farm is very happy to welcome the latest arrivals. We haven't settled on the names but have some working ideas. Nora (taken from ignoramus-the skinny one is not to bright) and Sarah (Shirley MacLaine's character in two mules for sister Sarah, like the character this goat is very stubborn and hard headed). Oh well they are cute as you can see and I have only had to chase them down once so far.

When out driving I had noticed several farms that contain their goats with the white electric tape. The same stuff that holds my 900 pound yearling in his pasture. Well bright idea why not put the goats in there during the day and the colt out at night. Stupid goats walked right through the fence. I could hear the electricity shocking them as they did it, so back to my disaster of a garden they go. Glad I didn't have time to plant anything this year.

It is very warm here and humid. Kind of interfering with my plans to polyurethane the front porch. I will be dragging myself from bed early tomorrow to start that project. Other then that we are just waiting on our hay to arrive. I am so glad I do not have a hay field of my own. The thought of bucking hay bales in this heat and humidity makes me quite happy to fill out the check and hand it over after my hay has been neatly stacked and put away for me. I know, some farmer I am.

The horses are in for a rude awakening, I have started working them in the morning and expect to have the saddles on them in a week or two. Poor babies aren't sure what to make of it. The dogs are doing well, actually they basically sleep all day in the house. To hot to do anything.

Joey prefers the morning hours and starts to get a bit cranky towards afternoon as it heats up. He fusses and fights with himself about taking his afternoon nap until he finally just crashes. See above picture to see what I mean.

I better get a few chores done while my little prince is napping.

Love Nikki

The latest developments

Yeah we have a floor on our front porch, the steps to the front door have been redone and we are going to be contractor free for a couple of years. I think.

Joey is doing great, he has a new trick it is just fabulous. While getting changed he has started reaching down and grabbing himself. So mommy has started rushing to wipe the area before he gets there so that his little hands, that go to his mouth next, will not be transferring yucky germs. Well today he had a poopy diaper so the race was on. Mommy lost. But fear not folks, my little genius realized he did not want this in his mouth so he wiped his hand on mommy's shirt and waited for mommy to clean the rest off before returning his cute little hand to his mouth. Yeah baby.

On other news fronts we had a fun day yesterday with Grandma Elsie. We went shopping. Joey has quite the winter wardrobe now. He did quite well although by the time we got to Cross Gates mall we had to carry him. Wow is he getting heavy. It was a win win situation though. I got some great exercise and he was ready for bed when we got home.

Well gotta go, little man is not into the swing today and is starting to fuss.

Here are some pics of the house and one of Joey telling a tale about how big the fish was that he caught.

Love Nikki

Keeping Busy

I still feel as if I am running in circles. We had a great visit with Oma and sent her back to Auntie Amy who is due to pop any minute with my second niece or nephew. I can hardly wait to find out. While Oma was here we (meaning mostly Oma) managed to paint the living room finally. It looks amazing. Ed and I went out to the movies, very strange not to have the little man in tow.

Speaking of Joe, he is doing great. He is a champ at rolling from his back to his tummy. Grabbing the spoon as he is fed, laughing at the dogs especially Pasha and his favorite activity is to sit in the swing and listen to his daddy play guitar.

I returned to work, I started picking up a couple of shifts on the weekends, I hate to leave the boys but it is nice to get out of the house.

The house as you can see from the pictures has gotten some more work done. The contractors returned and finished the ceiling on the front porch and now we are missing the floor. They should be back this week to put the new one in. At least I hope they will be, it is a pain to deal with the dogs going in and out through the back door. For those of you that haven't been in the house we have to go through the laundry room to get to the back deck. Our cats have litter boxes in the laundry room so imagine if you will me with Joe in my arms trying to get three eager dogs through the laundry room and out the door before they get into the litter boxes for their favorite treats, kitty rocca. Yuck!!!!!! Any how I will be glad to have the front entrance restored.

We had a quiet fourth of July, the weather was a bit grey and wet so we stayed home and enjoyed each others company. Next year we will find a pick one of the many fireworks shows and take Joey.

Daddy's birthday was yesterday, we had a quiet evening at home. We celebrated on Saturday by going out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma at Vince Anna's. It was a very pleasant evening. Joey was great, I know he is looking forward to joining us in eating dinner but so far he has only two lower teeth. I keep telling him he needs a few more before he can try the big people food.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy,

Take care, Love Nikki

Now I remember, Oma is the one who shows me all the fun stuff in life and teaches me to do really cool things like put my tongue out. Boy are we going to have a fun ten days while she is here. And mom keeps saying something about how much stuff she is going to get done. Yeah right, dad and I will believe that when we see it. Mom always seems to get side tracked these days. It's kind of funny she ends up going in circles because she has so many things she wants to do at once and she always is trying to do more then one project at a time. Of course silly mommy this does not work. Maybe I will tell her that if she focuses on one thing she will manage to actually finish.
In the mean time it is Saturday and I am watching a movie with daddy while mommy and Oma cook for the picnic. We'll let you know all about the fun we have today and we hope everyone else is enjoying their Saturday.
Love Joey and Mommy aka Nikki

Oma's coming to town.

So here we are at the airport waiting for Oma. Mom who's oma again?

Catching up.

So here's what you've missed since I couldn't write...

Joey is sitting up pretty much on his own although balance is not something he has mastered so mommy's arms are close by to catch him as he flops to one side when he notices a temptation such as a certain black cat walking by. He has not rolled completely over yet, he gets himself to his side and falls asleep because that is his favorite position to sleep in. Oh well, as long as he is happy. During tummy time this last week he started working on his Yoga moves. He got his little fanny up in the air and then wasn't sure were to go from there so he started screaming at me to fix it. So far this is my sons mode of operation, get himself in a jam and yell for mom to show him how to get out of it. Of course when he yells it is more like a squeak so the dogs come running to make sure he is OK. This in turn distracts him from his current predicament so the soon to come tantrum is diverted to playing with the dogs. Pasha is still waiting for him to grow up and become more interactive but Cole is in love and spends most of his day doting on the baby. Joey has two bottom teeth now. He has managed to bite him self several times which has resulted in big tears and lots of loud crying, one of these episodes was at the grocery store so I had my first experience as the mom that is being stared at suspiciously with the hysterical infant. Oh what fun. Joey loves his baby Einstein seat thingy...our neighbors have one for their daughter and call it the office so from here on out the office it is. I posted a picture of it so you all can see what the heck I am talking about. We will be sitting on the couch reading or playing and he will spot it and lean out as far as I will let him to get close to it. This is obviously his way of saying 'mom I would like to play with that for a while.' So in he goes and the laughs begin.

Last night I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Joe as he slept in his play pen with Honey. Every night Joey starts his bed time in the play pen and we move upstairs when I go to bed. At first it was more Joe sleeping in my arms all evening until I went to bed because he will not go to sleep when he is alone, he just starts crying and only stops when he is picked up. Even when you get him to sleep in your arms he will wake when he is put down and there is no one near him. He hates sleeping alone but when she snuggles up with him all the fussing stops and off to sleep land goes my little angel. I am so glad she wandered into our lives last fall. She certainly has helped with our bed time routine. I can actually get a few things done in the evening, or be still my heart watch a movie with my husband.

I think I've gotten everything but I am sure that I will remember more later and will add it then. Happy Father's Day to everyone,

Love Nikki