Well it took me awhile after posting those videos to try to finish what I wanted to. I apologize about all the videos, I doubt many people will really want to watch all of them, but we didn't get to many good pictures of the events but the videos were so good!
For Joey's big 3rd birthday, we got out of the house rather early and went down the street to the nearby bowling alley. (maybe we should have drove around the block so Joey didn't know where we are, he gets excited now everytime we pass it!)
We got there at a really good time, just a few people at the other end of the alley so in the video it is not to noisey. Joey just LOVED it! They gave him a 6 lb ball that you can see he could carry himself. (although it was still scary to see a little boy carrying a bowling ball!) When he first saw how the ball return worked he was amazed, I actually wonder if that was his favorite part of it all, in a couple of the videos before even seeing if he knocked down any pins you see him run back over to the return.
Jeanie enjoyed it as well but got bored halfway thru and we had to keep chasing her. After bowling we stepped over to the little arcade and played some skee ball and other things. Joey had fun choosing out things with his tickets. Then the lucky little boy got to go to McDonalds for lunch! By the time we got home around 2 the kids were completly tuckered out! So they took a very nice nap while Jared and I finished cleaning the house to get ready for the Grandparents.
Grandma and Grandpa Reece and uncle Nathan came to celebrate with cake, ice cream and presents! They gave Joey an awesome basketball hoop! Joey has been loving it... except he always insists that I put it at a higher setting but gets fruastrated that he can't slam dunk it.
Also this past week Jared and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary! On Monday we decided to have some family fun and went down to trax station and rode the train up to Salt Lake. The kids, Especially Joey loved it! Joey loves trains and was just super excited that he got to ride on one. He loved pointing out all the things he could see from his window. (like piles of busted cars)Afterwards we went home and chilled and had Cafe Rio for dinner! We do hope to go on a date to celebrate, but probably after Valentines when we can find a babysitter! The next day Jared took us to the nicklecade and we had a blast again!
It was so much fun taking so much time just enjoying our time as a family this week and realizing there are a few things that are rather inexpensive we can do for fun while it is still cold!
I was going to say I can not believe that my little boy is 3 years old... but I think I can believe it. Seems like he has always been a part of my life. Joey is my special buddy! As most of you have met and witnessed my son, he is definitly a ball of energy and full of life. Sometimes I worry that many people mistake his enthusiasm as being naughty (which of course he is sometimes). I sometimes joke that it would be nice to have a boy that was a bit more mellow as sometimes I feel like I have given birth to the engergizer bunny! But really, I wouldn't trade my Joey anything. I love his enthusiasm for life and how he is always discovering figuring out his world around him. He loves learning. He is finally showing an interest in learning his 123's, ABC's and colors and loves asking about things. He is talking so much now! Although he as a lot to go to catch up to his peers in talking. When I was pregnant with him someone told me the main difference between boys and girls is that boys are born with sound effects! I had no idea what they meant by that... but holy cow Joey has some awesome sound effects! I was a little nervous when I was first pregnant with him about having a boy, cause even though I had a little brother and lots of older ones, I still didn't understand boys. I am sure glad that I had my little boy first as I now apprieciate everything that is boy!
Joey has become such a good big brother to Jeanie lately too! At home it is generally a lot of fighting and battling but when we are out on errands he is very concerned about her. The other day she kept wandering away from us and not coming back so Jared and I started to walk away telling her that we were leaving.... Joey wiggled out of Jared's arms and ran, "Jeanie Jeanie!!" and went and grabbed her around the neck and waist and started to drag her back to us. He was pretty scared that we would indeed leave her. Also the other day while I was locking our front door Jeanie was getting to close to the street..., Joey ran over and grabbed her again around the neck and waist and said, "stop Jeanie!! " then pointing to the road he explained, "you get hurt, cars!"
Jared and I used to joke that this new baby boy will be our mellow boy. I am starting to doubt that that will be the case. I do not remember either of the other kids moving around like this. This little boy is constantly moving! Seriously... when I was pregnant with Joey I would have to do kick counts constantly to make sure he was moving... with this one I never have a second that I think, "gee I have not felt something for a while..." With the other two Jared would have to hold his and to my tummy for a long time to feel the slightest kick. Now we can just be sitting side by side and Jared can feel hard kicks on his arm or side all the time. I haven't been able to get the kids to feel a kick yet. Wonder if they did if they would understand the concept any more. I show them the belly all the time and am always talking about how there is a baby in there. When they see me touching my belly they will say 'baby' but who knows how much they understand! I will be 30 weeks on sunday... so we are getting pretty down to it! Crazy to think in probably more or less then 2 months he will be here! I am starting to want to "nest" I think... going through the baby stuff gathering up all the burp rags ect. We do need to go buy a crib and although our car seat is still with in its expiration dates... it is pretty thrashed after going through two already and missing the umbrella hood so we will probably need to get a new one. It is nice that is pretty much all we need to get besides some baby socks and onsies maybe.
A lot of my friends have just had thier babies or are due any day now. I keep thinking I am just about there to and have to remind myself that I am not due for 10 more weeks. I have had had a couple friends that had/scheduled for a C-section. Starts making me worried that since my last two deliveries were so perfect that my luck will run out and I will have complications of some sort. Although I have no issues as of right now and I really don't anticipate any. But they are starting to work thier way into my already bizzare pregnancy dreams. Anyway this post ended up being a big huge rambling! Sorry about that!
