Because there was no other space for our second Christmas tree, guess what lucky boy got his own Christmas tree in his room. Although we didn't have it on too frequently, he loved the lights.
Before going to Phoenix, we decided to have our own Christmas celebration for Joseph. This will probably be the most quiet and calm he'll ever be before opening his presents.
With a little bit of encouragement and help, Joseph began unwrapping his presents. Although completely missing the idea that there was something awaiting him, he unwrapped his present to be able to try and eat the wrapping paper.
What a spoiled, lucky, and loved little boy.
Here's Joseph with one of his favorite gifts and working on one of his newest tricks- standing up... with a little support from someone or something nearby.
So, one of the Brems family traditions is to go driving and looking at the Christmas lights around the neighborhood. Here we are getting ready to go out.
Joseph with Auntie Jenna.
So, here's our ride to go check out Christmas lights.
Here's some of the houses that we stopped by; very nicely done.
Here's a picture of everyone.
Unfortunately, Joseph wasn't looking at the camera for the picture. Here's the reason why- it didn't take too long for Joseph to find the lights and start playing with them.
The next morning, we woke up and Joseph got to work at unwrapping some presents. Again, Joseph's main interest was trying to eat the wrapping paper. Unfortunately, we didn't keep everything out of his mouth as his diaper later confirmed to us.
All in all, it was an amazingly fun Christmas and we want to thank everyone, especially the grandparents, for making it such a special first Christmas for Joseph.
So, here's some background on the next two pictures. We've fast forwarded a week and we are back in Tucson. Joseph had his six month appointment with the doctor on New Year's Eve and got a total of four shots, two in each leg. While Joseph takes shots like a champ and finishes crying by the time we leave the doctor's office, he always gets a fever and isn't himself for at least a week. So, we knew ahead of time that New Year's wasn't going to be a fun one for us this year. By Saturday evening, Joseph had a low grade fever, but was controlled well, and was sleeping a lot more than usual. Early Sunday morning, Joseph starts crying, having a difficult time being consoled, and his temperature is starting to creep upwards again. So, we get him some tylenol and Jodie sets out a blanket on the living room floor and lays down with him. He cuddles up with her and finally starts to go back to sleep at about 8 am. As he is starting to fall asleep, he scratches Jodie's eye in a jerk movement. While normally it wouldn't be too bad, Jodie had LASIK done just over a week before and her eyes were still healing (hence her wearing sunglasses in so many of the previous pictures).
Within a few minutes everything had fallen apart on me- Jodie is in an extreme amount of pain and Joseph is crying uncontrollably again. In putting out the fires, we ended up using 8 different medications; 7 of which, luckily, were for Jodie. Also, very lucky for us, between my dad and my previous two jobs, I had samples of practically everything we needed. Here's a picture of everything we ended up using ringin' in the New Year.
My two patients recovering- all turned out much better by the end of the day and both were back to normal within a few days.
To wrap things up, here's a few pictures to catch everyone up on our 6 month old and some of his favorites.
One of his favorite activities is bath time. He can be fussy and grumpy to no end, but once he gets in the water, all his troubles seem to melt away. Looks pretty relaxed, right?
He has also started to become much more interested in books. For now, his main interest lies usually in trying to taste the pages. However, he has a particular book, "Dotty and Friends," which is one of his favorite "toys" and keep him occupied for hours upon end.
While sitting up has been high on his list now, he is becoming much more proficient and generally will sit up unsupported. However, this quickly ends once he becomes interested in a toy that is just out of reach and he ends up rolling towards it.
Which leads us to his next favorite- being mobile and rolling around on the floor. While he desperately wants to crawl, he has become very proficient at getting where he wants to go by rolling and shuffling; he even followed me back and forth across the living room floor several times.
An unexpected favorite is tags. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but many times he is much more interested in the big tag that comes on so many children's items than the actual item itself. For example, in this picture, he pulled his jumper closer to him with his left hand so that he could reach around and grab the tag on the other side.
Another unexpected favorite is Costco water bottles. When given a choice among many of his toys, he tends to be most interested in the water bottle.
Another favorite is people. While the "stranger danger" phase is starting to set in slowly and we'll see how long this favorite lasts, he still very much enjoys interacting with and smiling at those around him. This little boy was lucky enough to have Grandma come and visit for a little bit yesterday and he definitely hammed it up for the camera.
In conclusion, here is our precious 6 month old...
Cute pictures! Glad Jodie and Joseph are doing better!
ReplyDelete