Wordless Wednesday (The T21 Traveling Afghan)

Look what Joey got from Joaquin yesterday...

Yes it's the official T21 Traveling Afghan!

Joey's Six Month Portraits

We had Joey's six month portraits taken this past Saturday. They were supposed to be done a week ago but he has been scooting so much in his crib at night that he gave himself a rug burn on his nose... so we would put them off for a week.

And of course we had to have some taken with no clothes on....Sorry Joey!

And our first family portraits!

Unfortunately we could not get him to smile while looking at the camera...this last one was as close as we got... but I think they came out pretty cute anyway.

Not a Fan of Carrots?

Joey has been sampling foods over the last few weeks. The very first time we tried it we gave him some organic baby oatmeal. He cried.

Over the next few weeks we tried sweet potatoes, peas and squash. Those went over all right.

He even got used to the oatmeal.

And then we tried carrots. Well... see for yourself how that went.

I'm not sure...but I don't think he is a fan. The second time we tried the carrots he just cried. Oh well... we'll have to try again in a few weeks.

Wordless Wednesday (trying out sitting)

Joey's 6 month birthday in San Diego

Joey was six months old this past Saturday. I cannot believe my baby is six months old already. Where does time go!

We went to San Diego for his six month birthday and to celebrate my 33rd birthday (a few weeks early) with my family. My parents and sister Cara live in San Diego and my little sister flew in from Salt Lake City.



As usual Joey was an angel. He did not fuss on either the flight there or on the returning flight. We are so blessed that Joey travels well. He does however get a little heavy after carrying him around the airport for a few hours. We did not bring a stroller so we had no where to put him down. But it was a great trip so it was worth it.

On Friday we took Joey to the beach for the first time. It was a beautiful day!

His grandma introduced him to all the wonderful things at the beach. The sand...

The water...

Putting your feet in the wet sand...

Joey was intrigued. It was so cute how he lifted his little feet and played around in the water.

I love this photo of him squishing the water and sand with his little toes.

He was wiped out from all that fun in the water! So he took a little nap under the umbrella.

It stinks living so far away from my family. We only see each other about every other month so it is a real treat getting to watch Joey bond with my parents, sisters and his cousins Walker and Ellie.

Here are some more photos of the weekend...

Joey and pa pa spending some quality time in his Pa Pa's favorite chair. Pa Pa had him cracking up by singing him the Beatles.

Grandma feeding Joey some peas for the first time.

Joey and his adorable little cousin Ellie who is 2.

Grandma took Joey for a ride in a little push toy car.

He really liked it. We are going to have to get one of these!

He got really into it. Look at him holding the steering wheel.

We were sorry to leave on Monday. Joey loved seeing his Grandma and Pa Pa

Look at him laughing!

Happy Six Month Birthday Joey! We love you more than we ever could have imagined and I am treasuring watching you grow up.

Wordless Wednesday (Joey Loves Bathtime)

NDSC Conference

We attended the NDSC conference this past weekend. There were so many great workshops. I especially enjoyed the moms sharing session that was led by Kathryn Soper, the editor of Gifts. There were about 40 moms of babies under two at this session. We also attended various workshops on early communication, speech development and advances in research on Ds. I was pretty appalled to learn that so little money is actually spend on Ds research (The figure we were given was that only approximately $40 is spent per person with Ds compared with an approximate $30,000 spent on research per perspn with Cystic Fibrosis). Despite that, the scientific community appears to be making some progress with some really promising research.
We walked away from this conference feeling a little more educated and a little overwhelmed with all of the information. However, it was wonderful to see so many high functioning adults with Ds and to meet so many other wonderful families of children with Ds. We especially enjoyed meeting several of the other Ds Bloggers. (Thank you Monica for organizing a lunch and providing us with Id badges so we could find each other) Overall it was a great experience. Here are some of the pictures we took this weekend.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson delivered the welcoming address to all of the conference participants.

Joaquin gave Joey a big kiss during Mayor Johnson's address.

Jen, Hector and Joaquin at the reception after the opening address.

Joey was wiped out by the end of the day on Friday!

Saturday morning we started all over again. Here Joey and I are with Catherine and Max. We knew them, at least felt like we did, from Catherine's blog. Max is four days older than Joey. Turns out Catherine is also from my home town of Escondido, California. We attended the same middle school and high school and our parents live anout two miles away from each other off of the same street! How strange is that. We hope to see Jerry, Catherine and Max again sometime.

Jen and Joey at the banquet we attended on Saturday night.

The banquet was a little hectic and quite crowded, but once we were able to find a table we had a good time. Here Tony, Joey and I are with Jen, Hector and Joaquin.

Joaquin licking, I mean kissing, his buddy Joey. Sooooo Cute.

Here Joey is playing with a 16 year-old girl we met at the banquet. Before the banquet several adults with Ds came up to him and were plating with him. He became so animated with them, laughing and blowing raspberries. It was so very cute.

Joey on Sunday morning, enjoying the workshop we attended by Dr. Libby Kumin on early communication skills for children with Ds.

Before everyone left on Sunday we got together with Brennan, Joaquin, John Michael for a quick photo of the babies.

It was very difficult to keep them together, and they soon began to escape.

And then one of the moms and babies.

We cannot wait for the conference again next year in Orlando. We figure if we start saving now then maybe we can afford to go!