The Joy of Joe: Family of Four

Today I am on fumes. My body is still 13 hours off and I'm working on very little sleep. Joe, on the other hand, was raring to go after his marathon day of sleeping. We were up from about 11:30 pm until 2:00 am, playing downstairs and trying not to wake up the rest of the house. He is in good spirits and chit-chatting away. Thankfully, he plays very well by himself and is having no problems taking a bottle or being around us.

Where am I and who are these people?

Sitting in what has become one of his favorite "toys"

All smiles with Papa

Finally he falls asleep and I'm able to get him into his crib - and enjoy about two hours of sleep before it starts up again. Looks like Sir Sleeps-a-lot put on a good show for me in the plane yesterday! :-)

We head back downstairs for more play time and another attempted diaper change. This boy does NOT like to get changed. I hope he doesn't wake up the neighbors with his wailing. Holy cow, the boy has pipes. Then, the waterworks are turned off, the charm is turned on and he is smiling and happy again. It's a good thing he is so cute because I. Am. Tired. Around 5:30, I hear Liv calling from upstairs, "Hey Mama, what are you doing there with baby Joe?" I let her know that we're just hanging out and playing, that hopefully he'll be going to bed soon since he had been up most of the night. She comes downstairs, tears welling up in her eyes afraid she is going to miss an opportunity to play with her little brother. She starts crying, he starts crying - let the fun begin.

Pororo to the rescue!! Pororo is a Korean cartoon about a penguin and his friends. Joe becomes transfixed when it is on and Liv is really enjoying watching it as well. My laptop was on the couch and Joe and Liv were both sitting on my lap. It was an incredibly sweet moment when the two of them started holding hands as they were watching it. I wish I was able to capture that moment on film - but am thankful to have the memory; however I'm sure this is one that will never fade.

We gave Olivia the option to stay home from school today since it was Joe's first day home. We reminded her, however, that Thursdays are an incredibly fun day at school since she has two special classes - art and computers - and that Joe would probably want to sleep a lot since he was up so much last night. She ultimately decided to go to school and Brian got her ready to go and dropped her off at school. She was very excited to tell everyone how cute her little brother was, even though he doesn't seem to sleep much.

All things considered, it was a very good day today. He wasn't too cranky or unsettled and we really enjoyed his sweet personality and the smiles and giggles that break through occasionally. So far, we have learned that he doesn't like doggie kisses, his crib (isn't used to it and rolls around so much he keeps bonking himself on the sides (but is ok for an hour or two if we sneak him in there while he is asleep), having his diaper changed OR getting his shirt changed BUT he is a fan of cheerios. Yay!