Memorial Day Weekend

The Millers invited us to spend part of our Memorial Day weekend with them at their ranch. While daddy and mommy were busy "ranching" (this term is used very loosely in our case) and catching up with our friends, Joey was busy meeting his new baby buddies!

Joey and Henry

Natalie and Joey (it's our fault she's crying - she was happy and content until we propped her in the chair to take this photo and Joey just doesn't know what's going on...)

Ian and Joey

G.I. Joey

Joey wore pants today for the first time in his life. Cousin Michael bought him a cool pair of camoflauge pants last weekend and we just couldn't resist trying them on.

I also discovered yesterday that we can do funny things with Joey's hair. Check out this fierce mohawk!

Smile for the camera!

Joey is just shy of 6 weeks old and this weekend we were rewarded with glimpses of his first real smiles! Of course we already think he is adorable, but seeing him smile at us really makes the poopy diapers and sleepless nights all worthwhile. And he's even got dimples like his dad.

We also had some more visitors this weekend...

Cousin Michael who lives in L.A. was in town this weekend for a wedding. He met Joey on Friday and was a little tentative holding him. But as you can see in the second picture, he was a pro by the next day and Joey couldn't take his eyes off him!

Our friend Greg also was in town this weekend and stopped by to see Joey as well. Here he is with Joey and Grandma...

Earlier this week we wanted to test Joey's neck strength to see if tummy time is having any effect. We put him in his little Bebe Pod seat and he looked pretty comfortable - kind of like a little king on his throne!

Mother's Day Weekend

We celebrated Mother's Day all weekend long. On Saturday, we celebrated with Grandma - she was craving baby back ribs so we piled into the car and took Joey for his first trip to County Line. Although Joey couldn't eat any of the delicious barbecue, we did manage to squeeze in a feeding in between bites.

On Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day with the Tschoepes in San Antonio:

Mima gets her turn at a feeding...

Aunt Jeanne and Aunt Janet meet up with Joey again (Joey met Aunt Jeanne for the first time!)

Joey goes for a stylish new look in cousin Daniel's hat...

Joey behaving like an angel while Da and Oma look on...

And here's Joey sleeping peacefully so that Mommy can enjoy her Mother's Day meal. By the way, can you believe how big he's gotten???

Playtime!

Joey and I were supposed to go observe a class at Gymboree Play 'n Music this morning, but partly due to my laziness and partly due to the gloomy weather, we didn't make it. Instead, we had our own playtime at home! In the last couple of days, Joey has really started to notice the hanging toys on his activity mat and has also captivated himself by staring into the mirror.

Tummy time is also getting better - he can go at least one minute without crying. After that, though, all bets are off. Check out how strong his neck and arms are getting!

Weekend Update

This weekend we decided that it was finally time to get down and dirty with Joey's birth announcements. We dressed up Joey in his "Year of the Pig" onesie and set him up for his first photo shoot. Since neither Brian nor I are professional photographers and since Joey's not really too keen on posing for photos at his age, we snapped a lot of photos before we got this one that we were happy with. You can click here to see the rest of the photos.

On Sunday, our friends Sam and Ali came by the house to meet Joey. They brought along their two boys, Ethan (3 years old) and Truman (7 months old). It had been a long time since we'd visited with them - Ethan has grown so much since we last saw him and it was also our first time meeting Truman!

And finally, what is a weekend at our house without some lounging? Grandma and I were tired of all of the pictures showing Brian lounging on the couch with Joey, so we got in on the action too.

Friday Night Feeding

After one of many Friday night feedings for Joey, he and his daddy admired each other for a few minutes. In case anyone is wondering, Brian does wear more than just white t-shirts all the time. It's just that feedings can get so messy that he chooses to wear as little as possible (and still be decent for the camera).

Joey is always very sleepy after being burped and some of his most adorable facial expressions happen as he's dozing off (please excuse the weird camera angle - I'm still trying to get used to this whole camcorder concept)...

Of course as soon as we tried to put him down on his bouncer seat, he became wide awake...

After getting so much milk trapped in all the little nooks and crannies under his chin and neck, it was time for yet another bath. Tonight after the bath we wrapped him up in his hooded Longhorn towel. Joey's really beginning to bleed burnt orange!

Speaking of baths, Brian and I were so nervous about giving Joey his first tub bath that we forgot to take pictures of the special occasion. But Joey's Mima was back in town this past week and took some pictures of Joey in the tub - first bath, fourth bath...who can tell the difference anyways? I'll get those pics posted to the blog as soon as Mima has time to send them to us!

Joey Meets More Friends

Our friends Angelique and Kaitlyn drove in from their homestead in Lockhart for their Sunday riding lessons (how cool!) and stopped by beforehand to meet Joey for the first time. Kaitlyn was a little shy at first about holding Joey - she thought he was a little too tiny - but it definitely looks like she got the hang of it by the end of their visit!