A Lot of Catching Up to Do....

Oh my... I can't believe it is November already!!! Where did October go? Little Man is sleeping at the moment and I would like to join him but before I do I thought it would be wise to give you all some updates so I don't get further behind.
So I think Ryan left off sometime in September, like the first week. So much has happened since then it is difficult to know where to begin. So here are or major events in chronological order...
On September 15th Joaqo started attending day care part time as I took a part time job. It was a pretty rocky first 2 weeks while he (and Mommy) adjusted, but now he is doing fine with it. Fortunately, Ryan stepped in and took on the job of taking him in the mornings. If I had to do it I would probably be unemployed now back to my old routine of staying home with the B. There have been some frustrations to get past, (Most recently, Joaqo is now getting over his 2nd ear infection since starting day care . He does NOT like being sick - ai yi yi.) But all in all I think it has been a good thing for our family. Joaqo has friends now. It is cute to see him interact with them. He waves good bye when I pick him up and pats his friends on the back. One day when I picked him up he was sitting in his tray chair (like a high chair but really low to the ground) eating some lunch and his little friend, Raelyn was standing next to him leaning on his tray like they were having a conversation - very cute!! (Oh yeah - he is quite the ladies' man - seriously. Everywhere we go he finds a chick - ugly or pretty (he's not very discriminating right now) and flirts with her. He'll wave, smile and watch where she's going. It's funny because I have yet to see him do this with a guy.)
About 2 weeks after Joaqo started day care he had his first ear and eye infection - poor little guy. He was a trooper though and took his medicine quite willingly. He was feeling better after a day or so right in time for Grandma and Grandpa Hintz's visit and his 1st birthday. We all had a great time. The first night Grandma and Grandpa Hintz got into town we went and had some Bar-b-que and picked up a couple of presents for the Little Man at Babies R Us. The next day was his birthday party. We rented a ramada at Udall Park (It's a very nice park where Ryan, Little Man and I go a lot.) Grandma and Grandpa Kelley came along with our friends Mike, Maggie, Jason, Lorena, Ben and his son, Jayden. Jayden is about 8 months older than Joaqo. The Little Man was in awe of Jayden's advanced ability to walk and run and tried to catch up with him - it was really cute. Oh and of course, Joaqo could be found patting Jayden on the back throughout the day. Cake time was fun. At first I think Joaqo was trying to not make too much of a mess with his piece of cake (although he was delighted to have his own piece and spoon to eat it with.) But then Mike introduced him to the wonderful possibilities that could be had when one through caution to the wind regarding the mess thing. In no time Joaqo had that cake all over his face and was having a grand time. Presents were fun, although I don't think Joaqo quite understood about unwrapping - maybe next year. He got a basketball hoop and balls, a ball popper, a tool bag (I call it his "man purse") with tools, a wooden duck with wheels he can push, some wooden blocks he likes to knock down, some very cute outfits (One was perfect timing as we then had a fleece hoodie he could wear bc it was getting cold - thanks Kathy and Linda :-)) But the time the party started dwindling down Little Man was a little cranky as he was pretty tired from all the excitement from the day. It was a wonderful day.
For the rest of the week we got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Hintz. Sunday we went to In-N-Out Burger. Little Man LOVES french fries. Then on Monday Grandma and Grandpa Hintz got to hang out with Joaqo all morning bc I had to work and his day care was closed. After I got home, Ryan came home a little early and we all went to the mall. On Tuesday Grandma Hintz made some wonderful stuffed pepper soup (It is so good - I am making my 2nd batch this weekend.) Little Man loves it. After I came home from work we went to the park to feed the ducks. Joaqo really enjoyed doing that. We were swarmed by hungry ducks. After about 20 minutes or so of feeding them these 3 ENORMOUS geese (I swear, I have never seen geese like these>) came over to see what was going on. They didn't want any of our bread - they seemed more like police or mob enforcers. They put me on edge a little (They were so big - they were as tall as my waist.) so we quickly left that area. After strolling around the park a while we found a train we could ride. So Grandma Hintz, Joaqo and I hopped on board and rode around the park a bit. Afterwards we pushed Joaqo on the swings - he really likes that.
Wednesday was his official birthday. He got more presents - Boompa sent him a bi-lingual musical table - he really likes that. At first he loved climbing on the box. Auntie J sent him a couple of Richard Scarry books. And Jessy, Carly, Dr. Tanel and Jim sent him a couple of really cool books. One has these raised fish that he can count and the other had lots of different textures he likes to feel. In the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Kelley came over and we all went to the park again to feed the ducks and look for the mafioso geese. The ducks weren't as hungry and the geese kept their distance on the other side of the pond, but it was a beautiful day. After that we went to Pinnacle Peak. It's this remodel of an old western town with a pretty good steak house. So we walked around for a bit. Little Man chased after this kitty and finally got to pet it, but unfortunately it was not as friendly or tolerant as our kitty, Thor. Then we had dinner. After some wonderful steaks, Little Man got some ice cream with some chocolate syrup complete with a candle and everyone in the restaurant sang to him. He really liked that. Then we walked around the town a little more, visited some shops and took a train ride. By that time all of the adults were ready for some custard so we hopped into our cars and drove to the custard shop. Unfortunately, Little Man fell asleep in the car and was so tired he didn't even wake up when we were eating our custard. It was a wonderful birthday for him - thanks to everyone for making it a success :-)
Thursday we went to the mall again to return some footie jammies that were too small for the B and before we knew it Friday was upon us meaning Grandma and Grandpa Hintz were headed back to Wisconsin. So Friday morning we all got up REALLY early to meet them for breakfast at Millie's Pancake Haus. Of course, Joaqo flirted with our waitress the entire time. Then we said good-bye until Christmas.
I took Joaqo back to the doctor the following Monday as he was sneezing and coughing all weekend - he was diagnosed w a virus and actually was feeling better in a few days. So things went back to normal. for a bit. When Ryan comes home at night we eat dinner and then go to the park. Little Man likes that. We push him around in his stroller for a bit and then take him out so he can run around and play with his ball - he really likes that. Last Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Kelley took him to the park so Ryan and I could have a date night. We had a wonderful dinner and saw the movie, Wall-E. (Awesome movie :-)) Unfortunately Joaqo wasn't feeling well AGAIN that weekend. I took him back to the doctor on on Tuesday and his was diagnosed with yet another ear infection. This one seems to be the worst of all his illnesses. He had such a high fever one night this week Ryan and I were up with him freaking out so we put a cold, wet towel on him to try to cool him off. He stopped having fevers a couple of days ago, but is still not quite himself - poor Little Man. Hopefully he will feel better by Monday.
OK, so this post is a little lengthy ;-) I think I should stop here so I can start uploading all his pics. Hope everyone has a nice weekend :-)