Joe is 9 Months!

Joe had his 9 month checkup yesterday so I thought I'd post the stats. He weighed 22 1/2 lbs (90th percentile), he was 30 1/2 inches long (98th percentile), and his head was 18 1/2 inches around (90th percentile). He is meeting all his milestones and exceeding a couple as well. He is crawling like a madman, pulling up on everything he can and starting to cruise very cautiously. He is babbling some consonants (bababa, dadada, gheegheeghee, ttttttttt,), he clicks his tongue, squeals, laughs, and changes his tone to match ours. He has 6 teeth, he drinks through a straw, feeds himself a bottle (in the car or in his highchair), eats many foods (no finger foods yet - taking that very slow), and can stick out his tongue and smack his lips together. His biggest accomplishment is that he points at EVERYTHING! He constantly has his right index finger extended and points at everyone and everything all day. I have nicknamed him "permapoint". According to our pediatrician this is a 1 year milestone. Go Joe! The picture below shows his first facial bruise under his right eye. He lost his balance in the kitchen the other day and fell face first on the tile. This is a sort of long video of Joe pulling up, cruising, playing and talking a little. It's so long because I kept trying to capture what he was doing when I wasn't filming him. He stopped whatever he had been doing every time I turned on the camera. Typical!

Jack Turns 3!

The day started out with Jack going to school. He and Daddy had to match today! This is Jack's beloved cousin Molly and he being silly. Jack adores Molly! Sorry for the fuzzy picts - my new camera is not a "good buy".

The gluten free, dairy free and egg free chocolate cake with vanilla icing I made for Jack. It actually wasn't bad and he did eat some WILLINGLY! :)

Jack feeding Mommy some icing

Mommy feeding Jack some icing

Joe was fascinated with the boom box Jack got from Grammy. Joe kept shaking his legs like Elvis - it was hilarious!

"Pooped and Partied Out" Jack chillin' on the couch after everyone left.

I did not get that many great photos due to my awful new camera. I did get lots of good video though. Jack had a really good time at his party which he really hasn't had the last 2 years. He was SO happy when all his guests (very small gathering of a few family members) showed up (especially his cousins), he ran around playing, dancing, jabbering, he opened some presents on his own, he tried really hard to blow out his candle and almost did it, and he ate cake. He was a good little host and we were very proud of him.

Random Cuteness

So, I think I explained in an earlier post how BEHIND and CRAZY we are around here lately. This is a random collection of some very cute picts I took right before XMAS. I had to share even though they are out of order and as I said, random. Enjoy!

All Boy!

Last Friday while at some friend's of ours new home, Jack tripped and fell on his chin. His teeth bit threw and just below his lip was hanging open and bleeding like I've never seen before. We took him to Cook Children's Hospital nearby in Ft. Worth and he had to get 8 stitches on the outside and 3 on the inside - 11 total. It was so sad b/c they had to wrap him up in a straight jacket device to keep him still, 3 people had to hold him down and they had this bright light glaring in his eyes. Once stitched up he did remarkably well. Now, a week later, they are out and there is barely a scar. It sure was traumatic though and nothing we'd like to repeat anytime soon. Yesterday, a week after the stitches incident, I took Joe to the doctor's office for their Saturday clinic and found out Joe has a mild case of RSV. He threw up every bottle yesterday which was completely unrelated to the RSV. Poor guy seems to have a double whammy of viruses. To top it off, Jack woke up at 2am this morning throwing up. One bed sheet, 3 p.j. changes, countless vomiting episodes, and several hours later, we all finally got sleep around 4:30am. Fun times at the Robbins' house this MLK weekend!

Is there nothing he can't do?

Joe can already drink out of a straw! Jack could not do this until age 2 or after. I gave Joe a cup full of water with a straw the other day just to see what he would do and he started sucking on it like an old pro.

I don't want to grow up

I came in the kitchen the other day to find Jack sitting in Joe's baby carrier seat. It was too funny, he was just hanging out lounging.

Texas XMAS 2007

This XMAS actually came before Indiana but we've just downloaded all our pictures. Things have been crazy! This was a picture session I tried to do of Jack and Joe in their matching XMAS p.j.'s - it didn't really go well as most picture sessions with the two of them don't these days. I think you all understand.

My family at our mock XMAS EVE dinner (this was the weekend before XMAS) Vaughan, Brandon, Omar, Brent, Mom, Joe and Jack

All the same folks minus Brent and plus me!

Grandpap helping Joe to a sip of water

Me, Jack, Brent and Joe

Uncle Brandon helping Jack open a present

Uncle Brandon, Joe, Jack and Uncle Omar playing airplane

Joe checkin' out all the loot

Mommy and Jack on his new bouncy ball

Mock XMAS DAY - Jack, Me, Joe and Brent

Uncle Brandon, Uncle Omar, Jack, Me, Joe and Brent

We had so much fun this XMAS and got to spend good, long QT time with my family and then Brent's in Indiana. We spent the whole weekend with my family and we created many long lasting memories. This will be the last XMAS in this house - Grammy and Grandpap are in the process of building their new home (down the street!) and will be moved in by the next XMAS.

Christmas in Indiana 2007

Robbins Family Home - side view We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. We went to Greensburg, Indiana (Brent's hometown) and once again his parents managed to pull off an unbelievably special time for all of the family to be together. This was the first year in a long time where all of Brent's 6 siblings were able to be home. The house was full with all us married folk and our little ones. It was crowded but so fun for all of us. Jack and Joe got to hang out with their cousins Molly, Hudson, Hogan, and Nate on a daily basis - SO FUN! Brent's brother Bryan and his wife Jenny are expecting the 7th Robbins Family Grandchild on April 18th (Joe's original due date!). They are having a girl which everyone is so excited about since poor Molly has been the only girl for the last 6 years. Greg and Sarah got to come from Portland with precious Nate who turned 1 on 12-30-07. We celebrated an early Bday for him while they were in Indiana. We stayed 10 days and could not have had more fun if we tried. We got absolutley zero snow which was the one and only disappointment. We can't wait for next year already!"Hiking" - Jack, Mommy, Joe, Daddy, Auntie Sarah with Nate on her back and Uncle Greg

Robbins Family Home - back view

Jack on the slide in the backyard

Robbins Family Home - front porch

All the Grandkids in their Colt's Jerseys - Joe(8mo), Hudson(4), Nate(1), Molly(6), Jack(3) and Hogan(2)

Joe in his XMAS p.j.'s

"Christams Carolers" LOL! (Brent and his sister Samantha came caroling on XMAS EVE)

Molly helping feed Joe

"The Big House" - Brent's Grandparent's house on the farm - Christmas Eve 2007

All the girls (minus Sarah and Robbin) - Auntie J.J., Jenny Beth, Me, Sally (Brent's mom), Jenny Anne, Molly, Samantha & Jenny Rebecca (expecting baby Robbins in April '08) - Christmas EVE 2007

Daddy and Jack carousing with the cows

Huddy (the pig) and Jack (the cow) playing farm animals

Run Through the Woods 2007 - Travis won (Bryan's friend who is a firefighter in Utah -far right), Brent came in 2nd and Bryan finished last (granted he was padded with a "sympathy" baby in honor of his wife and unborn child) - Molly greeted the runners at the finish line

The kids trying to "dance" at the Children's Museum in nearby Colombus, IN

Joe On The Move!

Joe has been on the verge of crawling for a couple of months now. He has been rocking on all fours but being very cautious and staying put. 2 days ago he all of a sudden started moving forward. Yahoo! Yesterday he literally was all over the house and into EVERYTHING! This is a short video of him showing off his new moves just tonight. Enjoy!