Let it Snow!

Joy has always been horrible with drinking formula.  We still measure how much she drinks each day and try to supplement her with water in between meals.  But one thing is constant...her love for ice.  So when we received a dumping of snow a few days ago, we decided to let Joy play with snow instead of taking her outside.  Here are some photos of her playing and eating snow:

 

Bathtime is one of my favorite things to do with Joy.  She loves playing with water and her toys.  It is only a matter of time that she'll be using the big tub so I'm trying to savor these moments as long as I can...

Moving on up!

Joy is on the move!  Yes, that's right.

Church.  Last Sunday, we promoted Joy to the Tiny Tigers class at Ambassador Bible Church.  She had a hard adjusting as she cried throughout the class.  She didn't want to participate during music time and looked very distraught so the teachers paged me to console her.  During snack time, Joy sat on my lap crying while the other kids ate their goldfish.  The turning point occured when they took out the coloring sheets and crayons and Joy immediately stood up.  With all the kids coloring, she wanted to participate too.  Then the teachers brought out the books and puzzles and suddenly Joy was reaching over to grab stuff.  I took a few steps back and let her play.  It was beautiful to see her interacting with other kids. 

 

Joy playing with puzzles and books

Music Class.  As you probably already know, Joy LOVES music.  Whenever we drive somewhere, she gets upset when we don't play pandora music.  She smiles, dances, shakes her butt, etc.  So this week, we took Joy to a music class (Music for Tots) in North Potomac.  Selena and I were a little concerned because the class falls dead smack during her nap time but we wanted to give it a try.  She also has a friend (yes, he happens to be a boy) who also attends the class.  Joy had a blast so we are going to sign her up for more music classes.  I hope one day she'll learn piano, violin, etc.  =D

Jackson and Joy

Snowflake, snowflake, little snowflake...

Selena and Joy

Discharged from Physical Therapy!  Joy has made great strides with her physical development.  She now walks around the house (very little crawling) and often grabs our hand and leads us from place to place.  She also crawls up the stairs and is starting to figure out how to crawl down the stairs.  This week, she was discharged from physical therapy (hurray!) but the county will start providing services to help Joy with her speech and language development. Very thankful for all the assistance from Randi, her PT.

Here is Joy having fun climbing the stairs:

Bad Joy!  And just so you don't think Joy is always a perfect child, she is not.  She has been throwing food on the floor during meals along with some tantrums lately. Enjoy the tantrum!

Finally, here are some cool pictures of me and Joy.  Enjoy!

Reading promotes imagination

Bedtime fun

Long Awaited Update

It has been a whirlwind for us as we have been working with our doctors to slowly get Joy off her medications (her endoscopy results were negative!  Praise God!).  This is her first week without Prevacid and she's been doing pretty well aside from a cold/low grade fever. She doesn't always eat/drink a lot so we feed her fruits/cereal while she plays and she really likes it. We don't worry as much because we know she won't starve herself.  We're just praying that baby #2 won't have the same feeding problems as Joy. 

Overall, Joy has been a fun girl to be around these days.  She communicates well with us (verbal and pointing) and seems to be having lots of fun rummaging through our cabinets, bins, etc.  Enjoy the pictures and videos below, which gives a glimpse into our lives.

Recent Pics

Joy enjoying her spaghetti

Playful Joy

Where did Joy go???

Waiting in line to see Santa

Caroline and Joy always have fun together

Shopping with Dada

She already knows how to turn on the TV!  GASP!

Kyler showing Joy a new toy

Wishing she was at the beach

Celebrating Zachery's 1st Birthday Party

Milestones

1.  Walking finally!  After weeks of walking with our help, our little girl finally decided to walk on her own today.  We are very proud of her!  Good thing we have those gates to keep her confined.  Now let the chasing begin!

 

 

2.  Feeding Baby.  We've also been training Joy to take care of her little brother, who is scheduled to arrive in a month. So far she has learned how to "feed baby" but only as long as she gets some too  =D

3.  Anyone looking to hire a cleaner?  Joy loves to clean/wipe stuff, including her own mess. Perhaps I should teach her how to vacuum?  LOL

Merry Christmas!

I know it's been a while since I last updated but things here have been busy!  I'll be sure to write a more detailed entry later but for now, Merry Christmas from Selena, Joy, me and soon to be baby boy!

Sickly Joy

Joy has been under the weather for the past 2 weeks.  She's been coughing up a lung and almost every other night she wakes up around 3am coughing and choking.  So also hasn't been drinking/eating as well due to her illness.  So how do we keep her hydrated?  Ice chips!

Also, Joy's endoscopy is scheduled for Monday, November 25 at 7 am at Children's Hospital in DC.  We are thankful that it's early in the morning so that Joy won't be starving too much but it also means we have to arrive at the hospital at 5am.  As parents, we have to do what's best for Joy and our hope and prayer is that the doctors find nothing else wrong and that Joy will handle the anesthesia better than last time.  Thanks in advance for all your prayers!

Smiles, Laughter, and Tongue Wagging??

God has blessed us with a child who continually makes us smile and laugh, even after a long and exhausting day at work, sleepless nights while pregnant (for Selena), and dealing with other crazy drama in our lives.  I hope these pictures and videos can make you smile and laugh as well!

Joy dancing to music

 

Ruff Ruff?

Wassup!!!

If you don't get it, watch this commercial.

Playtime with Daddy

 

Here is Joy using chopsticks for the first time!  She would make Mr. Miyagi very proud.

"Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything" 

 

This is also grandma's last week here with us.  She returns home on Saturday and all of us, especially Joy, will miss her! Thankfully she will be returning in January to help us when baby #2 arrives.

Grandma and Joy

Joy looking out the window for Mommy to come home

Joy crawling around for her stuffed animals

And for those who are interested to know, Joy's next endoscopy is scheduled for Nov 25 at DC Children's Hospital. The main thing we are looking at is whether Joy has eosinophilic esophagitis, which could explain why she is a bad eater these days.  We also need to do some blood work to confirm results from her latest allergy testing.    

Joy tested positive for tomatoes (bottom) and avocado (middle left).   She was negative for soy.