5 Months

No formal 5 months picture since we were at the beach...so here you go.

During this month, Joel has fallen in love with his feet, his jumpy seat, and rolling from his stomach to his back!! 

Orange Beach, 2014

Joel took his first trip to the beach and it was a wonderful success!  We ventured down to Orange Beach for a few days in July.  We knew that Joel loved the water, and we knew that he comes from a long line of beach loving fools - so we figured we would be in luck.  Sure enough, kid loved every single second of the trip.  Not to mention he was a doll the entire time.  We are so blessed - we have a wonderful, easy going baby.  4 hours in the truck - no problem.  Eating a bottle while in his car seat with me leaning from the front seat to give it to him - no problem.  Napping in his stroller on the beach - no problem.  Sleeping in a pack'n'play - no problem.  Eating on the beach...eating out for dinner...missing naps...seriously...no problem!

We managed to talk Angela and Dave and their crew into going with us.  Actually, it was more like, we decided one Saturday evening in the winter prior to Joel's arrival that we were going to the beach together.  They signed up knowing that we would be taking a baby.  You know that feeling of "I really hope this works because we are all going to be staying in the same condo for 5 nights together" - yeah - well - why did I even worry about Joel waking everyone up or me (since I was the first one up and the first one down every day).  It was perfect. 

Joel or Joe-l

I have recently discovered that an alternative pronunciation for J-O-E-L is Joe-L.  Yes, Joe-L.  Yes, like "the First Noel"...

We were out shopping one day and he was sporting this little shirt.

A girl working at the sweet children's store asked, "How do you say his name?  Joe-L?"  But it was even more like, "Joe - elle"  Y'all keeping a straight face was the most difficult thing I have done in a while.

Since this happened, I have been informed that there is a high school or college basketball player that has been all over ESPN for his abilities and his name is no other than Joel...pronounced Joe-L.  And I thought I named my child a very classic, old name.

Visits from Grandparents

I promise Andrew's parents, Grandma and Grumpy, came to visit us in June.  But we have NO pictures!  I'm so lazy with the camera...it's terrible!

My parents, CiCi and Mac, came out for the 4th of July to visit.  By the way, we finally have had company to our house on the 4th and we finally have someone that can confirm that we don't need to go anywhere to see a fireworks show.  Y'all we had beautiful shows in all directions - and not a single one was organized.

CiCi got the best laughs out of this little buddy when she started signing to him.  It was wonderful!

This was his first bath...he has grown so much!

4 months

 That smile.  He is so sweet.

 We find him like this all the time now.  He hates being on his stomach when he is awake, but loves to sleep on it.

 We also find these feet hanging out of the crib a lot!

 Reality...

Eating Cereal

Then we started rice cereal at 4 months.  He really didn't care for it much at all.  He is now taking it down like it is the best thing every.  But the first few bites were hilarious!  

We introduced carrots this weekend and he loved them!  This boy hasn't met a food he didn't like.

Rolling Over

At 3.5 months, Joel rolled from his back to his stomach while playing on his activity mat one evening.  You should have heard us cheering, ha!  Of course, he wouldn't do it while I was filming.