joaquin-delonte

Christmas Time

2011-01-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

Helping Daddy open a gift

Helping Papa open a gift

Helping Uncle Jon open a gift

Playing in the peanuts

After he opened his Cars sleeping bag he had to get every toy opened to put on it.

Helping Papa open a gift

Playing with his new floor map

Checking out his new slide, and spying on 'Amma :)

Chris, Joaquin and me at Uncle Anthony's

Playing with his new guitar

A modification made to the slide by Joaquin, tunnel slide. He also loves to wear his sunglasses now, but only upsidedown.

At the bottom of his "tunnel slide"

2011-01-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

Christmas Program

2010-12-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

Joaquin was in his first Christmas program at Daycare this year. The first video is his class doing their "song" Joaquin walked in and immediately sat down. I think he was too used to children's moments in church. The second video is his class dressed up as the nativity scene. Joaquin is a king dressed in the red robe.

Playtime

2010-11-09T03:32:00.000-08:00

Some photos of Joaquin playing with Daddy. Or what I like to call "Attack of the Joaquin" :)

Halloween and "School" Pics

2010-11-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Some pics from Halloween night along with Joaquin's "School" pics from this year.

Dressed as Elmo for the party at daycare

Our cute little dinosaur

View of the back

At first Joaquin didn't want to wear the "head" so Uncle Jon wore it instead and Joaquin tried out the Varejao wig while Chris sports the Ben Wallace wig. Quite a group ;)

The Elmo jack-o-lantern I made for Joaquin

Skull jack-o-lantern Chris made

Joaquin with all the pumpkins

Trick-or-treating

Dino on a sugar high.

"School" pics

our favorit pic

Joaquin's Class

Pumpkins

2010-10-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Joaquin sitting on the really big pumpkins. Once he started he just kept going from pumpkin to pumpkin posing.

Joaquin "helping" Papa lift the pumpkin. We asked him to help and instead of putting his hands on the pumpkin he put his hands on Papa's arms to help lift.

sick day

2010-09-21T12:21:00.001-07:00

Joaquin was having fun coloring and decided he wanted blue teeth :)

Birthday Celebrations

2010-09-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

The birthday boys!

Joaquin had to try a hat on too.

Family Reunion and other pics from August

2010-09-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Joaquin playing with his pinwheel

At the playground talking to Papa.

With new cousin Javin.

Everyone who made it to the reunion

Tuckered out after an afternoon at the playground.

Joaquin was not in the mood to pose....

My little monkey demonstrating why I call him this.

taking a chair over to where pictures are being taken....

Because why would someone take a picture he wasn't in?

Riding Doug's motorcycle

Chilling in Daddy's lap

Can I have some more?

Walking his Elmo balloon and his duck

GG and Joaquin sleeping on the drive home from the reunion.

Playdate

2010-08-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Some pictures my friend took at our get together last weekend. Some of them are a bit blurry.... I think kuz most of our cameras got wet from the splashing kids.

Joaquin and Samara playing house together. I just love these two pics!

Joaquin and Samara swimming

Joaquin, Samara, Charlie and Andrew

Joaquin getting ready to climb in.

Fun in the sand.

A fun start to August

2010-08-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Yay! Someone has listened and now we can again put videos on the blog! I'll have to find some videos from the past few months to post on here soon.

My friend Kim recently gave Joaquin a ton of clothes and shoes the her youngest has outgrown. Joaquin of course had to immediately try on his "new" boots. Gotta love it, tanktop, shorts and snow boots!

At an impromptu family reunion at Grandma Vickery's. How come Joaquin and Grandpa always end up matching? :)

He's already wanting to drive!

Driving Grammy :)

Fun at the pool

2010-07-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

One week after I bought Joaquin's birthday balloon and it still has plenty of air. And Joaquin had to take Elmo swimming with us.

Finishing off the last of his birthday cupcakes

getting ready to jump off the diving board

in the water.. but where's daddy now? :)

swimming in the deep end with daddy

swimming with grandma and daddy

a nice snack of raisin bran between dips

riding his new boat from uncle jonathan and aunt anna

Birthday Extravaganza!

2010-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Some pics from the past few weekends.

The first few are Joaquin's 2 year pictures we had done at Walmart last week.

Inspecting his first gift with his cousin Donathan.

Playing with his new remote controlled car. As you can see Donathan also had to try everything out :)

Joaquin and Donathan getting extremely dirty playing with Joaquin's new water and sand table. More realistically I think it is a mud table.

We had to hose them both off after this.

opening gifts.

Elmo cake and Oscar, Big Bird and Cookie Monster cupcakes made by grandma.

On my birthday we went to a Safari place and petting zoo. Here are some pics of Joaquin with the animals.

All tuckered out on the way home.

more pics from the 4th of July weekend

2010-07-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

Some pics that Uncle Jim sent.

Uncle Bill and Joaquin eating dinner.

Getting in the pool. Joaquin has finally gotten used to being in the pool :)

Joaquin's first corn on the cobb. A big hit!

sporting the shades. Uncle Jim managed to capture the pic. By the time I took a picture they were off already.

4th of July in the Hamptons

2010-07-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July Mom, Dad, Joaquin and I went to the Hamptons to visit with my Great Uncles Jim and Bill. We all had a blast, and as you can tell from these pics Joaquin couldn't have had more fun.

Joaquin very excited about getting to water the plants.

"back and forth"

drinking from the hose.

modeling Bill's tanning goggles.

helping to set up the grill

all tuckered out, but not quite ready to take a nap.

ready for some appetizers Uncle Bill

a little taste of sand. he did not eat as much as i thought he would.

in case you can't tell he is SOAKED

maybe this is how he got so wet? :)

or this?

he put the tube on himself.

Fun at home

2010-06-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

Some fun with Joaquin before going to bed.

Playing with his beach ball.

Mid bounce.

Where's neigh?

Ever since our trip to TN this is how Joaquin likes to go to sleep.

Photoshoot

2010-06-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day I thought it would be nice to get pictures of the Grandpas with Joaquin wearing his "I love Grandpa" shirt to frame. Joaquin was never really in the mood for the pics. The photoshoot with my dad went pretty similarly to the one with Tommie, but I just love the expressions on Tommie's face to go along with Joaquin's :) If you'd like to weigh in on which photo we should frame, feel free!

Vacation to the Roan Mountains

2010-06-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Chris and Joaquin looking at the water, or "wow" as Joaquin pronounces it.

Sign at Blowing Rock

close up of Joaquin's new haircut.

Joaquin and the baby cows, or cow-pigs if you ask Joaquin.

it took him a while to warm up so swimming again, but he LOVED going down the water slide. I couldn't believe it! He's growing up so fast!

swimming in the pool.

having fun on the playground.

with Papa.

Playing with Christopher. This is about as close as he got to Christopher after Christopher finally got a hold of Joaquin's hair. After that every time Christopher would crawl towards him or put his hand up Joaquin would go "no no baby" :)

Joaquin got his face painted for the first time at the festival.

Reading with Uncle Jon and Great Grandma Ruth.

Where's Joaquin? Still loves putting things over his head to hide :)

Growing Up

2010-06-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Every year a place called Lil' Angels comes to Joaquin's daycare to take pictures of the kids dressed up in outfits they bring. Here is Joaquin's picture from this year:

At Jack and Jim's birthday get together Joaquin had a blast. Here he is riding a horse. He loved it... yet is still afraid of the rocking horse we have for him at home. Hmmmmm.

Crawling down the tunnel at Jack and Bobbie's

As soon as he saw the slide he ran to the ladder and started climbing up!

Getting ready to slide down.

He still liked to hold your hand when going down.. it was a big slide!

Wearing Grandpa Tommie's hat

May

2010-06-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Joaquin walked around for a while the other day with this bucket on his head. He just laughed and laughed :)

Joaquin loves playing with the "helicopters" in our yard ever since uncle Jon showed him what they can do.

A toy of Christopher's the Joaquin had a blast playing with.

In front of our house.

Taking time to smell the lilacs with uncle Jon

Havin fun at Hibachi

Joaquin's reaction every time the cook threw shrimp at someone :)

Really, this kid had a blast!

another toy we'll have to get....

driving the ship at a museum

cuddling with GG, pretty sure they're watchin Elmo :)

My first time taking Joaquin to the pool.

helping Papa water the flowers.

so many ways to use a chair.

aaaaah daddy is so comfy.

Elmo

2010-04-27T01:01:00.000-07:00

Joaquin has always like Elmo, but never watched him until we went to the hospital for his surgery. Since then I have started dvr'ing Sesame Street so he can watch it. Now he can't get enough of Elmo! Here are some pics of him watching up close and personal.

Surgery Day

2010-04-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Joaquin had his adenoids removed eariler today. He did amazingly well with not eating or drinking before the surgery. They didn't take him in until almost 2:30 pm and I thought for sure he'd be super cranky, but as you can tell from the pics he was having a ball, at least pre-op. They had videos and a portablel dvd player for him to watch and also had a wagon for him to ride in. Post-op was a different story. He was quite uncomfortable and actually bit and ripped out his iv (blood went everywhere!). Even after they unhooked everything he wasn't happy until he was at home and Mommy was singing to him. He went to bed early and since has been sleeping, but is snoring loudly and every so often wakes up crying but goes back to sleep before I can get in his room. Hopefully tomorrow he will feel ok.

Here he is watching the Elmo dvd. He did not want to sit on either of our laps and insisted on standing to watch it.

Here he is riding in the wagon and playing with the stuffed camel they had at the desk. He loved that thing! I think we need to buy him a stuffed camel now.

Fun with Papa and Grandma

2010-04-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

Helping himself to some crackers

Enjoying his new chair

He is finally starting to use utencils when he eats, but as you can see it's still quite messy

sweeping the floor: look at all that concentration :)

Fun in the yard

2010-04-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Finally we have some pictures of Joaquin at our new house.

Here he is helping to rake leaves that are left over from the winter.

playing with some chairs in the front lawn.

With one of his new favorite toys. A bunny that sings and hops. He wouldn't put it down today.

Touching the pretty flowers at the front of the house.

With Daddy.

Playing on the couch.

Eating a pb and j sandwhich.

Climbing up on the chair.

Sitting like a big boy :)

Such a big rake for such a little boy.

more bunny

Picture Overload

2010-04-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Grammy and Papa from Easter and some from a few weeks back.

Easter Sunday with Sophia

Easter egg hunt at church

action pose!

Eating lunch with Papa

helping in the garden

riding the tractor

looking for Papa

He mostly drags his trycle everywhere

Filling up his sled with all his toys

decked out in all his winter gear.

yummy snow!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm seriously behing on posting pics of Joaquin. With the move we have been super busy and I still can't seem to find our camera. We need to get pics from Grammy and Papa. Here is the one not complete blur of a picture that I managed to capture of Joaquin on my phone Easter morning.

Weekend with Jessica

2010-02-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my friend Jessica came to visit us from Indiana. We had a fabulous time and Joaquin warmed up to her very quickly... although each morning he wouldn't go near her until she got out of the blow up cot bed b/c it scared him for some reason.

Here he is giving Jessica a big smile :)

Throwing a fit b/c he wanted to go outside. He has started biting his hands and arms when he is upset.

Happy as can be b/c we are getting ready to go outside :)

Making a picture for Jessica to take home.

Reading with Momma

Eating.

Reading with Jessica.

The face we receive the most.

Telling us he wants a pretzel!

Climbing up on the table.

Me and Jessica

sledding

2010-01-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Joaquin and I went to Mom and Dad's for church and afterwords did a little "sledding." Joaquin loved playing outside and didn't want to come in. We didn't have a sled so Dad pulled Joaquin around in his swing. Joaquin was so relaxed he almost fell asleep!

Joaquin by his tree. The Christmas tree Mom and Dad bought last year and planted.

Joaquin loves my old rocker, and his bears.

Love that face :)

Visit with Emma, Julia and Samara

2010-01-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend we visited with some friends of mine and their daughters. Here are some pics of the kids playing together. Emma and Samara are 2 1/2 and Julia is 10 months old.

Samara and Emma hugging.

Joaquin and Julia (she has been walking since 8 months old!)

Samara, Emma and Joaquin playing the piano.

Samara and Emma

All the kids playing

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Joaquin has finally decided he likes wearing his hat, and wanted to wear it in the house before bed the other night. I think he had it on for an hour or so before we put him to bed.

Joaquin loves grandma's snow globe with baby Jesus and an angel. He now says something resembling "baby Jesus."

Playing inside his tent that he got for Christmas.

Emerging from his tent with a HUGE smile :)

Still learning how to use a spoon. There wasn't any food on it, but at least this time the right end of the spoon made it into his mouth.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. I was lucky to get Christmas Eve and the day before off, so I wasn't as exhausted on Christmas day as I have been in the past couple of years. Christmas Eve we had dinner with Mom and Dad, went to the Christmas Eve service with them and spent the night so that they could see Joaquin open gifts in the morning. He was much more into opening gifts this year and we all had fun watching him. After Mom and Dad's we went home to take a nap and then on to Tommie and Breneda's. Mom and Dad joined us there for dinner as well.

Joaquin on Christmas Eve, playing with the nativity scene.

Doing a little Christmas dance :)

Joaquin LOVES playing with the ceiling light in grandma and grandpa's room

Opening his first present.

Joaquin thought this was a good toy to stand and sit on.

Enjoying the table and chairs that we got him. It has a whiteboard finish so he can draw on it.

Making his way down the tunnel. He goes so fast that by the time Chris could snap the picture he was right in his face already!

Joaquin's new favorite toy. It vibrates and spins all over the place. Every time it turns on Joaquin gets a huge grin on his face!

First Hair Cut

2009-11-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

Saturday Joaquin got his first haircut. I was amazed at how well he did. I thought for sure I was going to have to give him a bottle so he would let someone near his head with scissors but he did great even though it took almost 30 minutes to cut his hair! And that was after about 30 minutes of waiting for his turn.

Later on Saturday we went to Akron to visit with Jim and Laura and Connie and Jerry. Joaquin met Christopher for the first time. Christopher was born July 25, 2009 so Joaquin is almost exactly 1 year older than him and Christopher is the same height as Joaquin was at that age only he is 2 pounds heavier. It's amazing to see the difference in their sizes and remember that just a year ago Joaquin was that small!

Sunday I took Joaquin to get his Christmas pictures taken. They turned out great and hopefully soon I can get those posted.

"School" Pictures

2009-11-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here are Joaquin's "school" pictures. They did pictures a while back at daycare and we hadn't planned on getting any, so didn't even send Joaquin to school dressed for pictures, but they did the pictures anyway and sent some home recently giving us the option to buy them. We liked them so much that we decided to buy them. Included is his class picture.

Update

2009-11-10T18:01:00.001-08:00

Joaquin is doing great these days. We have never really had any problems with him sleeping but now it is super easy. When it is time for him to go to sleep we just say "you want to go night night" and he'll say "nigh nigh." Then we take him to his room and he almost leaps into his crib, lays down, lets us put his blanket over him and he just smiles at us.

His favorite thing to do right now by far is reading. He will find a book, climb into your lap and read the book with you. Then he'll get down find another book and repeat this process for about 20 minutes straight :)

Tonight we discovered something else that makes him smile. He was drinking his last bottle of the night and started to hold it above his face and wait for a drop of milk to fall from the bottle onto his face. He would make a shocked face and then smile and do it again and again and again.

Halloween Fun

2009-11-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

Trick Or Treating

2009-11-05T16:34:00.001-08:00

Talking with Mr. Scarecrow

2009-11-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Joaquin's Halloween

2009-11-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Picking

2009-10-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

We took Joaquin out to pick his pumpkin for Halloween. He had fun, but didnt' want to actually touch any of the pumpkins. And he was way more interested in the trees than the pumpkins. Another picture shows one of his newest achievements... climbing onto the cofee table. The closeup pic of him is his favorite. After I took it I showed it to him on the camera and he just could not stop looking at himself! Other news: Joaquin had his 15 month checkup today and weighs 25 lbs (54%) up 1 lb. from his 1 year appointment, and he is 33 inches long (94%) 2 inches longer than his 1 year.

Things Joaquin brought to the couch

2009-09-30T10:30:00.001-07:00

Joaquin has started to carry just about anything around and likes to then bring them to the couch. Here is a look at what he brought to the couch a couple of days ago.

Hurricane Joaquin

2009-09-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Lately we feel as if we've been hit by category 5 hurricane Joaquin. He seems to look around for things to destroy. As soon as we get the house picked up he destroys it. Luckily he's cute. He also seems to be a bottomless pit. We can't seem to feed him enough. I think he is eating more than Chris now!

Here are some pics and videos from this week. The first picture is Joaquin playing his piano while seated on his batman blowup punching thing (I can't think of what they are called...). The second picture is one where Chris decided to make a face like Joaquin does all the time. The first video is Chris dancing with Joaquin doing a Hammer dance. Normally this cracks Joaquin up and he laughs and laughs the whole time. Of course when I brought out the camera he stopped doing that and we only got a couple of laughs out of him. The second video shows Joaquin walking on the couch. He loves to try and climb the couch and point at the lion pictures above. Also he loves to screech as you will hear! The last video shows Joaquin with his new backpack from GG and GP. He loves carrying it around. I try to get him to say thank you which he has started to do lately, but of course he won't do it for the camera.

Dining with Joaquin

2009-09-02T18:07:00.001-07:00

Time has gotten away from me these past few weeks. Joaquin is growing and changing so much. He now refuses to let us feed him most of the time, so as you will see meals are quite the messy affair at our house. He has also become very clingy to me. This last weekend I was home with him all weekend and he wouldn't let me out of his sight and much more than usual wanted me to hold him. He still loves running around but since he doesn't get much time with me usually I think he just didn't want to let me go.

We gave Joaquin a small piece of american cheese the other day and he did fine with it, and a few days later gave him mac and cheese and he did fine with that as well. So today grilled cheese was on the menu at daycare and we told them it was ok for him to have it but he broke out in a rash on his face after eating it :( We think maybe it is cheese food that they use at daycare and that is why he reacted? I guess we will just have to keep trying cheese at home for a while. We are going to start mixing his soy milk with regular milk and see how he does with that.

Joaquin had his 12 month well check visit in the middle of August. He weighed in at 24 lbs and is 31 inches tall. So he is still average for his weight but in the 90th percentile for his height and head circumference.

More B-day Pics

2009-08-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

More pics from Joaquin's birthday party. First my friend Beth's daughter Emma playing in the baby pool. Second, how messy Joaquin really got with his smash cake.

Birthday Photo Shoot

2009-08-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our favorite shots from Joaquin's birthday photo shoot Sunday evening. If anyone is interested in seeing all of them, or purhcasing some for yourself they should be available on sricephoto.com soon. Any of you that live in the area and are interested in Shannon's work let me know and I'll pass all her info on to you. Joaquin had a great time at the photo shoot but right after it ended he got tired and cranky so we had to head home.

Mac and Cheese

2009-07-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight Joaquin got his first taste of mac and cheese. He is still allergic to milk, so I made him mac and cheese using soy milk and vegan cheese. He LOVED it! Maybe this weekend we'll make him some grilled cheese using vegan cheese.

Joaquin is walking all over, almost running now. He can walk down the hall without sitting down. He was started in a new class at day care and loves it. Now he can go outside at daycare :)

Birthday Pictures

2009-07-29T16:12:00.001-07:00

Some of my first steps

2009-07-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

Batman to the Rescue!

2009-07-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

Practice Cake

2009-07-07T05:46:00.000-07:00

For Joaquin's smash cake we decided to make a replica of an Xbox controller since he enjoys playing with it so much. I wanted to do a practice run to try making the cake and also to make sure that Joaquin didn't have any allergic reaction to the cake or icing. Here is my first attempt at his cake next to the real thing.

And here is what Joaquin did to the cake.

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-07T05:40:00.001-07:00

Joaquin playing with the dishwasher. He likes to stick toys in there when we have it open.

Joaquin playing with his walking toy.

Walking with grandma. He's still not walking on his own, but he loves to walk with us.

At his first Indians' game.

Enjoying some watermelon at the game.

He's in a good mood here, but he only made it through the 4th inning before having a meltdown.

2009-06-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Joaquin spent the weekend at Grammie and Grandpa Vickery's. We got him a pool to play in and he seemed to enjoy it somewhat. We have enjoyed watching these videos over and over.

Splish Slash

2009-06-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

2009-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

Vacation

2009-06-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

This week we were unable to go to Tennessee with my family, but ended up having a staycation here just the three of us. Here are some pics from our week at home together.

Joaquin playing with one of his favorite toys.

With Chris at the Spillway.

With me in the Aquatic building at the zoo... taking a little break.

Looking at all the fish.

Not the best side of the baboon... but Joaquin was really interested.

Comparing hand size with a gorilla.

Having fun on Daddy's shoulders.

Chillin at home with Mommy.

Eating a cookie.

More Kansas Trip

2009-06-06T22:59:00.001-07:00

These are some pics from the Kansas trip that I have gotten from others. Not all of them have Joaquin, but there were so many beautiful babies at this wedding I just had to post pics of some of them.

Isabela, already loving her future Mother-in-law :)

Isabela with her beautiful Mommy.

Wyatt running down the aisle :)

Joaquin and Grandpa goofing off as usual.

Grammie, Uncle Terry, GG, and Joaquin at the reception.

One of the few quiet moments for Wyatt with Dad.

Joaquin with Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Anna outside our hotel.

Kansas Trip

2009-05-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from our trip to Kansas. Joaquin did amazingly well. There were a few small breakdowns, but after letting him stretch out a bit he was his happy self again. He was soooo happy when I picked him up from daycare Tuesday night. I could tell he was glad to have been able to crawl around all day, and he took an almost 3 1/2 hour nap that day at daycare, which is unheard of. He was very tired from all the traveling.

wearing Chris' hat.

trying on Grammie's sun glasses

at the wedding with Anna

with Anna and Wyatt.

trying out the rocking horse.

with GG at the reception

taking a little snooze at the reception.

with Isabela, someday Mrs. Tubbs :)

dancing with the bride.

Isabela dancing with her grandpa.

getting tuckered out.

playing with bubbles on the way home.

Varejao and Wallace :)

Apparently wearing the wigs did not give the Cavs enough good luck.

Joaquin playing one of his favorite games :)

Oldie

2009-05-17T18:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a pic from December of Joaquin with his cousin Donathan. Hard to believe how much Joaquin has changed in the last 5 months! Donathan is 4 months older than Joaquin.

First Mother's Day

2009-05-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

My first Mother's day was a nice one. Joaquin and I went to church and then lunch with my parents and we had planned on going to Chris' uncle's house when Chris got off of work but Joaquin and I were both taking a nice long nap so we just stayed home. I wish we could have spent time with Chris' family, but it has been quite an exhausting couple of weeks for us all and we really needed the rest. It was really the best Mother's day gift I could have imagined. But I did get more :) Chris got me a beautiful necklace, a lavender candle set and a little zebra figure from my favorite store World Market. He says that Joaquin told him what to get :)

Joaquin was sick most of this week. We had to pick him up early from daycare on Monday b/c he was running a fever. Turned out he had a double ear infection and ended up staying home through Thursday. He is finally back to himself and went back to day care today. He brought home a little flower pot and artwork with his footprint on it and a poem. As you can see in the artwork it is very difficult to get his footprint... he does not like to stop moving much!

The poem:

MY FOOTPRINTS

Someday I'll jump through puddles,

take a stroll or run a race.

Someday I'll walk across the street

or maybe I'll walk in space.

Someday I'll scale a mountain

or I'll join a ballet corps.

Someday I'll walk a tightrope

or explore the ocean floor.

Someday these feet will do some things

that only heaven knows,

but for today they're happy

just to wiggle all their toes.

Masterpiece

2009-05-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece of artwork that Joaquin created at daycare a while ago. I love his use of color :)

Andover Visit

2009-04-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from the weekend. Most are from our trip to Andover on Saturday but some are from Mom and Dad's after church on Sunday. Joaquin is all over the place now. As you can see from the pic of Joaquin and Grammy it can really wear you out.

Crawling through his tunnel.

Joaquin and Grammy napping.

Chillin with Grandpa.

Trying to give Wyatt a kiss.

Joaquin loves his cousin Wyatt. He kept trying to give him kisses. Wyatt wasn't so sure about Joaquin though.

Trying to give Molly a kiss. Molly is much nicer and more tolerable of children than Hoover is.... Joaquin was so excited to actually be able to pet her, Hoover always runs away from him.

He was watching Wyatt.

Joaquin in his "jail cell" or crib at Grammy and Grandpa's.

Baby Shower and Crawling

2009-04-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today was Megan's baby shower. We got a few pics at the shower. I'm also posting some pics I have from Easter and some video I have gotten over the last week showing Joaquin crawling. Earlier this week Joaquin had to go to the doctor to recheck his ears and have his 9 month checkup even though he isn't quite 9 months yet. He weighed 20 1/2 lbs and is 29 inches long. The doctor said his ear infection is gone, so that's good :) We have to wait until he is 12 months before switching him off of the Alimentum formula though. His doctor recommended switching to soy milk and when he is 14-16 months old we can start trying to switch to regular milk. She said we can try giving him yogurt and cheese at 12 months as well. The other day I gave him something that I didn't realize had dry milk and buttermilk in it... and instantly he had hives where it had touched him. We just put some cortisone cream on it and he was fine, but he definitely is still allergic to milk right now. Even when he had the hives he didn't cry, just was scratching a lot. He keeps amazing me as to how easy going and happy of a baby he is!

With Megan.... she's gotta get used to this :)

Lately it seems Joaquin always has his tongue like this... but often he is also grabbing it with his hands.

With grandpa Tommie

A video of him crawling on Easter Sunday.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-18T02:07:00.001-07:00

I still need to upload pictures that we got on Easter Sunday, so here are some pictures that Mom and Dad took while they had him Easter weekend. Hopefully this weekend I will finally be able to upload the pictures and take some video of him crawling.

Ready to start walking any day now...

Joaquin loves to visit with Great-Grandpa Bob.

With his Easter basket.

The family at church.

Getting ready for some cruising.

Crawling. He actually made it through the morning in the vest that Grammie knit for him.

more crawling.

Playin some basketball. I need to get a video of this as well. He can dunk the ball :)

And He's Off....

2009-04-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

I really need to get a video but Joaquin is really crawling now! For the past week or so he has been moving a little bit, but not far. Then this weekend he just took off. He is crawling all over the place! And pulling himself up on things. I don't think it's going to be long before he's walking.

Eatin and drinkin

2009-04-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Joaquin has recently started eating puffs and drinking from a sippy cup. As you can tell from these videos, he has not mastered either skill yet. He loves picking up puffs and putting them in his mouth, but he still hasn't figured out how to swallow them and usually ends up coughing until he spits them out. He is always quite vocal when he has his sippy cup, but he still hasn't figured out he has to hold it at a higher angle in order to actually drink from it. At least he is happy :)

This morning when Chris went to get Joaquin from his crib he was standing up and chewing on the top rail. So this afternoon I moved the mattress to the lowest setting and finally took out his bumpers. When Chris put him to bed he sat himself up and cried for a few minutes but pretty quickly went to sleep. He's also crawling a little bit. It depends on the surface that he is on, but most of the time he can move forward at least a little bit. He is just growing up so fast!

Pickle Bills

2009-04-06T08:41:00.001-07:00

Sundays at Pickle Bills Grandma's eat free from 1-4pm if their grandchildren take them out to eat. So of course Joaquin had to take his Grammie Vickery out for lunch! He had a great time banging his phone rattle on the table through most of lunch and of course Grammie and Grandpa were glad to spend some time with him. In the entryway there is a cutout where you can take your picture so of course we had to do this. It's amazing how tall Joaquin had gotten, isn't it? :)

I love my Daddy

2009-03-30T15:14:00.001-07:00

Joaquin is growing up so fast! He still loves to put everything in his mouth, which as you can see from this blog includes anything from spoons to phones to Daddy's head! He has also started saying "da da" like crazy. One day he said it for 45 minutes straight! I keep trying to get him to say "ma ma" and he will on occasion but not like he says "da da." He is done with his antibiotic and is feeling much better although he still has a stuffy nose. He is getting increasingly more difficult to change as he keeps turning himself over while we are trying to change his diaper. And I do mean "we".... if we are both available we usually both do it b/c it's getting that hard! He is always trying to reach for the light switch, so maybe if we moved the changing table, but I don't know where else we would put it... and I'm not really sure it would help.

2009-03-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning Joaquin was baptized. Of course Chris and I forgot our camera so here are some pics from Grammie and Grandpa. Joaquin was sick, but he managed pretty well. By the time we went home though he was way overstimulated :(

Four generations:

Breneda and Joaquin:

GG, GP and Joaquin:

All of the grandparents and great-grandparents that came to the baptism, with Joaquin of course :

Our little man :)

He listened to every word Randy had to say :)

Pics from last weekend

2009-03-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

So many of you have already seen these pics, but I figured I'd post them here for those of you who didn't get the email from Dad, and because I didn't have anything else to post from the week. I've not had the chance to take any pics of Joaquin all week. Most days Chris had to drop him off at daycare and pick him up because I am trying to get used to taking ambien now. Let's just say it's not working very well yet and I've been very tired all week :( I am REALLY looking forward to having some time off of work next week and Joaquin being able to meet his great-grandparents Helen and Don for the first time. They are flying out for his baptism which is next Sunday the 22nd. I will definitely get lots of pictures this coming week!

This first pic is one of the only ones taken that day of us as a family. It was a bit windy and it doesn't appear that any of us were quite ready for the picture to be taken ;)

Great-grandma Ruth with Joaquin. Even though he was a bit sick, he was having a ball!

Joaquin next to one of great-grandma's Mickey dolls.

Aunt Laurie with Joaquin. Looks like they are having quite the conversation!

If you look close in this one you can see his two bottom teeth. It's amazing what kind of a difference a week makes... Friday morning I could hardly believe how much they have come out!

And here you can see how tired he was... He only got 1 one hour long nap that day. He's been doing that during the week at daycare a lot lately, but usually when he is home with us he sleeps much more. We just had too much to do that day!

Here he is trying to crawl. He is VERY close to crawling now. He sticks his little but high in the air and his little legs go to town... but he can't quite figure out what to do with his arms yet.

Grandma and Joaquin with that teething-drooling grin :)

Four generations of "Vickerys." Joaquin loves his great-grandpa Bob

Cousin Becky and Joaquin.

First Tooth!

2009-02-27T02:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Joaquin turned 7 months old, and had his first tooth break through. He's had two top and two bottom teeth very close the past few days and one finally broke through the skin. I discovered this when he was trying to suck on one of my fingers and all of the sudden there was pain in my finger! He's doing surprisingly well with the teething. I thought he might have a tough time with it, but he has continued to be the happy baby that he always is.

Peek-a-Boo

2009-02-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week Grandma and Grandpa stopped by on their way home from work to get a little Joaquin time since they are feeling a bit deprived lately. Grandma started playing peek-a-boo with Joaquin and I have never heard him laugh so hard! We decided we should get it on video... and of course as soon as he saw that camera he stopped laughing, but here is a short clip. Also a pic, since it was a bit dark in the room when I took the video chip.

Joaquin is doing well at daycare, but still having problems napping and he is teething so that isn't helping. He also managed to get us all sick. Chris, myself, Grandpa, and some of my coworkers have all become sick in the last few days. Joaquin just had the sniffles and didn't seem to be too bothered by it other than the fact that someone had to keep wiping his nose.

Valentine's Day and Starging Daycare

2009-02-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Joaquin spent Valentine's Day weekend with his grandparents since Chris and I both had to work. As you can see he had a blast (as did grammie and grandpa). The pics were emailed from grandpa which is why they are smaller than the others.

This first picture was taken a few days ago while Joaquin was playing video games with Chris.

Today was Joaquin's first day at daycare. I managed to make it to the car before I started crying, but Joaquin had a wonderful day. He managed to take 3 30-45 minute naps, which is less than the 4 hours he would have gotten at home.. but more than I thought he'd get on his first day there. The daycare has the same jumper that we have at home, so when I left him he was in that happy as can be. When we picked him up he had just finished eating and started jumping when he saw us :) After we got home I had to go grocery shopping... and when I came home this is what I saw... I just couldn't resist snapping a picture. Apparently daycare is exhausting stuff... for everyone!

Here are the pics from grandpa. Could you ask for a cuter cupid? :)

Old Skool

2009-02-06T15:56:00.000-08:00

Joaquin was really jumpin in his jumper this evening, so we decided to get a video of him jumping to the beat of the old Kriss Kross song, "Jump Jump". In true Joaquin style as soon as the camera was brought out he slowed down. He enjoyed watching Chris jump in an effort to get Joaquin to jump more. He has little bits of jumping and really starts up again at the end but he did really love watching Chris jump!

6 Month Checkup

2009-02-03T21:51:00.001-08:00

Monday Joaquin had his 6 month checkup. He now weighs 17 lbs. 6 oz and is 28 inches tall. He is in the 45th percentile for weight, but the 95th for height. He did well with his shots too, but was a little fussy in the evening. I'm so glad he doesn't have to get any shots at his 9 month appointment... but apparently because of the city we live in he will have to have blood drawn to check for lead :(

Green Beans and Bouncing

2009-01-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Joaquin has really starting to jump a lot when he's in someone's lap, so we finally got a jumper for him which he loves. He turned 6 months old on Monday this past week so we started him on real food. His first food was green beans and he really liked them. He's also tried bananas since then and liked them too. Other big news, he will be starting daycare on February 16th. We are very happy about this since this means I'll finally be able to get some regular sleep... but I'm also a bit sad about it since it means I'll be spending much less time with him. I know I'm gonna cry when I drop him off for the first time.... I'm almost crying about it already.

Here are some pics of him eating green beans for the first time.

When Joaquin first tried out his jumper he was more fascinated with the little frog toy attached to it than with the actual jumping, but as he's gotten more used to it he is jumping a lot more. He still loves that frog though, and staring into the mirror below the frog... drooling all over it ;)

Foot Wars

2009-01-19T03:47:00.000-08:00

Joaquin has recently discovered that he can get his foot into his mouth. That same evening Chris and Joaquin had a little "foot war" and Joaquin won :)

At a doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago they recommended some ointment for Joaquin's head since he has been scratching it so much. So we had to start putting him in hats more often. It was then that we discovered how big his head has gotten... and that not many stores sell hats for 6 month olds that aren't winter hats or part of an outfit :( So Grammy had to get to knitting so Joaquin could have more than 2 hats that fit him. Lucky for us it doesn't take long to knit a hat for an infant :)

The foot war:

All day Sunday Joaquin was blowing bubbles and making fart like sounds with his mouth... I mean ALL day. So I get the camera to get a video of him doing this... and this is how he responded... dead silence.

Daddy's Little Helper

2009-01-05T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here is Joaquin with the "build-a-bear" that we made for him with the giftcard Great-grandma and Great-grandpa Vickery gave him for Christmas. We figured he had enough bears, so went with the dog but we think it looks more like a wolf. As you can see Joaquin liked him instantly. Put on the spot at the store we named him Fluffy.... grandpa Rich thought he looked more like a Sarge.

Tonight Chris was trying to work on notes while I was doing things around the house. Joaquin of course was not content to not be held... so here is Joaquin helping Daddy work.

Rollin some more

2008-12-30T23:28:00.000-08:00

No pics for this yet, but I just wanted to post an update that Tuesday morning when I went to get Joaquin out of his crib he was laying on his tummy with one arm out of his swaddle! I placed him on his back so I could unswaddle him but before I could do that he rolled himself back onto his tummy. I placed him again on his back and as soon as I'd finished unswaddling him he rolled himself back onto his tummy! I tried to put him down for a nap without swaddling him, but that was still unsuccessful... but hopefully soon he won't need to be swaddled anymore. Grammy happened to be in the area today and she stopped by hoping to be able to see him roll over, but Joaquin was just not in the mood this afternoon. Grammy did however get to see how everything... and I do mean everything goes into his mouth. The dog we made at Build-a-Bear, the phone GiGi and GP bought Joaquin, even the parrot that Jonathan and Anna bought him.... I really need to get a video of him with the parrot, hopefully this week I'll get the time to do that.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hoover got Joaquin a little stuffed golden retriever for Christmas.

He really liked this whole wrapping paper thing... He had lots of fun ripping the paper :)

Mesmerized by the v-tech ball that GiGi and GP got him for Christmas.

Joaquin recently discovered his feet. Though he hasn't tried to get them into his mouth yet he is always grabbing them when we put him in his bumbo seat.

Wearing Daddy's Ohio State hat. Thank goodness his head isn't big enough yet!

The first video is of Joaquin with the phone that GiGi and GP got him for Christmas.

The last 2 videos are of him at home with us on Christmas morning

Rolling Over!

2008-12-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

Joaquin has not enjoyed his tummy time in the past, but today I tried again and shortly after being placed on his tummy he rolled over! This video is his 3rd time rolling over, and he was getting a little tired so he was a bit cranky but I just had to get a video to post.

Flippin Around

2008-12-12T06:06:00.000-08:00

Joaquin did this a few times when he was younger, but now he seems to be doing it on a fairly regular basis. When we put him to bed he is swaddled and his head is where his feet are in this picture. That yellow thing around his waist is his swaddling blanket. He still won't go to sleep without being swaddled, but he breaks free every morning and flips himself around in his crib. The morning before I took this photo he was all the way up in the far left corner lying diagonally. Even though I am exhausted most of the time these days, looking at that beautiful face who wouldn't think it was all worth it? :)

First Visit with Santa

2008-12-08T17:31:00.001-08:00

We had to wait in line for over an hour to see Santa, but Joaquin held up pretty well. We didn't get any real smiles, but there were some cute shots, this is the one we chose.

photo shoot

2008-12-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Here are the shots I got while trying to get a good picture of Joaquin to put on our Christmas card for this year. See if you can guess which one I picked.

Here is a little video of Joaquin playing with his highchair toy... which he has figured out how to get it off of the tray when it is suctioned to the tray.

Rice Cereal

2008-12-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight we decided to try feeding Joaquin rice cereal for the first time. We can't believe how well he did and how much he seemed to enjoy it. He ate all of the cereal that I had prepared for him. Chris went a little crazy with the camera again, but here are a few of my favorite pictures from his first feeding.

This one is right after he finished eating. I just love that smile :)

Here is a video of Joaquin eating for the first time. It's 4 minutes long but we just couldn't help ourselves.

Crazy Professor Hair

2008-12-01T16:23:00.001-08:00

Joaquin's hair has gotten out of control lately. Here are some pics from today when it looked particularly unruly. Although he isn't quite big enough (his feet don't touch the floor when he's in it) Joaquin does seem to really like his activity center/walker. He's even starting to push some of the buttons on his own... although I couldn't capture that on film.

Here's a little clip of Joaquin enjoying his activity center. He'd already been in it for quite some time, so by the time I brought out the camera he'd had about enough of it.

Zerbert Frenzy

2008-11-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

Joaquin has started to laugh a lot lately. Here we managed to capture a few giggles while Chris gives Joaquin several zerberts.

Thanksgiving Festivities

2008-11-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

We forgot to pull out our camera on Thanksgiving... so the pics from Thanksgiving day are stolen from Mom and Dad :) Updates on Joaquin: he turned 4 months old on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a week ago he weighed in at 15 lbs 1 oz, and is in 6-9 month size clothes now. We also had to start him on alimentum formula because the dr. said he is allergic to milk and soy proteins. We made the switch a little over a week ago and he seems to have taken the change well. We are still having issues with spitup, but not quite like we were before. And his skin seems to be getting better too. Of course it is still hard to keep him from scratching his face, no matter how often I clip his nails he still manages to scratch himself.

First is Joaquin with Grandma Vickery. Enjoying his time on his play mat... it was not easy getting this time where no one was holding him. I had to hide behind the tables.

The family with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Vickery.

The family.

Friday after Thanksgiving we went to the Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse with some friends of mine. Joaquin of course got hungry right in the middle of the festivities :)

He really did enjoy the night at the Hibachi. He was all smiles most of the evening. Even the banging of utensils and huge flames didn't seem to phase him.

It's finally hat wearing weather here in Ohio and Joaquin seems to be doing better than I expected with wearing his winter hat.

That is until I pull out the camera....

Playtime

2008-11-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Joaquin during "playtime" recently. We start off with Chris' favorite look of Joaquin's....

I know there is a smile there even if you try to hide it....

Joaquin loves to stick his tongue out as you all know..... I wonder where he learned that trick?? ;)

I'm so excited... I don't know which toy I want to play with more... my monkey rattle, my burpcloth... or just make noises with my tongue... the decisions of a 3 month old :)

Joaquin has enjoyed his Sesame Street piano for several months now when we play it for him, but recently he has discovered how to push the buttons himself :)

Phone-Lickin' Good!

2008-11-13T18:50:00.001-08:00

Joaquin really likes his phone rattle these days. He thinks it is very tastey and likes to bring it to his mouth so that he can lick and/or suck on the ends. And he is very reluctant to let go of it... often holding on to it for 10 minutes or longer.