Monday, August 4, 2008

Happy 5th Birthday, Joey















As I type these words I am in disbelief that 5 years have passed. My little boy is 5 years old today! Wow those years flew by. I wish that some of those times I could relive the fun, smiles, smells, sights, sounds, and touches. Joey being our first born in many ways was also our guinea pig. We have learned so much about ourselves and about what being a parent truly means and entails.
At birth Joey was always a very happy baby. Never too fussy and always content to be held and loved. I loved the smell of him after a bath with fresh clothes on and remember the hours I would hold him and stare at him and think how adorable he was (is) and how I am responsible for this little human being. In many ways I laugh now at myself about how scared and unsure I was to have a son. If I could have five more boys just like Joey I would in a heartbeat.
Joey is kind, loving, funny, athletic, caring, sensitive, and as he says “my best friend”.
Some memories of Joey~
· Joey weighed 6 pounds at birth
· The first diaper my husband ever changed was Joey’s
· He was a climber and always has had more energy than 5 people put together
· When he started preschool at age 3 he did not really speak more than 10 words. He did not speak in sentences
· His first love was cars, trucks, and trains. I was sad because I know nothing about cars and really wanted him to have an interest in sports. (He does now).
· He is missing one of his four bottom teeth. It is there in x-ray, but has never popped up
· He has cried before when Gabby called him a “peanut head” (I don’t know what a peanut head is or why this hurt his feelings so bad?)
· He loves to snuggle with me
· He comes up to me and says “I need a hug” at random times. Usually when my hands are full. (Washing hands or dishes etc)
· He likes to wear the same clothes as me… Boston Red Sox t-shirts. He likes it when we match
· He gets many comments on his beautiful large eyes and long eyelashes. He has longer eyelashes than most girls
· He loves knock knock jokes
· He loves soccer, baseball, and gymnastics
· He has many friends at school and makes friends easily
· If you ask him his favorite color he will reply “all of them”
· He loves the Cavs, Indians, and Red Sox. Now I am working on getting him to be a Dodgers fan too
· He is easy going and laid back
· He prefers vanilla over chocolate
· He is curious
· He enjoys being outside and riding his bike
· He likes to play tic- tac- toe with me
· He does not enjoy bed time
· He likes spending time with his dad playing X-Box
· He is a great big brother



Although Joey is turning five today as parents Jeff and I had to make a tough decision this year. We chose to keep Joey in preschool for an extra year. He is a smart boy, but he continues to have difficulty with his speech. Joey did go to a speech therapist. We stopped going when the therapist stated that she successfully got more visits approved for us with the insurance company. This turned out to be false and we owed a great deal of money for his speech classes. We then entered him into preschool and from then on being around the other kids he has begun to speak words and now sentences. I would say that he has made leaps and bounds from where we were two years ago. Joey is bright and also has perfect hearing. I honestly feel that when he hears us the message gets sent to his brain and then the words can sometimes come out with different sounds.
For example, if I said Joey go get your socks. He may look at me and say “where are my crocs”. Or when he speaks if he wants to say Taylor it comes out Tawer.
At this point I think we made the right choice for him although I did struggle with it. His main interest was my concern. I would rather him be behind in preschool/kindergarten than in first /second grade. I am also happy that he now calls me “mommy” or “mama” instead of “da”. Once upon a time ago Jeff, me, my parents, and adult figures were called “da”.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BOY! I LOVE YOU TO PIECES AND AM SO PROUD OF YOU!! VISIT THIS SITE WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE. This is my husband’s blog... http://runningonfaithwithjzapp.blogspot.com/

14 comments:

Brittany said...

Yes! Happy Birthday Joey! He is so cute, especially at the baseball game!!!!! Hope he has a fantastic 5th Birthday!

Jaime said...

Happy Birthday Joey! He sounds like such a great kid! Love the pics:)

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Joey!He's really cute ,so because you like MLB games, i offer u a link where u can compare tickets prices ,in order to save ur money and it's for FREE to u Joey:!!
http://www.ticketsreview.com/baseball/

Have a great birthday!!

Claremont First Ward said...

Happy Birthday to your sweet, adorable Joey. This post was really touching, Laurie!

Shannon said...

Happy birthday Joey! You sound like a pretty special boy and your mom sure loves you a lot.

Great birthday post for your boy, Laurie!

Jocasta said...

Happy Birthday Joey! Hope you had a special day

Beautiful Post!!!

Will Piper said...

Great post! Happy birthday Joey! I loved the pics you shared.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Joey!

What a beautiful post for you son! Of course he is even more special because he is a Star Wars fan.....:)

Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday! :)

Deanna said...

That is soooo precious! Happy birthday, Joey. Time really does fly too quick.

Congrats on being a Saucy Blog!

Colleen said...

What a handsome little guy! Congrats on being Saucy this week..

P.S. I went to Kent State too!

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Happy Birthday Joey!

What a beautiful little boy!

*poof there went 5 years, eh*

Katy said...

Aw! Happy birthday to your little guy!

I just stumbled across your site from SITS, and even though I'm heading to bed for the night, I look foward to reading more soon. I only live about 15 min. from KSU and went there for a year, so the name of your blog sucked me in! :-)

Jeff said...

Right on, honey! Great description of Joey. I'm thinking some girls might be a little jealous of those long eye lashes of his...just as long he doesn't trim them like his old daddy.
: -)

Buttons and Dots Photography said...

Happy Birthday little guy!

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