More from Joey's party

Joey and OC playing with some new toys

Joey's 1st birthday party!

Here are some highlights from Joey's party!!! We had such a great time with everyone!!!

The Drakes

YES PLEASE!!!! I'M LOVING MY CAKE!

Me, Mom (Boggie) and Lindsey (Nini)

My cake that Mommy made! Granna getting me ready for my party!

Sorry for the delay!!!!

Sorry this has taken us so long! Our sweet Joey turns 1 this Saturday!!! Cannot believe it. What a blessing he has been to us. He is so precious and sweet!!!! He is talking up a storm now and so incredibly mobile, but crawling only. He is lightning fast!!!! He is trying to get the courage to walk on his own, but it's definitely still going to be a few weeks. He's been jumping on his bed though so you know his legs are strong!!!!! Today, when he woke up from his nap I hear, "Uh oh" multiple times. When I went in, his bear had mysteriously made his way out of the crib!!!!!

Keep posted for more pix after his party this weekend!!!!

New House, New Life!!!!

We are officially residents near Fayetteville now!!! We moved this past Saturday! We are so grateful to have had a bunch of people from our Sunday School class to help us in Charlotte and Jon's brother Sam & his girlfriend to help on both ends and my parents in Fayetteville. We were pretty much all packed up and ready to go when we got the truck on Saturday morning. We will post pictures after we get everything set up the way we want it!

Joey has been such a great sport during the packing, moving and unpacking. We have a very large (for us!!!) backyard which we've been out in a few times already. He just loves being outdoors!!!! He is growing like a weed. He is probably almost 32 inches now, and last time we took him to the doctor a few weeks ago, he was over 21lbs. His hair is getting crazy long and blonde and curly. He is a great representation of the two of us. He is crawling everywhere! He is very much a typical boy and he loves anything and everything electronic. We gave him our old laptop and he loves it!!! He had a stuffed dog that he adores. One day we started playing with it and I asked him what a dog says and said "It says, 'Woof woof'". So that is the dog's name, Woof Woof. Any time he sees it he must have it. I'm thinking his first birthday party theme will be dogs :) Sometimes he will even ask for Woof by name. He's starting to talk some more. Some times he will say "thank you", or even his name, "Joe Joe". Today when I went in to get him up from his nap, he was standing up in the crib and was literally eating it. There are more than 5 bite marks and chunks of it missing. If someone holds on to his hands he will walk!!!!!

I will be staying at home for a few months at least, getting settled in and being a full time mom. Jonathan is really liking his job so we are very glad about that.

Sorry for this to be so short, but Joey is reaching for the computer cord so I must sign off.

Talk to you soon!!!!

Our little ham




Curly Q!!!!!


He is Skyping with the Florida crew and really trying to crawl.

We are starting to get into all sorts of new adventures with Joey. He is so close to crawling, as you can see above. He can get himself up and ready, he starts rocking, but then collapses. His next step is to start rolling around on the floor until he gets the toy he wants. He is discovering absolutely everything. He is talking a lot more. He has discovered his tongue- he sticks it out all the time. We've been calling him "lizard lips" because he keeps sticking his tongue in and out so quickly while he's trying to talk!!!! It is hysterial.

Joey has his 9 month appointment on Tuesday, so I will update after that with his stats.

He did great on the trip to Florida to see Jon graduate. He was getting over yet another ear infection, but that seemed to be all cleared up before we left. His fan club was waiting for him when we deboarded and once we saw Matt he was hardly let go!! He loved being with his Daddy of course. Jon has kept him at home, except for the day of his interview in Fayetteville.

Jon starts his new job on Tuesday at Valley Motors BMW! We'll be renting a house about 15 minutes away, so it'll be convenient to work. Everything seems to be pretty close proximity to each other. I will be able to stay home with Joe Joe for a little while, and then look for something part time. Once we get settled in, find a church and then a day care for him.

Don't forget, May 8th is Joey's first birthday party. We will be having a party for him on that day- it is a Saturday! I know it seems early, but it is only 3 months away, so invitations to follow in just a little bit.

Talk to you all soon!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Our handsome little man. Who would've thought he'd be a blonde???

Our sweet boy during his photo shoot the day after Thanksgiving!

He is sporting a shirt from hisAunt Nini that says, "I'm stuffed!"

The Drake Family

The newest additions!!! All the Drake greatgrandchildren with Grandma

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. The three of us were able to be home together for 4 days. It was awesome. Jon flew in Thanksgiving morning, and then we went back home and met Grammi and Papa for breakfast and then drove up to Winston Salem to be with the Drake family. I don't know the exact total for how many people were at the table, but including the babies, I think there were over 20! We had great food and had fun being together.

Joey has had some very minor health concerns. He's had 2 right ear infections back to back in the past 3 weeks. He had a reaction to his meds (amoxicillon) for his first one, so now he is considered allergic to all drugs in that family. But so far, he seems to be making improvements with the new medicine.

We've had a busy few weeks here at the Drake hotel. Lots and lots of visitors!! I was so happy to have everyone come and visit. I know they all loved being with Joey and spending time with him. Thank you all for coming! It really added to our time of Thanksgiving.

Joey has one tooth officially! I think more are soon to follow. He also has mastered sitting up on his own!! And he is doing great. He has a toy, Baby Einstein, that he just loves. He gets in it for sometimes 45 minutes at a time and just plays!! The seat bounces, so all you have to say is, "Bouncy, bouncy" and he knows exactly what to do and starts bopping up and down!

Please pray for us as we are still in limbo for our location after Jonathan gradutes in mid January. He's submitted his resume to numerous places. We are praying that we know something in the next few weeks. We only have about 6 weeks until he is done. These 6 months have really flown by.

What a tremendous year the Lord has blessed our family with. We are so excited to see what God has in store for us over the next few months. We will keep you guys posted!

Love to you and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

a long over due update

beautiful blue eyes and a smile

first time eating in his high chair!

i just love this picture!!!!

Sadly, this will be very short because i'm running very low on steam and there is too much to do here.

Joey has reached a new milestone. Two Thursdays ago, he started saying "da da" and now he says it constantly. he says it on the phone with his Da Da, while he looks at his picture- it is so adorable. He is trying desperately to sit up by himself. He is doing great in his 'school'. he used to be the only boy, but now he has to share the ladies with another cute little guy. I think he'll be getting his first haircut this weekend. Pretty much all of his dark hair has fallen out except for a little bit at the base of his skull!!!! It looks really funny. I will be sure to post pictures of that when we cut his hair! For halloween, he's going to dress up as a chest xray- in honor of his mother :) Next year, I'm sure he will be sporting something BMW. he is trying to cut some teeth and I can tell he's really starting to get umcomfortable. He is eating ihis cereal now 2 times a day and we've started him on veggies. So far he really likes peas, sweet potatoes and he'll be trying butternut squash soon. He wasn't a fan of the avacado but we'll try that again later.

We're having Joe dedicated at our church this Sunday morning. It will be a special day for us. He will be almost 6 months old at that point- cannot believe that!!!!

Jon is doing really well down in Orlando. Top 5 in his class. Pray for him as he starts to assemble his resume and hopefully will be able to start looking for a job and find one quickly.

I have my big exam on Saturday November 7 at 12p. Pray for me- I'm very nervous.

We will keep you posted with any new news we get. We hope to be able to post a video of Joey talking really soon!!!! But for now, you'll have to settle with some photos :)