Happy 7th Birthday Jojo, er, Joseph

Joseph had a very good birthday. He woke up proclaiming, "It's my birthday today!" His mind was set on what he wanted to do on his birthday. It didn't involve going to McDonald's like we initially planned, or going to Burger King, which he preferred. Can you guess what he wanted to do? Stay home and play on his computer. And so he did. Later in the evening, we had a little party for him with just family members, and a couple whom we regard as family, too.

Then it was time for the birthday cake. Nana made the cake

shaped as the number 7. Joseph loved it.

Time for some presents

Seafood Gumbo

Brady cooked some seafood gumbo for Jojo's party. The picture above does not do justice to just how good it was. How could you go wrong when you put together some oysters, crabs, shrimp, crawfish, and smoked sausage over rice, with boiled egg optional?

And then these three young men.

Five years ago, they looked like this:

Like I said before, my baby is not a baby anymore.

Looking Back Seven Years Ago

Joseph's birthday is not until Friday, but it was on a Wednesday evening seven years ago when he made his appearance. The delivery was not uncomplicated. After trying to "push" him out for about four or six hours, I started having a fever and ended up having a c-section. I didn't get to see him after he was born because he also had a fever and had to be checked out while I was being "sewed up". For several hours I had no idea how he looked or if he had Down's syndrome. There was a possibility of him having Down's because of my age. For the longest time, and even now when I think about it, I resented Brady for not showing me my child as soon as he was born.

Anyway, Joseph had to stay in the hospital for a week, not in the NICU but just in the nursery, while he got IV antibiotics.

We were so blessed that the hospital was not busy at that time and I was allowed to stay in one of the rooms so I could be near Joseph to nurse him. Brady and I remember those days very well...How we knew the nurse was bringing him to us for nursing because we could hear the squeaky wheels of his little bed. We were so excited to see him, and sad when he had to go back to the nursery.

Then, we finally got to go home with him on Christmas Eve that year.

We were so happy to bring him home in time for Christmas.

And now, in a couple of days, my baby will be seven years old.

Six Years Old Going on Seven

Years ago before I even met Brady, I saw the movie "The Indian in the Cupboard" on TV. I think I've seen it 2x but never from the beginning to the end. I always managed to catch the last half and each time it ended, I thought to myself that I would like my (future) child to see this movie because I really liked it, particularly the main boy character. It happened that it was showing tonight...

And Joseph actually agreed to watch it with me without any fuss, considering that would mean not playing on his computer. He watched the whole thing and said he liked it, too.

The movie was sort of a coming-of-age for the 9-year old main character Omri. Anyway, I thought it was timely because in one week Joseph will be seven years old. In some ways he's really been acting like a big boy in the way he talks, rationalizes, bargains with me and is being more patient with me. Most of the time, though, he still throws a fit and whines to get what he wants, mostly from the other adults in his life. Anyway...

This afternoon he was tasting some chocolate (that's why his teeth are dark in the picture) when he suddenly got so excited that his face flushed, his HR soared up and he hyperventilated! I've never seen him this excited.

All because the car Chick Hicks made an appearance on Disney Pixar World of Cars. Joseph (Precious Rollingwheel), along with other cars followed and chased Chick Hicks around. Considering that these kids (cars) supposedly all thought badly of Chick Hicks, you couldn't tell by the way they were excitedly asking him to race with them and just trying to get close to him.

Even I got excited for Precious. Tomorrow, he and I will be playing a lot of Club Penguin so that we can earn coins to buy stuff to decorate our igloos with. There's the holiday decorating contest going on right now. Forty-something going on seven? A mother has to do what she's got to do to keep up with her boy.

???

A boat on the highway?

Horses?
A firetruck driving too close to Joseph.

..

More trucks on the way. What's going on???

Oh, it's Santa!

Hello, Santa. We meet again.

With the cousins

"I'm ready to go home and taste my candies, Nana."

Newspaper Clip

I couldn't find a link to that little article about Joseph's wish trip on the website of the weekly newspaper that posted it. So I'm doing it this way. Click on the picture 2x to magnify it and just move the bars below and to the side of it so you can read the whole article. I hope my sister can figure it out. :p

A Quick Trip To See Santa

Some pictures from this afternoon.

Family Turkey Day

I think that this is the earliest ever that I had the inside of the house decorated for Christmas. Thanks to Ms. Frances, Joseph's caregiver, who put up the tree and strung the lights and even put a garland on the mantle. All I had to do was put up the ornaments and the same decorations that I had on the shelves last year. Did I mention that my favorite fairy tale is The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Grimm Brothers?

We had the Thanksgiving dinner at our house today. The food was good and plentiful. Everyone in the family was there, except for Brady's other brother. I didn't get to take pictures because Joseph pretty much kept me captive the whole time: he had to taste everything from the chips and dip, to the fried turkey, roast pork, ribs, roll and butter, and ice cream. The boy ate from the moment the first guest came until Nana cleaned the kitchen. I could just imagine how much he could eat had he still had his swallow.

Post Turkey Dinner Nap

Some Picnik fun

Thanksgiving

Pictures of Joseph taken around this time of the year

when he was three years old.

Oh, memories... But somehow I couldn't find any pictures of past Thanksgiving days. The pictures above will have to do. Today, Joseph and I spent a quiet day at home. Joseph, as usual, spent the whole day playing on his computer. Brady was at work. Austin was in and out of the house. Joseph's friend, Noah, kept us company in the morning until noon when he was called back next door for their Thanksgiving dinner. Not long after that, Noah's aunt -our neighbor- came with a tray of food. Then Nana came to sit with Jojo. After Nana left, Austin took the Christmas tree, wreaths, etc. down from the attic. Joseph ended his day watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving on TV and a few other shows, and then his Daddy came home. Just a regular day for Joseph.

There's a lot to be thankful for today. But I am specially tickled with Brady's new ringtone:

Day 24

There's an article on our local/parish weekly newspaper that featured Joseph and his Wish trip. It was a really good article. My friend at work sent me a text to tell me about it. I had no clue because we don't get the weekly paper. I knew that someone from the KidsWish Network interviewed Brady after our trip to Florida, but Brady forgot to tell me that it was going to come out on our local paper. Anyway, I am very thankful for this surprise article. I just need to figure out how to post it here.

Day 23

Two things that I am very thankful for today: (1) I won't have to repeat three hours of dementia training required at work because my co-worker was able to print my certificate. And (2) Joseph and I finally completed the clam water levels of the Club Penguin AquaGrabber game and even won 4 stamps. They may seem little things but these two made my day!

Day 22

Late post: Thankful that I grudgingly went on a girls' night-out last night and actually had fun. Except that it was only for 1 1/2 hours total for me! That's about all I could handle. Brady was very supportive, and Joseph didn't even notice I was gone.

Day 21

Thankful that Joseph can make friends and chat, online that is. He spent the whole weekend playing on Disney Pixar The World of Cars Online. Unfortunately for him, most cars think his car is a girl because of the name Precious. Poor boy, now he can't change the name (he picked it randomly) because he will lose his friends, racing points, and "money".

Day 20 (one day late)

Thankful for Heidi's/Junior's blog for this turkey idea. Joseph wanted to use his handprints and footprint, though. When he finished and looked at it, he said that it's like a potato with fireworks behind it.

Day 19

I'm thankful for the Internet (again), for making the world smaller for families dealing with SMA and other awful childhood illnesses/disorders.

Day 18, a few hours late

I'm thankful for my job: less than 30 minutes from Joseph at home, family-oriented bosses, flexible hours, opportunity to work just 4 days a week.

Day 17

I'm thankful that Joseph and his Dad had a great day today. Nighttime is a different story, what with bath time interfering with computer time and someone getting very impatient. I'm not telling which one. :)

Day 16

I'm very thankful that I am feeling better. And thankful that Brady is taking care of Joseph until I'm 100% better.

Day 15: See you later, Ninang

Then, it was suddenly time to say Goodbye to Joseph's Ninang (godmother). We left home for the airport hours earlier than her flight to enjoy lunch at Logan's.

We got to the airport with enough time to take it easy. And Brady thought it was only me who loved to take pictures.

Joseph: "Hmmp, I don't like the smell here."

Bye, Cristina. It was so good to see you again.
Oh, I hate saying Goodbyes. It always sucks for the one being left behind. I felt sad when Cristina left and missed my Mom so badly. We took my Mom and my sister to this airport (the old building) four years ago and I feared that it might be the last time I would see her again. I was right. And now I feel very homesick, although I know in my heart that home as I remembered and knew it would never be the same again. Which brings me to being:

Thankful that I have these two.

And wherever they are, there is my home.

And I am thankful for my beautiful cousin,

for being generous with her time, her kindness and love for my son.

I really enjoyed her time with us,

though short and complicated by my being sick.

And though she's younger than me, I can only aspire to be as confident and as wise as she is.

Day 14

One day in November 2007

Fast forward to today

It must be true then, that my cousin Cristina is a lucky charm to Austin.

Austin killed a doe when my cousin was last here three years ago.

And early this morning, he killed an 8-point buck.

Some other pictures from today

Joseph and his Ninang Cris



These are what we call, money on the ground.
At $1/lb, people in our parish are picking pecans on their days off.


And my cousin had to do it, too.

For today, we're thankful that Austin killed a nice buck (sorry, deer), and that my cousin got to taste some chicken-fried deer meat. And though I am still miserable because of this illness that developed into a BAD COLD, and therefore ruining whatever little plans we had for my cousin's visit, I am thankful that it was not just Joseph and me while I had been sick the whole weekend. And I will be VERY thankful if Joseph somehow gets spared from having my cold.