Yes, this is a hamburger. McDonald's happy meal.
And this one is just a little teaser to some of the great shots from Colorado. I'm finally back in Chicago, but leaving again Saturday morning, so hopefully I'll get most of these up before then.
Thanks to Kiddie Junction and Aunt Christina for helping him practice!!
Joey can put the rings back on the post! I saw him putting the yellow ring back on the table, which I was able to snap in the above picture. But then I sat him down and put the full Fisher-Price version in front of him and he was so happy. Putting the rings on, getting lots of congratulations from Mommy, kicking his little feet in joy.
And again at bed time, he did not want to go to sleep. He contorts into the strangest positions sometimes. I swear I've seen him touch his head to his butt. Ah, to be young again.
And look at those little feet. I don't know how he does it, or why, but he pushes off with his right toe. Always his right big toe. Never the left. It's so cute!
While he was playing on the little push car that his Cousin Shae gave him, I told Joey to wave "hi" to all his adoring fans. He was more than happy to oblige.
Then it was bedtime. (We took a bath first, and Joey splashed and splashed and got Mommy soaking wet. But we had a great time!) Joey has finally figured out how to pull himself up on his knees on the side of the crib, where he'll occasionally position himself so that he can scream louder for Mommy and Daddy. So we put the crib down as far as it will go. And he still was almost able to pull himself up. We're planning on putting the exercise mat down on the floor, just in case.
But first, we went for a visit to see Joey's great-grandparents. Once again, Grandpa busted out the pigeons, but Joey was more interested in the ceiling fan Daddy accidentally turned on when he was trying to turn on the light.
I was able to get him to smile for the camera.
And, of course, the obligatory great-grandparent shots. We don't see them nearly enough, so I try to make sure we capture those moments.
Grandma really wanted to hold Joey. That lasted about two minutes. He's so much dead weight, don't you know? 
Joey was ready to watch some football ...
real football. Go Fire!! (One day we'll take him to see a Bears game. In the meantime, he'll have to settle for HD.)
I finally got around to taking some pictures yesterday. Joey just loved that while sitting on the couch he could reach the tissue box. Not sure what's so special about the tissue box, but he loved it!
Then this morning he and Daddy were just chilling watching tv. He looked so comfortable just sitting there. And Daddy was enjoying himself, too.
I promise. I'll post more pictures of the boy soon. Things have just been crazy around here. In the meantime, I have a morning conference call, so I had a few extra minutes at home to snap the above picture. It's pretty impressive, if you ask me. I've had more growth on my rose bushes in the last month than I've had all summer. The combination of rain and cool (but not cold) weather has been a pleasure to my gardens. And yes, I got the gerbera daisies to rebloom, numerous time, actually. Thanks for all the hard work, Mom and Dad!
This weekend is Laura's bachelorette party, and Christina flew in from Boston to help celebrate. Since Joey was asleep, Christina held little Diego all night long! (Nicole and Diego came out to visit after she picked up Tammy from the airport.)
Little Diego was so tired!
And here's Joey this morning, while he wasn't eating his breakfast again. This boy is just so stubborn! (Does he take after Daddy or Mommy? Or both?)
My wonderful husband sent me this picture this morning of better times in the Burger household. Unfortunately, Joey's feeling a bit under the weather. After waking up this morning, Daddy got him dressed and tried to feed him, but Joey wasn't having any of it. Daddy put him down for a second in his crib, and the next thing you know Joey's sleeping again! He had a little cough and just was exhausted. A quick call to the doctor's office and we find out the cough is going around. So Daddy gets Joey some Triaminic, and we're feeling better already.
And then the festivities began. Apparently there was just a mix up on the date, and everyone thought the party was today. Since Joe and I weren't doing anything anyway, we figured why not. Sammy J was interested in the adult beverages; we will definitely have to keep an eye on him and Joey as they get older.
And they loved playing together. It was so cute because they took turns "patting" each other on the head, trying to figure out what was going on. Sammy's a bit better crawler, so when it got to "fighting" over the toys, Sammy tended to do a little better.
The rest of the crew showed up a little later. Yes, these pics are from the same day. As the sun went down, it definitely turned cooler, so we had to bundle up. But they all played together so well - it was great!
Ginny had no problem posing on her own, though.
And Joey and Daddy had so much fun just hanging out, listening to the music and clapping along. It was a beautiful day.
We all had fun, and, as usual, all of the wait staff wanted to play with the baby. Daddy was just a little upset to find out I didn't wake him up for Orange - but he got over when he found out I brought leftovers home.
As you can see, he had fun playing in it, and even was willing to hang onto the rails. (Full disclosure - he didn't pull himself up, but one of the reasons I wanted to get the play yard was so that he's maybe encouraged to try to pull himself up.)
He didn't exactly love it completely, but he did have fun peeping over the top at the television. And was Ginny ever confused. I've never seen a dog so excited and try to get INSIDE the "cage."
And once again, Joey was exhausted. I think he went to bed at 6:30 tonight. Here's hoping he's not up at 5:30 for good. I can deal with getting him a bottle, as long as he goes back to sleep for at least an hour. Keep your fingers crossed.
Sweet dreams!
