Half a year!

My baby is now 6 months old! I thought before that Jesse and I might want to start trying for baby #2 by the time Josiah was 9 months to a year old, but now that we've reached 6 months, 3-6 more months seems WAY too soon!!! I can't believe that in this much more time, I'll be throwing his first birthday party (which I need to start planning now!).

  

I feel like he is learning something new every single day. When I took him into his 6 month wellness visit, I had to fill out a survey about his development. He was able to every activity on the list except for 2: pulling himself to a standing position and feeding himself cookies/crackers (only marked "no" because we've never offered him any and was told to mark "no"). The other things on the list (which he can do) are grab little things using his thumbs, sit unassisted (although I originally marked this as "no" because Josiah gets so excited and tries to grab anything he can get his hands on, causing him to fall over instantly on most occasions), say one syllable consonants ("da-da") and vowel sounds ("ooh, aah"), rolling over on both sides, to name a few. In addition to this, he not only rolls, but also turns 360-degrees to reach anything he wants. He can pretty much get anywhere he wants really quickly, by rolling, stretching, kicking, and turning. He has also begun to push himself up on his hands and knees and rocks. I know these are early signs of crawling, so I'm sure that he'll be even MORE mobile in the next month! I'm already catching myself saying, "No, no, Josiah" as he grabs things off of the floor and puts them into his mouth. He also has started to cry at times when I take away his new "toy", so I'm sure the power struggle is coming! He's such a good baby, though, that I'm not too worried about it. I was telling Jesse last night that in the next 3 months, Josiah will most definitely be crawling, maybe even walking, and probably saying words like daddy, doggy, baby, mommy. Our little guy is getting so big!

He still doesn't have any teeth, but is a great eater. He doesn't seem to particularly like or dislike any certain food- he'll eat anything that goes in his mouth (just like his daddy). He's had carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and squash, bananas, pears, applesauce and apricots. He hasn't had any problems with any of them. I was feeding him solids once a day, most days of the week, but the doctor told me to start working my way up to 3 feedings a day by the time he's 9 months old. So, I started feeding him a veggie for lunch and a fruit for dinner. The doctor didn't mention it, but I read about introducing a sippy cup to your baby at 6 months old. So I bought a few that were designed for "6+ months" and tried to give it to him today. He choked a couple of times and then just screamed. I thought it was made to adjust to the baby- allowing him to control the flow, but he's never had anything except for his original bottle. So perhaps it was just different. I think I need to try again when he's not so tired/hungry. He doesn't need to perfect it now. It's just a matter of teaching him new skills and working towards it.

His sleep is still inconsistent. Is it even worth talking about? Learning to roll over/crawl seems to have messed up his sleeping patterns. He wakes up frequently in the middle of the night and cries. I think he wakes himself up and can't soothe himself back to sleep. But I'm not sure how to change it. He may need to just work through this developmental phase. It's not a horrible issue, although his first waking is usually just an hour after I've fallen asleep. Since I don't have to get up too early in the morning, I'm able to get enough sleep, but I am only getting a few hours at a time right now.

Since Josiah has been 6 months old, he has been really sick (the sickest so far). He woke up that morning with red eyes, runny nose, and a nasty cough. He had a slight cold the week before, but seemed better for about 4 days. Then he woke up with this horrible cold. By the next day, his cough was bad enough that I was worried he may have RSV or bronchitis or something. So, I took him into the doctor's office. They said that his cough was just caused by the drainage of the runny nose. However, in addition to those symptoms, he had an ear infection and the beginning of a 2nd one. They prescribed us antibiotics for him. I had to take him back the very next day for his wellness check. He got 5 shots (7 different vaccines). 5 of the vaccines were follow-up ones from the previous months. The other 2 were the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines. I felt horrible that he had to get them while he was already sick, but I figured it was better than waiting until he was all better and making him feel bad all over again. He cried and screamed the most pitiful, hoarse little cry. He got over it quickly, but it was the worst vaccination so far.

As far as his stats go, he is 19 lbs, 2 oz (down 2 oz from the previous weeks, but he was sick) and 27.75 in. tall. His head is 44 cm. His weight is in the 76%, pretty consistent with what it was before. His height is in the 87%, down 10% from before, and only 3/4 of an inch taller than before. He's definitely slowed down, but I was surprised by how little growth he had. And his head is in the 56%? which is getting bigger than before.

I have been absolutely loving this age! Josiah has so much personality and is learning so much. It is a lot of fun!!! Of course I have always loved him, but my heart swells with pride when he smiles at strangers, at friends, at family, and at me. He and Jesse are my world. I've come to the realization that I would go through infertility all over again, all of the pain and disappointment and waiting, I would do it again for Josiah. I've even come to the realization that as much as I'd love to someday have a baby girl along with another child, if Josiah were the only child I ever had, my heart would be full. When I think of having more kids, I hesitate to rush into it because I don't want to miss out on the special relationship I have with Josiah. When I prayed for God to give me a baby, I was praying for just any baby, but God designed Josiah just for us. He is our perfect child. Not that he is without flaws (although they are minute at this age) but that he is perfect for us. I am so thankful for everything God brought us through and everything He has in store for us. I would never tell anyone who is waiting on a child that they shouldn't feel any of the emotions they do, but I will tell them that I believe, someday, they'll be able to look back and see what God was doing in it and realize His plan was perfect. Our year of infertility was awful but I'm so glad now that we went through it. The beauty comes from the rain.

Let's see... in other news...

Daycare is the same as my last post. You can read about it there if you are interested. Jesse has a couple of weeks left in this term of school. He's doing great now, studying hard and making good grades. He'll get a week off for Spring Break (just in school, not work) and then begin his Spring Term. I've started quilting with my friend Katelyn. It's been a total answer to prayer. Remember a few months back when I was sharing about my friend difficulties? I was feeling really left out of social events and missing out on genuine friendships. Well, Jesse and I were praying a lot about it and God has really opened a lot of doors. Katelyn was one of the people I felt left out from, but God spoke to her about nurturing a relationship with me. Our husbands just instantly clicked with each other, so we've had dinners together and gone bowling and now Katelyn and I began a quilting project. We've also been hanging out with our friends, Camron and Melissa more in the past months. Our schedules haven't matched up in recent weeks, but I am still trying to take time to spend with them. And, we've gone out with my best friend Jolyn and her husband Tim recently (and want to more), and even just scheduled a game night with my friend Rose and her husband Chris. We're actually over-loaded with events now! I'm just so thankful for what God is doing. It's really an answer to prayer, and I'm glad that it's with these friends.

If I post any more pictures, it'll just be repeats of my picture blog. So check it out HERE. Also, if you have an account on facebook, let me know or add me because I post pictures there all of the time. That way you can see everything I've been talking about.

Hope everyone is healthy and happy and I'll try to post a little sooner next time.