8 Months!

At this exact time 8 months ago, I was prepped for surgery and just waiting until those other moms with more emergency needs would hurry up and be done so I could meet my baby boy. At this exact time, the published time of this post-at 12:51am- it will be the 8 month anniversary of the day he entered our world. I can't believe we have come so far. The days of childlessness seem SO FAR gone, but I haven't forgotten what God brought us through to get to this point.

When I last wrote two weeks ago, Josiah had crawled for the first time. The change in him since that milestone achievement has been unbelievable! It's like he's a completely different kid than a few weeks ago.

Josiah is crawling non-stop now. He doesn't even use army crawls anymore, but crawls at full-speed and can go from crawling to sitting and back to crawling again.

He pulls himself up to standing using everything. This happened for the first time on April 5th, the day after my last post. I brought out this musical table, which he pulls up to and plays on.

(Standing for the first time)

He stands in his crib constantly now, and is pretty much standing every time I come to get him in the morning.

(In his crib the very next day!)

Within 2 days, he had begun to use the ottoman and then walks from that to the chair or couch and around again. He is pretty much ONLY interested in activities revolved around this milestone. He doesn't care much for his toys and especially his jumperoo (which keeps him too stationary), but wants to grab computer cords, my camera, my cell phone, any paper, or anything else he shouldn't be grabbing.

 

(Standing with the ottoman and chair)

On April 9th, two days after Josiah began walking with support, he sprouted his first tooth. He had been fussy the day before and I knew that he had residual fluid in his ears from previously being sick and was still prone to infections. So, I took him back into the after-hours clinic to be checked. When the dr. confirmed that he still had fluid but no infection, I said that I also wondered if he was possibly teething. The dr. teasingly said that if a tooth budded and the fussiness stopped, then Josiah was teething. Otherwise, only time would tell. Lo and behold, the very next day, we saw that tooth! Six days later, on April 17th, there was an accompanying bottom tooth. Today (the 21st), I felt a top tooth coming in. I haven't seen it yet because Josiah is pretty tight-lipped, but I know I felt it!

In the meanwhile, we are sick AGAIN!!! AGAIN!!! and AGAIN!!! Arggghh! I could just scream my snotty, raspy lungs out! Josiah got sick for the 4th time the day he turned 6 months old. This was after previously being sick a few weeks earlier. Then he got sick the day he turned 7 months old. This week, he came down sick on Sunday, just before turning 8 months old on Thursday! Arrrgggh! It is the same ailment as last month, with a runny nose, cough, wheezing, and double ear infection. We upped the antibiotic again. We're back on the nebulizer (which Josiah hates a little less this time). And we're using Tylenol to keep his fevers down. It doesn't help that he's teething at the same time! His fever got up to 103.29 F yesterday after he took a nap. I took his temperature in his armpit, which some people say to add another degree to. So, I called the after-hours clinic. They said that the triage nurse would call me back in an hour. I waited almost 2 hours, but when I called back, the same receptionist had no record of my call. At this point, it was too late for a triage nurse to call me back, but she said I could wait until after 10pm to call and talk to the dr. directly. By then, Josiah's temperature was down to 101, and within another hour it was back down to 99. So, I didn't call back. I've been monitoring him closely and his temperature hasn't gotten that high again. I avoided being sick last month after being sick EVERY other time, but this month the bug bit me too. I can't breathe out of my nose at all and have had regular sinus headaches. Josiah and I have both been sleeping a lot and just trying to get better.

Personality-wise, Josiah is still as happy as ever (between the sickness and teething, which only bring him to a mild fussiness at times), but he is a little slower to smile at strangers. He also has become a Momma's Boy, desiring my attention above anyone else's. I love that he seeks me for comfort and love, but I don't like that it's harder to get a break every now and then because he would rather mommy hold him than daddy. He looks for me around objects when I am across the room. He follows me from room to room if I say, "Come here." Once he gets to me, he pulls on my pants legs and stands up and then holds his arms up for me to pick him up. It just gets more and more fun!

In the meanwhile, I got a new daycare client. She is an 8 month old little girl, just 3 weeks older than Josiah. She's so little and petite. (It makes me think of you, Marcia, with your twins, thinking they must be about the same size.) After following so many people in their journey with twins, I already had a renewed understanding of the energy and time it takes to care for two babies, but living it out (in a sense) has given me that much stronger of an appreciation. I watched this little girl 4 days last week for 9-10 hours a day. This week, with us being sick, her parents made other arrangements. It may be kinda like having twins, but I went the first 7 months of Josiah's life without any other baby. Having both babies at the same time is difficult because they feed off of each other's behavior. If she is crying, Josiah begins to cry. I thought this was because she was bothering him, but I read in a developmental thing that it is because he is becoming empathetic to other people's feelings. Who knows? Also, if one kid has a toy, the other one wants it suddenly- not out of rudeness but out of curiosity. And, if one wants me to hold him/her, the other wants to be held too. Fortunately, I don't get stressed too easily. I just take one situation at a time. But having her from 7am-5pm and then Jaydon and Zoe from 3pm-8pm makes for LONG DAY!!! I'm glad to do it. She is a sweet and happy baby, and the money is SO helpful. It's just a learning process.

 

 

(I won't disclose her name since I don't have her parents' permission)

I'll try to post my 8 month pictures of Josiah in the morning when he's awake, and I will work on getting some videos uploaded. In the meanwhile, here are some pictures of the past weeks to hold you over:

(Swinging!)

(at the park with Jaydon and Zoe)

(I love waking up to this face every morning)

 

(Look, Mom, I have shoes!)