Joshua's 9 Month Appt.

Here are his stats:

28in. long - 47th%
19lbs 8oz - 40th%
46cm. head circ - 76%

She said he is a little behind on the milestones, mostly sitting. He is at about the 7 month old level of sitting. She's not too concerned, just wants us to keep working with him. Mostly because I told her that I never crawled and was a late walker so he might just take after me. He does have the strength to sit and to stand/cruise and we should just work with him on it. If he is still behind at his 1 year visit then we may have the Babynet service come out to do an evaluation. She thinks the MyGym classes that he starts on Friday are a great idea and they should be able to help.

We can start giving him table food and stage 3. She was surprised when I told her that I bought a stage 3 sweet potato and wild salmon since the recommendation is to wait on fish until 1 year. I told her that he spits out everything we try to give him but she said it's just a new texture and that's ok, it will take him time to get used to it. We'll see what happens when he starts the stage 3. We'll also be starting him on meat now or at least trying.

She said to wait until 1yr to start whole milk and to just put it in a sippy cup, cold. It should be a totally different thing than breast milk. Also I think she wants to wean him from breastmilk to whole milk at that point. That's the first I've ever heard of that. She was surprised he's still nursing, according to her most breast fed babies self wean by this point. Ok, I've never heard that either. I'm not planning to wean him at 1 year, maybe at 2 but we'll see. For now it's his main source of nutrition, I don't know how different that will be at 1 year. I will try to get him to drink whole milk at 1 year but not as a substitute for breast milk.

9 Month Portraits

Baby Joshua Sitting Up!

Baby Joshua "Swimming"

Update

Just thought I'd write a quick update.

Party
I'm hoping the date will be November 27th, the day after Thanksgiving but I'm waiting to hear back from a few people to know if the date will work for them. The theme is Pooh's 1st Balloon Party, bought all the stuff at Party City today. This is going to be the cake.

Teeth
Joshua's had the bottom front two teeth for a while, they just haven't come all the way up yet. Today we noticed the top two are trying to break through and they are giving him such a tough time. Today he was super fussy & cranky, I mean worse than he's been in a very long time. So bad that nursing didn't even help and it always does. My poor baby, I hate seeing him suffer.

Swimming
He has been doing so well with his lessons! I just have to brag about today. Lately he has been kicking his legs all the time. I will be carrying him around and he's kicking. Today he was kicking up a storm in the pool, it was so cute! I kept asking him where he was going and when he would kick I would pretend like he was actually swimming and swim him around the pool. We got a video today of him "swimming" in the air, it was so funny! I held him in a swimming position and he would kick and move his arms. He's definately going to be an early swimmer, he loves being the water and he's already got the basics down.

Sitting
He's still working on it but it's better. I got a video today of him sitting without supporting himself with his hands on the floor. "Look ma, no hands!" As long as he keeps making small improvements I'm happy.

My Gym
I have signed us up for classes that start at the end of this month. He will be in the Tiny Tykes class. Check out their website for more information. We're going to a location considered mobil but it's really just a satellite, not mobil. So because of that it's less expensive and we don't have to be members which also saves us some money. If I really like it then we can always become members later.

That's about all I can think of right now. It's been a very long day with a fussy, cranky teething baby who slept with us last night so I didn't get much sleep. Hopefully he stays in his crib all night tonight.

New Party Themes

I was going to do Noah's Ark but one of themes is no longer available and upon researching the other theme I discovered it's really a baby shower theme. I could get some of the stuff in that theme or another Noah's Ark theme but very little would be useable since most of it is made for a baby shower. I just have a thing about having everything match and I wouldn't be able to get decorations that would match. There are a lot of other themes I like but I don't really want to buy online since it will cost more. So we went to our local Party City and found two themes I like. Please tell me your favorite!

Pooh's 1st Birthday Fun

Wonderful One Birthday Boy

Baby Joshua at swimming lessons

Baby Joshua splashin' in the tub

Swimming Lessons

Today was Joshua's first swimming lesson and he did very well. We got there late but jumped right in and started trying to get him to kick, he didn't but that's ok. Then we got a toy to try to get the to reach for and he did that, put something in front of him in the water or not and he will reach for it. This encourages them to put their arms out in front of them like they will do when they start swimming. Then we got in a circle and did three songs, the wheels on the bus, the hokey pokey and ring around the rosey. We did lots of movement, lifting him in and out of the water, moving him from side to side, front to back and splashing. Normally they wait until the second class but since all the babies were doing so well we actually had our first dunk. We did 4 choruses of ring around the rosey and each time dunked them a little more. In the first it was to their shoulders, then to their chin, then to their nose and then a full dunk. He did pretty well even though he was suprised he didn't cry, just complained a little bit but then he was fine. He didn't cry until we took him out of the water, he just loves the water.

There are about 12 parents & babies in the class. I'd say Joshua is the youngest or one baby girl might be younger than him but the oldest is no more than 2. So he'll do this class next summer too and then should be able to move to the toddler class. The younger babies were actually more content in the water than the toddlers. Jamie came and took pictures and video, I'll add the video later.

8 Months!

I have started working on a slideshow for Joshua's birthday and every time I see his newborn pictures I want to cry. Just 8 months ago he was this tiny little 7 pound baby in the NICU hooked up to wires and looking so helpless. Now he's not so helpless and has a very healthy set of lungs. I want to turn back time or at the very least pause it. Sometimes I just watch him sleep, my sweet innocent angel and I wonder how did he get so big so fast. Ok, enough of that. Here are some updates.

Eating
He is doing much better with baby food. He eats about 1 jar or container a day spilt into two feedings. In the morning he gets half a container and in the afternoon another half. Usually of two different things. I'm still trying out new things on him, new combinations. The new things he's had: mango, blueberry, cherry, orange & strawberry. Soon he's going to be trying: apricot, blackberry, plum & grape. He will now eat apple & sweet potato as well as pear & squash but try to get him to eat any veggie without a fruit mixed in it, forget it.

Sitting
He's doing better but still not all the way there yet. He can sit with his hands on the floor or on his legs to support him and for a few seconds he can sit without that support. Hopefully it won't be much longer before he can do it without support.

He's not interested in crawling or standing. He still doesn't really like to be on his stomach so I'm not sure he will crawl, he may just skip it as I did. He will stand for a few seconds but that's about it.

Sleeping
His naps are still catnaps although lately there have been a few long naps too. It seems that if he can manage to roll over while he's asleep he will nap longer, sometimes anyway. Nights are really all over the place. Some nights he'll sleep 12 hours without waking and others he'll sleep 9 with a lot of waking. Never really know what the night will bring but I am grateful for all the sleep I get.

He has finally started jumping in his jumperoo. He loves to kick so I knew it was only a matter of time before he was jumping. I'm not sure he knows what he's doing but all of a sudden he will go crazy and start bouncing up and down, it's so cute & funny!

This Saturday he starts swimming lessons. For the next 6 Saturday mornings we'll be at the YMCA for 30 minute lessons. He loves the water, we've been in the pool a lot so I'm hoping that works to our advantage.

That's about all I can think of right now. Joshua is stirring so I will probably have to go attend to him then it's bedtime for me.

Birthday Party Update

One of the Noah's Ark themes isn't available anymore so it looks like I have to pick this one. I am thinking about ordering it soon just in case it too becomes unavailable. I am also looking at other things I want to order so here's where you get to chime in with your opinion. Pick one of these high chair cover sets. It comes with the banner, floor mat & a plastic bib. Unfortunately none of them exactly match the theme, they don't have one that does. The t-shirts are $15 and I can't see spending that much for one when I can get one from Wal-Mart a lot cheaper. Same goes for the hats which he probably won't wear very long anyway.

1
2

Invitations

I am now researching invitations for Joshua's birthday party. Opinions, please!

Animals 1
Animals 2

baby laughter

Milestones!

This was a pretty big weekend for Joshua. We didn't do anything special to celebrate the 4th but it still turned out to be a great weekend. So far he hasn't been doing that well with solid food. Well on Friday he tried apple & blueberry for the first time and seemed to like it pretty well. Saturday he seemed to like it even more so I thought I would try to give him what was left in the container on Sunday since if he didn't eat it I would have to toss it anyway. There was more than half the container so at least 2oz and HE ATE IT ALL! I am so happy and proud!! Not only did he eat it, he gobbled it up and made very little mess. For the first time, it was a pleasure feeding him!

I have been working with him for the past couple of months on sitting up. Well today he sat up unassisted for a minute! He is definately grasping the concept! Lately he hadn't been sleeping through the night all that well but last night he slept 12 hours once again! I guess all that work learning to sit up and eat solid food is tiring. Hopefully, now that he has started mastering these new skills, he will go back to his regular sleeping pattern.

Party Planning

I know I already posted this but I think I fixed it so you can post comments now. So now you can actually tell me which one you like best.

Noah's Ark

Whimsical Ark

Joshua loves his toes!

Trying to Sit-Up

Joshua - 7 months old

Beach Weekend

Someone said that I'm going to turn Joshua into a beach bum, that would be fine with me! I'd love for him to love the beach and the ocean. Nothing says summer to me like the beach. Actually he's only been on the beach a total of 3 times and none of them was longer than 30 minutes.

Friday we spent with my mom and Joshua was so good! We went to see his honorary great grandmother Bernice who is in her 90's. I have to get a picture of him with her, he really likes her and her puppy Mikey a Shih Tzu. We spent the rest of the time just hanging out, we would have gone swimming except that I left my swimsuit at home! I remembered when we got about 30 minutes away from the house that I hadn't taken it off the hanger and put it in the suitcase. It was too late. So on Saturday I had to buy one, full price. Oh well, now I will wear the heck out of it. We went to dinner at a local pizza place near my mom and Joshua was charming the waitresses. Everyone LOVES his sunglasses! All weekend long I kept getting comments about my cool dude.

Saturday we met some friends and their kids, we had lunch at Margaritaville at Broadway at the Beach. If you've never been to one you should go, they are all over the southeast. There's also a Cheeseburger in Paradise in North Myrtle Beach, it's a little more toned down if you don't like a big restaurant. We may check that one out next time. I just wished Joshua liked going out to eat more, I guess I have to catch him at the right time. Friday night he slept through most of dinner but Saturday only part of lunch and at dinner he was so tired because we wore him out that day. One day a couple of weeks ago we went out to dinner and he slept through some if it and when he woke up he was in a great mood. He started laughing and laughed back and forth with me, something he'd never done before!

Saturday afternoon our friends and their kids came over to our resort and went swimming with us at the pool. We all had a great time. I think Joshua has fallen in love, with an older woman. A 4 year old girl with blonde hair. He couldn't stop staring at her and smiling. It was so cute! I wish I'd gotten pictures but some were taken just not with my camera. I didn't get any when we went out on the beach after they left either, unfortunately. From now on the camera is staying in the beach/pool bag.

We took Joshua out to the beach and we all got in the water. We went out past the breakers, the water was pretty calm so we didn't have to go far. Just where the waves start to form but before they get big and crash. I put him on the canvas float we had and he was having a good time until the waves started crashing where we were. He got water in his face and was not happy, he hates that. Hopefully he'll get over it soon since I think he'll be going under water at swimming lessons. So after two waves breaking and him getting splashed in the face we decided to go back. I had the raft out in front of me when a wave broke and took me straight into shore! It was so much fun! We weren't far out but we were far enough out that I rode that wave a good way!

He was so tired that night from the swimming and the ocean that he fell asleep in his clothes and slept 8 hours that way before waking up and needing to be changed. The next day he slept the whole way from the beach to Jamie's mom's and then fell asleep on my lap, something he never does unless he falls asleep nursing. Then he slept all the way home and again fell asleep in without being nursed. Guess we wore him out.

Party Planning

Yes, I've started seriously planning Joshua's 1st birthday party. I am not thinking about the fact that he's growing up but that party planning is fun! I really think I want to do Noah's Ark as the theme. His naming certificate has a beautiful drawing of Noah's Ark on it so I think that's a good tie-in to it. Also this may be the only time I get to pick the theme as next year he may have things he actually likes. One of Jamie's high school classmates makes beautiful cakes so I have already talked to her about doing Joshua's cake and she has penciled in the day after Thanksgiving for the party. It will either be that day or the day after that and will probably be at my mother-in-law's house. Which is good since the woman doing the cake lives nearby.

Here are the two Noah's Ark party supply themes I'm looking at. Please tell me which one you like best. I don't know how to make comments work so just e-mail me or tell me on Facebook.

Noah's Ark - This one actually says Happy 1st Birthday where the other one doesn't.

Whimsical Ark - I think this one is cuter, less cartoony.

Here are some cake photos. Which one do you like?

Cake

Cake 2

Cake 3

Cake 4