Christmas Pictures

We thoroughly enjoyed our first Christmas with our little man at home.  We are so thankful that he is doing so well and was able to really enjoy celebrating with us this year.  We are very blessed to have such a healthy baby boy.  Here are some pictures from last year and this year.  Enjoy!

(Josh with his Christmas penguin, a gift from Zoe last Christmas)

(Josh "wearing" his christmas hat last year)

(Big boy waiting outside in the cold to see Santa come around on a fire truck)

(Bradley enjoying some quality time with Santa)

(Josh fasinated with Santa's beard, which is interesting since he is afraid of beards)

(Close as he would get to smiling while sitting with Santa)

(Our house all ready for Christmas breakfast - notice our beautiful Ecuadoring table cloth - thanks Meier family)

(Josh loved his leap frog train from Grammie!)

(Josh and Uncle Matt reading a story together)

(Daddy putting together Josh's lowe's push car)

(The finished product - he loves going for walks with his new car)



Thanksgiving and First Birthday

So I know we are a little behind getting an update out, but better late then never right?  Josh celebrated his FIRST birthday on November 29th, with a party on December 4th!  It is hard to believe how far he has come, we are very blessed to have such a healthy baby boy.

He had his one year check up where he weighed in at 22lbs 13oz and was 29.5 inches long!  He was in the 50th percentile for one year olds - that means he made his growth curve for his actual age!  This is the first time he has been at a healthy level on his growth curve since he came home.  On the adjusted curve, he was in the 97th percentile for both height and weight.

We had a good time getting first year pictures done and updating our family pictures since Josh had grown so much in the last few months.  We also celebrated his birthday with lots of friends and family at a local park.  Josh had quite a good time eating his very own cupcake - you would never have known this was his first time eating chocolate cake. 

Josh is doing well developmentally too.  A few days after his birthday, he pulled up on the couch and started cruising around.  He is also becoming very quick with his crawling, we are having to keep a close eye on him all the time.  All this extra movement has resulted in some new bumps and bruises.  He handles them quite well though - Mommy is having a hard time with them then he is.  We are continuing to work with physical therapy and occupational therapy one a week, but are making good progress.  Josh doesn't seem to have any issues eating quite well now - he actually hasn't meet anything he doesn't like to eat.  He also now has his first tooth!  We are quite the proud parents in regards to that.

Enough talking, here are some pictures, Christmas ones to follow.

 (Josh spending some time hanging out with Grammie)

 (Big boy standing up, cruising on the couch)

 (Josh ready for his first Thanksgiving dinner)

 (Josh sampling some of the goodies made for Thanksgiving dinner)

 (Josh helping Daddy put the lights on the Christmas tree)

  

(Josh enjoying the swing at his birthday party) 

(Noah and Josh enjoying some swing time together at Josh's party)

(Mommy and Josh at his party)

(Daddy and Josh)

 

(Handsome blue eyed boy)

(Mmmm cupcake!! His shirt says God make the impossible, possible. Here I am!)

(Noah and Aunt Anita enjoying dinner after the party)

(Uncle Tim, Josh, Noah and Uncle Nick playing with some of Josh's birthday toys)

(Bundled up baby with his puppy hat going to celebrate Christmas with the Gamblin's)

I couldn't get his formal pictures to upload, check for them on facebook.

Oh the year we have had!

November has been a rough month for us.  I will hit the highlights for you.

• Josh was sick with a viral illness that had no symptoms other than an occasional fever (up to 103.7), poor appetite and poor drinking.  After 4 visits to our pediatrician in 2 weeks, he ended up admitted to the hospital overnight for IV fluids. Within hours of starting the IV fluids he perked up, started drinking and was a much happier baby by the next morning.
• Granddad (Mommy's Dad) came for a visit and some test at the VA, had a heart attack while he was here. Granddad and Josh got to be in the hospital at the same time and discharged the same day.  After going home on Saturday, he had a major heart attack the next day in Jacksonville.  Three days later he had double bypass surgery.  Granddad is now staying with us while he recovers from his surgery.  We are enjoying having him here with us and he is making good progress
• After Josh got over his two week illness, Daddy developed strep throat an took 3 visits to the doctor and two weeks to get over it.
• Josh then developed rota virus and we spent quite a few days cleaning up poops and doing lots of laundry.

So after all of that, we are all healthy and are thankful that Mommy was able to stay healthy through all of this. 

Josh is doing well with his physical and occupational therapy.  He is making rapid progress with his eating and is now eating only table food.  We think he could eat just about anything, if it weren't for the limiting factor of not having any teeth.  Josh is now doing an army crawl on his belly and getting quite good at going backwards.  He is learning quickly how to balance his weight and move his arms and legs reciprocally.  We think he will be hand and knees crawling in the next few weeks.  He is making rapid progress in his strengthening exercises.  He does have some tight muscles in his thighs, but we are working to stretch those muscles out everyday.

Josh got to experience his first time doing Black Friday shopping this year.  He shopped like a champ!!!  He had a good time watching people and didn't fuss once while we were out.  We are amazed at what a happy little guy he is.  He rarely fusses unless he is tired and is quite content to go with us and do whatever we are doing.  We are truly blessed!!

We are aware that the big boy is going to be one year old in just two short days!  We are thankful and amazed that he had reached this milestone.  We had no idea this time last year that we would be parents in such a short period of time.  Amazing the difference a year can make!

(Josh trying to use skype all by himself)

(Gator Baby)

(Josh enjoys reading the paper with Daddy - sometimes he eats it too)

(Gator baby ready for his first tailgating experience!)

(Josh tailgating with Aunt Lindsay)

(Josh enjoying some relaxing music with his baby Tad)

(I am working on this crawling thing Mommy)

(This is how I found Josh after his nap one afternoon - that is his lovie on his head)

(Josh loves to eat his play mat!)

(Corn on the Cobb!!!!  Thanks Peggy for making his costume!!)

(Playgroup Halloween party)

(Granddad feeding Josh)

(Handsome baby sitting on a huge haystack)

(How awesome is that!)

(family picture at the pumpkin patch - Josh was eating hay)

(Happy baby enjoying the pumpkin patch)

(Look at this pumpkin, it is as big as I am!)

A few videos for those who like live action shots

Doctor's Office 1



Doctor's Office 2



Nothing cuter than a baby laughing

Big boy growing up quick... 10 months and counting

Josh has reached a new milestone in his little life - he is now 10 months and 2 days old!  It is hard to believe that our little man is getting so close to his first birthday!  Mommy and Daddy have already started thinking about what we will do to celebrate such an amazing milestone!  Stay tuned for details...

In the meantime we will wow you with a few updates about our little guy.  He has said his first word, which was Ma - used to call his Mommy when he is upset or she isn't in the room with him.  This happened Wednesday a week ago.  On Friday, he followed it up by saying Dada when calling his Daddy to get his attention in the car.  He has also said buh-bye a few times.  We were quite amazed that he started to talk after showing no interest in it - he wasn't even babbling ma or da before he said them. 

Josh is sitting up consistently now and has started to pull himself up to his knees and rock some.  We are thinking we will have a little crawler in the next few weeks.  He is rolling over like a champ - he uses it to get where he wants to be right now.  We had him screened for developmental milestones on Tuesday.  The screening showed that his skill level is between 6 and 7 months with some 8 and 9 month skills.  He is considered to be 6.5 months adjusted, so he is doing wonderful!  There is a little concern that his right side is a little weaker than the left.  We are going to see a physical therapist to further evaluate this possibility. 

Josh has been to see the occupational therapist for his eating issues.  She confirmed what we knew, which is that he has some aversions, but she was impressed that he is still interested in eating.  He will see the occupational therapist weekly for a while to help us get over these issues.  We are also doing exercises daily at home.  We have seen quite an improvement since we started occupational therapy.  In fact, tonight, Josh decided he didn't want to eat his purees, instead, he wanted some chicken pot pie.  He did a nice job of chewing his food and tolerated it pretty well.  There was a little bit of throwing up at the end, but we think it is because he was holding too much food in his mouth.  He also enjoyed quite a bit of Mommy's sandwich at lunch today.

Since cold and flu season has started back, we have become a bit more cautious about where Josh goes and who touches him.  He is at risk of getting RSV (a nasty form of the cold), which could be dangerous for him, so we are trying to do our best to protect him.  He started got his synagist and flu shots last week.  He will do the synagist throughout cold season - it is a shot of antibodies to help his body defend against RSV infection.  Since we will be going in monthly for shots, we will have monthly weight updates as well.  He weighed in at 20lbs 15oz last week and measured 26.6 inches.

Josh has upgraded to his big boy car seat.  He seems to enjoy it more than his other seat.  We think this is because he can see better while in it.  This means Mommy and Daddy have enjoyed traveling a bit more.  Our family has enjoyed a few trips including Josh's first boating trip.  He is also enjoying riding in the front of shopping carts and continues to attract people to him wherever he goes.

(Josh helping Daddy make his night time bottle)

(He is such a big boy he can carry his own bottle to his bedroom)

(Big boy enjoying his tub time sitting up)

(Did you know you can get your toes while in the tube too?)

(Josh and Mommy ready to go to the beach while in St. Augustine)

(Big boy enjoying sitting in the sand at the beach)

(Oh my gosh!  Where did the water come from?)

(Josh and Daddy enjoying looking at the view)

(Big boy watching the water)

(Check me out in my big boy car seat!)

(Josh watching his first Gator game at Aunt Anita and Uncle Nick's)

(Silly baby enjoys playing with his cups)

(Josh watching the Gators beat Tennessee from Daddy's lap)

(Josh doing some "therapy" time with his carrot)

(Big boy enjoying play time on the foam mat Aunt Cristina and Uncle Stephen sent him)

(Gator boy enjoys wrapping himself up in the Gator blanket Granddad made)

(I love to swing!!!!)

(Big boy eating his first cookie - eating therapy is fun!)

(Josh hanging out in the hammock on the island while boating)

(Cobb Family enjoying boating with Aunt Kathy, Uncle Rick and Nick)

(Nick and Josh hanging out - gotta love milk bubbles)