7 months and counting

Josh is seven months old today!!  It is hard to believe what seemed like the worse possible thing has turned out so well!!  We are very thankful for all the God has done in Josh's life and how far our little guy had come.

Josh continues to gain weight at a good rate. He weighed in yesterday at 16lbs 5oz!!  Mommy and Daddy are going to need back braces to carry him around soon (not that we mind at all!).  He is doing quite well on the new formula.  The only complaint we have is that he seems to spit up a lot more with the new formula, but it could be worse.  His favorite thing remains his daily dose of frozen breast milk. 

Josh is also doing quite well with his solid foods.  So far we haven't found anything that he doesn't like.  He has tried peas, green beans, summer squash, winter squash, carrots, pears, apples, and a pear/raspberry mix.  He had a slight rash on his forehead this afternoon, which Mommy thinks might be from the apples... but is is hard to tell since he has had so many changes recently.  We have been very impressed with his progress at eating solids in the last week or so.  He now opens his mouth for bits and has gotten quite good at keeping most of the food in his mouth.  (If you will remember, our OT thought he might have problems eating because of the different way he sucks.)  He continues to be a helper during meal times, which often means either Mommy or Daddy is digging baby food out of his nose after his meals.  We are hoping to begin introducing whole grains soon and continuing to give Josh a variety of fruits and veggies to taste.  We want him to enjoy a large variety of foods.

It appears that Josh has started the teething process.  We say process because from what we have read, it continues off and on from now until about age 2.  Then picks back up around 5 or 6 and last for who knows how long.  Josh has all the symptoms, drooling, chewing on everything, drooling, fussiness, chewing on everything, and did we mention drooling. :-)  We have tried some baby orajel when he is at his fussiest and that seems to give him some relief, for which we are thankful.  Teething has interrupted his nap schedule during the day, often resulting in short cat naps or no naps at all.  We are hoping to get him back on schedule soon.

Josh also reached a new milestone this last week. He rolled over for the first several times at playgroup!  Mommy and Daddy think he was trying to impress the boys at playgroup because he has only done it one other time since.  Oh well, there is plenty of time for him to become mobile, in the mean time, Mommy and Daddy are working on baby proofing the house.  Josh has learned to switch toys from one hand to the other and is especially good at his when it impairs his ability to suck his thumb.  We have also started working on sitting up, although we haven't made much progress here.  He can sit propped up really well but he slumps over when you try to help him do it himself. We will keep working on this.

Josh has accumulated quite the following at Publix.  The cashiers and bag boys/girls know him by name and stop by to see him when we are there.  They all try their best to get a smile out of him, which isn't hard most of the time.  Today one of the baggers walked me to the car and stood there talking to Josh while I unloaded the groceries!  Josh has also developed an affinity for being scared.  He loves for you to walk up to him and say Boo.  He thinks this is quite funny, especially when you pretend to look away and then surprise him by saying it.  You can get quite the belly laugh out of him.

Prayer Request:

• Josh would not get sick, especially now that he is receiving less breast milk
• Josh would continue to develop a good sleep pattern (particularly a long afternoon nap) and get the rest he needs
• Josh would continue to do well with his developmental milestones and not have any setbacks
• Josh would not be too uncomfortable from teething

Praises

• Josh is up to 16lbs 5oz!!
• Josh is tolerating solid foods well and is very interested in eating
• Josh rolled over on his own several times
• Josh, Mommy and Daddy are excited to not have doctors appointments every other week!!

(Daddy, Mommy and Josh with family after Noah's dedication)

(Family swim time - Josh was really sleepy)

(Big boy in his exersaucer - he is starting to play by himself some)

(Granddad spending some quality time with Josh)

(Yummy Peas!  I love peas, as you can tell by my face and shirt)

(Here let me help you with that Mommy)

(Nevermind, I can do it myself)

(Josh and Noah playing together - yes Josh is now bigger than Noah)

(Sweet sleeping baby who kept shaking his rattle even in his sleep)

(Handsome man playing with his toys while Mommy and Daddy eat lunch)

(So pleased with himself!!)

(Yeah lunch time!!)

A clean bill of health

So we have been negligent in updating the blog for the last two weeks...our sincere apologies!! We have been a bit busy with a sick baby but he is doing much better. so we thought we would sneak in an update.

Let's begin by going back two weeks ago when Josh had his 6 month check up. He weighed in at 14lbs 4oz (50th percentile for his adjusted age)!!! He was 23.5 inches long (10th percentile) and his head was in the 60th percentile. We were a little concerned about his length being in such a low percentile, but he has grown 2.5 inches from his last visit, (at four months), so our doctor said it wasn't anything to be concerned about right now. Our doctor also evaluated Josh to see how he was doing with his developmental milestones. She said he appears to be on target or ahead for his adjusted age for milestones and that his muscle strength is equal to a 5 or 6 month old baby! We were very excited to hear that he is doing so well and she doesn't think he will need to have any therapy at this time. We also got permission for Josh to start attempting to eat solid foods (more on this later).

Last week we returned to the doctors office with a sick baby. Josh started running at 101.9 degree temp at 4:30pm, right before the doctor's office closed of course! He was a very fussy, drooly baby who was not interested in eating. After a long night with lots of tylenol, motrin and wakefulness, we saw our doctor. She diagnosed him with a viral infection that had caused ulcerations in his throat. (He weighed in at 15lbs 4oz.) There wasn't anything they could do for him, so we were sent home with instructions on what to watch for. After going almost 18 hours without eating (and making Mommy and Daddy very nervous) Josh started to eat again in small amounts. Just 2 days and a 6 oz weight loss later, he was back to his old eating habits and seems to be doing much better.

Josh has been having eating issues that last several weeks, refusing to take any bottle nipple except for two random latex nipples we had left over from the NICU. Every feeding was a fight to get him to eat from a bottle. We tried about 10 different kinds of bottles and nipples without much success. During this time frame, we also attempted to feed Josh some rice cereal. He opened his mouth up, took the spoon fine and then gagged. So we waited 5 days and tried again with the same result, except he threw up this time. Needless to say Mommy and Daddy were getting very concerned that we were on the verge of a major problem. On Monday, Mommy called and spoke to the occupational therapist from the NICU. She wasa very encouraging and helpful!!! After her advice, we found a bottle that he takes every time (Playtex's VentAire Advanced). She also told us that preemies are very sensitive to texture changes and that is why he is vomiting. So tonight we let Josh play with some sweet potatoes, and discover them when he stuck his fingers in his mouth. After a few moments and some slight gagging faces, Josh started sticking his sweet potato covered fingers as far into his mouth as he could. Amazingly enough there was no stopping him once he got started!

Speaking of feeding issues, we have made some changes to his formula and breastfeeding routine. He will switch over to regular baby formula once we use up what we have left of the preemie formula. This should help to slow his weight gain a little bit and help keep him on target. Also, after 6 months of struggles and triumphs, Josh has weaned himself from nursing. He has been slowly weaning himself over the last several weeks, but when he became sick, he stopped nursing entirely. Mommy is a little saddened by this, but both Mommy and Daddy feel good that Josh was about to nurse for 6 months (most preemies who stay in the hospital for over a week do not even make it out of the hospital without being 100% bottle fed). Even though he won't be nursing any longer, Josh will still be receiving some breast milk everyday. We were able to store up quite a bit over the last 6 months, and combined with donated breast milk (thanks Carrie and Anita!), should hopefully keep him with some everyday for the next several months. We feel it is helpful for him to receive some breast milk and antibodies for as long as we are able.

Josh continues to do well with his milestones. He is becoming quite good at sucking on his fingers, especially his thumb, which he seems to have a affinity for. For those who might frown on finger sucking, the American Academy of Pediatrics actually recommends finger sucking as a milestone achievement and as a self-comforting technique so that babies can sooth themselves without needing to have a pacifier given to them. The only time when finger sucking starts to become a problem is after about age 4 when children start getting their adult teeth.

He is also starting to grasp and shake a rattle. He has begun turning on his side from his back and if he is propped up, he can role on to or off of his tummy. He especially likes to do this when laying tummy to tummy with Daddy. We are very impressed with our little guy and how well he is progressing developmentally. He has also started playing peak-a-boo and has a sense of anticipation (he likes games like "I'm gonna get you") now.

Josh is also becoming quite the social butterfly!! When we have company over, he likes to sit propped up on the couch and be a part of the conversation. He will sit there playing with his toys and periodically interject comments into the conversation. Mommy recently took him to run errands and every where we went, people would stop to say hello to him and he would smile and talk back to them. He has become so social in fact, it is hard to feed him when we are out in public because he is too busy talking to everyone around him!

Josh had an eye appointment today. His eyes are PERFECT!!!! They have fully matured and he will not have to go back to the eye doctor for one year!!! We are very proud of our little man and thankful his eyes are done developing!!

Prayer Request:

• Josh would not becoming sick, especially now that he is receiving less breast milk
• Josh would continue to do well with the new bottle and tolerate solid foods well
• Josh would continue to develop a good sleep pattern (particularly a long afternoon nap) and get the rest he needs
• Josh would continue to do well with his developmental milestones and not have any setbacks

Praises:

• Josh's eyes are fully mature!!!!
• Josh is doing well with his developmental milestones (even our doctor thinks so!)
• Josh has found a bottle he likes and seems to be overcoming his texture issues with solid foods
• Josh is doing better with napping and sleeping at night

(Josh with his first taste of rice cereal... he's not so sure about it)

(Josh sucking his thumb like a big boy!)

(Josh playing with and sucking on his rattle)

(It is a bath time burrito baby!... we just love that clean baby smell!)

(Josh sitting unassisted in his excersaucer for the first time)

(Josh having a good time with is sweet potatoes)

(Mmm... these are yummy!)

Formal Photography by Coffey Shots (www.coffeyshots.com)

(Handsome man!)

(What a beautiful family!)

(Josh in Daddy's arms)

(Josh loving on his Daddy)

(Josh and Mommy enjoying each other)

(Peak a Boo)

Quick Update/Prayer Request

We know we are due for a real update, complete with the inside scoop of his 6 month appointment.  We promise that will come in the next day or two. 

In the mean time, we wanted to ask you to pray for Josh.  He came down with a fever yesterday along with fussiness, tiredness and drooling.  Mommy took him to the doctor today and he was diagnosed with a viral infection that has caused ulcers on this throat.  Needless to say he is a pretty uncomfortable little guy.  After spending most of the day crying or sleeping we were finally able to get him to start drinking again (much to Mommy and Daddy's relief).  He is more playful this evening, so we are hoping this will pass quickly.

Please pray for quick healing to Josh from these ulcers and that he can eat well.  Pray for Mommy and Daddy that they get some rest with a sick baby in the house (we slept a total of about 3 hours last night).