Happy 10 months!

Ten months old!  Only two months till your birthday!  How can that be?!

You have been getting so much stronger these past few weeks.  We finally switched you over to your crib at night because you would turn on your side in the rock 'n play...not too safe.

But now you don't sleep as well flat on your back - you wake up much more.  We set our 2nd crib up in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom because I am having some separation issues...I want you, need you to sleep in the same room as me.  We were apart for too long while you were in the NICU and I can't have you sleeping even 20 feet away in the next room.  Thankfully Daddy understands.  So, you nap in your room, but bedtime is in our room.

You scoot all over the crib and this week you roll both directions like it is no big deal.  You could rotate 360 degrees if you wanted to on back or belly, so between these movements and scooting you make it to all corners of the crib in little time.  At naptime and bedtime you love your Baby Einstein aquarium (same one as in the NICU).  You turn it on and off all by yourself and I love to watch you in the middle of the night by the blue glow of the aquarium...even if you are whimpering and whiny.  I still want to be close to you.

You also sleep with your lion wubbanub which is on of the best inventions ever!  You can find your paci and put it back in your mouth pretty easily.  And if you don't want to suck you have a toy close by.

You still scoot on your back and you are getting farther distances now.    At tummy time you lift your head almost all the way up now without much strain.

You love to jump in our laps and we have tried you in the doorway bouncer (even though the PT says that is a "no-no")  The first time we tried you didn't "get it" but once Daddy got you started you couldn't stop!!!  You love to bounce, so we do it a little here and a little there...shhhhh don't tell!

Your sitting is getting much better.  You don't like the bumbo at all and I really think you could pop yourself out if we left you in there.  All the other kids would try to get out, but I was never concerned that they actually would...you, on the other hand have a lot of strength and determination and I get worried you will throw yourself out of it one day.  That toy stays in the corner most days.

You have recently discovered your tongue and love to stick it out.  I think you are teething as well, but nothing is showing through the gums so I don't think that is the reason for the tongue in and out.

The pediatrician gave us the green light to try baby food.  BPD clinic gave us a hesitant "yes" (because you are still a wobbly sitter) but we have not tried anything yet.  I'm not in any rush.  BPD said to avoid any grain cereal because of your chronic lung disease.  Apparently when someone digests carbohydrates it releases extra carbon dioxide which would be bad for someone with sick lungs like you.  Who knew?!  We try to sit you in your baby seat at meal times and put toys on your tray to play with us.  You aren't too interested in food unless you are sitting on our laps, but I wonder if it is because you aren't interested or if it is an eye issue.

I still wonder about your eyes and how well you see.  We will set up an appointment for an eye exam after you turn one.  You do not seem to see much past 3 feet.  1-2 feet is where we can always get your attention and get a reaction or a smile, but past that it is difficult or almost impossible.

Breast feeding is going A LOT better!  I'm not sure what clicked, but we are back to more breast-feeding than bottles, so my stubbornness, guilt, and persistence has paid off and we will definitely have enough breast milk in the freezers to last you past your first birthday (which was my plan "B" goal)...hopefully close to your corrected birthday in December (which was my plan "A" goal).

Happy baby with a full belly!

You are one happy baby!  You smile at everyone you meet, you love to move and kick and jump.  You are happy to be alive!  You love attention and don't mind anyone holding you (as long as they have washed their hands first)

We have had no sickness in our house for a VERY long time and with 3 older kids I am so thankful!  They are all good at washing their hands and we haven't been to too many public places besides church.  We kept you home from YKVBS - too many kids in one place.  I am selective about playdates and places I take you.  I'm slowly trying to take you to places like Target or Aldi (usually leaving you covered in the car seat).  Sometimes I feel too protective, but what we've been doing has been working (along with prayer).  I read Proverbs 31 the other day and in the beginning part of vs 8 it says "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" and so I will continue to speak up for you as I did in the NICU and as I selectively choose our activities for this summer and decide about next year's homeschool co-ops.

You are very fascinated with your bring red
stop sign that reads "Please wash your hands
before touching mine."
And I love your feet in this picture!!!

I love you so much Joshua!  Happy 10 months!  Your photo shoot today shows just how squirmy and active you are!!!

A little too excited!

I've had enough of this photo session...

Add caption

Add caption

*Almost* back to where you started.

The post that has nothing to do with Joshua...

...but yet it has everything to do with Joshua.

Marriage is hard.  Marriage with a sickly child and a very extended hospital stay is even more difficult.  To put it simply - this year has been very hard for Joe and I to communicate and connect.  And even now that Joshua is home, we have many feelings and things to work through.  What makes it extra difficult is that we can't just call a babysitter and go on a date to work on "us."  So we do our best and try to make time for our relationship when we can.

So when I saw a Groupon for the Urban Dare it sounded like a lot of fun (we love watching the Amazing Race together) and we love outdoors and running and anything competitive.  So we signed up and got Joe's mom to come down and watch all 4 kids.  This would be her first time babysitting Joshua.

Joe and I had no idea what to expect from this race, but ended up having a really fun day.  They gave us 12 clues of places around Columbus that we would have to travel to.  They stressed that the clues were not in a logical order so we had to figure out the landmarks and devise our own route to get to each place.  This was a little difficult because Joe and I do not have smart phones, but we had my mom on standby to Google whatever we needed!  With my mom's help, a map, and a GPS we figured out all the sites and the order we would visit them in.  So Joe and I jogged and walked MILES and MILES around Columbus and took one bus (that was the only transportation allowed besides your own two feet)  Many of the sites were just photos, but others were dares that consisted of a 3 legged race, making a balloon sword, deciphering a numeric code, proposing to someone not in the race... It was great weather, not unbearably hot and Joe and I got to spend time together like the old days when we used to run together...now we just get sore and out of breath together!

All in all it was a really fun day and we got to go out to dinner after it was all done!

Ready?  Let's Go!!!

Our first stop - Home of the Columbus Clippers!

Making a balloon sword.
I had actually practiced this about two months ago
with the kids and successfully made the sword after
popping only one balloon.  We saved a lot of time here!

Eternal flame for firefighters memorial

Joe looks a little tired doesn't he?!?!?

Three legged races are VERY difficult when one of the
competitors has bowed legs.  

Trying to hunt letters and numbers to crack a code

Franklin University Clock Tower

Off to the next stop!

If you look very closely, Nationwide Children's is between our heads
I never thought I'd be walking on this side of town on my way to German Villiage!

And this photo is kind of funny because our cold foamy beverages
of choice are a pepsi and a diet coke.
So we enjoyed our complementary waters once
we arrived back at the pub/finish line.
All in all - a GREAT Day!
And to our surprise we finished 35th out of 270 teams!!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy got a sword that matches the boy's!
Someday you'll get to be in to the sword fight, Joshua!

This photo totally shows the different personalities of your brothers.
Jeremiah fights aggressive, eyes on the prize, never give up
David fights with his head tucked back, body turned away,
 not looking where his sword is poking.
Who wins???  Daddy...or Jeremiah :)

Add caption

Just hanging out in the backyard with Daddy!

No attachments!

No tubes, no wires!  That's you about 99% of the time!  I am still not quite used to it.  I pick you up from your play mat and don't have to thread you back through from the place you scooted from.  I can pick you up and not worry about me or the kids tripping over tubing.  The concentrator (aka portable heater) is not heating our house to 100 degrees on those hot spring days we've had!  I can take you WHEREVER I want to in the house and not worry about if the tubing will reach!  You seem so light and portable!  I don't have to hook you up to an oxygen tank to wear you in the ergo!  Going to church or on a walk is so much easier!  And I'm finally getting used to your new "look" with no tubes and stickers on your face.  You looked so different to me the first couple weeks without your old accessories!

The reason I haven't posted about how well you are doing is because for some reason I feel superstitious and feel that if I post something about you no longer needing oxygen then something will happen and we'll need to break the cannula back out.  But pretty much you spend the whole day tube and wire free now.  We will hook you up to the pulse-ox at night or during the day if you aren't acting like your normal self to do a "spot-check"  (The pulse-ox is not very accurate if you are kicking and active so we can't leave it on or it would be constantly beeping!)

Even the times when we have been concerned that your O2 saturation may be low because you are not eating well, or sound congested, or sound wheezy you still sat about 95% which is the minimum of where you need to be.  Each night I watch the numbers thinking they are going to drop low, but they don't.  Daddy also has had many nights where he saw 95, 96, 94, 96 and felt that you weren't going to stay high enough, but you did.

Right now as I write this you are bouncing back and forth between 96, 97, 98.  And we had never seen 100%........ until tonight.

You are too active.  I can't sit and hold you anymore.  You bounce and are fussy,  squirm and cry, want to move and never want to snuggle.  It is pretty irritating to hold you when you are like this so usually that means we just put you to bed and let you fuss till you fall asleep.  But tonight I had endurance through your irritating behavior and eventually you fell asleep on my chest in the kangaroo position (although we weren't skin to skin)  After about a half hour of holding you this way you began to wheeze and it didn't stop, so Daddy got out the pulse-ox and hooked you up.

100%!!!!!  and it picked up right away!  I guess the kangarooing is still good for you!  So many, many hours of holding you like this...and it really did help you and it still is!  I love snuggling with you, I just wish you would settle down more easily so I could snuggle more often!

Two special visits

Last week you had two visits from some very special people.  On Thursday one of your primary nurses, Suzanne, came to visit.  It had been over a month since she saw you at a BPD appointment.  It was so good to see her and catch her up on all you have been up to.  She got to hold you for the first time with no gown or gloves, to just love you and get smiles out of you and just see how far you have come.  It was a wonderful visit and we talked a little about your stay in the NICU.  She talked about the one day she was working and how your lungs were getting worse and they had to up the ventilator setting to keep your sats up.  One of the NNPs came in to talk with Daddy and me about a new diagnosis that they had found for you, PIE (Pulmonary Interstitial Emphysema) but she continued to say that for as many bad diagnoses that you had, they rarely escalated to need the severe interventions.  Joshua, you gave us many, many scares, but the Lord had mercy on you and we are so very grateful!!! 

Forgot to get a new photo of you two when she visited - next time!

Your second visit was from Mommy's friend Tiffany.  She lives 2 hours away, but has visited you more than any (non-grandparent) relative or even more than any of Mommy's friends from Columbus.  She was not afraid to see you in your most sickly state just after you were born.  She cried with Mommy and always checked up to see how you and I were doing during those long hospital days.  Mommy is so grateful for her friendship!  It was so exciting that she got to see you and hold you after all that you have been through!  She was amazed by how active, smiley, and alert you are!  You bounced on her lap and gave her arms a workout.  You are my little miracle and the people who saw you at your worst understand the most just how much the Lord has been with you every step of the way!

Add caption