Watching Joshua Grow

Joshua and I went over to Mom's yesterday to take her some milk since she was out, and she told me that Jamie said to her the thing that stinks the most is that he won't get to see all the kids grow up. She cried, I cried, Joshua looked at us and Jamie slept. She said the two of them had cried together that morning, too. Soooo sad. At Jamie's request, they have stopped the IV, are not seeing any more doctors, and are never stepping foot in a hospital again. His words were, "No more!"

Speaking of doctors, I called Dr. Devenyi's office since Joshua has been consistently throwing up on the Prevacid. I got a call back that said he wants to keep the Bean on it for four weeks, at which time if he's not better they will do a procedure where they sedate Joshua and look at his esophagus through a microscope to determine if there are food allergies or other problems. I hate to see Joshua go through more procedures, and yet I don't want to see him always vomitting either. Please, Lord, let him outgrow this and quickly!

I think Joshua just had a growth spurt. All the sudden he's looking thin to me, and he's now able to not only sit up on his own but also gets onto his knees and doesn't mind looking through his toy bin that way and crawls easily. He also pulled up to standing by supporting himself with his little froggy chair that Grandma & Grandpa Ginder got him. I'm so excited for these new feats of strength, but with them come challenges too. For example, this morning he was up on his knees and could have easily chewed on his crib...didn't we JUST move that? Also, his favorite place to play is underneath my office chair. The other day he got into the bottom and rubbed the oil & grease all over his face (the moustache was a little cute, Shawn said). Little ol' eagle eye finds anything out of place and tries to eat it - for example, a feather from my pillow made it's fluffy descent to the floor, and Joshua immediately tried to grab it and put it in his mouth. He's so quick! This morning he was being cute and I went to grab the camera and within that split second, he pulled the cord of the lamp that sits on the desk and the lamp came crashing down. BEAN! I always said he didn't seem extraordinarily motivated by toys but he sure loves anything he shouldn't be playing with...

He also has learned how to be cute and smile when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be, figuring that he can get away with it if he's charming enough to make us smile, giggle or say "aww...". The other night Shawn was feeding him, and Joshua was full. Shawn wanted him to finish one last bite (since Joshua hasn't really wanted to eat at all), and all the sudden Joshua called out "MAMA!" I smiled and said, "Maybe we should call it a meal." In the middle of the night, Joshua has been waking up and screaming bloody murder. I let him go a full 15 minutes before going to check it out. On a side note, Shawn read that sometimes kiddos who fall asleep being held wake up in the middle of the night alone, and he's now old enough to realize he's alone and he's scared. So, feeling badly, I went into get him. I picked him up, rocked him back to sleep, and he woke up again when I laid him back down. At this point, I was exhausted and brought him back to bed with us. He saw Daddy next to me, and he sweetly began to sing a soft little song to him, "Dad-dad-dadda-da." It was SOOO cute! Shawn, who had been annoyed that we were awakened since he has to be fully functional at work, quickly turned to tickled at this beautiful voice singing his praise. The Bean then proceeded to lay against me and snuggle, putting his eyes next to mine - wide open. I had shut my eyes and when I opened them there was this cute little face smiling back at me. It was cute, but I was tired. GO TO SLEEP! Eventually, I put him back in his crib.

He is typically so smiley and cute, though, that it makes up for the times of frustration. Being a mom is way more work than I ever thought, but it's rewarding daily as you see your little one grow.