8 Months!

Our little man is 8 months old. He is quickly trying to leave babyhood behind as I see him beginning to play and interact with us in more mature ways, but thankfully I still see the baby in him quite frequently for now. This past month has been a month of perfecting old skills and getting glimpses of new tricks yet to come.

Josiah’s “speech” has become louder and more interactive as he loves to “talk” back and forth. He loves to yell just to hear himself. I have yet to decide if this is behavior that needs to be curbed or if I should just let him enjoy the sound of his voice. He has such a look of delight when he does it, that I haven’t tried to quiet him down yet.

He has definitely formed preferences lately and will let you know he is unhappy with things. The other night we were letting him play on the floor naked after bathtime (which he loves to do), but when it came time to put on the diaper, he pitched his first, and so far only, fit. He screamed and rolled around making it very difficult to finish the job. Jacob and I looked at each other in disbelief and braced ourselves for our future!

He has become quite proficient at creeping on his belly to the point that I was thinking he may skip the crawling stage altogether, but just in the last week he has begun to get on his knees briefly. Just yesterday he started to rock back and forth on hands and knees, so I guess he will be crawling soon after all. I will be glad because it has become difficult to keep his pants up!

Josiah has done this fake sounding cough from very early on, but only this month has it become evident that he does it to copy anyone who coughs. I think it is his first real imitation that can be done on cue. He is also beginning to learn to wave “bye bye,” but he picks and chooses when to do it.

His diet has broadened to include cereals, sweet and white potatoes, peas, green beans, avocado, carrots, squash, banana, pears, apples, peaches, rice, rice cakes, and of course puffs. Mango and pumpkin are next to come, I think. He is advancing on towards using the pincer grasp, but as soon as he picks food up with his thumb and forefinger, he transfers it to his palm. He perfected the pincer by picking at the carpet…which drives me crazy. I have no idea why some of the carpet pieces stick up higher than the rest, but he finds every one of them and stretches them further.

Josiah’s upper left incisor made it’s appearance this month, although it is taking its merry time coming in and is only halfway there. His less than symmetrical teeth made for a perfect Halloween smile.

This month we have enjoyed some time at playdates, the library, the mountains, the pumpkin patch, and probably some other things I can’t think of at the moment. However, the one problem I can’t seem to resolve is the weekly meltdown in the church nursery. This too shall pass…

We have so much fun rolling and playing with Josiah on the floor and what we call “wallow time” on the bed. He loves rolling around like crazy on the bed, with or without us in it. So far there have been no falling accidents and we plan to keep it that way.

All in all, we have had a great month spending some extra time together (meaning Jacob is home more now) and watching Josiah grow. He is a delightful blessing.

Here he is enjoying some swing time at our house and on a playdate!

His eyes look a little dizzy here because he was trying to watch the little girl, Drew, swing next to him.

Soakin' up the sunshine and trying to dry out some drool.

Who could resist these next two faces?

I love my cat and my baby, so how could I just pick ONE of these next pictures?

So nice! Dont they both do a good job?

"No, your other right, Josiah!"

A stomach full of sweet potato, a place to sit, and a nice thumb...life is good.

I couldn't resist this. I guess we need to invest in a protective cup!

More Fall Fun!

Last weekend Jacob, Josiah, and I went to the North Georgia Mountains to see the changing leaves and do some hiking. We started planning this trip before Josiah was even born and had originally planned on leaving him behind with grandparents, but we later decided we didn’t yet need a break from him, after all, and that it would be fun to have him along. We both crossed our fingers and held our breaths hoping we wouldn’t regret this decision. Lo and behold, he did fabulously! He didn’t even cry for the whole 4 days except for the last hour of driving on the way home…during which, he screamed…it was a wonderful way to end the trip.

Jacob and I have always enjoyed each other’s company, especially doing things like this, but I have to admit, we had so many more laughs with Josiah in tow than we would have had without him. Jacob even said he felt more bonded to him than ever. I chalked this up to the fact that he had never before spent four whole days with him. Not to mention he had Josiah strapped to his back or chest the whole time we hiked. I told him it was like being pregnant because I felt quite bonded to Josiah before he was born, too. However, I gained 35 lb during pregnancy and he only had to carry around 16 lb! Granted it was a wiggling, giggling, squealing 16 lb.

Like I said, we were so proud of how well Josiah did. He spent a lot of time in the carseat, was flexible with naps and feedings, and coped well with long hikes in cold weather. He even wore his hat, which he hates any other time.

We had to laugh because we were walking all of these trails that were fairly busy due to the season, so their were people who were trying to enjoy the quiet scenery, but here was Josiah screaming at the top of his lungs just to hear himself, then making fart noises with his mouth, then giggling. Some people appreciated it, some walked faster or stopped all together until we passed. Old men love him. His favorite was when he faced outward on Jacob’s chest and I walked in front. Every now and then I’d turn around and jump at him. I was addicted to the squeal and giggle that followed. See? I just couldn’t have done that if Josiah wasn’t there, I’d look stupid doing it repetitively to Jacob.

Other than the hour of screaming at the end of the trip, the only bad thing that happened was that our camera’s SD card malfunctioned and we lost most of our pictures of our baby’s first vacation. We only have some from the last little bit since we had a spare card. So sad.

Ok, enough about the baby, right? On to the trip itself. We went to a cabin (which will remain unnamed because we don’t recommend it. We prefer the last one we stayed in.) just outside of Blairsville. The area was beautiful! The leaves were perfect! I hadn’t seen the leaves like that since the first grade, so I was in awe. It rained quite a bit the first day, but we still managed to see a few waterfalls that day. The next 2 days were very nice, though. We enjoyed some of the best waterfalls we have seen in GA, and this was our 3rd hiking trip, so we were happy.

On another note, Jacob is leaving next week go to southern North Carolina to hike some special trail for 4 days. He will be roughing it all the way through. I’m just hoping he comes back alive. More to come on that.

Here are some of the pictures we did get:

My cutie pies having fun at the base of Dukes Creek Falls.

The only decent picture we have of all of us. Anna Ruby Falls.

On one of the nicer trails - Dukes Creek Falls.

Unfortunately we lost the pictures of the best waterfalls, but this will have to do. Anna Ruby Falls.

Dukes Creek Falls

The river at Anna Ruby Falls.

Some fall colors at Dukes Creek Falls.



More at Dukes Creek.

Fall Fun!

Last week Jacob and I took Josiah to the Pumpkin Patch to meet with some of our playgroup friends. As it turned out, this was not Josiah's favorite activity, as you will see in some of the pictures. He didn't cry for ALL of them, but there were no smiles to be had. Unfortunately, we had some other errands to run and we could not stay long, so we missed the hayride and seeing most of our friends. We felt bad enough about torturing him for pictures, that we took him to the dollar store and bought him 3 toys and 2 books. Are we great parents, or what!? Just for the record, it was actually in the plans to get him 2 of the toys, we just went a little overboard, but at dollar store prices, it's ok.

I love this pose for some reason - he's just chillin.

I'm not sure what's up there, but he definitely liked it better than the pumpkins and leaves!


My baby.

I'm not sure if you can see the massive amounts of drool on hanging off his chin, but we are awaiting his 3rd tooth!

We bought this one for the stem he loved.

Gabriel's pre-nose dive pose. It's like he's looking where he intends to make his landing.

Luke was enjoying the whole experience.


I know it's wrong, but I love this picture. Aren't his teeth cute?



He wasn't too fond of this particularly wrinkly pumpkin.

On Saturday, Jacob and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful cool weather, so we left Josiah with my mom (who loved it) and went to San Falasco to walk one of their trails. We had a nice time and saw several deer. It was supposed to be a 4.8 mile trail, but it sure seemed like more. Maybe we missed a turn...

7 Months Old!

Here I am at yet another month milestone saying that I can't believe how fast Josiah is growing. He is 7 months old today and is changing so quickly. I am so thankful for his health and development and praise God for him daily, but how can it go so quickly? I realize I am biased, but he is such a beautiful boy with a sweet disposition. He is a great source of joy to us.

In the past month Josiah has learned how to scoot around quite well. I now have to keep a close eye on him so he doesn't tear the cat's toy apart, chew on the stroller tire, empty bags that don't need to be emptied, or pull the cat's hair. I bet you can't guess how I came up with that list. He is also able to sit up on his own and he's learning how to get from a sitting position to his tummy without just throwing himself to the floor.

He also has two bottom incisors now, although they are not fully in yet. After a week of peace since they have broken through, he seems to be teething again and it looks like his upper left incisor is next. Josiah found his right ear about the same time he was miserable with teething and I took him to the doctor on a Saturday suspecting an ear infection because every night he cried while tugging on it. It was a false alarm (number 2 for me) and he realized he had two ears after we left the doctors office.

His cutest accomplishment for the month is his talking since he gets the most serious look on his face when he does it. He is beginning to speak syllables, though they are still difficult to dicipher. It sounds like repetitions of "bah", "yah", and "da". Occasionally he'll raise his right arm, gets a look of indignation on his face and yell out the "words" as though to really preach it. It has brought many laughs.

A couple of days ago Jacob came home early due to rain and we were all in the hammock on the porch enjoying the rain and Josiah (while wallowing all over us) pulled himself from his belly to standing all by himself in order to reach a plant. He has yet to figure out how to do it again, but he really did it.

So, while we are in disbelief at how quickly this experience is flying by, we look forward to what the next several months will bring as he nears one whole year. Here are some pictures from the past week:

He's coming after the camera.

I'm always complaining to Jacob that I always have to take the pictures so I have none of me with my sweet boy, so he took over the camera.

He loves bahia seed heads and he's looking up at one here (Jacob needs to mow).

This past weekend we went to Anna Maria Island to walk the beach and watch the sunset with my dad. This was Josiah's first beach experience and while his little splashtime was short, he loved it. Too bad the pictures of him smiling are blurry and they were all taken in the dark!

He was so peaceful on the walk and kept laying his head down and sucking his thumb. He makes my heart melt.

Can You See Them???

We have been waiting for these teeth to arrive for the longest time, it seems. We have been able to see them just below the surface for at least 2 weeks and he has been fighting a few bad teething episodes (I think the nursery ladies hate us), but finally they are making their debut. Every morning has been like Christmas morning because we can't wait to see if they have broken the surface or how much is poking through.

PEAS!

This is why we always check to see what position he fell asleep in. He likes to peek over the bumper towards the door while he relaxes before bedtimes and naptimes, and this is what I found today. It's a good thing he's flexible because I would have been sore after this if I were him.

Don't you love this fall weather? Today Josiah and I took a nice long walk down our little dirt road. Usually we are sweating at the end of it and ready to go inside, but today we (I) just didn't want it to end, so he swang (or swung???) on his swing and sat in the grass petting the cat for awhile. Later I have plans for us to use the hammock!

Its A BOY!

My brother, Caleb, and his wife, Star, found out today they are having a boy! Josiah will have a little playmate to get into trouble with (and get punished with)! Maybe little Miss Savannah will keep them in line, as any good, older, girl cousin would.

We can't wait for the new arrival!

6th Month Pictures

Last Friday we had Josiah's 6th month pictures taken at JCPenney. He had lots of laughs at us trying to get him to smile, but smiles directed at the camera were hard to come by because he was so fascinated with the camera and lights and just stared in awe at them. We managed to get a few cute ones, though.

Here is one of his bewildered looks at the big lights!

Teething on that lower lip.