Growing And Thriving At Five Months

Elijah has hit the five month mark.  I feel like I write these monthly updates all the time.  The months are just flying by!  I can hardly even think of what changes to write about since I feel like he just turned four months old yesterday but after reviewing his 4 month blog post I realize we’ve come a long way.  I’m so glad to have record of his life!

First off, while we are by no means near perfect, his sleeping has dramatically improved.  Last month he was napping well, but consistently woke at the 45 minute mark every time and needed help getting back to sleep.  We have overcome that and he now naps beautifully, often taking two 2-2.5 hour naps and one that is an hour or so.  I’m in heaven!  Night sleep has also improved.  I wish it was better, but I think I’m asking too much of him since I’m so used to my sleepyhead, Josiah.  He goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 pm, usually gets fed one last time before I go to bed, and then wakes around 7 am.  We often struggle to settle into bed at night, but that is getting much better and he doesn’t often wake at night anymore.  Overall, I’m happy with our progress and feeling very well rested, but if you ask me about it at the wrong time I might tell you differently!

As for developmental changes, he is a rolling machine!  He’s quite mobile and it is becoming very difficult to keep him in one “safe” place when we are doing diaper free time so as to not dirty the floor or blanket in case of accidents :)  In addition to the slow creeping I mentioned last month, he now gets up on his knees and forearms for brief periods.  He has also taken a great liking to sitting in his exersaucer.  The first few times he just kept his arms down and slumped over watching while Josiah played with the toys on it.  But now he plays with everything and even bounces!  He’s pretty much graduated out of the bouncy seat.  In fact, he’s not very content to sit back and chill.  Instead he is always doing sit ups to try to be upright.  I keep thinking he won’t be happy in his infant car seat much longer.  In addition, Elijah can sit up briefly if you spread his legs just right and use his arms to prop him up.  He gets very proud of himself then falls over.

  Chowing down on his favorite toy on the exersaucer!

He found his toes last month and much to his delight I showed him this month how to chew them.  They come in handy when he loses his toy!

This is his thinking face.  He’s going to be smart!  (Excuse the 2 bug bites on his head.)

On a not so great note, he has had yet another eye infection.  He has about four more weeks before his next checkup in which the decision will be made to do the surgical procedure to clear that tear duct.  The pressure is on!  It is a simple procedure, I guess, but I’d prefer to spare us all the trouble and spare him the anesthesia and the black eye.  At a quick nurses check at the doctor’s office last week, he was just over 15 pounds, so he is growing beautifully!  Also on the medical front, his reflux seems to be doing well on meds.  I’m going to be brave and attempt to withdraw it soon.  (I tried it since writing that.  Lets just say he’s still on meds!)  He has been off Mylicon for a few weeks now.

Elijah is such a sweet, fun little guy.  He is full of smiles and giggles and we find him to be such a delight to play with.  Simply making eye contact is enough to elicit a smile and a laugh from us brings a giggle from him.   He loves Josiah and Josiah enjoys making him laugh.  The other day they were both breathless with laughter because Josiah kept sticking his finger in Elijah’s belly button.  Then I had Josiah hold up his shirt and I touched Elijah’s hand to Josiah’s belly button.  Too cute!

Josiah loves to hold Elijah, but usually Elijah’s not so sure about it!

Teaching him to wave.

Next month is the big six month mark.  So much will start to change then…the introduction of solids, increased mobility and maybe sitting up.  Who knows, teeth may be on the horizon, but I’m hoping not.  I’d rather stick to only being responsible for brushing mine and Josiah’s for awhile longer.  Afterall, I already have to keep 60 nails trimmed! 

Missing A Great Man

I’ve written a little about my wonderful grandfather, known and loved as “Deda”, and his struggles with ALS.  Well, he passed away Friday morning after some rough weeks/months.  We are so sad to lose who he was, but thankful that God was merciful and took him before he reached the typical end stages of the disease.

It was obvious a few years ago that he was having problems with his arms, but after unsuccessfully treating it as an orthopedic issue, having many, many tests and incorrect diagnostics, and progressively declining all the while, he was finally diagnosed with ALS at the beginning of this year.  The typical life expectancy after diagnosis is usually several years, but usually patients are younger and for some reason he deteriorated rapidly.  He did a great job keeping a positive attitude about his diagnosis and condition, but the end was just such a struggle for both him and his caretakers.  My grandmother, Gram, is an awesome and phenomenally strong, capable woman and did a wonderful job taking care of him.  (I want to be like her one day!)

Deda was moved to a Hospice house Wednesday when he could no longer be taken care of at home and his medications needed to be reevaluated.  I planned a trip down to see him the next day, but opted to delay it so that they could get settled in at Hospice.  As it turns out it would have been my last chance to see him, but apparently it was an awful, painful, incoherent day.  The night before I prayed for Deda during Josiah’s nighttime prayers and afterwards I asked him what he wanted to do the next day.  He said “see Deda” which totally surprised me, made me sad, and made my heart melt.  I guess he listens more than we know.

When I think of Deda, though, ALS is not what comes to mind.  Instead the words “generous'’, “loving”, and “stubborn” come to mind.  He was the most generous person I know (along with Gram, of course), always giving when he saw a need.  This generosity stemmed from his obvious love.  The love I always felt from him seemed to be exactly what I always needed.  I always felt like I was special to him.  And then there were his stubborn tendencies – everything had to be done his way because apparently that is THE ONLY way to do it.  It was enough to drive you crazy!

I will miss him but I’m delighted at the thought of him being with Jesus and enjoying all that heaven has to offer.  I’m hoping there is lots of Blue Bell Ice Cream and Angel Food Cake there and I’m glad he has full function of his arms so he can even feed it to himself!  Maybe his teeth are even real there :)

Here are some pictures of the man himself, in no particular order.  I only have some of more recent years.  I’ll have to hit up some older family members sometime to get some that represent my favorite childhood memories.

With my wonderful grandmother, Gram.

See?  It wasn’t so long ago that he was still a strong, strapping “young” man!

 This sums Deda up nicely.  The man loved food, dessert in particular.  Here he is with a favorite, lemon marangue pie.

 Holding Josiah at 5 weeks old.  You can see he is already struggling a bit with his arms/shoulders.  He never did get to hold Elijah, but I did catch him gazing at him once.  At one family get together Elijah was in a room by himself in his pack n’ play to take a nap.  I heard him beginning to fuss early in his nap and went to check on him.  When I got in there Deda was standing over him (at this point his arms were useless) just staring down at him.  It was so sweet that I couldn’t bring myself to be irritated about the ruined nap.  In that moment Deda softly told me what a great Mom he thought I was.  While it was a fleeting precious moment I couldn’t help but be saddened because I knew what was on his mind – the fact that his remaining time was short.  It was an unspoken understanding.

 Deda had a way of loving people.  Here he is with his ex-daughter-in-law.  Not the relationship you would expect, huh?  There is more to the story, but the jist here is that they (Gram included) are not quick to disown but instead they love despite circumstances.

 Married 59 years!

 This picture was taken during one of our extended family trips to the St. Johns that Gram and Deda made possible.  They thought it was important for us to spend time together, and boy were they right!  We had some great times!

 Gettin’ some Savannah love!

 This represents one of my favorite memories.  This was at a family reunion a few years ago when Deda decided to have a fishing tournament for the kids.  (When we got too old to often swim in the pool, Deda got tired of cleaning it, so he made it a Tilapia pond!)  He divided the kids by age and gave cash prizes for the biggest fish per age group.  In this picture he is doling out the cash to anxious kids.  Too cute!  They did catch lots of big fish!

 Two of my favorite people with one of my favorite boys, Josiah.

I miss you already, Deda.  Thank you for the memories.

Random Thoughts And Experiences

Below are five totally random tidbits in no particular order that didn’t really deserve their own post yet struck me as blog worthy somehow.

1.  Taking two year olds to the movies can be done.  We weren’t so sure before.  Josiah got to experience his first movie in a theater last Saturday.  We took him to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie and he loved it!  I prepared him for it by telling him we’d watch Pooh on a BIG t.v. screen in a room with LOTS of chairs (he loves chairs).  When we walked in he caught a glimpse of the screen in the dark room and he got a bit nervous, but his intrigue was enough to make him settle in quickly.  The movie was only a little over an hour and he spent the first half cuddled in my lap eating peas, cereal, and drinking juice (that makes for a happy boy, which makes for a happy mom!).  He spent the next half in and out of Jacob’s lap and his own seat.  He got a bit bored about 3/4 of the way through, but got back into it and watched the end.  My only recommendation when watching a movie with a 2 year old is to get there late so you miss the commercials and previews so as to limit the time spent in one spot.  Elijah enjoyed the brief bit that he didn’t sleep or nurse through, too!

2.  Thank goodness for….puppy training pee pads!  When Josiah was a baby I did diaper free time on his belly on top of a diaper or something easily washable which meant I had to constantly monitor or do extra laundry.  This time around I got smart and I started putting Elijah on pee pads.  And thank goodness for them!  Yesterday he had a very big BM and though I’ve seen plenty of  baby poop I was impressed by this runny one and very glad for my new method, to say the least.

3.  You never know what perspective someone else is coming from.  My niece, Savannah, recently got a new pair of glasses.  We had noticed that she sometimes positions her one eye funny when looking at things close up.  After a visit to an ophthalmologist it turns out she is legally blind in that eye :(  I don’t know details, but I think it has to do with it being underdeveloped and some of it can be corrected by wearing glasses (or a patch if the glasses don’t work).  Her glasses are super cute!  She loves them and wears them like a champ.

4.  You never know how someone will react, so be careful!  Did you know that when you toot your horn at bicyclists riding in the car lane as you pass by (while moving over to give them plenty of space) just to remind them they should stay in the bike lane, that they will flank either side of your car at the next stoplight, bang on your windows and try to pick a fight?  We learned that they will do just that the other day!  That is Jacob’s pet peeve, and apparently he picked on theirs as well.

5.  Lying is never beneficial to anyone.  The other morning Jacob went outside to feed our dogs and Josiah repetitively asked where Daddy was.  My answer the first several times was to the effect that he was feeding the dogs, then the next several times I told him that he knew where Daddy was.  Finally, I figured I’d give him an unbelievably exciting answer hoping that it would divert his attention and told him that he was out feeding the giraffes.  Well, it sure did divert his attention!  Seeing as how the day before Jacob had shown him the deer in the yard, I guess he didn’t think giraffes were all that farfetched.  We spent the rest of the morning trying to explain why he couldn’t go see the giraffes, too.  I’m glad I have a trip to the zoo planned for this fall!

Housecleaning Tip #1

Shave your shedding cat!

He’s not a very handsome cat to start with, but this didn’t help him any.  He looked pretty goofy at first, but unfortunately I didn’t think to take a picture until he had a few weeks growth.

For about 8 years now I’ve dealt with my long haired cat, Eeyore, and his never-ending shedding.  I finally had enough and shaved him!  It is fabulous!  For some reason, unlike my other long haired cat, Lilah, he just shed horribly all the time causing me to have to vacuum daily.  Now, with a toddler spreading toys around the living room and a baby who sleeps most of the time, it was becoming difficult to find a good opportunity to vacuum, so I found a new solution. 

Of course, when winter comes I’ll have to let him have his hair back, but I’m loving it for now.  Jacob is loving it, too, just because he thinks it is funny.  He really wants to shave Lilah as well just because they always have a friendly feud going on and he thinks she’d be embarrassed :)  Eeyore is also enjoying it.  He’s a scaredy cat so I figured he’d hide under the bed for days afterwards, but no, he was proud of it and seemed to strut his stuff!  Lilah on the other hand hissed and growled at him and refused to eat next to him for days.  She’s over it now.

I wish I had more housecleaning tips for you, but that is not my strong suite and I struggle to keep it as clean as I do!

Are We Alone In The Struggle?

Jacob and I would really like to be able to go to church for both the morning and evening services on Sundays, but it is always so difficult with the boys and their meal and nap needs.  Are we the only ones who struggle with this?

Elijah takes three naps a day, but with going to church twice he only gets one good one and a couple way too short disrupted catnaps.  He has been sleeping well in nursery, but as he ages, this is dwindling.  Josiah only takes one nap a day, but it usually starts around noon or shortly after and lasts 3-4 hours.  With church followed by lunch, he doesn’t get in bed till nearly 2pm and as soon as he wakes up it is time to leave again.  Of course it doesn’t help that it takes a half hour to get there.  Then we get home after bedtime and still have to eat…something.  And just forget it if I have to work the next day and make all of those preparations.

Anyway, by the end of the day everyone is overtired and grumpy and by the time Jacob and I fall into bed we feel like it has been a rough day – every time, no matter how hard we try.  It seems like “so much for a peaceful, restful, worshipful day"!

The obvious solution is to skip the evening service, which we usually do, but we’d really like to get back into the swing of going.  We’ve thought about just watching on the internet, but I know we won’t with kids to take care of and you miss out on the fellowship and the kids getting the experience of physically going to church.  Do any of you have ideas/solutions?  How do you manage?  Or do you bother?  I’d love input.  Maybe I just need to be more organized??? (Story of my life, yet I do try!)

Josiah’s First Grown Up “Reading” Material

Josiah loves to sit in Jacob’s lap every week when he looks through the mailer from Harbor Freight Tools.  This month he took over his seat entirely.  This boy is all boy!

 

He’s pointing to the 4 wheeler he wants.  I don’t think so, little guy!

Four Month Checkup

Elijah was supposed to have his four month check up last week but it ended up being a sick visit due to a reflux flare up resulting in a cough and an unrelated eye infection.  So, when it cleared up within days, we were ready for vaccines and full exam.

Today he was 14 lb 12 oz (50%), 25.5 inches long (75%), and his head was 40.5 cm in circumference (15%).  The nurse took these measurements, then left to go graph them on his growth curve, then came back to re-measure him thinking she’d made a mistake.  But the measurements were correct.  He had a huge jump in his length and a big decrease in relative head size.  All of his parts are growing at different rates, I suppose.

Everything checked out great except the before mentioned issues we deal with (eye and reflux) and he is free to start solids whenever we’re ready.  I figure we’ll wait until he tells me it is time by lack of nighttime sleep, since obviously he is growing well with the calories he’s getting.  I don’t really look forward to making and packing baby food again, but I’ll get back into it and it may be fun to let Josiah feed him some.  Josiah has really been loving him lately.

He finished the visit with two big mean vaccines that he cried about for only a few seconds.  He retaliated by spitting up all over their floor!  Dr. Worthington “marked” the spot with a paper towel so they would remember to disinfect it, but Josiah couldn’t help but clean it up and throw away the paper towel.  That’s my boy!