We are so proud of our big, little boy. He is doing so well. Josh had his four month appointment today, which means shots. Everything went well with the doctor. Josh got five vaccines today, but they were mixed into two shots so Josh only got stuck twice. The nurses are really good about it. They stick him at the same time. It still breaks my heart to watch him get his shots. I feel like such a bad mother for letting him experience pain, but I know this is necessary. I know that I am really being the best mother I can be by getting my son vaccinated. Josh decided today that it wasn't necessary to cry until they had pulled the shots out of his little leg. And he only cried for a second. He is such a good boy when we go to the doctor.
We had a good visit with the doctor. My little monkey is now 14 pounds! He moved up from around the 15-20% in weight to between the 35-40%. We are so proud of him. He is still pretty short, only reaching about 22 inches in length, but we know that his height will catch up later, especially since his daddy is so tall. Josh is developing right on schedule. There is no evidence of prematurity, other than his size. He is smart and has physical development that is where it should be for a 4 1/2 month old. The doctor says the only thing that may concern me is that he may appear to crawl, walk, or talk late, but that boys do these things later than girls.
Our little monkey has marvelous head control so we got the green light to feed him baby food! I am so excited for this. I was under the impression that we would be told we could only give him baby cereal at first, but the doctor felt that since he had been having cereal in his bottle for awhile now, that he could eat some baby food as well. The plan is to let him have two meals a day. We are giving him baby cereal in a dish for one meal. He can have baby food at another meal, and still get some cereal in his bottle before bed. The doctor wanted us to start Josh on fruit. So tonight Josh ate apples and he loved them! The doctor said intially Josh may only eat a few bites while he got used to taste, texture, and the spoon, and then he would build up to half a container within a couple weeks. Well, Josh went ahead and ate half the container of apples. I knew we would have a good eater on our hands!
The other good report from the doctor involves his caffeine and the apnea monitor. Josh has been back down to 0.4 mL of caffeine once a day (as opposed to 0.6). He will be on 0.4 for three weeks, and if he handles that well he will move down to 0.2 until his 6 month checkup on May 5. If he has tolerated all of that well, he will come off his medicine on May 5. Then we will only have to keep him on the monitor 2-4 weeks longer! Praise God! I am so ready for him to lose that monitor.
I feel so much better after such a great checkup. I have been waiting for Josh to thrive like this. This has been a long time coming. We have come so far from where we were in December. I think about all the nights I spent crying in November and December, wondering why we were going through that; wondering what I had done wrong and I thought it would never get better. Now I feel so humbled and blessed. There was a beautiful lesson in everything we went through. I know I will never take my beautiful little boy for granted. He is such a precious gift from God. And he is growing up so fast! I am so proud of his improvement. I look at him and know I am blessed and lucky to be his mom. He is going to be just fine. I praise God for all of this.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Time....
I can't believe how time is flying! Yesterday our little booger was 4 months old....a third of a year. Matt and I celebrated for Josh with a cake. I was just itching for some cake, so I made a red velvet cake in honor of my favorite little monkey. I just can't believe time. Time really changes when you are a mom. Some days it seems like yesterday that he was born. At other times, it feels like forever ago.
Josh is changing in so many ways. He is starting to look more and more like me. When he was born he looked mainly like Matt. I did not believe he was my boy because he did not resemble me at all. He still looks a great deal like his handsome daddy, though. Josh is looking so grown up. It kills me sometimes.
And he is so big. Josh is weighing around 11 pounds and he has got to be about 24 inches long. And he is a great eater! The doctor said if Josh could hold his head up when we went for his four month shots in March, that he would give us permission to feed Josh cereal at his next appointment. And Josh can hold his head up. We are also anticipating at his next appointment that the doctor will start backing off of Josh's caffeine in preparation to take him off his monitor. The goal is to have him off the monitor at six months. It is coming and I am so excited!
Josh has quite the personality. He is at such a fun age right now. He plays games, and is learning to love, and play, with his toys. Now he can focus and he recognizes things. He will smile when he sees us come in his view. He loves a few shows on the Disney Channel. And he makes sounds now. He tries so hard to talk to us. He will just coo and coo. We have also learned that we can make him giggle when you play with him or if you tickle him. It is so cute.
Another big thing for us is routine. Josh has gotten very used to a routine. He goes to bed around 10 at night. He will sleep until sometime between 4 and 6. Josh no longer hates baths or diaper changes. He has even gotten used to his diaper and wardrobe changing. He will help us by pulling up his legs so we can take them out of his outfits. And he will help pull his arms out of his sleeves when we change his clothes. I swear, our little boy is so smart!
I am at the point where I know I will be ready to think about another baby soon. I told Matt just this evening that I wanted another little boy. And wouldn't you know, he wants a girl. We do want to wait until Josh is a little over. We both believe that we will know when the time is right. Right now we are going to enjoy this time with just Joshua. He will be cutting teeth and crawling and walking before we know it!
Josh is changing in so many ways. He is starting to look more and more like me. When he was born he looked mainly like Matt. I did not believe he was my boy because he did not resemble me at all. He still looks a great deal like his handsome daddy, though. Josh is looking so grown up. It kills me sometimes.
And he is so big. Josh is weighing around 11 pounds and he has got to be about 24 inches long. And he is a great eater! The doctor said if Josh could hold his head up when we went for his four month shots in March, that he would give us permission to feed Josh cereal at his next appointment. And Josh can hold his head up. We are also anticipating at his next appointment that the doctor will start backing off of Josh's caffeine in preparation to take him off his monitor. The goal is to have him off the monitor at six months. It is coming and I am so excited!
Josh has quite the personality. He is at such a fun age right now. He plays games, and is learning to love, and play, with his toys. Now he can focus and he recognizes things. He will smile when he sees us come in his view. He loves a few shows on the Disney Channel. And he makes sounds now. He tries so hard to talk to us. He will just coo and coo. We have also learned that we can make him giggle when you play with him or if you tickle him. It is so cute.
Another big thing for us is routine. Josh has gotten very used to a routine. He goes to bed around 10 at night. He will sleep until sometime between 4 and 6. Josh no longer hates baths or diaper changes. He has even gotten used to his diaper and wardrobe changing. He will help us by pulling up his legs so we can take them out of his outfits. And he will help pull his arms out of his sleeves when we change his clothes. I swear, our little boy is so smart!
I am at the point where I know I will be ready to think about another baby soon. I told Matt just this evening that I wanted another little boy. And wouldn't you know, he wants a girl. We do want to wait until Josh is a little over. We both believe that we will know when the time is right. Right now we are going to enjoy this time with just Joshua. He will be cutting teeth and crawling and walking before we know it!
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