8 months old

When I say 8 months old I have a really hard time believing I am talking about our son. Where has the time gone?

Most recently he is:
crawling
feeding himself finger foods
babbling away, mammamamama, dadadadada, etc...
pulling to knees and standing
loving the dogs
loving the water, pool, lake, bath...splashing away happily
clapping
really attached to Mama

He is our biggest joy, happy 8 months little man!

If you're happy and you know it...

Clap your hands! And Joel does just that. So cute! He was sitting in front of his sing along stage this morning, I was standing behind him and If you're happy and you know it was playing and he proceeds to clap his hands :O)

Separation anxiety

Awww, sweet little man is going through separation anxiety from Mommy. As soon as I turn to leave a room or I am out of his site he gets so upset. No problem he'll outgrow it, but tonight I put him to bed, he fell right to sleep and awoke about 1/2 hour later crying. I let him be for a few minutes as he never does this. I checked on him thinking maybe he couldn't find his blankie. He had his blankie, but was full out crying, tears and all. I went in and rubbed his tummy and told him he as okay. I put on his crib aquarium, said goodnight and left his room. He held his breath and then cried so much...poor lil guy ripped my heart out. I let him cry for a few minutes then went in again, he was so upset. I picked him up to hug him and he just hugged me back and rested his head on my shoulder, awww! He was fine, I just wanted to make sure! Daddy came in and talked to him and he started crying again, he said it's okay, Mommy's got you and JB turned his head away from Daddy and buried it into my neck and relaxed. I held him for a few minutes then put him back in his crib and rubbed his head. As soon as he hit the crib he cried for me, MAMMAAAMMAAMA! I told him he was just fine, Mama loved him, he had to go to sleep and I left. Oh, did he get upset. Anyway he cried less and less over the next few minutes and eventually fell back to sleep. He awoke a few minutes ago doing the same thing, but much briefer. Wow, what a feeling to be missed and loved so much by our little man!

Trying out Dada's sunglasses 8-23-09

 

 

 

 

These pics were all taken on 8-23-09 at Aunt Cindy's Birthday party at the lake. I had my first taste of corn!

 

 

 

 

 

Going for my first bike ride with Daddy

 

I had lots of fun in my bike trailer (Mommy got it at a yard sale for $25)

 

On Saturday 8-22-09 Mommy, Daddy and I went to a Butterfly place. I loved watching all the butterflies fly around me. I tried to grab this one over my head.

 

After the Butterfly place we went to Yankee Candle Flagship store and went through the Christmas village.

 

 

 

"He's yours"

Is what our SW said yesterday when she called us regarding Wednesday's (8-19-09) Legal Birth Father's TPR.
We figured he wouldn't make any moves, but relieved to hear it is now all over and done with.
The adoption agency in NV will now transfer custody (once they have all the legal paperwork in/done) to our agency in MA. Then they will get us a court date to finalize. YAAAAHOOOO!

Been really hot here

Summer has surely been here over the past few weeks with today being the hottest day yet, almost 100.
We've been taking JB swimming almost everyday, either in the lake, our pool or his kiddie pool. He really, really likes the pool and lake now that the water is so much warmer. He'll happily play in the water for an hour or more, splashing, kicking in his float, cruising around in his blow up boat, being bounced up in down in the water, etc... he really likes it. The pool temp was a nice warm 84 yesterday. We'll be going in the pool again today after his nap this afternoon. Poor Daddy is working out in the direct sun, wearing a sweatshirt and welding today. Bet he can't wait to get home to the AC in the house and a dip in the pool. Thanks for all your hard work Babe!

Getting to a sitting positon

in my crib when Mommy puts me down for a nap is so much fun, LOL!
He just sits there sucking his thumb and holding his blankie I imagine one of these times I check in on him, he'll be asleep sitting up, he~he!

A crawler for a day and now pulling to stand...oh my :o)

We have a crawler...

JB has been crawling/scooting backwards for weeks now and today at playgroup he took the plunge and moved forward. He crawled two times while there about 10 crawls/ moves forward each time, but he hasn't done it yet at home. He crashed after playgroup for a few hours then woke up (not ready to be up, but hungry) he drank 8 oz and we tried the floor, but he was still tired so he went down again about 1 hour ago now. I hope he'll show Daddy his new trick tonight.
I was so excited to see him crawl, then instantly thought oh, oh that means he is mobile from now on...

I found out today that Joel's best buddy at playgroup, Isaiah (his Dad brings him) is in the process of being adopted as well (he is the child of his wife's sister and they got him at 3 weeks old). What a coincidence that out of the 4 in the group today, the two boys are being adopted...WOW!

Becoming a pro at the pincer grasp/feeding himself and getting into a crawling position from sitting

New ride for the little man

I switched out Joel's car seat in my car today from his Graco Safeseat to his Evenflo Triumph Advance Deluxe. It was very bittersweet! I know I could've kept him in it longer as he is just under 20 pounds now and around 28 inches long and the Safeseat goes to 30 pounds and 32 inches long, but he just seemed so jammed in it and he's been riding in his Britax convertible seats in Daddy's car and Grammy and Grampy's van for a while now. I no longer took his infant seat out of the car anyway as he sits well in the front off the shopping carts with his cart cover or in his stroller.
Anyway, he seemed to like his ride in it. We went walking the mall this morning. The material on the seat is so soft, when I put him in it after the mall, he was rubbing the side of the carseat up by his head with his little hand and looking at it like awww! I said "it's so soft and comfy isn't it?" and he gave me a big ole smile, LOL!

Beach pictures from 8-8-09

 

 

 

 

Update to Mr. Fussy~Clingy...now Mr. Normal, LOL!

I broke down and took JB to the DR's yesterday to check his ears. They are of course, fine! He is however getting his top front R tooth, so maybe that was part of the problem. He was back to his normal self yesterday so thinking he was just over tired and really thirsty Sunday, maybe from his busy day at the beach Saturday. Who knows! He weighed 19 pounds 8 oz.
Little Monkey slept in today, he is just waking up. He's going to have apples, cherries and plums with oatmeal for breakfast today, mmm!

Mr fussy~clingy today, hmmm?

Not like our happy go lucky little man at all! Wondering if he has a tooth coming in or an ear infection or something. Joel hardly cries and if he does it is just a whine, but today he was full out crying for no reason, you'd look at him and he'd cry, touch him, he'd cry, try and feed him, he'd cry...you get the picture...very strange behavior for him. He was only content to be held by Mommy with his head on my shoulder and just lay there (again, if you know Joel you know he is not like this, unfortunately not a cuddler). He however took all his bottles fine, but not interested in napping much today and just so fussy. He'd cry like couldn't catch his breath, pain cry so we are wondering if something may be bothering him. He guzzled 10 oz before going to bed. We've never given him that much before...he started with 6 oz, sucked that down (sometimes he takes 8 oz before bed). I was folding laundry and I hear Daddy who's feeding him say, his bottles empty and he wants more so we said hmmm should we give him more and so we did, 2 more oz and he sucked that down and was actually quite content and even a bit smiley after...so was he starrrvvvving?? LOL! Not sure!! He fell asleep shortly after. I'll see how he is tomorrow whether he needs to see the DR or not. He also had a temp of 100.2 this afternoon (the other times I checked it today, it was all normal) and with feeling so off, we gave him Tylenol. I also gave him some teething tablets before bed to see if that would help him. Hopefully he sleeps well tonight and is back to himself tomorrow. Maybe he was just over tired today.

Joel's 1st trip to the beach

Josh, Joel and I packed up and headed to the beach yesterday morning (will post pics as soon as I take them off the camera). It was a beautiful day in the 80's and the water was about 60 degrees. Joel loved playing in the sand and rolling around/scooting backwards and sideways in the cabana we brought for him. He however wasn't too fond of the water, whether it was the fact it was really cold or the loud roaring waves...not sure, but he clung to me the whole time we stood in the water (up to our waists). Daddy would try and hold him and oh no, he wanted Mama, LOL! Again though, he lovvveeddd the sand, typical boy was practically buried in it playing with his shovel and bucket and trying to eat it :o) We had lunch their and went out to dinner after where Joel had his very first own scoop of vanilla ice cream which he ate only a few bites of, but he loved the spoon, silly boy! He was soooo tired by the ride home and crashed in bed shortly after getting home. We all had a great time. The beach was packed, but it was a beautiful day and we have lots of fun!

Went to Maine Saturday to visit Joel's Great Aunt Anne & we had a great time!