Fullness of Joy: Josiah Thomas Beardsley

Ahhh, the post you've all been waiting for. What, you don't really care what we were doing a month ago?? huh?? You think I should be more up-to-date with posting.....well, do I have a post for you. This Friday, August 15, 2008, Josiah will be 11 months old!! 11 months! So here is an update about the past 11 months, a few days early. We hope you enjoy!

A few pictures to start us out:

And now the FAQs.... Joey weighs about 20 pounds (and I don't know how tall he is now, sorry!), which puts him in the 15th percentile, which is better than when he was under the 1st percentile, at 6 months. whew! He eats a ton so I don't really know why, but other than a little doctor pestering, which we have to endure, Joey himself seems very contented. He is still nursing (about 3 times a day) and he eats almost everything now! We are still holding off on a few of those key things he isn't supposed to have until after a year, (milk, egg whites, citrus fruits and strawberries, and of course, peanut butter). I'm looking forward to the time where he can mostly eat what we are eating! For now, I still make most of his food, but as he gets pickier (blah!) I usually feed him a jar of something he really likes (like sweet potatoes, or a baby dinner) and give him a few bites of that, and then a few bites of whatever dinner I made for him. He mostly eats purreed meats, rice and veggies for dinner, cottage cheese, or yogurt mixed with fruit and tofu for lunch, and oatmeal or cream of wheat mixed with a banana or fruit for breakfast. I try to give him lots of snacks during the day. Some of his recent favorites are: crackers, animal crackers, saltines, nutra-grain bars, cheerios, toast with jelly, and rice rusks. (those things are strange, and have no taste at all!)

Joey sleeps well, IF I can be diligent about his waking up schedule. He wakes up between 7:30-8:30, and I have to get him up then!! If I don't (well sometimes I mean to get up but I keep thinking I'll get him in a minute and he sounds so happy and is just playing nicely!) he sometimes just falls back asleep, which sounds nice in theory, but when he wakes up at 9 or 9:30, he is:

1. starving!
2. grumpy!
3. soaked!

You think I'd learn my lesson (because washing p.j's and crib sheets and loving a grump are not worth an extra hour of sleep!)....but sometimes at 7:30 I feel a little tired. So my lack of scheduling aside, if he is gotten up at a good time, he takes a nice morning nap at 10 or 10:30 and then an afternoon nap at 2 or 2:30. If he is NOT gotten up early, he can only take one nap.
He is, though, old enough that one nap is an option. We can make it through a day without major meltdowns on one nap, provided that I have enough snacks and juice.
He usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on what we were up to. He likes to read stories before bed and naptimes. He likes turning the pages, and tasting the pages.

Joey and Mocha have a fun relationship. I think they are both intruiged by each other and enjoy each other. Joey went through a phase where he would laugh whenever he saw Mocha. Sometimes Mocha will lay at Joey's feet when he is playing in the exersaucer. Joey likes to "pet" Mocha, which involves pulling on his fur, or whacking him, and Mocha is pretty tolerant most of the time.
Of course, Mocha has his own "older sibling" jealousy issues that we are working through:

Joey is crawling well now, and I haven't seen him army crawl in a long time! He is into everything! He knows that he can open cabinets, and he likes to play in Mocha's water, and find anything that is not a toy, so he can bang it, chew it, break it, throw it, eat it, roll it, chase it, or just pull it out of it's spot.

Joey has 7 teeth and loves that now he can take a bite of something and chew it up (no molars yet, but he can gum it up...).

He likes to watch older children and can even "play" a little bit! He's still very friendly with unfamiliar people and is often held by different people at church, without minding. He goes to the nursery at our gym and church without a glance behind him and is very adaptable. He is learning about "no" and what it is o.k. to touch and not to touch.

He still likes to swim in the pool that we have here!

Joey is not talking yet, but he babbles more than he used to. He waves Hi and Bye-bye whenever he can, and I think he is trying to sign "all done", which we've been working hard on! When he does, it looks like he is saying hi and bye-bye with both hands. He is working on learning more and drink.
Joey loves to be tickled, squeezed, thrown around, and chased. He likes anything that involves motion (he was saving it for outside of the womb ;-) and to get a snuggle you have to catch him asleep! He is very sweet, and loving and happy and we are so excited to be celebrating his 1st birthday in a little over a month. He is a wonderful blessing to us!