Joshua is now 10 months (and a few days) old!Where to begin? A couple days after my last update, Joshua really figured out how to get around. He went from kind of scooting to full on crawling. He's all over the place now. Also, at the same time, he figured out how to pull himself up to standing. At first he we found him standing in his crib a few times, now he stands everywhere, including the sliding glass door which has nothing to pull up on. We've had to really go through and baby proof. I thought we had done a pretty good job, but there are still things he gets into! He has also figured out how to get himself down from standing by shifting his weight forward and plonking down on his bottom - so cute! He can even reach down to the ground while standing to pick up a toy.
Oh, and he graduated to the big bath this month. He loves the water though it's hard to keep him sitting down in the tub.
On May 18, we had his 9 month checkup at which he weighed 22lbs, 10oz and was 29 inches long. Also at that appointment, we decided to start him on a daily maintenance medicine for asthma since he's been coughing and junky sounding since February.His sleeping went from bad to worse and back again. The worst night he was up 8 times. Yes, 8 times - worse than when he was a newborn! And then he went through a phase of not wanting to go back to sleep so one night we were up from 1 until after 4 am. During that time, we would find him standing and crying in his crib. We were afraid to just let him cry because he didn't really know how to get down without just falling. He bonked his head a few times. Some nights he ended up in our bed with us. And boy, for a little baby, he sure does take up a lot of space!
This past week we think his medicine has finally kicked in and is allowing him to sleep better. He even went through the night a couple times! Most of the time, though, he's up once or twice. We sure are hoping that these sleep issues are coming to an end!
He fell asleep in his chair one night while I was making dinner. I took some pictures because I couldn't believe it. This baby doesn't ever want to sleep yet he fell asleep sitting up!
Speaking of sleep, he's doing slightly better than last month. Some nights he wakes up once, other nights, like last night, we wakes up 4 times. There is no consistency. I have been going to bed at 9:30 since I don't ever know how the night is going to go. When I go into his room in the night I find that he has rolled over onto his tummy and is up on his knees. I'm not sure why he's crying though since he's not stuck in that position.
He now has two teeth. The first one, as you know, came through on April 18th and the second one followed on the 22nd. No others have come through yet. I took a picture on the 22nd - it's kind of blurry but you can sort of see his teeth.
He so wants to be like us. He loves to eat food and tries to feed himself. He also likes to drink from cups though, as you can see from the wet shirt in the picture, he hasn't yet mastered it. 
He has started to put his arms out when he wants to be picked up. He also waves sometimes though it's not really directed at anyone.
Then we spent the afternoon outside. We got him a little pool and he played in it two afternoons. He seemed to enjoy it. He loves the water. 
And here are a few more pictures just because.
So, now that Joshua is 8 months old, what's new with him, you ask. He has turned back into a terrible sleeper. On his worst night, he was awake 7 times. The past couple nights haven't been as bad with him only waking twice. The doctor suggested taking his pacifier away since he's using it to soothe himself to sleep and when he wakes and it's no longer in his mouth, he can't get himself back to sleep. Pretty obvious suggestion, but we haven't done it yet since we know we won't be getting any sleep that night and probably for the following couple of nights.
By Feb 23 he had basically recovered and had his 6 month appointment at which he weighed in at 19 lbs, 6 ozs and was 27 inches long. That put him in the 76th percentile in weight and 64th percentile in length. We got the go ahead to start foods with a few precautions: we are to wait a few days between starting new foods in case of a reaction and we are to avoid allergenic foods including berries, wheat and nuts. That evening Joshua had sweet potatoes and loved them! Since then he's had bananas, prunes (bananas weren't so great on his system!), peas, pears, and apples. His favorite is still sweet potatoes.
On March 6th he had his first airplane ride. We went to Las Vegas for Lisa's wedding. He did perfect on the flight. That night though he decided to scream his head off. With only a couple short breaks, he screamed from 10 pm until 5 am. He finally passed out. I had to get up 2 hours later for the wedding which left me feeling like a zombie. Saturday night he did much better and only screamed for an hour. He woke up multiple times but at least he went back to sleep. To make up for it, on Sunday night, back in his own bed, he slept for 12+ hours. We don't know what the problem was but don't plan on returning to Vegas any time soon!
