December 10, 2013:

I can't believe that RJ is almost 11 months!! Just one more week… He has just been blossoming over the past few weeks and changing so much. He's up to the 14lb mark and holding!! His lil cheeks have some chubbiness to them now. Sooooo adorable!! I get going with my kisses and he starts to giggle and smile. It's precious. He's been working on his sitting skills and crawling moves lately. He started sitting on his own week of Nov. 17th for little periods either on the changing table or bathroom counter with us spotting him. Last wk on Dec. 5th he sat up officially on his own while I went downstairs to get his milk!! He was playing on the floor in his room content as can be. It was amazing!! He still gets off balance, but is learning so quickly. In the mornings after he eats I start placing him on the floor in the crawling position. I started the week of Nov 24th and he could only hold himself up for a couple seconds and his arms would give out. He's getting better and rocks back and forth a little. No forward attempts yet, I still have to help with that. Our new morning routine after his first bottle is to lay on the floor of his room and look up at the stars on his ceiling. We were given one of those turtles with stars and a moon cut into it's shell and then lights that shine through it. I try to help him with rolling over as well. He's still not a fan.

I'm very impressed that RJ has slept for just over 11.5hrs!! I'll have to come back to blogging… So now it's the end of the day and I'm just getting around to blogging again. I should be crawling into bed right now but our Christmas tree decided to start leaning and we had to unscrew, change positions, and rescrew the screws into the tree. Needless to say the whole ordeal has made me very frustrated. The tree looks all off center now and I needed to vent… I know I should be happy and grateful that we even have a tree and for our precious lil bundle of joy. I'll get over it…

I think the last time I blogged was Nov 19th. After I blogged that evening RJ decided to jump out of his bath chair. Okay, I know that sounds a little dramatic. I set him in the chair and he didn't totally lean back. He saw something in the water and wanted to grab it, loosing his balance in the process. He did a face plant in the water that lasted just a sec. I quickly grabbed him and he sputtered, but recovered without harm. The next night I took him out of his bath chair and sat him in the tub while holding his thighs down. He seemed to have fun playing with his toys in the new position. Well due to my procrastination to blog and the fact that RJ has been so active, I have a very long list of things I wanted to remember. So I'm going to write them in a bullet format again.

-Week of Nov. 17th: RJ is wanting to sit up more and more when on the changing table and play with the lotion and hand san bottles.

-Nov 23rd: No luck with bananas. He does seem to like sweet potatoes and carrots. Still a challenge to get him eating solids.

-Nov 25th: RJ made himself laugh while playing w/ the decorative balls on my dresser.

-Nov 26th: RJ's chowing down on his foam letter "N" like crazy while sitting at the kitchen table. Drool is everywhere. I'd say he's definitely teething. I started giving him teething tabs this wk too.

-Nov 30th: Today was difficult not having Robert w/ us for Sabbath school and church. RJ fought sleep and didn't get any naps till we got home from church. He had a vomiting episode on the church carpet. It was too much for me to hold him and the bottle while standing and rocking him. He's getting too heavy. I triggered his gag reflex. Ugh…

-Dec 1st: RJ refused to take a nap by himself 3 separate times. I heard WAY too much crying today!!! There were multiple poopy diapers and vomit episodes while daddy was at work too. He only got a 20 min nap when I held him at the end of the day. I also noticed RJ being more clingy today. He kept patting me, wanting me to pick him up or not put him down.

-Dec 2nd: RJ made a blowing sound on my neck and started patting me while I was holding him. Such a silly little boy

-Dec 3rd: RJ woke up at midnight whimpering and just wanted to be held. Not sure if he had a bad dream or what. I changed his diaper and was back in bed about 25 min later. He was clingy and holding on to me. I do love the feeling. I made a desperate post on Facebook asking advice for getting RJ to sleep on his own. I got a great response. I even bought a book that was recommended "The Wonder Weeks" for the Kindle. Great info.

-Dec in general: This month I've noticed him grabbing at stuff and wanting to touch everything in sight!! He's becoming very busy!! I've started taking his Sabbath activity book to church and it's a great distraction!!

-Dec 4th: I've been off and on awake since 2am!! RJ was wide awake and didn't want to fall back asleep. Eventually after much trying, I just held him and we fell asleep in the LazyBoy. My sleep was much lighter than his though. He got his next Synagis shot dose today. Thankfully he didn't vomit this time. I tried to make a longer stretch of time between his last feeding and the shot.

-Dec 5th: RJ slept through the night again!! I feel fantastic!! RJ sat up along on his play mat in his room while I went downstairs to get his milk!! He's playing in his room on his mat so well. He's holding the crawling stance longer too. He loves to sit on his knees when in my lap. He was talking up a storm today and smiling at me a lot.

-Dec 6th- RJ played high five with daddy. It was precious. He's started being better about taking naps on his own. I've been getting 20-30 min naps out of him while wearing his sleep sack. It's better than nothing. I'm still trying some cry it out, but go reassure him every 10 min or so. If he keeps crying he eventually gets hungry and I have to feed him again. Around the noon nap we play this dance.

-Dec 8th: RJ went with us to buy his first Christmas tree!! It was super duper cold. We had him bundled up w/ a blanket over his head. We were going to keep him in the truck, but he was getting fussy, so we brought him out. It was extra tricky trying to set up the frozen Christmas tree while taking care of RJ's feeding, diaper, and attention needs. That night right before bath time, we heard RJ give his first big boy sounding laugh when daddy blew on his stomach. He's growing up so fast!!

Whew…. things are changing every day and RJ's switching up his schedule daily. It's quite the job trying to keep up with him and keep the house running. I think it's extra tricky around the holidays with extra projects to try and get completed. Everything takes so much longer. We are truly blessed. RJ's lost his preemie look and is turing into a normal lil boy. It's incredible the progress he's made. Well, I've unwound now from the Christmas tree fiasco. I should get ready for bed.

Thanks again for all the prayers, love, and support you continue to give us. We wouldn't be where we are without it. Don't forget that!!