March 12, 2014:

Well I hadn't planned on taking a month to blog another post, but here we are. Lots has happened and RJ has been quite the traveler. He's grown lots and is changing every day. He's getting more and more cute. We couldn't be more proud of his progress.

Feb 14- had fun banging on pot and pans w/ wooden spoons for the first time. Got into a head shaking mode and waving his left hand. It was hilarious looking. He got a smile on his face when I was trying to get him rolling from side to side. I think he might be allergic to dogs cause his nose has started running since arriving. Uncle Bannor had RJ bring my sister and me our valentines tulips and Robert had mailed me a card. It was adorable. He finally slept an hr in his new sleeper/rocker/chair. He has a bunch of hearty laughs yesterday afternoon when seeing the dog Jill spaz out. It was sooo cute!! RJ is grabbing and holding out his arms a whole lot more. It's precious.

Feb 16- RJ enjoyed getting to see daddy this morning!! He surprised us and is going to help us drive home. RJ ate some apple sauce blueberry mixture w/ some cereal. He was talking up a storm after he woke up. He had a fun day hanging w/ daddy and uncle Bannor. This evening RJ came w/ us to a sushi restaurant. He had fun w/ the helium balloon. He also ate a bunch of sweet potato puffs and even fed himself for the first time!! He has an incredible pincher grasp. It was super fun to see. I'm enjoying how RJ holds his hands up more to us. It's special

Feb 19- I see another tooth coming next to his other front tooth!! RJ was so thrilled to be home today playing in all his regular places. He took some good naps in his swing and ate some food. This afternoon we went to the mall w/ dada to run a few errands. RJ was very quiet and calm the whole time looking around. This evening while I was cleaning up the kitchen RJ was sitting in his box on the floor. He looked like he might pull himself up on his knees but didn't yet still managed to turn himself around facing the opposite direction. The wheels are turning. :)

Feb 20- RJ and daddy has a boys night while I went out w/ the girls. He did well and only woke up briefly before we went to bed. He finally slept through the night since being home from vaca!!!

Feb 21- I think I heard RJ say "baba" this morning. He's struggling eating bfast, but the poor kid needs to poo, so I hope that happens  soon!! Made RJ really work to stand up for his giraffe ride. Really enjoyed eating his new puffs and yogurt melts we bought him. He brings the food to his mouth!!

Feb 22- RJ woke up once last night to eat then slept till 7:40 am!! He did great in SS and church. He started to loose it at the end and I took him out. He fought sleep and then gave in. I was able to finish the service. He slept about 30 min. Came home to change and eat. Then we took an hr walk. RJ watched the whole time!! I was for sure he'd fall asleep. He played great today and did some more climbing exercise. He was moving all around in his box today and talking up a storm. It was cute hearing him talk at church too:). He's enjoying his bath and wiggling all over. I hope he sleeps long and hard after only 30 min worth of nap

Feb 23- Well I can probably count on one hand the number of times RJ has slept through the night this month. I'm not a fan of this teething period for sleep anyways. I am glad he enjoys using his teeth to crunch on food:). Yesterday he discovered the stair spindles are a great pull up gym. He was pulling himself up from a sitting position on my leg. He's getting the hang of it!!

Feb 24- RJ pushed himself backwards in the crawling position. I guess that's going somewhere:). The past couple days when laid in his crib at night he rolls to his side:). It's adorable. By morning he's flat on his back again. He's full of the giggles in the evening. He is so precious!!

Feb 25- RJ's been swishing his spit the past couple days making a cute noise. We got him scooting backwards again:). I'm not a fan of poop in the tub. Thankfully I hadn't cleaned the bathroom yet. It's always a super big accomplishment when he poops, just keep it in the diaper. :)

Feb 27- had a good trip down to my moms. RJ only got 1 hr 10 min worth of naps:/. He had LOTS of poop today. Poor lil bottom is so red now:(. He was exhausted tonight and only ate a couple ounces. He fell asleep on his stomach in my lap so that's how I laid him in the pack n play. We shall see how long it lasts!! He looks so precious!!

Feb 28- heard RJ say mama when he wasn't crying. He purposefully opened and closed the kitchen cabinet door while holding onto the knob. He's been grabbing to stand up more w/ assistance. He's babbling more often.

Mar 1- RJ woke up about 5:40am and I fed him. Then brought him in bed w/ me to snuggle. He slept till almost 8am!! RJ just went from a crawling position to sitting for first time on own!!! He loves his train pieces and reconnecting the magnet parts as a game w/ me:) He's getting so smart

Mar 4- I've been fighting w/ RJ sleeping through the night again this wk. The whole month of Feb was bad. I'm hoping we can make a turn around here in March. We've been at my moms this wk and last night I moved him to my bed right before I got in cause he wouldn't relax. He slept the whole night without waking up for food!! He's developed some extreme mommy attachment lately. It's precious but exhausting at night. Not sure what's going to happen when we go home and he has to sleep in his crib again.

Mar 7- RJ has officially figured out how to turn the light on and off at the switch plate!! He's getting so smart!! Last night I had to break the habit he'd formed over this wks vaca at grandmas of sleeping in the bed w/ mama. It was adorable to see him snuggle up yo my pillow and then watch him wake up in the morning and hear him babble. I had to give him some tough love. Poor guy has got another diaper rash. He was popping all afternoon yesterday and has continued today. There is no rest for his over sensitive skin. I try to keep Desatin on it. Man I'll be glad when this stage is over. RJ had his last Synagis shot today for this season!! He hit the 16 lb mark so had to get two shots since they split the dose. He did well.

Mar 8- our nighttime routine was a lil rushed tonight cause we stayed out w/ friends longer. RJ decided to throw up right as he was finishing his bedtime bottle too. Grrr. I changed and re fed him. He's all curled up in my lap sleeping away. It's so precious. He was a great baby at SS and was so in to it. We sat w/ friends at church and he did excellent. I took him out once for a diaper change and once to rock him to sleep. This afternoon I gave him a couple chances to be diaperless. After our hr nap snuggling on my bed, RJ had a HUGE poop!! I was tempted to take a pic and send to Robert but didn't. He gets grossed out by poo anyways:). RJ has been much happier this evening. :). He's starting to show more love and affection. We are so blessed. I was doing these lil short squeezes like hugs over and over and he got smiles. It was so cute.

Mar 9- I love our lil boy!! We got to snuggle and take and extra 40 min nap in my bed this morning after he woke up to eat!! It was priceless. He's gotten more cuddly over this past wk. I guess those few nights sleeping w/ me got him more snuggley:). He's started acting like he's reading me a book:). He's pushed himself up to a sitting position from his belly a couple times now. He's catching on! While at my moms last wk I started typing out rhythms on the bottle when feeding RJ. He seemed to eat more. Weird. Today was daylight savings. Bedtime was tricky. He ate his bottle then starred at ceiling. Tomorrow we will have to put up a blanket or something. Last year he was in the NICU at this time and slept in our room after coming home. RJ is currently sprawled out w/ head under my arm on my belly and his feet on my leg. This makes transferring to the bed tricky!! RJ was super excited to see dada today. He gave lots of smiles. At lunch RJ ate almost a whole veggie mum mum. He also had fun standing on the chair reaching for stuff while still in his baby chair. Unless we are watching him we will have to pull the normal chair away from his feet so they just dangle:). He's getting smarter every day. Took off the sleep sack after he vomited from being all worked up and choking on his saliva. We were doing the cry it out method for bedtime. He cried about 45 min total.

Mar 10- RJ just walked holding my hands across his room!! Very deliberate steps!! I was going to go down the hallway, but he wanted to stop and see his caterpillar:). Past two feedings RJ has motioned to slide out of chair and want to walk. This last feeding we walked to our room!! RJ seemed to grow up today. He played great by himself in different parts of the house while I got a few things done. We had a fun walk w/ friends at the arboretum this afternoon. RJ had fun discovering where his books are kept and pulling them out. He had fun at bath time again and when he was done he grabbed onto one of my fingers and one of Roberts and we helped him stand up! That was a first!! I think he's going to skip crawling :). Now if we could only get him eating solid foods. Tonight for bedtime we put a blanket over the window. Much better!! As RJ was snuggling into me after eating he have a big yawn. They are the most precious thing ever and the sigh after is priceless. RJ woke up once crying. I went in to caress his face and talk softly to him for a couple min then left. He only cried about 10 min after I left.

Mar 11- RJ had a good day. Skipped his afternoon nap to see if he would sleep better. Tried feeding him at supper time and he grabbed the spoon to shove it in his mouth! He had a few good spoonfuls of avocado and almost two whole mum mum veggie rice things. He was a total wiggle worm at bedtime.
He woke up once and put himself right back to sleep. The second time I caressed his face and talked softly to him. He quickly went back to sleep.

Thanks again for all your prayers, support, and love. God is answering our prayers.