Five Little Toofies and Standing

I was able to snap a picture of Joel with all five teeth last week. I also got one of him standing, which has been one of his newer developments. This week, he got his first virus and fever. We were shut in for a few days, but I am thankful that it took him this long to get sick. Since he was sick, we spent lots of time reading board books. He picked up on how to turn the pages ... well, if the pages are separated a little. Here are some new pictures of his latest developments.

Our First Vacation to the Beach

During the first week in August, we took our first family vacation to the beach as a family of three. Both sets of grandparents, along with Adam's brothers, sister-in-law, and niece, were there. It was a very relaxing trip. We didn't go out much, but were able to spend lots of time on the beach.

Joel loved crawling in the ocean water. That didn't surprise us very much, though; he loves bath time! He tasted lots of sand and salt water, and tried to eat a few sea shells. He also really enjoyed the outdoor shower that we used to rinse off before going in to the house. We can't wait to take him next year, although he'll probably be harder to keep up with.

Joel Turns 8 Months Old

Today, Joely man is eight months old. Time is going by pretty quickly, and we are savoring every minute with him. Joel has been changing a lot over the past few weeks. His crawl is becoming faster, and he's starting to let go of things when he's standing. He is very interested in anything that opens and closes or turns on and off, and still loves all electronics. He has started to chatter a lot more, and likes "having a conversation" with just about anyone, including the characters on TV.

Three (yes, THREE) top teeth cut through in the past week. So, he now has a total of five teeth. Despite having more teeth than most babies his age, he is still not very interested in most finger foods. I guess we'll stick to milk and baby foods for now. We will go to the doctor for height and weight measurements in early September, so I will give an update on other developments then.

Alphabet Wall

In late June, I finally finished a project I started a long time ago ... Joel's alphabet wall. Trying to stick with our gender neutral theme (just in case we are blessed with a girl in the future), I figured this would be able to stay on the wall for a while. I bought the letters and paint at Jo-Ann's and Michael's. I picked blue, orange, teal, brown, and purple for the colors. I used a ruler and level to get the letters as straight as possible and used mounting tape to stick the letters to the wall.

6.5 Month Check-up and Update

I haven't blogged in a while, so I feel like I have a lot to jot down to keep all of Joel's new adventures up to date. On July 3rd, Joel went for his six month check-up. He was a little delayed because of a cold that both of us had for two or three weeks. (I didn't want him to get any vaccinations while he was sick.) He weighed 21 pounds and 3 ounces, which is in the 93rd percentile. He was 28.5 inches long, which is in the 94th percentile. Most surprisingly, he jumped from the 75th percentile in head circumference to the 90th percentile with his head measuring 18 inches. Grandma said it was because "His brain is just getting so big."   :)   Joel got three shots and an oral vaccine. He took them like a champ, only crying on the initial prick of each shot. (Last time he cried all the way home.) He was a little clingy later in the day though. We left the doctor's office feeling blessed to have such a healthy young boy!

In other news ...

Joel is more efficient with crawling now, even
though he still uses his one-leg-up method.

He loves pulling on everything in sight, including
other children (not good). 

It is starting to take a lot more energy
to keep up with him now that he's on the move.

Joel loves bath time and enjoys splashing and
playing with his bath toys. He really enjoyed his first
trip to the pool too (as expected).

My First Mother's Day

We spent this Mother's Day in Fieldale with my family. We made a special visit to Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa Shivley's house to take a four generation picture. 

Joel enjoyed looking at the pretty flowers at Grandma Cheryl's house. He even picked me a flower petal. It was a very sweet first Mother's Day gift!

Update on Joel

Joel is about five and a half months old now. We are thinking he weighs about twenty pounds. He enjoys sitting up, standing with support, reading books, trying to crawl, rolling off of the changing pad, playing peek-a-boo, jumping and bouncing, watching children and animals play, pushing from stomach to sitting, and being tossed in the air. He really dislikes being in his car seat for any extended period of time. While I'm sure cutting teeth is painful, he's being a pretty good sport. Maybe he'll get tooth #3 soon.

His one leg up crawling method

Sitting up with drool to the floor

He has tried several types of foods: avocado, white and brown rice cereal, banana, sweet potato, carrot, peas, green beans, pear, peach, and mango. I think he likes peas and green beans the most and mango the least. He now eats about the equivalent of one jar of baby food a day over two feedings.