God´s mystery- Joseph´s fascination with things that disappear and reappear

I realize that for a long time I hadn´t written, but that doesn´t verify that nothing was occuring during those months. Finally, God has given me the momentum that I was eager for: a determination to bridge the gap of communicating God´s testimonies in, through, and around our family.

As of today, after reading up on child development, I realized that peek-a-boo is more than a childhood game. It is an entire process of founding truths about a baby´s perception of the world around him or her, they are discovering that things that disappear don´t leave forever, if not they realize they can reappear and hence when they discover that truth, they begin looking for them when taken from their sight.

As parents, there is a special awe about your children making these discoveries, it opens up your worldview to almost a rediscovery of so many pure and simple joys in life: like delighting in someone else´s gain. Today, we couldn´t help but video Joseph Abraham and he´s sheer delight of Daddy´s animal sounds with a pop-up toy from Grandma Carol. Such are the moments I hope to treasure in this lifetime to carry us through the tough parts.

Enjoy his reaction. It is totally Joseph (when excited he jerks his whole body and eventually squeals at the top of his lungs). Hope you are inspired to rediscover some of these simple revelations only God can bring.

Seven months

To be honest, I don´t know where the time even went this month, but I can tell you that he is sitting on his own, doing the worm where he pushed up on his hands and feet and sticks his caboose in the air, pushing himself into a crawling position and rocking forwards and back, and just a few days ago began putting out one hand and picking up his opposite knee and then he just got stuck. It´s hard not to laugh out loud with his discoveries.

He is eating all kinds of goodies and I have fallen in love with making him food. He´s tried things like: potato, sweet potato, carrot, watermelon, cantalope, mango, apple, rice and oatmeal cereal, chicken, chick peas, spinach, orange and yellos squash, banana, etc. There hasn´t been one thing he hasn´t liked, except he did make funny faces all through the lentiles (hahahahahaha, it makes me smile just thinking about it.). This is probably a Mama data, but he is also doing good with his bowel movements. He seems to be pushing hard since this afternoon so I will watch hima nd keep his diet lighter than normal. He hasn´t had an allergic reaction which is a blessing from the Lord.

He has been babysat almost once or twice a week for brief periods and seems to do great with the separate time from Mommy. He is about to hit the age where most babies struggle with separation anxiety, but my prayer is that we breexe through it. He is a pretty sociable and personable baby.

He is babbling alot more, your guess is as good as mine if it is English or SPanish hahahaha. He enjoys interacting with Daddy when he talks in Spanish, so we will enjoy watching him develop his bilingualness gradually.

He is teething the top teeth and has been running a low fever and pretty cranky in the evenings. The oral gels and baby tylonal have been a lifesavor. He doesn´t care ofr teething rings but loves to chew on just about everything else. We are teaching him not to dig his two bottom teeth into people´s shoulders. It sure hurts, but I prefer it over biting my breast while nursing.

He is growing so fast and weighing so much. I am so proud of our little man. He loves dogs and he loves noises of all kinds. He is a very observant baby and expresses himself very clearly. He is low-strung, a lot like his Daddy, and has his Mommy´s smile. He´s a baby everyone enjoys squeezing on a regular basis.

Five months

Yauzzah! How time does fly!

I would like to preface this email with my necessity to write before five months so that I actually might remember more of the fuzzy details, something about becoming a mother makes you understand yours from a whole new perspective. How did Mom do it with Mommy brain, a husband and five little chick peas in toe? only God knows how she even got dinner on the table and everybody bathed and into bed at a decent hour.

His cry has changed, he has a cry for when he is hungry, wet, bored, scared, etc. It is quite comical to disifer, kind of like sherades but it seems to just be my game to play.

He has hit the bend in the road of everything has become amusing: he laughs at everything when he is in a good mode or just recognized Mommy or DADDY´S ATTENTION. He loves patty cake, the itsy bitsy spider, especially the part when the sun comes out and Mommy´s face appears, when we tickle him under his chin or on his sides, the kisses attack, zerburts on his belly, etc. He also is facinated with his reflection in a mirror, sometimes to the point of laughing at himself (though he doesn´t realize quite yet that is is himself) or starting a conversation and smiling back.

His bowl movements have become much more regulated and less dramatic, up until also 3 mouths he would regularly explode in some of the most awkward situations. He is now pooping "yellow mango jelly" once a day, usually mid morning or right before bed. He still chose to have his last horrah a week and a half ago. We visited on our way home a good friend who looove to play with Joseph and hadn´t seen him for a few months. They were getting ready for a garage sale and I decided to meander through some items while they ooed and awed. He was placed in his stroller while I priced a few odds and ins and was on my way out to skype with Mom and Dad. In all the goodbyes, Rick Dickson picked him up to kiss him and vualá! Poop all through his britches, up the stroller and plaster on the outside of his diaper. How, I have no clue. The funny thing was I had ran out of fresh diapers and had one wipe left so Mom and Dad were lucky enough to witness a messy blob through the web cam of all the action as we raced inside.

We have finally hit the milestone of baby testing who has the authority, and yes, he is attempting to manipulate us with his screams to get our undivided attention at his beck and call. The good thing is we knew this was coming and we have been able to talk about how to approach this awkward situation together, despite our parenting differences of opinion. So there are times for Mommy and baby, Daddy and baby, and baby by himself, whether he chooses to whine through it or not. He has started conversing with himself and plays for a long time with his hands, these are positive distractions and a healthy reminder that he is maturing just fine. One day at the office, it was all I could do to not pick him up to make him stop, all the staff around us and him screaming because he wanted my attention, but at least we are working on the issue now rather than later.

Joseph tends to be all smiles, except for the camera. He isn´t quite sure what to make out of that strange black box with a little red light that flashes and hides Mommy and Daddy from him.

We have had a babysitter two night recently and it has been wonderful! Joseph has done beautifully and we really enjoyed the quality time together. Isn´t funny that we had the baby over to someone else to have a change in routine and focus on each other and all we seem to think and talk about is the baby?

Joseph hasn´t rolled over quite yet, but he has been having lots of tummy time to help him work on his muscles. He can now reach for a toy and draw it to his mouth, where everything ends up if it is up to him. At bath time, he loves to suck on a wash cloth and "drink" some water, bath time has become a second bath for mommy with all his acrobatic splashes. I am saving on having to wash the kitchen floor as often, Joseph ends up with half of his bath water on the floor.

Well, Joseph began sucking his two thumbs about two weeks ago, I fought it for a while and the more I did, the more he sucked so I have left him to stuffing the little thumbs in his cheeks at he leisure. The positive is he doesn´t seem to be so interested in sucking them for long periods, I really hope he naturally lets go of the discovery as he gets more and more involved in other activities. Holding a toy and even a teething ring has helped.

Though a learning process, Joseph is finally going to bed around 7 every night and falling asleep all on his own. Whew! Praise God we started this learning now rather than later. It is heart breaking to hear them cry themselves to sleep the first nights, but it is so much better for them and for us. And another huge milestone, he is generally sleeping at 7 and sleeps until 3 to 5 am to nurse again! This has given me my beauty sleep and revived me in so many ways, I am actually dreaming again! After he nurses, he goes right back to sleep until 7 or 8 am.

It is not a definate yet, but I am considering enrolling in a drawing class as a hobby to relax with everything going on. It is a toss up if I do it, I am praying about leaving Joseph with a babysitter and I would take a three hour class once a week for this year. i AM CONSIDERING IT TO BE A POSITIVE OUTLET FOR MY MENTAL SANITY, WE SHALL SEE.

Joseph loves to squeal and makes funny noises and gurgle. He enjoys playing with his hands and two adys ago discovered his feet and though it was the funniest thing. He is now eating every four hours approximately during the day. He is a healthy boy, loves to watch and observe others. He loves his Mommy and Daddy and he likes to bounce on mommy´s legs

Four months

This is a bittersweet essay, for our hearts are delighted to have passed our baby´s first Christmas though on the same token we deeply missed our Bower Bunch. Something about having little Joseph touched my heart strings and I have wished to return to my roots: family, candles burning, neighbors bringing Christmas cookies, the sound of the heater coming on, Lizzy drinking Mama´s hot cocoa, Christmas in the park, advent calendar and card opening, singing around the Thomas´ piano, apple cider, etc. But my hope in Jesus has renewed my spirit as we create our new family traditions little by little.

Joseph has hit the 4 month mark today, it is true when they say you won´t believe how fast they grow! He is weighing in at more that 8 kilos and measuring more than 63 centimeters, which means he is using 1 year clothes because of his beautiful size. Poeple think he is gimoungous when they see him, usually people believe he is 6 months old rather than four. Makes mommy and daddy proud to say the least.

He seemed to have enjoyed Christmas, though I think Mommy and Daddy gave him a run for his money. He decked him out in raindeer britches and snow hat to boot. We had a special family Christmas dinne with the neighbors and a few close families. Mommy made baby special milk with turkey, smoked ham, and pumpkin pie made by yours truely! God has really blessed us this year. We went through a rough period financially and now we have enough to sow into others too, what a priviledge that we have an All providing God, whether in thin times or fat.

So our fellowship was engulfed with a banquet of laughter, close loved ones, and kind gestures of toys and pijamas for Joseph. Of course, Mommy´s plan to bed baby everyday at 8 back fired and baby got antsy to sleep, right when gifts began. This meant that baby went down only to be woken up by the festivities and cried for three hours straight. Quite the chorus of Christmas carols to serenade our festivities. Well, at least he enjoyed hanging up his stocking in the morning and bouncing from person to person during the earlier evening.

Joseph is squealing alot more, dialoguing in his own language and trying to figure out the codes we keep sending him. He smiles alot more and loves to see Daddy and Mommy. He likes to lift his head up and look around the room and talk to himself for short periods in his crib. He also is regulating his bowl movements, sorry if that is to much info for some of you but this is very good news for us. A lot less explosions through his pants now.

He also is sleeping well through the night, some nights he eats more than others depending if he is on or off a growth spurt. For a week he slept 6 hour intervals and only nursed once during the night. Now he is nursing every two to four hours, which can be tiring but he is good about returning back to sleep. Recently he has had more mucus so sometimes he lays down and forgets how to breath through his mouth, but he will learn.

He loves to hear one syllable words and laughs at mama and papa and baba. He likes peekaboo and patty cake. He is really ticklish on his sides and under his belly button to the point of cracking up out loud. He takes some short naps and often he enjoys a long two hour rest during the day. He loves to hear bedtime stories and be rocked to sleep. His skin is doing much better, he just has some whiter spots on his skin left than should clear up soon. He has discovered his hands and will "twiddle" his thumbs as he watches movements in front of him. He adores his rattles and likes to grab them and of course, shove everything he can in his mouth. He is drooling like crazy and thinks spitting up is fun to do when Mommy forgets his burp rag.

So in a summary, he is doing great. He has his immunizations coming up January 3rd. He is a healthy bouncing baby boy.

Two month clip

The motive behind this video was it dawned on me how fast they grow and that before I knew it, Joseph´s cry would change and I wouldn´t be able to remember this sound. He was struggling with gas and I am sure that he was experiencing some discomfort, but this is one of my favorite videos of his two-month life because it is all a memory now. God really is Life-giving and is the Only One who can fully understand the mystery of the miracle.