Spin the Baby

Joshua's newest game is to spin around in his crib while he is sleeping. We put him down with his head going north (lengthwise) in the crib but when we come back later sometimes he has turned 45 degrees with his feet up on the crib bumper, sometimes turned 90 degrees with his head and feet jammed up against either side of the crib widthwise (this can't be all too comfortable), and then other times he has spun around almost 180 degrees so that he is facing the exact opposite direction of how we put him in the crib. At first we couldn't figure out how he did it, but we think he pushes off with his powerful, chunky thighs and spin his tail out (again and again in some cases). Then today, for the first time, we heard him crying and found that he had turned himself over for the first time and was on his belly, head up like the Sphinx, looking around and crying. Joshua is going to be a hyper-active terror on two feet once he has enough balance and coordination to walk. Having a baby is fun.

Surrendering to Sleep

Everyone says that we have such a good baby. Do not let the boy decieve you. Joshua is an extrovert and a very social baby. He loves people when he is out in public and puts on a great public face. When guests come over, nine times out of ten he is asleep or very compliant and wide eyed so as to solicit comments such as "He's so cute!" or "What big eyes he has!". He eats it up. Joshua loves all the attention you heap on him. But, like all babies, he has his whiny crying side that doesn't want to go to sleep. Mommy & Dadddy say, "It's time to sleep Joshua" and Joshua's facial expression and flailing body movements say, "It's playtime!" But we love him, even if it is often a fight to get him to go down for a nap or to sleep at night. He struggles. He cries. He thrashes and moans and sighs. He wriggles his little arms out the swaddling cloth like a Baby Houdini. But when all is said and done, he finally goes down (to sleep, that is). As you can see in the picture, Joshua eventually puts his hands up and surrenders, submitting to the parental wisdom that sleep really is better than crying and thrashing about all night.

Like Father, Like Son

On the left is Karl at around 3 months old. On the right is Joshua at almost 3 months old. Do we look alike? Is father like son? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Attempting a Routine

We are trying to get Joshua on a routine in the evening for our sanity and his well-being:  feeding, bath, reading and soft singing, and off to bed.  We are trying to wean him off his binkie (that's a pacifier, in adult english) and it is working OK so far.  It takes him a while to go down and sometimes involves quite a bit of screaming but once he goes down, he is really down - for anywhere between 6-9 hours.  Gotta love that.  If Sun puts him down, she'll read some Scripture to him and sing a song of her own invention ("Goodnight Mommy, Goodnight Daddy, Goodnight World"), Jesus loves the Little Children, and whatever else she can think of.  If I put him down, I'll sing the goodnight mommy song with some of my own lyrics and then some hymns.  I have "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" memorized as well as four of five verses of "All Creatures of our God and King."  I only have the first two verses of "Be Thou my Vision" down but I hope to do the rest later.  It can be really difficult to maintain a soothing, calm, soft tone when you can't hear your singing over the screaming.  Oh well - try, try again.

Sleeping Through the Night

A common question that everyone seems to ask is, "Is he sleeping through the night yet?".  Our thankful answer is, "Yes, for the most part."  The baby gurus say that most babies start sleeping through at about 6-8 weeks or over 12 pounds.  Joshua is 2.5 months now and was 12 lbs 8 ozs as of a couple weeks ago.  Joshua tends to be a really good baby although he does have his screaming fits and bouts of "Bedtime?  What's that?  It's Playtime!!"  On average though, he is sleeping at least six hours per night, on occasion eight hours.  Gotta love those eight hour nights.  It is almost like life is back to normal again.... almost.  Sun really appreciates the long sleeps that baby has because she may have to only get up once to feed him.  If he goes down at 11 pm, then we could be good to go until anywhere between five and seven in the morning.  Not so shabby, eh?

Baby Ninja

Most children progress from holding their head up, to pushing themselves up, to crawling, to walking, to running, etc. However, our Joshua is quite amazing and has skipped all of these phases and decided to go directly to flying through the air. It could be attributed to his incredible intelligence or maybe just too many kung fu movies before bedtime, but we marveled at our little baby as he leapt across the bed like a mini ninja. You may not believe such tales, but the photographic evidence should sufficiently prove our claims.

Growing Baby

Joshua has officially graduated from a bassinet to a crib. We thought we'd be able to sneak by with the bassinet until we left for Thailand but our kid is big - 25 inches, and 12 lbs 8 ozs big at his 2 month check up. Praise God that a generous friend lent us a port-a-crib that is quite good (more like a real crib if you ask me). Joshua's arms don't quite touch the sides now whereas before he was stretching out in the bassinet, trying to bring the house down on him like an infant Samson.

A Blog for Baby

We love our little Joshua and we know that many of our friends and family love the little guy too so here is a blog to share pictures and stories about him as he grows up. Perhaps someday (in the distant future), Joshua himself will get in on the action and do some posting himself.