Happy New Year & Happy 12 Months, Josh!

Happy New Year!!  These past few weeks completely flew by and here we are in 2016!  This year may have been our least exciting NYE celebration yet.  Well for Andy, Josh, and me anyway, Ben had a blast having a mini party with Nana and Papa John, complete with a cake, orange soda, sledding, and of course a sleepover!  He was in heaven.

I, on the other hand, spent my 2nd consecutive NYE getting my eyes checked.  Gotta use that vision insurance by the end of the year!  That took a good hour and a half since all the crazy procrastinators were out, and when I got home, Andy had prepared a delicious lasagna!  We put Josh to bed and enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner.  (Nope, I did not waste any time in getting my pajamas on.)  We had a thrilling evening of watching TV in bed, which is actually a treat because we don't watch much TV.  Unfortunately, Josh started crying, Andy went in his room, and by the time Andy came back, I was SLEEPING.  So that was our night!  Next year, we're going to do something FUN!  And hopefully we won't be sleep-deprived at this time next year!

On to Joshy!  My big ONE year old!  The poor guy had his 12 month check up on Christmas Eve and was found to have an ear infection!  He had had a fever the night before, hadn't been eating much, and was sleeping like garbage (not out of the ordinary!).  He is also getting his 4 top teeth, so he was in rough shape.  He looked miserable and it made me so sad. :(  Thankfully, he's doing much better now that he's been on amoxicillin for almost 10 days.  Aside from his ear infection, he got glowing reports from the pediatrician!  Taking after his big brother, it seems!  He was still a little under the weather when I took this pictures, but I don't think that he would have left the sticker on any longer than half a second regardless of how he was feeling!

SLEEP:  Sleep still STINKS!  I really don't even know what to say about it.  Last night he was up like 6-7 times and would scream right after we put him back down.  He's smart.  He knows how to get our attention.  I'm really not a fan of the whole "cry it out" method, but I'm starting to think that's the only way he will sleep.  (Even though we have let him cry for awhile and he never stops on his own.)  He was sleeping better when he started eating better, but he has slowed down with the eating and thus the sleep has suffered.  (And by better, I mean waking up 2-3 times/night.)  We are exhausted. I'm not even one who likes sleep or needs a lot of it, but after a year of never getting a good night of sleep, my body is starting to revolt!  So that's that!  Only up from here???

EATING:  His eating was better for awhile.  He is supposed to be getting at least 600 calories a day, so when he was getting that, he slept better.  The problem is that it is often really hard to get him to eat that.  Feeding him can be exhausting, just like it was for Ben.  Some days he will eat a huge piece of turkey, fruit, and more, and other days he will only eat a few crackers or something like that for a meal. He's really in to throwing food on the floor when he doesn't want it anymore.  He seems to get sick of things very quickly.  Like after one time eating it!  The good thing is that he seems to like whole milk a lot!  I am still nursing him in the morning and at night, but I stopped pumping at work.  (Woohoo!!)  It was getting really hard to pump at work plus I wasn't producing as much, so I'm happy that Josh made it to a year on breast milk, but I'm ready to share my work with the cows.  Hah!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION:  What Joshy is lacking in the sleep and eating department, he is more than making up for it in the other departments.  He has such a sweet, silly, and funny little personality.  He has become so much more interactive over the past month.  He is making all sorts of noises, but his favorite word is still "dada."  He still uses his signs and is also starting to do things like point to his tummy on command.  His newest trick is he will "POP" on cue when we sing "Pop!  Goes The Weasel" and it is so cute!  I haven't been able to get a great video of it, but he will sign more over and over again when we sing it.  He loves to dance, wave, and give high-5s like it's his job, which is great because Ben is definitely NOT in to high-5s these days! ;)  Josh also recently started giving KISSES when asked.  Hopefully he keeps that up for awhile!  Can't get enough wet baby smooches!!  He is still SUPER attached to his mama!  I know I will miss these days some day, but there are serious crocodile tears even if I am out of sight for 5 seconds!

FINE/GROSS MOTOR: He's still a busy guy! He is always climbing and getting in to trouble!  If we leave the gait to the upstairs open, he will be sure to notice and will climb his way to the top in the blink of an eye.  He loves putting caps on things and he is really good at putting shape blocks in to the correct spots.  He is also really in to turning the pages of books.  I read books with both boys on the chair in Josh's room before bed, then Ben says goodnight to Josh, tells daddy to come and do the same, and then turns the light off and closes the door.  He's such a good helper brother.  Love our little routine!

(I can't get the video to upload…I'll have to add it later!)

Joshy, I know I've been complaining about the lack of sleep a lot lately, but even despite the poor sleep, we still love you more than anything!!!  (Well, we love you the exact same as your big brother!)  You make life so much more fun and I love watching you grow!  Thanks for making this year past year the best one yet!  I can't wait to see what you learn and do this year!  Love you forever and ever!!! XOXO