Joseph Stephen - Eight Months Old

Dear Joseph,

We have a crawler! You started crawling this month and are so happy that you can now follow your brothers around the house. Your method of crawling is quite unorthodox, as you do not get up on your hands and knees to travel. Instead, your crawl can best be described as an army crawl. Your belly does not leave the floor, you pull with your arms, and push with your legs. You have become quite fast using this method! Here is a video:

Because of your increased activity, you really have not gained any weight this month. You are holding steady at 20 pounds. Instead, your weight has been redistributed, as you have quickly moved into 12 month clothes. As you have gotten older, you have developed a love of food. You will eat anything and must be going through a growth spurt because you seem to constantly be hungry. The bottle does not satisfy you very often; you would much rather have real food. You continue to love your pacifier and require it most evenings to go to sleep.

This month, your first two teeth broke through. It seemed like you were working on those teeth forever! The two bottom, front teeth broke through within days of one another and are very visible when you flash your handsome smile!

Your two bottom teeth are so cute!

At the beginning of the year, you developed a base case of croup. Early in the evening, you acquired a barking cough. It was still early, so I contacted the on-call pediatrician and she advised that if the cough seemed to get worse or if you started having difficulty breathing that we should go to the emergency room. Because all of your brothers have had croup at one time or another, we were familiar with the signs and continued to stay up with you through the night. Your dad and I would take shifts sitting with you wrapped up in a warm blanket outside, as the cold air can help calm the inflamed airway. If we sat outside with you, your breathing seemed to improve; however, within a few minutes of returning to the house your symptoms would worsen. Finally, at 2:30 a.m., I decided to take you to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room, we were immediately seen and the doctors began administering medication to help improve your breathing. After trying multiple treatment options, we finally found one that worked. Luckily, you were not admitted to the hospital, and we were able to return home late in the morning. It was an exhausting night for everyone!

Joseph, you are the happiest little boy. You are happy from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep in the evening. You are starting to develop quite the personality and even a little temper. We have found that if you do not get picked up when you want picked up or removed from your high chair when you are done, you throw a little fit! You have also decided that you are too busy to have your diaper changed, as it is a struggle to get you to lay still while we are changing you. You have things to do and people to see! 

We absolutely adore you and your sweet personality and can't believe how quickly the last eight months have gone by!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy