June 2008

6/9/08

Life with Nathan has been so special so far. He is about 8 months 1.5 weeks old now. He still struggles to hold his head up. He still struggles to pick things up and doesn’t always look at what his hands are doing. He has so many therapists. His second tooth broke. So he has his two middle bottom teeth in. He has stopped biting me which is nice.

6/11/2008 – 8 ½ months old
Nathan has been sick for the past two days. He got a fever Sunday night and has a horrible cough. It reminds me of when I spent my nights listening to him right after he was born. His breathing is so raspy but then I worry when I don’t hear it. Funny how that is. We get so comfortable with something bad that we worry when it isn’t there. He threw up for the first time this morning. It must have made his tummy feel better because he gave me the biggest grin right after. I was glad that it didn’t scare him. I

6/23/2008 (9 month in 5 days)
Nathan has been able to get onto all fours lately. He balances on his hands and his head, then scoots his legs up underneath him. He still has difficulty lifting his head while he is lying down. He does lift his head for about 30 seconds before dropping his head back to the floor. He isn’t making any forward motion, at least not on purpose.

Since Nathan is at the scooting stage, we let him play mostly in the family room where we can keep the door to the basement closed. With a house with four sets of stairs, it can be a bit tricky to make sure that he doesn’t take a tumble down a flight of stairs. So he spends a great deal of time in the family room. The kids and I often are in there anyway. I can also look down at him while I am in the kitchen which makes things easier too.

Nathan has found several favorite places in the living room. He loves to scoot over to the couch and scratch the fabric on the couch. It makes a cool scratching sound that he seems to enjoy. He also likes to scoot over to the window, and drag his had across the glass so that it squeaks, or play with the curtains. He enjoys different textures. He can also find his toys to play with as he scoots around. Just this past week, he seems better able to pick up his toy off the floor when he is on his side and then roll onto his back to play with it. He is also grabbing the toys with both of his hands. One thing that he loves to grab are the cords to the PlayStation II. The Playstation always seems to be out and he loves to scoot over to it and get his head under the cords. This can be a little dangerous since he likes to wind the cords all over him.

Nathan still arches a lot. Sometimes this makes him difficult to hold. At other times, he can be such a cuddly baby which makes up for the arching struggle. He will look at you and then curl up on your shoulder. He loves to be held and played with. He is a very social little guy. When he catches your eye across the room, he will smile. When he is on his back, it is much easier for him to watch and smile at you. When he is sitting, he has more difficulty seeing things and noticing you. He still smiles at you, just not as well.

The kids are amazing with him. He couldn’t ask for better siblings. They are always playing with him or helping him out from some place he scooting into. It is never good to be stuck under the couch or on the sharp edge of the TV stand. They are also great in talking to him and playing with him while I am working on something else. Each seems to really take responsibility for him and watch out for him. Emma especially love to play with him, and hates it when he is taking a nap because she can’t play with him. “Nathan is awake. Now I can play with him.” she often says. I have the most amazing kids.