Hi everyone
Finally got round to rewriting post due to the last effort being lost!!!
Joshua is great, moved into 9-12 month clothes a couple of weeks ago. He is still very tall but quite thin so the clothes tend to last a lot longer. Just got him a leather look jacket from Adams he looks so grown up in it.
We got his first shoes on Saturday, a lovely pair of boots. Was told to put off buying proper shoes until they start walking properly on their own... and he started 28th October after months of walking holding on.
Joshua walks to the bus stop near us everyday, he has a bang on the seat and then we turn back. It takes us between 45 mins and 2 hours according to what he sees. He refuses to carry on until he has inspected every branch on the hedges and loves whacking them so they vibrate -he is SO funny. We have a horse field round the corner and he knows they are there. The other day we were saying 'hello' to one of the horses and I looked up to find the other one with Joshua hat in his teeth. Joshua was giggling like crazy!!!
We got Joshua one of the ISO fix carseats, expensive but well worth the extra. It is attatched straight into the seat so no seatbelts have to hold it in place, he looks so comfy in it. Sophie I still use the monitor, we have the Angelcare and the movement senser pad came away from the wires. I was so upset and John had to take it into the uni to fix it. I was so relieved to get it back. We have never used the noise monitor because we live in a bungalow so we can hear everything.
Joshua hasn't really started talking yet, just Mama and Yeah. I was so glad he didn't say No first -I don't think I could have coped with that!!!
I feel so blessed that I can be a full time mummy to Joshua. We have so much fun together although it is very hard and tiring trying to keep thinking of new games. His favorite 'toy' is his Room On The Broom book by Julia Donaldson -we have 4 copies of it all so we can always find one. He will actually carry the book over when he wants a story. We never bought him any 'baby' books just proper story books which I still read at least 12 a day to him. He has a cardboard copy of Room On The Broom and he turns the pages on his book and you can see him following the pictures. One of the pages has a picture of the witch fainted in the dragons arms, since I first read the book to him when he was about 3 months old I have always stroked the picture with Joshua's hand. About 2 weeks ago he started grabbing my hand and stroking the witch with it when I turn on to that page.
He is also obsessed with shoelaces and will quite happilly sit for over an hour threading the lace through one of the holes, pulling it out and doing it over and over again. He has such concentration on his face. He also has the habbit of grabbing our finger when he can't do something and dragging us over to whatever he wants then he puts our finger on whatever he wants. Usually it is because we have turned the batteries off. He also has a couple of the musical books, he grabs our finger and pushes it into whatever button he wants to play. He has a Winnie The Pooh musical book and likes the Little Roo lullaby.
Joshua loves his food. He doesn't snack between meals and eats proper dinners straight off. I have never done any choo choo trains etc just praised his and clapped after he has finished his food so he eats his meals at the same pace as us. It works really well. He still hasn't had any chocolate or sweets, he has the odd digestive biscuit about 2 times a week, he hasn't had any crisps, processed foods etc. Like I said I am lucky because I get to stay at home with him. He loves chinese, pasta, spaghetti bolagnaise (
sp?) full sunday roast especially Yorkshire pudding, scrambled egg, yoghurt, raisins, fruit, chicken and icecream although anything we offer usually disappears big time!!! He usually has 1-2 slices of bread cubed before his dinner -he smells food and thats it -cry city until it arrives so bread is very handy.
He still sleeps straight through which is great. We haven't got up to him once since he was 1 month old. Everyone looks daggers at us when they hear that. He goes to bed about 10pm and will sleep until about 9.30am then he is awake playing until he goes to bed, he probably has 1 hour afternoon sleep 2 times a week at the most. But he is such good fun.
I am still on sleeping tablets and anti depressants which isn't good. I have also had 3 major fits in the last 6 weeks. John called the ambulance for one of them. I have only ever had 1 major fit in 16 years but lots of minor, then they started up after Joshua arrived. I have had my meds increased 3 times in a year. I am seeing consultant tomorrow. My GP says it is major stress that is causing them. Joshua was terrified of me when I had the one with the ambulance, I had been holding him when I fell. I was unconsious for about 10 minutes luckily John was there, poor Joshua wouldn't come near me for about 3 days.
We went on holiday in September (3rd since Joshua arrive) it was the holiday from hell. We are in the process of claiming from the tour operator. Joshua actually had a cockroach running up his arm in the hotel restaurant -I was absolutely furious. He got a double ear infection and had to see the dr. He the got severe sickness and the runs. We had to see an airport doctor because they refused us our flight until Joshua had a certificate to travel. Everyday something else was going wrong and I spent every evening in tears. Like I said we are trying to get refund etc so I won't go into too much detail. We are hoping to go on 1 more holiday before Joshua reaches 2 years old, that is when you have to start paying for him. We always buy last minute through the operators website and have never had any problems before. We even booked our honeymoon just 10 days before we left. We didn't think we could have one.
I love being with Joshua but since his birth he has only been apart from us for about 8 xtimes 4 hours in the afternoon. John and I have had 3 of these together once last Christmas so we could go shopping, and 2 to get ready for holiday.
Everybody loves him because he really loves being around people and is so socialble, John's work colleagues really spoil him. The majority the department are Chinese so there are evenings out at the all you can eat restaurants. They are there feeding all the best foods and he is there mouth open waiting for the next. We went out with them about a month ago and we didn't see Joshua for the evening because everyone was claiming him and taking him off for walks. They say he isn't just our baby, he is the whole departments because they followed the pregnancy all the way through, I had at least 1 scan a month so they saw lots of pictures and they all know he is special.
We had bonfire celebrations for the close we live on, on our front garden. Three families were there and we had a BBQ, hot roast pork and stuffing batches, baked potatos etc The fireworks went on for almost 3 hours. We have a massive black patch on our front garden from the fireworks. I swear John and my friends husband are a lethal combination -enough said!!!
I can't believe it is only 5-6 weeks until Christmas, how scary is that? It will be the first Christmas they will be aware of -can't wait. We got Joshua a drum and lots of tamberines, shakers etc for Christmas on Saturday -funny Christmas seemed to have been Saturday night. We got Joshua that Spin & Bounce Zebra a few weeks ago and Joshua loves it. HE can't get on it by himself so he stands next to it, holds on to the ears and bounces on the floor looking at us to come over and put him on it.
I now have 14,274 pictures of him. He is such a poser. I am so glad I have them all because it feels like I missed his first year with the depression. HE has changed so much.
Wow! I have really gone on. Thomas, Freya, Thomas, Charlotte and Hannah are all well and being little monsters. I call Joshua my 'mini monster' and he has a big grin because it is usually when he has emptied all the cuddly toys out of his cot and looking at me with such it wasn't me dark brown eyes -so cute it just melts me and he knows it.
Hope to see lots of posts soon -I love reading how we are all getting on -it is great.
Seeya soon
Jackie