Well, unfortunately the success of the Botox did not work after that 1st week. In fact, it worked so not well that Joelle had a migraine for 5 weeks. And most of that time she spent unable to get even out of bed. Last week was the absolute worst week of it. She was pretty much unable to take any escape meds, and when she did, she ended up with a horrific rebound migraine. Everyone was very very worried, and it seemed like Joelle would just never get better. Around  Saturday it broke some, so she got some relief. However, it is still building back up this week. Hate to sound like a downer on here, but it's just what is going on right now. We are still praying for her healing, and know that some day God will restore to us what her migraines have taken.

Little B is doing so well! Two weeks ago he had a double ear infection which slowed him down some, but he seems to be back to his old self now. He is starting to scoot everywhere, and loves to play in his walker. He says lots and lots of sounds...like DADA and BABA and YAYA. Jeremiah is eagerly looking forward to when DADA is actually associated with him :) He still isn't sitting up yet, but he sure does try very hard! If we sit him up ourselves he can hold steady for about 30 seconds. He is eating 2nd stage foods, and is NOT fond of meat. We have to hid it in his fruit and vegetables to disguise it. He loves his fruit and veggies tho!

Jeremiah's work schedule is finally starting to make some sense. He is getting home at reasonable hours, and actually getting to spend time with Joelle and Benjamin. Cooler temps always mean less bugs, so that makes everyone involved happy. :)

In other family news, Joelle is enjoying her Sunday night Bible study, and Jeremiah enjoys his on Tuesday nights. (Betcha were waiting for a special announcement, huh? Well, not yet). :) We are doing our best to keep understand what it means to be a new little family, and what we are called to be.

6month update

Benjamin turned 6 months on the 23rd of this month. He had his 6month check up as well. Everything was GREAT! He weighed in at 19lbs 12oz and was 25.5in long. 88th percentile for weight, but just barely in the average range for height. Doc said not to worry, he will catch up. The exact word he used to describe B was "compact"...lol.

He rolls over both ways, and loves to get into stuff. We turn our backs for one second, and he is halfway across the floor digging in Joelle's purse. :) He is not sitting up yet, but will be soon. He also desperately wants to start scooting. However, he cannot figure out how to make him legs and arms work in tandem. As a result, he usually just lays there and kicks, hoping he will go somewhere. So CUTE! He loves to splash in the tub, Joelle usually ends up as wet as he is. :) He also has decided he does not like Stage 2 peas, very amusing to watch his face when we give them to him.

Jeremiah's work schedule is good sometimes and bad other times. Right now he is running a route and trying to be a manager, so that makes things difficult. Lately tho, he has been getting home before 8 or 8:30 so that is a HUGE blessing!

Another praise report is that Joelle's Botox procedure for her migraines worked! In the past week she has had 1 migraine. Normally she could have had upwards of 10! We are daily praising God for this mighty work.

We're here.....

No, we have not fallen off the face of the planet. It's just been a little crazy around here! Jeremiah went through a work spell for about 2 weeks where his normal work hours were 6:30am - 8:30pm. No joke. And then he was working Saturdays and Sundays as well. Joelle has had horrible consistent migraines on top of this. It makes things a little hard to update therefore :(

Last week we went on vacation! We had a blast. Went to a church conference, went to the beach, and hung out with the fam (Joelle's fam went with us). Jeremiah really enjoyed being able to spend that much time with Benjamin.

Chilling at the beach :)

Who, btw, is doing FABULOUS! He weighs about 20lbs or so, (possibly more) and is making so many advancements. He rolls over both ways, and loves to be on his tummy and play with toys. He makes lots of noises, and has taken to spitting :) He enjoys it very much, Joelle not so much!

He is eating more and more baby food, and still gets lots of cereal. He has good days and bad days with the reflux. Some days he throws up more, some days less. But the good news is he hasn't needed to go back on Zantac or switch to Prevacid. He favorite food is apparently green beans and bananas, mixed together! Gross, we know :)

B is doing so well!

WE LOVE CEREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far we have tried oatmeal and rice, and next up is mixed grain once the oatmeal is gone. Seriously tho, this stuff is like the most amazing thing EVER! We make his bottles thicker, and his baby food thicker, and his cereal in the mornings thicker - and no more vomit :) Granted he still spits up, and sometimes a lot, but at least there is not the full fledged vomit like there used to be :) At this point we will take spitting up over vomiting ANY DAY!

It's amazing all the milestones that he has just suddenly reached - literally overnight. He woke up one morning babbling, not just cooing. He can reach for things now using a raking grasp. He loves his feet, and is working on trying to pull them up himself. He tries desperately to sit up, and loves for us to hold him up our lap. However, once the back support is lost, toppling down he goes :)

Did we mention he LOVES to eat? Like LOVES LOVES? Lol. Squash is still his favorite, along with peaches and sweet potatoes. We haven't really tried any other fruit, he isn't very fond of bananas or apples. And he does not seem to enjoy carrots at all :)

Since the addition of cereal, his sleeping habits have changed dramatically. He now seems to like his crib, and he goes back to sleep right away after his 1:30 - 2:00am feeding, and the 5:30-6:00am feeding. Then he sleeps in till between 9:00-10:00....something Joelle is ECSTATIC about :)

We had a great 4th. Got to see some absolutely AMAZING friends, and hang out with family. Jeremiah got a hc thanks to his wonderful sister - the sheep has been shorn lol. Sat night Joelle's parents kept the baby so we could get some sleep. We missed him terribly and could't let him go during church on Sunday, but boy was that sleep nice! We also got a chance to go to the pool by ourselves, which turned out to be kind of boring hehe.

Also, did we mention Jeremiah had a 3day weekend for the 4th? :) :) :) That was probably the most amazing thing of all!

A different child

For your enjoyment, here is a new pic of our little family!

It's like we have a totally different child these days! It's amazing what a little bit of cereal and some squash will do! His incessant vomiting has decreased by more than 50%, and he absolutely LOVES to eat. When he sees the spoon, he opens up his mouth really big and swallows the food immediately. So far all he has had is bananas and squash, but he loves them both. Squash seems to be his favorite right now. Soon we will be trying sweet potatoes. We will probably try those by the end of the week. We mix him up cereal and fruit and formula in the mornings, and then in the later part of the afternoon. Lunch and dinner is oatmeal mixed with squash. We have to make his food really thick or he throws it up, but thankfully he likes the oatmeal mixed with the squash.

CIO has also really helped our sanity! We were spending like 30 - 45 minutes putting him to sleep for bedtime and naptime. Now, it takes him about 5-7 minutes to put himself to sleep. And he never really cries, just kind grumpily squawks until he falls asleep. It has made things much much easier on Joelle, since she normally does naptime and most bedtimes. 

Please still  be in prayer for Jeremiah. He is working the craziest of hours, and barely gets to see Joelle and Benjamin. Many nights he comes home and B is already in bed :( He is emotionally and physically exhausted! Thankfully this weekend he has a 3 day weekend, which will help him recover some. 

4 months!!!!

4month c/u today  16lbs 9oz and 24in long - still mommies lil dumpling. He got 5more vaccines  and we are gonna start rice cereal and squash...hoping that that will help with the throwing up. If not, he has to see a GI doc to go on Prevacid

We have started crying it out at nights and naptime to go to sleep or back to sleep. So far it has only been about 5min at a time, and then he calms down and goes back to sleep 

His doc said that since he is throwing up so much then that is why he eats 6oz every 2 hours and gets up all night long. Hopefully the cereal and baby food will help him keep food down, and he won't have to go to the GI doc

lil update - Father's Day

Jeremiah had a great first Father's Day! Joelle made him a present of putting B's hand prints on a football. Turned out absolutely ADORABLE! As soon as we can remember to actually use our camera, we will post a pic of the football.

Not much else to report here tho: We went to Joelle's parents and grilled out, and just kinda relaxed. J needed it because he was looking "forward" to a rough week. He had a clean out last night, has one tonight, a trip to SC on Thurs, and then 2 days of being out of town next week. Sigh. It's gonna be a LONG two weeks :(