On January 29th, 2013 Josiah Edward arrived into the world via C-section at Tucson Medical Center weighing 7 lbs 11 ozs and measuring 19.5 inches long. The one word I remember hearing over and over to describe him was "beautiful" and every time I heard it, I thanked God for His beautiful gift to us.
At 1 month old, Josiah began to smile for us and not a day goes by that we don't get to see his face light up which lights up our day.
Josiah celebrated his first Easter shortly before turning 2 months old. He also rolled over for us a few times at around 2 months but it was a while before we saw any more rolling action again.
At the end of April, Josiah turned 3 months old and got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. He also met his Great-Grandmother Adler and his Great Aunt Susan on that trip. Around 3 months he started pulling off some nice long sleeping shifts at night which we enjoyed while it lasted.
4 months began a long stretch of sleeping troubles for us both for naps and night time and was probably one of the roughest months of his life for me to figure out how to take care of him. Nevertheless, he remained happy and healthy and he loved laying under his play gym to grab at his toys and look in the mirror.
At 5 months old, Josiah got his first teeth! That explained many of the sleep difficulties we were having through the month. At 5 and 1/2 months we began sleep training which was the hardest thing we've had to do thus far as parents for him. It also, however, has helped everyone in our house to get rest.
By the end of July, Josiah was rolling both ways and sleeping unswaddled on his tummy. His sleeping was much improved after 2 weeks of tears from me and him. Half way through the first year of his life, we packed up our home in Tucson and moved to Beverly, MA so Josiah could now see his grandparents a lot more often.
7 months = crawling! At 7 months he also started eating solids like a champ and has never looked back. There aren't too many foods he wouldn't eat when we offered them.
By 8 months, Josiah was able to crawl very well on his hands and knees after spending a month doing the army crawl. Once he was up on his hands and knees, it didn't take him long to figure out how to pull himself up into a standing position. We also started giving him little cereal puffs for him to pick up and feed himself. Finger food is so much fun!
At 9 months old we stopped feeding Josiah before we went to bed and he was able to sleep from 7-7 for us. He also started clapping his hands when we say "Yay!"
Josiah celebrated his first Thanksgiving at 10 months old and had 4 more teeth to help him eat all that yummy food. Right after Thanksgiving he started waving when we said "Hi" and "Goodbye". So cute!
By 11 months, Josiah could stand on his own without holding on to anything. He also celebrated his first Christmas with lots of love and kisses from everyone in the family.
And here he is today at 1 year old! Whenever he is busy playing he gets so focused that I can't get him to look at me and smile for the camera. He loves looking at books but that's not all he loves. At 1 year old, Josiah loves his daddy and gets very excited when he hears him coming through the door. He also loves his grandparents and his toys. He loves clementines and eating in general, especially if it came off of our plate. He loves Cheerios and opening and closing drawers and cupboards. He is quite a babbler--mostly nonsense but he distinctly says "Uh oh", "Dada", "Mama" and "All done." He has 8 teeth now and has also developed quite a case of separation anxiety which makes us feel loved that he knows us and also a little weary of constantly holding him. His most exciting milestone at a year though is that he's walking and getting better and better at it every day!
After looking over my highlights, I realized that most of them have to do with sleep, food, teeth and how much he moves and yet, there's so much more to watching your baby grow than just those things. It's amazing to watch his brain put together information and solve little problems or when he recognizes someone he knows and gets excited to see them. Sleeping, eating and teeth seem so big in the midst of figuring them out and those things have certainly sanctified and challenged us, but after 1 year we can look back and see that God has been faithful and He has sustained us in every month of Josiah's life. He receives the credit for Josiah's health, happiness, ability to learn and beautiful eyelashes. We thank Him for Josiah and are looking forward to another year with our handsome son.
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