Vacation 2008

The Ritter Family went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina again this year for our summer vacation. We stayed up in the 4WD only section. Josh was not phased by my driving on the beach. It can be pretty bumpy but he never complained. We had a heck of a time getting down there though. What normally takes 6 hours took us 11 due to bad weather and a car breaking down on the only bridge that gets you to the OBX. At first, Josh wasn't feeling very well when we arrived. He was teething and had a runny nose but by the 3rd day he was acting his normal self. We went with friends of ours who have a baby boy 1 month older than Josh. Josh and Nathan are best buds. They got along well each playing with the others toys. They were so cute. Both went in the ocean. Both went skinny dipping in the ocean due to sand getting everywhere. It was where it should never be. They went swimming in the pool. All in all it was a good experience.

Crawling right into Walking

Well, Josh started crawling around 7 months. It did not take him long to figure out how to walk by holding onto our fingers. He loves to walk around. Our animals will never be the same now that he is mobile. Our poor cat is always running away from Josh who is undeterred. He is a very persistent child and follows that cat everywhere. Anyway, I believe he will be walking before his first birthday. We shall see. He is already getting into everything and keeping us on our toes as it is. I am nervous on what he will do when he is walking on his own. Eek.

Well, Josh's new teeth haven't come through yet. Now, I am not even sure which ones might come next. All I know is that he is teething and now biting. Ouch. This past week has not been good. Josh has been fighting a virus of some sort. Started out the week with diarrhea. Not fun. Now that is over with but he now has a smoking a pack a day cough and a runny nose. He hasn't been sleeping real great either. Just when we were starting to get him to sleep through the night he starts teething and wakes up. I think the problem now is the fact that he is congested and wakes from coughing. Poor baby. All in all though he is a good baby. We think he is going to start crawling soon. He just needs to figure out what to do with his other leg. He has one under him and the other one straight out then a face plant. He'll figure it out soon enough.

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we headed over to the Eastern Shore for Joshua's twin cousins 1st communion. He was such a good baby. Didn't fuss at all. After spending some quality time with the family we made our trek northward to State College, PA to see his godmother. Joshua slept the whole ride up a total of 4 hours and was ready to play when we arrived. His godmother Nikki was so excited to see him. She and her husband Matt haven't seen him since March and he had changed so much since then. Late that night he feel asleep in his godmother's arms watching Wii. He had such a great weekend. At the cookout they had he was such a little flirt with the ladies that were there. Yes, he is a ladies man and prefers them older. :-) He also put his 2 cents worth in cards. He very much loved Matt & Nikki's 2 dogs. I am not so sure the feelings were mutual. But alas the weekend came to an end and we had to head home on Monday. Of course not after trying to see if he liked the pool. He did not. The water was too cold. He is more of a laid back bath type of guy. Also, he wasn't quite the happy baby he normally is. He was getting cranky and we discovered that another tooth was cutting through. Another one on the lower left and possibly one is moving on the lower right. No wonder he is cranky. Pictures are forthcoming.

Sleeping

Well, Josh is almost 7 months old and he is still not sleeping through the night. I know. I know. It is mostly my fault. However, when we have tried to do the "let him cry it out" scenario he gets sick. Now that he is starting to feel better I think we will try it again this weekend. Does anyone have any other ideas for getting a baby to sleep through the night?

Teething

Everything you ever heard about when a baby is teething is absolutely true! Josh has been drooling like crazy and cranky. Poor lil' guy. However, as of tonight 1 lonely tooth is cutting through. It is very slight but you can feel the little edges of it. Yea!!! We are hoping that when it cuts all the way through he will be in less pain and sleep better. Rum works too. :-) Now sleep is a whole other story.