Danny, Katie, and the Kids: Six Months

15 lbs 15.5 oz ~ 25th percentile

26 1/2 inches ~ 43rd percentile

Head circumference: 18 1/2 inches ~ 99th percentile

That went by too fast! Half a year, gone already!! It hurts my heart to think that we are already half way to not having a baby anymore. :( And especially Joey as a baby...he's such a delight! Even Danny is sad to see this stage pass us by. But even though it breaks my heart, I have to admit I'm excited to see all that Joey will become. More of the paradox of life, I guess.

Well, this month has been all eating for Joseph! We have hit the cereal hard, making sure he gets two feedings a day, and he's been loving it! I've kept up the pumping, and whatever I'm able to accumulate during the day goes in a bottle at bedtime and Joey eats it right up. I was actually excited to head to his 6 month check-up and get this boy on the scale! I was sure we'd see a two pound gain. Yeah...we didn't. He gained exactly one pound more than the month before! At that point, I just about cried. It was official! It didn't matter what I did, this kid wasn't going to gain weight. Dr. Stewart said he wanted me to add another feeding, starting with baby foods now, and bring him in again in a month for another weight check. He isn't worried about Joey, but he wants to make sure he stays on track. Everything else checked out just fine, and after 4 horrible shots, we were on our way.

Joey is still my rock star sleeper! Only he doesn't need to be swaddled anymore. :( He's a big boy now! We just lay him down, drape his favorite blanket so it's covering half of his face, and he's out like a light! He's quite the talker, and loves screaming stories at the kids. I'm still the one that can get him to laugh the hardest, which I take great pride in. But he's gotten to where he interacts with the kids now when they play with him, and they all have a riot together. And he loves playing with Daddy...especially when they play "toss the pizza". :)

Speaking of Daddy...Danny had a really neat experience on Luke's two-year anniversary. He stayed up really late, and I ended up going to sleep without him. In the morning, I asked him about his night and asked if he had some good time with Luke and if he had had a good cry. He said while he shed a few tears for our boy, he actually spent a lot the time thinking about Joseph. He thought about how we ended up with him. That after Luke died, we were sure we weren't having any more children. Then I got pregnant. We came to terms with that by saying over and over again that it had to be a girl...having a boy would just be too painful. And then we found out we were having a boy. We came to terms with that by saying over and over again that he couldn't look like Luke...that would be too painful. Well, as Joey gets older we see more and more of Luke in his face and in his personality. In fact, Joey definitely has his brother's smile! Luke and Joey smile with their eyes, and they are our only children to do so. As Danny reflected on that, he had this feeling that Luke and Joseph are more connected than we know. That maybe they are spirit twins or something, and while Luke couldn't stay with us in mortality, Joseph agreed to come and stay. Not to take his place, but to be the comfort we didn't even know we needed. To give us that sense of having Luke here with us during mortality. Joseph is definitely his own boy, and we love him for him. Both Danny and I feel a special and separate relationship with Joey than we have and/or had with Luke, yet somehow they are connected too. It's like we got used to Luke's greatness, and there's a similar greatness to Joey. Maybe that's it. At any rate, Danny went to bed with a heart full of gratitude that our Heavenly Father loves us so much, and knows what we need more than we do.