Splish, Splash....

Ethan's taking a bath.

And he thoroughly enjoys himself, even when absolutely exhausted!

He's teething again. The pediatrician says that the gums around four of his top teeth are swollen. He's running a low-grade fever and he's lost weight. He's down to 15 lbs. and 9 oz.

But despite all this and the lack of a decent nap today, the kid is a happy boy in the bathtub.

Ethan at 8 Months

Ethan:

You are 8 months old! You weigh a measly little 16 lbs and 3 oz. and you're a tiny little guy. That's the 5th percentile. I have absolutely no idea how long you are, but I can sum it up in two words: "Not very"! You are still easily fitting into your 3-6 month clothes, and are just now starting to also fit into some of your 6-9 month clothes, but some of them just simply fall off because you're just so little.

This month, you've done a lot.

First we'll start with sleep. Mom got tough and let you cry it out a few nights because quite frankly, the waking up every four hours routine had gotten quite old and wasn't really necessary anymore. It was just a bad habit and it had to go. You're still not sleeping through the night, though you can, but now we're generally down to just one waking and that's closer to morning now. This time change has thrown you for a loop though. Hopefully that's temporary.

Second, you've been working so very hard on crawling. You are SO close to being able to crawl. You can get up on your hands and knees and rock and even move one knee forward, but you haven't quite got it figured out. I think I'm glad. Because once you do learn to crawl, I'm in big trouble! Something tells me you are going to be a very fast little guy and I already know you'll be into everything.

Third, you've finally mastered rolling both ways. For the longest time, you've been able to roll from your back to your tummy (which usually comes second) but then you've been stuck there. That used to make you furious, but then you accepted it and learned to love sleeping on your tummy. Toward the end of 7 months, you finally figured out how to roll from your tummy to your back and you now enjoy rolling across the living room floor to get places. You may not be able to crawl yet, but you can certainly move all around quite well...and quickly.

Fourth, you've been learning to wave. I haven't caught a picture of it yet, but I am absolutely certain that you are waving at me. Well, actually you're waving back at yourself, but you get the idea! It's very cute. You're also quite close to clapping, but you've got to open your fists first.



You've mastered this whole sitting up thing and though the picture doesn't show it, I'm thinking you might be a drummer like your Dad. You absolutely adore beating on anything and everything in your way, including whoever is holding you. It is seriously a hazard to hold you for very long.

You've gotten so much stronger this month too. At first, you could lift your head and shoulders off the ground just fine, but now you get your tummy and chest up too and you can balance yourself on one hand. I'm impressed!

You've decided to expand your food horizons quite a bit this month as well. You've been eating pureed solids for several months, but we're adding thicker textures, a lot more flavors and even some finger foods like cheerios, fruit puffs and bananas. I really think you would eat an entire banana if I would let you. You're pretty good at feeding yourself as well. You can pick up the finger foods and most of the time, get them in your mouth. It isn't always pretty, but it makes you happy and it gives Mom a break.

Oh and did I mention that you have two teeth? Yep...your first two teeth appeared right around seven and a half months. It didn't seem to traumatize you too much....let's hope that continues.

You're also doing a bit of babbling. I've heard you say "bababa", "dadada", mamama", "bob" (which you repeated clear as a bell after mom said it in reference to the cat) and lots of raspberries and other fun noises.




All in all, you've been a very busy little fellow and you're growing and changing very quickly now. I have a feeling this month is going to see quite a few more developments. I'm betting that you master crawling and moving from a laying to sitting position (you're close to doing that now). I'm looking forward to seeing what this month brings! We love you, little buddy!

Life: From Our Pets' Perspective

I like this:

The Dog's Diary

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

************************************************************************************
The Cat's Diary

Day 983 of My Captivity

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates my capabilities. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Jerks!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow, but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ...

Today I'm stealing an idea from Bekah for several reasons:

1. I know she won't mind
2. Malott has accused me of not blogging enough and
3. I don't have any good ideas of my own right now

So, here are my answers to some totally random questions.

1. What's your favorite time of day and why? I love evening, when the sun is setting. Right now, it's a rough time at our house as both kids are just done for the day, but otherwise it's my favorite time.

2. If health wasn't an issue, what food could you live off of? Easy...buckeyes! Seriously, it has everything I need all in one convenient tasty little ball. Sweet chocolate and salty (and nutritious protein-rich) peanut butter. It's all a girl needs.

3. If you could have one wish granted (besides wishing for more wishes) what would it be? I would wish to live in a perfect, sinless world. Then I wouldn't need any more wishes.

4. What's one thing that you get teased about a lot? Hmmm...being soft-spoken has often gotten me teased...especially by my pesky brother-in-law.

5. If you could choose one movie, book, or TV show to spend your life in, which would you pick? What type of character would you be? That's tough. I think I'd choose to be like Anne from Anne of Green Gables. I loved the simplicity of her life, the genteelness of the time and the setting. Plus, I think she and I would have had a lot in common. (Funny, I hadn't even read Bekah's answer to the travel question when I wrote this!)

6. If you could have one talent that you don't already have, what would it be? The ability to paint or draw anything I wanted. I can barely draw stick figures.

7. If money were no object, where would you go on vacation? Good question. I think I'd like to visit St. Lucia and Hawaii...and maybe the Mediterranean.

8. If you were an awesome singer, which genre would you sing? I honestly have no idea. But it for darn sure wouldn't be even remotely close to country!

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be? Just one? Well, maybe Amazon.com. Is there anything they don't sell?

10. If you could live in any point in time, when would it be? I've always thought it would be fun to be a pre-civil war southern belle. Of course, that whole civil war mess got kind of ugly....

11. If every outfit in your wardrobe had to be one color, what would it be? Blue. A nice medium shade, not navy.

12. If you were one of the seven dwarfs, which one would you be? Sleepy. (But I wish there was a "Curious" option!)

13. What's the last album you listened to? Well, this is highly embarassing coming from a music major, but if I'm honest, it's "hits" from the Disney animated show "Phineas and Ferb". They are clever and funny...and sadly I know many of the lyrics. All kid music aside, the last album I listened to was Chris Daughtry's newest.

14. What's something we'd be surprised to know about you? I know the lyrics to way too many Jimmy Buffet songs. I blame Andrew for that!

Trying So Hard

Ethan is working awfully hard these days...to crawl. He's getting close, I think. To be honest, I don't really remember Emily doing much crawling. That first year with her was largely a blur in spots because it was just tough. She was also somewhat slower to reach milestones than average, and I think she largely skipped crawling and went more to standing/cruising to walking.

Mr. E rolls onto his side and gets his bottom half up.

He gets his knees under him and looks like he might go somewhere...

Then he kicks his legs out straight behind him.

Then he pushes up on his arms to get his chest off the ground.

It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but he actually got his belly off the ground too. He's basically doing a push-up here. (The real kind, not the girly type!)

He's working so hard on getting all the pieces of the puzzle coordinated, but when he finally does, we are going to be in serious trouble. This kid is a WILD thing!

Ethan at 7 Months

Ethan:

Today you are 7 months old! You weigh about 15 lbs. 3 oz. and are about 26.5 inches long. You are in the 4th percentile for weight. You're a little squirt!

You may be small, but you're learning all kinds of new tricks. Your newest skill is blowing wet, drooly raspberries all the time, even while eating. You are also determined to take your socks off whenever humanly possible. Apparently you aren't aware that it's about 20 degrees outside. This wouldn't be such a problem except that you not only take your socks off, but then you chew on them until they are thoroughly soaked, making them useless.

One skill you still haven't learned: how to drink from a bottle (or sippy cup). It's time to figure this out, little buddy.

This month, you've struggled with sleep. Well, not just this month, but that last 3-4 months, which is why we finally just let you cry it out at night and naptime. And, I think it's working. Now, when I lay you down on your back, you will fuss for less than a minute, flip yourself over onto your tummy and sleep like...a baby. This is how you sleep....face down. It scares me to death, because I have no idea how you breathe, but just when I'm ready to go in and check on you, you turn your head and all is well. Besides, there's nothing I can do to stop you from rolling. Now, you just need to learn how to roll back over onto your back.

You've mastered sitting up by yourself. We put you down on the floor on your blanket and give you toys and you grab something in each hand and bang them together. I think you like the noise. You're just like your sister, because she always had to have a toy in each hand.

This month has been very eventful as well. Just after you turned 6 months old, you got sick...and had your first experience with a nebulizer, your first x-rays (twice in one week!), your first trip to the ER and your first hospital admission...all for a nasty case of bronchiolitis. From what I understand, only 1-2% of babies every get admitted to the hospital for this. Apparently, you're an over-achiever! It was a scary time for mom, dad and Emily, but you took it in stride, even when you had to have oxygen via nasal cannulas, or "nose fans" as we described them to Emily. Let's hope that next month won't be nearly as "exciting"!

We love you, little guy.

You Bet!

I love this!

And the Winner Is....

Not us.

It's a sad day in our house.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

The team uniforms are on.

The food is ready.

(Pioneer Woman's homemade onion strings, sweet and sour meatballs, chips and dip and popcorn chicken)

The crowd waits in anxious anticipation of the big game.





And we all say....

On The Mend

I think Ethan's on the mend. He's still coughing. He's still got the sneezes. He is still drooling like a crazy man...oh wait, that's unrelated. We haven't been to the doctor for over a week (whic might be a record of late.) He still sounds a little wheezy, but overall if his behavior is any indication, he's headed the right direction. He's a wild man.

He loves to bang things together and basically make lots of noise.

I bought him some drums...because we don't have enough noise.

It's good to be feeling better.

Pet Therapy

I've always heard that having pets around is excellent therapy. It's a documented fact that pets help sick patients feel better and get better sooner. (I might be making that up, but I think it's documented...I'm just too lazy to actually check!)

I'm pretty sure that Bob and Puma (the cats) are doing their parts to help Mr. E get better. I mean, how else can I explain the pictures below?

When we got home from the doctor one evening, Ethan was asleep in his car seat, so we carried him in, left him in the seat in the living room and went upstairs to put Emily to bed. In just a few minutes, we heard crying. Andrew came downstairs to check...and there was Bob, sitting in the car seat on top of Ethan. Understand, Bob wouldn't hurt a flea. Mainly we know this because she's too much of a sloth to expend the energy, but also just because she's a very laid-back gentle cat who is used to babies and kids and crying. Ethan loves when Bob comes to visit him while we're playing on the floor. And poor Bob takes a literal beating when she gets close to him, not to mention losing a good chunk of fur due to his grabby hands. Still, she chooses to "love on" him and the following pictures prove it.

I laid Ethan on the changing table before his nap and Puma (the gray cat on the left) jumped up to look out the window. Bob didn't want to be left out so she climbed over Ethan too.

Ethan is FASCINATED by cat tails. They flip and flop and tickle him and he is determined to pull them as often as possible. This doesn't bother Bob in the least. Puma, however, despises Ethan (and pretty much everyone else except me). She can't be bothered by his presence. (Although Ethan's severely testing that premise!)

Finally Puma just decided to sit on Ethan's shoulder and wrap her tail around his neck and head. Surely her motives are pure...

Sick and Sicker

Well, I knew boys were more accident prone, and I guess I had steeled myself for an occasional trip to the ER for broken bones or stiches....but not at 6 months old and for illness.

As I mentioned before, Ethan and Emily have been sick all week. While Emily's pnuemonia was apparently caught pretty early and she has responded well to the antibiotics, Ethan didn't fare so well. He just got sicker.

We had been giving Ethan nebulizer treatments three times a day since Tuesday, but by Friday night, I just didn't like the way he was breathing. He seemed to be working too hard. I debated trying to get into the after-hours clinic at the pediatrician that night, but he went to sleep and did okay, so I waited.

On Saturday morning, he was still really struggling with wheezing and working pretty hard to breathe, so we made an appointment with the on-call pediatrician (not our regular one) and he and I went in to the office. They were somewhat busy, though I've seen it worse, and the doctor was less than attentive, to put it midly. Ethan was audibly wheezing and retracting during each breath. She listened to him for about 5 seconds, ordered a breathing treatment with the nebulizer and diagnosed him with asthma. Then she left the room and told me to come get her when we were done, otherwise "she might not remember to come back". (Yeah, I know what you're thinking.) So when he was done, she came back, listened to him for about 5 seconds, told us to use the nebulizer every 4-6 hours, give him steroids and oh yeah, antibiotics for an ear infection. She was standing in the open doorway (privacy?) and I could barely get her to answer a single question. Then she left. I did ask her how long it would take to see some improvement in his breathing (as I was paying, I saw her again). She said it would be slow...24-48 hours. So we left, me feeling very uneasy with how he still sounded and less than confident in her diagnosis.

About 2 hours after the treatment, Ethan was really struggling with breathing again, sitting on the floor with his mouth open and tongue hanging out...almost panting. We decided to take him to the ER. So, Andrew stayed home with Emily (since she certainly didn't need to catch anything else) and I took Ethan (being his main source of food!) We waited about 45 minutes to be checked in. He had a fever and they ordered chest x-rays and a breathing treatment. We got the x-rays done (second time in less than a week) and then they did the breathing treatment in the waiting room of the ER (privacy...ha). After about 3 hours in the waiting room, which is a very interesting place from a people-watching perspective, I might add, we got to go back to a treatment room to actually see a doctor. We spent another 2 hours there, hanging out and watching tv, before we found out that we were going to be admitted for the night.

The above picture is from the ER treatment room.

So around 8:30/9:00pm, we checked into our hospital room on the pediatric floor with the knowledge that we would be having another patient spend the night with us later in the evening. It was a rough night for kids with coughs. The nurses hooked Ethan up to a pulse oximeter and we monitored his breathing and he did really well, but was obviously working too hard to breathe. Still, we settled in for a long night...with strange roomates.

And a long night it was. I managed to get Ethan to sleep in his crib pretty quickly, especially since he hadn't napped all afternoon. However, hospitals aren't quiet and too many people were coming and going and he woke up and that was the end of that. He wanted to sleep, he just wouldn't do it in the crib. Actually, if I could have let him fuss a bit and wiggle around to get comfy, he probably would have. However they had him all propped up with blankets and he prefers to sleep on his side or tummy, which just wasn't happening in the crib....so he slept with/on me in the recliner all night. Notice I said "he" slept...not me. Not even for 10 minutes. It was a long...long night. I remembered college all-nighters. Not the partying kind, mind you, but the working kind. I remembered why I never liked them then and like them even less in a hot uncomfortable environment 10 years later.

Around 4 am, the nurse came in and told us that Ethan needed to put on some oxygen since his O2 levels weren't staying up high enough and he was having to work too hard to breathe. So, while he was sleeping, they taped a nasal canula to his face and started giving him oxygen and monitoring him even closer. He slept through it. Let's just say that when he woke up, he was less than thrilled to have something blowing air in his nose. (Sidenote: I was trying to describe the canula to Emily...,she's seen them before, but didn't really know what they were, so I told her that Ethan had little "nose fans". She liked that idea!)

Over the course of the day, Ethan was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis, which is basically caused by any number of viruses and ends up irritating and restricting his bronchiol tubes, causing wheezing and breathing problems. Usually it isn't too serious and doesn't require hospitalization, but Ethan ended up with a bad case, partly due to his age. No asthma, no ear infection, no need for antibiotics or steroids. In fact, nebulizer treatments weren't even a must, though they don't hurt. In short, the on-call pediatrician just plain got it wrong.

So we spent the rest of Sunday in the hospital. Once Ethan could keep his oxygen level up over 90% consistently (while he was sleeping) then we could go. He never stayed up over 90% the whole time, but the doctor told us that he was doing better and staying over 90% much better than in the morning, so she let us go home.

Ethan is still sick, and we're still watching him really closely. To be perfectly honest, I guess I won't be surprised if we end up making another trip to the hospital in the next couple of days. He still sounds pretty bad, and that's a scary thing to hear. We're watching him like a hawk and trying to keep him comfortable. He has slept quite a bit today and is very irritable. It's hard to know if he's crabby because he's over tired, if he's tired because he's over-tired (like me) or if he's actually lethargic. Right now, I'm leaning to the lethargic side, but hoping I'm wrong. We go back to the regular pediatrician tomorrow morning for a follow-up for both kids, so hopefully we can at least make it through another night at home and get an expert opinion tomorrow.

Poor little guy. So sick. So tired. So sweet.



Please pray for improved health for all of us. Andrew and I both have sore throats and Emily still sounds like she will cough up a lung. We're all a bit stressed and worried.

Rough Time

Things are rough around here.

Emily seems to be on the upswing from her pneumonia. She's been fever-free for two days now (though tonight it was right at 99 again). She's been very active and wild, so I think she's on the mend.

On the other hand, Ethan seems worse. When he saw the doctor and was prescribed the nebulizer, he was only coughing. Now he has the runny/stuffed/snotty nose and is having a really hard time breathing. What we're trying to decide is just how hard a time he's having. He struggles to eat, which I expected, because he's so stuffy. However he needs to eat. He really can't afford to lose weight. He's spitting up some, but I think that's from coughing so hard. He just sits there with his mouth hanging open, breathing so ragged and faster than I like. If things don't improve or look the same tomorrow, we're headed back to the doctor.

I'd like to think that four full days of nebulizer treatments would be helping him, but if Emily caught some sort of virus/bacteria that led to her pneumonia, then I'm a bit concerned that Ethan could be heading the same direction. He was up every 1- 1.5 hours last night, which wasn't much fun either. That could be due to his illness or the Albuterol he's inhaling.

Prayers are welcome.

Setting a Record

When the pediatrician walked into our exam room this afternoon, she said, "Well, are you trying to set the record for the most number of visits?"

Yes, indeed we are on record-setting pace this year (and last). I knew having two kids would mean twice the sickness, but I didn't count on this much.

Yesterday, I took Ethan for his 6 month well-child visit. He weighs in at an even 15 lbs., is 26 .25 inches long and is in the 9th percentile for weight (even lower for weight to height ratio). Since he's meeting all this developmental milestones, I think I give up on worrying about his weight. However, I am worried about his never-ending cough.

And apparently, I have reason to be. Ethan's had this cough since early December. It started off innocently enough, but it has steadily gotten worse. He had minor wheezing by the end of December and we did a round of antibiotics. He still had the cough and by yesterday, it was sounding pretty icky. Even when he was just breathing, he was raspy. And apparently, still wheezing.

So when the pediatrician listened to his lungs, she heard substantially more wheezing and ordered a breathing treatment in the office (with a nebulizer) and ordered a chest x-ray. She thinks his cough/wheezing are a result of his reflux, but we're not sure. Then she sent us home (after 3 shots and an oral vaccine) with a nebulizer of our very own to use three times a day for the next week.

Did I mention that he screamed through the entire 15 minute treatment? Oh...and Emily cried through it too, but she has her own issues......

Because today's appointment was for her. Yes, Miss Em began coughing on Sunday, while at Grandma's house. Then her nose started running, so we naturally assumed it was her allergies flaring up, which is might have been. Then she woke up on Monday with a fever which continued to climb all day. She was pretty lethargic, just sitting on the couch not really doing anything, which is very unlike her. Tuesday, she still had a fever and it climbed...and climbed...and climbed until it hit 104.4. As the pediatrician said, "That's pretty impressive!". More like scary, if you ask me. I gave her Tylenol and it did come down, but she was a miserable little gal.

So today, we went to the doctor just to make sure that Em's cough wasn't morphing into wheezing as it has once before. Well, I don't think we're dealing with wheezing this time, though we are going to be doing the inhaler three times a day again. We are, however dealing with pnuemonia. And so, Em's bedtime cocktail these days now consists of Zythromax, Nasonex, Zyrtec, Albuterol (inhaler) and Tylenol for any substantial fever.

The fun just never ends. Please pray, if you are so inclined, for a quick recovery and no more sickness for a good long time. Em's been out of school all week and will miss at least one day next week for a follow-up appointment. Getting back into the groove is hard for her on a good day, so we really need to just keep plugging along without a lot of interruptions. All this sickness is taking a toll on all of us.

Ethan at 6 Months

Ethan:

Today you are six months old! Half a year has gone by in the blink of an eye and you are growing and changing so much.
You weigh about 15 lbs. and you are 26.25 inches long. You're in the 9th percentile for weightand 45th percentile for height. In other words, you're the exact opposite of your big sister. You're a little guy!

This past month, you've been a busy little guy. You did a lot of traveling, to both sets of grandparents, and you saw almost every member of your extended family. You got to meet a few of mommy's relatives for the first time. Although you won't remember it, they enjoyed getting to see you.



What can I say about this month? Hmmm, you've been sleeping a bit better, but still not great. Many nights, you still wake up every 2-3 hours, but every once in a while, you give us a break and only wake up once. We need more of those nights. I am learning that you prefer to put yourself to sleep instead of being held or rocked or nursed to sleep like your sister. Lately, I will feed you at naptime or bedtime and instead of falling asleep and then me putting you in your crib, you will fuss and squirm and try to get away, it seems. So I started just laying you down in the crib while you were still awake...and much to my surprise, you would wiggle around, roll onto your side and fall right to sleep. You are so very different from Emily in this regard.



You learned to sit up all by yourself this month, and with that skill, you discovered a whole new perspective on the world. Most days, you will sit on your blanket on the floor, surrounded by toys, and happily play and look around. You especially love when the kitties or dog stop by to visit. I can't always say the feeling is mutual though, since you are fascinated with pulling hair, both human and animal. You also ADORE your big sister and think that every single thing she does is fascinating and just plain awesome. She can make you smile and laugh like no one else.

You've also learned to stick out your tongue. All day long, you practice this new skill, sticking your tongue out, blowing bubbles, blowing raspberries and then repeating. It's making it a bit more challenging to feed you, as you now push the food out with your tongue and sometimes even blow it back at me. Feeding you almost requires a poncho for both of us!

You are much more active and mobile than you used to be. You sit up, you roll over, you squirm all around...I never know what position I'll find you in when you wake up, but it's never the same one as when I left.

You've discovered your feet and they are fascinating! You play with them every chance you get. There is no point in putting socks on you, because you pull them off almost immediately and then chew on them. When I put you in the bathtub, you spend most of the time sucking on your toes. Whatever makes you happy....

You've had some ups and downs this months. While you've made lots of developmental progress, your actual growth is slow. While you started out being in the 50th percentile for height and weight, you're now around the 8th percentile. You eat, but not much and not for long. Whenever I feed you, I have to go to a quiet dark room and sit very, very still so that you do not get distracted. I can't even look at you, or you'll start grinning and forget about eating....and you need to eat! You absolutely refuse to take any kind of bottle (or pacifier, but I've given up on those), which makes things a lot more difficult. Thankfully, you do seem to love your oatmeal and fruits and veggies.

Overall, you've come a long way from the tiny, hairy little baby that we first met 6 months ago today. You are developing such a fun and ornery personality and we can't wait to see how you continue to grow and change in the next few months. We love you, Buddy!

Look Who's.....

Sitting up by himself!

Yep, Mr. E is sitting up on his own these days. He started trying it very briefly while at Grammy's house over Christmas, but he could only do it for a few seconds.

But with a lot of concentration....he's learned to sit up by himself for a few minutes at a time before this happens....

Oops, a face plant, but nothing that a little cuddling with his stuffed monkey can't fix.

And with a little help from mom...he's back up again!

Oh, and another thing...he likes to play with this ball.

Just thought you'd want to know.