Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Team Altman! We didn't take Joshua to see the easter bunny, but grandma did have an easter egg hunt for Joshua at the house this morning. As of this past Wednesday, Joshua weighed 12 pounds and 9 ounces and is 23.5 inches! He has been doing great in terms of size and moving out of the 5th percentile finally!

I told him the news that he was now in the 20th percentile!

Playing with that tongue

Joshua's Sunday best for Easter morning!

Joshua found lots of eggs!

Daddy is off work until May 3rd, so mom and dad got a break to go home and get some much needed work done aside from babysitting. I love having my parents here watching him, because I always get daily photos on my phone during work which makes the days pass so quickly, plus I know he is in good hands. Just a few of the many photos from mom's camera...

We took Joshua to start his physical therapy this past week. The physical therapist actually said she thought his flat spot looked a little better, but again it will take some time to see a difference. She worked his neck and back muscles and did lots of stretching and massaging. He got pretty frustrated towards the end of the session, but he worked really hard and she was very impressed with his strength and development. He is getting very good at lifting his head up on his tummy, with some help from the boppy.

We also had Joshua's first experience with cereal this past week. He has really been interested in his mouth and tongue and enjoys sucking on his fingers a lot now. The introduction of solid foods will help a lot with Joshua's reflux, so we have been really anxious to try it out to see if we can get him off his medication. He seemed to like it at first, but after he realized that it required some work on his part, he was ready to go back to the bottle. Maybe we will have a second go at it next week.

5 months old!

Joshua is now 5 months old weighing in at approximately 12 pounds! He is sleeping great through the night, with a record of 11 hours! Mommy and daddy were very proud of our little guy. His gestational age is 3 months, so when people ask we go by that age since that is what doctors go by for the first two years. The other day I had him out with me and a lady asked how old he was and when I replied he was 3 months, she said "Oh wow he is so big!" I grinned from cheek to cheek and said "Thank you!" She probably wondered why I thanked her, but it was the first time I had ever heard that...it felt nice =)

Joshua is doing fantastic. He is talking, smiling, drooling, and laughing. He is sucking on his fingers every chance he gets, and we are waiting patiently to try his first feed of cereal. The pediatrician said we could start him on cereal at 6 months, so I think we will try it in a couple weeks! He is drinking about 5 ounces every three hours during the day, and it certainly shows with all his rolls.


With regards to our last post, Josh and I decided to try physical therapy in an attempt to round out his flat spot. The spot is looking a little better each week, so hopefully it will be enough to fix it without the need for a helmet. He is finally starting to enjoy tummy time for short periods at a time, which makes rounding out his flat spot even easier.We still have an uncertain few months ahead of us, so we ask that you continue to keep Joshua's development in your thoughts and prayers. He is such a blessed little baby to have so many praying for him.

Here are a couple pictures and videos. His new favorite toy to put in his mouth is his giraffe, Sophie. They are best buds...or shall I say the tastiest toy in his room! Enjoy!

0-3 month outfit!

This little stinker never smiles for the camera

Huh?

5 month Bday!

What to do...

Josh and I decided to take Joshua for a consultation at Cranial Technologies this past monday. We got another opinion from his neonapedi about the flat spot on his head. The doctor said that it wouldn't hurt to go for a consultation to see what they suggest, so we went thinking that this would make things clearer for us. Unfortunately I think Josh and I were even more confused after leaving the appointment. The technician basically told us that yes he does have a flat spot, but that it was such a mild case, that we could possibly treat it with frequent physical therapy instead of a helmet. She told us that the decision would have to be ours, and if we chose to treat with the helmet it would probably only be about 4 weeks as opposed to 6-8 weeks because he is so young.  So the question is do we treat now for 4 weeks, or try therapy first but then possibly end up treating anyways? We hate to put Joshua through something that is unnecessary but we want to do whats best. Really I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, just a mother and father's gut feeling. We have talked about it...a lot and basically we are going to pray about it for a couple more days and see how we feel at the beginning of next week.

Now for some good news. Joshua has been getting very spoiled lately...well he always gets spoiled, but more so in the last week. Grandma and Grandpa have been here for the past two weeks and have been soaking up lots of time with their grandson. Grandma dresses him up everyday in all the winter outfits he never really got to wear because he is just now growing into them, but now it is too hot outside to wear them. So he gets to wear them around the house for about an hour, until grandma gets a good picture, and then its off to change for the next photoshoot! Here are some pictures from this past week.

We are finally getting some hair on that head!

So close to laughing!

Mommy and Joshua

Having fun in the bumbo

Grandma's firefighter photoshoot

Joshua and his beloved wubanub

Aunt Kimmy teaching Joshua how to play the piano

Bluebonnets...unfortunately his eyes were closed for all the pictures because it was so sunny

Joshua loves watching his mobile

Playing dress up with grandma

Joshua is excited to go golfing with grandpa one day!