Just Julian

I'm afraid that the grandparents have been denied an adequate volume of pictures of this boy lately, so I'm going to try to make up for that. I found myself with some time to devote solely to him the other day (a rare commodity in a household with three littles), so we took a slew of pictures.

We've been through a bit of a rough patch with Julian lately, with a number of challenging physical symptoms and a random and frightening salmonella occurrence. We have been to the doctor with him more in the last two months than I think we have been total with each of the other two. But that which is hard won is dearly treasured. We're in a much better place now, thanks be to God, and it thrills my heart to see him looking plump and happy. Here are a bevy of images of our newly-turned five month old...


He's becoming quite interactive, which is fun for the whole family. Emmy is the sweet helper, going to him when he's fussy and taking toys to him. Asa likes to lie next to "Du-len" and I have to keep my eye on him, as he's turning into quite the rough and tumble, stick wielding little boy. I hear things like, "Du-len! My finger's not your dinner!", and then rush to remove the finger from the vicinity of the baby's mouth. It's fun to think about the adventures those two will have together.

He likes to kick his legs fiercely, arch his back, reach for things, talk (his favorite word currently is aaa-ga), and laugh when kissed on the neck . He's a fan of the swing, the playmat, and his rocking seat, but all in fairly short bursts; if you put him in a corner for long he lets you know he's not happy. He usually sits in his swing by the table during meals, until he gets fussy and moves to my lap, at which point he becomes passionate about gaining control of my glass and taking sips of water. His favorite place to be is riding along with his mommy and daddy, and he's very much the content marsupial when worn in a sling.

We're still working on the theory that he has a milk protein allergy, so I've restricted my diet quite a bit, and, as you can see, his skin is looking much better. The eczema is still very much there and becomes more inflamed at different times (when he's angry, for instance!), but most days it is so much lighter and less prominent than it was. As I said, thrills my heart.

He and I spend a lot of time together, day and night. He's not cooperative with the sleeping all night idea yet, but as his weight gain has been a matter of concern, I've been happy (well, usually; it's really a challenge to be happy in the wee hours) to feed him whenever he seems to need it.

He has the most adorable crooked smile, and he often wrinkles his nose when he smiles. Too cute. Oh, and we've been impressed by his dexterity...he wears socks on his hands/arms when he sleeps so that he doesn't scratch his head and leave ghastly looking marks. Frequently as of late we'll find that he's pulled the sock of off his left arm, and we were puzzled about how he was managing it, as the socks are pretty tight, until I went in recently and caught him in the act. He had his left hand on top of his head, his right hand on top of his left, and was pulling with all his might. Pretty impressive for a little guy!