Dear Jimmie- Happy 22 Month Birthday

Dear Jimmie,

Happy 22 Month Birthday!!

This you right after you were born.

And this is you today!

Look at how you have grown next to your Rottweiler Puppy!

Look at how you've grown in your father's hands!

Here is your special "Watch Me Grow Montage"!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

You have gained 3 oz this month! You are 17 lb 14 oz. That doesn't tell the whole story though. You actually broke 18 lbs at one point this month, but you got sick and lost weight. )-:

Your height has increased by a whole inch!! You are 32 1/8 inches long! You are the definition of the term "Growing Like A Weed". (-: You are tall and very very skinny.

Your head has increased by an 1/8th inch to 18 & 1/8 inches around!

You have 124 followers on your blog Jimmie! That's 1 more than last month.

Your "Faithfulness" Video Montage has been viewed 14,503 times. That's 624 times this month!

Your "Jimmie's Wonderful World" Montage has been viewed 983 times. And your "High Places" Video Montage has been viewed 714 times!

Your blog has been viewed 4,446 times this month for a total of 118,211 hits! You have a lot of very cool people who love to check on your progress Jimmie.

Physically you are doing well. You can now reach up and take things off the counters in the kitchen! You love to help your momma unload the dishwasher. There have only been a few things broken. (-:

You have 11 (almost 12) teeth now!

Sleep has been a huge issue the last few months. Your momma thinks that you have finally become aware that you are by yourself in your bed. It seems to be causing you a lot of anxiety and upset. This past week- your momma has given up fighting you on this and you are sleeping MUCH better in your mommy and daddy's bed. Your momma is not settled about this though, she is not sure that's the direction she wants to go- so we'll see.. (-: I co-sleep with your cousins so I'm not much help on this front.

Communication is moving along. There is still great suspicion that you have "Apraxia" like your cousin. You have so many signs your momma can't even count how many. The only words you speak spontaneously that sound consistent are - "dog (buf buf), cat (meow), tractor and truck (tu tu)". You will say, "mama" on request. You learned this month that your daddy works on a fire truck! So now whenever you see a fire truck you do the sign for "work" and "dad". You are so smart!

This month you celebrated Thanksgiving! And boy did you celebrate! Here is a quick video clip of you dancing with Ma. Your arm swinging like crazy is so funny!

We totally failed and nobody took pictures though. So I'm going to post the totally awesome ones from last year. We posed you to match a picture from your daddy's first Thanksgiving.

This is you Jimmie!

And this is your daddy!

This is your daddy!


WOW! You look just like your daddy!

You also like to "be" just like your daddy. You put his shoes on the other day and walked around in them.

You are spending A LOT of time at home right now Jimmie because it's "cold and flu season". Your mommy and daddy try to play with you, but lets face it- being cooped up has it's consequences. One day you arranged all of your various balls around you on the couch. Your momma found you like this. It was not just fun and games.

You were very serious about it.

Your momma took a video of the incident.

Um- yeah, you need to get out more! (-:

Thank goodness you did get out for a whole weekend! You went with mommy and daddy down to the lake with Grandpa and Grandma Gravitt. Branson at Christmastime is wonderful.

You really "lived it up" Jimmie.

The goats filled you with joy!

You were adopted by a nice snowman family . . .

Grandpa made you tall so you could see a snowman sing.

You watched a Christmas Lights Parade.

And then you fell asleep in the car looking at more beautiful Christmas lights.

The biggest thing that happened this month for you Jimmie is your g-tube went "bye bye"! Saturday November 13th your Grandpa and mommy removed it with the doctor's permission.

Here it is before . . .

It's gone! There is a tiny hole in it's place . . .

All bandaged up!

This was a huge milestone for you Jimmie on the road to full health and normalcy. You have come so far and you have overcome so much. Thanksgiving inspires us to proclaim what we are thankful for . . . Jimmie, I am thankful for you!

Someone said to me recently with great love, prayers and support, that they felt so sad or sorry for us (me and your mommy) for all we'd been through with our children. I'm happy to say that I responded with a smile that I am not sad or sorry for us. Now don't get me wrong Jimmie, I am sad that we lost your sister Gracie and I am sorry that you were born so tragically early. However on this journey we have met others, we have connected with many who have suffered in similar ways. This has given us a perspective that will never allow us to feel sorry for ourselves in a "pity party" way. There are certain "hurts" that we have to learn to live with, but with a "thankful" heart it is possible to live with joy!

You bring me great joy Jimmie!

I will love you forever!

Auntie Amber