A Sigh of Relief - and 19 weeks

I have been reading several books about the development of the infant. In each, they caution that all children develop at different speed and should be treated as individuals. That way, if your baby is not rolling over at precisely 12 weeks, there is not cause for concern. I have determined through some complicated math that William is exactly 19 weeks old today. After 12 weeks, I stopped keeping track. However, for at least the last 5 weeks, my weekly guide to babies has been talking about a raspberry noise that babies may begin to exhibit at about 11 weeks. We haven't heard anything of the sorts. Nothing. I have had at least 9 weeks to ponder this (as I always read ahead) and worry. Not a lot in the first few weeks. But, each week creates mounting worry that "something could be wrong". It makes me think that he may be behind in his "obnoxious noise" category of development. This area is incredibly critical when it comes to the middle school years, so I am understandably concerned. If he doesn't master the mouth raspberry, can he ever master the arm pit fart noise? Or the elbow gas noise? What about burping on command? Whistling, snapping, and arguing all come to mind. My child could be hopeless behind in all of these areas. How will I ever get him caught up? DO they provide a physical/occupational therapy option for these children? What if his tongue doesn't function properly? Will he never learn to give a snake bit to a younger child? Or shout obscenities? What will become of my child?

No worries. William began blowing disgusting raspberries earlier in the week The combination gallons of drool and spit up being blow across the room is quite amazing. I can't wait for you all to see it. We were just able to capture it with our digital voice recorder yesterday. John will add the link to it sometime tomorrow.

In other news, William was a complete crab today. A king sized crab. He could even be classified as an enema...make it a colonoscopy All I wanted to do today was create the perfect, monstrous, surprise birthday cake for John. That's it. Oh, and maybe pay some bills. William crabbed, whined, fussed and cried throughout most of the day. I finally called John at 3 to find out when he was coming home to take care of his son. No answer. So, I did the kind, polite thing and left him a message. Of the baby screaming - no words. Then I called my dad on his day off at home. No answer. I left him a similar message. I tried John again and then finally tried my mom at work. I couldn't even hear the desk attendant over the baby. I just kept asking for "Kim __MG" or "my momma" over and over again until they put me through. She gave me some practical advice I could have come up with myself if I could have heard myself think over the wailing. William got in short succession: Tylenol, a cold/wet washcloth, baby ambesol, and then fed. I don't know what worked, but something did. Shortly after the washcloth, I had my finger shoved into William's mouth and found....[not the missing ladybug toy] another tooth pushing through. For the record, I can actually see the first tooth through his gum right now and can feel the second one coming through. At least there is a reason for his terrible behavior. Eighteen more to go....

I'll post more tomorrow to explain my absence from the daily updates. I need some more time to perfect my excuse...alibi. Until then,

goodnight,
the heidts