If at first you don't succeed...

Try again! Joey got some new goldfish. This time we actually spent more than 13 cents, and got the $4.99ers. They have been alive for 2 days and counting! Joey named them Tiny One and Big One (both are similar in size though), and the fish bowl is called Mickey Park. He enjoys feeding and looking at them, but also says that they scare him sometimes...he is a bit of a scaredy cat these days.

Jillian has been doing really well. She is now 8 months, and so incredibly close to crawling. The hard part is she would much rather stand, hold your hands to walk, or hold on to the ottoman or another toy and walk along on her own. She has stood independently for more than 5 seconds, even swinging her arms or holding things, so we'll see if she bypasses the crawling stage altogether. Her first official word was about a week ago--Mama! I'm not just saying it...Phil agreed! She plays with a lot of words now like Mama, Dada, Cat (I think from her play table), Gaga, ba-bye, and ni-ni (which I really think she is trying to say night-night since she says it when she's tired). She doesn't necessarily use all the words appropriately yet, but she is definitely playing with her voice and trying to get some vocabulary. She is very vocal most of the time, and wants so badly to be as mobile as her brother. She is doing well with finger foods eating most everything as long as it is cooked or soft.

I continue to pick up the book CHARGE Syndrome and read a few pages when I can. It is really well written and I think an excellent tool for practitioners and new CHARGE families. Last weekend I did a 16 mile run where I ran to, around, and back from Assumption thinking about Josh and all the footprints he has left.

And on to the month's end in pictures...
Here are a bunch of pictures from the last 2 weeks or so of August. Joey went to the splash park by Grandma's house, then the regular park, Trifesta (the fest at our church), another trip to Cosley Zoo where Jillian was a bit more interested, the kids playing at home, last weekend at the pool, and Nonna and Grandpa's house where they got Joey and Jillian a play table! No pics of the new fish yet, but if they stick around I'm sure you'll see them. Enjoy!