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I was going to post Joel's 8 month old stats and pictures on Monday, but I guess that will wait until 9 months; we had bigger things going on.

*WARNING*The following story may be too disgusting for queasy readers.
Joel was acting a little "off" Sunday morning, but I thought nothing of it. Then he started spitting up at church. My child does not spit up. Ever. Period. I wasn't too concerned, though. And I totally missed the next clue that something was wrong. When Robert was feeding him "lunch", Joel had little interest in his baby food. My child LOVES to eat. I just figured he was distracted by me. But when he had projectile vomit all over Robert's mom twice (and by all over, I mean to the extent where she had to change. She has had 9 children; she is no stranger to baby puke. But for her to change is saying something...), it was obvious something was wrong. Within the next hour, Joel threw up on me twice more. Hoping the worst of it was over, we went to my parents' house for dinner. We modified Joel's "dinner" to a watered down bottle of juice. An hour after eating, he puked all over my dad four times. Repeatedly. Sprayed him (I think my father may have gotten more drenched than my mother-in-law). Time to go home. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. Joel erupted after his nightly bottle.
Monday morning he seemed to be doing better. It didn't register that his diaper was completely dry after 8 hours. I fed him his normal morning bottle. Fine. I gave him sips of water often for the remainder of the morning. Fine. After his "lunch" bottle, he began vomiting again. Robert's two youngest sisters were kind enough to run to the store and purchase Pedialyte, bananas, baby applesauce, and baby apple juice for me. I gave Joel small bottles of Pedialyte the rest of the day. Fine. When I fed him his nightly bottle, he erupted again.
Tuesday was puke-free. After vomiting forcefully 12 times over the last 36 hours, his little body NEEDED sustenance. He kept everything down all day(though it was very small amounts each hour).
When I woke him up this morning (an hour and a half later than usual), he was awake but completely unresponsive. He did not move his arms or legs. He did not make a peep. His body went limp when I tried to stand him up. My child is usually all over the place in the morning, clicking and babbling. Nothing. It was like he was lifeless. After discussing the situation with my mom (a nurse) and the pediatrician's nurse, I was immediately on my way to the ER. Luckily, he checked out fine. I felt somewhat stupid for bringing him to the ER, but it is what the pediatrician told us to do. I am not the type of parent who worries endlessly over my child's health. Having been raised by two nurses, I know what warrants a visit to the doctor and what doesn't. It is just nerve-racking to have your baby make no attempt at moving when he is normally extremely active.