Second haircut....

Well, Jack's second haircut didn't go as happily as his first.  We took a trip to SportsClips today to get both Dustin and Jack's hair cut.  He had fallen asleep in the car on our way there and we figured we wouldn't wake him up to specifically have his haircut if he was still napping on either one of us.  Well, he was wide awake when Dustin got called back, so we figured we'd give it a shot once Dustin was finished.

Oh goodness...here's what we dealt with during most of his haircut!

What a sad boy!!

Much happier now!!

Testing my patience...

I adore my son, 100%.  Boy, there are days when he pushes my patience to the limit.  Today, must be one of those days.  First off, we've always had the weight thing to deal with - he's now doing relatively well with it but they doctors still want him to gain more - I really don't get this, he's catching up nicely and there are kids a year older than him who barely weigh 5 lbs more...seriously, how big does this kid need to be?  So, today, he hasn't been eating much for me...go figure.  He barely ate breakfast, ate a great amount of yogurt at lunch but then threw the rest of his food on the floor.  He's doing well with his bottles but fighting the sippy cup.  I don't know what to do!!!  I want him to come off the bottles and onto sippy cups but at this rate, he's going to be taking those bottles to college with him!  I've got some pretty thin patience today...can't figure out why but am rather discouraged.  I'm a worrier and I am constantly worrying about him.  I don't know how to not worry even though overall, he's catching up on most everything.  Why can't he be a little small...he's well porportioned and doing all the other things he's supposed to...does he need to be fat too?

The halfway point...

I have hit the halfway point in this pregnancy, so far so good.  We had our ultrasound 3 weeks ago, everything was great at that point.  We have another one in 3 weeks, I'm hoping for good things at that one as well.  I had my OB look up in my file when I started swelling with Jack - it was noted at 23 weeks...I do think I was swelling after work before that point - so probably around 21 or 22 weeks...as of now no swelling at all.  My twice daily blood pressure checks are going great - they are staying low.  I am trying to take it fairly easy - my days at work are long and busy but thankfully that's really only 2 days/week.  I am trying to take it easy on the days I am home with Jack - that's not too easy!  He's such a busy body! 

Jack is walking around the house like a champ - more than crawling!  He's gaining good weight and we are still working on the sippy cup thing...hopefully he gets it soon!  Otherwise, we are still giving him bottles and he seems to like the pediasure!  He makes more and more different sounds each day.  He starts daycare in either March or April, so it will be interesting to see how many new things he picks up while he's there - just hopefully no illnesses!!

Plan for baby's room...

We haven't decided on a name yet and won't decide until this little boy is born(we did the same with Jack).  We have a list of names we like and will narrow it down to 2 before he arrives.  One thing we have decided on is his room.  I'm excited about our plan and ready to get started.  We have decided to keep Jack in his room and let him decorate it when he's a little older.  So, that leaves us with one room to decorate.  We are planning a dinosaur themed room with these decals from fathead.com on the walls.

We are then going to get sheets, bumpers, and other decorations to match to the colors in the decals.  Also, we are planning on painting this room!  I'm not sure exactly which color we will choose but it'll coordinate with the colors in the decals.  We are going to get the same crib Jack has and dividing the furniture between Jack and his little brother.  I plan on getting this room done by the beginning of April along with organizing the closet and Jack's closet at the same time.  It's going to be fun!

Weight check...

So, I'm not going to lie, the words weight check and Jack scare me...seriously.  We have been working on getting this kid to gain weight since he was born.  He was always on extra calories, had a protein shake when he was in the NICU and even when we came home, he was on higher calorie formula and just recently had a calorie supplement added to his food.  Well, this time, his weight check went great!!!  He is now up to 19.4lbs and 28 inches long.  His weight jumped up to the 50% mark on his special growth chart!  It made me so happy!  We finally get to come off formula and we are transitioning to Pediasure - a higher calorie milk drink for kids.  They come in flavors like vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.  It definitely smells better than formula, so that's a plus for us.  I'm going to have to start searching for coupons for it...that'll hopefully end up being cheaper than formula. 

 Jack is playing with one of his favorite toys...tupperware!

Look at how happy he is while eating lunch...wonderful!!

Jack and baby update...

Well, things have been pretty quiet lately around our house - thankfully!  Jack continues to be Mr. Busybody - he's into everything.  Walking all over the house, into the kitchen drawers, carrying around his spatula and he has figured out about shutting doors and will shut himself into the bathroom - during which time he unrolls the toilet paper!!  It is so funny!  I'm thankful that he's over his ear infections and passed his hearing screen last week!  He's still eating pretty well and we go for a check-up with Escobar on Friday.  I'm hoping he'll discharge us and the pediatrician can follow him. 

Update on the new baby - we are now at 19 weeks, so far, so good.  My blood pressure is staying consistent, I'm now checking it 2x/day - morning and night to make sure everything is fine.  Also, we have switched to weekly appointments at the doctor to keep a closer eye on my progress and to make sure we catch anything quickly (hoping for nothing to catch).  We've been talking about names and decided that we'll have a couple choices and then decide what it will be once we meet him.  We did the same with Jack and I like to be able to meet him before naming him.  We definitely want to wait until late May to meet this little guy!

18 weeks

Overall things are going good with the pregnancy.  I had been feeling some pretty good kicks from this little guy the last couple weeks but over the last few days he's been pretty quiet, or he's moved and positioned himself behind my anterior placenta so I can feel him so good.  I've been pretty busy chasing after his older brother also!  We've been thinking of names and have a short list of about 5 or so.  Likely we'll narrow it down to 2 and then decide once he's born.  That seemed to work well with Jack.  Our plan is to move Jack into the bigger bedroom upstairs and then this little guy will get Jack's old room but likely we will decorate a little differently.  I don't want him to get all the hand-me-downs.  He will get to wear some of Jack's old clothes but likely not too many of the sleepers due to different seasons, so he'll get new stuff!!  Lucky kid!  Here is a sideways ultrasound picture - I can't figure out how to turn it the right way!

We will be getting another ultrasound in about 5 weeks to make sure his growth is on track and everything is still going well with him especially with our history.  I am hoping and planning on everything going full term and look forward to being big and pregnant with this little man!!

2010 in review...

January - Jack spent the month still in the NICU, we visited every day.  He had hernia surgery on Jan. 26th and finally talked about going home the end of the month!

February - HOME!!  Jack came home during the first week of the month!  He came home on oxygen but he was home!  It was great to be able to care for him all ourselves and have him here with us. 

March - I started a new job with Advanced Physical Therapy, 2.5 days/week and transitioned down to weekends at the hospital; both grandmas started babysitting.  The last week of the month, Jack ended up in the hospital because we found out he was aspirating everything he ate...after having a bronchial scope done, he was found to have a laryngeal cleft, put on a feeding tube and planned for surgery at a later date.

April - we continued with the feeding tube but found out surgery was planned for early May.  There wasn't much going on in April - we just continued with the status quo...though while we were in the hospital, they did tell us we could work on weaning off oxygen - turns out Jack had to be on oxygen because he was aspirating...go figure!

May - surgery for the laryngeal cleft was completed on May 14 - the repair went good and Jack tolerated surgery well!  We were thrilled!  He did not want to take bottles though...turns out you have a pretty sore throat after having surgery back there!  We finished out the month still on the feeding tube...yuck!  Also, spent 3 afternoons in the ER because Jack pulled out his feeding tube and they had to place it there due to it being in his small intestine...double yuck!!

June - Jack passed his swallow study!!  He was cleared for all types of liquids!  Very exciting news - he still didn't want to take much orally but at least we knew he was safe.  He also started sitting up on his own without support - which allowed us to sit and play with his toys!!  He enjoyed it!

July - We continued with the fun feeding tube and playing on the floor.  Started practicing pulling up to stand at the end of the month and attempting spoon fed foods.  He began fighting most anything oral but still loved his pacifier.  We were doing bolus feedings, so thankfully didn't have the feeding bag attached at all times.

August - We went to see a new doctor during the middle of the month, he suggested we try to wean Jack off the feeding tube - essentially, we would just pull the tube out for a minimum of 24 hours and let him take what he wanted - the first day he took 8oz by bottle!  A week later, we tried it again, we never had to put the tube back in - he continued to take more each day until he was up to the target daily amounts!  He also started taking foods by mouth around this time...it was wonderful to have a tube free kid!!  He also started rolling over more consistently to get toys and was pulling up to stuff with light assistance of our hands.

September - continued to be tube free!!  Jack started army crawling and moving along the furniture with ease.  We continued to work on solid foods and found out he didn't like baby food at all! 

October - We found out I was pregnant with baby #2 the first weekend of the month!  Jared and Amanda got married the next weekend...Jack was a stylish little man!  We prepared for his 1st birthday - he continued to army crawl and we worked on regular crawling with PT - he started doing this on his own one day after PT - he got his first ear infection at the end of the month!

November - finished off the first ear infection, continued to do great with foods and bottles, started practicing sippy cups.  Started pushing his new push toys without help.  We finally put gates up on the stairs!  Finished off the month with good lengthy standing on his own, had a nice Thanksgiving with family!

December - continued to have every other week Dr. appointments for the new baby, daily blood pressure checks to ensure everything going fine.  Jack got a 2nd ear infection.  Our new neice, Kate, was born right before christmas on Dec. 19!!  Christmas was enjoyable, Jack didn't fully understand what was going on.  He started taking steps on his own on Dec. 21 during PT and keeps taking some great steps!  We finished off the month which finding out we are having a second boy!

We are hoping for a healthy 2011, looking towards continuing this great positive streak Jack is on and hoping for a full term pregnancy for me!!