Snot Galore!

Well, as you can see from the title, John is still sick. Fortunately, he is still his happy self though..........with a bunch of snot. I did however end up taking him to the pediatrician this evening.....better safe than sorry. Anyhow, our pedi. is on maternity leave (of course) and there was only 1 doctor working today......so, we had a LONG wait. Our appointment was at 4:40 and we weren't seen until 6:00. Anyhow, the good news is that John just has the icky cold going around.....ears looked great, throat looked great, no fever, and lungs were clear. When the Dr. was listening to John's lungs he said he doesn't sound like he has 24 weeker lungs. He then said to me, you must of had a lot of steroids.....nope, only 4 hours!!!!!! He was very surprised.

And, tooth number 7 has popped through!

Can he get any closer? This can't be good for the eyes:)

His new trick is to open and close that bottom drawer!

MOM......no more pictures!

John's Got It!

Unfortunately John has come down with his 1st cold...........pretty darn good considering he is almost 15 months old. I've had a feeling the last few days that he may be coming down with something but then I'd just tell myself I was being neurotic. Oh yes, I'll be the first to say........I AM NEUROTIC!!!!!! As if you didn't know already. Anyhow, John has a stuffy/runny nose.........his little nose can't make up it's mind if it wants to be stuffy or runny. So, I called the Pedi. on Friday just to make sure (didn't want to take him in because of all the icky germs there) he was OK. She said to elevate his bed (already did), put a vaporizer in his room (already did), and suction his nose often (already doing.) I guess I know more than I give myself credit for:) Anyhow, he doesn't have a fever and yesterday at his synagis appointment they said his lungs sounded clear. Thankfully he never had any lung disease however, I am constantly checking to see if his breathing sounds labored.............Oh, the joy of being a preemie mom!

And, the BIG weight check is....................21 pounds 4 ounces! Jamie's Sgt. was over last week and he said John looked chubby. Can you believe that? My lil man is chubby!!!!!!!!! Hooray for the rolls!!!!!!

Does that look like the face of a sick kid? Healthy or sick..........still smiling!

Hmmmmm, maybe this is how he got sick:)

21 pounds of solid muscle........that's my boy!

A Few Pictures!

Not much to report on here......no news is good news, right?

The presentation on Monday went well. It was a lot more emotional than either Jamie or I thought it would be. However, it was the first time we have talked openly about John's life with total strangers. There were a few times when I got choked up but I held it together for the most part.......there were actually a lot of teary eyes in the room. Jamie and I felt really good about it and we'd love to speak again!

I'll be taking John to get his synagis shots tomorrow........yuck! I'll be sure to give a weight update afterwards:)

SOOOOOOOOOO darn cute!

Mooooommm........where's my shirt?

And, look at that funny face!

TV junkie.......and I swore my children would never watch TV!

Got my toes!

Yummy book.........he'll put anything in his mouth!

Baby Blogger!

John absolutely loves the keyboard..........he just pounds away on it!

Hmmmmm, and we wonder why John doesn't usually nap........might be those 3 Red Bulls!!!

*Disclaimer: The 3 Red Bulls were not all consumed in one day nor were they consumed by a minor....they just didn't make it to the garbage can in a timely manner:)

Fun Day!

Today was a really great day! After John's 2 hour nap (yes, he took a nap) we went up to my parents house for an early dinner. Jamie wasn't feeling too well today........he's trying to fight off that nasty bug/virus that's going around.......so John and I decided to give him some peace and quite and let him rest........hmmmmmm, when we got home he was painting the laundry room. I guess that's his idea of resting:) Hey, it works for me.....the house looks great! Anyhow, John had so much fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma (my Grandma.) He was all laughs.......which is nothing new! And, at dinner time.....he ate like a champ! OK, let me re-phrase that......he put EVERYTHING in his mouth...willingly! This is a huge accomplishment for him. Let's see.....he put crackers in his mouth and took a few bites (which he spit out), took a bite of a carrot and spit out, squished an avocado in his hand and licked his fingers, rubbed some cool whip on his face (by accident), and put his sippy cup in his mouth NUMEROUS times. I had to hold the sippy cup because it was to heavy for him but he willingly opened his mouth for it. Of course he didn't drink any of the water in it but who cares.......you've got to start somewhere!

My little Anchor Man!

Crawling under the coffee table!

John's new fort!

I love my sippy cup!

Grandma, you're soooooooo funny!

I love you Great Grandma!

Toe Grabber!

Oh my gosh...............I just looked on the video monitor to see if John was asleep (which he isn't of course) and he was grabbing his toes! Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Another HUGE milestone! This has been one of his PT goals since last summer. What can I say, he amazes me EVERY day!

Update: So, after I witnessed John grabbing his toes on the video monitor I had to go in his room and congratulate him.......meaning, I had to get him out of bed and play with him:) I am such a softy when it comes to my baby:) Anyhow, he continued to grab his toes throughout the day. I caught him in the act numerous times and snapped LOTS of pictures!

I put him down for a nap (again) around noon (he didn't fall asleep until 12:30) and he slept until 3:30. WOW is right! Unfortunately for Aunt Chris (John's primary) he slept the entire time she was over today:( Oh well, we had a good time catching up! She actually asked Jamie and me to speak at a graduate class she is teaching on Monday..... so, the majority of the time today we spent talking about that and reminiscing of the very difficult NICU days. We feel extremely honored to be able to share John's amazing story with others........thanks Chris for asking us! Wish us luck as we are a little nervous........I know once we get started we'll be fine.

*For some reason, I can't post any pictures:( I'll try again tomorrow!

Be Mine!

Happy 1st (real) Valentine's Day Bubba! Your Daddy and I love you very much and are so very proud of you. You'll always be our little Valentine!

We had some good laughs last Valentines Day.........believe or not, we did have some fun in the NICU. Anyhow, Jessica (John's day primary), Kimya, and I decided to make a clay mold of John's hands and feet and give it to Jamie for Valentine's. So, Jessica gets the clay all mixed up and we put John's hands in it............only for him to grab a handful of it! He then proceeds to get it ALL over him and his isolette. Now remember, he's still in the NICU attached to leads and everything so we couldn't just plop him in the tub. Needless to say that mold didn't turn out too well. I did however keep it......I laugh every time I look at it. We ended making up some new clay mix and just put his feet in it. It is actually sitting right here on the shelf in the office.....lots of memories!

GI Appointment!

John had a follow up GI appointment this morning and it went really well. It was one of those appointments where you actually leave smiling and feeling good about things opposed to sobbing all the way home. So, here goes:

*John weighs 20 pounds 12.8 ounces (I had to put that .8 in there!)

*He finally made it on the growth chart for his actual age (not his adjusted age) and is in the 10%for weight.....yaaahoooo!

*His ideal weight is 9.6kg and he is 9.4kg......again, yaaaahoooo!

*He is 28 and a half inches long!

*Next month when he is one years old (March 17th) adjusted, we are going to transition him to a new type of formula (forgot the name already) for toddlers. Did you hear that????? He's gonna be a toddler:)

*He needs to be drinking (tube fed) more H2O so he doesn't get dehydrated......especially when it starts warming up. So, we have to give him 4 ounces of water a day on top of his 800ml's of formula. So, I just filled up a syringe (60cc's) and squirted it directly in his button.........simple as that. I am going to do 2 ounces in the am and the other 2 before bed. Geez......the kid is NEVER going to know what hunger feels like.

*This summer we are going to try out a feeding clinic at PCH. The Dr. said it isn't the top of the line like other states have but, it's still good.......and it's all we've got here in AZ.

*The best part of the appointment is when the Dr. patted me on the back and told me what a WONDERFUL job Jamie and I were doing. That really made me feel good.

After that appointment we rushed home to grab John's stuff (food & spoons) for Speech and we were back in the car in a matter of minutes.

It was a busy morning but a good one!

Super Sunday!

Look at me, I am sitting...........for a couple seconds! Hey, it still counts right?

Hello my faithful readers!

Weekend Fun!

Just your typical Saturday morning yoga class. With the strength he's building in his shoulders, he'll be doing handstands before long. So, when the neurologist asks if he's sitting yet I can smile and say no but he's almost got a handstand!

Just relaxing! Notice his hand is fuzzy (from moving it)......he likes to pat, pat, pat things.

Life is good!

Going in for the lick! Britt, I can't believe Blayke licks the floor too. Funny boys! I CAN"T wait to get them together.

Where's John?

John's PT taught him to put a small ball in each hand and then click them together......she'll say click, click, click as he does it. This morning he had a cookie in each hand (no, he wasn't eating them) and he began to click them together. What can I say? The kids a genius!

Nap Time...John Style!

This is a glimpse of what our daily naps look like:

He'll chew on anything.....poor little teeth!

This is the best toy ever!

Mom, naps are for babies....I'm a BIG boy!

And, I have to mention that our itty bitty baby now wears a size 18 months! He's HUGE!!!!

Our Life!

I came across this today and thought..........how perfectly put!

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may even learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy but after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandt's.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, go away... because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Happy Wednesday!

Not much to report today. John is still working on his crawling (we are not there yet) and he has the least bit of interest in sitting. Hey, we're on John time now.........he'll do it when he's 100% ready and it'll be well worth the wait!

Team John-Clarification

A lot of people have been asking how to join John's WalkAmerica team......and what all they have to do. So, here it goes....

1. Click here
2. Now, click on the pink button that says, join this team.
3. Fill out all of your info. and set a goal for yourself. This is the amount of money you are going to raise for the team. For example, your goal can be $25.00. Then all you would have to do is find 5 people to donate $5.00 each.
4. Once you have filled out all of your info. you now have your own personal link and can e-mail it to your family, friends, co-workers, etc. People can donate directly off of your link if they use a credit/debit card or pay pal. You can also take checks made out to March of Dimes and then bring them the day of the walk.

Hope this helps!!!

Remember, we are inviting everyone to join our team (friends of friends, co-workers, etc.)......the more the merrier. And, if you are are not able to join our team you can still donate on John's behalf by clicking here.

Thank goodness for Grandma's

I was just thinking to myself last night.....wow, I haven't gotten sick this winter.....one more month and Spring is here and all will be good! Well, you guessed it! I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I always jinx myself. Anyhow, John had ST today and I definitely didn't want him to miss it but I also didn't want to go, being sick and contagious. Jamie reminded me how mad I would be if another mother came into the clinic sick exposing John to those germs. So, I called Grandma with an SOS this morning and she came to save the day. Mom, what would I do without you? I have to say my mother-n-law is just as helpful however, she has to juggle her time between 9 grandkids and work (she's amazing...I don't know how she does it) whereas my mom is retired (thank god) and loves to spend ALL her time with her FAVORITE grandson............heehee, her only grandchild I must add:) Craig, she could have more you know!!!!!!

Grams, I'm all ready to go!

Bye, Bye Mommy!

Yoga Baby!

John's newest trick: While on all 4's, he'll push up on his toes so his butt is in the air. It is so funny to watch.

Wow....this kid has already mastered a Downward Dog! What can I say, he's a genius:)

Drop and give me 20!

Guess who's getting another tooth?