The perfect anniversary gift

David started walking.

6 Year Wedding Anniversary

Photos taken by Angie Gambill Photography

What were we doing this time last year?

Last year this time, I was 33 weeks pregnant, and we spent our anniversary in labor and delivery triage trying to stop my preterm labor. It all worked out, of course, but I am thankful that this year's anniversary has turned out to be a lot less stressful. Joseph and I will celebrate 6 years of marriage tomorrow, so we are going out to eat today to celebrate. Thanks to some friends from church, we are leaving the kids at home.

Decorating for Christmas

David's Favorite Activity

 David loves to play with the baby food jars. The problem is that Joseph has a fit when the boys crawl around on the kitchen floor. He's really funny about germs. At any rate, I usually let them indulge in a few moments of playtime before I run them out of the kitchen. I'd rather have to get David out of the baby food than have to pull him away from Joseph's bookshelves. (He hasn't really started getting into his books yet, thankfully.) 

Don't you just love how I re-purposed that toy storage unit into a baby food/supply shelf?

What were we doing a year ago?

Austin had just had spinal surgery, and I was very pregnant with David. Click the links to go to blog posts from last year at this time.

Home in Time for Christmas

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing my very first blog. I started it while Austin was in the NICU as a way to update family and friends on his weight gain stats, etc. To see my very first  post, go to www.shareyourstory.org/ourlittlepeanut , then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click "Older Entries" until you get to the earliest posts.

After four years, Austin's time in the NICU sometimes feels like a far-off dream, or like a movie that I watched some time ago. However, from time to time, the memories of Austin as a newborn wash over me anew. It is at these times that I usually make a blog post as a way to reminisce and process those memories. Each time, my rendition is slightly different. I forget certain details and remember others.

As such, I thought I would share this blog excerpt from December 8, 2006- only three days after Austin came home from the hospital. These were the details I felt were important to include then- before I had had months and years to process and distort those memories.

We brought our little guy home on Monday afternoon, which seemed like a dream. He is on Oxygen and monitors (the only alarms so far have been for loose leads). The first day and a half, he didn't sleep for more than ten minutes at a time and he cried ALOT. He finally started sleeping between feedings on Wednesday evening and has been on some sort of a routine every since. We have continuous music playing and a light on in his room at all times. He likes the noise. At this moment, I am trying out his front baby carrier, which he seems to love. He is a very cuddly baby. We have all kinds of doctor appointments coming up. Any ideas on how to reduce his exposure to illness while we are out?

Here is a brief summary of our little guy's journey so far:
-Born September 23rd at 29 weeks gestation after I spent four days on bedrest in the hospital with severe preeclampsia.

-The first week of his life is a fog to me. I know he was on the vent and c-pap for a few days. He spent this time in the "big room" of the NICU. He weighed 2 lbs 8 ounces and was 14 inches long.

- After a week, he was moved to the Critical Care Nursery where he stayed until he came home. He developed chronic lung disease, so he didn't get out of his isolette or start bottles for about 5 weeks. The nurses always said that he was a "dingy guy" referring to the alarms that went off when his oxygen saturation dropped.

- He never needed a blood transfusion, though the doctor considered it numerous times. At some point, his respiratory situation stabilized, though he still needed oxgen.  

- We thought that he would come home well before Thanksgiving because he had a good start on his feedings. Then his belly started hurting him all the time and he rejected his bottles. I began nursing him several times a day and we gradually reintroduced him to the bottle.  

- The last week he was in the hospital, I stayed in a Ronald McDonald Sleeping Room, which was a great service. I learned alot about my baby by being so close to him round the clock. He finally started feeding completely by mouth, and they took out the feeding tube. They watched him for a few days to make sure that he wouldn't reject his feedings again, and we took him home three days before his due date on December 4th.  

- He now weighs around 6 and a half pounds and measures about 18 inches long. He looks like a newborn, but he acts like a two month old in a lot of ways. He can lift his head off the floor and propel himself with his feet. He stays awake for long periods of time and is very alert. He is a pacifier addict and sometimes tries to shove his fist in his mouth when a paci is not available. He has a big appetite, eating almost four ounces of milk every four hours. He is a very dramatic baby providing endless entertainment. We are very happy to have him home at last. It is a blessing to have him home in time for Christmas.