Lake Living

Brian and I spent the last two weeks at Grandma and Grandpas house.  They live on the lake, and it was amazing! Carl drove up to visit on both weekends so we all got to celebrate father's day together.  I took a ton of pictures.  

It was so neat to see the progress Brian made while we were gone.  When we first arrived he still needed his oxygen during the day, he would get fussy, tired and wasn't eating as well.  By the time we left he was off oxygen the whole day (pulling it off at night even!) and all his numbers looked great.  And sweet boy has now been sucking down 4-6 oz bottles no problem.  The lake was good for him.  :)  We plan on heading back soon! 

He's definitely more mobile.  He started off on his mat and while I was getting ready managed to roll himself on the nice cold tile.  

This little man loved the lake.  Lucky boy!

Brian and I met up with some of our NICU nurses while we were in MI.  He missed them (mainly me) and I think they were impressed with how great he is doing!  Julie and Holly are amazing.  We are SOO thankful for the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital and their awesome NICU staff.  

 

Brian kept busy playing with necklaces and trying on headbands.  He is a lone boy surrounded by lots of girls! 

 

Every morning my dad would stay home until Brian woke up.  They would have some snuggles, read a book and go look out at the lake.  It was precious and adorable!  I love how much my parents love my baby.  

 

We played on the beach a lot!  Brian loved the sand and tried to eat.  Charlotte hardly likes it to touch her fingers.  This whole boy thing is going to be interesting...

Our big boy is sitting up all by himself!  And also loved to grab the grass.  Something his cousin is still hesitant about.  :) 

We all went on a Father's day coffee cruise.  It was wonderful.  Because of the babies and their bedtimes we're thinking our nightly booze cruises are a thing of the past.  But the coffee cruise idea sure was a hit! 

We have the happiest and sweetest little boy.  

Happy Father's day!  Four generations of boys.  

Carl found a Brian sized chair in the basement.  Brian thought it was hilarious.  

Here is Brian back home sitting up and playing.  So far he is right on track for a NORMAL six month old.  Hard to believe for us when six months ago we were told he might never do this! We're just so happy.  This next month we have a lot of Dr appointments.  We see our pediatrician, lung doctor, eye doctor, physical therapist and neuro development team.  I cannot wait to hear what they have to say about our sweet boy.  I hope he shows off :) 

And of course, here are some videos.  This boy is too funny! 

9 Months!

Our little man is 9 months old today!  And we took lots of pictures :) 

 

  We can hardly believe it.  3/4 of a year already.  It seems to have gone super fast and taken forever at the same time.  Brian and I have our 9 month Dr. appointment tomorrow, so we will get to see his height and weight and see how he has been doing these LAST SIX WEEKS without his feeding tube.  GO BUDDY!! 

  

Brian has been on and off his oxygen for the past two weeks.  The pulminologist gave us the OK to take him off during the day (well, really I called and told his nurse this is what I'm doing...) and to keep the oxygen on at night.  Our little buddy does great with all of his numbers that we watch, but when the oxygen is off he is much more tired and doesn't seem to eat as well.  I did a few trial days back on oxygen full time...and that stinker ate much better and wasn't nearly as crabby come night time.  It seems right now he can either breathe with out oxygen or eat/gain weight.  Our priority is definitely the eating, so back on the oxygen went.  I'll update the Dr on all of this tomorrow.  Mom's all over it, baby!

This boy loves his bath time!  We have now moved the tub upstairs to the "big boy" tub because he splashed too much,  I had to mop after every bath! 

Brian and his girlfriend.  :)  Someday when they're 12 pictures like this will be very funny!  And Carl is starting early with his future beer drinking buddy.  Brian got to smell all the beers at his dad's tasting night.  

   

We have been having so much fun with our sweet baby.  He is becoming so much more interactive! Brian is "talking" and has a few different voices.  I keep trying to catch on video his funny deep/scratchy throat sound that seems to be his favorite lately but every time I try he just stops and smiles!  We even ventured out to Costco as a family and ate dinner at the food court.  That was a big deal for us!  Brian has now been to Target and Joann's as well, I'm pretty sure Joann's was his favorite place ever.  I took him out and was holding him and he started laughing looking at all the colorful fabrics.  Babies can be so fun!  

I think I figured out how to add videos! 

Life is definitely getting better day by day for our little family.  Brian is still much more work than an average baby.  We have twice daily meds/nebulizer treatments and I need to pack his little oxygen tank and a backup anytime we go anywhere, but at least we can leave the house now! Brian sure  helps by eating better and smiling all the time.  

Our next few weeks are going to be great.  Carl's mom is coming into town this weekend to visit and hang out with the boys while I work and then the following weekend we are heading up to Michigan to visit my family for 11 whole days!  Well, just Brian and I - Carl will head back during the week to work.  It's going to be wonderful.  Summer is here!  

We went on vacation :)

This post is going to have a gazillion pictures.  We have been busy! (and a blog slacker...)
Carl and I braved the airports and traveled with an infant - on oxygen - and all of his required gear.  This is how Carl left me to go park the car.  Babies do not travel light!



But we made it to Phoenix and spent 11 wonderful days with our family at the FABULOUS Marriot resort.  We spent our mornings lounging, drinking coffee and getting some cousin snuggle time in then went to the pools for the afternoon.  Then happy hour came around with dinner by the pool most nights.  It was WONDERFUL and exactly what our little family needed after the longest and hardest winter of our lives.

 




Elise is just the best cousin and the sweetest girl.  She will just come up to Baby Brian and rub and kiss his head and say how cute he is.  We just love her!  And Baby Charlotte, who just couldn't help but beat up on her cousin a little bit.  She gets too excited!

 







Brian did so well traveling and loved getting to see everyone!  He is so smiley now and much more interactive.  His feeding tube is still out, for over four weeks now.  YAY! The scale says he has only gained a few ounces but I think that he just looks great.  He is perfectly plump and his 3-6 month size cargo shorts are a bit too tight.

 

The Brians liked to take pool side naps in the afternoon.  Grandpa was tired from his 5 am tee time and Baby Brian thought he was just the comfiest thing. 

Not too much of a size difference any more!  These two are going to be buddies I can tell.  One morning Nick, me and my dad went for a hike.  It was beautiful and we climbed all the way to the top of Pinnacle Peak.  My phone said we burned enough calories for about a two beers...

We flew out a day after the rest of the family.  So we spent Mother's Day at Canyon Lake.  It was a fun little side trip for us to a place that neither of us had been before.  Brian liked it too and was wearing LOTS of sunscreen.  

 

We have been home for about a week now and getting back into our routine.  We saw feeding therapy and they have switched our meetings from every other week to once a month. WOOHOO! Then we had physical therapy as well.  Brian needed to focus on tummy time and lifting his head up, Carl and I worked on it every day and the therapists were very impressed with his progress.  Our little stinker decided to show off even more...he rolled over for the first time while they were there!  That got him very high scores.  :)  Big improvements are being made over here.



This is Brian's "I love eating prunes" face.  So cute!

And to top it all off...Today on his "room air" trial he lasted  THE ENTIRE DAY off oxygen.  Over ten hours!  We even went for a walk with a tube free normal baby.  It was amazing and freeing...I felt a little rebellious! Tomorrow our lung doctor is getting a call to see if we can get this weaning going any sooner.  We are getting closer and closer to a "normal" baby and we couldn't be happier!