Monster Party and the Birthday Boy

Yeah, yeah....I'm a little late updating you about the birthday party!  Many of you that read the blog were there so I felt OK about delaying on posting while our busy life carried on this week.

We spent most of Saturday morning rushing around.  I'm glad that we stayed so busy because every time there was a quiet moment, I'd get weepy about my little boy making it through this tough year.  (Geez, what a girl I've become.)

I found that it's really hard to make decorations and put them up while taking care of a baby at the same time.  Thankfully, I had a few people helping: my mom, Michael, and Jessica....my sister in law.  I even put Carolyn Albright (Samuel's primary nurse at ACH) to work making pigs-in-a-blanket.  In the end, all of the stress was worth it.  His party was great and we had a rather large turn-out (about 60 people!)  I was a little concerned about how Samuel would handle being around so much noise and so many people - but as usual, he surprised me.  He had a few little uneasy/crying/fussing spells at the beginning but by the end he was eating up all of the attention.

The invitations were two-sided.  In the picture above, the front of the invitation is to the right.  The back of the invitation was just a picture.  I made them in Photoshop and used Vistaprint to print them.  I got the idea from Ryan Pickle who made her son's invitations the same way.  As I whole, I was pretty happy with them.  Next time I will pay a little extra to give them a glossy finish instead matte.

 

This picture really doesn't do the cupcakes justice.  I didn't have enough time to organize them in a pretty way.  They were REALLY cute.  I decided to skip on the fondant icing....after all, butter cream icing tastes FAR better.  If you think that I'm good enough to make them, you are wrong!  NO ONE can make cakes/cupcakes like Creative Kitchen.  We used them for our wedding cake almost 3 years ago (which was also fabulous.)  I love their icing....it tastes almondy.  Yes, I know that's not a word.

Monster Munch (Chex Mix)

Monster Eyes (meatballs), Monster Toes (Pigs in a Blanket), Monster Fingers (Chicken Strips)

I had Jessica make the tissue paper pom-poms. The words hanging from them are "Omm, Num, Num" (the way a monster sounds when he eats.)

I displayed pictures of Samuel (birth to present) on the door.

sign by the road

welcome sign

birthday banner

This was probably my favorite part of the party (even though I didn't get outside to see it in-use.) My parents made this bean bag toss for the kids to play. It kept them happy and kept them away from Samuel - since it's still cold and flu season.

 

I was really pleased with how everything turned out.  I should have made more decorations (my parents house is so big that it didn't look like we had made much) but what we did make, I was happy with.

My favorite gifts were a sock monkey that Christie Martin made him, a necklace with Samuel's name stamped on it made by Angie Bryant (of course, that was really a gift for me wasn't it?  haha), and some dress shoes that my mom ordered him.

More news to share about what's been going on the last two weeks....but it's going to have to wait until the next post!

Happy Birthday Grammie!

March 18th, today, is my mom's birthday.  She remains the most beautiful person (inside and out) that I know.....and will ever know. 

This time last year she was sitting with me and Michael in the hospital watching the monitor - stressing with us over each and every contraction.  Not ONCE did she mention that it was her birthday.  I'm embarrassed to say that I completely forgot in the midst of all of the turmoil.  That's just the way she is....puts everyone else before herself.

This year, I'm not likely to forget.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!  I love you so much.  Thanks for giving up your birthday (and many other days last year) to help us make it through.

A Year Ago

This is THE WEEK.  The week it all began.  A year ago today, at this time, I was being airlifted to UAMS.  We had been told all of the horrible statistics.  I had been given all of the medicines available.  I hadn't moved an inch all day.

I was still going to have that baby. 

Last night I couldn't sleep.  My mind kept going over every minute of the year before....when I had sat on the couch, all night, having contractions and doing nothing about it.  Why was I so stupid?

I suppose all of this was inevitable....reliving stressful moments of the past year.  I can't help but think, "What if we had just...."  "If only we had...." "I wish we would have...."  I'm thankful that this isn't the first time that I've dealt with those questions.  It makes it easier to celebrate this week instead of mourn it.

I know I'm talking as if there was a death.  And I know a few people (my tough, steady, honest dad included) that would prefer that I don't think about it.....after all, Samuel lived and has so few issues.  It's just that, in a way, there was a death.  A death of a pregnancy and expectation.  Congratulations were not called for.  Prayer was needed in place of rejoicing.

What would Samuel have been like full term?  Would he look like he does now?  Would he be bigger?  What would it sound like to hear him laugh?  What would it be like to not hear the whir of the oxygen concentrator or the beeping of the monitor over the baby monitor at night?  What would it be like to feed him easily?  What would it be like to see him meet a VAST number of milestones in one year?  So many questions I'll never know the answer to.

Now that I've said all of this, you must know that it is only part of what is going on in my head this week.  I can't tell you how many times I've been overwhelmed with thankfulness to the point of tears.  Just after Samuel was born I vividly remember saying over and over "I wish I could fast-forward a year.  I wish I could know that everything is going to be ok and that he will be perfect and that our lives will return to some form of normalcy." 

Here we are a year later.  Samuel is more perfect, more beautiful, and more amazing than I ever imagined.  No, our lives have not returned to 'normal.'  I doubt they ever will!  No matter what I've given up......my job, my social life, time out of the house, showers, sleep, free time....it's all inexplicably worth it.

It's truly amazing that this week a year ago could hold so much pain and that this week this year holds so much JOY.  HE knew all along.

For the full story, go *here*

Children's Appointment

Weight: 17 lbs 2 oz

Length: 26 in (grew an inch and a half!)

On Monday night we packed our bags and made our way down to Little Rock for Samuel's ACH check-up and swallow study.  It's never easy traveling with him (maybe it's not easy traveling with babies in general) but he did better than I thought he would.  I always feel like I'm packing our entire house......formula, bottles, snacks, booster seat, clothes, oxygen tubing, monitor, tanks, thickener, medicines, blankets.....etc.  And that's just him.

That night we stayed at the Stegers house...the couple who housed me during our 4 month stay in Little Rock.  It's so nice to have a safe, quiet, clean environment for Samuel.  Hotels are far too dirty for my liking.  He woke up for his bottle around 3:30am.....about the same time I would call the NICU during the night to check on him.  Some nights I would call then lay in bed for hours unable to go back to sleep and feeling awful.  Holding him, healthy and beautiful, made my heart so happy.

The appointments the next day went very well.  He wasn't allowed to eat 3 hours before his swallow study but it ended up being about 7 hours by the time he was fed.  He didn't care much for being strapped into a chair AND being forced-fed (and I didn't like trying to feed him during the hysterical crying either) but besides that, the process was very interesting.  On a screen, above Samuel's head, you could see a profile view of his face that looked just like a moving x-ray.  I fed him a bottle of punch flavored barium, and as he swallowed, you could see the barium go down his throat.  I was pleasantly suprised when they told me that he was protecting his airway when he swallows and that we could start weening him off the thickener.  YAY!

Later in the day, we discussed his growth with Dr. Lyle in Medical Home Clinic.  In a little over two months, Samuel gained 2.5 pounds and grew 1.5 inches.  It's not the 2 pounds a month that we were averaging, but it's still acceptable weight gain.  The inch and a half growth in length, however, is phenomenal!  HE IS ON THE GROWTH CHART FOR HIS ADJUSTED AGE!!!  WHOOHOO!  Sure, he's in the 5th percentile, but he'll catch up.

No one had any answers about why Samuel is refusing his bottle and never seems hungry.  They are hoping the gastroenterologist will have some answers when we see him at the beginning of April (reflux? constipation? motility problem? intestinal stricture?)  In the meantime, I've been given the go-ahead to try Samuel on cow's milk+enfacare (to increase the calories) OR I can try Pediasure.  There are so many great things about Pediasure that I'm excited about.
Samuel likes the taste.
I don't have to thicken it.
It's 30 calories per ounce (verses the 26 cal/ounce that he was getting with his formula.)
It's lactose and gluten free.
It's REALLY easy.  I take the lid off, put a nipple on, and feed him.  Easy peesy.

Crossing my fingers that something will work!

Dr. Lyle seems optimistic (like everyone else) that Samuel will be off the oxygen soon.  No one is quite sure why he is still needing it at all.  We have been told several times (from ENT and from the swallow study results) that Samuel has large tonsils.  Dr. Lyle thinks that Samuel may have to have them removed before he'll be able to come off the oxygen.  We will probably wait to see what ENT thinks when we go to our appointment in May.  In the meantime, another Echo has been scheduled for Samuel's heart....to make sure that it isn't working too hard. 

It looks like Samuel may not need surgery on his hydroceles after all.  However, they may go ahead and drain them if he has to have his tonsils taken out (since he will already be sedated and on the ventilator for that.)  I'm hoping he won't need either surgery.

Life With My Nearly 12 Month Old

It's been a while since I've written about Samuel.  Ok, that's not quite right.  I only write about Samuel since this is HIS blog after all.....what I meant to say was that I haven't written about what Samuel is like at this age.  His personality.  His likes, dislikes, and so on....

Weight: 17lbs 1oz
Diapers: size 3
Onesies, shirts, and pjs: 12 month
Pants: 3-6 month (haha...short little legs!)
Favorite activity: walking around in his walker
Newly learned activity: drops things then looks to see where they go
Sounds:  'd' 'g' ....and on very rare occasions 'b'  He's very adept at blowing raspberries, squealing, yelling, clicking his tongue, and so on....
Sleep Schedule:  Bed at 8:00pm and sleeps until about 7:00am  (takes a bottle in the early morning hours.)
Feeding Schedule: Bottle at 4am, 10am, 2pm, 7pm......baby food in between.
Favorite food: LOVES veggies - especially peas and green beans.  He's not a big fan of fruit.  He is eating cereal puffs like they are going out of style, but will sometimes get one in the wrong position and gag.

He can finally grab his own feet although he never tries to bring them to his mouth.  He has been able to roll front to back for months (but only rolls to the left) and back to front for the last couple of weeks (but only when he's really reaching for a toy.)  He plays on his belly a lot better recently.  He does a great job of bearing weight on his knees.

It's not difficult to make him smile but it IS to make him laugh.  Occasionally he will laugh with a good game of peek-a-boo.  He cries less frequently now....when he's tired, when he wants a change, when a toy makes him mad, or when he hears a loud noise.  This afternoon Michael and I were singing 'Happy Birthday' to him (just for practice) and he BAWLED.  I can't imagine what he's going to do at his party when 40+ people sing it to him!

He's gotten to be such a good cuddler.....he holds on tight and gives big hugs when we carry him around.  He *kind of* reaches for us when we hold out our hands to pick him up.  He loves to sit in his dad's lap when he gets home from work.

He has two teeth - bottom center - that are becoming more noticeable by the day.  They look a bit yellowish and I'm wondering if all of the antibiotics he had in the NICU caused some staining.  If so, not a big deal....teeth can be fixed.

As a whole, Samuel is a sweet, stubborn, beautiful little boy.....did I mention BEAUTIFUL?  Oh, I did?  Well....he is!