6 Months Old today

Wow! 6 months have flown by. He's smiling, cooing, so interested in the world and especially his hands! He can roll from front to back and is so close to rolling from back to front! He sleeps through the night (in his own room), he's growing like a weed (he wears 6-9 month clothes). He's my sweet miricle baby. He's 6 months old today and I thank God for him.

Sleeping through the night ...

2 nights in a row ... woo hoo! And Josh weighs 10lb 12oz!

Weekend Creativity

This weekend ... we went and saw Horton Hears a Who (and by we I mean the whole family ... so awesome to have a family outing), I worked on this mini album inspired by Cathy Pascual on SIS and we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for supper last night (delicious - and Grandpa got this sweet pic of Josh).



ABC album:








EDIT: You can find the instructions to make this book here.

For Grandma W (double woo)

We love you!

Bean

My husband's nickname is "Bean". Hence my nickname is "Mrs. Bean" to his fireman buddies. Joel was "JellyBean" when I was pregnant with him, and Josh was "Bean Sprout". Our friend's got us the cutest little shirt for Josh ... (thanks Mel and Jeff)



Love this pic of Grandma and Joshua!



This is a digi layout I made last night:



PS. Josh is 3 months old today! So much more awake and alert these days. Looking around and seeing what's in his world! Has the starts of a schedule (asleep for the night about 9:30pm and wakes around 3:45am and then at 7:30ish) and is smiling, holding up his head and has his Mama wrapped around his little finger!

I spy ...

something that shows COMFORT. I sure do love carrying Joshua around in his sling ... comfort for me and him!

It's a GOOD friday!

First of all, thank you Jesus for dying so that I can live!

These are pictures of Joshua from today! Last weight (on Monday) was 8lb 2oz (we're just about double his birth weight). He's growing in leaps and bounds!



This is one of the layouts I did today ... a traditional paper layout! Woo hoo! Haven't done one of these in a long long time!



And this is my layout for OLW's challenge: FIND

Weekend Creativity

Right now Josh is sleeping in his sling attached to me (such a cozy way to hold him and still have my hands free to do stuff), Joel is sleeping on the couch (he was watching Cars ... hopefully he'll sleep tonight - this usually means a late evening), and Matt is working in the garage! So good to have my little family all at home (we miss you Grandma - she went home this afternoon).

This weekend I worked on a couple of creative things. First is my layout for One Little Word's challenge for TIME. A good word. But a difficult layout for me to make ... I started it about 4 times and then erased everything and started again! This is a lift of Emily and Charlotte's layouts on the LIFT ME UP challenge by the amazing Karla Dudley.



I also worked on a little project which turned out to be a joint venture between Matt, Joel, Grandma and Me! Inspired by Ali Edward's butterflys ... here is our stars (to be hung in Joel's room).



And just for Auntie Adie ... some more pics .... (we love you Auntie!)

Due Date

Today was Joshua's due date. So glad to have him in my arms and that I'm not in labour! Although I certainly wish that he had decided to stay put and greet the world closer to today!

Had to add this: Joel saw the picture of Joshua and said "that's my sweet brother!" Off to make Joel a peanut butter sandwich (his normal supper request!)

6 Weeks old today (and some art)

I forgot about the sleep deprivation a mama has when a new baby is brought home! Last night our whole family experienced it ... Joel woke up and Daddy came to help me ... Josh just didn't want to sleep. Thank God for Daddy! (And we miss you Grandma - Daddy and I took turns with naps today!) Joel and I gave Joshua a bath this morning ... and as you can see Joel is my little helper (although he really only fed Josh his bottle for the picture and then he got bored!)

If you check out One Little Word you will see this layout I created for their challenge TRUST! Thanks so much guys - I'm thrilled!



And this is my picture for the COLD challenge on We Spy You Spy

A good day!

Last night I was so frustrated because I was having trouble breastfeeding Mr. Joshua. He just screamed and screamed and wouldn't latch on so I'd finally just give him a bottle of milk I'd pumped. I finally called SCN to ask for advice ... they suggested OVOL! Little man had a sore tummy and I didn't even figure it out. It worked and today has been great in the eating department! Woo hoo! The public health nurse came today ... she weighed him (6 pounds 7 ounces - he's gained 2 ounces since coming home!) and checked him out and answered some of our questions. It's been good a day -- especially because I got a nap!

We've been watching curling on tv all week. Matt loves to curl and does so 2 nights a week in the winter. Joel has been so cute because he's been "curling" - brushing with his golf club, holding the broom and throwing the rock (which is the letter magnets on our fridge!) It's amazing to watch his little mind and imagination. I'll try and get some pics of this!

Edit: Ovol is an over the counter medicine for babies with colic ... it has peppermint in it which I think helps soothe a sore tummy.

WE're home!

Joshua passed his carseat test! We are home!
(I'll elaborate and show pics later tonight ... I'm off for a nap!)

Disappointed

I found a computer here at the hospital. Joshua failed his carseat test this morning. So I'll be staying here another day and night (to help him study - hee hee). Please keep praying for him - for him to pass his carseat test, to breath perfectly and to keep his oxygen saturations perfect (that's what happened this morning - they dropped twice). I'm disappointed but I also don't want him home until it is safe. Off to go have a nap ...

WOOO HOOO!

My next post will be pictures of Joshua at home! I'm soooooo excited! This morning the nurses have asked me to come stay the night in the hospital so I can breastfeed Joshua for every feed! His car seat test will be tomorrow morning and when he passes we can take him home! God is so GOOD!

Day 36

We had a wee set back last night ... Joshua had 2 desats in which he needed a little help to get out (this is when his oxygen saturations drop in his blood). Joshua hasn't had one of those in a week (except for when he choked on the vitamins on Saturday). In order to go home he can't be having desats anymore, and he has to pass a carseat test (1 and a half hours in the carseat with no desats or apnea (quitting breathing) or bradycardias (heart rate slowing dangerously low). We're hoping he'll have his carseat test on thursday (he has to be off caffienne for 24 hours and his last dose is tommorrow morning). If he passes that then I can come and stay at the hospital and breastfeed him for every feed (except two because he needs two bottles a day with some extra calories to help him keep his weight up) and then we can GO HOME! I can't wait. I just want him home. I want my life back ... I want to be at home with Joel and Joshua, and cook supper and take care of my family and scrapbook. Did I mention scrapbook? I miss it sooooooooo much.

Day 33

I came home early today. I'm a tired mama. I went shopping this morning to buy some things we need to bring Joshua home with (like some newborn sleepers and onsies and bottles, and a sling). When he comes home I need to give him two bottles a day with some formula added to my breast milk to help him keep gaining. Speaking of gaining ... he's 6 pounds today. And you can see it! Such cute little cheeks! This afternoon while I was getting him ready to breast feed - changing his diaper and giving him some vitamins he choked and had an episode where he wasn't breathing well and was blue and needed a little oxygen to get his saturations up. It was a moment where I really had to trust the nurses and God with Joshua because there was nothing I could do. After his little episode, he was really tired and wasn't able to bf so I gave him a bottle instead and put him in his "funny bed" as Joel calls it to rest. I think I'm going to go have a nap ...

Matt and I are planning a wee date tonight because this will be our last opportunity before Josh comes home! Yippee! We are also getting a new vehicle so I'm sad to say I will be driving a "grocery getter" as Matt calls it (a new to us beautiful Nissan Quest minivan) and giving up my Pathfinder (too small for hauling around two boys, a dog and all the gear that comes with two boys!) We get the van on Monday!

Day 32

An exciting day! Joshua is well on his way to coming home ... he hasn't needed a tube feed in over 24 hours, he's being weaned off the caffiene (that will be done wednesday) - and then he can have his car seat test on thursday if all goes well. I'm so excited!
I gave Josh a bath today and it didn't tire him out like it has in the past - in fact he was quite mad at me for giving him a bath! I would say he had his first temper tantrum ... but he's clean and his hair is so cute because it's curly after I wash it! It's a good thing that we're on our way to going home, because in the past 2 days about 4 babys have left the SCN that were born a good 2-3 weeks after Joshua was born (I'm really happy for them and happy for us because it will happen - there is a light at the end of the tunnel!)

Joshua

He's a month old today! WOW! It's amazing that we've been on this journey for a month already! He's also 37 weeks gestation today and doing really really well! The nurses and the dietician are all saying he'll be going home soon and I'm getting so excited!
Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day! I know there this is a happy day for us and I just wanted to share the love!

EDIT: Joshua is 5lb 14 oz today! Which is 2 oz heavier then Joel was when he was born! We're making progress!

Joel and Grandma had fun today in the snow - they made a cute little snowman and played fox and geese!


While Joshua and I had a cuddle.



And then Grandma and Joel came to the hospital to visit.



Thanks so much for all your encouragement! It so helps to know that we're not alone!