How did we get so lucky? Aaron needed some dental work, so we begged him to fly out and let Jake do his work! Aaron's been trying to visit for years, and it finally worked out. We were just sad the whole family couldn't come.
Aaron wanted to see D.C. so we took him to as many sights you could see with 3 kids tagging along. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, The White House, Air and Space Museum, and the Natural History Museum. What a day!Lincoln Memorial
Brothers
I fed Mitchell in the car and other than that I don't think he ever got out of the stroller. Yes, he still has his monitor and Jake had to give him Oxygen a few times while in the car, but we've been getting pretty daring...
I think every visit is remembered by the amount of injuries my kids acquire. Here's the scariest one we've had in along time. Jansen hit Reesa with a metal hanger that just missed her eye.
I held ice on it for 15 minutes and it didn't even swell! (Although it bled everywhere!) She is such a good sport.
Then of course Jansen walked right behind the swing and got whacked in the face.
Uncle Aaron joked, he has the same scar, in the same place, from the same accident!
Of course I had to include this cute picture of Tyler and Mitchell.
Jansen is a daddy's boy. Whenever dad's around, I might as well be chop liver! He CRIES when Jake leaves the room for fear he won't see him again. I mean even just getting out of the car he starts his fit until Jake walks around the car to get him out. It's disgusting!
Well... Jansen had a sleep study done last night at the hospital and since I'm nursing Mitchell, Jake went to spend the night with him. So Jake told me after 20 minutes of crying and fighting the sensors Jansen said his FIRST SENTENCE EVER! I mean this kid NEVER talks, let alone says a sentence. He yelled out "I want mama!" Even the nurse heard it. I know it's childish to say, but I have never loved this kid more.
Time gets away and I'm so much further behind with blogging than I want to be, so I'll have to do this in baby steps, so just stay tuned for the last months updates... Jake's mom Lenora came to visit and it was very nice for me to have someone to visit with. She got to meet baby Mitchell, and we were excited to show him off! Here's some of the fun things that happened. Of course Jansen had to get a new cut, scrape, and bruise, BUT the kicker..., Jansen found (or took down) a hole in our fence! Our yard backs a busy road, which makes this situation SO SCARY! Luckily Brinley ran after Jansen and Reesa came back to tell Grandma Geyer Jansen escaped. Grandma was already in the backyard reading! This kid is so sneaky! We're so lucky he's still here!
Brinley and Reesa
Grandma Geyer goes out and fixes the fence herself! I tell ya, life is one adventure.
Grandma took the kids on a walk to the lake in the HOT HUMID weather!
Happy kids
Jansen loves to lay in the pool. Who does this?
Mitchell
We went to the Children's Museum, and had so much fun we bought a season pass. (Plus they make it so affordablely tempting you almost have to!)
I was so sad about not being able to take Mitchell somewhere to have his baby photos taken, so Jake and I decided to set up our own photo shooting. I must say I've very impressed with the results. He is such a cute baby and did a great job. We laid a navy blanket on our bed/wall and put a space heater to be blowing right on Mitchell's legs. (Jake and I were SWEATING!!! but we wanted to make sure Mitchell would stay warm in just a diaper.) We took off his monitor for one of the first times, so Jake just gave Mitchell oxygen every couple of pictures.
Happy birthday baby Mitchell! I cannot believe I had him 2 months ago today. We've had him home a little over a week now and have slowly been adjusting. So what have we been doing?
Jansen and Reesa have both tried to adapt. Jansen wants to try baby Mitchell's binki everytime I turn around... He also wants to be held often, VERY unlike him. After his nap last week he sat in my lap for over an hour HOLDING my arms around him. I couldn't stop laughing.We decided to offer Whitney a summer job, and she had been our LIFESAVER!!! Seriously I don't know how we could do this without her. She is so good to help entertain Reesa and Jansen, watch Mitchell so I can shower, and keep me company. Reesa has started calling her "mommy Whitney," and is so happy when she's here.
Reesa insists that she is a baby. She tells me all the time she can't do this or that because she is a baby. I don't think I'll ever be able to give Mitchell a binki, they're always dirty!
This baby is so precious. He seriously looks like he came out of a magazine... soon we will get a picture to do him justice. Until then, we'll just keep trying and posting these okay ones.
Chillin' on the porch swing.
Here you can kind of see Mitchell's monitor he wears. We have 3 different oxygen sources to use when this monitor indicates.
We've been doing TONS of sidewalk chalk (thanks Julie) Rylee actually colored this entire table, but Jansen loves to color it too.
Playing with dad.
Loving this boy
So last night at dinner we look over to see Jansen clearing his plate by sharing his food with Mitchell. Who needs a dog?
Life has been so crazy. People have been so kind to bring us meals when Jake works his 14 hour days. Whitney has been the biggest help. Mitchell isn't gaining weight like they want him to, so there's been a lot of "knee jerk" reactions. We pay $20 to have his weight checked every 2-3 days, and last time they decided we needed to move up our appointment (to the next day) with the Cartiologist to have his heart checked and make sure it's still working right. It's so stressful to go anywhere with all of Mitchell's gear. PLUS they've told us any illiness he gets will mean he needs to be hospitalized, so we're trying to be so careful. The pressures in his heart are great, but he has an abnormality in the way his aorta is formed. It is something that may be fine with time, or that could become a problem and needs surgery to repair in childhood or even as late as his teenage years. We'll go back when he's 6 months to re-eval.
Meanwhile I canceled his next weight check appointment. It's too much for me. When Jake's home I don't want to be spending the entire day at the doctors office. I need down time with him around! I'm a little nervous what the doctors will say to me, but I just can't keep up this crazy schecule. It's SO STRESSFUL, and I don't think that's good for Mitchell. I'm going back in 2 weeks??? and hopefully he'll have grown TONS!
Mitchell is eating well, and everyday I notice he's getting better at this, with less episodes where we need to give him oxygen. He sleeps 3 hours at night, and since we can't hear him cry (damage from the ventaltors) the monitor tells us when he's up. He's so sweet, and really does feel like a little angel in our home.
Jake's mom will be here Tuesday night, we're so excited to have her come! Things are just working out...
Aaron wanted to see D.C. so we took him to as many sights you could see with 3 kids tagging along.
We saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, The White House, Air and Space Museum, and the Natural History Museum. What a day!
Lincoln Memorial
Brothers
I fed Mitchell in the car and other than that I don't think he ever got out of the stroller. Yes, he still has his monitor and Jake had to give him Oxygen a few times while in the car, but we've been getting pretty daring...
I think every visit is remembered by the amount of injuries my kids acquire. Here's the scariest one we've had in along time. Jansen hit Reesa with a metal hanger that just missed her eye.
I held ice on it for 15 minutes and it didn't even swell! (Although it bled everywhere!) She is such a good sport. 
Then of course Jansen walked right behind the swing and got whacked in the face. 
Uncle Aaron joked, he has the same scar, in the same place, from the same accident! 
Of course I had to include this cute picture of Tyler and Mitchell.
