Sunday, August 2, 2009

Two Months

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...

7 comments:

  1. Kellie I am SO GLAD that you have Whitney to help. When you are done with her, tell Chelsey to send her my way! haha! It is so nice to have family around, isn't it? I know that it is stressful and crazy with lots of young kids...I'm there, too! I can't imagine doing it while having to monior a newborn all the time. That would be hard. I am so glad that Mitchell is home and doing well. I love reading your updates!
    Tania

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  2. You guys are doing such a great job. I can imagine how stressed you must feel managing life, and a new baby, lots of dr. appts. etc...
    You guys will be able to conquer anything after this. And Mitchell is definately a fighter, he will be able to keep up with his brother soon. He is so cute- maybe he's better off without a binky anyway!! :)

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  3. Wow 2 months old already! I'm so glad you have Mitchell at home now, and hope things keep going well. I can't imagine the stress you're under!!! Hang in there. Your kids are all so cute. I'll phone you this week, I've been dying to but wanted to wait till things settled a bit for you. XOXO

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  4. i think he looks a lot like jake. i'm glad he is home and you have mommy whitney to help. sounds like things are going pretty well, i hope he does fine at his next checkup!!!

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  5. I am so glad things are going well. I think taking a break from the weight check-up sounds like a great idea :). I can't imagine how hard it is to do that so often.

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  6. Oh Kellie,
    Thank you for the update. What a precious boy. I am sad that I didn't get to meet him under better circumstances, but he still looks like the angel that I met. I love you. You are doing a great job. It will seem a little better as time goes on and he's not as little and fragile as he is now. At least that's how it was with Emma. You are both just adjusting to this new life and you will get to a comfortable place one day! Love you guys!

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  7. Hi Kellie!
    It's me ur long lost friend Lauren! I would love to come and visit-I actually feel terrible that I haven't been out to check on u again yet-I'm hoping u got my message??? Anywho, let me know if that would be fun/helpful and when would be good for u. that little boy is so precious and I definitely need some good old fashioned cuddle time! (Belle is WAY too busy for that these days!) Miss u, and hope ur doing well...I am so proud of how strong u have been-u are such an example to us all! call me soon beautiful!

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