Can you believe our luck? That's right, Jansen tested positive for Swine Flu yesterday when I tried to get his immunizations done. I thought it was unnecessary to even have him tested, he just had the usual runny nose and cough that had been going on for over a week now. We're really nervous about Mitchell, so all 3 of my kids are being treated with Tamiflu. M has a runny nose and cough but no fever... Reesa's temp been 102.5 and Jansen's 101.5 and today Reesa started "spitting" everywhere. Nine times to be exact. I felt so bad for her, I'm holding Mitchell and trying to direct her "spit" to a blanket to minimize my clean up. I gave her a bath and as soon as I got her out, she threw-up again. I've done 3 loads of laundry just today!
Jansen wants to be held and just cries with his arms up. I'm so scared to let him get too close to Mitchell, so I'll put Mitchell down and M will cry for the 10 minutes I hold Jansen. It's so heart-breaking for me, and I'm sure every mom that's had to do this at some point feel my pain. As I'm writing all this, it doesn't seem that bad, but when Jake left for work this morning I seriously wondered how we would survive! I just wanted someone to come hold M so I could clean puke and read to my other kids, but who would ever expose themselves to all the germs in this house??? Oh wait Laura would... (Just kidding, she told me she would ring our door bell and run) The crazy thing, we went to one of our first outings the Trunk-or Treat Saturday, and the next day Sacrament meeting for the Primary Program. Serves me right, hey?
Well for the first time in my life my chili won! So I would say it's worth it. I got the apron to prove it! I won "the beany-est chili." The sad part is I actually added chicken and and extra pound of ground beef, b/c Jake always complains there isn't enough meat in my chili. I wonder what they would have thought w/o my extra additions! I must admit there was probably 6 different kinds of beans there.
and everyone's costumes for the party...
Mitchell is so precious, ONCE he slept on me and let me read, so I made Jake take a picture. (After I saw this, I realized I had NOT put on mascara since Mitchell was born. I was crying too much to want it all down my face. Guess it's time to change that!)
and of course Reesa said "what about me?" So we took her picture too!
I've been waiting to get my kiddie's photos taken when Mitchell could join us, but I NEEDED to get Jansen's done, so here they are.
Let me just say, my kids are the hardest EVER. They won't sit still, they won't look, and they only have about 5 minutes before it's time to leave... I got a few weird ones, but overall I LOVE 'EM!
Hi guys! It's me Mitchell! I got this cool little wedge that fits in my crib to keep me elevated when I sleep. AND guess what? It works! I can sleep 5+ hours now, and my parents are in heaven.
It's kind of girly, ordered by my doctor at the PICU, $329 dollars later we're set.
My mom put it on her bed to get a picture for you, and Reesa was so excited!
Jansen on the other hand couldn't believe he wasn't in on all the action, and demanded to be held.
Here's some picts of Mitchell at Physical Therapy...
Enjoying tummy time, sometimes he's placed on the boppy b/c he likes to keep his arms in so tight.
So alert today!
Mitchell is doing a GREAT job holding his head. (4 1/2 months now) You don't have to support it entirely when you pick him up now. As long as he gets his meds he's pretty content. He still doesn't reach for objects and hasn't smiled at me, yet (Jake's claiming he's seen a smile or two)... But he's started to coo and likes conversation for a few minutes. I can set him down for 10 -20 minutes maybe 2-3 times a day. He's getting better slowly!
I don't know why I love blogging so much. Whenever I'm sad, or feeling gloomy, blogging pulls me right out of it! These are some of my "mental pictures" I don't want to forget... (so I took a real picture) Jansen and Reesa being silly and always laughing at dinner. (and no I never clean my windows incase you were wondering)
Jake trying not to laugh at our kids
and Mr. Mitchell just chillin'
Since I can't go to church on Sunday I decided to pull out the Halloween decor (finally) and surprise my kids.
Almost all of my Halloween stuff is from my mom, or made with my mom...
Halloween lights carefully placed so Jansen will stop pulling them down.
The girls in my ward had the best idea and organized a Halloween costume swap. You brought any costume you were willing to let someone borrow and then looked to see if there was anything you could use. Since I didn't bring my kids, I picked out 3 costumes for Reesa and 3 for Jansen (there were SO MANY to choose from!) Jansen HATED to try on anything, (in fact he was crying real tears) but Reesa wanted to model all of them, so I took pictures. Tell me your vote!
Tiger, I got for Jansen but Reesa LOVES!
Reesa kept telling me she wanted to be a witch for Halloween this year. So really I was looking for a witch costume for her.
SO CUTE!
But I refused to believe she didn't want to be a pink princess... (she doesn't!)
a "lady bug" who needs pants?
Pirate (I think this is what I'll be able to get Jansen to wear)
Reesa loved the tiger costume SO MUCH, I couldn't get her to take it off. She slept it in and wore it 2 days straight. I thought she might like this pink dog costume Grandma Geyer got her last year so I pulled it out. Reesa put it on and said, "How about Jansen can be this pink dog, and I can be the tiger?"
When Jake came home, one by one Jansen picked up the costumes and tried to throw them out the front door. He does NOT like them around! I guess he's scared he'll really have to wear one!
After LOTS of hard work Jake got Jansen to smile ONCE in a costume.
So now that Mitchell's 4 months, here's my update so I can look back and hopefully laugh at all the things I was overly concerned about. He still doesn't reach for things, he can focus and follow with his eyes, if he's in the mood and with LOTS of help. I still haven't seen him smile. We're determined to teach him to use/like a binki so he can have something to comfort him, no luck yet!
However, he can turn his head BOTH ways now, and doesn't really seem to favor the right anymore. Physical Therapy is going well and I feel great about his arm extensions. His shoulders are still very tight, but seems to love a massage. He enjoys the bath, nursing, being held upright, or by his warm daddy! At night he'll eat every 2 hours, and if we're lucky he'll sleep 3 hours once... HEAVEN!
His reflux medicine seems to be doing the job, but he is still a fussy baby. I strongly believe there is a reason Mitchell was sent to our family. Today when I was feeling really discouraged about his crying, and why I couldn't stop it, I remembered there is nothing we can really do without the Lord's help. So if I think I can raise this baby without His help, I'll never succeed. It's going to require faith, patience, long suffering, temperance, and all sorts of character building stuff...
We did make it to the apple orchards, oh I love this! I never went apple picking growing up, and maybe that's why I think it is so fun. I LOVE tasting the apples to see what different flavors they offer, and there is nothing better than an apple fresh off a tree. We also tried hot apple doughnuts, which of course were a big hit.
It was so cute to see Jansen learn how to pick an apple, and eat it!
Reesa kept one in each hand just to make sure she didn't lose one.
They take this eating seriously!
Plus it's so beautiful
The funniest and best part, we had been picking and eating apples for so long when we went to the pumpkin patch Jansen walked around looking at the pumpkins, found a nice, big, orange one he liked, then bent down and took a bite out of it!!! We were all laughing so hard, I guess he thought pumpkins were for the tasting too!
As I'm writing all this, it doesn't seem that bad, but when Jake left for work this morning I seriously wondered how we would survive! I just wanted someone to come hold M so I could clean puke and read to my other kids, but who would ever expose themselves to all the germs in this house??? 
Oh wait Laura would... (Just kidding, she told me she would ring our door bell and run)
I won "the beany-est chili." The sad part is I actually added chicken and and extra pound of ground beef, b/c Jake always complains there isn't enough meat in my chili. I wonder what they would have thought w/o my extra additions! I must admit there was probably 6 different kinds of beans there.
and everyone's costumes for the party...
