The Latest

Wow, I am sorry everyone! It has been forever. I am still working on upgrading and organizing my pictures so hopefully after this week I will be better about posting more often as it will be easier to do more quickly.

Also I am in process of switching our blog to a family blog. When that's done, I will post my email address on our current blog, so once you see that post, if you don't get a link sent to your email for our new blog, please email me and let me know and I will send you an invite as it will be private blog just for security reasons on the internet. It will be a while still as I have a lot of other things to get done, but hopefully this month sometime.

Update:

Jack's doing well. Had our 4 month pediatrician visit- he's doing pretty well. He weighs about 15 lb, 9 oz. . It's actually not as much as we thought since he looks so chunky, but I think that's just his chubby cheeks. :) He's above average, around 67%. I'm thankful for that- we'd been trying since our release from the NICU, to make sure he gets just right amount of nutrition daily, which was a challenge initially. (Not anymore- our little man loves to eat!) :) Our dr. seemed very pleased with that especially considering his eating issues. Height and head circumference were good, right around average.

Other things: We will be meeting with Occupational Therapy at Children's Mercy in a few weeks to go over potentially starting Jackson on solid foods. Well see how Jack handles it, as most of you know, he has aspiration/swallowing issues which is why we are thickening his milk. I am hoping I will get my questions answered about thickening- what consistencies for what foods, what foods he can eat, etc. I have also been told we'll have to continue to serve all of his food chilled, so it triggers a swallow more quickly. It looks like I'll be carrying a cooler around as time goes on. ;) Heehee.

Here are some cute pics, before I forget!

Here's the little man playing with his feet. He loves to try to eat them. :)


Here's a picture taken a couple weeks ago. As you can see, we are still dealing with the mo-hawk, although, I am excited to say that it actually laid down the other day. Sooooo that may be soon a thing of the past. =) I need to get Jack's picture taken somewhere, hopefully I will get that done this month as well. With the NICU and all that stuff, I completely forgot to ever do that.

Here's Jack's latest preferred sleep position. :) I had to wake him up anyway, so I figured I would take a picture of him, he was sleeping so sweetly. He has started to sleep with his hands behind his head.

AND if you will notice...his head is turned to the left. Woohoo!! I am excited to report that he is turning his head to the left much better and doesn't scream to do so. Although he still tilts it once in a while, it doesn't seem as bad anymore. I also think his flat spot on the back of his head is getting better, I think he's starting to get more curvature on the right side. I'm sure that will only improve as he grows. Hopefully!

Here's Jack in the latest- trying out his exersaucer. He needs a little help with towels and can't tolerate it for extremely long periods of time, but he really loves it. It's pretty funny to watch him get all excited. His poor little feet don't touch the bottom, and they just "swim" the entire time, but it's pretty cute. This is his "quiet contemplation" look. :)

Here's his "deer in the headlights" look.

This is Jack when he first got in and we discovered he needed more towels. Yee-haw!! :)

And finally, a cute little picture to finish it off.My mom got him this outfit and he just looks so cute in it. He looks so grown up! :)

Stay tuned for some "autumn" pictures with Jackson. I have a little cow outfit for October that I can't wait to put him in. Hehehe. (What a mean mom I am!)

Other than that....a few prayer requests:

~Continued health for Jackson. Praise the Lord for his health thus far! Please pray as we head into RSV season that he would avoid this as it could be serious for little Jack.

~Continued healing for his vocal cords and swallowing issues. Pray as we progress to solids he would make the transition smoothly and improve so that at the next OPM (swallow study) we can think about thinning liquids. We have a ways to go on this, so please continue to pray. Thanks!!

Anyhoo- thanks everyone for being faithful blog readers! We love you all!

Melissa (and little Jackson...and Joe!)