Life

Things are good. Even the lack of sleep isn't bothering me too much. I hate to even type this out for fear of jinxing myself, but John Robert is quite the sleeper so far. (Please Lord, don't let that change!) In fact, last night he slept from 12.30am until I woke him up at 6am this morning. And he's not even 6 weeks old yet. Let's hope that we've been blessed with a sleeper this go round because we all know that Hudson certainly is not!

 Our little peanut.....who, by the way, hit the 5lb. mark on Thursday. Yay!

We have lots of cuddle time.

Big Brother Hudson wants to try out all the new baby gadgets for us.

He was also a big help with John Robert's first bath!

Trey brought home a "surprise" for Hudson the other day and they built their first Lego project together. 

Such concentration....

John Robert wanted in on the action too. Look at that spiked hair...cracks me up.

The finished project.... "Cars - Big Bentley"

JR is growing like a weed. Hudson's shoulder is much better - almost completely healed. It's amazing how fast kids heal! He's still not using his right arm very much, but he's starting to test it out here and there. Let me assure you - it didn't slow him down one bit!

Trey and I are juggling work, kids and life in general and loving every minute of it. 

Well...maybe not every minute :) 

Keeping Busy

Things have been so hectic around our house lately. I can honestly say that I was not prepared for 2 children. Wow!! How do you people with multiple kids do it??? I'm exhausted. And it's not the baby that's wearing me out. It's the 2 year old. Holy cow. We've had some issues adjusting. And then we had an accident - but more on that later.

I've been trying to spend some one-on-one time with Hudson each day so that he doesn't think the baby is monopolizing all of my time. I'm also really trying to get him involved in helping with John Robert. Bringing me a burp cloth, helping me hold the bottle while I feed him, etc...

He seems to be doing pretty well with JR overall. But, he's developed a major attitude with Trey and I. Could be because of the baby, but I'm thinking it's more just a 2 year old thing. I'll tell him that it's time for bed and he'll say, "No, mommy - I not getting in my bed." And I'll insist that he is getting in his bed and then a full-on temper tantrum will follow. It's fun stuff people. It's hard to imagine a big tantrum from someone who can look as sweet as this:

It's been so hot here. Ridiculous hot. Hudson is always wanting to go outside, so he's been spending time in his blow-up pool when we're at home.

 Cheese.

 He loves popsicles

 Not sure why, but he wanted to lay under the table outside and eat his popsicle. Okay....

And then he decided that the pool was a better option

In JR news, we went back to the doctor last Friday for his first appointment with our pediatrician. He weighed 4 lbs. 4.5 oz! He had gained 2 oz. just since we brought him home. Yay!

 Fully awake as I was talking to Dr. M.

We go back again this Thursday to make sure he's still gaining. I'm pretty sure he is! I'm hoping he'll hit that 5 lb. mark pretty soon. He's mostly sleeping these days, but he's definitely found his voice. He lets us know when he's hungry. Especially at night.

Speaking of night time, Hudson is having a horrible time going to sleep and staying asleep. It takes us over an hour to get him down each night and then he wakes up at least 2-3 times during the night. One night, Trey decided to sleep with him in our guest bed (it doesn't have rails). He surrounded Hudson with pillows in case he rolled around. Well....wouldn't you know, he rolled right thru the pillow barrier - right off the bed at about 1.30am the other night. I heard it downstairs and immediately ran up to the guest room. He was hysterical. I was worried he had a concussion because he wouldn't stop crying. He stayed up the rest of the night - never went back to sleep. Around 7am the next morning, I was playing cars with him and he went to reach for one and started crying and holding his shoulder. I called the doctor and got an appointment. They looked at his shoulder and sent us to the hospital for X-rays. Sure enough......poor kid broke his collarbone. There's nothing they can do for it either. It just has to heal on it's own. He was such a brave boy though! He's been really good about it. He just doesn't use his right arm at all.

Our niece, Katie came down from Oklahoma to help me with the boys for a few days because Trey had some things going on. She's been a huge help!! Thank you Katie Belle!!

Some snuggle time with John Robert

Some pool time with Hudson

John Robert was ONE month old yesterday. It's hard to believe it's already been a month. He's grown so much and he even has some little cheeks now. Things are good. 

Home Sweet Home

We're home - all FOUR of us! We brought John Robert home from the hospital yesterday around lunch time. Excited doesn't even cover the emotions we were feeling!

Last picture in his hospital crib.

 The nurse is taking off all his monitors...for the last time! I have to admit that I was very nervous to take him home. I'm used to being able to watch his heart rate, oxygen level, resting heart rate, etc.... It's been sort of a babysitter. Especially when he's eating. I can look at his heart rate and make sure he's swallowing and breathing good. But I was so happy to hold him for the first time 

without all those wires in the way!

 Daddy was a happy camper.

Loaded into the car seat. I've never seen anything look so tiny! I was a nervous wreck. 

And yes, I sat in the backseat with him. 

 Hudson couldn't wait to meet his "yiddle brudder"

 He was so good with John Robert. He immediately looked at me and said, 

"Mommy- I want to tickle John Robert." ha!

Everything went great last night. Trey gave JR his 8.30pm bottle and I got to put Hudson to bed...which I haven't done in the last 3 weeks because I was always at the hospital. I think Hudson really appreciated that and I've missed our time at the end of each night. John Robert did good too. I have to wake him up every 3 hours to eat. The doctors don't want him missing any feedings yet, so this will continue for quite awhile. Until he's at least 7-8 lbs. We brought him home yesterday at 4 lbs. 2 oz. 

Hudson couldn't wait to wake up his brother this morning.

I know everyone tells you that the older sibling will regress when the baby is brought home. Um...yep, we're definitely experiencing that. Hud keeps requesting a pacifier (which he's never used) and 

today he decided he should ride in the infant seat.

Uncle Austin came over to visit and got to hold JR for the first time. He was thrilled!

 Sorry to bore you, Hudson.... 

I'm not sure Hudson's going to like sharing his uncle's attention very much!

So...all is well here. Just trying to get into a routine. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so that our pediatrician can meet JR for the first time. 

Hope y'all are having a great week. And thank you again for all of the sweet comments and gifts! I'm overwhelmed by all of the gifts we've received. So sweet! 

Ciao.

Update on JR & Stuff

First of all - Happy 4th of July to everyone!! And thank you to all of the military men and women - past and present who help protect my freedom each and everyday. You have no idea how thankful I am.

I have to tell you that these past few weeks have really made me think about how blessed we are in the United States. This morning as I was driving to the hospital to feed John Robert, they were playing 'God Bless the USA' on the radio - you know...the one: "And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me. And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend Her still today. Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land - God Bless the USA" It brought tears to my eyes because I started to think that if I'd lived in a different country and had John Robert weighing 3.5 lbs., he may not have lived. We're so incredibly lucky to have the technology and expertise of awesome doctors and nurses in this country. Thank God for that!

One of the nurses made this for JR's bed to celebrate 4th of July. 

So cute! Love the handprint fireworks!

So, JR is a rockstar! He's doing awesome. One of my favorite nurses told me during our first few days in the NICU that once a baby hits the 38 week mark, something just clicks and they start to "get it". That's exactly what's happened with John Robert. I would've been 38 weeks on Saturday and all of a sudden, he's decided that he's hungry and wants to eat. A lot! Trey swears that it's because he gave JR a pep talk though.

Still has the feeding tube in this pic. 

We had some visitors this weekend and they met John Robert for the first time.

Aunt Sheila and JR

Cousin Katie and JR

And remember how I talked about how lucky we are to have that technology here in the U.S.? 

Check out this pic. JR had a yeast infection on his bottom from the growth fortifier that they give him, so they did some oxygen treatments on his booty. Yes, that's a styrofoam cup!

And here he is without his feeding tube. Yippee!! 

Precious boy is doing so good. He hit 4 lbs. today!! 4 lbs on the 4th of July. Awesome.

He's also eating all 8 feedings by nursing or bottle. 

That's why they were able to take the feeding tube out.

This is huge people. He was only doing 4 feedings on his own (and 4 by tube) 3 days ago.

They gave us great news last night. He'll do his car seat test tomorrow and may be ready to come home by Wednesday. We're beyond thrilled!! Please pray that he passes his car seat test. They put him in his car seat for an hour and a half to make sure he can handle it. Premature babies have a tendency to slump down in their car seat and when they do that, sometimes they stop breathing. This test is to find out if he can recover on his own or not do it at all. Scary stuff, but I think he'll do great! Of course, I'll be a nervous wreck every time I put him in the car. We may just stay home for the next 2 months. :) 

So - that's the JR update. Thank you again for all of your sweet comments and prayers. It means so much to us. These past 3 weeks have been really hard. Emotionally and physically. Just knowing that we have such an incredible support system has been such a comfort to us. So, thank you! 

And just so y'all don't think we've forgotten about our first born - let me reassure you. He's still keeping us on our toes and letting us know exactly what he wants and when he wants it. We've had lots of pool time and cook outs with friends in between hospital visits. Here's a few pics of Studson.