One Chapter Closes, Another Begins

Change...it is beautiful, stressful, fresh, and just plain different.  There a lot of changes and blessings in our household these days.  First, Brian started his job in early December.  It was a huge blessing since the economy had us wondering if he was going to be a stay-at-home dad for a while.  It was also a bit of a stress as we were back to the crazy routine of dropping Benjamin off and picking him up and juggling his appointments and life in general.  So when it was time to make a decision about my future, the decision was not as hard.  In mid January I turned in my resignation.  The week after I gave my notice, we found out that Benjamin was going to be a big brother!  This is my first week off and in many ways I am so glad.  I am only 8 weeks along, but for the past 2 weeks I have been so tired and a bit nauseous.  With Benjamin I started to feel better around 11-12 weeks, so I am praying that it will be the same and I will start feeling better in 3-4 weeks.

What now?  I have worked full time for nearly 10 years now and was the sole bread-winner for most of our marriage.  I thought to myself, "now I get to just relax for a while and take it easy."  And then I remembered that I am a mom of a busy toddler and a 1/2 inch peanut.  It was a nice thought though.  I am excited about spending time with Benjamin and actually getting to rock and read books and not feel like I have a million other things to do.  I am also excited about having time to make meals that take more than 20 minutes to cook and having a home that doesn't look the aftermath of an earthquake.  Brian and I agree that we will probably not ever live in a really nice home or drive new cars or take nice vacations, but the trade off is worth it to us.  I am only 2 days into this, but I think it will be really healthy for my family.

As for Benjamin, he is almost 2!  He is still not walking, but mainly because he is too proficient at crawling.  His physical therapist has challenged me with motivating him to walk.  He has taken up to 6-7 steps on his own, but since his is extremely proficient at crawling I think he wonders why he should walk.  He says a couple words and is doing more repeating.  He is hugely fascinated with light.  No matter where he goes he always points out the light fixtures and if they are off, he says "ahh" for "on".  My dad say he works for the electric company, since he will ask and ask and ask again for the lights to be turned on even in broad daylight.  He loves to be read to and to splash in the bathtub...basically a typical boy.

Here is a picture we used to help announce the news of the new baby on the way and is also showing Benjamin's love for laundry.

A long time...

Oh, it isn't February anymore?!?  It has been a busy many months. )

Here's the highlights:

After the crash we moved in with my parents while our house was being repaired and enjoyed great fun in the country for 2 months.

Benjamin turned 1 in March (yeah!)

Brian graduated in March (yeah!) and was blessed with an internship that went through September.

Summer was a busy blur, but we did go camping to celebrate Brian's 30th birthday and Grandpa's 60th birthday.  We also planted and harvested a garden (even though summer did not arrive until early July.)

In July Benjamin started wearing glasses.  His nickname for a time was professor Grove.

Benjamin's aunt Lisa got married in September and we all got to dress up to celebrate.  Her husband's name is Ben too but Benjamin prefers to call him Uncle Bobo and looks forward to someday getting to play with a new cousin or two.  A week later we cut off Benjamin's beautiful curls (he was referred to as a "she" one too many times.)

In September we also were able to get away for a couple nights on our first little family vacation and took Benjamin to the beach.  It was the first time he got to play in the sand and he loved it!

Last week Benjamin had his 6th (and hopefully last) surgery.  It was just a clean-up surgery to take out some scar tissue and dead tissue from one of his previous surgeries.  It was the easiest surgery by far, but still made this mommy nervous.  He did wonderful and we were out of the hospital within 3 hours of the start of the surgery!  He has recovered quickly and is back to tearing up our house. :)  We praise God for yet again blessing and protecting our boy.

Our family has been blessed again as it looks like Brian has a job!  It is a very difficult job market as most people know and God yet provided again.  He didn't even have to interview.  Amazing!

Developmentally, Benjamin is doing very well, all things considering.  He started crawling last summer and started cruising around our furniture about a month ago.  He can stand on his own momentarily and he is starting to show signs of wanting to walk.  We just need to work on balance.  He eats very well and loves food with lots of flavor.  One of his favorite sauces is Bullseye BBQ and he also loved Famous Dave's Sweet & Sassy BBQ.  He has not really started saying many recognizable words, but we were told this is to be expected and we will start working with a speech therapist probably sometime after the first of the year.

All in all, life is very good.  Maybe I will post a blog before 9 months pass!

Yet Another Miracle...

Last night we were enjoying a fun time with Brian's sister Lisa and our friend Ben.  We were just about to finish a nice fondue dinner when probably one of the strangest (and scariest) things I have experienced happened.  We heard a loud noise and the whole house lurched.  Much to our dismay and horror we found that a drunk driver had smashed into our house...into Benjamin's room!  Here is the "miracle" part.  Benjamin usually sleeps until 6:30-7pm.  This accident occurred at 6:45.  Though the car didn't go through the wall, it punched it in and knocked the changing table across the room, pushed the freezer (yes, Benjamin is roomates with an upright freezer) out a couple feet  and sent some plants, pictures and other items flying.  We could have easily been standing at the changing table or Benjamin could have been sleeping in his crib and received the scare of a lifetime.  We are praising Jesus because this particular evening Benjamin would not stay asleep. I ended up getting him up from his nap early and I was holding my sweet boy in my arms in a safe place at the time of the crash.  
The driver hit her head pretty hard, but she was able to get out of the car and was taken to the hospital.  Please pray for her healing - both physically and spiritually. As for our house...it will need some work.  Ok, it will need quite a bit of work.  We are waiting to get a full assessment of the damage, but it sounds like they will need to do some pretty exensive work and we might be without use of our house for a time.  Now we are buried with insurance, contractors, and all the sorts of things that come with this sort of thing.  Yikes.

Hello 2010!

A new year...7 months old...and 10 1/2 months too!  Benjamin is changing so much.  Since the last time I wrote he has learned a few tricks.  He has learned to blow bubbles, sticking his tounge out, and scoot himself forward on his back by using his strong extension muscles (he made it several feet at my mom's house and ended up under a chair.)  I think the one we are most excited about is that a few weeks ago he finally touched his toes on his own.  That is not typically a big milestone for most babies, but when one spends the last 15 weeks of development flat on their back or tummy instead of curled up in a ball, it is hard to reach down arms and pull up legs!  Ever since then he has been playing with these newly found "toys."  More than once I have walked into his room to get him up and the first thing I see are two feet sticking straight up in the air.  He has also discovered that he can pull his socks off with his hands.  Benjamin has started sitting up with help and is getting better at holding himself up while being held.  He is very vocal and social according to his Physical Therapist.  He is eating well and now enjoying the fine cusine of carrots, peas, squash, and sweet potato.  Here is a picture of him after he stole the spoon from me.

 Did you know Benjamin is studying to be a sound engineer?  Here he is helping daddy edit Sunday's sermon.

He still has a lot of the same challenges - mainly digestive stuff and muscle tone, but we are continually amazed and reminded of the incredible blessing we have been given.

Every new year I like to reflect on the past year and dream about the new year to come.  Last year I was 3 months pregnant with my first child, thinking I was going to have a girl and making bets I would be a least 7-10 days late.  Oh, how we plan :).  I'm glad that I didn't know then what I know now, but I do not regret what happened.  Brian and I are different now.  When I hear about someone with a sick child, even if I do not know them, my heart breaks for them, and my prayers for them are more specific and intense.  That little pound-and-a-half baby has taught me more about life and living than anything I can think of.  As for this year...I dream of less appointments, playing in the sunshine, and celebrating lots of little milestones together.

9 Months & Unplugged!

We keep getting asked what is new with Benjamin, so I guess it is time to write more :).  For starters, Benjamin is 9 months old!  He had his regular check-up with the Pediatrician today and we learned that our miracle boy just keeps surprising us...he is at 42% for weight and 47% for length!  Considering that he was at zero in June, this is amazing!  His doctors/dietician are very pleased (and if you haven't guessed so are his parents. :) )

Medically speaking, he is also doing really good.  His digestive system still gives him fits and he still has problems with a sore belly (many articles of our clothing, lots of carpet, and a bean bag can attest to this.)  So when is that age where they stop puking, again???


New foods!  Benjamin's first non-milk food was...prune juice!  Yum :)  The dietician recommended it for helping his system move along.  Last weekend he enjoyed his first rice cereal, which he seems to enjoy and today he had part of an orange in his Munchkin fresh food feeder (great invention!) and he loved it!  Messy, but fun.

Christmas lights!  Benjamin loves lights and to have a tree in his living room all lit up is simply magical.  I love to get him up from a nap and watch his face go from sleepy to bewildered at the sight.  I decorated with sparkling snowflakes on the ceiling that catch the light which he enjoys too.

Unplugged?!?  A couple weeks ago we decided that it was finally time to let go of the monitor that measured his heart rate and oxygen saturation.  It had been months since he had real drops and even then he didn't need assistance.  Honestly, we were the ones who needed it, not Benjamin, and we finally weaned ourselves off of it (with the help of an apnea mat under his crib mattress :).  It was mixed emotions for me - on one hand we were letting go the last "attachment" and yet on the other it felt like a piece of my security was gone.  I had to (and still have to) stop and remind myself that this boy is in God's hands, and He has brought him so far.  In Psalm 139 He reminds me over and over again that before Benjamin was even a thought, God knew how many days he would have and our having the monitor or not having it will not change that.  That simple truth is the only reason I can sleep at night...thank you, God.

Jamie

PT, Glasses, & RSV - Another Update

Good things to report...praise God!  The day after Benjamin's Neuro-development appointment his Physical Theropist came by.  We shared the test scores with her and she was very impressed by them as well as how much change had happened since the previous visit.  He was able to show off his new speaking abilities and she worked on rolling over with him.  He is a long way from doing it on his own (at least the right way), but it makes for a good activity to do together.  We are working on tummy time a lot these days...here is a fun view :)

Today was his Opthamologist appointment.  This one was much smoother than our first one in early July!  We even found our way to the Eye Institute on the first try this time.  Of course there was that part where Benjamin choked on a little spit-up and threw up all over himself and his car seat when we were checking in...yeah, that wasn't as fun, but we are pros now and had him cleaned up in no time.  The doctor reported mostly good things...not cross-eyed, eyes track together as they should, a little trouble looking up-though not much of a concern.  He is still near-sighted, but there is no need to take action at this point and the goal is not to get glasses until he is closer to school aged if possible.  It is possible that his vision can change for the better.  We are praying for his vision to be improved, but honestly, I am not very worried about it.  We don't have to go back for about 4 months.

Friday is our first RSV vaccination...finally!  This is to help him against the Respiratory Syncytial Virus that can be life threatening.  It is very expensive and he has to have one a month for the next 5 months.  Though I am not a huge fan of vaccinations and sticking my baby with needles, we will gladly do this one.

Halloween Fun

Last week was Benjamin's first Halloween experience.  My sister Jodi was in town so we kicked off the weekend by a visit to Grandma & Grandpas.  Benjamin was decked out in his happy ghost onesie that Grandma bought him.

We were enjoying my dad's warm shop and I had started carving my pumpkin.  I turned away for a few minutes only to find Benjamin's hand in my pumpkin!  Of course he was aided by his aunt Jenny who insisted that he needed to get the full Halloween experience and feel pumpkin goo between his fingers.  You can tell he has a really high opinion of slimy textures :)

Then on Saturday night we got together again and Benajmin decided he better dress up - at least a little.  He already had a cute little outfit with stripes and owls, so we decided he would be our little "jail bird."  And what is a jail bird without a ball & chain.  Lucky for Benjamin he already had the chain! (aka his monitor lead.)  He enjoyed hanging on to it and swinging it around.  No trick-or-treating for us this year, but considering he hasn't had an solid food, I suppose candy wouldn't have been a good idea anyway.

No trick-or-treating for us this year, but considering he hasn't had an solid food, I suppose candy wouldn't have been a good idea anyway.

This picture is several weeks old, but it was cute.  Remember the preemie pumkin?  Here are both of our preemie pumkins held by Aunt Lisa.