New updates

Thanks for praying for my grandfather and our friends.

My Paw-Paw is doing well. He is out of the ICU and will be moving to a rehabilitation center on Monday. He is still in a lot of pain. My grandmother is very nervous about staying by herself while he's in at the rehabilitation center. We'd appreciate your prayers as he recovers.

Riley and Quinn are doing well. I'm still updating their blog for them so you can just hop over here to check it out. They could use your prayers for a few things.

4 kids for a day

About two weeks ago we kept the Burn's two girls overnight. So for a very short period we we got to see what having four children felt like. Their ages were 5, 3, almost 2, and almost 1. This was the first time we've done an overnight babysitting so i wasn't too sure what to expect.

We had a lot of fun and all the kiddos were pretty well behaved!! We had to run a tight ship to keep things organized, on schedule, and clean but it wasn't too bad.( though I'm not sure how MckMama does it everyday and still finds time to blog about it :)) We actually had all 4 of them fed, bathed, and in bed by 8 o'clock!! It helped that the kids were all worn out from playing so hard all day. And all though we had a child in every room in the house, including ours, we all slept great. We somehow managed to have not big battles, no accidents or trips to the ER, and very little crying.

Cort loved having playmates all day and Cohen loved watching them play all day!!

We love Kate and Nancy like family so it was neat to get to spend time with them for such an extended period of time.

So, the verdict? We do it again. It was a fun mix up to our normal routine and well worth it to help out some good friends.

Me with all the kiddos...

With the youngest two...

Gotta love little ones in their jammies...

Nancy was very into Cohen...

Cohen was all smiles for Nancy...

Watching the older ones run around...



Cutie pie Nancy...

Two Zoos

We have this crazy place near by called Hollywild - they have some animals in cages but they also have an open range with all sorts of animals... zebras, antelope, bison, emu, ostriches, ox, etc. that you can feed. During the summer they take you out in a school bus with no windows and the animals just come right up. Apparently during the winter, you drive your own car throw the field. Chris took Cort while Cohen and I were out of town. Cort thought it was super neat, though while he started out in the front seat, he ended up in the back seat....with the windows rolled up.



While enjoying some warm weather a week or so ago we ventured for our 1st trip to the zoo this year. While Greenville zoo is very small, it's great for little ones because you can go through in less than an hour if you want and then enjoy a picnic and time on their great playground. It was super nice to get out of the house and spend some time with some friends.

On the playground...


Cohen enjoyed the zoo except for the howler monkeys - they were howling their little hearts out and he was not a fan!!! Here he is chillin' in his ride....

Haley and Cort checking out the giraffes..



Avery and Cort in the reptile house - I know you can't see them well but for some reason I really like this picture...something about them all crouched down checking out the animals - they just look cute to me.

It's electric...boogie woogie woogie

Here's what you get when right after a bath, your son rolls around on an apparently very statically charged chair long enough for his hair to dry....



The above picture is not due to static - this is how his hair actually dried!!!

Babies and Paw-Paw

The Babies are here!!! I updated their blog for them so jump over their to get the update!!

My Paw-Paw is doing well . They did keep in the ICU over night to monitor his heart and blood pressure. They are waiting to here from the cardiologist but are considering him stable. There are still some irregularities with his heart beats and blood pressure they feel like he's headed in the right direction. Big praise that my mom and grandmom got to a good night's sleep last night.

He's still in a lot of pain so please pray for his pain management. A physical therapist will start seeing him today so I know that will be hard on him.


I hoping to get lots of back logged posts up about Cort and Cohen over the next few days. Have to get caught up before the BIG BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Updates

My Grandfather had his surgery and things went pretty well. The doctor said that things went really well with repairing his leg. He did have some strain to his heart due to the anesthesia( only a spinal block because they didn't feel like that he could handle going under) and the stress of the surgery. They said that that there were some changes on the EKG during the surgery and that his heart rate is a little high and blood pressure isn't very stable. So they are running some tests and trying to get all of that under control. He is responsive and talking with the nurses so that is good. They will most likely keep him in ICU to monitor him and until that get all of that under control. Please pray that that happens soon and that there isn't any permanent issues or damage to his heart. My mom and grandmother are very tired as they both haven't slept in over 36 hours. Please pray that they get rest tonight.

My friends, Geoff and Brenna, will be having their sweet babies, Riley and Quinn, tomorrow morning at 7am. Pray that they have a peace and feel comfort during this uncertain time and that Riley and Quinn do really well out here in the world with us!!! Pray that Riley's small size will not be an issue and that her distress(some issues with bloodflow through the umbilical cord) in the womb will disappear once she comes out. Pray that Quinn will adjust well to the shock of this environment since he is thriving so well in the womb. So excited for them to meet their babies tomorrow and can't wait until I can get back down there to see them.

Hop on over to their blog and let them know you're praying for them and to meet their new little ones tomorrow.

Emily's Grandfather

Correction to the last post...Em's grandfather thought he was going into surgery, but it is not until 5:30pm. Thanks for your prayers.

Please Pray

I would love your prayers for two situations today.

One, my grandfather, who has been battling cancer since last spring, broke his leg last night just by turning over in bed. It is not a broken hip but broke at or near the hip from my understanding. They are doing surgery today to repair it. Obviously, there are huge risks involved but my Paw-paw's main concern is quality of life for what short time he may have left. Without the surgery he will remain in the hospital on a morphine drip just waiting until he dies. While, we have no promise he can with stand the surgery either, it's the best shot of giving him some more time. I am heading down there today to be with my mom and grandmother. I don't know what time the surgery is yet and may not be able to update you until later tonight.

Second, my good friend, Brenna, is carrying twins after a long struggle with infertility. She was 34 weeks yesterday and we are so thankful she made it to that point!! However, when she went in yesterday they discovered that Riley( their girl) has not really gained much weight in the last few weeks while Quinn( their boy) has grown a pound in a half. Currently, Riley, is not in distress though there are a few signs she could be heading that way and obviously there are concerns that her growth has seemed to stop in the womb. That being said, it is most likely that they will be delivering today or tomorrow. She is receiving her second injection to develop their lungs. We would love to see them stay in everyday possible so please pray that at her scan today things have improved or at least the same. If things look any worse, they will deliver today.... the same, they will deliver tomorrow... .and with improvement they'll monitor her everyday or so and try to wait until next week. Please pray for Brenna and Geoff as they make these hard decisions and that God would cover them in a peace as they prepare to meet their little ones. I will be trying to update their blog as I get information from them if you would like to follow their story.

Cohen's first playdate

Cohen had his first real playdate about a week ago. A great old friend of mine, Elizabeth, has a precious little girl, Mary Wallace, who is just about 3 weeks older than Cohen. We got together at a friends house when she was in town. Cohen is pretty isolated right now to keep his lungs healthy - he has his own room at church for nursery and we don't do a ton of playdates these days unless they're out doors and since he isn't mobile at all he doesn't get to interact too much with the kids. We do get together with friends from time to time, but but most of our friends 2nd children are a good many months older or younger than Cohen. It was fun to get him together with someone almost exactly his age ( not size, mind you ;)). Looking forward to coming out of cold and RSV season where we might be able to do this type of thing a little more often.

In door Entertainment

Prior to the past week we had a super long spell of really cold weather. We've filled our time with trips to the library and lots of creative indoor play like forts, obstacle courses, car tracks all over the den, indoor putt-putt, and some construction vehicle play. Most of it left for a clean up nightmare but was tons of fun in the meantime!!!

Indoor Putt-putt

Construction Truck Play - ( a cookie sheet full of dry beans of toy construction trucks = a whole hour of play while mommy cooked dinner)


As much fun as all this creative in-door play was, we have been thrilled to have warm spring like weather this past week. We've spent countless hours outside and it's been SO NICE!!!! Can't wait for Spring to come and STAY!!!

11 months old...a bit late but how else would I do it?

( two 11 month pics this time - one in his jammies with his legs spread out so you can see his length better and one in onesie so you can see his adorable chubby legs)

I can't believe that I am writing Cohen's last "monthly" post before we venture into the one year old world!!!
Giddy is the only word I know to describe how I feel about planning Cohen's birthday and concert. I mean really - here we are.. in the countdown to ONE WHOLE YEAR!!!

This past month has been a fun one. Cohen is trying his hardest to sit up and will tripod on a toy or with his hands on his legs( since they don't reach the ground) for brief periods. He's also sitting better with indirect support - like with the boppie around him versus my hands on him. I'm not sure that he'll hit that milestone by a year but he's working hard on it.

Some of his fine motor skills have improved a bit. He has on occasion reached into a container to grab a smaller toy. Still not finger feeding but he does play with the food more so it's progress.

I feel like his looks have really changed recently - his face just looks a little more "boy" and a little less "baby." His hair is definitely thickening up a bit on the side finally and getting really long on top. He def. has some curl in his hair too. It curls and frizzes in the back a good bit and though it doesn't stand up on top near as much anymore now that it's gotten longer - he can still sport a good Mohawk or rooster tail if I just towel dry it and don't "comb" it down. I say comb loosely as I just use my hands to do the job. Mommy isn't a primper herself - you can bet she doesn't primp her boys!!!

He has been doing really well eating solids and continues to progress with eating more "table" food.
I haven't figured out what to do about bottles yet and if I am going to drop them all at a year or wait just a little longer. He still eats in the middle of the night too - something I'm also trying to figure out if I should force him to drop. It's just so hard to know what's right- there's no book for this!!! Sure, he's almost a year old but he's the size of a 2-3 month old - which one do I go on - age, size, or somewhere in between?

We did fight a night time battle this month and won!!! Cohen had started waking twice nightly and was not dropping it on his own. I know he wasn't hungry at 11:00pm at night but it was just easier to feed him and go back to sleep so we did that for a while. Well, one night we decided to let him cry it out a bit and he cried/fussed/and talked off and on for about 30-40 minutes. He would get really mad and kick his feet and wave his hands and scream and then stop and babble a little bit and then cry some more - it was kind of funny( and fun to watch on the video monitor). Then after about 30-40 min. he just stopped crying turned over on his belly and went to sleep. It was nice that he didn't actually cry himself to sleep but actually made the decision to stop and roll over and go to sleep on his own. So, now he's back to one night time waking - usually around 4ish. Crying it out was not really option for us before since he was on oxygen and all - it just didn't really seem appropriate. Not that we never let him cry or fuss without rushing straight to him but just no really prolonged periods. So, it was sort of a big deal for us to try it and am thankful that it went so well.

Speaking of oxygen - it's been out of our house for a month and he hasn't had it in 2 months and he continues to do super well!! This is such a blessing and such and answered prayer!!!

He continues to babble a lot and I keep hoping for a little purposeful "mama" sometime soon! :) He makes all sort of silly noises and will use his hands to manipulate the sounds - it's really cute.

He's been rolling around more and more. He doesn't quite use it to get around but will roll several times in a row to get to a toy or something and he always pops his little head up with big smile!!! He's not near crawling or anything but will push off with his feet sometimes and spin himself around a bit. He's so cute with his little hiney stuck up in the air doing that.

( he was on that blue blanket in the background and turned about 45 degrees)


He's def. gotten a little feistier this month, which is good to see. He has more of an opinion about stuff. He's always trying to grab his spoon or bowl... or trying to get his bib off. He'll really work hard sometimes to get stuff that's out of his reach. It's funny how much your perspective changes when your child has some limits or delays.... I find myself excited about some of those "misbehaviors" and have to remind myself to parent him in those moments too. I read a little email forward one time about how every moment sort of becomes a therapy moment and I can certainly see that to be true as I'll find myself almost encouraging him to throw his cup on the floor or to try to grab the spoon out of my hand. Times that I might say "no, sir" on the outside but am clapping and cheering on the inside.
Ok - I admit sometimes I clap and cheer on the outside when I should probably say "no." :) Hey, we like to celebrate the small victories around here. Cohen has certainly taught me not to take so much for granted, changed my perspective a bit( though I admit probably not enough) and to learn to enjoy the seasons I am in a little more.


Oh, baby Cohen - your about to lose the right to that name - baby Cohen. How weird is that? I so look forward to celebrating your first year of life. And my heart leaps a bit to think of the confidence I have that I will get to celebrate many many more with you. As you approach this first year mark I struggle knowing if I am as well equipped to be your mother as I hope. I pray daily for you - for your strength, health, and your heart sweet boy. I pray daily for me and your dad - that we will have the wisdom to make the right decisions for you. What a blessing you are, Cohen. My love for you is sometimes almost too much to bare.

For those of you who swear he never cries....

The way we have to use sleds here in the south.... Cohen LOVED being pulled around - the faster the better - he just beamed from ear to ear the whole time.


A little time in the exersaucer

I'm cute and I know it...

Sick Baby * updated

*Updated * Cohen is all better now. Thanks a bunch for your prayers. While I enjoyed the cuddles, I sure am glad to have him back to himself!!!







Cohen's big sick all weekend with a fever virus. He's been so pitiful just laying around on me( I can't say that I mind the snuggles.) with a 102.5 fever for a few days. I think he's getting better but it's hard to tell - his fever broke yesterday afternoon but then came back last night. He's fever free this morning but I'm just kind of waiting to see if it comes back. He's been eating okay and other than a little drainage doesn't have any other symptoms - his oxygen levels are fine. He's having a good bit of trouble sleeping at night so we're all a bit tired but making do.

Even though he's had plenty of ear infections this is really the first time he's run a fever and it's so sad to see him this way.

Please pray he gets better soon and that Cort doesn't get it. He seems to have some morning congestion but is otherwise fine.