Hello Yard

Erosion problems? We had ‘em. Timing? Bad – very bad. Thankfully things have worked out to solve our erosion problem and make our back yard….well, usable. I absolutely LOVE it now! Am so excited to be able to play with the kids back there. Our yard slopes behind and to the rear of our house but there is now area to have a slip n slide, playset or other fun stuff. I think the play-set area will be perfect one day for an outdoor hangout area with a fire pit.

This was supposed to be a 3-4 day project. A few alterations and a LOT of rain (as in almost 4 inches in one morning) equaled a 2 week project. Added were French drains, dirt, boulders (for a retaining wall), sod, mulch and pinestraw.

I got lazy with this post and decided to post all of the photos. Yes, there are too many!

Justin at 5 Months

Precious. Smiles. Laughs. Kicks. Squeals. Growls occasionally.

Just plain sweet. Sweet!

The sweetest demeanor. Loves his mama…..and Goli. I think he’d take Goli over me any day right now. When I pick him up from her house in the early afternoon, he stares and smiles at her while we talk about his day. Well, he loves his daddy, too. But he acts like he loves Goli first.

Size 2 diapers, Medium gdiapers.

Stats:

       Weight: 15 lbs 12 oz. (50%)

He still has his little “V” on the tip of his nose. Doctors weren’t sure if it would pop out (it is a hemangioma) or not. It has decided to stay as a little red spot for now. I think it makes him just Justin! His legs were VERY skinny from the casts he had on his legs. They have plumped up nicely over the past 2 months. I have been watching his little fat rolls on his legs form which has made this Mama proud.

He’s now nursing around 7 or 8 before going down for the night. Well, sort of.

He is sleeping a little better. Did I ever say he didn’t sleep well at night? I cannot remember. Nor can I remember much else over the past 5 months. That would be because of the lack of sleep. About three weeks ago during a 2 a.m. feeding, I got on amazon.com and ordered Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I decided I was done with the waking every two hours to eat thing. Not wanting to wait to read the book, I devised my own plan to get him to sleep. When he wakes up at midnight, 2 a.m., 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., I put his pacifier back in his mouth, it falls out and I wait 5 minutes. Crying takes over (by him, not me) and I give him his pacifier back. If he starts crying again, I wait 10 minutes before giving him his pacifier again. Usually by the third time he’s back to sleep. It’s still tiring.

He is up for the morning with ALL SMILES by 6:00 a.m. Like –nothing-ever-happened-and-he-had-a-great-night smile. It makes the night before fizzle into nothingness and I just want to squeeze his little cheeks and eat him up!

Tummy time is becoming more tolerable for him. He will roll over from tummy to back but doesn’t do it every time he’s on his belly. The bebe pod with the tray and a toy on top has become one of his favorites. He will sit in it for many minutes to play and watch Troy. We started putting him in the jumperoo which he seems to enjoy.

Sitting up will come soon, I just know it. I think we have another month but he’s trying. He watches Troy like a hawk and I can read it in his eyes that he wants to get up and chase after him.

Justin–Clubfeet and braces update

Justin had his 12 week in the braces appointment on Tuesday. Dr. D had nothing but positive remarks. He’s graduated to needing the braces only 12 hours a day! Hallelujah! So I have to admit that it seems like a big jump to go from 23 hours a day to 12 hours a day. So, for at least the next month, he’ll wear them for at least 14 hours a day during the week and 12 hours a day on the weekend. It won’t hurt him to wear them more. I just want to make sure he doesn’t regress.

He’s no longer considered club footed because it has been completely corrected. Craziness! It hasn’t been 5 months yet but I remember thinking “omg, I cannot wait until he’s 5 months old and he won’t have these braces all the time”. Well, that day is here. He is, of course, happy (he’s a happy baby anyway). Following the appointment we did not put the braces back on until it was time to go to bed. He has been wiggling his little tootsies ever since.

8 days old (on the way home from the NICU)

Cast 1 @ 11 days

Second Cast (before/after)

Third Cast (before/after)

Fourth Cast (before/after)

Fifth cast which was after the tenotomy (before/after)

Braces!

Here is Spence in the first photo and Dr. Doyle in the second. Spence is like the cool tech one would look forward to seeing. Dr. Doyle has been great. He tries to tell jokes every now and then which are, well….not so funny. Just a little awkward but he tries really hard! One day I asked Spence if he had a nickname – after a bit of prodding, he said it is “pookey”. Ha!

So having a baby with braces, does it make things difficult to do sometimes? I think it depends on one’s definition of difficult. We’ve found that swaddling Justin is still the best for him. His sleep is less interrupted when he’s swaddled. The problem with swaddling is that the bottom of the swaddle blankets aren’t made for a baby’s feet to be attached to a brace the width of their shoulders. Thankfully, Kiddopotamus makes a swaddling wrap which I can wrap underneath Justin’s crotch but still wrap his arms up snugly. Here’s a photo of it below.

Oh, and my side of the bed is less than 12 inches from his bed (aka pack n play). I’m not sure he’ll be moving real soon. It’s just too convenient right now. And I love having him so close!

Since he’s been in the braces, he’s gained 5 pounds! He was 12 weeks old when he started wearing the braces. By 17 weeks, he had gained 5 pounds. I think he was very uncomfortable in the casts. His legs have filled out nicely, too. The top of his boots cause the fat on his legs to accumulate. Something that Dr. Doyle said will correct itself eventually.

We have been very happy with his treatment. I do wonder if he’ll begin to eat even more now that he has been reduced to wearing his braces for 12 hours a day. Did I mention I was nervous about him wearing them less and less?

If I may say so myself, his toes are just precious…

Cousins n stuff

So we went to Greensboro last weekend to play with my cousin, her husband and children. I have to say this was one of the most fun trips I’ve ever had. Yes, in Greensboro, Alabama. Don’t get me wrong, we have done some pretty fun things over the years but never have I been so relaxed with my children! Nothing super spectacular happened but we just hung out, played with the kids and talked. I know sometimes the most fun times can be had when you’re not even trying!

Jennifer and Chris’ kids were fantastic to both of ours. Eve is 7 and loves babies. Reagan turned 4 and played with Troy like they were the same age. It was funny hearing Reagan talk to Troy like he was big. Things like, “Troy, you are too big to ride on that play tractor” and “Troy, please don’t put your leg on me in the bed” or “Troy, you can play with that one more time and then you need to give it to me”. His response? “okay”.

Sleeping in the bed with both kids turned out okay. At midnight Troy fell asleep in the bed with them after watching Madagascar. Never-mind the fact that Eve and Reagan were asleep by 9:30. Who was up at 5:30 in the morning? That would be Troy. His little voice could be heard from the room next door saying “Hey Eve, Hey Reagan”. They wouldn’t wake up for 2 more hours. We were quite entertained. Fun times.

Justin was a breeze and got a lot of lovin’ and attention.

The three on Eve’s 4 wheeler. It was a hit. One moment Reagan wanted to ride alone. He would see Eve driving Troy and would want Troy to ride with him. He’d tell Troy to come over and they would ride for about 30 seconds before Reagan told Troy he was finished. Ha!

Here Troy is with Reagan.

We made it to Reagan’s 4th Birthday party. I suppose it gave us an excuse to make the trip and stay a couple of nights.

Below is Evelyn (almost 12 weeks pregnant) wit Justin. Little J’s sweet face.

Here is Jennifer with Justin, Sharon (her mother) and Evelyn (other daughter). Don’t they look alike?

Reagan seemed to have a great time at his party. He had a 4 wheeler party! His mother made it very cute but said it was hard to find things dealing with a four wheeler.

Aunt Sharon basically took over Justin (which was very welcome with me). She was wonderful with him. I mean he lit up and smiled at her the whole time. It was so sweet! She was so good to him. I realized for the first time where Jennifer got her sweet demeanor from.

Kenny gave Reagan a John Deere bicycle. The boy loves anything John Deere. Troy thought he was big enough to ride the “bicycle”.

I thought this was hilarious. So here is Reagan with his new hat (one ear tucked into the hat), his new “high tops” (aka Chuck Taylors), playing his new paper guitar (it’s plastic but is called paper for some reason). That guitar was less than $20 and even though it’s  quite annoying, it is pretty cool. Troy figured out how to play it, too.

And my child is the one who wants to kiss the animals. He’s either all about the love or screaming at them while jumping around. Ugh.