Family Photos

We decided to take our Christmas photos today because the weather was GREAT! Mitchell was so good he slept almost the whole time. I love this shot we got of Jake and Mitchy. There were 187 photos on my camera to sort through... we got a lot of these
and more of this...
lots and lots of this...
and this,
and finally we found two that could work
and one that I think works. AHHH so hard, but we look like a normal happy family, right?
So if you get this photo for Christmas, act surprised!
Thank you Chelsey for helping us out! You did a great job, oh and Brinley too!

5 months old!

Where has all the time gone? I can't believe my little one is now five months old! Mitchell is getting stronger everyday. He can pull his head forward to sit up, brings his hands to center, doesn't reach but can grasp objects... what else? He weighs 12 pounds. (sorry the pics aren't that great I did them quickly with 2 little helpers just for his 5 month celebration)

no smiles yet, but I could get him to look towards me by calling his name

I put my foot in this picture so you could have a point of reference.

Here he is showing off his strength from tummy time

I know this isn't the best picture of Mitchell, but this is what he looks like most of the time. He's fussing, but not uncontrollably... just enough to feel like you need to hold him, so you do, ALL DAY!
Mitchell is such a sweet baby. He makes you work for his love, but when you earn it, he'll give it. He'll sleep a good 4-5 hour stretch at night. He loves warmth, being snuggled, bounced, rocked, and patted. He's a great conservationist and talks all the time. He is always happy to have his diaper changed, so we do it maybe too often.

We're still a little concerned about his vision. The neurologist wanted us to see a pediatric neuro- ophthalmologist, but we couldn't find one in Richmond. This doctor would specialize in brain eye development. We know that Mitchell has all the right structures to see, we're just wondering why his brain isn't letting him. So we're going to just see a pediatric ophthalmologist in town and see if that answers our questions. Our visit is on Monday and I think about it all the time. What if he wore glasses? wouldn't that just be too cute?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We spent 7 hours on Saturday with doctors to find that Jansen has patchy pneumonia and acute otitis media! (early caught pneumonia and an ear infection) They gave Jansen an IV and I was so worried about him keeping it in. They had this big black male nurse practically lay on Jansen to hold him down while they pricked him and when he got up, Jansen had what looked like a cast on his arm so he couldn't pull it out. So sad I didn't have a camera, it was really cute! They gave him antibiotics and fluids (to keep from dehydrating). KidMeds was awesome! (It's like an ER for kids only) They gave our kids popsicles, juice boxes, bubbles, stickers and suckers. Jansen fell asleep in my arms while everything was delivered and he is doing GREAT!
So I didn't think Jansen should go out, but when he heard the front door open he came running, CRYING, to not be left out. So I threw on his costume over his jammies, and let him go to the 5 houses in our circle and he was in heaven! Reesa wore this little cat costume and this is the ONLY picture we took. Sorry Mitchell and Jake!
After we did our circle, we dropped off the boys and Chelsey came over with Brinley and Rylee and the girls went out. CHELSEY is a die hard! She wanted to go everywhere. It was so fun. Reesa is loving having older cousins to show her the ropes. What a fun Halloween!

H1N1 positive

Can you believe our luck? That's right, Jansen tested positive for Swine Flu yesterday when I tried to get his immunizations done. I thought it was unnecessary to even have him tested, he just had the usual runny nose and cough that had been going on for over a week now. We're really nervous about Mitchell, so all 3 of my kids are being treated with Tamiflu. M has a runny nose and cough but no fever... Reesa's temp been 102.5 and Jansen's 101.5 and today Reesa started "spitting" everywhere. Nine times to be exact. I felt so bad for her, I'm holding Mitchell and trying to direct her "spit" to a blanket to minimize my clean up. I gave her a bath and as soon as I got her out, she threw-up again. I've done 3 loads of laundry just today!

Jansen wants to be held and just cries with his arms up. I'm so scared to let him get too close to Mitchell, so I'll put Mitchell down and M will cry for the 10 minutes I hold Jansen. It's so heart-breaking for me, and I'm sure every mom that's had to do this at some point feel my pain.
As I'm writing all this, it doesn't seem that bad, but when Jake left for work this morning I seriously wondered how we would survive! I just wanted someone to come hold M so I could clean puke and read to my other kids, but who would ever expose themselves to all the germs in this house??? Oh wait Laura would... (Just kidding, she told me she would ring our door bell and run)
The crazy thing, we went to one of our first outings the Trunk-or Treat Saturday, and the next day Sacrament meeting for the Primary Program. Serves me right, hey?

Well for the first time in my life my chili won! So I would say it's worth it. I got the apron to prove it!
I won "the beany-est chili." The sad part is I actually added chicken and and extra pound of ground beef, b/c Jake always complains there isn't enough meat in my chili. I wonder what they would have thought w/o my extra additions! I must admit there was probably 6 different kinds of beans there.

and everyone's costumes for the party...

Mitchell is so precious, ONCE he slept on me and let me read, so I made Jake take a picture. (After I saw this, I realized I had NOT put on mascara since Mitchell was born. I was crying too much to want it all down my face. Guess it's time to change that!)

and of course Reesa said "what about me?" So we took her picture too!

Kiddie Kandids

I've been waiting to get my kiddie's photos taken when Mitchell could join us, but I NEEDED to get Jansen's done, so here they are.

Let me just say, my kids are the hardest EVER. They won't sit still, they won't look, and they only have about 5 minutes before it's time to leave... I got a few weird ones, but overall I LOVE 'EM!

He's only been 2 a couple of months...

The Wedge

Hi guys! It's me Mitchell! I got this cool little wedge that fits in my crib to keep me elevated when I sleep. AND guess what? It works! I can sleep 5+ hours now, and my parents are in heaven.

It's kind of girly, ordered by my doctor at the PICU, $329 dollars later we're set.

My mom put it on her bed to get a picture for you, and Reesa was so excited!

Jansen on the other hand couldn't believe he wasn't in on all the action, and demanded to be held.

Here's some picts of Mitchell at Physical Therapy...

Enjoying tummy time, sometimes he's placed on the boppy b/c he likes to keep his arms in so tight.

So alert today!

Mitchell is doing a GREAT job holding his head. (4 1/2 months now) You don't have to support it entirely when you pick him up now. As long as he gets his meds he's pretty content. He still doesn't reach for objects and hasn't smiled at me, yet (Jake's claiming he's seen a smile or two)... But he's started to coo and likes conversation for a few minutes. I can set him down for 10 -20 minutes maybe 2-3 times a day. He's getting better slowly!