Sunday, July 21, 2013

You are invited...

Our family is having a bit of a celebration in two weeks and you are all invited to join us. The first event will be Bruce's baptism on Saturday, August 3, from 9-10:30 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (email or call me if you don't know where it's at and I'll send you directions). Bruce turned eight years old in May and decided that he is ready to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized.
In our church, we believe that we should be baptized only when we can discern between right and wrong and when we have the desire to follow Christs's example. Bruce has shown both of these things and we are proud of the many good choices he is making.
Bruce will be baptized on Saturday, and Oliver will be blessed on Sunday, August 4, during the 9-10:15 a.m. sacrament meeting; again, it is at the church and everyone is invited. The baby blessing is a simple prayer that Scott offers to give Oliver his name and to provide some protection and direction for him.
If you would like to celebrate with our family, eat a few treats, and maybe see me cry like a baby (and maybe see Oliver cry like a baby?!), please join us on August 3-4.

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Blink

 I blinked and Oliver is now two months old. My mom came and went, Oliver got his two-month immunizations, he surpassed six pounds and then seven, and made it past his due date.
 Oliver is gaining weight rapidly, which means he is constantly eating.
He's so cute though, that I find myself filling memory cards with pictures of him. 

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Monday, July 15, 2013

Life is so good.

I'm resorting to my phone to update the blog just to post something. Oliver is busy growing and growing - sleeping and eating. He was 7 lb, 2 oz last Friday. He gained a half-pound in a week! He eats day and night, so we aren't getting much sleep. But we are sooooo happy to have him home that sleep hardly matters. My dad always said, "You can't run on love" when trying to convince my siblings and me to eat breakfast before running out the door. And while I'm getting a good breakfast every morning, love seems to make up for the lack of sleep. 


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Saturday, July 06, 2013

Very Happy Independence Day

Last week I hit my breaking point with the NICU. We surpassed 40-something days and I ran out of patience. Thankfully, the end was near. On July 2, we were informed that Oliver could go home the next day if he remained spell-free for another 24 hours. I tried not to get my hopes up (remembering my experience with Phoebe), but still went to the store and stocked up on enough diapers and wipes for the apocalypse.
Wednesday rolled around and I went into the hospital like I always do. He made it to 12:30 p.m., the time he had last had a spell five days earlier. Once he made it, the nurse finally unplugged his monitor and untethered him. It was so nice to hold him without worrying about tripping over wires or losing the signal on his leads. After signing a bunch of paperwork, we loaded him into the car and headed home!
 Oliver is definitely the center of attention.
 The kids couldn't get enough of him.
 Phoebe gave him her pink blankie and kept bringing him stuffed animals and toys.
The next day, July 4, we celebrated mostly at home. We went to the park for a few minutes and then I took Bruce and Phoebe to see the fireworks with a friend while Scott stayed home with Oliver. Happy Independence Day indeed! It was the first day in 10 weeks that we weren't in the hospital.
Now I spend my days staring at him, pinching myself, and feeding him. I spend my nights feeding him too. I've got to give him some cred for sleeping 3-4 hours at a time though; that's already an improvement over my first two.

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When we weren't in the hospital...

 ...we did have some fun.
 Now that it's ridiculously hot, we head to the splash park every day. Phoebe insists on wearing her swimming cap "to keep the water out of [her] ears."
 Bruce did a week-long community soccer camp in a nearby park. While he played soccer...
 ...Phoebe hung out with her buddies from the neighborhood.
 She also made friends with some EMTs from the fire department. She invited them to her birthday party and was thrilled when she scraped her hand and they slapped a band-aid on it stat.
 We went bouldering and hiking last week.
 Scott used his crash pad that we got him for Father's Day.
We have been saying goodbye to lots of friends lately too. It's that time of year when half of our friends graduate and/or move on to bigger and better things. This is my Argentine sister, Alicia. She came here with her five kids and husband so he could attend a year-long program at Harvard. When I first met her kids, they didn't speak any English at all; I downloaded a translator app on my phone so we could chat. Now the kids are fluent and Alicia picked up more English than I did Spanish. I will miss them.

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Thursday, July 04, 2013

We are HOME!

I'll write more in a few days, but for now I'm enjoying feeding and staring at Oliver, wearing pajamas all day, and getting nothing accomplished.