One Of Those Days

Have you ever had one of those days where you are driving down the rode and suddenly a song comes on and all of a sudden you are crying. Today I had one of those days. Charles and I were on the way to another appointment this week. He has had one everyday since last week. It has been hard taking him and watching many different Drs pick and prod at him. The update is that Charles is going for an MRI on Friday, April 3. He will have to stay the night at Children's Hospital because they have to sedate him for the MRI. Charles' feeding issues have not improved and he seems to have gotten weak and sleepy which they are not sure right now why. The Physical Therapist has begun to work with him on strengthening his muscles through positioning and movements. We are hoping that it will help get him on track to where he is supposed to be. Tomorrow we meet with an ENT who will look at his tongue and throat to see if there is anything wrong that could be affecting his feeding. Sitting there in traffic I thought about how exhausted Charlie and I are and how Hannah is still not sleeping well. So everything added up and I had a moment when I heard a song. It said "It wont be like this for long..." It is on the play list here on the blog. But it made me think of how things seem hard right now but soon Charlie and I will look back and realize how fast the kids have grown. It makes me cherish these times where things seem so hard and when were so tired. Because just like this song I now have a different perspective on the challenges that we are currently facing. Please continue to pray for all of us, especially Charles during this time.

Goodbyes Are Hard

Sue and Truitt left today. Sue has been here for 3 weeks helping us out and playing with her grandchildren. Hannah finally learned to say Sue Sue during this visit. It will be sad for her especially as she has gotten very close to her. We continually feel very blessed to have had family reach out and help us. I am not sure what we would have done with out them all. Since the summer we have had family taking turns coming out to Seattle to help us and it will be strange to be on our own. I wished we lived closer to family as it would be nice for Hannah and Charles and mom and dad too. As I am writing I am tearing up as it has been great to have everyone here and now sad to finally say good bye to everyone for a while.
We will now be getting into our own routine and I am hoping that Hannah will adjust well with it. We are going to continue to have a babysitter come half days to help with the kids and take Hannah out to playgroups and activities. This is so I can rest and spend time with Charles. We have been very busy with appointments as the kids have been sick. I took Charles to the Dr. on Friday and it turns out he has bronchiolitis. He had trouble breathing and was very congested which was affecting sleeping and eating the two things he does the most. We have been working very hard to getting him on a a routine and keep him awake a lot more during the day which has payed off while he is not sick to being able to sleep 5 hours through the night. This is very good for being 6 weeks old. We are very proud of him. I will be taking Charles for an ultrasound on Tuesday. As many of you know when he was inside of me they found a cyst in him. The Dr wanted to wait till he was a month old to do an ultrasound to see what it could be. It is right near his spine so they are hoping it is not anything to serious. Please pray for Charles and our family during this time. Other than that he is doing well. We are still working with the Occupational Therapist in hopes that he will begin to eat faster and take more ounces during a feeding. Hannah is talking so much. She is talking in sentences and understanding so much. She loves copying people, posing for pictures, saying cheese and the hokey pokey is her favorite dance right now! When ever I feel down or stressed her smile cheers me up and reminds me of how blessed I am to be a parent and a wife. God has truly blessed me with a great family and I would not trade it for anything.

Truitt and Sue with the kids

I Love Sue Sue!

CHEESE!!!!!!

Dad Multitasking

Sue Sue helping me eat my bedtime snack!

We Had Pictures Taken!!

Where has the time gone?

Wow where did the time go... Charles is a month old and is getting so big. The past month has been busy, crazy, and fun. We had Nanny and Jakob here for the first 4 weeks. They were so helpful and we miss them so much. Especially Hannah she really misses her uncle she still calls out his name through out the day. The day my mom flew out Sue flew in to help and come see the kids. She has been here helping with Hannah, the baby and doing what ever she can to help out. We really appreciate how much family has helped us since I was pregnant. They both have given up weeks of their lives and have come here to be part of our busy lives.

So what have we been up to and how is everyone, is a question we have been getting a lot. I am still recovery not 100% yet but getting there with every day. Hannah has really been so helpful and loves her brother, she loves to go get diapers and swaddle her baby dolls too, she even burps them. Her sleeping still has not been that great so tomorrow Hannah and I will meet with a sleep specialist to see if there is anything that we can do to help or if there are any underlining causes. Charles is doing very well with sleeping maybe to well, we have been having trouble getting him to eat. It has been very tiring as it was taking him an hour sometimes longer to eat just 2.5 ounces. After 30 minutes of eating they burn more calories than they take in so we were getting very concerned plus exhausted. The Dr. referred us to a Occupational Therapist who works with feeding issues. She has been great with him and has been working with him for the past week. We already are seeing improvements. We are able to feed him in 30 minutes now. Dad, well he is doing great working very hard for our family plus once he gets home he pitches right in to what ever needs to be done. I could not have asked for a better father for the kids, he continually gives and gives even when he is exhausted.

Here are some picture updates of everyone. Hope you all enjoy!