Birthday Girls, Baby Silas, Easter, and a... Teenager??

Three clean Mini Coopers after their baths.

I am so way behind on this blog.  I apologize.  My life is just a wee bit crazy right now, but in a good way.  Just keeping up with the house and the family is taking all of my time.  I haven't even been on facebook in days.  Yes, I've been that busy.  So let's start where I left off last time....

Okay, so Silas is still off of the oxygen.  He has been doing totally awesome.  He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce last week when he saw the pulmonologist in St. Louis.  That doctor released him and he doesn't have to back.  Woo hoo!  He is four months old today.  He has slept through the night twice now.  The rest of the time he wakes up once through the night.  That makes me very happy.  He saw a physical therapist last week from Child and Family Connections.  He was qualified for services for them automatically because he had a birth weight of less than 1000 grams.  The therapist could not find one single thing to work with him on though.  That is unusual for a 25 weeker to not have some weakness or need a little help.  I really wasn't surprised though because that kid is strong.  He is all muscle.  A few days later a developmental therapist came by to decide if he needed any help on getting him caught up developmentally.  She said that she has been doing that job for 14 years and she had never met a 25 weeker that did not qualify for her services or need some sort of therapy... until she met Silas.  He needs nothing!  That is the power of prayer, baby!  He acts exactly like he should for his adjusted age (about a month now).  He really showed off for the lady too.  He was wide awake and did all of the following (a few of these I didn't even know he could do):  he tracked a toy with his eyes, he reached for a toy, he said gaa gaa, he smiled at her, he rolled over with her help, he held his head up and looked all around, and when she put him on his belly he raised up so high I thought he was going to start scooting across the floor.  Ahh-mazing.  The therapists are going to check back quarterly to re-evaluate but for now, he is good to go.

One of our ministers, Ben VanHyning, stopped by

last week to meet Silas.

Grandma Debby and Silas

Last week Maleah went with me when I took Silas to St. Louis.  We left Carissa home with Grandma.  Daddy had to work so it was just me, Maleah, and Silas.  We had a great day!  We went to his appointment at the hospital and then went and visited with Dr. Chao and our nurse Jen at the Nicu.  They were really happy to see how well Silas was doing.  After that, we had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, shopped at the Galleria, and took a coat back to REI that Maleah had gotten for her birthday.  She took that money and went to Target and bought herself a brand spankin new scooter.  She was a very happy camper.  Silas was awesome the whole day and was a good shopper and a good lil car rider.

Maleah was a little sick when we arrived at The Cheesecake Factory and nothing sounded good to her.  She was past the point of being hungry and her blood sugar was low.  I hurried up and ordered her a hot fudge sundae (they have the best ones in the world there) and a meal.  She ate the sundae first and started to perk up.  Then she ate about 7 slices of bread and butter, a sliced banana, and then made room for some chicken fingers.  By the time we walked out of there she had her second wind and was ready to shop.

Silas at The Cheesecake Factory.  He slept through the

entire meal! 

Maleah and Silas in front of the big fountain

in the Galleria Mall in St. Louis.

Maleah really wanted to stop and walk on this bridge

over the river in Carlyle, Illinois when we were

headed back from St. Louis.  It was beautiful!

Silas on the bridge.

Let's back up a little and talk about the girls' birthdays.  Maleah's was March 22nd (Silas' due date) and Carissa's was March 26th.  Silas was my only baby due in March and the only one that wasn't born in March.  Remember that in case there is a test later.  The girls had their birthday party at Skateland Rollersport in Fairfield for the third year in a row.  It was lots of fun.  They had a Minnie Mouse theme because they are both very excited about our upcoming Disney vacation.  They loved seeing their friends and family and they got some pretty cool gifts. 

The girls before the party.

Carissa eating the layer of birthday cake that

got smushed in the car on the way to the party.  It

turned into her own personal layer!

Me and Carissa Faith

Carissa blowing out her birthday candles.

Maleah, talking like usual, at her birthday party.

Maleah had asked if we could eat at Peking Palace for her birthday.  It is our favorite Chinese restaurant and it is in Harrisburg.  We met our good friends, Jessi and Mike Hall and Becky Stafford there.  My Mom went with us.  It was a fun evening and good food.  Carissa asked to go to Lonestar for her birthday dinner because she likes their baked potatoes.  However, after she opened all of her gifts that day and got a brand new big girl bike, she no longer wanted to go.  She wanted to stay home and play.  We grilled out instead and she got to play outside with her sister and our neighbors Peyton and Sheldon Rose.  It was so beautiful and so warm outside for both of the girls' birthdays.  The highs were in the 80s.  It snowed last year on Carissa's birthday so this was a big difference.  We loved it!

Jessi, Becky, and Silas

Maleah at her birthday dinner at Peking Palace,

with Grandma Debby and Becky.

Jessi holding Silas

Carissa riding her new bike!!

Carissa eating the slice of Coconut Creme Pie from

Julian's that Grandma Debby brought her on her birthday.

Carissa after playing in the yard all evening on her birthday.

She was filthy!!!

March was fun but so is April.  We had Easter Sunday dinner at my Uncle Tim and Aunt RaeAnn's house.  It was such a good time.  The food was the best ever, especially the turkey.  The kids' Easter Egg Hunt was great.  Carissa won $10 and two lottery tickets and a whole bunch of candy and prizes.  Maleah won $115.00 total plus a whole bag of prizes and candy.  She has decided to buy an American Girl doll with her big winnings.  She found one egg that had $50 in it!  She is a lucky girl for sure!  After the kids had their egg hunt, we had a first annual Adult Easter Egg Hunt.  It was fun.  I was out of breath, I tell ya.  Some of my cousins are way faster than me.  I won $5 and two lottery tickets.  I wasn't the big winner (like my Aunt Angie!) but that's okay.  I still had a great time!  Love my family.  Silas got to meet and hang out with someone his own size.  My cousin Bryan Oestreich and his fiance Jamie Wilson had their newborn daughter, Kendyll Rose there.  She was born on March 14 and is the same size as Silas.  They looked so cute together!!!  She is beautiful and has the most adorable spiky brown hair ever. 

Silas and Kendyll

Me, laughing, and holding Silas and Kendyll

The Mini Cooper girls getting ready to hunt for eggs

Carissa hunting eggs

Maleah on her egg hunt

In other news, our family has grown again.  No, I am not pregnant.  Please do not even joke about that.  Our babysitter/family friend Calli Chadwick has moved in with us.  She is seventeen and is graduating high school in a few weeks.  She is a very sweet girl and we love her.  She really wants to become an au pair overseas in the fall, so if any of my blog readers have experience with this or know anyone who has done this, please contact me.  We have transformed my sewing room into a bedroom for her.  Unfortunately for her, there is still some sewing stuff in there but at least it is a very big room.  She still has room for her stuff.  It's a good thing we have a big house but it is busting at the seams right now.  I am gearing up for a big rummage sale on May 4th.  Remember that and come and buy all of my stuff.  I have a lot of girls clothes!!

Calli and Silas

Okay, whew!  I think I am all caught up again!  Things are starting to slow down a bit around here so hopefully I can start updating my blog on a regular basis again.  We can all hope, right?

Baby Silas Picturepalooza

Finally a Silas update!  I've been getting a lot of comments, questions, and hints that I needed to update my blog.  I've even had a few people say "UPDATE YOUR BLOG!!!"  I am finally doing just that but let me just say that I feel a little overwhelmed with all that I need to tell you and show you.

First off, let me say that Silas is doing great.  The home health nurse weighed him today and he weighed six pounds, six ounces.  His head and chest circumferences all grew by a whole centimeter since he was last measured on Wednesday of last week.  He gave me a scare yesterday when he woke up at 7 a.m. with a bunch of frothy snotty spit-up in his mouth and nose.  I suctioned it out and became immediately paranoid that he was getting sick.  He's fine.  I overreacted and he had only spit up some milk and had just been gargling it around in his mouth I think.  He is fine today and has been since.  I might have been this paranoid with Maleah as an infant.  I was much more laid-back with Carissa, my full term baby but now I'm back to being a bit panicky.  I think because of all I have seen and heard in the nicu.  Preemie babies sometimes do get very sick and I am determined (and very prayerful) that Silas won't.  I will relax more as time goes by.

He is a good baby and pretty much sticks to his four hour schedule.  He sleeps a lot.  Some nights he does great and wakes up every four hours to eat and goes right back to sleep.  Some nights he doesn't do as great and he wants to visit with me instead of going back to sleep.  That's okay.  He doesn't scream or cry hardly ever.  He squeaks like a mouse or neighs like a horse when he wants something.  I told him I'd much rather have a squeaker than a screamer.  I've had a screamer (a certain soon-to-be seven year old who shall remain nameless) and that can make your ears ring. 

He has been on at-home oxygen since he came home. The home medical people delivered a boat-load of oxygen bottles to the house, along with a big red and white Notice Oxygen In Use sign that was taped to my front door. It was ugly and stood out like a sore thumb. I took it down. Jason informed me that I was supposed to have it there by law. So now, I'm breaking the law. I am so bad. I am not going to let anyone in with an open flame, regardless of whether or not there are oxygen bottles in the house. Please don't turn me in, my children need me. The pulmonologist (lung doctor) said that Silas would probably need the oxygen for 2 weeks. I took it off today, but it will be two weeks tomorrow since he came home. Silas kept pulling at it all night and no matter how I adjusted it and taped it, he would grab a hold of it and get it loose. He is small but mighty. Six pounds of muscle, he is! I was a little worried that he might strangle himself with it. I took it off and so far he is doing just fine without it. I have two different monitors from the home medical company that help me monitor his stats. For those people out there who understand medical terminology he is satting at 100 and is hr and rr is great too. No bradys, no apnea. For the rest of you, he is doing fine. His nursery looks a little bit more hospital-y than your average baby nursery. He has one large oxygen bottle next to his bed, one medium one on wheels in case I want to pull it behind me, six or seven small ones that I can put in a bag and carry over my shoulder, a pulse oximeter machine, a heartrate and respiratory rate monitor, a thermometer next to the crib, and a stethoscope (thanks Casey!). I will be so ready for almost all of it to go! I want to keep the heart and respiratory monitor until he's old enough to refuse to wear it though. That thing really gives me some peace of mind.

Here are some pictures of our last days in the nicu:  The first one is of Silas hanging out in his cute new guitar sleeper from Aunt Patty.  It is a size newborn and is still a wee bit big on him here.  The next one is of the bulletin board in Silas' room.  As the weeks went by, the nurses took more pictures of him until it was pretty full. 

This one and the next one are of his room.

This is the outside view of Room 92.  This is where we lived. 

Our night nurse Karen is sitting in her seat right outside our door.

Here is Silas hanging out in his carseat, getting ready

for his long trip home.

Here is one of Karen saying goodbye to "the best primary she ever had."  The following pictures are of the Parent's Lounge in the Nicu.  This was only for Nicu parents and could not be accessed by anyone else.  It had everything I needed and was just down the hall from Silas' room.  It had a dining area, laundry area, shower area, kitchen, tv, etc.

This is the scrub-in area of the Yellow Nicu.

We had to scrub for two minutes before we could enter.

Me and Mr. Silas on the day before he came home.

Here are some pictures of the day Silas came home.  It was such a happy day!!

Carissa getting an up close and personal look at her new brother.

Great-Grandma Zelda holding Silas.  So glad she came over

when she did because she fell a few days later and broke

both of her ankles, a bone in one of her legs, and her hand.

She is now in a nursing home for a few weeks getting some

therapy so she can come back home.  Prayers for her would

be appreciated!

Silas trying out his new bouncer.  He likes it!

Maleah is a pro at this.  She wasn't nervous,

just excited!  She could NOT wait to hold him!

All smiles!

The first picture of all three of our kids.

I love this!

"Aunt Penny" came by to hold him that evening too.

Our adopted family member Calli holding Silas.

Grandpa David holding his first grandson.

Daddy doing a great job of feeding Silas for the

first time.  He is doing it exactly like they showed

us in the hospital - hold Silas on his side facing away

from you, that way the milk pools in the side

of his mouth, not the back.  This makes it easier

for him to control the suck/swallow/breathe issue.

Stacey Earleywine stopped by and got to hold Silas too.

I love Silas socks in this picture.

I tried to get a picture of every visitor in the first week but now, looking back, I've realized that I missed a lot! That, or I'm just not finding them on my camera. Hmmm.  These following pictures are ones that Dawn Cox took of us.  She did an amazing job and I love these pictures!!!

The next picture was taken at Dairy Queen on Sunday night.  We walked/rode bikes up there and ran into our friends Kari and Evan Thackrey and their girls.  This picture is of their beautiful little Abigail, born on December 30 and Silas born on December 11.  They looked so cute next to each other!!

This is of the pretty (and fresh!) door wreath that a group

of my out-of-state friends sent to me.  They also sent a

cute little stuffed puppy for Silas and a super soft

blanket with his name on it.  So sweet!

Okay, I think that wraps it up with the pictures that I have.  I probably forgot something but oh well.  The bottom line is that we are doing great!  We are gearing up for the girls' birthdays this week.  Maleah's is the Thursday, the 22nd (Silas' due date) and Carissa's is Monday, the 26th.  It is going to be a fun week here at the Coopers!!!