Ryan's 4!!!

Finally getting a chance to blog. Every time I sit down at the computer (99& of the time it's when I'm pumping) I just can't seem to get my thoughts on straight enough to blog. The boys are out of the house for a while and my princess girl is napping so I thought I better do it now or else I will never get the birthday post on.

My little preemie prince turned 4 years old 12 days ago. We had his birthday party two weeks ago on the 16th. He is at the stage now where he understands what having a party is all about..it's all about him! For weeks he was so excited and kept telling me who all was coming to the party..hehe. We took him to party city to pick out his theme and he picked Hot Wheels..imagine that! I was really trying to talk him into Disney Cars (since we still had the decorations from 2 years ago) but he wasn't having it..he wanted Hot Wheels. So, Hot Wheels it was. Preoccupied by work & everything going on at home, I was pretty late getting the invitations out and cake ordered. But it all worked out and Ryan had so much fun that day. You can see in the video below how happy he was to have all the attention on him when we sang Happy Birthday:



Dean ordered him a shirt that had the number 4 on it with his name and a Hot Wheels car (sorry for the blurry pic)

And he loves his scooter that his Auntie & cousin got him

And here's the cake:

You can see more pics on my picasa album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/mom2apreemie/Birthday?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOvm7fa1nrXU4wE&feat=directlink

Updates

For those of you who don't know, Katelyn is now home. She's been home for 3 weeks and it's been wonderful. Even though we are sometimes needing toothpicks to hold our eyelids open because we're so tired, it's worth it. She spent 52 days in the NICU and weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. when she came home. When we twen to the pediatrician the following day after her discharge she had gained 2 oz. Of course, the scale could have been calibrated slightly different but we'll take it. She doesn't go back until her 4 month check in August but we might be taking her in for a weight check in July. Wednesday we go to the surgery for a follow up so he can check the progress of her Omphalocele, so we can get a weight check there. She's been eating every 3 hrs for the most part..sometimes she doesn't make it that long but other times she sleeps right through the 3 hr mark and can make it 4 hrs. (too bad that hasn't been in the middle of the night). I'm anticipating she's 7 lbs. or more by now.

This time having a baby at home that just about made it to full term has definitely been different. Although she does have a birth defect, I'm actually more relaxed this time around. With Ryan being a preemie, I was so worried about germs and sicknesses, stressed about his terrible reflux that caused him to spit up multiple times a day and made him fussy and always concerned about him gaining weight. We also didn't go anywhere for about 6 months except to the doctor & occasionally to my parent's house. While I am still concerned with germs, we've already taken Katelyn out several places..we're just very aware of what we touch and make sure to purell or wash our hands before picking her up.

Ryan is such a wonderful big brother. He LOVES his sister so much. He always wants to be involved in what we are doing with her. Whether it be feeding her, diaper changes, changing her dressing and clothes or just watching her in the swing. It makes my heart melt that he is so willing to help out. He is definitely in the "terrible three's" stage but not when it comes to helping with his little sister.

Ryan has been going to daycare since September and loves it. The center we have him in is actually a Primary School and Daycare so it's much like a pre-preschool. He has learned so much in the past 8 months and has really grown, developmentally. He has learned to count to 39 (can't quite remember 40 yet), knows all of the lower and uppercase letters, tells us all about the weather for the day and what day of the week it is, can dress himself now, sings a multitude of nursery rhymes and is now coloring in the lines rather than just scribbling everywhere. I think the thing that still amazes me is how much he talks now and how much he remembers. Out of the blue he will start talking about something that may have happened several months ago...like my parents taking him to see the Grave Digger monster truck last fall. They will be having many activities for summer at daycare so I know he will have so much fun.

Busy, Busy

We're still alive & kicking just really busy. As most of you know if you follow me on FB or my Caringbridge page for Katelyn, she is still in the NICU. I was really hoping she'd be home by now but she had other ideas. I think she's back on the uphill after downsliding a bit so now I'm hoping by early June she'll be home. I'm still counting my blessings and thanking the good Lord above because I know things could be much worse. So it's been back and forth to the NICU every day, trying to pump every 3 hours (since obviously I can't breastfeed right now) and still trying to keep somewhat of a normal routine with Ryan. Oh yes and doing errands, paying bills, doing laundry, etc etc.

Ryan is loving being a big brother from a distance. He loves seeing pictures & videos. I pump in her room, so he's in there a lot with me and either brings in his toys to play with or starts organizing Katelyn's stuff. Her room is not all that organized yet but I do have her stuffed animals on the bookshelf and Ryan seems to think they need to go in her crib. Also, my mom got her a butterfly that plays music and lights up the starry sky on the ceiling and Ryan wanted to take it out of the box & put it out for her.

Today was an exciting day because we let Ryan go visit his sister for the first time. She will be 6 weeks old tomorrow (wow, really?) and we figured it was time. Also, he's not sick..probably because he just got done with his antibiotic last week that he was taking for his double ear infection. That's really what has prevented us too from taking him. Ryan was sick, then Dean got pneumonia & I was sick for about a week with the cough & congestion. We've seen our share of sicknesses and I'm over it! Back to the visit...Ryan was so excited to see his baby sister. He was smiling from ear to ear, told the receptionist "I'm going to see my baby sister" and when we were walking down the hall towards the Pod he kept saying "I'm so excited". We washed up and then I got her out of her crib so Dean could hold her. Ryan was smiling and telling her Hi and waving to her..hehe.

meeting her for the first time

He was showing Katelyn a picture he colored for her

he was softly touching her head

giving her a goodbye kiss

This morning we went to the store so Ryan could pick out his big boy bedding. We wanted to move him into a twin bed because for one, we wanted to use the crib/toddler mattress for Katelyn's crib and two because he has outgrown his Thomas toddler bed. I thought we might be able to get a few more months out of it, but we saw no point in having to buy another crib mattress and he is just to long for it, he sleeps scrunched up in it and sometimes I go in there and he's turned sideways. Ryan was excited to get into bed tonight. So much so that he didn't even ask for us to read any books to him. Let's hope he stays that excited for bedtime! (probably won't but hey, one can wish)

Of course he picked Cars!

plenty of room to stretch out!

 

Ryan & his balance bike

Since getting his balance bike for Christmas, there hasn't been much opportunity to ride it outside since it's been pretty cold the past few months. Luckily, we're now getting some warmer temps so it's time to head outside amungst all the pollen. Ryan's been riding his bike back and forth from our kitchen to the family room..which is not all that big (we live in a townhouse) but he's gotten so good with his balance and now lifts his feet up off the ground. Dean went outside with him after work today so he got a couple videos, he could hardly keep up with Ryan since he was moving so fast.