Monday Night Date Night

Britt and I are going through the Family ID workshop with some other couples from our LifeGroup, and part of our homework this week was to go on a date night.  And to make sure it happened for everyone, our leaders had us do a “babysitting exchange” before we left group Sunday night.  That way, everyone got a chance to go out, everyone got free babysitting, AND it was already on the calendar! NO EXCUSES!  NO BACKING OUT!  So, last night, we packed up our 4 kids and took them to another family’s home while we went out on our date for a “Private Drive In” experience.

I am pretty proud of my creative date night idea, which really turned out to be a lot of fun!  We don’t have money to spend on a date night like a dinner and a movie right now, but we also knew just going to our house to watch a rented movie would mean we would get engrossed in our phones or laptops or tablets, get up 100 times to do this or that, and generally be distracted by our surroundings.  So, I came up with a fun little (cheap) idea for a date night – a “Private Drive In.”  I rented a movie from Red Box, grabbed my laptop, told my husband to pick a to go dinner for us to eat, and we set out for our adventure. While trying to decide the perfect spot to watch our movie as it was super-hot outside (103 hot!), we decided we needed a place with some built in shade.   After a Sonic stop, we decided the best place to have our drive in move was on a middle level of a parking garage on campus.  That way it would be shaded enough to see the screen, and hopefully a little cooler!  We found a good spot where the sun wasn’t going to obstruct our view on the highest covered level of the structure, parked, put the movie in, and dove in to our food. About 1/3 of the way through our movie, the REAL entertainment for the night began…

We had finished eating, the story was well under way (we were watching Joyful Noise), and we were having a very nice time.  When, we heard some very loud rumbling from behind us.  Earlier in the evening, we had seen 2 pick-ups loaded with “stuff” in the back head up to the top level of the garage.  I had wondered what they were up to – even thought it might be a cookout.  But, we were about to find out just who and what they were doing.  As the rumbling got louder, we were both turning our heads trying to see what it was and where it was coming from.  When they came into view coming down the ramp from the top level of the garage…  6 – 8 of them…  College Students…  On various wheeled apparatuses… Dressed in full costumes from Mario Brothers!  It was truly a sight to behold!  Mario and Luigi were in rolling office chairs.  Toad riding the back of a grocery cart.  Princess Peach – in a full length pink tutu - on a small red Radio Flyer tricycle.  Donkey Kong (in a full gorilla costume with a neck tie.  In this 103 degree heat!) in a yellow garden cart with big wheels.  And Yoshi perched atop a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe car!  They even had a red box with a question mark painted on it that they were aiming for!  The first time we were simply shocked and amused.  We watched them push their carts back up the parking garage ramp, and ready themselves to do it again.  The second time, we really laughed with them – this was hilarious!  Somewhere around the 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th trip down, we got out our phones to film it and a camera to take pictures.  We were trying to remain a bit inconspicuous, although they probably didn’t care one way or the other if we documented it!  One girl’s sole job was to capture it all on film!  So, here is what we got:

We retold the story when we went back to our friends’ house to pick up our children.  The wife said, “This kind of thing would only happen to you guys!”  So true!  If you are scouring youtube and come across more footage, please be sure to share it with us.  We had a blast living vicariously through them, and it made for a date night we will never forget!  And, we will probably try the private drive in thing again.  It worked out really well – once Mario and his friends quit rumbling down the ramp! And aside from the noise pigeons who call the garage home…

Later in the week we take on all the other kids from the group in our home so the other couples can get a date night in.  We think we’ll have about 13 kids in our house.  Should be LOUD!

Edited to add: I made a follow up post - WITH VIDEO PROOF!

A milestone – of sorts

In the beginning, we counted things by hours.  Soon, that got to be days. Days turned in to weeks, finally.  We’re almost to where we can say months, but not quite.  Today, it’s a milestone we can count in weeks.  We have been home for 12 weeks today.  84 days.  That’s the exact same amount of time we spent in the NICU.  It almost doesn’t seem possible.  Some days, it feels like we have been home a lot longer than we were there.  Other days, the memory of our NICU days seems like it was YEARS.  But, I am very happy to have reached this milestone.  It gives me a sense of normalcy.  It reinforces the fact that Finn is home, is getting healthier by the day, and he is part of our family!

Since my last post, it has been a whirlwind of changes and steps taken to care for Finn.  Colic is still the monster we deal with every night in this house.  It’s painful for all of us!  The girls complain that it keeps them awake, Jake comes out of his room several times to check on him, it simply breaks my heart, and Britt is the one holding, cradling, and trying to comfort him most nights.  Plus, now he was so constipated!  We had called the nurse mid-week and been told to stop the Poly Vi Sol with Iron drops and to add Karo syrup to his bottles until he pooped, but I wanted a more permanent solution.  We went to see the pediatrician again on Friday as Finn’s congestion was back (both RSV and Flu negative), and the colic had escalated to a point I was not comfortable with.  He seems to be in such PAIN, and there has to be something I could DO for him.  After reading on the Internet (I know, I know…) Dr. Google had me convinced his inguinal hernia HAD to be bothering him.  So, we walked into the appointment DETERMINED to get some answers.  Here’s what we came away with:

• ·         An 11 pound 6 ounce baby

• ·         Monitor only at night (YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!) – reevaluate at the 6 month visit

• ·         D/C the Poly Vi Sol with Iron until the CBC at the 6 month visit

• ·         Change the formula from Similac NeoSure to Gerber Good Start

• ·         e.  Today, it'A REFERRAL TO THE PEDIATRIC SURGEON FOR THE HERNIA!!!

All of this is such great news.  Finn is growing well – his curve is mimicking his full term peers.  We only have to put the heart and apnea monitor on him at night, so he is much more FREE to carry around the house and to take places (although we are still staying home as much as possible until RSV and flu season is over – he has one more Synagis injection next week).  Discontinuing the vitamins with iron and changing the formula should relieve the severe constipation.  The iron contributes to that, and the formula was iron fortified PLUS high calorie and THICK, so we’re hoping a thinner formula means he will drink more ounces and therefore take in more liquid, consequently  helping with the constipation – but not effecting his weight gain.  (The transition has not been smooth by any means.  We started it late Friday, and it is now Wednesday.  Yesterday was his first good intake day.  He is still constipated, though!)  But most exciting to me, is the referral to the surgeon!  YAY!  So glad to get this process started.  They called with our office visit appointment for evaluation on Monday, and it is not for a few more weeks, but it feels good to have that ball rolling.  Hoping to get him some relief SOON!

In the meantime, it’s Spring Break here.  And it has been raining for 3 days – no end in sight.  The big girls are with their other dad, so it is a bit quieter around here.  Jake has been a tremendous help, and we have enjoyed our time together!  He is thrilled that I rented a Wii game he likes for him from Redbox, and yesterday we tried to go to the movies, but we got there and discovered it was sold out.  We have plans for an adventure tomorrow, but every time I see a weather forecast the chance for rain goes up, so we may have to change our plans a bit for that.  The good news about tomorrow is the girls come home!  And Britt has the rest of the week off.  So, on Friday, all 6 Dream Weavers will be home and together for a day.  Sounds good to me!

SO proud of my little man and how far he has come!  We are creeping up on 6 months old SO QUICKLY!  MONTHS!  We can count in months… He is still fighting the good fight.  Seems like the last 2-3 weeks have presented us with some struggles, but we keep moving forward, and that’s all we can do.  Finn is truly a miracle, and we are so blessed to be his family.