Fun Finn Feats

The big girls are away at church camp for the week and so it is super quiet in our house.  We have lived in our home 2 months and just a couple of days ago hooked up the Wii so Jake is in a video game stupor.  That leaves Fun, Finicky FINN!  So, I thought I would share a few fun things about him from the past few days.

Finn has been a bit under the weather:

He is PITIFUL when he is sick:

But yet, he somehow manages to have a little fun and go 'round and 'round...

Finn LOVES to play with legos:

Finn got his second haircut (MUCH needed; MUCH improvement!):

Finn discovered the Wii in the basement (or at least the TV remote...):

Finn is doing GREAT going to sleep on his own - even with cars!

And when he is FINALLY feeling better, he likes to play "Head Games" with Mom and stare at Jake instead of eating his yogurt! 

And based on this post, he has a LOT of orange in his wardrobe.  Rightfully so!  All good aspiring Cowboys do!  So proud of how far he has come from the tiny miracle he started out as.  He may still be a munchkin (barely weighing more than 21 pounds), but he is OUR munchkin, and he has completely changed our world! 

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.

State Night (and other news)

Lady Gaga, Swoosie Kurtz, Katy Perry, Tom Wopat (Luke Duke),  Bruno Mars, Dolly Parton, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Buddy Holly and 2 of Johnny Cash.  Snow White, Abe Lincoln, Henry Ford, Sarah Palin, and Hawaiian Princess Kaʻiulani.  Barry Sanders, Brandon Weeden, Tim Tebow and a skate boarder named Ryan Schekler.  Plus about 50 others I can’t recall.  What do all of these famous people have in common? They were all at Westwood’s 4^th Grade State Night last night!  It was AMAZING!  The kids did SUCH a great job, and we all had a blast going from booth to booth learning about each of the 50 states, the celebrity that was being represented, and getting snacks native to that state at some.  (You could bring snacks for the crowd for extra credit – my girls were ALL OVER this step!)  We really enjoyed asking questions and listening to the kids give their spiels, while Jake just went from station to station getting food.  He saw someone with fried chicken, a complete stranger, and then asked her where she got it, because he NEEDED some chicken!  LOL!  We also had grapes, cantaloupe, ice cream (thank you, Buddy Holly), wild rice, pineapple, dried cherries, blueberry muffins, sunflower seeds, and pickles- among other treats.

Emma represented the state of New York and dressed as a pop super star that is hugely talented and legendary for her strangeness, Lady Gaga.  Her costume consisted of a “bubble” dress, red tights, silver glitter high heels, a microphone (from our Wii) Gaga-esk wig, and outlandish make up.  She brought pizza bites as her snack for her station.

"Lady Gaga" telling Jake about New York

Lara chose to research the state of Nebraska, and her celebrity look alike was Swoosie Kurtz who is currently on the sit-com Mike & Molly on CBS.  He costume was an awards ceremony worthy coral dress, the highest heels she could find, and “show” make up – with a prop of an “award” and actress of Ms. Kurtz quality might have won.  Nebraska is the Cornhusker State, so her snack was popcorn.

Swoozie Kurtz posing with her popcorn

In other news, Finn is FIVE MONTHS OLD!  

He may be colic-y, but he sure is CUTE!

As of yesterday, he has been with us for five whole months.  It really doesn’t seem possible.  Time is going so quickly.  I would estimate his weight to be 10 pounds 10 ounces, and he is 21.5 inches long.  Pretty much right on track with his 2 month old peers.  We are weaning the oxygen this week – hope to be off completely by the weekend!  He is sleeping soundly right beside me with no oxygen assistance, and we shall see how the rest of the day goes.  He’s a trooper, for sure!

Weavers: Unplugged

A new tradition was started in the Weaver house last night – Technology Free Monday nights!  We have decided to set aside this night as family time, get unplugged  – with no electronic interruptions.  No twitter, facebook, or blogs.  No TV, DVD or DVR.  No DSi, Wii or iXL.  No cell phones – mine was on in case of emergency.  We chose Monday nights since there are no out of the house activities for any of our kids after 5:30.  (And there is no TV we regularly watch on Monday nights, but I digress…)  We chose to do this from 5:30pm Monday nights until  5:30am Tuesday mornings (when my alarm goes off).  The biggest question the kids had was if we could use the microwave.  I said yes, since it could be used to prepare dinner…

I think last night went pretty well!  I had dinner going when Britt and Emma got home at 5:30.  We were done with dinner by 6:30.  Played board games and made puzzles, and had the kids in bed by 8:00.  Jake didn’t quite understand the how or the why, but he made it through without any movies!  Of course, the first thing he wanted to do this morning was turn on the TV – and he asked me when I dropped him off at day care if he could watch a movie when he got home today!  Sweet thing!

After the kids were in bed, Britt decided to read a book, and I read some of my book before leaving for a meeting at my sorority house (I am an alumna adviser for our chapter) which kept me out until 11pm.  When I got home, Britt was still reading – finished the entire book before we went to bed!

So night 1 of Unplugged was a SUCCESS!  And I say Pffffffffft! to all the nay-sayers and HATERS out there!  “Won’t last 20 minutes” – how about 12 hours?  “Over/Under -45 minutes” MY FOOT!  We did it, and it was GOOD!  Next week we hope the weather is better so we can get outside; being inside while a pre-schooler who wasn’t 100% on board or sure why we were doing this got a bit trying!  But, I think it’s a great time with family and a great change of pace.

Snow Day

I found this definition on urbandictionary.com:  “An unexpected day when you are supposed to go to school but it is canceled. An unexpected break. An unexpected escape from it all. A day to relax, not a day to catch up on work. Do what you want on snow days.”

Yesterday was a snow day for my entire family.  My husband and I both work for the University – which was closed.  My daughters’ public school was closed.  My son’s day care was even closed.  The high temperature was 9, with a wind chill of -15, and we had blizzard and blizzard-like conditions most of the day.  Today is a snow day, too.  No more snow, but dangerously cold and crazy winds; all the same places are closed.
Needless to say, it’s cold.  And dreary. And truly a departure from the norm around here.  No one in this house ever got out of PJ’s yesterday!  My husband made fancy egg sandwiches for breakfast while preparing white chicken chili in the crock pot for dinner.  I think my 4 year old son watched a total of 6 movies yesterday.  My twin daughters now know more about Wizards of Waverly Place and Fishhooks than they do their own family.  The 3 of us girls even watched Twilight Eclipse together.  My husband and I took a nap (even if it was accidental – we were trying to watch a movie but both fell asleep).  I admit, I was snowbooking (to constantly update your status or post on Facebook during a snowstorm. Also can be used to describe Facebook users who constantly discuss, complain, or post pictures about a snow storm) because there was nothing else to do.   It was too cold and windy to even go out in it and play! It was a total do nothing day. Except eat.  And be lazy.

So, today, we will try harder!  I am going to institute a 45 minute Wii “Just Dance Kids” dance off! (Even thought I already know who will win.)  I will Press Play with Shakeology The 50 during my son’s nap time!  I will finish filing our taxes! I will not mindlessly eat because I am bored and we can’t get the car out of the driveway!  I WILL SURVIVE SNOWEGEDDON 2011 (without gaining weight)!