Visiting Daddy...

Timothy made his first trip to the Seminary today to visit dad and go to chapel...so he sported his favorite shirt. Five minutes after this picture, I took it off of him because he spit up all over it...oh well. :)

An update on feeding...Timothy is now not eating. For whatever reason, he now wants nothing to go in his mouth...bottle, nipple full of medicine, or pacifier. It is a shame that he doesn't talk and let us know what is going on! So, we get to see the feeding team from the hospital's child development center on Monday, and our favorite occupational therapist, Mary! (she is really awesome) On the bright side, he is really developing some great coordination with his hands as he bats anything out of the way that is coming towards his mouth and has no problems pushing the bottle away. :) Thank goodness we have the feeding tube so he is still getting what he needs to grow. We will keep you posted...

Weigh-in

Timothy broke the 8 pound mark! At his appointment yesterday, he came in at 8 lbs, 1.6 oz. After a week of spitting up after every feeding (and sometimes it seemed like it was the entire meal coming back up), it was a load taken off of my shoulders knowing that he is still gaining weight. We are continuing to play with his feedings and we are going to experiment with adding rice cereal to help thicken his milk so it stays in his tummy. We shall see if we can get the right mix so it is thicker, but not too thick that he won't drink it. I'll let you know how it goes...

Yesterday, we also ordered his birth announcements. There is a preview in my previous post and hopefully they will be in your mailboxes soon (I now know what I will be working on next week). :)

Thanks to my friend Miriam for lending me your play gym...

I like watch the octopus and mirror. :)

baby announcement

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Family in Town

Today we are in recovery mode from a fun weekend. The Hintz side of the family came to visit and to help us celebrate Timothy's baptism. We recognized his baptism at church and then the elders' wives threw a wonderful shower for him after church. A great time and our son now officially can wear a different outfit everyday until March and I don't have to do any laundry. :) Unfortunately, Jared's mom came down with the flu and his brother was stuck with work so they were not able to make it to St. Louis. We are all looking forward to seeing them very soon.

Getting dressed for church

Hanging out with the aunts for the first time

My boys :)

This morning, Timothy is a little cranky and not wanting to eat his food, but he has slept through the night the last two nights and that makes mommy and daddy very happy. We are working with our doctor to move Timothy from 2 ounces every 3 hours to 3 ounces 6 times a day, with most of those feedings happening during the day hours. So far, I have been setting my alarm for 3 am to feed him, but he has been sound asleep, so I leave him alone and let him wake me up, which has been around 6 or 7. :) Yay! We are looking forward to a quiet week...just a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to check his weight (last week Wednesday he was 7 lb, 14 oz). I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will see 8 pounds.

One Month

What a month! Timothy was born, admitted into the NICU for dehydration, stayed there almost a month, was baptized, had surgery to install a "G button," and is now home, safe and sound. Never in our wildest dreams did Jared and I expect such a crazy first month for our new family of three. It has been a month of pure joy, tears, frustration, love, and trial. I have to say that our marriage went through more ups and downs this past month than the entire 16 months prior. We feel so blessed to finally have our baby home. Here are a few pictures that sum up the week....

Baptism on Monday...

What a wonderful way to start the week!

Surgery on Tuesday...

A very simple procedure from a medical view and a very stressful time from a parent view. Thankfully, everything went well!

Home on Thursday...

One month on Saturday!

The coming week...

So, things are not really improving with the eating here. Timothy will take more of his feeding by bottle and that gets us really excited, but in the big picture, he is only taking at the most half of what he should be right now.

We have decided, after consulting with all of our doctors, that putting a feeding tube into his belly is the best option for Timothy right now. This way he can get the feeding tube in his nose removed (which can be irritating for babies), he can nipple as much as he can and then we can still get the rest of his food into him so he thrives, and he can come home! His surgery is scheduled for Tuesday and without any other issues, he should be home by the weekend. We are so excited!

He is also going to be baptized Monday (tomorrow) here at the hospital because we have been waiting too long as it is. In a couple of weeks, after we are settled at home, he will be recognized at church and all of the family will be here. I just thank God that he is so young and hopefully this will all be resolved before he has any memory of the tests and procedures.

Here are a few pictures of Timothy right after he was born, taken by the Bella Baby photographer. So cute! :)