Well I had almost a months worth of entries to paste into this post. I was running out of room on my phone and thought I'd try freeing up some space. I went to delete the "All Mail" section of my gmail account. Turns out it deletes emails stored in folders and since my "Notes" were connected to my gmail, they got deleted too. I didn't shed any tears. I know lots has happened in the past few months and we've taken pictures to try and remember some of the memories. This is going to be my last blog. It's been an incredible journey and has been healing for me to write and document all that has happened since RJ was born. It's hard to believe that in just a couple wks he will be 17 months. Wow... He's crawling all over the place and gets great speed when the refrigerator door opens. He's a fan of taking the bottles off the bottom door shelf and banging them. He's so serious and curious. He sticks out his lil tongue in deep concentration. It's always fun to get him giggling or smiling. Sometimes it takes great effort. He loves his bath time and likes to pull-up to the side and bang a toy and then squat down. He enjoyed walking wherever you will let him. We take walks outside and even into the grass. It was so funny to see his first time reaction to the feel of grass. He would barely touch the grass with is foot and then lift it up in the air. It was precious. He's still timid when walking in the grass and doesn't want to crawl in it. We had to put gates up at the top and bottom of the stairs to prevent any falls. If I leave him upstairs to get something downstairs, he's right at the gate looking and smiling at me when I come back. It's precious. He's following simple commands and when he needs his diaper changed or needs food, he will come up to my legs and pull on them or gently bite me. He's getting so expressive and more interactive. We have a little shape sorter house that he's getting pretty good at matching up the shape with the right hole. Those lil wheels are turing up in his brain. I so wish I knew what he was thinking and that he could express to us what he wants. We are still working on his eating foods other than his bottle. He still doesn't want a spoon in his mouth. He likes to pick the food pieces up and feed himself.
We've taken some longs trips recently up north and he's survived each one. The last trip was to my sister's baby shower. I was getting over a cold and I ended up giving it to RJ. So we were both sick on our ride home. I don't know what I would have done without my mom traveling with us. She sat in the back seat feeding RJ and cleaning up his vomits. It was a mess. I'm happy to say we are pretty much all healed. I was afraid RJ was going to get too dehydrated after that travel day since his appetite the next couple of days was very small. Thankfully after taking him to the doctor, giving him some breathing treatments, and diluting his milk with Pedialyte, he's back up to speed with is appetite.
We had an amazing Memorial Day wknd, just the three of us (Robert, RJ, and myself). We went to the Lousville zoo and the Newport Aquarium. RJ seemed to enjoy being outside and seeing all the different animals. Our stroller worked out perfect and even served as a changing station. We were able to find outlets at feedings times to heat up his milk. We discovered a small cooler will squish into the bottom area of the stroller!! We enjoyed having daddy home and getting some good family bonding time.
RJ has been doing well with his PT/OT sessions. We just got approval for more Speech/Feeding therapy sessions. We are hoping they can help us with getting RJ to accept food off a spoon and be able to sustain himself on regular food versus bottles. I have started transitioning him off the formula. I started with some Hemp milk, but when talking to the nutritionist we discovered it doesn't have as much calcium or protein as whole milk, so I'm going to try some organic whole milk.
RJ is a bundle of joy and so much fun to hug and kiss. He still loves to snuggle and give hugs. He's sleeping great at night and has even transitioned to taking his naps in his crib versus the swing. He's growing up to be such big boy. He doesn't look like a baby anymore.
I'm so thankful for the NICU nurses recommending I start a blog. It's been very therapeutic for me as well as being able to keep all of you informed on RJ's progress. Thank you for your continued support, love, and prayers. RJ has improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning. He is a testimony of what the power of prayer can do. I hope that our story can be an inspiration to others and give them hope through difficult times. Here are a few pics of what RJ looks like now.
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