Little J's birthday

We recently celebrated Little J's birthday. All told it was a good birthday. He has a couple presents that we are saving since he is too young for them. Another we are saving until it gets warm again. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

This card is awesome!!

Cousin is trying to keep Little J from defrosting the cake.

Teeny Tiny Tot School 10.5

 If you aren't familiar with tot school click on the button above. Basically it is about providing and enouraging fun but focused learning activities. I haven't taken picture of many of our activities due to being part of them, not having a camera on hand or just forgetting.

Getting a book to read. Typically Little J prefers to read on his own.

Enjoying the park and the swings for the first time.

Discovered climbing on boxes is fun. (Gross motor)

Spied Dad's yogurt bowl and spoon. Experimented with music. Eventually the trash can joined in. (Music)

Pushing the stroller across the park, engaging muscles and gross motor skills.

 We do read books every day. nearly without fail before naps we get a few in. Often another during play time. Little J also gets lots of time in playing with containers in the kitchen and trying to open and close drawers without pinching his fingers.

Parsnip Sweetie Sticks

I meant to by Turnips. I've never had, bought, or cooked either. So, i figured we'd try them. My DH is on a diet to lose some of the weight he's always had and some that he's gained slowly over the last four years.

Of this was borne the veggie of the week idea. Last week it was eggplant and cauliflower. I'll share those recipes later.

Parsnip Sweetie Sticks

Peel and cut parsnips. If using large ones cut out the woody centers.
Place in saute pan with melted butter and sprinkle with pepper and nutmeg.
Saute on low or medium low until soft and caramelized.

Little J's Surgery

 A week ago today at this time my baby was in open heart surgery, chest and sternum cut open, blood going through a machine, not breathing for himself, and unconscious.

Praise be to the Lord today he is doing great. He is at home in his bed napping. He spent the morning eating, reading books, playing, crawling, standing, climbing, falling, and snuggling. He is not wanting to get back into a routine, atuggles to nap, and wakes up several times a night, but other than that, he is his normal self.

Thank you for your prayers for him, his medical team, and his family. I thought I'd attach some pictures for you.

Little J can't settle down. We changed his meds soon after this. He's off the ventilator but still has 11  IV meds. You can see his incision. Below that are drainage tubes, to get the extra fluid and blood out of his body, and pacemaker wires, just in case. These came out Friday. You an see he is still on oxygen here. He has stickers on his chest to monitor his heart rhythms and electrical movements (basically an EKG ) its called telemetry. The thing on his head to to measure how much oxygen his brain is getting. He had one over his kidney too. Below he has is resting. He has a binder around his chest to keep everything still and to keep him form picking at it. You can see the central IV line in his right groin. He also has a line in his left groin and a catheter. in the left of the picture you can kind of see his trainage tubes/ ballons. His arms were restrained part of the time to keep him from picking at things or moving too much. That's what you see around his wrist.

 

Chilling with Dad watching TV. You can see his drainage balloons under his shirt here. He still has an IV, a hep lock, and the telemetry patches. The Blood pressure cuff is on so that he gets used to it so that it's easy to check his blood pressure. That way they get a more accurate reading.

Ready to go home.

One week after surgery.
He climbed up on this box 3 or 4 times.
(It's about 6" high.)

The first time he crawled off.
However, he did fall of twice.

 

A thought from today while playing. "He's got the tiny little baby in His hands... He's got the whole world in His hands."