Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Thanksgiving and 8 months

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Had good ol' Blogger been working right, I would've posted sooner. There were about 60 people at my parents' house for the big day! It was so fun as it always is with the Cagle crew. It was fun being together, but that many people crowds up a house and it really doesn't lend itself to being a great day for really visiting with people or taking lots of pictures. Its like Disney world...crowded people moving around like cattle and little kids running at your feet. All that to say...i didn't take many pictures of actual Thanksgiving.

It is his first Thanksgiving, that's why he looks a little confused
Looking at that turkey made him hungry!
I did get a picture of this...me and cousin Paige stirring the dressing. YUMMY! Of course Parker, one of Kanyon's most faithful prayer warriors, was right there with us. I was so glad Parker and Kanyon got to meet!
Kanyon received his first "official" Christmas present! Thanks GREAT Aunt Gwenny!
These are completely me being obsessed with him when I think he's cute. Sorry.
Talk about POUTY!!!!!!!!

Here is the 8 month old man! I'm a little mad at myself for not thinking through this whole basketball thing a little better. No matter how hard I try , the angle and depth is always different which distorts the picture. It really annoys me.

With the risk of writing way too much, I'll take a minute to tell you 8 things about Kanyon at the 8 month mark. (disclaimer: his development is NOTHING like a "normal" 8 month old or even a 4 1/2 month old...we preemies go at our own pace...which is SLOW, but that's OK)
1. He loves eating his hands..it started out as trying to find his thumb, he gave up on that and will now just suck on his hands...hungry or not.
2. His favorite possession is his bouncy seat (mine too!). He will sit in it FOREVER just kicking and talking or sleeping. It was pretty cheap, but its worth big $$$$$$$! When we first brought him home, he wasn't even big or strong enough to bounce it with his own movement, now he about bounces out of it!
3. He still hates eating...chalk that up to an oral aversion (thanks to the tubes and junk) and reflux, but he's getting a little better. He's hard to feed, but now instead of 1 1/2 hours per feeding we're down to an hour...sometimes 45 minutes!! That helps since I'm still pumping and he's still eating every 3 hours during the day.
4. We're still working on the cereal thing. He's not very good at it. He can't figure out how to open his mouth. Once it gets in there, he does good, its just hard to get him to open his mouth. We're almost ready to try baby food.
5. While I'm on the eating thing, He LOVES LOVES LOVES his vitamins. If any of you have kids you've probably given them those poly-vitamins. I accidentally got a little bit in my mouth from my finger the other day and I almost gagged. He sucks those things down like it is candy. His eyes water and then when they're gone, he smacks his lips....maybe he doesn't have taste buds.
6. He has really started interacting more with us. He talks and squeals and makes his cute noises so much. (though my mother in-law probably thinks I'm crying wolf. Everytime he's on a roll i call her so she can hear him and he stops!)He smiles a lot more and even if he won't look at us, he reacts to us with the rest of his body.
7. He works very very had during his therapy. We have PT and OT 3 times a week. His physical therapy is pretty intense. He usually ends up screaming, but he does good work even when he's screaming. We are still working on head control (he can't quite lift it off the ground when on his tummy). He is getting so much better with his head and trunk control from the sitting position . He is using both hands and bringing them both to mid line, his legs are out of control active, and he's making improvements. Baby steps....make that Preemie steps. We know in a lot of ways, the odds are against him as far as this developmental stuff goes, but we are very very hopeful and encouraged by his progress be it ever so slight and slow. We really believe he's gonna walk and run and jump like other boys!
8. I'll save the coolest one for last. Kanyon is growing a mean spike on his head. He is almost COMPLETELY bald all over his head (though I've noticed a tiny bit of fuzz in the last couple of days) except for his scar from his shunt. Right along that c-shaped scar he is growing a long dark patch of hair. Mohawk-side spike dude. Pretty cool. He's a trend setter.
Thanks for reading all of this mommy stuff!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

NICU Visit

Before I get to our NICU visit, here are a few pics from the last couple of days. The other day (yeah, like one day) it was kinda chilly outside so when we went outside to play with Ollie, Kanyon had to bundle up.

My mom and dad came for a quick visit...Kanyon is grinning at my mom.
We've been waiting for Nurse Kathy to get back to work. She had surgery and is back working again, so we went to visit her and the rest of the night gang. These girls haven't seen Kanyon since he came home. Here he is with Kathy and Wendi (by the way Wendi, I forgot to Congratulate you...you're married now..it was in October if I remember correctly, if not, I'm an idiot. We're happy for you and I"m mad at myself for forgetting to tell you that in person..we talked about it in the car on the way! ugghh!) He loved seeing his girls!
It was kinda fun for his parents to watch everyone have a fit over him! :) They kept talking about how long and heavy he was! :)
This is Ellen, she was his very last nurse..she checked us out of the NICU....Kanyon likes her for that! :)
These gals were my Labor and Delivery nurses (2 of the MANY). They have been so supportive and encouraging.
It was fun to see our hospital friends...It is weird that we lived that..it is crazy how much has happened since we were in there. It is a weird feeling seeing that place, smelling it, and hearing those sounds....weird. We are once again reminded of how GOD blessed us with such great nurses.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Happy Weekend

I know it is only Thursday, but the weekend is close. Kanyon just wanted to wish everyone a happy weekend!! Surely these will bring a smile to your face!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Dr. Visits and Random Pictures

We finally got our first RSV shot the other day...OUCHY!!!!!!!!!!! But we're very very glad he's getting these. He will get one once a month until the season is over (March). With the onset of "the season" we are also kind of going back on house arrest. Not completely, but we don't need to be out and about much during this time of year. As much as we want to, it is just not worth it. We are so thankful that he hasn't been sick, we would love to keep it that way! The good thing about getting the RSV shot was that one of our NICU nurses gave it to him. We were very happy to see her! And, she weighed him......12 lbs. 7 oz. and 24 inches long. We have not only doubled in length from birth, but we are finally to his daddy's birth length..yes Kory was 24 inches at birth! See, he's been tall his whole life! After the RSV shot we went straight to the Dr.'s office for his 2nd flu shot....they weighed him and only came up with 12lbs. 2 oz. I mean, I do think he had a dirty diaper at RSV, but not 5 ounces dirty!!! Anways, those are his latest stats! Speaking of Dr. we had our check up with the eye Dr. today. It went OK. His "eyeballs" look good so that is good. But he does think he has some thing (the name is long and I can't spell it) that causes his gaze to "bob" and look more to one side (you'll notice it in pictures). In most cases it is due to shut problems or stuff going on with his brain (obviously that is not the most medical terminology, but you get the point). SOOO...like everything else, we'll have to just watch and see. They say when he's bigger they can do a surgery to help it, but who knows. We got to Dallas to see the Neurosurgeon in a couple of weeks for a CT scan and check up so we'll maybe know more then. We're always praying for healing in that sweet little head of his. OK OK OK NO MORE WRITING...THAT WAS TOO MUCH!!!

Reunited with our nurse!! :)
Chillin' with GREAT Aunt Mary Lynn
This was actually taken when Julie and Alison were here visiting...these boys had had enough of us crazy girls!
Kory thought I needed help with laundry, so he added this little bundle to my basket.
I finally worked up the nerve to attempt a walk with the stroller and Ollie. I have been wanting to, but was kind of afraid. Ollie usually does good unless there is a dog loose and then he wants to play and freak out. So, I stayed away from certain places and the 3 of us had a nice walk.
Thanks to Kory's Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins the Hansemanns for the great bib! (University of Montana for all you southern folks out there)
Quite possibly one of my new favorite pics. Our little balla. I mean i know its kinda ridiculous, but the poor boy was born into basketball families so this is what he gets! One day he'll be big enough to wear his daddy's Jordans. Until then, he'll have to borrow cousin Roselyn's!! :) Thanks Auntie Ali for the great outfit! Stay tuned for pictures from the photo shoot in the black outfit. OH BOY!!!


Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Fun Visit

We had a fun weekend here at our house. Julie and Alison came to visit. Alison has seen him lots, but this was Julie's first time to meet Kanyon. As you can see in this picture, he was thrilled!

Julie recently got engaged, so we did a little wedding dress shopping! Me and Alison were here personal shoppers/helpers/opinion givers/hanger uppers.
Here we are all ready for church Sunday morning
I love this little outfit...he was zonked out, but I wanted a picture of him in it...he's quickly outgrowing it.
We did lots of this.....staring at Kanyon doing nothing. Sunday afternoon he wore his outfit Julie gave him when he was born. Pretty cute. He wore Alison's Friday night, but I'm dumb and didn't get a picture. Thanks for coming girls...it was SOOOO fun!A baby in a robe is just funny...doesn't he look huge in this picture.
Here he is all ready to go to Ladie's Bible Class Tuesday morning.....
as usual, this is how he ended up. Working hard sitting in his Bumbo holdig his head up. He's getting better....slowly but surely.
I have to tell you about this picture. This big huge so cute blanket is from Kory's awesome cousin Leslee. When Kory was a little boy his grandmother made him a "froggie blanket". Kory loved it. When Kory was in high school, his family lost everything in a house fire, so of course this blanket was lost. Kory always said it was one of the things he was the most sad about loosing because he loved it so much when he was little and because it was from his grandmother a very very special lady. Anyways, a few weeks ago, we get this package in the mail with a froggie blanket for Kanyon. Leslee AMAZINGLY made a replica of Kory's blanket for Kanyon! So very very thoughtful and special. I've told you before, but I'll say it again.....we have the best families in the world! Not to mention crafty and creative! And if you click on the picture you'll see that Kanyon's PJ's have frogs all over them...thanks Rach! Have a great week!

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