House Arrest FAQ

People are always asking me about what we lovingly call "house arrest" and how it works. Well, though none of us have had a run in with the police, we must abide by the laws of a micro preemie. Or as I like to call him, a "recovering micro preemie". With all of the questioning and curiosity, I figured I'd have a FAQ segment here on our blog. If you don't care about that, scroll down and enjoy a few pictures.

What is house arrest? Kanyon is the one on it, but since he's my boss, I pretty much am too. That means Kanyon can't get out in public. We have a few "safe places" we can go, but for the most part he's at the casa 24/7....me too.

Why? Germs. His immune system is still growing and developing. Something that wouldn't even surface in an adult could make him sick. Just a runny nose to a healthy baby or child might be major sickness to him. Especially with chest colds...his lungs had a tough start, we gotta give them some extra care. We just don't want to risk it...not worth it.

How long will it last? We will do this through cold/flu/RSV season (Oct.-March). Hopefully we'll get our RSV vaccination in March and we can start to get out by then.

Where CAN he go? For the first 3 months Kanyon was home, we didn't even take him to church but we decided we weren't going to trade off Sunday mornings anymore. So we all 3 go to Sunday morning church, but that is it. Kory and I trade off for Sunday night and Wed. night. He also goes to lots of Dr's (that seems crazy, huh..that is where the sick people are). As I mentioned, we have a few safe places. My Grandmas house and my aunt's house (no kids) and one day we went to visit a friend that also has an infant that is not mobile so we can keep them away from each other.

Are you going stir crazy? Honestly, I really thought I would. There are days that I might feel a little cabin fever, but it really isn't bad. I'm surprised by this because normally I'm a "go-er" but I guess I just know that this is where we are right now, so here we are! When its my turn, I get to go to church and if I need to run an errand, Kory will stay home with him so that is nice. When we can, us girls here get our husbands to watch the kids so we can go to dinner, that is nice. Plus, there are worse things than staying home........like driving back and forth to a hospital and sitting in a NICU all day.


Errands we can run: bank, dry cleaners,...well, that might be it. Sonic is our treat if I feel like we need to get out. Happy Hour..can't beat it.

A Phillips Phamily Night on the town: If we do get a hankerin' for a night out we will feed Kanyon and put him in the car...we will choose a drive through and eat it in the car or bring it to the house. Sometimes Kanyon and Kory will drop me off at Target or something and go get the food, then come get me. We also still enjoy the WONDERFUL gift cards our friends and family have given us (THANK YOU THANK YOU)....they are GRRRRRRRRRRREAT. Call it in, pick it up....Nice Dinner...still in PJ's. Speaking of....

Attire: Mine: Mostly PJ/Lounge clothes There are definitley days that I don't "get ready" I mean seriously, what is the point. I do put on my "nice" PJ pants on the days we have a therapist coming over. Kanyon: pretty much the same.

TV: Yes, its is on most of the day. Not because I'm watching it, but I need the noise.
Shows I used to not be able to stand, but now I actually watch: Jeopardy, Roseanne
Shows I used to hate and still do: Judge shows and Soaps
We don't have cable so I'm at the mercy of my rabitt ears. They're usually nice enough to give us 3-4 channels. That explains how I've managed to stoop to watching Roseanne.

Have I let myself go? Yes. Hopefully I can catch me again when we are a little more normal.

On a side note I have to tell this story. Right before I got married, a wise older man felt the need to give me some marital advice. He said, "You need to look good and smell good when your husband gets home." Ooops.. I hope he doesn't read my blog, he would be seriously disappointed in me. I look like a nun and smell like spit up or the day's choice of baby food. Oh well.

What do you do all day? I'm sure all stay-at-home mom's get this question and I really don't know how to answer it. MOST of my time is feeding him its a 1-1 1/2 hour deal every 3 hours. In between I do his therapy with him, play, and let him get a quick nap in before it is time to eat again. I'm still pumping and I do try to keep a decent house. We have therapist here 3 days a week for about 45 min-1 hour.

Any more questions, just ask!

Here are a few pics from the last week:

I thought he looked so chilled laying back on Kory. Notice the slobber, nice.
He's starting to find his toes:
This is the picture that is on one of his PJ's...maybe my FAVE pair and he's getting close to outgrowing them. GREAT Aunt Nancye gave them to him before he evem came home. I love them becuase they're soft and because this picture really looks like Kanyon. Do you see that the little boy's bald head has a spike of hair sticking up?!! Funny, huh?

Speaking of Aunt Nancye, I think Kanyon inherited something from her. She can whistle really loud with her fingers in her mouth. Just a minute ago I heard a faint whistling sound. I looked down and Kanyon was chewing on his fingers and "talking" at the same time. It was making a whistle sound!!! HE CAN WHISTLE!!!!!!!!! Some things may take him a while, but his whistling is way way WAY advanced! Thanks for the genes Aunt Nancye.