Happy 6th Birthday to my baby!

This morning at 1:46 am my sweet, first born son turned 6. He was born 1 month early and spent 15 days in the NICU and 4 months on a heart monitor at home. He had a rocky start, but I couldn't be any more proud of him now if I tried.

This was the 1st time we saw him, and he was 4 hours old. He was struggling to breathe so much under the vent hood that his chest was caving in. His IVs were also failing so within 12 hours of being born he was transferred to a higher level NICU and put on a CPAP and his IV was moved to his umbilical cord. This is the only picture of him with hair, because by the next time we saw him at 10am they had shaved his head to move his IV there. All 5 pounds 8 ounces of pure sweetness!

6 Wonderful things about Brandt:

1: He has such a sweet caring side, and has a huge desire to learn about our Lord, Jesus Christ. This summer he was in my room and another teacher stopped by. She asked him what his favorite thing about BCS was, and he told her learning about Jesus. Affirmation that we are making the right choice for our family by sending our kids there and the huge sacrifice it is.

2: He is such a great sharer, and has been since he was a little kid. He is always making sure that his brothers have the same thing he does, and will ask for 3 of whatever so he can share (even last summer when he was in the hospital for his concussion he was asking for stickers for his brothers).

3: He has such a strong desire to learn. He picks up things very quickly, and just amazes me at what all he remembers. In fact his music teacher is teaching the whole grammar school the school fight song. She told me that out of all the students (Pre-K through 6th grade) he was the 1st person to know it. He has been reading for almost a year already, and just started Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. He wants to know all the ins and outs and how things work, but he processes it all and just stores it. All of his teachers are floored by him, and one always tells him he is "smarter than a 5th grader". He has never seen the show so he thinks she means it literally. lol

4: He has such a tender heart. He wants to do good and please you. He does not want to disappoint you, and works really hard to make right choices. He does not always make the right choice, but he is very quick to apologize if he messes up.

5: He loves his brothers. Each and everyone of them. They are all so close with each other. He asks constantly to hold the baby and is so gentle and sweet with him. He will get the pacifier or come get me if he can't get him to stop crying. He'll bring me a diaper without me asking if he thinks it will help. He knows how to encourage them and does so on his own accord. Most of the time he builds them up, and it is amazing when you stop to think he is just now 6. When Brayden's teacher has a hard time understanding him, she'll get Brandt to help. Brandt does so in a manner that doesn't embarrass Brayden at all, and is such a big help to both of them.

6: He has such a funny sense of humor. Even as a baby he would laugh at the punch line of jokes. He is such a ham and loves telling jokes. He loves making his friends and family laugh. He can have the baby rolling on the floor laughing with his silly faces and moves.


We celebrated his birthday yesterday. Brandt wanted to have a swim party again this year, but he decided he wanted it at a different swimming pool in town that has a few neat slides, and things to climb on.
They have a really large slide, and he has not been big enough to ride it before. However, he is now tall enough to ride, and he rode it over and over and over again. This was his 1st time down it.
Brandt, his daddy, and my nephew Hunter
Bryson riding on Hunter's shoulders

Brayden is a water baby! This is the 1st summer that he has really enjoyed it, but he would spend all day everyday in the water if he could. He loves flipping under water and seeing how long he can hold his breathe.

They also have neat slide that isn't as huge and anyone can ride it. Bryson rode it over and over again as well. It goes into the big pool and is pretty steep with a life guard at the bottom and he felt so big riding it.
This is my grandmother holding Brennan. Poor baby was so hot, but he slept really well on her shoulder.
Daddy took him in the water to cool off. It was his 1st time in the water and he liked it. He soon relaxed and started sucking his thumb, and was almost asleep before his brother splashed him. He did not enjoy that though. lol
Brandt wanted a Star Wars party, and I thought his cookie cake turned out really cute. We let Brandt decide what he wanted on the cake, and he decided "May the force be with you" was perfect. lol

We are very proud of you, and love you very much!

Doctor appointments and shots x2

Even with 4 kids today was the first time we have ever had 2 doctor appointments fall at the same time. Brandt had his 6 year old appointment and Brennan had his 4 month appointment. Thankfully, it was at the end of the day and Dustin was able to get off a little early and meet us there. At Brandt's 4 year appointment he was told he wouldn't need shots again until he was a teenager. When we went to his 5 year old appointment he was so scared of shots I assured him wouldn't have to have any. However, when we got there they said they were starting to give a 2nd chicken pox shot, but since I had promised no shots it could wait until he was 6. Brandt has a very sharp memory and for the last 2 months has been so concerned about his 1 shot he has to get. (For the record, the last time they did a finger poke to get blood we had to hold him down screaming, and he didn't even know they had done it and was still carrying on...lol) He just gets so worried about it and will just stress over it. So I was concerned about today, but we talked to him about being brave, that he didn't want to scare any of the little kids at the doctor's office, and bribed him with going to Maggie Moo's if he did good. He told me he was going to be brave, and boy was he ever. He climbed on the table and asked the nurse (along with every other adult that worked at UPA) if he could please get his shot in his arm instead of his leg. She said yes, and he was excited. lol He grabbed Dustin's hand and turned his head and looked the other way and she was done before he even realized she started. Not a tear, not a wimper, nothing. What a big boy! We were so proud of him. He was 43 inches tall (15th% up from the 10th% at 5 years) and 41.3 pounds (25th%), so staying on his growth chart pretty well, and even making up a little ground on his height.

Brennan had to get 5 shots and 1 oral. I don't understand why they do so much on such little guys. Poor thing! He was fast a sleep when she came in to give him his shots. She said she can't wake babies up that way so she picked him up and woke him up. The boys didn't want to see Brennan get shots so Dustin took them all out to get their sticker and sucker. The oral vaccine is evidently real sweet and he slurped it down. He, however, was much less impressed with the 5 shots. I have been giving him tylenol every 4 hours, and he has been doing great...smiling and cooing like normal. He was 25 inches (up from 23 inches at 2 months) and 14 pounds (up from 11.6 at 2 months). That puts him at just over the 50th% for both, up from the 25th% at 2 months. Brennan has to go back in another 2 months for another huge round of shots, but then it should start tapering off she said.

Update on my Granny

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I still have not gone to Arkansas, as I am waiting on some of her strength to return before I go. She has been really struggling since May, but since leaving the hospital they finally are getting her on medicine that is helping. As a result, she is improving daily. Her weight is now up from 87 pounds to 100, not too shabby. They have her on an appetite increaser, and they will take her off of that when she hits 125 (the way she is going that could be in another few weeks). She still is mostly in bed all the time, with a quick trip to the kitchen for a meal, and then back to bed. She has refused hospice for the time being, and her doctor ok'd that. He said when it becomes too much, they can start it then. They are able to control the pain much better, and she is regaining a quality of life that has been missing all summer, and even before. The truth is that it is still pancreatic cancer, it is still terminal, but I praise God that it appears it won't be immediate and that she is finally in some relief. Please keep the prayers coming.

Brennan

Brennan just turned 4 months old.  He is such a good baby, we are so lucky.  He sleeps through the night almost every night, and has since he was 2 weeks old.  He pacifies himself very well, and a lot of times you have to watch the clock to know he is hungry.  He sleeps in his own bed with no problems, and is just an overall happy baby.  He goes to the babysitter's house 5 days a week and switches easily between bottles and nursing and between formula and breast milk.  This video is very typical of him full of laughs and smiles, but teething like crazy and trying to get his hands and anything he can in his mouth.  

Here is a video of Brennan from last week.

Funny Bryson

Bryson will be 3 in a few months, and he is getting such a fun personality. He is a clown for sure, and when he sees a camera out he really hams it up. He talks extremely well, and comes up with some of the funniest sayings.

Bryson: "Mommy, you are making me cold. You are making me grumpy"!

Bryson singing the Veggie Tales "Where is my Hairbrush" song

Bryson loves Transformers! He is saying "Bumblebee says Robots in the skies...roll-out"

He is then telling his Daddy to tickle Mommy

Then he is fussing at his brothers for talking to me while "Mommy is taking pictures of ME"!

Brennan's 1st laugh

This video is back from when Brennan was 7 weeks old and just starting to smile and laugh.

Crazy boys!

We went to a birthday party today at the Bounce, a local place with all kinds of inflatables. The boys started jumping down the slide instead of sliding. They were getting some height on them and a few times never touched the slide until they reached the bottom. I can definitely tell I have relaxed some since I have had boys, because a few years ago this would have given me a heart attack. lol

At least Bry is still cautious, and slid down this way EVERY time.