5 months old

I can't believe that my baby is already 5 months old. He is the most precious gift I have ever been given. I am eating my words now for all the times I said I didn't want to be a mom. I can't imagine missing out on this experience. I hope it is not too early to start celebrating but this last week Dane has been getting up only one time during the night instead of the 4 to 5 times. I am so very thankful for this and I am sure Jacob is too since I am a much happier wife. Also this week he is recovering from the RSV and Bronchialitis. He is feeling much more like himself. I tell you what it is so hard to sit around and be so helpless when your baby is so sick. Until you are a parent yourself you do not understand how much love you have for your children. During this time when he was so sick we would just pray for his health. We know that no matter what that God is in control and no matter how much we worry we can not heal him. This has really been an eye opening experience for Jacob and I. The more we thought about what we would do if God decided to take him from us the more we realized what it really meant that God sent his only son as a sacrifice for us. It really gives you a great appreciation and a deeper understanding of how much God truly loves us and what he did for us. I know this is one of the many lessons I will learn.

What a big boy this week

This is the final product
This was pre-cut

Well Dane had a very exciting week of big boy advances. We stared off this week upgrading to our new convertible car seat because he has outgrown his infant seat. Then Thursday we finally broke down and got him his first hair cut. I couldn't take it anymore his hair was past his neck and also in his eyes. We tried to stick it out but he really looks so handsome with his new do. I think we actually cut about an inch off of the top. Fast forward a couple days and we are at Childrens Mercy Urgent Care because Dane has Brochialitus brought on by RSV. The poor guy was wheezing up a storm, coughing, and congested. Since Asthma runs through my family we were really worried and took him him on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday they did some deep suction, took chest x-rays, and gave him a breathing treatment. On Sunday they just did some more deep suction and watched him to make sure he wasn't going to have to be hospitalized. He is home and feeling much better but we are having to suction him quite a bit. He is such a trooper though. He was laughing and smiling through the whole thing. We werent sure we should even take him in because he acted so happy but thankfully my mom insisted. Sometimes when mom doesn't know best, moms mom does. I have to say though we spent about 3 hours each time we went up there they are sure nice people that run that place.
Since we were concerned about him getting enough fluids we gave him some water out of a sippy cup and he loved it. He loved holding the cup all by himself. I will have to get some pictures to post to show you how cute it is.

4 1/2 months

Dane playing in his Baby Einstein Jumper. He is not quite sure how to jump though.

Dane as a Persian Prince

Dane is growing like a weed and changing every day. This week he discovered he can squeal and that he has feet. Instead of talking he just squeeks and squeals all the time. He has also started to eat cereal on a regular basis. I would say he pretty much has the eating thing down now. Somehow in the process of learning to eat he forgot how to sleep. This has been an extremely rough month. For the longest he was sleeping around 10 hours and only getting up one time but those days are long gone. Now we get up between 3 and 5 times a night. It is so strange because he is not eating but once or twice but for some reason he wakes up several times. I think he is teething because he is constantly chewing on his fist, your fist, his bib, his burp cloth or basically anything he can. I can't imagine that this is the only reason for his poor sleeping habits though because this is like the 3rd week of it. I am so thankful that I have such a wonderful and loving husband who gets up with him in the morning sometimes to let me catch up on some sleep. Besides the lack of sleep we are having a blast. He is always laughing and smiling. I just can't seem to get enough of it. Today we went on a walk and played pretty much the whole day. It is really rough being a stay at home mom sometimes :)


This is Dane with his crazy Uncle Mike.

Dane eating cereal and misc photos

Dane and our friend Kevin at his leaving CDC party :)
Dane with his first GI Joe, Destro. Jacob said this is definitely blog worthy.

4 month check up

Our awesome Doctor Swords!

Dane had his 4 month wellness visit and shots this last Tuesday. He was 17.15oz which is the 90th percentile. His head was 17.5" which is also the 90th percentile. His height was 28" and off the charts! He is going to be tall with broad shoulders. There are several outfits he cant wear because I can't get them around his shoulders. Overall the visit was great. He is back on regular Enfamil since the soy wasn't helping very much and was causing him severe constipation. I talked to the doctor to see if we should try another medicine to help with his spitting up but at this point we are going to have to just deal with it. He is not losing weight and it is no longer hurting him so I guess we will just keep changing our clothes 4 times a day and doing endless loads of laundry. The only concern Dr. Swords had was that the knot on his head was getting bigger so now AGAIN we have to go to Childrens Mercy and get another ultrasound to see if it is anything to worry about. Does anyone have any idea what a pain in the behind it is to go to Childrens Mercy, not to mention it costs money.

Now that Dane is 4 months old we are having so much fun interacting with him. It seems like he really takes an interest in everything now, especially our food. The only problem is he is back to not sleeping again. The last few nights I have been up 3 to 4 times which is killing me. The hard part too is that he is eating each time so I am not sure if this is ANOTHER growth spurt or what.

And then there were five.....

Dane has a whole gang of friends these days. Crazy enough four of our friends also had boys all around the same time. On the far left we have Mr Luke Chaney who was born in June as a preemie but you sure couldn't tell it now, next is the lovely Master Dane born in October, then we have Mr. Levi Jeppesen who is large and in charge. He is pretty much the same size as Dane but was born in December. Next up we have our miracle baby Mr. Tucker Thurston born in January. He is our resident baseball/softball superstar in the making. Then last but not least we have the newest addition Mr. Asher Wolters who was born in February.

It is so fun meeting with the moms and talking about the little guys. I can't wait to watch them all grow up together.

New milestones

Well Thursday was a day of firsts for Mr. Dane. We started out the day at infant massage for part 2 of the class. Although he wasn't being a very good student he was doing a little showing off. I had him laying on his back getting ready to start the massage when all the sudden he decided to roll over on to his belly. I was so shocked because he had never acted like he was even trying to roll over. The other moms were there cheering him on. I tell you what he is really on the move these days. I can barely hold him because he is always trying to move. He gets so mad that he isn't going anywhere. Today I put my hands behind his feet and he was pushing off of them and moving across the floor. He is really strong and I know it is just a matter of time before he is going to be all over the place.

The next "first" was when we left the hospital he fell asleep and for the first time he slept while I shopped at Target and all the way home. I have been waiting since he was born for him to actually sleep in his car seat. What a big boy he is!

Tuesday is his four week check up so I can't wait to see what he weighs.