My New Toy

On Tuesday Mike and I purchased a new toy for me it is a 2008 Ford Explorer. We traded in Grandma Bling for an SUV. I know some of you don't agree with the purchase but I feel a lot safer crossing the point of the mountain with my two precious cargo in an SUV. And thats all I'm going to say about that :)

If you ask Maty which car she would like to drive in she will tell you the "New Car"

Snow Day

There is finally enough snow for Matyson to put on her new snow suit.
Doesn't she look cute.

Zander as a baby doll

It has finally happened Matyson thinks Zander is one of her baby dolls. As you can see by the pic's Zander is not liking sitting in Maty's baby stroller. Poor little guy he is in for it now. Stay tuned for the next place Matyson has Zander.

Time to be a big girl

Maty had a very big week last week. She gave up her crib to her little brother, so now she only sleeps in her big girl bed. I wasn't sure how she would do with this but I was pleasently surprised, she goes right to bed when we ask her to and she doesn't try to get out. yea.
Also last week we took away her binky.... she can now only have her binky when she takes a nap or goes to bed at night. She is having a really hard time with this but I think she can do it...
Its' so hard getting older. haha

Cute Hats

Aren't they sooooo cute.
These are the last pictures of Zander on oxygen he got his oxygen off right before his two month appointment. Yea
Zander had his two month appointment on November 30th his new measurements are......... height is 21 1/2 inches long - Thats in the 5th percentile
weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces - Thats in the 20th percentile
head is 37 1/2 cm - Thats in the 7th percentile
YIKES he is getting so big.

Thanksgiving Feast

Well I'm slowly but surely updating the blog.
Thanksgiving this year was a little different than most years for us, since Zander is home and not suppose to be around big groups of people, we decided to have our own Thanksgiving Feast. At first I was not very excited about this but it grew on me and by Thanksgiving I was really looking forward to cooking my own turkey. Well the excitement was short lived, on Thanksgiving day Mike and Matyson were both sick so they didn't eat much of the feast. All I can say about that is lots and lots of LEFTOVERS!!!

Halloween Pic's

Here are some Halloween pic's of the kids. Matyson was little red riding hood, and Zander was a tiger. We tried to find Zander a big bad wolf costume but they didn't come in his size. Darn it.
A special thanks to Grandma Gail for making Maty Moo's costume it was so cute. Maty loves to put it on when she plays with her babies.

Zander left the hospital

SORRY, I am such a slacker. Let me try to get everyone up to speed on how Zander is doing. Zander left the hospital on October 22nd on oxygen but going home still the same.
Matyson's first thoughts about her little brother were what I expected, she was scared of him because of the canula in Zander's nose. It only took a day for her to get over that fear. Now we can't keep her away from him.
Here are some pics of Moo holding Zander.

Day 14 - Tuesday October 13th

Today was a good day. We are gradually making progress, I prefer to take things slowly instead of having set backs like before. I was told that I should be able to breast feed today, but when I got to the hospital the Dr and I agreed that we should give Zander one more day on 1 1/2 flow before we introduce breast feeding. So tomorrow we will start feeding if everything goes well tonight.

Zander loves to grab his cannula and pull it off.

Looks like we fixed this problem.

He is still trying to to pull it off but his little

gloves make it harder.

Day 13 - Monday October 12th

Today I started back to work part-time. So I didn't get to see Zander until early afternoon. The nurse said Zander was having a great day. He was lowered to 2 on his nasal cannula. The Dr said if he continues to progress we should be able to breast feed tomorrow.

We were able to give Zander his bath tonight. This was the first time we have given him his bath. I don't know how nurses are able to bathe infants alone (it took both Mike and I to bathe Zander). Today Mike and I also made a decision that anyone that wants to visit Zander when he is in the hospital or at home must first shower and change their clothes. I hope we don't offend too many people with this request. We are not asking anyone to do anything that we ourselves don't do. This request is to keep Zander safe and to do all we can to keep him feeling well and from returning to the NICU when we get home.

Z getting a diaper on after his bath.

Sorry couldn't take pic's during the bath.

Z getting his hair done

Z getting his hair done by Daddy

Day 12 - Sunday October 11th

Today when we went to see Zander we were told that they moved him. We no longer have a great window to look out. Now we are in a dark corner. Not to happy with the move but hopefully we will be moving to Nursery B (that is where not so critical babies go). Zander didn't make many changes today he was lowered on the high flow nasal cannula from 4 to 3 so that was good news.

Almost a complete family photo, we sure miss little Moo

Daddy and his little man

Daddy changing Z's diaper.. No shower for Daddy

Day 11 - Saturday October 10th

Today was another frustrating day. Zander is back on the CPAP and is not liking it at all. The only good thing about today was that Mike was able to come with me to the hospital. Mike pulled the Dr aside and asked him to explain why Zanders progress is going so slow. The doctor said that Zander had an infection; the x-rays are showing a problem in the upper right lung; and due to gestational diabetes, his lungs are having a hard time producing their own surfactant.

One good thing that came from the conversation Mike had with the Dr was that Zander was put on a high flow cannula. This meant that Zander was already taken off of CPAP. The one thing that I hated was that Zander had to be started with 4 liters instead of 1.5 liters. The plan now is to changed Zander's flow Q12 (every twelve hours). Zander seems much happier with this decision (by not fighting to take the cannula off as much as the CPAP).

Zander is already feeling better with the high flow nasal cannula

Every diaper change we need to check Z's tempature

Mom's turn to change Z's diaper

Z is definitely a boy. He has sprayed Mommy

every time she changes his diaper.

Day 10 - Friday October 9th

Late, last night I was able to breast feed Zander for the first time, that kind of worked. Zander latched right on but only sucked twice and fell asleep. That was kind of frustrating.

So this morning I was ready to try again. But, Zander had other plans for us. When I got to the hospital this morning I was met by the Dr who told me Zander was having difficulty breathing again, and they were going to do another chest x-ray to see how his lungs were. When the x-ray came back it was a bad sight. His lungs were back to square one. We need to put him back on the CPAP.. I didn't take this news very well.

Pic of Z before the CPAP went back on.

Pic before CPAP went back on

Day 9 - Thursday October 8th

VERY GOOD DAY!!! Zander is having a great day. He was moved to a big boy bed (well baby bed) because he is keeping his own body temperature. He also got his IV taken out because he is up to full feedings, through a feeding tube. He also got his main Artery line taken out of his belly button, so we can hold him now. Today will be the first time Mike has been able to hold Zander and my second time. I am sooooo excited.

Zander in a big boy bed.

Good day for little Z

Day 8 - Wednesday October 7th

We received a phone call last night about 8:30 from Zanders nurse, she said that Zander took off his CPAP again so the Dr. decided to let it be and see what he will do without the CPAP. So you probably can guess we didn't get much sleep last night. Mike called the nurse about 5 am to get an update on Zanders breathing he was told that Zander didn't do so well on room air so they have put a nasal cannula on him and he seems to be tolerating that really well.

Zander is showing his camera shyness!

Zander is finally getting some much needed rest

Day 7 - Tuesday October 6th

Mike went back to work today so I was alone by Zanders bedside for most of the day. Zander was taken off the lights today, but he will be staying on CPAP for another day. He isn't liking the CPAP very much today, he has taken it off his face three times today. Maybe he's ready to fight to breathe on his own.

Day 6 - Monday October 5th

Today was a busy day. Mike had his back appointment this morning at 9:30 am, so we stopped by to visit Zander before we went to Mike's appointment. We were told that Zander's Bilirubin was too high, so he will have to go under the lights. He also will be staying on the CPAP for another day.

Zander doesn't like the new head gear very much.

Way cool dude.

Now he's styling with the head gear and a binky

Zander is starting early with fake baking.