31 March 2009

Today is March 31st.

Red Envelope Day.

A man had an idea and that idea spread and has inspired thousands of others. The idea would be to address empty envelopes and each envelope would represent the life of one child who had died due to an abortion.





It is a true grass roots phenomenon.

The red envelopes represent the innocent blood shed through abortion. The campaign is a symbolic act to flood the mail with red. To give a visual representation to the millions of souls that were our future. Children who could have been the first Woman President, the first African American Woman President, they could have cured autism, cancer, or diabetes. The list goes on of what could have been had these children been allowed to live.

Our family took part in this day by addressing, writing and stamping 160 envelopes.

My 23 week micropreemie son was born at an age when many are aborted. My heart breaks for the children who will never grow up, for the mothers arms who will one day ache for their babies and for the ignorance of a world that does not value life at all of it's stages.

Liam is a testimony for Life.

29 March 2009

Words To Live By


And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
and perseverance, proven character;

and proven character, hope;
and hope does not disappoint,

because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

26 March 2009

I like living in my own world. I am happy there. But people come into it and remind me that I can't stay there for very long. After all, there's a real world going on around me so how could I possibly think I could get away with staying there? Don't I see that my one year old son can't hold his head up yet? That he isn't sitting, babbling or rolling (very well)? Do I not notice all the other children every time I go somewhere that can do all of those things effortlessly and naturally? Who am I kidding thinking I can hide away? Someone will inevitably remind me of how my perfect little boy isn't perfect-not that it's done on purpose-it is what it is. I don't care. I love him unconditionally, with out prejudice and with abandon! He is my little man and he IS perfect. He is my gift and I love him just the way he is. Have you seen his smile or heard him laugh? Have you seen his siblings love him with all they are? This is my world and I love it here.

23 March 2009

Well- no OT for us for the next several weeks. Liam's OT got picked on a jury so she will be off duty for a while. That's ok. I got Liam drinking from a sippy cup yesterday all by myself!! I had tried once before and he wasn't much into it at all so I never tried again. I don't know what possessed me to try it again yesterday but I put water in it and let it drip into his mouth without the valve in it so he wouldn't have to suck. When the water started dripping in he started sucking so I quickly put the valve in and he took several sucks of water. I was so excited! I mean, I was literally grinning from ear to ear because I had just talked to OT about how hard she thought it was going to be for Liam to learn to drink from a cup and he just up and does it! He never ceases to amaze and surprise me.

18 March 2009

Slighty Wordless Wednesday


Yes, mommy, I just pooed again!


Rylie, read it to me again!




Mommy, Please don't make me work on my head control anymore...
just let me rest for a few minutes, please?



Zzzz....

16 March 2009

Curls

I know we have to have more than 5 followers.... Don't we? Where ya'all at? Just click on the FOLLOW button on the list below if ya wanna let Liam know you are still hangin' around!




The picture above shows how Liam has these adorable curls on the left side of his head in the back that just keep getting longer and how on the right side the hair is shorter and straight. Too cute, huh? He still has infant reflexes and when he grabs his hair he doesn't let go so when he gets a hold of those curls he hangs on for dear life! This week he grabbed his left ear and held on so he tight he cut a huge gash into it from his nails!

And I neglected to mention that Liam has been home from the NICU for 1 YEAR as of March 11th! WOO HOO!!! The day just went by and I realized on the 12th that the one year mark had come and gone. I will post tomorrow some photos of then and now so you can see just how little he started out at home and how big he really is now!

15 March 2009

Liam had a follow up on Thursday with his ped to see how he responded to his Erythromycin and see if his weight gain was up. Remember at his last appnt we decided to use this med because Liam lost 5 ounces over the previous 4 week time frame and due to Liams thick stool and vomiting we had hopes the the Erythromycin would give him semi-soft stools. Well, this Thursday Liam had gained 1 POUND in the last 3 weeks!!! Incredible!! I always said that if he could keep down what went in we would be doing fabulous! I was so happy. So that is the great news... the bad news is that Liam started up with vomiting again. It isn't like it was before the Erythromycin but he is still doing it some. Usually every morning at breakfast. I don't get that...why then when his tummy is empty? But still, all in all, the meds have helped him tremendously and we have now been able to up every daytime bottle to 3 ounces. Yea! And his night time bottle is almost at 4 ounces. There was no way on earth we could do that before the Erythromycin so it has really helped him a lot!

Liam is able to eat 2nd food now but since they up the amount in the jar by an ounce it is more food than he can eat. So I either save it back and try to remember to feed it to him or it goes to waste. But at least he doesn't mind the texture. So we have made progress in the feeding area. We still work on getting Liam to take all of his bottles face up and in the regular baby position for feeding. It's harder for him because his suck is very weak but he is doing pretty well.

We are still working on head control because Liam doesn't have any yet. I admit that I am very frustrated by this fact and try not to dwell on it but some days are better than others. We do a lot of tummy time and pray that he gets better and better. He is now in his bed every night and doing really well sleeping there. The time change has messed him up though and he now sleeps in until after 7 which has me thrown off and out of whack!

10 March 2009

Liam hasn't been his self again this weekend. It started off with him screaming at me for giving him bananas and avocados, which he has normally enjoyed. I thought it might just be that he wasn't digging the texture and made him some peas to eat instead. He yelled at me about those too. So I just fed him a bottle and he did fine. But after that he really wasn't his happy go lucky self anymore. We went through the whole weekend with him not really wanting to do anything and when Monday came around he didn't want to cooperate for his OT at all. She pretty much spent the entire time holding him. Not very effective therapy, well I guess it can be, but not in our situation. He's also been back to gagging again like he was before the Erythromycin.

Same thing happened today, too. Liam had PT this morning and he didn't want to work at all. That isn't like him. Cathy can usually push Liam and get him going but he didn't want to do much. When Marcia, our vision teacher, came by, Liam cried almost the entire time! She could tell right away he was not his usual self.

Mimi was over this evening though and Liam really seemed to snap out of his funk with her. She had him giggling so hard he got the hiccups and threw up. Mimi thought that was funny. So, while he was in a good mood I took advantage and started working with him and he did really well tonight pushing on his arms and getting his head up. I am praying he is over his little attitude and we can get back to business. I do NOT deal well when Liam is not well. When he's happy I am wonderful but when he isn't doing well, I am a bear.

07 March 2009

It's getting more difficult to shop these days with Liam. When he was smaller it was great to put him in my Baby Bjorn and carry him in the front. He could work on his head control and I had two arms free to shop. Now that he's bigger, my back doesn't like the load he puts on it and quite frankly I keep forgetting to get it out when I am headed into the store. Normally I just carry him in front of me so he can look around but then my back gets sore and I try putting him on my hip. He doesn't do too bad for a kid with no head control and low trunk tone. He likes to suck on my shoulder and he does a decent job of sitting on my hip. Invariably I will get asked Liam's age or someone will comment on how tired he must be (because his head is down) and I just dance around the questions. The other day this nice little lady came up and started talking to Liam while I was holding him as he faced out from me. She bent down to get in his line of sight and was saying things to him. Liam, not once, looked at her or quit sucking on his hand the entire time. She then said to me that he must be really focused because he didn't pay her any attention. I just nodded and let her walk away. I didn't feel like telling her he couldn't see her.

I had a quick trip into Target and wanted to put Liam in his stroller. He only tolerates the car seat for so long and gets disgruntled if we are shopping and he is stuck in it. So I went to get his stroller from the back of the suburban and lo and behold, it wasn't there. UGH. My back is already sore from my trip into Target two days ago and I wasn't happy to see my stroller missing. I laid Liam in the bottom of the cart for a while and he was happy to stare at the red squares of the cart. But then I hit on this great idea:



I put a bean bag chair in the cart and Liam loved it. He got to sit up high and see around. As we shopped through the store people kept commenting on how cute he looked. Too bad it took up the whole cart and didn't leave any room for stuff!

05 March 2009

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

This isn't something I do every week since I don't like to complain. But here is my hi/lo Thursday post:

Lo-
This was the two year anniversary of Kyle Ann's birth and death. I was doing awesome with that until I posted my little memorial for her on the blog. It made me sad and I hate feeling sad. I won't watch sad movies or listen to sad songs. Even commercials can tear me up. I chalk most of that up to hormones that have increasingly taken over my body in the recent years. I am not the girl I once was!

Hi-
Liam is moving on to 2nd foods and doing pretty well. He is now eating chicken and turkey and he is keeping his food down! The thanks going to Erythromycin! He used to throw up while I fed him (I would catch it and re-feed him. It's gross I know but with the calorie booster in it I hated to see it go to waste and it isn't like it was digested food. It was still fresh! lol) and first thing in the morning but that has all subsided and he is feeling great!

03 March 2009



Happy Birthday, sweet baby girl.
We miss you so much!


Born two years ago today at 1 lb 5 oz. and at 26 weeks you weighed 10 grams less than your older brother Liam who was only 23 weeks when he was born! You look so much like Aidan and Liam. You are beautiful and perfect in every way and we are thankful that you are forever our daughter.