It is hard to believe that Caleb is now nine months old. He looks like a newborn at twelve pounds thirteen ounces. He is becoming more and more interested in the toys on his play gym and his exersaucer, all the while building up his muscles. We get frustrated that he can not sit up on his own, or do some things that a nine month old normally would be able to do. His pediatrician made a good point in our monthly visit that at his weight, there is simply not enough muscle mass yet to do many of these thing. He is growing though, praise God. He is healthy, smiles a lot, and is happy. On March 13th we had nice warm weather, so we all went to a local park after I got home from work. We ate sandwiches on a park bench, and walked a loop around the park. Caleb was wide eyed looking at the tree branches above as we rolled his stroller down the path. Isaiah was thrilled to be outside together as a family as well, and even more thrilled that we stopped at the play ground so that he could play for a little while. This was the first time we had been anywhere as a family of four. Oh sure we often go for a ride in the van or run errands together, but someone always has to stay in the van with Caleb. Occasionally we would drop in on my parents for a quick visit or stop by a local Dairy Queen for a treat via the drive thru of course. I could tell Jennie was caught up in the moment as her eyes were nice and moist. We both stated how great it was to be outside together as a family.
Isaiah has been growing up way too fast. We bought him a big-boy bike last weekend. We put his bike together, and I walked with him and coached him on the pedaling. A few days prior it was rainy and Isaiah needed to burn some energy. So I backed the cars out of the garage and we got his tricycle out to ride so I could teach him how to pedal. Last time we had it out I mostly pushed him with the convenient handle. However, now he seemed to be able to pedal a little better and when he would turn the handle bars they would hit his knees. We did not realize it at the time, but the perfect age/size for him to have ridden his tricycle was last summer when we were at the hospital every day. That made me feel like I had missed out on something special. So anyhow, he rode his big boy bike with training wheels a couple times and now he is so good at it I am going to have to get air in my bike tires to keep up with him as he goes faster than I want to run. ha ha Isaiah is such a smart boy, he is just a sponge and amazes us with what he catches on to. We read a kids devotional to him every night. It is neat to see him put things together from one story to another and learn right from wrong etc.
My wife is tired of the daily level two nursing care that she is providing to Caleb and taking care of Isaiah. Women are emotional in the first place so the whole experience does not make things any easier. Seems our only time to really talk is about midnight when I want nothing more than to go to sleep and rest before waking up the next morning to go to work and do everything again. She does a great job loving on our boys and is a whiz at all the medications, oxygen, and keeping up with the normal house stuff. She is working on a book about our entire experience that we hope to have published sometime soon. We hope it can help others that are getting ready to go through a similar experience, and provide hope and encouragement.
On the 15th Caleb started running a fever of 103, and we could not get it to go down. We ended up taking him to a local Children's Urgent Care as directed by the on call Dr. Turns out he had a temp of 104, an ear infection, and somehow got the dreaded RSV. Thankfully he had been getting his RSV shots in previous months, as this would now help him fight this virus. It is now the 22nd and he is getting over the RSV with no hospitalization required (Thank God), and is getting back to his cheerful self. (You can see in the photo that he has plenty of energy to get that oxygen cannula out of his nose!) The RSV makes the airway snotty and causes little ones to not be able to breathe. We had to put Caleb back on oxygen , give air treatments, and add meds, but we were able to keep his saturation levels up and his food intake high enough to keep him out of the hospital.
Tomorow is Caleb's first Easter. We have so much to be thankful for. It truly is a miracle Caleb is even alive today. Many nurses and Dr's at Miami Valley Hospital's NICU, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital provided much effort and care helping Caleb make it. We are very thankful for our loving family that really stepped up and helped to be there for us, support us, and care for Isaiah through the biggest struggle of our lives. Our church friends that came to visit, pray with us, and the prayer team backing us through the incredible challenges. We are SO thankful to God that He heard many peoples prayers to perform miracle after miracle in Caleb's life. We are thankful for the many people we have never met accross the country that prayed for Caleb and our young family and continue to support us and pray for us. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the resurection of God's son Jesus. It is amazing to me that God loves you and I so much that He would allow His son to go through such pain and suffering for you and me. I found Jesus as my savior as a youth, and did not realize until recent years how much He wants to have a relationship with us. I am not perfect and struggle in many areas of my life. In spite of that I have leaned on Jesus more over the past year than I probably ever have in my life combined. I hope you too choose to have Jesus lead your life, it is a lot more peaceful knowing that He is in control.
--Joshua
Isaiah has been growing up way too fast. We bought him a big-boy bike last weekend. We put his bike together, and I walked with him and coached him on the pedaling. A few days prior it was rainy and Isaiah needed to burn some energy. So I backed the cars out of the garage and we got his tricycle out to ride so I could teach him how to pedal. Last time we had it out I mostly pushed him with the convenient handle. However, now he seemed to be able to pedal a little better and when he would turn the handle bars they would hit his knees. We did not realize it at the time, but the perfect age/size for him to have ridden his tricycle was last summer when we were at the hospital every day. That made me feel like I had missed out on something special. So anyhow, he rode his big boy bike with training wheels a couple times and now he is so good at it I am going to have to get air in my bike tires to keep up with him as he goes faster than I want to run. ha ha Isaiah is such a smart boy, he is just a sponge and amazes us with what he catches on to. We read a kids devotional to him every night. It is neat to see him put things together from one story to another and learn right from wrong etc.
My wife is tired of the daily level two nursing care that she is providing to Caleb and taking care of Isaiah. Women are emotional in the first place so the whole experience does not make things any easier. Seems our only time to really talk is about midnight when I want nothing more than to go to sleep and rest before waking up the next morning to go to work and do everything again. She does a great job loving on our boys and is a whiz at all the medications, oxygen, and keeping up with the normal house stuff. She is working on a book about our entire experience that we hope to have published sometime soon. We hope it can help others that are getting ready to go through a similar experience, and provide hope and encouragement.
On the 15th Caleb started running a fever of 103, and we could not get it to go down. We ended up taking him to a local Children's Urgent Care as directed by the on call Dr. Turns out he had a temp of 104, an ear infection, and somehow got the dreaded RSV. Thankfully he had been getting his RSV shots in previous months, as this would now help him fight this virus. It is now the 22nd and he is getting over the RSV with no hospitalization required (Thank God), and is getting back to his cheerful self. (You can see in the photo that he has plenty of energy to get that oxygen cannula out of his nose!) The RSV makes the airway snotty and causes little ones to not be able to breathe. We had to put Caleb back on oxygen , give air treatments, and add meds, but we were able to keep his saturation levels up and his food intake high enough to keep him out of the hospital.
Tomorow is Caleb's first Easter. We have so much to be thankful for. It truly is a miracle Caleb is even alive today. Many nurses and Dr's at Miami Valley Hospital's NICU, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital provided much effort and care helping Caleb make it. We are very thankful for our loving family that really stepped up and helped to be there for us, support us, and care for Isaiah through the biggest struggle of our lives. Our church friends that came to visit, pray with us, and the prayer team backing us through the incredible challenges. We are SO thankful to God that He heard many peoples prayers to perform miracle after miracle in Caleb's life. We are thankful for the many people we have never met accross the country that prayed for Caleb and our young family and continue to support us and pray for us. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the resurection of God's son Jesus. It is amazing to me that God loves you and I so much that He would allow His son to go through such pain and suffering for you and me. I found Jesus as my savior as a youth, and did not realize until recent years how much He wants to have a relationship with us. I am not perfect and struggle in many areas of my life. In spite of that I have leaned on Jesus more over the past year than I probably ever have in my life combined. I hope you too choose to have Jesus lead your life, it is a lot more peaceful knowing that He is in control.
--Joshua
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