We've been admitted* Edited

First, thank you all so much for your prayers and good, healing thoughts. Little Micah really needs them right now. He has been admitted to the hospital and has to stay until he can keep fluids down without being on an IV. So far, no luck at all and he's still on the IV. He is miserable, but now that we're in a room, he's a little more comfortable. I'll update tomorrow on what's happening...

(By the way - new parents - always trust your gut instinct. The doc we saw this morning (not our regular doctor) told us to just keep trying to feed him and he'd be fine. So, we tried on the way home and nothing was staying down for longer than 10 seconds. We turned the car around and went to the hospital. All the docs there said we made the right decision. I'm so glad we trusted our instincts. We're learning!)


*Just an update - it's Saturday afternoon and we're still at the hospital. The doctors think we'll be able to come home tomorrow, but for now we're just trying to get him to take little sips of pedialyte and keep those down. Thanks again for all the prayers and good thoughts - it really means a lot to us! Hopefully we'll be home tomorrow and Micah can be back to himself very soon! Right now he's just a little limp bean. :(

Sick Baby* Edited

** Warning - I am very tired - this post may not make much sense! :) **

So, we've had a sick baby since Tuesday. Not to get to detailed, but he's had diarrhea since Tuesday morning. Last night I was at work and Kevin told me he had projectiled his bedtime bottle, but that he was able to get some pedialyte in him using a syringe. We had no idea that projectiling is a bad sign - it can mean dehydration. (Just letting all the other new parents know!)

Anyway - this morning Micah could not keep ANYTHING down - even sucking on a wet washcloth made him throw up - dry heaves and all. He projectiled the bottle that he was trying to suck down and I knew something was WRONG WRONG WRONG. He also looked like he was grey and could barely lift his head.

I called the doc's after-hours and they told us to come in at 9 (this was at 7:30) so I rinsed Mic off (he had poopy pants) and packed a bag for the entire day - just in case. Kevin took the day off and we went to the doc, who told us that, yes, he was severely dehydrated and we had to go to the hospital. So, I cried the whole way there but then was strong for Mic as it took an hour to put in the IV (felt so bad for the nurses - they were so upset having to stick him so much).

I won't go into too many details, but it was a LONG day - he threw a few fits (but that was good b/c his strength was returning - bad b/c he screamed for 15 minutes straight) and slept a lot. Diagnosis is Rotovirus - which supposedly only lasts 2-3 days, so hopefully we're finished after tonight or tomorrow. Now we're alternating very small amounts of rice milk and pedialyte bottles every 2 hours. We got the pedialyte popsicles - we found out today he likes those! :)

SO - our first trip to the ER was exhausting, but thank goodness - we are home and can hopefully get him well here at home instead of staying at the hospital. (They kept him for 10 hours b/c they were going to admit him.)

This is just after the IV went in - he is actually sleeping here - remember he sleeps with his eyes open? It totally freaked the nurses out - one kept pushing on his belly to make sure he was okay.

Dad & baby sleeping

Popsicle Mouth! He was loving his orange popsicle. :)
(But, when I look at this picture - I can see how terrible he was feeling! So sad for my baby!)

I should add that we have great friends - they took care of our dogs all day and then we came home to a clean house with the dishwasher running. That was a great feeling - we left so quickly this morning- it was a mess! Thanks Rob, Chris, Mitch & Gracie!

I promise I'll add to this post to let you all know how he's doing tomorrow. Right now I'm praying that he stays hydrated and this virus leaves his little baby body.

*It's Friday morning and although he kept his fluids down all night, that's not the case this morning so we're off to the doctor in a little bit. He may have to be admitted to the hospital. Please, if you're so inclined, say prayers that he gets better. I am one worried mama right now and Micah is really over this whole being sick thing.

Our Little Wild Man - Pictures!

Recently, Amy reminded me to look into Celebrating Adoption - they do photos for families who have adopted - for free! I had been wanting to do pictures around Micah's first birthday, so I looked into it and found Rebecca Doehring Photography. Her work was amazing, but she was kind of far away. I decided it would be worth it and she got us in right away.

So, on Saturday afternoon we drove about an hour to Rebecca's studio. From the moment we got there it was craziness. CRAZY, I tell you. Micah would NOT sit still. He tried to face plant off her green chair (which looks so cool in the pictures), he would NEVER sit in where we tried to put him - he immediately crawled away. For the family pics, he started howling and squirming. It was great, let me tell you. But, Rebecca was very patient and laughed with us at Micah's craziness. She even put in his Father Goose cd - I brought it in hopes it would make him happy like it does at home. Not so much.

So, after an hour and a half of crabbing, crawling, daredevil dives, and even a bottle break, we finally got him to stay still by letting him stand and sit on some stools. I saw the stools sitting off to the side and figured we should give it a final try. It worked! She got some amazing shots - I am really impressed. You can see them here and you can also read Rebecca's blog about our day and see some shots here.

My favorite? The one of Kevin and Micah close up - so sweet! Not really happy with myself in the family ones - I think I was too worried about the howling that was happening in between the shots. Let me know your favorite - I have to pick out of all these cute pics!

You Are Now Big Haircut*

"You are no longer Big Tuna. From here on out you will be known as Big Haircut."

Big day Micah-fans! First haircut! I know, his curls were so stinking cute, but the back part of his hairdo had not caught up with the top and the sides, so we decided to even it out.

We were so lucky to have found the barber that we did - he was awesome with Micah! His name is James and from the moment we walked in the door his focus was keeping Micah happy and making him laugh - which he did quite well. I can't tell you how great it was. Micah is a huge screamer when I comb his hair - I told James that and he showed me the best way to comb it with a metal pick. Micah barely noticed that his hair was being combed. I about fell over.

Anyway - with the help of amazing James and some chocolate & peanut butter Hershey's kisses, Micah did great for his first haircut! He wiggled and squirmed a lot, but did not scream at all. (Kevin and I were sure we were in for a scream-fest!) He only cried a tiny bit at the end.

Here is the "Before" shot with James:

And, the "After" shot:

Cute, huh?

And, here is the slideshow of the whole thing:



(Please notice that in one of those pictures I have chest hair. It's awesome.)

Oh, and this week our big man learned how to clap, took his shirt off his head by himself (after I got the arms out), and has learned how to "wash" his hair, which he does in the bath and out. My sweet boy is growing up! :)

Snow Day!

It's snowing today - on my first day of work! I wish I could report that I'm going to get the night off, but I don't think that will happen. The good news is Kevin is off, so I don't have to worry about taking Mic to my Mom's house in the snow. (He'll be going there for about 2 hours when I work - until Kevin gets home.)

Over the weekend we got a hint of Spring - it was wonderful! We went to Micah's first friend birthday party - little R turned 1! This little cutie was born at 32 weeks and is now as big as ever! He's a little miracle baby. I worked with his mama while she was pregnant and we were working on our homestudy when R was born. Jen was a HUGE supporter of our adoption and celebrated each step with us. (Thanks Jen!) It's so amazing that R and Micah were born only a week apart!

Opening presents with his Mom, Dad & brother

R liked his cake - such a cutie!

Micah was not so good at the party. He has decided that if he doesn't like something, he will just yell until he gets what he wants. Uh-oh. We've decided to stop giving in to the yelling, and hope that will help. Our child has quite the temper, and now that he's found his voice, he has no qualms about using it. That being said, he is also getting to be such a snuggler - it is so cute - I love snuggling with him. :)

Here is Micah after his first friend birthday party - look at him facing forward now! Big guy!

Best Good News!

I am so happy right now that I look like a crazy fool sitting in front of my computer crying and laughing, but you all have to go congratulate Ted & Lori on their own Rooney! It has been a LONG, trying journey for them, but they are finally parents to sweet baby Abe! Congratulations!!!!

Pictures and Stuff

I'm feeling uninspired to write anything, so I figure I'll share some pictures instead...

Here is Micah playing with some of his new toys that he got for his birthday...

Books! People asked what he 'wanted' and I told them we needed more books. This child will sit happily with a pile of books, look through them and 'read.' (He really does talk to himself with his books - so cute!) He got a lot of great books for his birthday including a cute one with a picture of Micah in it from Mamush, All the Colors of the Earth from a very good friend (made me cry), and The Perfect Orange from Chryssi & Fam. We love all of our new books!

Micah's "fake aunt" Chrissy (mom to his "fake cousins" Mitch, Gracie, George and Chuck) gave him this giraffe chair. Cute stuff! They also gave him a giraffe tunnel for him to crawl through...

Kevin trying to get Micah to crawl through to him.

He finally did it.

Here he is up on all fours - he is a full-fledged crawler now! (He still does his sit-scoot thing on the wood floors though!)

On Thursday we went to lunch - remember last week we had an ice-storm on his birthday and had to cancel lunch? Well, we rescheduled, but not too many people could make it this week. We were happy to have lunch with cutie Minnow and his mom (celebrating their recent referral of a sweet baby girl - Yay!!) and Mrs. B.

Minnow isn't really sure he wants to share his 'Nilla wafer. Micah has a grabbing problem, so he's going for it anyway.

And, just for fun - here is Micah's bathtime faux-hawk...

(Is it just me or does he look huge in this picture? Well, huge and freaked out :) BTW - we went to the doctor last week and he is 20.02 lbs. and 30 inches long - tall and skinny! :)

That's it for now... next week it's back to work for me! So sad, but only part-time and no daycare involved - Dad will be doing most of the work because I'll be working at night. I went on two interviews this week and am starting next week! It worked out perfectly (I always said I'd go back to work part time after Micah turned 1) except that I am sad to be going back to work because I'll miss my baby. :(