Just when we were doubting that this milestone was going to be reached anytime soon, Mathew went ahead and surprised us. Last night he finally figured out how to roll from his back to his belly! Once he grasped this new skill he began rolling over and over. Today I caught it on camera. Be patient....he likes to ham it up for the camera for a minute first. :) This lil baby will be on the move now. No more lying him down and walking away!

Grandparents Galore

Happy Grandparents Day (although it is 1 day belated) to all the grandparents out there, especially all of Mathew's amazing grandparents! Did you know Mathew has 2 sets of grandparents, four great grandpas, three great grandmas, and 1 great great grandma?..and yes, those are all living!! :) Wow, what a lucky (and spoiled) little boy he is! Unfortunately we didn't get to be with any of the grandparents yesterday, but last weekend Mat's parents visited us and right when we moved in my parents visited us. So, between those two visits and all our time in St. Louis, MJ has gotten lots of grandparent love lately. Here's a few of my favorite pics of some of those great grandparent moments...

Reading with Pop Pop in St. Louis

Visiting at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Keyes' House

Meeting Mammaw and Pappaw

Lunch with Grandpa Great

Having a "heart to heart" with Grandpa Mark, in Dubuque

Visiting Grandma Great

Out to dinner with GiGi in Dubuque

All snuggled up with Grandma Bobi at her house

Prayer..."When life gets too hard to stand, kneel"

It's one of my favorite sayings and we've all had times in our lives when really that's all you can do. Back in April I posted a prayer request for some dear friends who were expecting a baby girl with some possible serious health issues. Baby Faith was just born on September 10th. Her mommy is being discharged today, but sweet Faith is in the NICU. Our information is limited, but we know this is a very scary and emotional time for Faith's parents. This is so near and dear to our hearts of course. If you can find it in your heart, I ask that you lift up Faith in prayer. Please pray for her health, strength for her new mama and daddy and of course guidance for her team of doctors. Knowing so many people were praying for Mathew during his uncertain time brought me so much peace and I am confident it will help do the same for Faith's family.

6 Month Stats

We went for Mathew's 6 month well baby visit today. I really liked his new pediatrician. She is also a neonatologist in the local NICU so she was very familiar with Mathew's history which made it quite nice. I loved our pediatrician back in Lakeland and was really nervous about finding a new one...especially without any local referrals, but I think we lucked out with her!

Our boy was in the 50th percentile straight across the boards. He is 17lbs. 5 oz., and 27.5 inches long. It seems like his super speedy growth has finally tapered off.

He seems to be doing great and she doesn't see the need to see a pulmonologist just yet. She suggested seeing how he does this winter and how his lungs respond to common colds, etc. A wonderful piece of news is that he'll be able to receive the Synagis shots (during RSV season) right there in the clinic. We were fully expecting to have to travel to Iowa City, a hour and a half away, for them so it was quite a pleasant surprise. He'll begin those late October or early November and continue for 5 months. She recommended a follow up hearing screening at one year due to all his exposure to antibiotics in the NICU. Sounds like standard protocol just to be safe.

We were also given a referral to the local early intervention group here. In Florida, Winnie Palmer Hospital had set us up with Early Steps, but since we moved we weren't ever able to follow up. I was able to get in touch with the "Early Access" people here and they are supposed to be contacting me in the next 2 days to set up a time to come to our home and do a screening with MJ. It's completely free of charge and they do initial screenings and in depth evaluations to determine if your child needs early access to any resources, specialists, etc. I really feel like he's doing just fine developmentally thus far, but it never hurts to check with the experts I suppose.

Oh, and get this. The ped. suggested trying a sippy cup and introducing water! Woah, is he growing up too fast or what?! I was just getting used to the whole idea of a bottle. ha! ;)

Six Month Sweetie!

It's so hard to believe that we have a 6 month old! When I stop and think about how much has changed though in these last 6 months, it's incredible. Our critically ill newborn gained strength, healed and was released from the hospital, we packed up our home in FL, visited Iowa and bought a home, spent almost a month in St. Louis, moved everything into our new home and both started new jobs! Whew....quite a busy 6 months it's been. Mathew has been the one constant and it's his love and well being that has kept me going and focused through it all.

I looked back through pictures this morning and read my blog entry on the day he was born. It was such a hard time and it's really painful to revisit, but yet I think it's so important to occasionally remind myself of it. Probably at least once a week I am overcome with tears as I look at him or hold him and think of how differently things could've turned out. I can't imagine my life without him. He truly is an incredibly sweet boy.

Mathew is such a happy baby. The only time he really cries is when he's super tired or hungry. He makes lots of cute baby noises like the "mmm" sound, high pitched squeals, and the occasional spit bubbling. He absolutely adores his Johnny Jump Up. It's probably his favorite thing to sit in. He bounces all over and then picks his feet up so that he can swing back and forth. He's getting stronger and is able to sit up better and better. He can stay up on his own about ten seconds or so before he topples over. He's still not rolling over from his back to his belly, but if you lay him down on his tummy he flops over to his back within seconds. I think he think this whole tummy time and crawling skills are unnecessary! He'd much prefer to stand.

He's doing well with solids. He's eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, prunes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and now peas today. Sometimes he is more interested than others. Apples, sweet potatoes, and bananas seem to be the favorites so far. We began weaning a bit shortly after we moved to Iowa. It wasn't the easiest process, but once he finally caught on it's been smooth sailing for the last week and half. He's continuing to nurse twice a day and then have a bottle of formula the other times.

He's improved again with his sleep habits thank goodness! He loves to snuggle with his "cuddle bear" while he sleeps. It's so cute! He's great about falling asleep on his own at night. I love to sneak in after he's drifted off to sleep just to peek at him. Now if he could just learn how to put his pacifier back in his mouth when he wakes up wanting it, we'd be golden!

Just six months ago we were so shocked and worried about our brand new baby boy. Now he's thriving daily and is incredibly happy. I will be forever grateful for this little miracle-Happy Half Birthday my sweet boy!

Now Featuring...

http://keyeswindingroad.shutterfly.com/622

The above link will take you to pictures of our new, but very old home, in Dubuque. The home was originally built in 1890 and is in the heart of downtown. It has lots of charm and although it's completely different than anything we've ever lived in, we're really beginning to enjoy it. We've spent the last few weeks unpacking as much as possible and turning it into our home. As you'll see in the pics, things still aren't quite complete...pics to be hung, some touch up painting to do, etc. but for the most part it was finally feeling picture ready! When I took the inside pictures it was night time, so Mathew's room is not included. It looks pretty much like his old room though, except needs some wallpaper border taken down. I also didn't include the 2nd room in our attic because it's currently our box room full of the things left to be unpacked. It will eventually be a play room and also keep our futon in case we have extra guests. Enjoy!

A Little Slice of Heaven

Today I had quite possibly one of the best moments of being a new mom. For nearly 6 months I have waited for my little man to be calm and still enough to lie still to cuddle with me. Those that know MJ well know that he constantly wants to be standing, bouncing, etc. Today he was very relaxed and cuddly. He woke up from a nap but still seemed a little tired so we laid down on the couch together. He spent about 30 minutes just lying on my chest like this. He was cuddling with his bear, head laying on my chest, and just staring at me. Mat took this quick video. I don't think the sound captured it, but I was singing "You Are My Sunshine," to him. He truly is my sunshine and especially brightened mama's day today! Ahhh, I will always treasure this and hope there are more of these cuddle moments to come. What a sweet boy.