Milestones

Our little man is reaching new milestones as he gets bigger and bigger. I remember with Ruthie, the books were always out and I was on top of what should happen when and where Ruthie fell on the spectrum. Between Gabe's preemie status and 2nd child status, the books are gone and I'm enjoying the surprise of each milestone as they come when he's ready.

Here is one of many milestones to come. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Indoctrination

As you all may well know, Gabe has just been full of surprises since day one. Or, is day one really called "minus 32" since that is the number of days early that Gabe arrived?

Even more surprising than his premature arrival was the diagnosis of Gabe's severe hemophilia A. What this means is that Gabe is lacking a protein in his body (Factor VIII) which is used to clot his blood. Therefore, Gabe will bleed longer (not more) than the average person.

It's not so much an issue with surface cuts and bruises because Gabe does make enough platelets to create a superficial scab. What we have to be concerned about is internal bleeds- deep muscle or joint bleeds. Normally, these bleeds don't start occurring until an infant begins crawling or walking and pressure is actually being put on the muscles and joints. Gabe, however, felt it would be good for Mommy and Daddy to have a little practice before all that, just to keep us on our toes.

On Friday, August 22nd, we took Gabe in for his routine 4 month checkup. His two-month checkup went uneventfully, with shots being no problem, and this one seemed to be the same except that he got more shots- one in his left leg and two in his right. On Saturday, he was pretty fussy- but we figured it was due to the shots. By Sunday afternoon, though, he was to the point of being inconsolable, his right thigh was very swollen and hard, and he was not moving it at all. All signs pointed to a bleed.

We ended up that evening in the ER for what ended up being the first of four factor infusions over the course of the week. Gabe is doing just fine now. His right leg will probably be a little swollen for as long as it takes for all the blood to reabsorb, but he's kicking and bending his leg just like before.

Apparently, it's quite rare to get a muscle bleed from immunizations so we do have some precautions to take for his next round of shots. No more than one shot per leg, which means we'll have to spread out his immunizations over a couple of weeks, and we'll keep a pressure wrap over the puncture sight for 24 hours.

So there it is. We've officially been indoctrinated into the world of life with a hemophiliac. We survived this episode, and we'll survive the many more that lie ahead.

Gabe, you're a strong little boy and you're going to keep Mommy and Daddy strong. For that, and everything else, we love you very much.

Gabe's swollen right leg.

Giggles

You can't help but giggle when Gabe giggles. Yes, laughter is infectious, but Gabe doesn't just make you laugh, he makes you giggle. When Gabe giggles, that joyous little sound jumps right inside your bones, to the core of your body, and he makes you giggle just like him. And when that happens, you and Gabe and everyone around you sound like a chorus of little dolls whose drawstrings have just been pulled and let go.

Into the Woods

The last time Jon and I went camping was in the summer of 2005, just before I found out I was pregnant with Ruthie. I can't believe we waited three whole years to go again.

I know our reasons for putting off going- It's too hard with a baby... The kids won't be able to sleep if they're not in their beds... How are we going to fit everything in the car... and any other argument you can think of with one to two kids, two dogs and us.

We finally had our opportunity when our friend Walt called on Thursday and said, "Hey- you guys want to go camping tomorrow?" Our initial response was, "Hmmmmmm...well...I don't know..." until we finally said, "Let's just do it!" We figured the worst case scenario is that we would have a horrible time and then we just wouldn't go again until the kids were old enough to handle it.

Instead, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and we are ready to go again.

Ruthie had a blast! She helped set up the tent and searched for firewood. She enjoyed her first campfire, or "candles" as she called it. She even dragged her sleeping bag and pillow back and forth a hundred times between Uncle Walt's tent and ours trying to decide where to sleep. She did wake up in the middle of the night a little spooked and cold, but after finally calming down she slept well into the morning.



Gabe had no problems camping! He stayed right on schedule and slept all night long- even through Ruthie's crying spell. And he was quite content in his camping bed- a perfectly-sized cardboard box! Don't knock it- it was way easier to transport and set up than the pack-and-play. Gabe didn't seem to mind one bit!



I hope this will be the first of many camping trips to come. I know many people who have fond memories of camping with their families when they were young. I want my children to be no different.

12 Weeks

Our little Gabriel is 12 weeks old today, and he is living life to its fullest. He has had quite a fun-filled summer tagging along with his big sis to the park, the zoo, the library, the pool.... He's been quite the trooper with minimal complaints!

Gabe's doing great. At his two month check-up he weighed in at 9lbs 12oz, so I'm sure he's well into the 10lb range by now. He's a good eater and he's been sleeping well. He's had many "almost" full nights of sleep- he'll go 8 to 9 hours, but he's been needing a pacifier around hour six to make it the rest of the way. Last night, though, he gave us a nice solid eight hours of sleep without interruption. Here's hoping there's plenty more of those nights to come!

Mama's Cherry Pie

(think "Country")

I wanna tell y'all a little story about a recent family activity...

Yesterday we packed up our car real good and took a little road trip down to a real nice place called Berry Patch Farms. Them people who run that there farm, they're real good people.

You know what them farmers asked us when we done got there? They asked us if we was interested in doin' some cherry pickin'. Cherry pickin'? We ain't never done no cherry pickin'. But we all looked at each other real hard and then we said "What the heck. Let's go and do us some cherry pickin'!"

And you know what? We got us some real nice cherries. And I done turned those cherries into a real nice cherry pie. I ain't never made no pie before.

And you know what else? That cherry pie was dee-licious. The chilluns liked it, their daddy liked it, I sure liked it, and even them doggies liked it. It was real good.

We had so much fun doin' that there cherry pickin, I went and wrote me up a little diddie all about it. I sure hope you enjoy...

Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine,
She picked lots of cherries for the cherry pie.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.

Snow in July

As Denver begins to heat up for the summer, it's nice to get away to cooler areas. The fabulous thing about Colorado is that you can always hop on I-70 West and you will inevitably hit cooler weather somewhere down the road. Today we did just that. And, not only did we hit cooler weather (a refreshing 64 degrees), we also hit snow.

Just 50 miles west of Denver is St. Mary's Glacier. With a short rocky hike upwards you soon reach a picturesque lake and the year-round snowfield that lies behind it. While Ruthie had very little interest in actually hiking the hike, she loved bouldering on the big rocks, throwing little rocks in the lake and walking in and eating the "no."

So, when the kids are hot and sticky in the middle of July, we can hop in the car for some sledding and snowball fights and, yes, even skiing!