Moving Time

Well, we've lived in Pittsburgh for 19 months now, so I suppose it's time to move :) Dave's company has been telling him since July that he needs to be available for a transfer and it's finally happening. We will be moving to Lake Charles, Louisiana at the end of next week. We've known about this since right around Christmas, but it wasn't made official until this week. Dave will be working on a project while he's there that is scheduled to take 18-24 months. Another move that won't be permanent, but we're not sure we want to settle that far from family so we're okay with that. We are excited and ready for a change of scenery though, so we're looking forward to getting this show on the road, so to speak.

Lake Charles has a small children's hospital in case we need it and the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston (which is an amazing hospital) is only 2 hours away. I have a lot of phone calls ahead of me to get all of James' care transferred, but I've started the process and we're thankful that there will be good healthcare and therapy available there.

Please pray for a safe move for our family. And also please continue to pray for James. I think he's getting a cold and so we're praying extra hard that it stays a cold and doesn't turn into anything else this time...especially since we're supposed to be moving in a week!

James Update

I just realized that the last couple of posts I've made have been about Andrew and that those blog readers out there might want to know how James has been doing and are just too polite (or scared) to ask. Well, James is doing fine. He hit a low point the Monday after Christmas and has been getting steadily better since then. He's still on his breathing treatments twice a day, which can be doubled if he gets any cold symptoms. The pulmonologist wants him on the treatments at least until cold/flu season is over. We will reevaluate in April to see if he needs them on a permanent basis. James will forever more be on his Prevacid (or some other reflux med), but the surgeon is hopeful that we will be able to back off on the dosage size as well as the motility drug he's on (to speed up digestion) as James grows. We are keeping James away from daycare, nurseries, and play groups for now. Since he puts absolutely everything in his mouth right now there's really no way to keep him away from germs, but we're hopeful that keeping him out of these environments will go a long way to keeping him healthy.

James' development has also been getting better since Christmas. He can't crawl yet, but he is finally showing a desire to be mobile. He can transition from sitting to laying down now, which is a huge step for him. He has his own way of going short distances which includes a process of sitting, laying down, sitting, ... He'll also roll and scoot on his back using his head and feet. It's quite the site. He is finally putting weight on his feet and will stand with help, but refuses to walk (even when standing on my feet). James' weight is in the 15% right now, but the kid would eat non-stop if we'd let him so we're not really that worried about his size for now. He is finally developing more vowel sounds and will scream "eeeeee" at the top of his lungs until he is acknowledged. He's getting better at communicating what he wants with reaching and pushing things away. We're working on some sign language, but he still has a long way to go on that. Overall January has been light years better than December and we are hopeful that his progress and health will continue to get better each day.

Thank you for all the continued prayers and encouragement!! Enjoy a few pics of James :)

Likes sitting in his little booster seat.

Likes rocking and reading

Loves watching his favorite TV shows
(not sure what we'd do without PBS)

Baby Talk and Smiles

Andrew is 3 Months Old

Andrew's 3-month birthday was yesterday. He is growing right along. Andrew can roll from his tummy to back efficiently, but he hasn't got the other way yet. He can hold his head up high and likes sitting in his Bumbo or doorway jumper. He usually only cries when he's tired, but has his other moments of course. He likes to take small naps about every 3 hours with one longer one after lunch. Andrew's been going to bed between 8 and 9 and usually wakes up around 3 for a bottle and then likes to start his day by 6:30 (hopefully he'll grow out of that). I'm looking forward to the day that he stops the 3am feeding! Andrew is full of smiles but they're so hard to catch on film because the camera always distracts him. Here are a few pictures for you're viewing pleasure...

Getting ready to roll over...

Really interested in the camera...
Enough pictures Mommy!

Okay. Just one more because I'm so cute!