Happy Thanksgiving!

Brian and Shawna came to visit us and little James last weekend. We had a fun weekend staying mostly indoors. Friday was a nice day so we went for a walk around Sewickley. They loved the candy store and the bakery...but who doesn't?!! Shawna watched James for us so that Dave and I could go get our swine flu shots on Saturday...Western PA finally made them available to those of us with little babies! Shawna and I did a little Christmas shopping on Saturday afternoon and went to see "New Moon." I was so excited
to see it. It was fabulous! I want to go see it again because there's no way I'm waiting for it to come to video! (Yes, I know I'm a huge dork).

Dave and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving with James in Pennsylvania. We have so much to be thankful for and having James home with us is at the top of the list! I made my first Thanksgiving meal all by myself and I think it turned out great...Dave did not disagree! I made a turkey breast, green bean casserole, oven potatoes, homemade bread, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. All by myself in approximately 4 hours! I know I'm good :) About 10 minutes after we finished cleaning up and putting away left overs, our neighbors stopped by to invite us to supper at their house...a meal with all the trimmings. We accepted because we haven't been able to visit with them much lately...and we can't turn down fresh food from Karen's kitchen! It was great to spend time with our neighbors around a table filled with wonderful food...we are so blessed!

James is doing great. He is up to a beefy 12 and a half pounds now. AND he is sleeping through the night now too. He has slept for about 11 hours the last 4 nights in a row. Go James!!! We are off to see the cardiologist tomorrow...just a check-up since they can't visit him in the NICU whenever they want. His occupational therapist and developmental therapist will also be by this week to check on his progress. His therapists come to the house, so we don't have to go out...so nice! We don't see his surgeon again for another couple weeks, but we're still planning on corrective surgery in January.

Working in the kitchen...the pumpkin pie is in the oven...it smells so good!

Watching Turkey Day football...boys will be boys!

Mat Time

James loves playing on his mat! He kicks and grunts and just has a great time playing with the animals. He had a lot of fun showing off his mat skills to Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend. James is up to a hefty 11 pounds 8 ounces as of yesterday. He keeps on growing! And last night he slept from 8:30 until 6:30!! Mommy is working on adjusting his feedings to work around this new sleeping pattern of his. He has the bottomless Iverson stomach so he pretty much eats whenever I let him. Today he worked on sucking from a bottle with the occupational therapist. He can't take too much since it just drains out his neck, but he did a pretty good job for the first time. She's going to come every other week to work on his sucking/eating skills so that he'll be ready to go after surgery.

Can't forget about Olifur!!!

Happy Veteran's Day

And Happy 3 month Birthday to James! He just keeps growing and last night he only woke up once!!! I was so excited. We put him to bed at 8 and he woke up at 1:30 to eat. The he didn't wake up again until 7! I was so excited when I realized what happened when Dave's alarm went off at 6. Hopefully it's the beginning of a new sleeping pattern!

A few pics...

James lying on the adorable quilt that Oma made him.

Hanging out with Olifur...James still has another 4 pounds before he catches him!

Birthday Weekend

Dave, James, and my parents helped me have a happy birthday weekend. I was just a little sad because it was the first time in my life that I haven't celebrated with my brother (who shares the same birthday) and I had to miss Olivia's 7th birthday party. Keeping James healthy is worth it though! Dave bought me some shelves for the living room and my dad helped me put them up...it only took all Friday! I was excited because I finally got to unpack some more boxes from the move. Saturday, my parents watched James and Dave and I went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant. I had my first margarita of 2009 (and my first drink since January)...it was fabulous!!! The weather was gorgeous on Saturday (70 degrees) so we all went for a walk. The fresh air wore James out and he slept a lot.

James is doing well. On Friday, he weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces. We saw the surgeon last week and he is happy with James' progress. The plan is to see the surgeon again in December and then schedule corrective surgery for January. We are working on trying to get James to sleep in longer spurts at night time. Right now the longest he goes is 5 hours (from 8 to 1) and then he wakes up every 3 or less after that. I have the Baby Wise book requested from the library for suggestions, but I have to wait my turn. Almost lunch time for James...the chunk is up to 5 ounces every 4 hours!