Born: Thursday, September 16th at 7:24am.
Wt: 6lb 10oz
Length: 18"
September 16, 2010
September 11, 2010
End of Summer
Well, we survived the summer.
John Paul started kindergarten at a new school this year. He had a bit of a rough start, but settled in after a couple of weeks.
Josef turned 3 in July and is reluctantly potty training. He is home with the nanny and the babies. They spend their days rearranging the contents of the pantry and kitchen cabinets.
Charlie is walking and talking. He likes to look out the upstairs windows at the neighbors' dogs and say "dog". He is healthy and has caught up to his adjusted age group for height and weight. His head circumference is bigger than 90% of his birth age group. So he's a bit of a lawn dart and has to wear shirts with buttons on the shoulder.
Ambrose is close to walking, but he can crawl faster than Mommy can chase him. He is tolerating his tube feeds better and is gaining weight. His height to weight ratio is now proportionate, although he is still small for his age. He is also tasting lots of food by mouth, though mostly cheetos and pretzels.
His last overnight oximetry study showed that his blood saturation is still .1% lower than it should be when he sleeps. Next week he'll see the orthopedic, who will hopefully find that his bones are calcified and officially discharge him from the Wheaton hip brace. However, Ambrose is non compliant on both counts: he'll wear neither the oxygen nor the brace when he sleeps like he is supposed to, so discharge from either specialist will be just a formality anyway.
He has four visits a week of in-home therapy: a developmental specialist twice, and a speech therapist and occupational therapist both for feeding.
Ryan has been busy at work and recently spent a week in Albuquerque and another in Kansas. The boys missed him terribly, but not as much as Gina, who is full term and currently 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. The pregnancy has progressed extremely well since the little guy's bag of waters broke in May but mysteriously self-corrected. So Gina had no excuse but to return to work when school started in August. He still has no name, but we're sure he will by October.
Ryan also travelled recently to Ave Maria, FL for the baptism of our newest godchild, Xavier Augustine.
August 05, 2010
July 29, 2010
July 19, 2010
Ambrose Eats!
Ambrose suddenly showed interest in eating yesterday. This comes on the heels of the household flu pandemic, so maybe he's starving after days of nothing but Pedialyte. Or maybe it's the new Homeopathic/Naturopathic remedies he started on Friday. Either way, we're very happy to see him put food in his mouth.
July 11, 2010
July 06, 2010
Father Benedict
Over a decade ago, Ryan went to visit with a priest, seeking spiritual direction regarding a possible vocation to the priesthood or religious life. He talked his friend, Michael, into accompanying him on this visit. The priest told Ryan that he wasn't sure of his vocation, but then turned to Michael and said that he knew with certainty that he was called to the priesthood. (Of course the story is much longer than this!)
On June 26 of this year Michael became Father Benedict. Ryan took a long weekend to attend his Ordination and First Mass in Southern California, where the Norbertine Abbey is located. A week later, Fr. Benedict came and stayed with us for a few days. The boys were very excited to have him and his supernatural priest-power staying in our house. He blessed the house, the kids, salt, oil, Ryan's birthday cake and everything else he could shake holy water at. We celebrated Holy Mass in our living room (John Paul in Spiderman jammies), a Requiem for Myra, and a Mass for the sick for Ambrose and cousin, Nico. John Paul and Ryan's dad were both enrolled and invested with the Brown Scapular. We packed lots of things into a few days, including a hiking trip in Sedona, which really put "life with 4 boys" into perspective for Fr Benedict, who shared the backseat of the van with them. Next trip we promise not to hop them up on pudding, chocolate, and gallons of Tang.
Congratulations, Father Benedict! And come stay with us again soon.
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