Memorial Day

I started to write ‘Happy Memorial Day’, but then thought better of it. Memorial Day is intended to remember and honor the soldiers who have given their time, talents and in some cases, lives or health to server their country and protect our values and way of life. I’m not really sure ‘Happy’ would be right in most cases.

So, I’ll simply say thank you to all those men, women and their families who have sacrificed so much for all of us.

I think the Happy part comes in too much for a lot of us ‘civilians’ who see Memorial Day as just a long weekend. I hope we can all take some time out of our festivities and parties to thank these heroes.

The new Miller Lite commercials are annoying. You know the ones where the Sopranos characters come in and offer ‘protection?’ They’re annoying to me for two reasons:

1. Vincent Pastore (Salvatore) and Frank Vincent (Phil Leotardo) are just looking OLD!
2. Braden and Emma go “Oh!” every time they say it in the commercial. And then say it again and again.

Ok, maybe it’s Braden and Emma that are annoying there? Nah… we’ll blame the writers at Miller.

Billy R. Ehlke

We’re changing Alex’s name to Billy Rueben Ehlke.  Ok, not really, but I’m starting to wonder if we shouldn’t.

But we had some good news today!  His levels went down from 9.7 to 8.8.  So we’re headed in the right direction without any light therapy, other than sitting in the sunlight.

Blog? What Blog?

Ok, get off my back already!  I mean come on… I know I haven’t blogged in like two weeks, but is the hate mail really necessary? :)

Yeah, right.

Anyway, I’m tired.  Kathie’s tired.  Emma’s tired.  Braden never stops talking, but he’s probably still tired too.

Alex is doing well.  He’s already gained a pound and was up to 5lbs, 9 oz when he was last weighed.  He is off the Billiblanket, but his billirubin levels are still pretty high.  They don’t seem too concerned, but we have had to get his blood tested every day this week.  That’s a major drag. 

But he’s a good little baby.  He’s eating like a champ and sleeping pretty well between feedings.  He tends to get a little gassy, but who doesn’t? 

Braden had his end of the year school program with the preschoolers and kindergartners last night.  Wow, that was fun!  Braden did GREAT!  We were a little nervous: they put him front and center, pretty much by himself in front of all the other kids.  Kathie and I were wondering if he was going to do a solo, but we think maybe it was so the teacher could prompt him or keep an eye on him better that way.   But what a difference from the last programs he’s done.  He would just stand there and not sing. You could usually here him sighing or yawning very loudly and that was about it.  But last night, he was belting out the tunes, doing most of the hand gestures and generally performing to the level you’d expect to see on American Idol.  I was very proud of him, even we he’d yell out “Hi Dad!” right in the middle.

Grandma and Grandpa helped out for a couple weeks and we greatly appreciate that!  But I think they’re probably happy to be back in the relative peace and quiet of their own home.

That’s about it for now… back to work.

Back to Work

I am back at work. Grandma and Grandpa are here helping out. 

It’s been pretty hectic, but things are slowly settling into place at home.  I even got the lawn mown and the bushes trimmed yesterday.  Happy Mothers Day!

Alex is doing great.  He has a blood test today to see how his billirubin levels are doing.  Hopefully we’ll be able to take him off the blanket!  He’s eating well, sleeping well and has now found his ‘voice.’  He doesn’t really cry hard, but definitely is getting more vocal. 

The kids and I planted flower seeds in a mini green house kit on Friday. They’ve already sprouted and Braden is amazed by the fact that they grow towards the sun.  And then grow back when you turn them around.

Baden an Emma helped with Alex’s first bath at home.  Braden was impressed that his umbilical cord had fallen off… because now he has a penis, and it’s so long!  We had to explain that the umbilical cord was where the belly button was.  But of course, Alex picked that moment to start peeing… and Braden added his color commentary by saying “It’s like a sprinkler.”  Video of the event is coming.

We got a Moses basket to make it easier to move Alex around the house with us and even to go outside.  I was reading a story about Moses to Braden and explained why it’s called a Moses bed.  He looked at me and said “No, Dad.  We should call it an Alex Basket Bed because his name is Alex.” 

We think Emma has some more problems with allergies.  She has no major symptoms, but she’s been very cranky and rubbing her nose a lot and coughing.  Then again, it could be just because she’s two. 

Sorry for the rambling… I’m just blasting this out there just to get it out of my head :)

Happy Friday

Again, I apologize for not keeping up on blogging.  I’m really trying to get some overdue work done for…well…work.  I’m pretty stressed out about it and really need to get it wrapped up.

Anyway… Alex is now 15 days old.  He had a blood draw and a doctor appointment today. His billirubin levels are down to 8.0 and he gained 4 ounces.  He’s now up to 4lb, 12 oz.  He’s really doing great.  He eats very well, sleeps even better and still hasn’t really cried.  We will keep him on the light until Monday, when he’ll have another blood draw.  If his levels drop again, we’ll take him off the light to see if they stay down.  He’ll have another test Friday and another doctor visit. 

Alex, 13 Days

I apologize for the delay in Alex updates.  It’s been a bit…um… busy around here.

Alex is 13 days old today.  He’s doing great!  He’s really a wonderful little baby.  He eats well, sleeps well, poops well and doesn’t cry.  I know I’m cursing us by saying it out loud, but I’m so happy with how he’s been doing.

He had a doctor visit Monday and another blood test for billirubin levels.  The levels came up to 9.2, so we had to have another follow up on Tuesday.  That one was lower at 8.9, so we go back to the doctor and the lab on Friday.  We’re making sure he has as much skin contact and time with the BilliBlanket. 

His checkup went well.  He didn’t cry or complain about any of it.  He got a clean bill of health, except for the billirubin.  They want us to increase his feedings to every 90 minutes to help get him flushing the billirubin out of his system.  The doctor also strongly urge us to allow no visitors with the swine flu situation going on.  Which is actually ok with us because our house is a mess :)

I’ve been feeding Alex during nap times and the last night feedings (I’m up anyway) and Kathie is getting up with him in the early morning feedings. It’s working out pretty well.

Kids Show Observations

I know you all are probably looking for updates on Alex (and the rest of us… right?), but I need a slight diversion today. 

Why is the Man with the Yellow hat called the man with the yellow hat when he wears all yellow clothes?  Why not "The Man with the Yellow Boots”, or “The Man with the Yellow Pants”, or possibly “The Man with the Yellow Underwear?”  On second thought, that last one is probably not a good idea as it could apply to a lot more people than him, I’m guessing.  Plus, I don’t really know that he has yellow underwear… I’m just guessing.

And why is it that George always seems to be the one coming up with the good ideas?  Shouldn’t The Man with the Yellow Hat/Pants/Boots be smarter than his pet monkey?

And what’s with Dr. Wiseman and Yellow?  Are they dating?  Unrequited love?  Former lovers?

Why do all kids shows seem to have one character that has a speech impediment?  Ming Ming the duck, Ord the Dragon, Baby Bear, Geroge.  Ok, maybe Goerge shouldn’t count.  Maybe the purpose is to get kids used to other kids that might have impediments, but I wonder if it affects how some kids learn to talk. 

Then again, I suppose we could just turn off the TV.

Home… Home at Last!

We are home.  All of us.  All five of us. 

In typical fashion, they all of a sudden said “Well, you want to take Alex home now?”  That was about 12:30.  We were home by 2:00.  It was by far the fastest I’ve ever seen anyone discharged from the hospital.  It worked out pretty well, even if it was pretty sudden.  Everyone came to the hospital for a visit, so we were there when they told us we could take him home.  So Braden and Emma were with us when we took him home. 

Alex gained 39 grams yesterday, which is probably the big reason they decided he could go home.  His billirubin levels were the same, but he’s still on a light therapy blanket here at home. 

We’re all thrilled to have both Alex and Mom home!  But I’m not sure anyone is as excited as Braden.  He was just giddy!  The first thing he did when we got home was to give Boo Bear to Alex.  At one point he looked at Alex sitting in Mom’s lap and said “He’s soooo cute.”  He also said he loves having Alex home and that he thinks Alex loves him too.   He also mentioned that Owen and Melita love him.  “All babies love me.” 

Emma seems to like Alex too, but probably doesn’t quite understand it all as well.  She did go get her babies to play with when we got home though. 

We’re all pretty tired, but things are going very well so far.  We’ve got Alex’s room all set up.  He’s sleeping in his crib.  And his three feedings have gone very well so far.  He’s still nursing like a champ and even told us he was hungry for his latest feeding by crying out a little.  He wasn’t doing that in the NICU, so that’s good.  It would be hard for us to know he’s ready to eat if he just waves for someone like he was doing for the nurses.  He even has his own built in night light thanks to his billi blanket.

So, now things start to get really hectic!  It was kind of nice having to be in the hospital as long as we were.  We basically had a very expensive nanny service.  Now things get complicated, hectic and even more exhausting.  But I see Alex sleeping in his crib and it’s all just worth it.

I don’t think I can accurately express my gratitude to my mom and dad for all they did this last nine days.  I know they were exhausted, but it was amazing being able to have the time and flexibility they gave us. 

On that note, I think I’m going to head off to bed and get some sleep before the next feeding in 4 hours.  Thanks again to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. 

Alex – Day 8

Alex is doing well again today. That boy can really sleep!  He’s gained 7 grams and his billirubin levels only went up slightly to 7.5.  That’s without the second therapy light, so it looks like he’s going to continue to improve there quickly.  He also passed his car seat test.  He was able to identify 9 of 10 different car seats.  No, wait, that’s some face book quiz I saw.  The test him in his car seat to make sure he’s safe, secure and able to support himself well enough.

He will get circumcised tomorrow.  I’m not going to hold his hand for that one.  Sorry Alex!

Here we are again, though, playing the guessing game for his departure.  It won’t be before Sunday, not with a circumcision on Saturday.  I’m beginning to think we’re look at least at Monday, but who knows?

Thanks again to all of you following along and offering your support and prayers.