Happy Holidays!!

This post is mainly going to be pictures, because I know that is what everyone wants to see....and also because we have been SO busy this Holiday season. Back and forth between families has been wonderful, but I am exhausted :) We have 1 more weekend to go and then hopefully we can get back to our weekly routines.

The weekend before Christmas, we took Robinson to see Santa for the 1st time- he wasn't a big fan...he didn't cry, but he looked at us like "who is this funny looking guy and why are you letting him hold me?"

We spent a few days before and Christmas Eve with Rian's family in MS. Here is Robinson with his cousins, Anna Madeline, Mary-Katherine and Turner at Grandma Peggy's house. They are some good looking kids, huh?! :)

Christmas Morning- yay Santa came!!

Love this face!

Reading "Where the Wild Things Are" with Mommy

After we opened presents we went over my Aunt Dorothy's house for brunch with my family

This is typical Mommy and Robinson- rolling on the floor laughing and playing!

Here is Robinson with my cousins children, so I guess they are Robinson's 3rd cousins?? It gets confusing, but I LOVE having a big family!! The kids are so good with Robinson and always play and have fun with him (Carson, Emma, Peyton, Robinson and Preston)

My parents (aka Nanna and Poppa) bought Robinson this huge tent/tunnel playground (that goes in house- lol) and Robinson LOOOOOVES it. Here he is poking his head out of the window to tell me hi!

Part view of the tent/tunnel...I couldn't get all of it in the picture and it takes up most of the living room! haha...I don't care, b/c Robinson has so much fun!

Believe it or not Christmas Day is also....my Birthday!! So, after all of the family festivities, we came home and had cake and ice cream for my birthday. Here is Robinson enjoying some cake.

Robinson and Mommy enjoying some cake

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!!

Feeling Better...VIDEOS!

Robinson is feeling better. We have stopped the nebulizer treatments, for now. I'm sure that we'll have to go on them again, but let's hope it's not in the near future. He was his usual, happy safe, even with the cold, so that was always a pleasantry. Robinson is just such a happy little boy- except when he doesn't get his own way...imagine that?!

I thought I would share some videos with you tonight so that you can see the little guy in action. It's the busy Holiday Season, and I don't have much time for blogging. However, I couldn't resist posting these for you!

In this video, Robinson is demonstrating his daredevil abilities. He is quite the climber and it's a fun game to him to see how creative he can be getting off of the furniture. This attempt ended successfully- we've had a few that have failed miserably and ended with some cuddles and cries- he's ALL boy!

This is some Daddy love for you. Rian and Robinson play this cat and mouse game every night after dinner. After a spaghetti dinner this particular night, hence the no pants for Robinson. I think the pants got more of the spaghetti than he did. Also, it's the end of the day, so you can see Robinson's collection of toys that he's strewn all over the living room ...haha. I think having a toddler that I have the cleanest house and the dirtiest house I've ever had- all within a matter of hours!

Milestone...and not in a good way!

Robinson had his 1st runny nose this weekend. He was also cutting FOUR teeth, plus his molars, so I was hoping it was all teething related. Yesterday, his nose stopped running and he was running around playing hard and I thought we were out of the woods. This morning, though, he woke up with a cough and sounded very much like Darth Vader. I got a little concerned and my Mommy intuition kicked in and said to take him into the pediatrician.

Dr. M was at the hospital, so we saw one of her colleagues, Dr. L. We loved him and he was great. He looked Robinson over and said he doesn't seem to be wheezing but let's listen to his lungs- sure enough, he was wheezing. He had no fever, was his usual, playful, feisty self so the pedi seems to think it's just a viral cold. He said his lungs sounded great, that he is moving the air fully (or something like that- I was freaking out at this point) and then he brought out the pulse ox machine. To everyone else, this was not a big deal, but to a preemie mom- my hands started shaking and my eyes filled up with tears...I was back in the NICU. For those that don't know, it's a machine that measures their oxygen saturation. When you have a little boy that was on a vent for 4.5 weeks, then a CPAP and and cannula, you KNOW pulse ox numbers and what's good and bad. Fortunately, Robinson's pulse ox was 96...this is good and this is great for him having a cold and wheezing.

We did a nebulizer treatment of albuterol in the office and will have to continue the nebulizer 4x/day and give Robinson a steroid (prednisone) for 5 days...

The nebulizer treatment went over like a turd in punch bowl! haha Robinson of course hated it, because, you have to hold him still- not happening and you have to put a mask on him so that he can breathe in the medicine...I really feel like I could hold my own in the WWE now! hahaha The one tonight went over a little better when we could distract him with TV (shhhh, don't tell!). Earlier in the pedi's office, he stopped wheezing completely after the treatment. He was still a little raspy after the one tonight, but we also couldn't hold him still- he was running all over the place, which doesn't help wheezing...

So, we've hit a milestone- our first cold and our first nebulizer treatment. I'm not going to lie- I would've loved to have waited longer to see these things. However, we are very lucky that Robinson has made it almost 17 months without any illness...he's bigger and stronger now and hopefully will be able to feel better soon.

On a positive note, Robinson was 25 1/2 pounds today- the nurse didn't even believe he was a preemie- she had to check the chart! He's also saying more words. Today he said "froggy" and "monkey"...and when I was trying to arrange his food on his tray, he pushed my hand away and said "i get it"...hahaha ...very cute...of course in typical Robinson fashion, he won't say anything on command. Just says it when he feels like it. You ask him to say something, and he looks at you, laughs...and sometimes even says "nah"....nice, my little sarcastic boy! :)

Hoping our little man feels better soon!!

Someone posted this on a message board that I frequent for preemies. I thought it was a wonderful metaphor and a really great way to explain to people who don't get 'it'. Also, I think it's a wonderful message to us preemie moms to focus on the positive and happy instead of constantly wondering about the "what ifs".

"Welcome to Holland" By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go.

Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.


We can't change the past- we can only look forward!

To Be Thankful...

It would be redundant of me to write an entire post on what I am most thankful for this year. It's pretty obvious in everything I write that I am thankful for my wonderful, healthy son and my family.

This Thanksgiving, though, I was reminded of how thankful I am for having a large, loving extended family. My Dad's side of the family has a reunion every Thanksgiving- has for years, before I was even born. It used to be at my great grandmother's old Southern plantation style house in West Central AL (Boligee). After she passed away in the 80's, it was moved down to the Gulf Coast. There are a number of us that live down here, plus it is a chance for every one else to get a mini vacation. The beach is beautiful in November-the weather is always great and it's a fantastic time. There were about 60 people this year- usually it's closer to 100, but every one is getting older/getting their own extended families so sometimes we have a smaller crowd.

It was special this year, because last year was the 1st time since I was born that I was not able to attend. Robinson had just been out of the NICU a month and it's RSV season. There was no way our pediatrician was clearing us to go down to a house full of people. It was hard staying home, but it was best for the little guy. This year we went and had an absolute blast. I have one of the most amazing families- they have been so supportive of Robinson and had prayer groups all over the Southeast for us. It was so wonderful for us to be able to see all of them and let them meet our little miracle. It was a beautiful milestone and I look forward to many years with all of them!

Here are some pictures from the weekend: Caveat- I won't have any pictures of the above mentioned extended family... as a blogger, I feel a real responsibility to not post pictures of people that I don't have their permission- especially if they have little ones. I feel like it's an invasion of their privacy to post their faces on the world of bloggers/web without them being aware- lol....soooo...it will just be the immediate family. But you can see how happy we are!

Family Picture- Robinson's outfit was so cute. It had smocked turkeys on the jon jon... I got it from windmill kids- they have great smocked outfits for less than $30!

Mommy and Robinson

w/ Nana

Uncle James reading me a story

w/ Uncle James on the beach

w/ Mommy

walking...

w/ Uncle Josh and Aunt Rachelle

He loved walking in the sand

Playing with Mommy on the beach

The Iron Bowl- we are definitely a House Divided!

This picture was taken the week before Thanksgiving, but I thought it was so cute how he fell asleep in the car!

For some perspective: My brother took this picture of Robinson LAST year at Thanksgiving- "we've come a long way, Baby!"