Weekend with Aunt Jodi & Tio Jay

We drove down to North Carolina this past weekend to spend some time with Aunt Jodi & Tio Jay before Tio deploys. I'm so glad Jay got to hold, feed, burp & cuddle Joshua before he goes!! Jay has taken to being an uncle like a duck to water. It's so evident that he just loves Josh to bits.

This is Joshua's new buddy, PsyOp Charlie:

Jay bought this as a gift for Josh and Joshua just loves him. He stares at him and blows bubbles at him and uses his ear as a pacifier when his falls out of his mouth. :) He has a parachute in the pack on his back and he even has patches & pockets in all the right places. Thanks, Tio!!!

Healthwise, Joshua is doing great. He's in his last week of medication and we will soon have a cordless baby!!! We're done with the antiviral treatment a week from today and then we get to make an appointment to have his central line taken out. Yippee!!!! I can't wait until we don't have that coming out of his leg. His nurse came today and he was weighed. Hold onto your hats, folks...he weighs 11 lbs, 10 oz! I sure hope this crazy growth spurt slows down soon...he's growing out of his clothes too fast and he's getting really really heavy to carry around. But he sure is cute all chubby with all those rolls and chins. I just love it.

For Mother's Day, Joshua gave me the best gift ever. He smiled at me! Not the I'm sort of asleep smile...it was an open mouth, huge grin, eyes wide open smile. I was kissing his cheeks & nose and he broke out in the biggest grin I've ever seen. I can't wait to see it again!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

For as long as I can remember, the answer was always the same anytime anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a mommy. There were short spurts of wanting to be a teacher or a lawyer or a counselor, but I always knew motherhood would be the ultimate goal. Now, I've reached that goal. When I was pregnant, I worried that once Josh arrived I would be somewhat sad. Like when you're waiting for Christmas for 364 days and then all of a sudden...it's here! And then the day after, you feel sad because it came and you have nothing to look forward to. But I now realize that I have so much to look forward to. Each day is such a wonderful gift and Joshua is the best thing I've ever done. No matter what life brings from here on out, nothing will diminish the joy of knowing that I'm Joshua's mommy. Forever.

The day after Joshua was born, my aunt sent me this email. I've seen it before, and I cried each time, but this time it really hits home.

A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'

'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said, 'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'mommy.'

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. To my dear friends Kristen, Jodi, Tori & Carly...a very special Happy FIRST Mother's Day to you!!! :)

Six weeks old!

When am I supposed to stop counting his age in weeks? I haven't switched over to the month count yet because one and a half months sounds so much older than six weeks. I want to keep him little as long as I can. :)

So Joshua is SIX WEEKS OLD today! This calls for a video montage extravaganza!! All the videos have sound, but the last one has sappy music with it as well. If you are a sleep deprived new mommy who's emotions are running high, someone who cries when the guy gets the girl at the end of the chic flic, or my mommy...you might want some tissues handy. :) Enjoy!!


Joshua waking up from Jamie on Vimeo.


Joshua doing nothing special from Jamie on Vimeo.


Joshua 5/5/08 from Jamie on Vimeo.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tummy time!

It's a lazy Sunday at our house today. Joshua went six hours between feedings last night! He ate at 10pm, went to bed at 11pm, and didn't wake up until 4am. I don't even know what to do with this much sleep! I feel like I could take on the world!! Ok, maybe taking on the world is a little much, but I definitely have enough energy to make dinner. :) Being that it's a lazy day, we did a little tummy time with Josh. Usually he loves it. Today, not so much. He hadn't slept much leading up to this and it was time to eat. So this is what happens when you try tummy time when Joshua is tired and hungry...

Joshua tummy time from Jamie on Vimeo.

Yesterday, we went to the doctor to be diagnosed with reflux. Poor Josh. As if he didn't have enough medicine running through his system, now he has baby Prilosec in the mix too! We've been treating him with baby doses of Maalox, but hopefully the Prilosec will work more effectively. We see the infectious disease specialist on Tuesday so we'll update you after the appointment. And we'll add more pictures and maybe even another video. :)

Officially ONE month old!

Joshua is one month old today! In honor of this occassion, here is a video of our little man in action. It's a bit choppy, but I think his cuteness makes up for the quality of the film. :)

Joshua - 4 weeks old from Jamie on Vimeo

Joshua was weighed today when his nurse came to check up on him. Any guesses as to how much he weighs now? Anyone? If you guessed 10 lbs, 2 oz...you would be correct. I just laughed when I saw the scale. Then I asked if he could be gaining too much weight. She assured me that he is gaining what he needs and he's just fine. Personally, I love fat babies. Skinny babies always look unhealthy to me. The more rolls, the better in my opinion. My sister reminded me that this is exactly what I prayed for...a little skinny baby who would make his entrance gracefully and not kill his mother, but who would puff up like a sponge once he was out. Well, looks like I got what I wanted huh? He's puffing up quite well if you ask me. Take a look for yourself!











"Hey ladies, I got two tickets to the gun show..."


Three generations of Nodine men!

Four weeks old...a bit late

Sorry it's been so long since our last post. We've been in the hospital and I just haven't had the energy to update you all. We were discharged this morning though...thank goodness!! Joshua is being treated for a yeast infection near the insertion site on his leg. Thankfully it wasn't anything more serious. Friday and Saturday night we stayed with Josh in the hospital. What an experience! I slept in Joshua's crib with him while Ben slept in the chair that pulls out into a bed (which also doubles as a torture device). Of course, after our second 5 day admission to the hospital, I'm pretty sure that hospitals in general are torture devices. There's nowhere to get comfortable, just when you fall asleep the doctors/nurses have to come in and poke, prod, take temperatures, give medicine, or draw blood, and the food...don't even get me started on that! Thankfully, Joshua is a trooper and has maintained his pleasant nature throughout his stays here. Unfortunately we can't say the same about his mother. :( I finally reached the point that I refused to let them take his vitals because they kept waking him up when I had just got him down. I'm sure they deal with cranky parents all the time though, and they just accepted it and let me call them when I was ready for them. I'm so thankful that his nurses were wonderful (for the most part) and that they respected our wishes as his parents.


Ok...on to the good stuff. Joshua turned four weeks old on Friday! At weigh in this morning, he was 9 lbs, 6 oz. Maybe this massive pound a week growth spurt is starting to slow down. He is so much more alert than ever before and he just loves to stare at everything. He is unbelieveably strong and tries to sit up when he's laying down. He will pull himself into a sitting position if you let him hang on to your fingers when he's on his back. He also loves tummy time and will hold his head up for a really long time when he's on his tummy or when he's on your shoulder. I'm constantly amazed at how strong he is and how much he's growing and changing. He is quite the cuddlebug as well, and just loves to be held all the time. Of course, it's not hard when you have this little face looking at you while you hold him!

Hopefully posting will be more regular from now on as we will be home. Let's hope we don't have to see the hospital again for quite a while! For now, I'm going to go take a shower and a little nap with my son. We're all exhausted.

When it rains, it pours!

Wanna hear a funny joke? Ready for it? Ok...here it is...we found out on Friday that we have to move. AGAIN. Ok, so it's not really funny and it's definitely not a joke. Our landlord is being transfered back from St. Louis and there is a clause in our lease that if her job moves her back, she can terminate the lease. So she is terminating our lease and wants to move back in at the end of June. So keep it in prayer and we'll keep you updated on where we'll be moving to next. Maybe we should start our own moving company. I mean, this will be our sixth move in the four years we've been married. We're getting really good at it. :)

The other thing that's happening now is that Joshua is back in the hospital. It's not serious, it's just a precaution because his doctor is so conservative. I noticed some redness & draining around the central line insertion site on his leg and asked his doctor about it today. In order to be safe rather than sorry, Dr. Keim admitted Josh to start a round of antibiotics to kill any infection that may be starting. If they find out that there is no infection and it was just skin irritation, they'll stop the antibiotics and send him home. If they find out that there is an infection, he will still be sent home and we'll just have to add the antibiotic treatments to his antiviral treatment. Either way, we should be home in a few days.

Ending on a good note is always a good thing. So here we go...Joshua weighed in at 9 lbs, 4 oz today at the hospital. Holy moses! Apparently he puts on weight like his mama...just by thinking about food. :) He is awake more and more of the day and loves to stare out the window or look at you while you talk to him. He is such a blessing!

Three Weeks Old!

How is it possible that our little boy is three weeks old already?! Of course, it feels impossible that he's been here only three weeks too. I feel like I've always known his face and I can't quite remember what we ever did without him. I do remember something about sleeping and eating warm meals, but sacrificing those for Joshua is totally worth it. :) He's changed so much already in these three short weeks. He's a strong little one and loves to lay on his tummy and push up on his arms to look around. He holds his pacifier in his mouth by himself too! He's found his voice and the little kitten-like cry is a thing of the past. He's not afraid to voice his opinion and does so with ear piercing screams. His angry cry is super sharp and loud and his whole face goes red when he yells. His outbursts are short lived though...and once he makes himself heard, he calms down and stops crying. He is wide awake between 9-11pm and then again around 2am. It makes for lots of one on one time with mommy between feedings and we have lots of deep conversations. Unfortunately, his medication is giving him lots of gas and there are lots of screams at night which wake daddy up quickly. Poor Ben jumps into action right away when that happens, using the magic "shh, shh, shh" noise and walking Josh around the room if need be. Fatigue has set in deeply for Ben. Deeply enough that the other night when I woke Ben to ask for some help with Josh he replied, "I'm kind of sleeping here, Jamie." I laughed for quite a while over that and we both got a good laugh out of that the next morning when I told Ben what he had said.

Joshua had a follow up doctor's appointment on Wednesday and the doctor was very impressed with him. He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs, 11 oz on the old fashioned weighted scale with the slider bars...you know what I'm talking about. In disbelief, I asked that they weigh him on the digital scale because that one must be way off. I mean, he weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz in the hospital on Thursday night. There's no way he gained over a pound in that short amount of time! So we weighed him on the digital scale and it turns out I was right. But not by much! The digital scale registered 8 lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile). The nurse asked if he we were supplementing with formula and when I told her that we weren't, her eyes got wide and she said, "Way to go, mom!" So yay for me! Joshua is now 21 inches long (50th percentile) and his head is measuring 13 3/4 inches (25th percentile!!). He is really perfect.

The best is yet to come!

Today is our fourth anniversary! We had a little family outing to a restaurant to celebrate and Joshua was so good. He just looked around while we ate and eventually fell asleep. It was nice to do something to mark the occasion.

In the past four years I've watched Ben finish his degree, graduate, work tirelessly, provide for me constantly and sacrifice for our future. We've laughed, cried, yelled and been silent together. We've traveled all over the U.S., traveled to the Caribbean, and planned future travels all over the world. Of all the things we've done together, however, Joshua is by far the best. Watching my husband hold our baby is an amazing feeling. It makes my heart smile to watch Ben rush to pick up Joshua when he comes home from work at night or hear him comfort Josh with endless patience when Joshua is in crying out in pain or frustration. Ben is an amazing father and an even more amazing man.

My prayer for Joshua is that he follows in his father's footsteps and grows into an intelligent, strong man. A man of honor and integrity. I hope that his smile will light up a room the way his father's does and that he will be as loved and respected as Ben is. I want Josh to emulate his father's determination and work ethic. And hopefully someday Joshua and his wife will be celebrating their anniversary and she will feel exactly like I do - so very thankful that she has the privilege of sharing her life each and every day with such a wonderful man.

Ask and you shall receive...

Aunt Jodi asked for "more pictures, please"...so here you go!

I know that many of you are wondering how we're giving Joshua his medicine. Well, this is how. He gets two doses a day, one at 9am and one at 9pm. The medicine is all contained in the ball and the tubing is connected to it. The little green circle with '50' on it is a filter to get rid of any air bubbles or impurities that may be in the meds. Basically, we have to flush the central line with saline, then hook this up to the port, let it infuse for an hour, disconnect the ball (which totally deflates when the medicine is no longer in it), flush the line with saline again and then flush the line with heparin. Pretty easy, huh? A home healthcare nurse will come twice a week to make sure everything is ok and to do bloodwork that she will then submit to his doctor to make sure his blood count is good and he's tolerating the medicine.

Now, for what you really want. The latest pictures of our beautiful, perfect little boy. :)

Ok, this is not the best picture of Josh, but I am posting it to show off his cheeks. Go ahead...look at those cheeks and just try not to kiss the screen. I dare you.