The Beach Redux, 17 Months, Cookies, and Halloween

Update: Three days have passed since I first started this on Sunday, which means bonus video at the end...

Jake is down for an early nap (thanks daylight savings time) so I'm going to try to blog about October in one big post. Jake's sleeping over the past month has been hit or miss (which is much harder now than it was a year ago because we are so accustomed to that blissful 11 hours). One culprit is tiny tooth #7 which has emerged on the bottom. We also think we are spying some molars coming in - at least bulging gums making way for molars.

Jake also weaned this past month, which went easier than I thought it would. I gave serious consideration to nursing him through the winter to provide him with more antibodies to stave off colds and flu, but in the end, we were both ready. Jeff and I think Jake is now even more clingy to me, but so it goes. He's a mama's boy for now. I'm sure daddy's day will come.

At the end of September, Jake went to his first football game. It wasn't the Big House, but it was fun (and NC State actually won).

We headed out to the Outer Banks for a weekend and somehow hit the coldest weekend yet. Rainy and in the 50s. Didn't stop Jake from enjoying the beach!


And we found the crossroads of his genealogy...


I was out of town for work (first time for me to be away overnight since Jake came home from the hospital). Jeff did a fantastic job without me (who doubted?) and even took the 17 month picture...


We had a great Halloween yesterday (Michigan football debacles notwithstanding). Jake dressed up as a leopard (the bear costume will have to wait for next year) and even went trick or treating at our neighbors. (yes, that is chocolate drool running down his chin...)


If the leopard hadn't worked out, Jake's back up costume was sumo wrestler...


This year's pumpkins included an homage to our new computer, a ghost (yes, I can carve something besides a happy face!), and a bear (of course)...



Finally, for Halloween my mom sent her amazing sugar cookies. This was Jake's first time for them...Needless to say, they have been a hit!




And second finally, Jake has started imitating the vacuum (you may need to turn your volume up to hear the "vroom vroom"). He also seems to have figured out how to ham it up for the camera...

Hibernation, Flu, H1N1, and RSV

As the weather turns cooler and swine flu seems to be taking over the state, Jeff and I are realizing we are going to have to put the little bear back into hibernation for another winter. There seems to be some consensus that by age 2, most preemies lungs are much better developed and able to handle sickness better, so hopefully next winter we can be a little more adventurous. For now, we are worried about seasonal flu (although less so because Jeff and I got the flumist in late August and Jake got his shot two weeks ago), H1N1 (no word when they will have vaccine here), and RSV.

Those of you with exceptionally good memories may remember Jeff blogging about RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) last year. For those of you with a memory like mine...RSV is a virus that nearly every child has had by age two. For full-term babies, RSV typically isn't any worse than a common cold, but for preemies, RSV is quite serious. Babies born earlier than 36 weeks are at the highest risk for serious complications from RSV such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and other sometimes fatal complications. RSV could easily cause Jake to become so sick he needs to be hospitalized - which is very hard for people (us included) to grasp when he looks so healthy.

To make things even more difficult, RSV is spread very easily through physical contact, in the air via a cough or sneeze, or by touching an infected object. It can live as long as six hours on hands and up to twelve hours on objects.

Frequently people ask us - “Can’t Jake fight it off and build up his immune system? Kids need to get sick, right?” The simple answer is NO. Since Jake was born so early and at such a low birthweight, he did not acquire the necessary immunities to fight off infection. In the NICU Jake spent less than 72 hours on the ventilator, but he spent several weeks on CPAP and on a nasal canula - meaning his lungs were underdeveloped and not strong. His lungs are still not the lungs of a 17 month old (his actual age), and probably not even the lungs of a 14 month old (his adjusted age).

RSV is so serious that our insurance companies have (tentatively) approved Jake for a second year of receiving the Synagis shot. Synagis is not a vaccine for RSV but rather it contains the antibodies to help fight off RSV. The shot costs upwards of $1,000 each time it is administered. Jake will get a shot every 28 days for 6 months or more. As we all know too well, insurance companies do not spend thousands of dollars unless they have quite a bit of evidence that shows it's cheaper for them to spend the money now than to spend it later. Translation: BCBS and Cigna are pretty sure that $6,000+ in shots is cheaper than Jake getting RSV.

So with all that said, we are asking that if you think you may be at our home this fall/winter, that you:
1. Get a seasonal flu shot.
2. Get an H1N1 flu shot if you can.
3. Refrain from coming over if you (a) are sick, or (b) were sick and have not been symptom-free for at least 5 days, or (c) live with someone who is sick, or (d) have been in close contact with someone who is sick.
4. When you arrive, please wash your hands and use hand sanitizer liberally (anyone who has been here knows that Jeff will insure this happens :)).

Please know that we don't mean to offend anyone, but we wanted to provide an explanation as to why we're so paranoid (still). Trust us - we would like nothing better than to not have to post messages like this, but that's not our reality. Thank you all for understanding! Stay healthy, and enjoy some Jake photos!

Running through the pumpkin patch (at least trying to)

Thanks (??) to Brian M. for introducing him to funnel cake

Cousin Todd helped share the wonders of ice cream

It's not all food - he loves the water too!

Living up to his name

As you could perhaps tell from the Bald Head Island photos, Jake has turned into a Walker. He took his first steps in early August and really perfected his moves on the beach at Bald Head. He now walks almost all of the time. Here he is in action...



Preemie boys are notoriously late talkers - Jake seems to be fitting the rule there. He's not saying any words with consistency, but he does know what a few words mean - ball and dog being top on the list. He's also developed a sweet tooth - another fine Walker (and Raymond!) trait. We are trying to teach him the signs for "food" and "more," but he seems happier to just grab at what we have (a not-so-polite "sign" but a sign nonetheless) or go find food himself. Here he is after discovering a plate of brownies in the fridge...



And finally, a return of the monthly photos. He's gaining on Bernard!

But he doesn't like to sit still for long...

In Memory

Yesterday Jeff and I made the difficult decision to put down our Golden Retriever Ben. He had renal failure and had grown quite weak over the past two weeks. Rather than belaboring how bad off he was, in this post I'm going to remember what a wonderful dog he was. We adopted him almost seven years ago when he was thought to be five or six. Intended to be a friend for Chloe, he quickly became attached to Jeff and me (Jeff more so - if you ever saw them together, you know what I mean). He was an amazing swimmer, a fast runner, and he lived up to being a retriever - chasing balls and actually bringing them back. He was sweet and kind, rarely barked, and loved to lean. He was steadfastly loyal and an all-around great dog and friend. We miss you, Benny.

The Prince of Bald Head Island

We had a great week on Bald Head Island. It was Jake's first time at the beach, and he loved it! Loved the sand, loved the seashells, loved the (small) waves hitting him... Bald Head is a cool place with no cars allowed (well, sort of - the police, utility workers, and construction workers all have big trucks), so we drove around in a golf cart all week. We went on walks, went to the beach, ate out a few times, and just enjoyed not having much to do...

On a walk in front of one of the many Live Oak trees...

Loved floating in his raft out to sea...

Loved climbing on the beach chairs...

This kid knows how to party (responsibly)...

In front of, and on top of the Old Baldy Lighthouse....

Young Baldy in front of the Old Baldy sign...

Jake was not a fan of the super windy weather we got one day,
so back to our old "tricks" of swaddling and comforting...

Loved the waves, though...

And loved the sun...

Homecoming

Jake came home a little over a year ago, and I think that even though we try, we don't always appreciate it as much as we should. I frequent a chatboard for preemie parents and just last weekend one of the moms who posts there lost one of her triplets to NEC - a truly wretched disease. (You may recall that Jake had two scares where the doctors thought he might have NEC but luckily he never contracted it.) The triplets were 25 week preemies who were all doing amazingly well - the one who died had actually recently started breathing on her own and seemed to be perhaps the strongest of the three. If you would like to read their story, you can find their blog here. My heart just aches for these parents and all the other preemie parents who don't get to bring their little ones home. We will probably never know why Jake was premature, and we'll certainly never know why he survived when other preemies don't.

So tonight I held Jake a little closer and I'm grateful.

He keeps growing and growing...

Jake had a NICU follow-up at Duke last week. The doctors and nurses said it's hard to believe he's a 27 week preemie. We agree. He's now 21.5 pounds and 29.5 inches, which puts him on the growth chart for both his actual age and his adjusted age. Pretty remarkable when you consider that we brought him home a little less than a year ago at 5 pounds and 18.5 inches - nowhere near the growth chart for a 3 month old and not even on it for his adjusted newborn age.

He's taken a few tentative steps on his own, and he's still cruising and crawling all over the place. He's saying a few words but they don't quite seem to be in context yet. "Mama" is said to just about anyone and seems to be an indication that he wants to be picked up. "Dog" comes out sometimes with the dogs and sometimes randomly. We also get lots of "Dada" but not necessarily with Jeff. And he's still blowing lots of raspberries and likes to make the "rolling Rs" sound with his tongue - maybe he would have more words if we were Spanish speakers. Yelling/screaming is another fun favorite as our friend Andrea discovered at dinner the other night (sorry fellow diners at Pei Wei).

Jake also took his first two trips last month - back-to-back in an unexpected twist. The first trip was up to our friends Lanier and Scott's cabin in the mountains for Fourth of July weekend. We had a great time with Lanier, Soott, Nate, and Hallie. Jake especially liked have two more dogs to chase around. And he loved the cold mountain water - the only one of us brave enough to get in...

It tired him out though...

The second trip involved his first plane ride (which went surprisingly well) but was sadly a trip to see my grandmother before she died. We made it back to Indiana before she passed, and I think she knew we were there. She had wanted to see Jake for some time but the inability to travel long distances on both sides made that difficult. I do wish she could have seen him when she was fully herself. She was almost 91 - a very strong and proud woman. If there is something positive to come out of it, it is that my sisters and all our children were together for the first time - three girls ages 7, 2.5, and 2, and two boys - ages 1 (Jake) and 2 months. Jake wasn't ready to keep up with the girls yet, but next time...

And finally, Jake's nursery is complete with the addition of his super cute name plates from Amanda and Ben. Thanks guys!