4 Months

I love my daddy!



We will do anything to get a laugh!



I laid Max down for a nap and thought I'd lay down for just a minute. I ended up napping with him for about an hour.



I love bath time!

Max turned 4 months on Friday, Dec. 22. I feel like I say this every month, but I really can't believe how fast the time is going. It was a year ago last night that John and I found out we were pregnant with Max and I can't believe all that has happened in just one year. We had his 4 month check up on Friday and it went really well. Dr. Westbrook seemed very pleased with how he was doing. She did several things that she does with all babies his age and I got the feeling that she thinks he did as good or better than most 4 mon. babies. One thing she said he did really well was hold himself up while laying on his tummy. We sure have worked hard enough on that! She also said that she knows that the therapist we are seeing are trained to see deficits, so she knows that Max must have some to even qualify for therapy, but that the deficits he does have seem to be fairly minor at this time. She was unable to tell a difference between the right and left side. The results from the EEG and the most recent monitor download were not back yet so she or a nurse will call with those when they get them. We are continuing the phenobarbitol and monitor for the time being.

After we left the dr. we went to the hospital to see one of our favorite nurses from the NICU - Margaret. It was so great to see her. She was amazing during our time there. She took such good, good care of Max and of me and John. We always felt like she (along with 2 other fabulous nurses) treated Max as if he was her only patient and like she would have treated him if he was her own. From there we went downstairs to get some coffee and lunch. Almost every day John and I ate lunch and dinner at the hospital and I usually got coffee from the Starbucks downstairs. On Friday I got my typical sandwich and I tried a type of fancy coffee drink that my dad had bought for me once while we were there. The coffee I probably would have gotten anyway, but I just wanted to taste the same food I had eaten for weeks and be able to enjoy it knowing that I now have a healthy baby. It was good and the coffee was better than I had remembered it. When I got my coffee Max and I took a walk in the front garden area of the hospital, the same I walk I took almost daily. I thought I'd write a few verses that are on the garden walkway. They continue to hold very special meaning to me now. There were others, but I can't find the paper I wrote them down on.

Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding

Psalms 55:22 - Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let you fall.

Margaret thought Max looked really great. She commented several times that he is just perfect. We think so!

He is having a very fun week here in TN. We're making lots of good memories and trying to spend as much time with loved ones as we can since it will probably be awhile before we are back in this area again.
We do really miss John and are looking forward to seeing him in a few days. We missed his birthday yesterday so we will celebrate when we get back and enjoy having some good, much-needed family time just the 3 of us.

We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas!!