Julian Family

~ I have prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him ~ I Samuel 1:27 ~ For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, Plans to give you hope and a future ~ Jeremiah 29:11 Lilypie2nd Birthday Ticker

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

First Haircut

Pre-Haircut

The Mullet

The ponytail

The Haircut


Post-Haircut

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

9 Months

I cannot believe I have a 9 month old. He is looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy. He tries so hard to pull up on things. Sunday he pulled up to his knees all by himself for the first time. That's a pretty big accomplishment! He likes to explore the house now, that's something he's just started doing in the past few days. Now when we leave the room he will sometimes play on his own for a minute, then try to find where we are. This to me is a very nice alterntative to crying until we come back in the room where he is! He is very curious and will study his toys, examining everything about them. His favorite toys right now still seem to be balls, those plastic multi-colored things that snap together and apart and kind of look like a snake, his leap frog stand up table and his jumperoo. The boy LOVES to jump. He still loves bath time. He HATES having his nails cut, nose wiped, and mouth messed with (like to look at teeth). I think he's getting some more teeth up top. It looks like one is breaking through the skin. He can clap and wave. If we start saying "patty cake patty cake" he'll clap his hands. He whispers a lot and mainly says "da da" when he whispers. He also likes to screech really loudly and I think he amuses himself with how loud he can get. It is funny to go in his room at night and see what kind of funny position he likes to get in while he sleeps. He loves sleeping with his soft & silky blanket and his deer and about 7 paci's. I have noticed that we're only down to about 3 in his bed now, so I don't know what he's done with the other 4 or so that were in there. We still like to go in his room before we go to bed and just look at him while he sleeps. He weighs 17 lbs 8 oz, a little on the small side, and is 28 inches long which is pretty average. He is still the cutest and most entertaining little thing we've ever seen. Last night I remembered that I hadn't taken any pictures on his 9 month birthday yet, so we took a few in his p.j.'s. I'll try and get more today or sometime soon.


Trying so hard to pull up on his toy basket



Thursday, May 17, 2007

Sleeping Baby

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mother's Day Weekend


We took Max to the zoo on Saturday. I can't say that he was all that impressed. We thought he might love it since he likes watching Lucy run around the backyard, but the animals just sat there, so there wasn't much to see. I think he loved being outside and being pushed in his stroller though, so we had a really great day anyway. Before long he'll think it's fun.



We spent Mother's Day with John's family. We had a great time with lots of good food including yummy homemade ice cream.
Max had a good time being pulled in his stroller that his Pa Pa got him. He looked really cute sitting in it.

He especially loved it when John would pull him fast.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Some Updates

Today Max had an occupational therapy evaluation and it just couldn't have gone better! Karen, the therapist, said that she saw nothing that indicated that he would have long-term deficits. She also said that the muscle tone problems he had early on have seemed to improve and he was able to do the most difficult range of motion with no problems and if he had muscle tone problems then he probably would not have been able to do that. She said many other positive things and for that we are so thankful. She said that because of his birth history she will need to continue to monitor him and reevaluate in 6 months just to be sure that everything continues to be on track.

A family from John's parent's church needs prayers. A baby boy named Kyler was born 8 weeks early and has a Grade 1 brain bleed (on a scale of 1-4, 4 being worst) on one side of his brain. I think this is fairly common in babies born really premature, but of course it is not common to the parents, so they need prayers. They are in the NICU now, probably with many of the same nurses and doctors we had. Most of you know, Max had Grade 3 and 4 brain bleeds, so this really touches my heart.

Also, baby Ethan's leukemia is back in full force. They really need lots of prayers. You can also go to his site to see how to become a bone marrow donor, which they are desperately in need of. There are donation sites being set up all over. I went to one at Harding this week and all you have to do is swab the inside of your mouth. Ethan has something that is very rare and there is not a match for him in the entire national database, he has a 1 in 2 million chance in finding a match, so it is urgent that people get out and get tested.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Neurosurgeon



We just got Max's 6 month pictures back and this is one of my favorites.


John just built a fence around our back yard so we have been spending almost every night sitting out there. We put the exersaucer on the deck and let Max play. He loves being outside. He thinks our lab, Lucy, is hilarious. He loves watching her run around.



Neurosurgeon:
Last Thursday we had a follow up visit with Dr. Burson. I haven't really had a great opportunity to get on the computer, so I'm just now updating. We got a great report! Dr. Burson actually commented that it is amazing how well Max is doing. Dr. B has a son a week younger than Max and Max is doing more stuff (developmentally) than his son, who had no problems at birth. He said he looks like any other kid his age. He also commented that Max may outgrow his shunt. I asked if that meant we had the possiblity of getting it removed in the future and he said not necessarily. It just means that his body may decide to start working properly all on its own, the shunt would then quit functioning, and we may never even know that it happened. John and I didn't even know that this was a possiblity, so we left the appointment ecstatic about all of the great news. Like I've mentioned before, the shunt has always bothered me, it has the potential to cause problems his whole life, but once again, God has heard my prayers. However, like I said, we may never know if his body takes over the work of the shunt, so I will continue to pray that he has no problems with it, but I heard the reassurance that I needed.

In other Max news, he seems to have come out of his clingyness somewhat (dare I even say those words). He just started clapping on Saturday and he's doing something that looks a lot like a wave, but not always at the appropriate time. He makes high pitched squealing noises, says ma ma and da da a lot, and smacks his lips. Last night John was holding him and he kept saying, "da da da da da." I'm sure John loved it.

That's all the news I've got for now. He's napping, so I better take advantage of my time!