I'm changing my settings to private! If you are mildly interested in our little life, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to add you to the list of "approved viewers." How special!
lindsaytjarks@gmail.com
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Summer Wrapup
Well, it's nearing the end of August, if you can believe it! I am sitting here tonight, enjoying a rare moment of peace and quiet, and thought I'd try to do a quick update of our summer before it gets any later into the year! After a very busy spring, our summer has seemed incredibly uneventful! Here's a little recap:
We actually kicked off June with a really fun and spur-of-the-moment vacation to celebrate Joel's medical school graduation and our 7th anniversary, which was on June 1st. We left Benjamin in Mitchell with grandparents, and took Michael with us out to the east coast! We stayed in Cape Cod (at the Coves at Yarmouth Resort), where we spent 5 beautifully relaxing and super fun days. We spent one day in Boston, where we traveled the historic city like proper tourists and even took in a Red Sox game in the evening! We are still a little surprised that we survived our "near death experience" late at night at the super sketchy subway station where we parked our car because 1. it was the cheapest and 2. we didn't know any better. Boston is just gorgeous. We walked the entire freedom trail, and I would guess we both loved visiting the USS Constitution the best! We ate terrific food and tried our best to keep a diet solely of seafood because, hello, South Dakota is landlocked and when in Rome... The remainder of the vacation was spent traipsing around the Cape, finding the most beautiful beaches and most delicious places to eat. It was a total dream vacation, even with Michael there! :) Also, I have never in my life had so many people comment on my "cute baby." The fact that most of the people at our resort were old and retired grandparents themselves might have been why, but even people in the city consistently commented. I guess East coast people just really love babies... We had a ton of fun, but my favorite memory of our trip is this little off-the-beaten-path beach we ended up finding after consulting Yelp, of course. (This trip was literally planned days before we left, so we completely depended on Yelp once we got there since we had zero ideas of what to do.) The directions were slightly unclear, but we decided to try our luck at finding what was described as a "one of the best in the Cape" and "nearly a private beach." We found our way to a quaint little cemetery that would be our starting off point. We knew to expect to walk about a mile on this sandy path in a lush, green forest, so we parked our car and started on our way. The walk was gorgeous, but we laughed the whole way as we continued to see cars parked as we got closer and closer to the beach. Turns out that most people just take their cars down the path, sandy and bumpy as it might be, and avoid the long walk. Eventually we made it to a fork in the path. One way led you to a large pond area. However, the other way was a hike straight up a tall hill, which was supposed to lead to the beach. As we trudged up this sandy hill with all our gear and baby strapped to us, after a mile-long hike no less, we both grumbled that once we get to the top of the hill it had better be this amazing panoramic view of the ocean, just like you'd expect to see in a movie, yadayadayada... Well, it was. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We just stood up there and looked around at this sprawling beach below us, with hardly a single inhabitant. We had so much fun, we ended up going again another day. :) We drove all the way down and parked at the end of the trail that time, though! Ha!
Joel started his residency program soon after we got home, and "real life" kicked into gear. His schedule has actually been wonderful, consider he is a resident! He's gone early (by 7 AM), but is usually home around 5 or 6:00. With the exception of the past month, it has been really nice to have a more normal schedule! He did just take Step 3 this past Saturday and Monday, so he had been really studying hard for that. Our family motto lately has been "after Monday!" So, starting today, Joel can be home more and Benjamin can get all the projects done that he's been waiting to do with his dad!
The last real exciting event this summer was that we moved! We ended up being able to get into a larger 3-bedroom apartment in our same building, and within a matter of weeks signed the papers and starting packing our stuff up! We are so glad to be here with a little more room to stretch! There was a part of me that was pretty sad not to find a nice little house with a backyard and a basement for the kids to play, but we do use our extra bedroom as a toy and tv-watching room. Also, our front door opens up to a really nice playground and even some yard that somebody else mows, so it's not all bad. The attached double garage, clean interiors, and cheap rent are all worth it, I suppose!!!
Benjamin continued to attend Early Head Start twice a week throughout the summer, but other than that we just sort of made plans day to day. He has grown up so much... He's turning 4 in October and I can't believe where the time has gone. Benjamin has the most wonderful personality. He is kind and loving, but at the same time excited, assertive and pretty bossy when he means business! He has the most wonderful sense of humor. He is wise and thoughtful. He has a great imagination! And he is fiercely independent right now! As in, he does his own laundry among many, many other tasks. The past few months Benjamin has really been into good guys/bad guys. It all started when he rediscovered an old toy - a small Captain America figure that Joel had bought him long ago. Once he realized that "Cap" is a hero along with a band of his friends, the Avengers, it was all over. It became Avengers-mania at our house! Playing good guy/bad guy became the only game he would play. (It still is.) We have now branched out a bit to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the concept is the same. He loves a good hero, especially if he comes with great weapons! I love the little conversations he has between characters. He is so great at giving each hero and bad guys their own voice. Usually, the bad guys have a low, gruff-sounding pitch when they talk. He loves everything from burying them in the sandbox outside to making them swim in a filled-up bathroom sink. He has costumes for each and every hero, along with their respective weapons. We have found multiple Avengers and TMNT cartoons on Netflix that are frequently watched and then re-enacted with his toys. Just tonight he and Joel got to work on building a giant cardboard Ninja Turtle van to put around his bike, just like one he saw in a Target commercial. He is such a little boy. It is the cutest thing in the world.
Benjamin will be starting the Head Start program at the beginning of September. Luckily, he gets to keep his same teacher, Miss Katie, who he adores. He loves school, so hopefully the transition will be smooth, even though there will be quite a lot more kids. He will attend 4 days a week for 3-1/2 hours, including lunch and a snack before pick-up. His teacher is excited to work more with him. He is blowing everybody away with all that he can do! His big achievement right now is how well he can read. He is sounding out all his letters and putting together blends for 3-4 letter words. It really is impressive. His writing is getting very good, too. I think he can write most letters of the alphabet. He spells his name really nicely and even surprised me by writing my name on the sidewalk outside the other day! His vocabulary is really great. He surprises me all the time with the words he knows! He's a pretty smart little kid. I wish I was better at documenting the memorable things he does, but this is a recent one that sticks out: the backstory is that we had just spent an afternoon at a friend's house in the pool where I ended up explaining "evaporation" to the kids. Anyway, the next morning, I walked past his bathroom to find that the door was closed and locked, and it was just a little too quiet. I knocked, and he opened with one arm behind his back trying fiercely to hide what was obviously a squirt gun. As I looked around the bathroom, I noticed the entire room was sprayed down from floor to ceiling. I reacted, but he looked at me very calmly and said, "but Mom! I have good news! The water will just go up into the air!" Haha.. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Our little Michael baby is doing so well! He just turned 5 months old, which blows me away. He is getting fluffy and chunky in all the right places! He smiles with a big gummy grin, and his laugh is hysterical. It is so funny sounding, and so different from Benjamin's. Michael has this terrific head of hair with a big blonde tuft right on the top that sticks up just right. He started rolling over from tummy to back when he turned 4 months old, and just recently (within the last week), started rolling from back to front when prompted with a toy. He loves to put everything in his mouth and explore it. Just today, he went ahead and noshed on Benjamin's library reading log. It was a delicious looking bright green piece of paper and that baby just went for it. He has a really nice firm grasp and pretty good depth perception. If anything interesting is in reach, he will go for it! We have to start being really carefuly with Benjamin's toys! At his 4 month well-child, he weighed 13 lbs 15 oz and was 23 inches long. At his more recent appointment (cardiology at the end of July), he weighed 14 lb 5.6 oz and measured 25 inches long. He is getting so big! We suspect that Michael has some reflux issues or possible sensitivities to dairy (in my diet), but we started him on some Zantac recently and have noticed a little difference the past couple weeks. Hopefully he can get a little relief!
He loves to nurse, but is starting to get really distracted by things happening around him if he's in the living room with his brother. I sort of love it... He'll be nursing along, then hear a noise and turn his head to look. He'll watch very intently for a time and then I can just hear his body language say, "Huh, cool! Well, back to eating!" and he turns back to me and goes about his business again. His sleeping habits could use some improvement! I will say that the past couple weeks everyone in our house has been sick and that has thrown off everyone's sleeping, but he typically will go about 3-5 hours a stretch. The last couple nights have been between 4 and 5, so let's hope that's the trend now! When he wakes he is completely comforted by being nursed and then promptly falls back asleep, so it's not all bad. I'd say 10 minutes tops are our nighttime shenanigans. I wish I could fall back to sleep as easily as he does!!! He is taking about 4 naps a day as well. They range anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we stayed at home all day long with nowhere to go, but sadly that poor baby's "schedule" is always getting interrupted with errands or to take Benjamin to school or a playdate. Luckily, he is pretty good about going with the flow. Michael has such a sweet temperament. His personality is so different from Benjamin's already. He is more relaxed and calm. He's such a nice little baby. We love him soooooo much.
We had another cardiology appointment last month and had his heart defect checked out. Again, we left without much news. There hasn't been much change at all... if anything, the blood flow looks slightly better. But his oxygen sat was 100%, so we couldn't ask for more than that. Basically his doctor told us we will most likely have to sit tight and wait for a good number of years until he grows up more and becomes a lot more active. Until then, we will continue to monitor him for any changes. Most days we completely forget that he has a special little heart. It's always hard on me the days that we have his appointments. It's such a reminder of his condition and brings up those horrible memories from his birth and time spent in the NICU. There's definitely a part of me that wishes we could just go in and get his heart fixed now and be done with it. Anyway, we are very lucky that he acts so normally and seems to be developing perfectly in every other way. :)
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for us. We're looking forward to see what this year has in store!
We actually kicked off June with a really fun and spur-of-the-moment vacation to celebrate Joel's medical school graduation and our 7th anniversary, which was on June 1st. We left Benjamin in Mitchell with grandparents, and took Michael with us out to the east coast! We stayed in Cape Cod (at the Coves at Yarmouth Resort), where we spent 5 beautifully relaxing and super fun days. We spent one day in Boston, where we traveled the historic city like proper tourists and even took in a Red Sox game in the evening! We are still a little surprised that we survived our "near death experience" late at night at the super sketchy subway station where we parked our car because 1. it was the cheapest and 2. we didn't know any better. Boston is just gorgeous. We walked the entire freedom trail, and I would guess we both loved visiting the USS Constitution the best! We ate terrific food and tried our best to keep a diet solely of seafood because, hello, South Dakota is landlocked and when in Rome... The remainder of the vacation was spent traipsing around the Cape, finding the most beautiful beaches and most delicious places to eat. It was a total dream vacation, even with Michael there! :) Also, I have never in my life had so many people comment on my "cute baby." The fact that most of the people at our resort were old and retired grandparents themselves might have been why, but even people in the city consistently commented. I guess East coast people just really love babies... We had a ton of fun, but my favorite memory of our trip is this little off-the-beaten-path beach we ended up finding after consulting Yelp, of course. (This trip was literally planned days before we left, so we completely depended on Yelp once we got there since we had zero ideas of what to do.) The directions were slightly unclear, but we decided to try our luck at finding what was described as a "one of the best in the Cape" and "nearly a private beach." We found our way to a quaint little cemetery that would be our starting off point. We knew to expect to walk about a mile on this sandy path in a lush, green forest, so we parked our car and started on our way. The walk was gorgeous, but we laughed the whole way as we continued to see cars parked as we got closer and closer to the beach. Turns out that most people just take their cars down the path, sandy and bumpy as it might be, and avoid the long walk. Eventually we made it to a fork in the path. One way led you to a large pond area. However, the other way was a hike straight up a tall hill, which was supposed to lead to the beach. As we trudged up this sandy hill with all our gear and baby strapped to us, after a mile-long hike no less, we both grumbled that once we get to the top of the hill it had better be this amazing panoramic view of the ocean, just like you'd expect to see in a movie, yadayadayada... Well, it was. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We just stood up there and looked around at this sprawling beach below us, with hardly a single inhabitant. We had so much fun, we ended up going again another day. :) We drove all the way down and parked at the end of the trail that time, though! Ha!
Joel started his residency program soon after we got home, and "real life" kicked into gear. His schedule has actually been wonderful, consider he is a resident! He's gone early (by 7 AM), but is usually home around 5 or 6:00. With the exception of the past month, it has been really nice to have a more normal schedule! He did just take Step 3 this past Saturday and Monday, so he had been really studying hard for that. Our family motto lately has been "after Monday!" So, starting today, Joel can be home more and Benjamin can get all the projects done that he's been waiting to do with his dad!
The last real exciting event this summer was that we moved! We ended up being able to get into a larger 3-bedroom apartment in our same building, and within a matter of weeks signed the papers and starting packing our stuff up! We are so glad to be here with a little more room to stretch! There was a part of me that was pretty sad not to find a nice little house with a backyard and a basement for the kids to play, but we do use our extra bedroom as a toy and tv-watching room. Also, our front door opens up to a really nice playground and even some yard that somebody else mows, so it's not all bad. The attached double garage, clean interiors, and cheap rent are all worth it, I suppose!!!
Benjamin continued to attend Early Head Start twice a week throughout the summer, but other than that we just sort of made plans day to day. He has grown up so much... He's turning 4 in October and I can't believe where the time has gone. Benjamin has the most wonderful personality. He is kind and loving, but at the same time excited, assertive and pretty bossy when he means business! He has the most wonderful sense of humor. He is wise and thoughtful. He has a great imagination! And he is fiercely independent right now! As in, he does his own laundry among many, many other tasks. The past few months Benjamin has really been into good guys/bad guys. It all started when he rediscovered an old toy - a small Captain America figure that Joel had bought him long ago. Once he realized that "Cap" is a hero along with a band of his friends, the Avengers, it was all over. It became Avengers-mania at our house! Playing good guy/bad guy became the only game he would play. (It still is.) We have now branched out a bit to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the concept is the same. He loves a good hero, especially if he comes with great weapons! I love the little conversations he has between characters. He is so great at giving each hero and bad guys their own voice. Usually, the bad guys have a low, gruff-sounding pitch when they talk. He loves everything from burying them in the sandbox outside to making them swim in a filled-up bathroom sink. He has costumes for each and every hero, along with their respective weapons. We have found multiple Avengers and TMNT cartoons on Netflix that are frequently watched and then re-enacted with his toys. Just tonight he and Joel got to work on building a giant cardboard Ninja Turtle van to put around his bike, just like one he saw in a Target commercial. He is such a little boy. It is the cutest thing in the world.
Benjamin will be starting the Head Start program at the beginning of September. Luckily, he gets to keep his same teacher, Miss Katie, who he adores. He loves school, so hopefully the transition will be smooth, even though there will be quite a lot more kids. He will attend 4 days a week for 3-1/2 hours, including lunch and a snack before pick-up. His teacher is excited to work more with him. He is blowing everybody away with all that he can do! His big achievement right now is how well he can read. He is sounding out all his letters and putting together blends for 3-4 letter words. It really is impressive. His writing is getting very good, too. I think he can write most letters of the alphabet. He spells his name really nicely and even surprised me by writing my name on the sidewalk outside the other day! His vocabulary is really great. He surprises me all the time with the words he knows! He's a pretty smart little kid. I wish I was better at documenting the memorable things he does, but this is a recent one that sticks out: the backstory is that we had just spent an afternoon at a friend's house in the pool where I ended up explaining "evaporation" to the kids. Anyway, the next morning, I walked past his bathroom to find that the door was closed and locked, and it was just a little too quiet. I knocked, and he opened with one arm behind his back trying fiercely to hide what was obviously a squirt gun. As I looked around the bathroom, I noticed the entire room was sprayed down from floor to ceiling. I reacted, but he looked at me very calmly and said, "but Mom! I have good news! The water will just go up into the air!" Haha.. Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
Our little Michael baby is doing so well! He just turned 5 months old, which blows me away. He is getting fluffy and chunky in all the right places! He smiles with a big gummy grin, and his laugh is hysterical. It is so funny sounding, and so different from Benjamin's. Michael has this terrific head of hair with a big blonde tuft right on the top that sticks up just right. He started rolling over from tummy to back when he turned 4 months old, and just recently (within the last week), started rolling from back to front when prompted with a toy. He loves to put everything in his mouth and explore it. Just today, he went ahead and noshed on Benjamin's library reading log. It was a delicious looking bright green piece of paper and that baby just went for it. He has a really nice firm grasp and pretty good depth perception. If anything interesting is in reach, he will go for it! We have to start being really carefuly with Benjamin's toys! At his 4 month well-child, he weighed 13 lbs 15 oz and was 23 inches long. At his more recent appointment (cardiology at the end of July), he weighed 14 lb 5.6 oz and measured 25 inches long. He is getting so big! We suspect that Michael has some reflux issues or possible sensitivities to dairy (in my diet), but we started him on some Zantac recently and have noticed a little difference the past couple weeks. Hopefully he can get a little relief!
He loves to nurse, but is starting to get really distracted by things happening around him if he's in the living room with his brother. I sort of love it... He'll be nursing along, then hear a noise and turn his head to look. He'll watch very intently for a time and then I can just hear his body language say, "Huh, cool! Well, back to eating!" and he turns back to me and goes about his business again. His sleeping habits could use some improvement! I will say that the past couple weeks everyone in our house has been sick and that has thrown off everyone's sleeping, but he typically will go about 3-5 hours a stretch. The last couple nights have been between 4 and 5, so let's hope that's the trend now! When he wakes he is completely comforted by being nursed and then promptly falls back asleep, so it's not all bad. I'd say 10 minutes tops are our nighttime shenanigans. I wish I could fall back to sleep as easily as he does!!! He is taking about 4 naps a day as well. They range anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we stayed at home all day long with nowhere to go, but sadly that poor baby's "schedule" is always getting interrupted with errands or to take Benjamin to school or a playdate. Luckily, he is pretty good about going with the flow. Michael has such a sweet temperament. His personality is so different from Benjamin's already. He is more relaxed and calm. He's such a nice little baby. We love him soooooo much.
We had another cardiology appointment last month and had his heart defect checked out. Again, we left without much news. There hasn't been much change at all... if anything, the blood flow looks slightly better. But his oxygen sat was 100%, so we couldn't ask for more than that. Basically his doctor told us we will most likely have to sit tight and wait for a good number of years until he grows up more and becomes a lot more active. Until then, we will continue to monitor him for any changes. Most days we completely forget that he has a special little heart. It's always hard on me the days that we have his appointments. It's such a reminder of his condition and brings up those horrible memories from his birth and time spent in the NICU. There's definitely a part of me that wishes we could just go in and get his heart fixed now and be done with it. Anyway, we are very lucky that he acts so normally and seems to be developing perfectly in every other way. :)
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for us. We're looking forward to see what this year has in store!
Monday, May 19, 2014
Michael David Tjarks
Something magical happened to our family on March 13th, 2014! Our sweet and highly anticipated baby boy made his appearance. It turned out to be quite a rollercoaster, but two months later, I'm happy to say that Michael is doing very well at home.
By the end of my pregnancy, my plans to have a V-bac quickly went out the window. Turns out my body doesn't prepare to deliver a baby very well!!! Anyway, I was able to schedule a date for a C-section, and on the morning of March 13th, we left sweet Benjamin with Nani and drove to the hospital! The surgery went really well. It really is an indescribable experience. Though there is not any pain, it is extremely uncomfortable to have a baby that way. I remember thinking multiple times, "Oh, I hate this! I never want to do this again!" But that baby came out just fine with hardly a cry at 12:07 , and I watched as they took him over to wipe him off and make sure he was healthy. Joel followed their every step, documenting those moments and telling me exactly what was happening. Sweet baby boy Tjarks weighed 7 pounds and 9 oz, and was 20.5 inches long. We were so surprised to see that he had a head of light brown hair with the sweetest baby mullet ever. :) They quickly stitched me back up and sent us to post-op, where I took that baby in my arms and got to know him a little better. He nuzzled and nursed right away, and was so quiet and content. The nurses said he was perfect except for lower than normal oxygen sats (in the low 90s), which they didn't seem too concerned about at the time. My mom even snuck in to hold that baby boy and we just enjoyed him for about 2 hours until things started to get more exciting than we ever wished for...
And then, the miracles started. The outpouring of love, support and prayers came flooding in faster than we could keep up with. I remember looking at my phone every few hours and seeing dozens more facebook updates from people reaching out. Slowly and miraculously, we started to see improvements in Michael. He had stabilized enough that they allowed me to take him and hold him in my arms. I even attempted to nurse him, and he latched right on. Against all odds, his oxygen sats even showed improvement during that nursing session. From then on, they let me take him every few hours and rock/feed him, and we watched the monitor with more and more hope. Dr. Bendaly was so impressed that he even decided the surgery might not have to be so emergent. Hours and days went by, and little Michael surprised everyone by getting stronger and more stable. Wires came off, lines came out, and machines got unplugged. I became his primary caregiver with support from the nursing staff. Surgery looked like it could wait for a few months or up to a year. Finally, six days later we packed him up and walked out of those NICU doors for good. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel for how everything turned out. Little Michael saw miracles that week. My mom said it best: "You spell Michael M-I-R-A-C-L-E."
We were sent home with an arsenal of oxygen equipment. We noticed that his sats regularly dropped to the low 90s/high 80s while he was sleeping, so we were instructed to put a nasal canula on him at nighttime, (mostly so Joel and I could sleep a little more peacefully.) We also had a oximeter to make sure everything was looking good. Michael did well at home, and stayed in the low 90 range for a long while. We didn't do much for those first few weeks, as we didn't want to risk him picking up anything that might make him sick or cause a respiratory illness. We only had one scare when he was about two weeks old. While lying on the couch next to Joel, Michael started spitting up quite a lot of blood. We freaked out and rushed him to the ER. There we had to sit and watch as he got hooked up to more tubes and wires again... There were many moments when Joel and I wondered how we would make it through his life without dying of worry ourselves... Lucky for us, it turns out that Michael only ingested some blood from a cracked nipple while nursing, and it was completely unrelated to his heart condition. Whoops. Better safe than sorry!
We have had two cardiology appointments so far since we brought Michael home. The first one was at about 3 weeks, and were pleased to see that his blood oxygen saturation was mid-90s, which is what we had seen trending at home at the time. The echocardiogram also showed significant improvement! His right ventricle looked much better, showing more elasticity than before. In fact, we left that appointment with instructions to take him off oxygen at nighttime and see how he does. The second cardiology appointment was just a couple weeks ago, when Michael turned 7 weeks old. His sat was 100 (!!!) and the echo again showed huge improvement. This time his right ventricle looked "nearly perfectly normal and the next time he returns it should be 100%." The membrane diverting blood is still there, but Dr. Bendaly estimated about 80% of the blood is going down in the right direction, with just a small portion being shuttled across the heart. We decided that at the next appointment later this summer he will do a bubble test to see exactly how much blood is going where. We were instructed to go ahead and take all that oxygen equipment back to the hospital (!!!), and then he gave us the best and most encouraging news of all: If we continue to see enough blood being funneled through that hole in the membrane to support good sats, there is a 5% chance the PFO will close on its own and we will have to do NOTHING at all. (That would be a serious miracle. I can't even allow myself to think about it because I don't want to get my hopes too high.) However, if it doesn't close on its own, we may have the option to take Michael into the cath lab and do a simple procedure there to close the PFO, requiring only an overnight stay. To say we would prefer that over open heart surgery is a huge understatement! We must wait and see, though, as time will tell what that membrane will do as Michael's heart grows. We hope that it will grow with the heart and continue to accommodate all the blood necessary. Anyway, even if he will need surgery, it is nowhere in the near future and that helps lower many risks, which we are grateful for. For the time being, all we have to do is love that baby and keep him safe and as healthy as possible. THAT I can do! :)
Besides the health issues he continues to overcome, little Michael is a dream baby. He just does everything a baby is supposed to do and has the sweetest temperament. He just had his two month birthday on the 13th! Here is a little list of things Michael is up to:
*At 6 weeks, Michael started smiling! He loves to be talked to, and I think I even heard the beginnings of a little chuckle in the past couple days! Hopefully that comes soon!
*Michael is very verbal. He hoots and hollers as if he is speaking his mind. It is so sweet. You can see the concentration in his eyes as he tries so hard to get the words out and talk to us!
*Michael loves to nurse, and would just like to snack all day long, thank you very much.
*Almost more than nursing, he just wants to be held and snuggled. The continual disastrous state of our apartment perfectly reflects our priorities here.
*Michael loves to sleep on his tummy, which we let him do during all of his naptimes. At night, we abide by the rules and put him on his back! :)
*Michael spits up a TON. If he wasn't chunking up so nicely, I'd be worried he wasn't keeping any milk down at all!
*Michael has recently started reaching for toys. He hasn't quite grasped onto anything yet, but he is noticing things around him.
*Michael has been enjoying sucking on his hand. He makes a little fist and just kind of sucks all over it. No individual fingers yet... Just that sweet whole fist.
*Michael is nursing about every 2-3 hours during the day and 3-4 hours at night. (He even went 5 hours once!) He has come a long way... In the beginning, those nursing sessions took up to an hour long. Now he can eat in about 10 minutes or less. At night he does a great job of going right back to sleep, thank goodness! (Though I'm already dreaming of the day when I can get a full night's sleep again.)
*Michael is still sleeping a ton, which is great. When he is awake, which is usually 1-2 hours at a time, he seems well rested and very alert, but he does sleep quite nicely the rest of the day/night.
*Michael was blessed at the Mitchell branch on Mother's Day (May 11th.) Joel gave a very sweet and loving blessing.
I think I have pretty much wrapped up all the Michael updates. I can't end this post though, without documenting how much joy and happiness it has brought me to watch Benjamin with his baby brother. Michael is so lucky to have such an amazing brother to take care of him. <3 Joel and I are lucky, lucky parents!
Here are some pictures documenting his little life so far!
And... he is born!
They took him down to NICU and put him on oxygen:
Then put him on the CPAP:
Things started looking up! We ditched the incubator and got a crib!
This is us leaving the NICU! THANK GOODNESS!
Finally, the family is home together:
I thought this was a funny comparison! (Baby Mitchell on the right.)
Easter Sunday!
Starting to smile!!!
Michael's Blessing Day/Mother's Day: May 11th (8 weeks old)
And finally, today. 9 weeks old:
Thursday, April 24, 2014
The last year...
Wow, I have a lot of updating to do! It's been about a year since I last blogged, and we have seen some exciting changes and events in our family! I will try to pick up where I left off.
Last time I blogged, it was spring and Benjamin had just been potty trained! I can't think of anything too exciting that happened until about June 2013.... After a very long time trying, we finally got PREGNANT!!! It took me one round of Clomid, but things clicked and we finally got that positive test result. Life couldn't have been better! We had a great summer... Joel didn't get much of a summer break, but we did take a couple fun trips! We went out to Salt Lake for the 4th of July and had a blast (as always) out there with Kate, Brian and the kids. I, of course, look forward to the Cafe Rio visits nearly as much as that cute family! :) Later that month Benjamin and I flew down to Irvine, CA and spent some time visiting Bev, Scott, Taylor, Amy and Daphne!!! Some highlights include a trip to the beach (which Benjamin LOVED), and the daily bike rides! We had so much fun that Benjamin renamed his stuffed giraffe "California."In August, we went back out to Salt Lake for a super fun Beckstead family reunion!!! It was so fun to see everyone, and we enjoyed lots of activities. The WHOLE family stayed together in one house! (In fact, the entire Tjarks family squished into one room together!! Haha!) We played games (Minute to Win It and a family quiz game) , spent a day at the waterpark, had a golf tournament and a craft session, took family photos and enjoyed catching up with each other! It was a great trip to cap off a very fun summer.
Alright, now we've made it to fall. Joel started off his 4th and LAST year of medical school! Yippee! In October, we celebrated Benjamin's 3rd birthday with a super fun Trains, Places and Automobiles party. We invited a couple little friends over and played games (Pick the boat with corresponding prize number, Engine Engine #9 on a giant duct tape train, and airplane pinata.) Luckily, Robbie Fitch was there to help us out with that darn impossible pinata!!! I made a fun cake and Benjamin thought he was the most special little boy! It was a perfect party!
Halloween came and went... Benjamin dressed up Batman. (I must confess... I had forgotten who he dressed as and had to ask him. He remembered without missing a beat, of course. The memory this kid has!!!) We spent Halloween with Grandpa and Rara at Bauman's house. My favorite memory is while trick or treating, Benjamin stopped and said to us, "I think I am going to sing the Halloween song at the next house." (The Halloween song is from his favorite show, Little Einsteins.) We didn't believe him, of course, but then he marched off up to the door of the next house by himself, rang the doorbell, and waited. A sweet lady answered and suddenly I heard his tiny voice sing, "We are here to trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat. We are here to trick or treat. It's happy Halloween!" The lady about died on the spot, told him how stinkin' cute he was, and basically offered him all her candy. That is such a sweet memory. We couldn't get him to do it again, of course! Ha!
Fall of 2013 was SUPER busy! For Joel, it was interview season! He had finally nailed down his specialty choice... dum dum dum dummmmmm..... PATHOLOGY! It was either path or family med, basically two extreme opposites. But pathology had so much going for it - mainly significantly better hours, meaning more time home with family and more SLEEP! He finds the work interesting and enjoyable. I think it is going to be a really great fit for all of us! Anyway, interview season kept us busy and traveling! Our whole family joined him for his first interview in Omaha, NE. Benjamin and I kept busy that day eating breakfast at a cute little diner and spending the rest of the day at the Children's Museum. We also all drove out to an interview in Salt Lake and even brought Nani with us! That was super fun, since we stayed with Hazens again, of course. Benjamin just loves spending time with his cousins. I joined Joel for interviews in Indianapolis (where we looked for the infamous Annie's Eats, to no avail...) and Iowa City, and he drove himself out to Ann Arbor, MI and Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic.) We can't forget the interview in Sioux Falls, SD, since that is where he matched! (Just found that out last month!!!) YEAH!!! We are so thrilled to stay home for 4 more years! In the middle of interview season, we all hopped on another plane back down to Irvine (we seriously can't get enough of Irvine), soJoel could take Step 2 CS we could spend more time galavanting with the Rices, enjoying the warm beach, witnessing a completely terrified Taylor and Joel playing a zombie video game, talking about pregnancy (Amy was pregnant, too!), watching the kids make pillow piles all over the floor, and spending a fun night catching up with the Haglunds (Joel's old mission buddy!) In the middle of all this business, we celebrated Thanksgiving (I cooked!) and prepared for Christmas.
Christmas... it was so fun and intense! The Hazens came home this year, and the cousins couldn't help themselves! Chaos ensued! Kate had baby Mitchell James in August, so there was a new little baby to enjoy and watch in terror as Maddie, Zach and Benjamin ransacked the house and had the time of their lives. We also had a new addition on the Garton side. Becky and Brandon had their first baby, Luke Christopher, in November. All those new babies were good practice and a reminder of how fun infants are! I was getting excited for my due date in March! Are we ready to enter the new year? Yes.
Hello, 2014. January and February are sort of a wash. I was heavily pregnant and winter was a REALLY cold one, so we spent a lot of time indoors. We did go to Storytime at the library every Wednesday and made a new friend - Dante. Other than that, we found time to play with friends Tavin and Matilda, go to early Head Start, and find projects to do around the house! March came and we awaited the arrival of our new baby boy!
Well, we've made it to the birth story of Mr. Michael David Tjarks... I think I'll save that for a separate blog post!
Last time I blogged, it was spring and Benjamin had just been potty trained! I can't think of anything too exciting that happened until about June 2013.... After a very long time trying, we finally got PREGNANT!!! It took me one round of Clomid, but things clicked and we finally got that positive test result. Life couldn't have been better! We had a great summer... Joel didn't get much of a summer break, but we did take a couple fun trips! We went out to Salt Lake for the 4th of July and had a blast (as always) out there with Kate, Brian and the kids. I, of course, look forward to the Cafe Rio visits nearly as much as that cute family! :) Later that month Benjamin and I flew down to Irvine, CA and spent some time visiting Bev, Scott, Taylor, Amy and Daphne!!! Some highlights include a trip to the beach (which Benjamin LOVED), and the daily bike rides! We had so much fun that Benjamin renamed his stuffed giraffe "California."In August, we went back out to Salt Lake for a super fun Beckstead family reunion!!! It was so fun to see everyone, and we enjoyed lots of activities. The WHOLE family stayed together in one house! (In fact, the entire Tjarks family squished into one room together!! Haha!) We played games (Minute to Win It and a family quiz game) , spent a day at the waterpark, had a golf tournament and a craft session, took family photos and enjoyed catching up with each other! It was a great trip to cap off a very fun summer.
Alright, now we've made it to fall. Joel started off his 4th and LAST year of medical school! Yippee! In October, we celebrated Benjamin's 3rd birthday with a super fun Trains, Places and Automobiles party. We invited a couple little friends over and played games (Pick the boat with corresponding prize number, Engine Engine #9 on a giant duct tape train, and airplane pinata.) Luckily, Robbie Fitch was there to help us out with that darn impossible pinata!!! I made a fun cake and Benjamin thought he was the most special little boy! It was a perfect party!
Halloween came and went... Benjamin dressed up Batman. (I must confess... I had forgotten who he dressed as and had to ask him. He remembered without missing a beat, of course. The memory this kid has!!!) We spent Halloween with Grandpa and Rara at Bauman's house. My favorite memory is while trick or treating, Benjamin stopped and said to us, "I think I am going to sing the Halloween song at the next house." (The Halloween song is from his favorite show, Little Einsteins.) We didn't believe him, of course, but then he marched off up to the door of the next house by himself, rang the doorbell, and waited. A sweet lady answered and suddenly I heard his tiny voice sing, "We are here to trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat. We are here to trick or treat. It's happy Halloween!" The lady about died on the spot, told him how stinkin' cute he was, and basically offered him all her candy. That is such a sweet memory. We couldn't get him to do it again, of course! Ha!
Fall of 2013 was SUPER busy! For Joel, it was interview season! He had finally nailed down his specialty choice... dum dum dum dummmmmm..... PATHOLOGY! It was either path or family med, basically two extreme opposites. But pathology had so much going for it - mainly significantly better hours, meaning more time home with family and more SLEEP! He finds the work interesting and enjoyable. I think it is going to be a really great fit for all of us! Anyway, interview season kept us busy and traveling! Our whole family joined him for his first interview in Omaha, NE. Benjamin and I kept busy that day eating breakfast at a cute little diner and spending the rest of the day at the Children's Museum. We also all drove out to an interview in Salt Lake and even brought Nani with us! That was super fun, since we stayed with Hazens again, of course. Benjamin just loves spending time with his cousins. I joined Joel for interviews in Indianapolis (where we looked for the infamous Annie's Eats, to no avail...) and Iowa City, and he drove himself out to Ann Arbor, MI and Rochester, MN (Mayo Clinic.) We can't forget the interview in Sioux Falls, SD, since that is where he matched! (Just found that out last month!!!) YEAH!!! We are so thrilled to stay home for 4 more years! In the middle of interview season, we all hopped on another plane back down to Irvine (we seriously can't get enough of Irvine), so
Christmas... it was so fun and intense! The Hazens came home this year, and the cousins couldn't help themselves! Chaos ensued! Kate had baby Mitchell James in August, so there was a new little baby to enjoy and watch in terror as Maddie, Zach and Benjamin ransacked the house and had the time of their lives. We also had a new addition on the Garton side. Becky and Brandon had their first baby, Luke Christopher, in November. All those new babies were good practice and a reminder of how fun infants are! I was getting excited for my due date in March! Are we ready to enter the new year? Yes.
Hello, 2014. January and February are sort of a wash. I was heavily pregnant and winter was a REALLY cold one, so we spent a lot of time indoors. We did go to Storytime at the library every Wednesday and made a new friend - Dante. Other than that, we found time to play with friends Tavin and Matilda, go to early Head Start, and find projects to do around the house! March came and we awaited the arrival of our new baby boy!
Well, we've made it to the birth story of Mr. Michael David Tjarks... I think I'll save that for a separate blog post!
Friday, March 15, 2013
March Update
Enough time has gone by, and I think I'm due for another post to document our life. We heard today about an awful tragedy that has happened to some friends of ours down in Vermillion. Their 16-year old daughter, Madison, and another brave bystander died after jumping in the Sioux River to rescue Madison's 6-year old brother, who had fallen in. The young boy, Garrett, survived and climbed out, but his two rescuers were swept away in the freezing current. Madison's body has been recovered, but the other is still missing. Our hearts are broken for this sweet family in this awful time and we pray for them to find comfort, peace and love from their family, friends and neighbors, and especially our Heavenly Father.It's days like this when most people tend to reflect on their own lives and the blessings we have that aren't often enough acknowledged. I know that I certainly feel a sting in my heart knowing that there's one family out there that I know and love who are suffering life's worst possible nightmare, and I am here at home clutching my own baby like there's no tomorrow. There's a feeling of grief for the family, guilt for myself, and gratitude for my son.
So I feel inspired to share some thoughts and pictures, lest I ever forget Benjamin's sweet face and funny sayings at age (almost) 2 and 1/2! (Can it be?!)
Benjamin will be the first to tell you that he is no longer a baby. He is a "big boy," and don't you forget it. So big in fact, that he's more than willing to carry his empty plate around the house after mealtimes to prove to everyone that he did, in fact, finish eating and is ready to play again, people!
His eating has gotten better over the months and (gulp) years. He's still hit or miss about most things, which I know is normal for his age, but I have had a few proud moments. He does love salmon and couscous, feta and queso fresco, capers and olives, and most all fruit and vegetables. (Except broccoli. Don't even think about those green trees.) Number one on his list continues to be spaghetti and meat sauce. Like mother, like son.
Benjamin does love to spend time with me in the kitchen. He gets on his "up-stool" and helps me measure, pour and stir. We watch things sizzle in skillets and boil in pots. We listen for the timer and pull cookies out of the oven. He has a blast, and he's consistently more willing to eat food that he's helped to make, so he has officially become the sous chef of the family.
(Don't mind us... We just rolled out of bed:)
Are you noticing something different in that most unflattering picture above? Little boy undies, perhaps?! Benjamin is potty-trained. Yahoo!!! It's been almost a month now, and while I was skeptical at first, I'll admit that it's a ton easier than diapers - especially when we're out of the house. I ended up using a 3-day method, but he pretty much had it down in about 6 hours. I made a sticker chart for both poopy and potty, which also worked out great. He came down with the flu on day 4 post-training which threw a wrench into things, though. The accompanying diarrhea didn't help matters and we had a few accidents. His self-esteem took a little hit and he spent about a week terrified to poop again, but luckily we've worked through that. You guys don't even KNOW how fabulous and exciting poop is! I've never had to talk something up so much in my life! Haha. Anyway, things are humming along nicely and besides a few accidents here and there, we've had no issues. The only bad part is that he is not night-trained. I know that stupid book I read said it would happen along in the process, but we haven't been so lucky. Problem #1 is that Benjamin is his mother's son, aka the world's deepest sleeper. We started out with undies at night, and he soaked right through them 2-3 times a night without even waking up. Thank goodness I got up to check! After a week of changing sheets multiple times a night, I finally gave up and bought a package of nighttime Pull-ups. I have also been getting up him throughout the night to use the potty, and he does go, but I swear to you that he doesn't wake up for it. He is a zombie. Doesn't even open his eyes. You should see me try to wake him up for school on Wed/Thursdays. He is like a 16-year old teenager on a Saturday morning.
Anyway, he loves his froggy toilet. He loves to flush. He loves his new big boy undies. He loves other people's bathrooms. He loves telling people he goes potty from his penis. I love not having stinky diapers to deal with!!! Overall we've been killing this potty business!
Benjamin continues his obsession with any vehicle imaginable. High up on his list lately are firetrucks and rockets. (He's gotten into the show "Little Einsteins", which has a rocket.) He spends most of his time at home driving his vehicles around, making them crash and then saying "sorry, car." What a life, when a 99-cent Matchbox car can light up your day!
Here are a few more pictures of Benjamin with his favorite toys: (notice the blocks are supposed to be a dinosaur. A T-Rex, specifically. Dad helped.)
For fun, I started Benjamin with some early piano lessons this month, just to see how he would do. I made a very simple color-coded system of note-reading and he's taken to it well so far. I draw a big staff on a sheet of paper and compose a simple song using colored notes which correspond to the keys on the piano that I have colored with dry-erase markers. He follows my finger from beginning to end of the phrase and matches the color on his music to the corresponding piano key. He loves it, and has now started calling it the "color song." It's been fun to watch!
This winter has been so bitterly cold that we've hardly spent any time outside. We did get out once or twice to check out the snow, but each time was short-lived. (Can't say I blame him. Brrr!) PLEASE hurry, Spring! Benjamin just wants to get out and ride his firetruck!!! It's too hard in the snow!!!
("Mom, this is awful. This snow is in my way of having fun.")
We've been busy trying to fill our days with lots of projects and activities. We recently made some St. Patrick's Day gifts for our friends, which required me to buy a huge bag of Skittles (oh darn), and separate them into colors. I enlisted my amazing son for the job and he did very well. For every Skittle that was sorted, at least two were eaten. It was a good day.
Benjamin is quite the conversationalist these days. I have GOT to start writing down more of the funny and sweet things he says, but I did get a picture snapped of this moment when he said, "Daddy, I want to be a doctor..... just like you.":
My sweet little boy is very affectionate and is always saying, "Mommy, I love you." I've got to get that recorded, so I never forget what it sounds like.
Today we had a Dr. appointment to check out a cyst on his cheek. While the PA was listening to his heart, this conversation happened:
Benjamin, pulling down his shirt: "Look. I have nipples."
PA: "Yes, you do! You have two nipples."
Benjamin: "I have nipples, like Mommy."
PA: "Yes, and your nipples are very little. Mommy has bigger nipples."
Benjamin: "Yep."
Hahahahaha.
While I'm on the subject, here are his stats from today:
Height: 2ft, 10inch (Tenth percentile)
Weight: 23lb 6.4oz (First percentile - yeah, baby! We're on the charts!)
Benjamin is LOVING, LOVING, LOVING school. He's obsessed with his teachers and talks about them all week long until he goes back every Wed/Thur. He does great playing with the other kids and is the top of his class, I'm pretty sure! ;) His teacher just recently told me that he and another little girl (Jazzy), are a little married couple. They follow each other around and take care of each other. Last week Benjamin complained that he was too hot and took off his sweater, only to hand it to Jazzy, who walked across the room and hung it up for him. Miss Katie says that stuff happens all the time, and she gets the biggest kick out of it. So cute!
We spend a lot of time with our neighbors and good friends, the Lewises, and I'm grateful to have such a good friend nearby! We also have a bi-monthly craft club/playgroup with some friends in our ward and have enjoyed that. We do a lot of outings at the community center for toddler time and the Washington Pavillion, where we get in for free (thanks Aunt Becky), and always bring friends along to enjoy the Science Center. Benjamin's favorite places to go these days are the public library (we spend HOURS there - they have a train in the kid section), and the Butterfly House. That place is awesome. Benjamin goes to touch the starfish and stingrays in the touch pool at the aquarium portion, and I go because they have a giant greenhouse that they keep at 80 degrees, dressed it up like a legit rainforest, and filled the place with hundreds of butterflies. On the coldest and snowiest day, that is where you'll find us. Benjamin also started his very first day of gymnastics this morning! They have a parent-toddler session a couple times a week and they let the kids utilize all the equipment (trampolines, foam pits, bars, beams, ropes and one GIANT bounce house.) He had a BALL, so I'm pretty excited about that.
Well, I've written a TON about our boy. He's amazing. A dream. Smart, handsome, funny. He is his father. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
As for Joel, medical school is humming along. Just don't ask us what we're doing with our future. Haha. (sob.) It turns out that Joel is (over)-qualified for anything and everything, and he just so happens to want to do everything. So, we've got that decision to make. It was Match Day for the 4th years today. It's hard to believe that'll be us in a year! I'm super excited, though. I'm sure things will work out just the way they're supposed to and we'll be very happy. I'll keep the blog updated as our future unfolds.
Until next time, I'll be living it up here in Tea, SD, doing my very best to enjoy every moment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)