Loving his brother

When I lay Jaron on a blanket like this Jacob can't resist him. He just loves to kiss him and talk to him and make him smile. He gets right in his face and says "Hey sugar, he sugar dunklins" Jaron loves him too. They will play good together when Jaron gets bigger.

Teether & Jumping

I gave Jaron this frozen teether to see how he liked it. He licked it a few times and I guess decided it was too cold cause he didn't want it anymore after that. I don't think he is teething his gums are not swollen or anything. But he always sucks on his fingers.
I had his NAM out in this one trying to let a sore heal. He loves to jump in this thing that hangs in the door way. What a great invention! Jacob loved it too. He will jump there for an hour before making a peep. I think it puts pressure on his belly and relieves the gas pains.

Adorable Moment

Here is another adorable moment. Jacob loves to hold his brother. He is so proud when he does. I can't wait until Jaron can crawl around and play with him. Jacob wants to take a bath with him but it's too soon. So maybe one day Jaron will be able to sit up and they can play in the tub together.

Diaper & Swinging

Here is a cute one of Jaron in his diaper. He loves to play with his toes and this picture was posted for all the grandparents out there who just want to squeeze him but can't get here. We know you would be here if you could. We get lots of comments on his eyes and how serious he is. He will stare at anyone right in the eyes just like this.
This is a cute one of him swinging. He loves it! He is learning to shift his weight and make it go faster than it is set on. He was hitting the wall with the swing yesterday. What a cutie!

Feeding his brother

Jacob was trying to feed Jaron. I had to capture the moment. Jaron is trying more to hold his bottle on his own too.

What a little Man

Well here he is, our handsome little man, all dressed and ready for church. He was doing great there for a while drinking on his own. And he does it still sometimes. But he will only drink like half his bottle for me and I usually squirt the rest. I am getting frustrated~wishing there was another way or a better bottle or something. We went to the GI doctor and he said Jaron was growing good and I needed to lower my expectations and try not to compare him to Jacob. It is so hard because Jacob was a big baby and Jaron is so little and feel like he is not getting enough. The doctor was very nice and made me feel better. He suggested adding some stuff to the breast milk to give him more calories. We are trying it but I think it tastes bad. Jaron isn't very interested in drinking now. I don't know what to do. I will be so glad when he can suck a bottle on his own and I know he will drink when he is hungry and I don't have to force him. Let's see, we have 75 more days until surgery!!! Thank God! This has flown by. He has been wearing the NAM for 121 days, can you believe it?!?!?! I think going to NY every week keeps me busy so time is flying by. Thanks for all your prayers.

Jacob wrote his name

Check this out he did it all on his own. On top is how he wrote his name and below that is a little man. The first one he ever drew with legs and very long feet. I asked what the lines were coming out of his eyes and he said "he's crying mommy". And of course you can tell this man has crazy hair!

Cuter than Cute!

Here is another picture of our handsome little man. He is so sweet to Jaron. The other day in the car I looked in the back seat and he was holding Jaron's hand. He wasn't saying anything, just reached over in his car seat and holding his hand. So precious. He told me the other day he wants a baby sister. I said NO WAY NOT RIGHT NOW!!! :-)

So far so good...

Well since Jaron is actually drinking on his own now and I don't have to squirt it in his mouth, daddy was able to feed him a bottle. He usually drinks about 3 oz. on his own then I squirt the rest. I think it's acid reflux causing him discomfort. We have an appt. with a GI doctor Nov. 16th.
We went to NY monday and he does not have any sores from the nasal stints. And that is great being his first week with them. The doctor added some more to them making them a little bigger. Everything is looking good and Jaron is laughing more all the time.

90 more days!

Well if everything goes as planned we only have 90 more days until Jaron's surgery. I thought this picture was appropriate. Showing how tired we are and so ready to be done with this. Flying back and forth to New York in one day is hard but we know it is the best for Jaron. One day we will be able to tell him all about it. I think this whole process is harder on Mommy than him. He seems to be doing well with the nasal stints. He is still drinking most of his bottle on his own. I think he needs to build up those muscles since I have been squirting it for so long. He is starting to laugh more and more. Jacob is the best at making him smile. Two boys....I am going to have my hands full when they are teenagers.

Brotherly Love!

Jaron got his Nasal Stints

Well he got his nasal stints yesterday and he seems to be doing ok with them. He is actually drinking a bottle now with them. I think it helped open up his nostrils so he can breath better and I don't have to squirt the milk in his mouth. Thank God! I felt so bad doing that and he would cry the whole time. But I knew he had to have it. So maybe this will continue. Hope you can tell the difference in the picture. The wires are connected to the NAM and curve up around into his nose. The part in his nose is covered in soft material. He seems to be happy and less gassy too since he isn't crying while drinking. Thank the Lord it is getting better.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Jaron Jump up!

We put Jaron in this thing that hangs from the door frame. Jacob loved it when he was little. But Jaron still isn't sure how to do it. He holds his head up good, not to mention the blankets I have crammed in front of his belly to fill the thing. Jacob was trying to help him jump by lifting the thing up and down. See how Jaron looks at him. Jacob talks to him and he smiles all the time. I can't wait until they can play together. I have been calling Jaron sugar dumplins and Jacob thought I said dunklins so that is what he calls him now "Sugar Dunklins". I think we have all picked it up.

Bunny Hop

Jaron was sitting in his car seat waiting to go get groceries with mommy and Jacob wanted to show him his bunny. This little bunny is so cute! You squeeze the button on his hand and it sings "put your right foot forward, hop hop hop (it actually hops) do the bunny hop hop hop hop, wiggle your nose and your toes, do the bunny hop hop hop hop". He said "look jaron, you see it".

ALL SMILES

Well we finally got a good picture of Jaron laughing. He is so cute. He actually laughs out loud now. He must have really liked this hat. This was right after I put it on his head. Chris had him cracking up. And below is him sitting in the chair at the doctors in NY. He looks so tiny in that giant chair. I had to snap it fast before he fell over. He can't sit up alone yet. We had a good trip. No nasal stents yet. We're almost ready for them. Mommy is getting anxious. Thanks for reading.

Silly Boy

Jacob likes to get the handles off of his pliers and put them on his fingers. He walks around the house pointing at us saying "YOOOOUUUUUUU". He is hilarious!

New tapes

We went to NY again monday as usual and they decided we could start taping down his lip (prolabium). So below is a picture of the new tapes up close. We are trying to get it pulled down to the center and make room for his nasal stents.

On the Couch

Here is a cute picture of our handsome boys. The spot Jaron is sitting in is where we always used to put Jacob when he was that age. Jacob loves his brother. I can't say it enough. He always wants to hold him and kiss him and wipe his mouth and help me feed him. What a good big brother.

SLEEP!!!

Wow we finally got some sleep. I am so amazed! Jaron took a bottle at 11:30pm last night and did not wake up until 6am this morning. I did not know what to think. God is good! Wow I feel so refreshed. He also drank his first bottle today since birth without crying. He drank it in record time. He took the whole 5 oz. in 15 minutes and never cried a bit. What a blessing. As I read somewhere, "There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train".

Camera & Muscles

This first picture is of Jacob's Magna Doodle. He drew this and said it was a camera. Look at, isn't that pretty good. I just had to show everyone. I thought it was very good.

This next picture is him showing his muscles. He said "Look at my big muscles!" what a cutie!!!

1st night in his own room

I put Jaron in his own room last night. He has been sleeping in our room in the bassinet. But he was 3 months old yesterday and that is when I started Jacob in his own room. So he did good. He has learned to put himself to sleep which is SUCH A BLESSING. I walked Jacob to sleep for 6 months or more and it killed my back. So I have learned with Jaron and he does great on his own. He still wakes up every 3 hours for a bottle even though he is drinking 5 oz. every 3 hours. My baby is growing up. Below is a picture of him in the bath. He loves taking a bath. He doesn't cry, just kicks his feet a lot!

Jacob's Butterfly!

Jacob was coloring with his markers yesterday and said "Look mommy I did a butterfly". If you notice in the pink circle, the wings with little circles inside them and he solid green part is the body. He is so smart. I couldn't believe he did this. And don't overlook the smiley at the bottom left of the page. I can't wait for the day he writes his name. He writes a "J" a lot and other things after it and says it's his name or Jaron but it's not quite right. We are working on it. Thanks to everyone for his birthday gifts. He had a great day! He is learning to pedal his bike now too. Growing up so fast. He also goes to Sunday school with the other kids instead of the nursery now. Man how time flys!!!

New NAM

Ok we went to NY Monday and got his new NAM and he is doing good with it. He is drinking 5 oz. every 3 hours now and I weighed him while we were there. He was squirming but it kept going from 12.8lbs. to 12.6lbs. so he is somewhere between the two. He is getting so big. In this particular picture I had fully undressed him and he just layed there never flinching. This was Monday night after our long day in NY. I just want to say thank you again to everyone who has helped us with flights. We are getting so much help and I am so grateful for it. I do keep everything in a log and Jaron will know one day how everyone pulled together to help him. God Bless You.

Handsome Boys

We thought this was cute since we do have to go to NY so often. He has grown to love the place!!! We go back Monday for his new NAM. I can't wait. I think we will be able to notice a big difference. He is doing great on the dairy-free breast milk. I definately think he is allergic to dairy because he had all the symptoms and now they are all gone. What a blessing this has been. I have learned to trust God for so much more since he came into our lives. Thanks for reading.

Holding my brother!

Jacob LOVES to hold Jaron. He was so proud after this picture saying "I did hold him!!!" He is such a great helper. Jaron is growing so fast. My too handsome boys. I am a very proud mommy.

Sixth trip to New York

Well went to NY again yesterday and Daddy came with us for the first time. They molded Jaron for a new NAM. I guess they weren't happy with the one we had made in Atlanta. So we will get that next Monday when we go back. He is doing great. We found out he is allergic to dairy so we got him dairy-free breast milk from the Mother's Milk banks. He is loving it!!! God has been so good to us. We always get some kind of help right on time every time we need it. Thank you all for helping us and praying for us. They gave us a surgery date of Feb. 2nd so I guess that is going to be the BIG DAY. We'll keep you posted. Please check back regularly for pictures of our handsome little man.

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Well Jacob (my baby) is 3 years old today! I can't believe it. Man how time flys. He is so smart and getting so big. I just measured him and he is 3ft. 1.5 in. He got this guitar for his birthday and hasn't put it down all day. We are going to get his pictures made now. Thank you to everyone for his birthday gifts.

Change of plans

We have decided to go to New York every week now. We were not happy with the doctor in Atlanta, he is new at the NAM we want the best for Jaron. So now we will be making weekly visits to NYU Medical Center. It will be so worth it when it's all over. If I think in terms of weeks we have about 19 more weeks left before surgery. I am so anxious to see how Jaron is going to look all fixed up. He is so precious. He smiles a lot and is reaching out for things and our faces and he usually does pretty good on the plane rides. Thank you so much to everyone who has given us money or frequent flyer miles to help us get to NY. Everyone has been so supportive and we truly appreciate it. God Bless You!

Drinking Milk

We have been letting Jacob drink out of a regular cup. He feels like such a big boy. He has a birthday coming up Sept. 12th. I can't beleive he is about to be 3 years old. I guess it is so true what they say "TIME FLYS". Jacob is so smart and learning so much. We are very proud of him. Right now we are teaching him the books of the bible. He has an excellent memory. And oh how he loves his brother.

2 month check up

Well I haven't posted in a while because I have been very busy with doctor's appointments and trying to get some rest. But we did take Jaron to his 2 month check up and he weighed 11 lbs. 9 oz. and is 23 in. long. He is growing so good. Feeding him is still a very difficult task. We have tried 6 or 8 different kinds of formula and he threw up all of them or they constipated him so I did some research and found Mother's Milk Banks. There is 12 of them nationwide and they have mom's who donate their milk to help babies with medical needs. They do not get paid for it and they are blood tested and screened throughly. It has been such a blessing to have him on the breast milk. He doesn't spit it up like he did the formula and I feel so much better giving him the real thing. God has been so good to us by providing all our needs at just the right times. Jaron is smiling more and more and making lots of cooing noises. I'll try to post more often sorry it took me so long, just been too tired to get online. Thanks for reading.

The NAM kit

This is what I put together with a tackle box from wal-mart. These are all the things we use for his NAM. For any who don't know what kind of work the NAM is you can see there is q-tips that is for cleaning in his mouth when the NAM is removed, a flash light to look for sores, top right is unisolve to remove the base tapes, bottom left is a stock of the base tapes, bottom middle is the tapes with rubber bands to hold the NAM in place (I made up in advance), bottom right is bacitracin to put on sores and top section is longer q-tips to clean, glue for when we start taping the prolabium and a mirror to look for sores. Now you see why I don't have time for much of anything else. But it is so worth it to move things naturally rather than put him through so many surgeries. Thanks for reading.

Laying in the kitchen

Jacob covered Jaron with his blanket and then went into the living room and got the pillow and blanket off the couch and layed it ever so carefully right beside his brother and said "Mommy I'm laying with Jaron". So precious...

Camo

Here is Jacob playing with Daddy's army stuff. He is getting so big and helps mommy a lot. He really loves Jaron too and just can't seem to get enough of him. Thank God for my boys.

Sunday Suit

He was kinda fussy. But he's still handsome! We dedicated him to the Lord Sunday and this was his first time wearing a suit. Enjoy!

My NAM happy baby

Close up wearing the NAM

Third trip to NYU

Well we went back to New York yesterday and it was a very LONG day. Let me start from the beginning. Our flight didn't leave until 10:12am so that was not as early as last time. The traffic wasn't bad on the way to the airport but there was NO parking. I had to park in economy way out in lala land. Ok so after my mile hike to the terminal I made it inside and Jaron was ready for a bottle so I found somewhere to sit and fed him first. Then since I had already checked in online at home I went to get me some breakfast. So we boarded the plane and he did excellent. He drank one bottle on the plane and slept the rest of the way. We got to NY it was raining and we had the car service waiting to pick us up as planned. We got to NYU and got his NAM adjusted and he was a little fussy while we were there but I think he did great! I called the car service when we were ready to go and they came and got us taking us back to Laguardia Airport. We got there and I checked in only to discover that my flight was DELAYED 2 HOURS!!! Oh man I was bummed. I did not want to sit in that airport for 2 hours with a baby. But he did good and I sat down and had some dinner. The place was packed people in the floor everywhere. I guess there was some bad weather in ATL and other places. Lots of flights were delayed. So anyway we finally took off at 9pm and got home at 12:45am. That was a very long day. He slept on the plane on the way home too so that was a blessing. I think he is getting used to flying. Well we go back Sept. 14th to NY. Better luck next time!