Talmage at 3 Months

 

 At 3 month, Talmage weighs 8 lbs 6 oz. Since we switched formulas, he has done better with eating. Talmage still looks like he is in pain a lot of the times and is fussy, but there are also those moments when he flashes his dimple at me. Love it. He smiles the most when you click your tongue and make faces at him. Talmage gets up one to two times a night. He is averaging 2 oz in his feeds and is still on the Nutramigen. We concentrate his bottle to 27 calories in order to help him gain weight.

Dallin is such a wonderful helper. He loves holding Talmage and doing tummy time with him. Dallin is especially helpful in the evening when I'm trying to get dinner on the table and of course Talmage decides then to be fussy. There is six years apart between the two but I think they will have a special bond because Dallin helps out so much.

 Gavin loves to hold Talmage and helps me remember to do tummy time. He is very aware of where Talmage is and likes to observe all the diaper changes (both boys do honestly.) Once they were fighting over who got to be the closest during the diaper change and then Dallin got hit with some poop that squirted out. This has stopped the fighting and allowed me a little more space during a diaper change. Both boys find the story super funny and like to retell it.

When we are putting the kids to bed, Talmage hangs out in Lili's bed. This time when I put Lili into bed, she moved over right next to Talmage and put her arm around him. It was super cute. By the time I got the camera, she was done holding him. Lili likes to know where Talmage is and if she can get into my room where Talmage sleeps, she runs over and tries to pull herself up to see him. She calls Talmage baby and gives him kisses now (although I doubt Talmage likes her slobber on him.) Lili also likes to give Talmage his paci back. She used to steal it but now understands to give it to him instead.

 

Talmage's cousin Capri came to meet him. She was born a month after him and right now can take him down. Talmage will catch up.

There will be four grand babies born this year, so Grandma and Grandpa will get plenty of baby time!

Talmage snuggled and ready for bed. He loves to be swaddled.

Talmage is starting to notice mobiles and toys.

 

 Daddy bonding time.

 We are so glad that each month Talmage seems to get a little better. He has brought so much joy to our family especially when we catch his smiles!

Miami Beach

Since we thought Talmage would be discharged the following Monday, we decided we couldn't leave Miami without the whole family really enjoying the beach so that's where we headed on Saturday. When I took the kids by myself, Dallin couldn't play in the water like he wanted. Zane and I did the two morning feeds with Talmage and then we left for an afternoon of fun!

I didn't want to deal with sand in Lili's hair, so I used Gavin's swim cap on her. How cute does she look? Zane made a comment about poor Lili when I put it on her, but she got so much attention at the beach! I doubt I will get away with it when she is older. She was super tired and didn't like the chilly wind, so she and I walked along the edge of the water to keep her happy. Lots of people came up to talk to her (too bad she was grumpy) and some even asked where we got the swim cap.

There really weren't any waves to jump, but Dallin had fun non the less playing with Zane.

Gavin got in the water a little bit, but honestly, he is obsessed with sand.

Yep. Obsessed! Meet the Sand Monster.

And in case you wanted to be a sand monster with snot running down your face, the below is how you do it. I can't tell you how many times a day I ask Gavin why he did something. Why was probably one of his first words. He can never give me an answer. I really want to know what is going through his mind.

We had a great time and I'm glad we got away together!

A Letter to Talmage

 Dear Talmage,
You are 25 days old today. It has been 14 days since I last held you and my arms and heart were aching for you. The doctors gave us enough positive news on your development that we took it as an excuse to bring the whole family to meet you. Honestly, we knew that once you met your siblings, you would fight the rest of the way to get home to us. It worked for Lili.

It felt so good to hold you again and feed you (you are such a good eater now taking all your feeds from a bottle!). I can't wait until you can come home with us permanently. Your nurse today was Angel, and I think he is an Angel. He takes such good care of you and makes sure I have everything including information that I need. He probably thinks I cry a lot since he was your nurse on the day I had to leave you and then today when I got to hold you again. Just know your mom cries a lot.

Angel worked his magic and got you moved to a private room within the NICU that has a window so that your siblings could see you since they aren't allowed to be with you yet. Lili kept raising her hands above her head to show that she is so big now that she is a big sister. I doubt anyone else thinks all 15 pounds of her is so big, but she will be a great sister to you. Gavin and Dallin blew you kisses, wrestled on the ground, then blew you more kisses. They were very interested in your body parts and wanted to make sure you had all 10 fingers and toes. They had to check out the monitors on your tummy and on your foot. I'm so glad that all your IV's and oxygen are gone.

Angel made more magic happen when he got permission for Dallin to come in and meet you. Dallin wasn't allowed to hold you yet much to his dismay, but he could come in and get a better look at you. Being the baby hog that he is, he loved being with you! He told you a story about a snake, sang "I Am a Child of God," and after seeing a picture of a knight in the hospital, told you that you will be a knight and shining armor and protect Lili. Dallin is a great big brother and of course really struggled with the rule to not touch you. He can't wait to cuddle with you!

Dad and I took turns hanging with you while the other was with the kids in the family center at the hospital. This center is awesome. They had a pizza party today, a toy donation where your siblings came back to our apartment with new legos to build and books to read...perfect for a family far away from home, toys especially for Lili, and movies. This family center makes it so much easier to spend time with you and it was especially nice today after spending two days in the car driving to be with you!

We are staying in apartments near the hospital that families stay in when they have a kid in the hospital. I'm so glad we could get in these apartments. It is nice to be so close to you so we can come and go easier. We will be here until you are discharge which may be a little while longer since you are struggling with coming off of your medicine. You can't leave the hospital until you are off this medicine. I know it is tough but you have a lot of people praying for you and you are one tough boy!

Love,
A Very Happy but Anxious Mommy

Dallin's pictures of Talmage

Alligators!

 When Zane and I visited Miami to meet Talmage, we spent the whole time in the hospital except for two outings in the afternoon to get a break. After our outings, we would head back to the hospital and stay late. One afternoon we had lunch on Ocean Drive in South Beach and another we checked out Gator Park. We wanted to see if this was an outing that we could take our boys to when we came back with them. We also knew when we came back, only one of us would go with the boys while the other stayed behind with Lili (and if Talmage was out of the hospital, then with him.) We had a great time and were so excited to show it to Dallin and Gavin who are obsessed with alligators!

 

 There were three different places to check out the alligators in cages.

We saw an alligator show which included seeing alligators and a scorpion up close and then the presenter showed us how to capture an alligator.

The presenter liked to put animals right up to any girl that was a little skirmish. He picked me out right away! He wanted to make sure I got a good picture!

As long as he didn't touch anything in the alligators mouth, the presenter was fine. As soon as he touched something, the alligator snapped. Good thing the presenter had great reflexes!

The presenter came up from behind and got on the alligators back. He then grabbed the mouth and pulled it up tucking it under his chin so that his hands are free to tie up the mouth.

We also went on an airboat ride to see alligators and other wild life in the wild.

Can you see him?

Camping Anyone? Count Us Out!

We found out Talmage was born, that he was sick and being life flighted to Miami Children's, and then we heard nothing else. To distract our thoughts from the worry (and to stop checking our cell phones and email every 2 minutes) we decided to not cancel out camping plans and to enjoy some Mother Nature. We have a favorite campsite about 20 minutes from our home so we headed there with my brother's and sister's families and my parents.

It was a good thing the camp out was only 20 minutes away. When it came to putting the kids to bed, Dallin and Gavin were too hyper to go to bed. They kept each other up, woke Lili up, woke Bryson up, kept Haley's older boys up... Zane and I tried splitting the boys up and taking one to the car to sleep. Once Lili was awake, she refused to go back to sleep. Zane drove Gavin around the campsite until he fell asleep while I worked on getting Dallin to sleep. By the time we had everyone asleep, Zane and I were exhausted from the fights. Then Lili woke up screaming around 2 a.m. and refused to fall back to sleep. It is the worse to have a screaming baby while everyone is sound asleep! Zane tried to walk Lili around probably passing Matt in the dark who was walking Bryson around since Lili had woke him up. Finally Zane decided it was best to just drive Lili home and put her to sleep in her bed. What a night! We told the boys the next morning to enjoy this camp out a lot because it was the last one they get to do until everyone in our family learns to sleep in the same tent!

Enjoying Our Last Camp Out

We decided to take a walk to the river.  Lili is a little obsessed with water and decided to try it out despite the water being pretty chilly.

The other kids soon followed Lili into the water.

And then slowly the clothes started coming off.

Eventually everyone was in the underwear.

Lili was the first one in and the first one out. She hung out with Bryson and watched the other silly kids.

They walked back to camp in their underwear. I wonder what everyone thought of us.

The next morning the kids went to check out the animals in the nature center.

We had a great little camp out (despite the sleeping part!)