Lanie's Birthday

Wright had a great time at Lanie's 2nd birthday on Saturday. We went to the farm and he got to feed the goats, see a new baby goat, chickens and a huge horse. And of course his favorite part was the cake and juice.

Brendan helping Wright feed the goats.

Its a weird feeling...

Wright liked the idea of feeding them but did not like to get more than a foot from their mouths.

Eleanor had the right idea letting them eat out of the cup.

Sweet friends - Wright kept dragging Eleanor around by her hand.

That is one large horse!

Wright got to sit next to the birthday girl and he even tried to blow out her candles!

Making Progress

After many prayers, Spencer finally seems to be making progress with his eating. Last night he ate 45 ml (out of 55) at 7:30pm and then finished a bottle at 1:30am! This is a HUGE step in the right direction. Then this morning and today, he only ate 10 ml from the bottle and none from me. We have been told many times that it is very normal for these babies to make a huge step and then the next few feedings regress somewhat. So we are trying to focus on the progress and not the setbacks.

Tonight Brendan and I hired a babysitter for Wright and went up to the hospital for a few hours to spend time with Spencer together. He once again ate nothing when I tried to breastfeed which was discouraging. But then we tried a bottle and he ate 45 ml again. We were both very proud parents. It was funny, he had two cheerleaders encouraging him the whole time "Come on buddy, you can do it! We know you can!" Anyways, it at least feels like he is moving in the right direction. We are hoping he makes giant strides this week. Thanks again to all for praying for him :)

On a side note, I know I am slightly biased but he is so stinkin' cute! He has the most beautiful deep blue eyes and such pretty coloring. And he has this blondish hair that has grown in the perfect little boy hair style. We cannot tell who he looks like exactly. Sometimes he looks a lot like Brendan and then sometimes we both see my family too. We don't think he looks that much like Wright though. I guess only time will tell...

Spencer Update 1/15

Not much has changed this week with little Spencer. He is supposed to be eating 55 ml every feeding and he is eating an average of 20 ml from the nipple. He is allowed to try anywhere from 2-4 nipple feeds a day. A typical day consists of me nursing him at 10:30am and 7:30pm and the nurse giving him 1-2 bottles during the night. Anything he does not eat from me or the bottle they give him through his gavage (tube in his nose). He seems to have the mechanics down (wide awake, rooting, sucking, etc) but he just does not have the stamina or maturity to finish. According to every dr and nurse, one day a light bulb will just go off and he will figure it all out. In the meantime, it is very frusterating to go in there every day feeling like he is not making progress. I am such a numbers person that if he takes 20 ml one day, I want him to take 25 ml the next day. Unfortunately, I have had to learn that premature babies do not follow these patterns. Instead every day is a roller coaster. From the beginning they have told us to expect his due date of February 1 for when he will be out of there. We both thought that was so far away, there was NO way it would be that long. Now, we are thinking his due date would be a best case scenario. The nurse told us today that once he takes 6 full nipple feeds, expect he will be home in about a week. Since he is not even finishing one full now, this seems like an insurmountable task. Our prayers continue to be that something will click soon and he will surprise us all.
On another note, Wright is doing very well being juggled between so many different people. But he has definitely become very clingy to mommy when he is home. He has regressed in a lot of ways asking strange things like to be rocked by me and to lay in our bed. He also likes to grab my hand and drag me around with him. These are all things he has never done before, so I know he is feeling a little uneasy about all that is going on. This is of course difficult for me because I feel guilty leaving him but also feel guilty not being with Spencer. Just challenging to be pulled in so many directions.

Spencer's Eating

Spencer is up to 2-4 "nipple feeds" a day, but he still has not completed a feeding on his own. He seems very ready, alert and wanting to eat but then just takes a long time to get the suck, swallow down. After about 20 minutes, we have to stop trying because if you let it go too long, he will burn more calories than he is taking in. So, we just need continued prayers that something will click as he grows and he will be able to start finishing bottles in a timely manner. Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support.

More Spencer Pics

Brendan with his newest son.

Wright was happy to see Mommy again.

Candace and Spencer.

Luke checking out the new baby and Wright getting a little crazy!

Wright talking to his new baby brother.

Spencer and me.

Spencer, mommy and daddy.

Spencer and Mimi.

Spencer taking his first bottle with the Occupational Therapist.

Holding him for the 2nd time in the NICU.

Getting weighed today - up to a whoppin' 5lb 11oz.

Snug as a bug with his Bevo paci.

About to have his sponge bath.

I will survive!

Under the Lights

Both of our boys have had to be under the Bilirubin lights. Here are their side by side pics. Wright looks SO much bigger...guess 1.5 pounds makes a big difference at this age.

Spencer.

Wright.

Wright - 26 months

Wright is talking so much these days, it is insane! He says literally everything. When we were in the hospital for 3 days, I swear he learned 100 new words. One big thing he started doing is using pronouns and complete sentences consistently. "Mommy your breakfast.", "That's my choo choo train.", "Um, I like waffles! I like cookies!" etc, etc.

Yesterday we were driving down the road and he saw a huge Longhorn sticker on a truck passing us and he said "Look Mommy, look! Hook 'em horns!" Hysterical!

He also likes to narrate every car ride with everything he sees. The funny thing is that most of it is stuff he has learned from Dora. It's like he thinks the whole world is one big Dora episode. Yesterday it was all about "I see volcano, its a triangle." A few days ago, it was sand castles everywhere he saw piles of dirt at construction sites. Just so funny how his little mind works.

People keep asking what he thinks about his baby brother. Obviously, he is a little confused because Spencer is not home with us yet. But if you ask him where Spencer is, he will say "Baby Spinster at da hotpitle with Dahkter Dreiling." LOL! He thinks every doctor is his pediatrician Dr. Dreiling. He also is very interested in everything that has to do with the baby (pumping, bottles, stuff in the nursery). When he sees me get bottles out, he goes and grabs his baby bottle and doll or stuffed animals and feeds them. I really think he is going to be a super sweet big brother.

One more thing I just thought of...whenever we ask him, "Wright, what is this?" or "Who is this?", he never just gives you the answer. Instead he says "Look like puzzle." or "Look like my daddy." Not sure where that came from, but it makes us laugh every time :)

Spencer Update

Spencer has made great progress over the last few days. As of last night, he is completely off the breathing tubes and breathing regular room air on his own and at a normal rate. They are also increasing his milk every 6 hours by 5 ml and as of today, he is up to a little over an ounce. This sounds like nothing but is a HUGE improvement from the app. 1 tsp he started with.

Yesterday he tried his first bottle. After about 5 ml (app. 1 TB), he was so tired, he could not finish. During those five minutes of eating, he also choked a few times and could not seem to master suck, swallow, breathe without getting very stressed and irritated. It was very discouraging and felt like we had forever in front of us before he would take 8 - 2oz bottles (which is required before we can take him home).

But today, I went back for his bottle feed and he did amazingly well! He took 29ml out of 35ml total and he sucked it right down with few breaks. It is crazy how he much better he got in one day. Tomorrow he will try a bottle at two of his eight feedings. He will also be off the IV fluids sometime in the next 24 hours which means we can move him to the Special Care Nursery. This is going to be much better because we will have our own room and a lot more time to spend holding him.

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support. Keep them coming! As I have been reminded continually, God is the greatest healer of all.

Spencer Austin Morris

Much to our surprise, our second son was born about 5 weeks before his due date on New Years Eve. I went in to my 35 week OB appt concerned that my blood pressure was up (as it had been with Wright). It was indeed way up and the dr sent me down to triage for some tests. As soon as I was down there and laying on my side, my bp went way down and I was hopeful that I would go home and be put on bed rest for a few weeks. But then my blood work came back and yet again my liver numbers were really high (higher even than when they induced me with Wright), so my dr broke the news that I would be induced the next day or maybe even have a cesarean that night. I ended up being induced Thursday morning and Spencer was born at 5pm on the dot that evening.

Sadly, because Spencer was so early, he had to go the NICU. He is still there and improving every day. To dumb it down the main issue is his breathing. His lungs are not developed so they had to intibate him and put medicine direclty into his lungs to help them mature. In the meantime, he is on a machine that gives him extra oxygen at a higher flow than mature lungs need. They are trying to slowly ween him off of that every day. To feed him, they have a tube in his mouth that goes directly into his stomach. I pump and bring the milk up there and they give him about 1 TB every three hours. It is crazy how little he eats! The occupational therapist is coming to see him tomorrow to try a bottle and determine a feeding plan moving forward. Once he is off the oxygen and breathing on his own, we will work on getting him to take all 8 feedings by bottle daily. At that point, he can come home. The drs expect it will be a few more weeks. In the meantime, his Bilirubin levels are also up so they have put him under the lights to treat that. The hardest part of all is that we cannot hold him and also seeing this poor little 5lb 15 oz baby with a tube or needle coming out of every possible place on his body.

About 30 seconds after his birth.

He is so swollen in this picture taken at about 5:03pm.

Here he is not too long after the tube was taken out of his lungs. He is starting to look yellow.

Now he is really looking yellow/orange. This was taken yesterday.

This is the one time they let me hold him since he has been in NICU. Not too long after this, we had to lay him back down cause he starting gurgling (struggling to manage his breath).

Here I am feeding him through his tube.

And today under the lights...with more wires than ever!

Christmas 2009

Wright got a train table from Santa and LOVES it!

Megan came to visit and so did Gigi and Papoo.

Brendan got some costume moustaches in his stocking. Hilarious!

Wright playing with his Sesame Street toy - big hit.

And best of all, we got a white Christmas - first one in Dallas in 85 years.

Big 12 Champs

We went to the Big 12 Championship game last night with the Woodards. It was freezing outside and it took a long time to get into the stadium between walking from the car and waiting in lines to be frisked. But it was really fun to get to see the new Cowboys' stadium and very nice that it was indoors in this weather. Despite an overall unexciting game and Texas playing poorly, we were happy with the outcome. Dramatic to say the least! Now we look forward to the National Title Game!

Brendan had to borrow my scarf while we waited in line cause his ears were so cold.

Liz and me all bundled up.

Right after the win.

Scott and Liz.

The team running on the field.

This was from a few weeks ago but I thought it was such a cute pic. Love Wright peaking through the window at his two buds.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas and Wright is learning all about this favorite kids' holiday. We have been teaching him the story of the baby Jesus which sort of confuses him because he keeps thinking it is someone's birthday party. But he loves playing with his Little People nativity and calling it Old McDonald's. We put up our tree and decorated our house right after Thankgsiving and it took almost 2 full days! If we did not have visitors coming to our house for Christmas, I would have given up after a few hours I am sure! He has also learned how to sing Jingle Bells (Jingy Bells) and shake his bells that Mimi bought him. Today we went over to Aunt Sarah's house and decorated gingerbread houses with the cousins. Wright of course ate 90% of the candy while I decorated. But it was very fun!

Wright got to help hang candy canes on the tree.

Wright eating all the candy instead of making his house.

His finished product (with no help from me, I swear)

Mel and Luke.

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! Kim, Newt and the kids came in town from Atlanta and all 7 male cousins loved playing with each other every day. We celebrated Kim and Melanie's birthdays at the beginning of the week with a girls' night at Hibiscus. On Thanksgiving day, we all went to Melanie's house and each brought a few dishes. We had tons of awesome food and the day went so smoothly because we had a bounce house that kept the kids outside most of the time. Friday, we got to go out without kids to Victor Tango's and a bar (first time I have been in one of those in forever!). And every day was filled with lots of activities and family fun.

Newt in the giant chair at Victor Tango's.

This was the point of the day where all the boys decided they needed to have their shirts off.

Wright at the kids' table with his large plate of food which he did not eat any of.

Kim and me.

Porter and Wright (only 9 months apart).

Luke, Porter, Cannon and Wright playing fuseball.

My two boys - yes they are clones of each other and making the exact same silly face without even realizing it!