She is Here!

She is here! Born on Oct 5th at 11:37pm. This is an email Mom sent.

Hi all,

Evelyn Claire Eames is here! She weighs 7lbs 7oz and is 19.5 inches long. She was born last night on 10-5-11 at

11:37. Amber was in active labor for 1 and half hours. It was crazy fast, Love you all Ma

Baby is doing great she seems very observant. Passed the hearing screening. The drugs that Amber was on can cause hearing loss , so we are pleased about that. Amber lost too much blood and was on the edge of needing a transfusion. But is recovering. They arrived at the hospital 20 mins before Evelyn was born.

Cole and McKenna are over the Moon. They are so proud of their baby sister. Cole asked if her breathing was OK and if she was healthy. The nurses in the room looked at him and said" how old is he?" Jimmie and I went to the hospital in the afternoon. He knew exactly who the baby was and said eaea (Evey) He wanted to hold her and feed her.

She is a mix between Cole and McKenna, But beautiful.

Love, Rachael

A boy and his dog

I know this is not the post you were all looking forward to. That one is still in drafts at this moment. Instead you get this little story.

It has turned colder here. So that means not as much time outside. Jimmie would spend all day outside if I let him. I did this summer, you should see his tan. When Jimmie is outside he is playing with his dog Mack, they are inseparable.

I know where Jimmie is because Mack lets me know. I have witnessed Mack gently taking Jimmie's arm in his mouth and lead him away from places he is not supposed to be. If I ever lose track of Jimmie I call Mack and say where’s baby? He takes me to him. Did I mention Mack is an outside only dog? Jimmie has never really seemed to want him inside. Until today, well really it all started yesterday. I was folding laundry in our room, I knew Jimmie was in the living room playing. I came out to put some towels away and Mack was in the house, not just in the house, but with his paws on my kitchen table licking Jimmie’s tray. I quickly shooed him out told Jimmie not to let the dog in.

Fast forward to today. I was cleaning the kitchen listening to music. I knew Jimmie was in his room playing with toys. I went to check on him, he had shut the door and the light was off I could hear he was playing with a light up toy in the dark. I left him alone, I checked again same thing, I did not open the door. Then he comes out with you guessed it- the DOG! He was in his room for at least 20 min? Now his room smells like dog. I might be fighting this battle all winter long.

Blessings, Rachael

Dear Jimmie- Happy 2nd Developmental Birthday!

Dear Jimmie,

On May, 28th you officially turned 2 years old.

This is you the right after you were born!

This is you today!

Look at how you have grown next to your Rottweiler Puppy!

Look at how you've grown in your father's hands!

You weigh 20 lb 3 oz.

You are 33 1/4 inches tall.

Your head 18 1/2 inches around.

You have 131 followers on your blog Jimmie!

Physically you are continuing to progress very well. You are jumping with both feet coming off the ground. You are running and climbing everywhere. It takes a lot of energy to keep up with you and keep you safe. You absolutely love the water and now that the weather is warm your momma takes you swimming and you've visited Table Rock Lake twice. You will just charge right into the water- NO FEAR. You don't really mind when your face goes in the water. Your momma keeps floaty devices on you and you maneuver around like a fish!

You are finally done cutting all of your teeth! Yeah!

You are sleeping very well. You sleep in your own room all through the night and you go down without a fit. You love to put your doggie and your other stuffed animals to bed yourself.

You recently had a visit with your Developmental Pediatrician who is now pretty convinced that you have Apraxia of Speech. You are doing very well though. You are trying to talk a lot. You pretty much says the 1st consonant of a word but you have a hard time with vowels. Your speech therapist says your speech pattern is very "different". For example you say "thun" for "all gone". It seems that you make up words for things but you stay consistent with that word. You have about 25 words, but only maybe 5 or 6 are understandable. You are continuing to sign very well, and are not getting frustrated.

You eat very well overall! You do have good days and bad days, but no hunger strikes for long stretches. You are drinking a lot more now that it is hot. You are such a big boy Jimmie, that you are drinking water from an open cup sometimes!

Now that you are 2, your doctors and therapists will no longer be adjusting your age. Your real birthday of Feb. 11th will now be the only date considered in your development. This is a huge milestone for you. 2 years old is also a huge milestone in your history of "house arrest". Your doctors and therapists are now encouraging your mom and dad to socialize you more and relax a bit in the quest to protect you from viruses. It is now time to allow your immune system to grow and develop and being exposed to the normal colds and flu's is part of that.

So you have started going to Sunday school! Your momma stays in the room with you and helps when you need direction. You are also having play dates with friends and cousins! You are very apprehensive to join in the play on your own. You have to be taught how to play with other kids. You have had hardly any opportunity to socialize with children so it is very new and overwhelming for you. But you will get used to it and be the life of the party soon- I'm sure!!

Jimmie- I am so excited about this next season of life for you! Your world is opening up and you are now living life as a "normal" child. I am overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving that this time is now here for you. Jimmie, you have conquered the crucial 2 years after a traumatic early birth. You have conquered those 2 years in a glorious fashion. There have been trials and tribulations, but you, our "small but mighty warrior" are victorious!! Your momma and daddy have fought beside you and for you every step of the way, so the victory is also theirs!

Our Holy Father has held us up, given us strength and wisdom in your care. He is faithful!

Your scripture- the theme of your journey is so true that I can't help but quote it again and again!

"For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places."

Jimmie in a couple of weeks we will celebrate this milestone with family and friends! We are running, jumping, dancing, singing and playing with you on our "high places" on "your high places" Jimmie! It is good to be here..

I thought I'd repost your montage I made for you this year. You love it and you watch it all the time. I also linked it for you on the side of the blog. (-:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Love you forever,

Auntie Amber

P.S. The pictures and Jimmie's stats were taken at the end of May. (-:

My Easter And Other Things- By Jimmie Gravitt

Well guys- It's been a while since Auntie let me write a post.

My new baby girl cousin who's growing in her belly has made her really sick. But Auntie is feeling much much better now, FINALLY!!

I'm going to tell you about my Easter, but first I want to let you know what I've been up to lately. I'm a hard worker. I'm also very big. I have my own tractor and I've been hauling a lot of gravel lately. Here is a video of me hard at work:

Okay so Easter was fun. I got to dress up cute and go to church and then I went over to Great Grandma Paula's to hunt Easter eggs. My Grandpa and Grandma Gravitt were there too. I got the hang of "the huntin Easter egg thing" pretty quick and boy did I find a lot of eggs! Here is a video of me right in the thick of the hunt:

Later we went to my Great Uncle Kevin (My Pa's brother) and Aunt Nadine's house for more egg huntin. Uncle Kevin has the best digital camera IN THE WORLD and he took some great pictures of little ole me.

I like hangin with my Pa!

I like pullin silly faces with him too.

I also love ridin things with wheels!

Look mom! I'm awesome!

Ok, now I know this is starting to look bad . . .

Real bad!

Real real bad . . .

But it's cool, I'm tough, no biggie...

What's a little spill when you were born so early you have to fight to breathe and eat?? (-:

Well that was my Easter.

I have a few other things to tell ya'll. I started Sunday School yesterday! Mom is finally letting me out of seclusion. AND my developmental birthday was Saturday, May 28th. I am now OFFICIALLY 2 years old! This is apparently a very big deal and mommy is plannin me a big ole party and working with Auntie on a new "developmental post" coming soon.

Thanks for prayin and carin about little ole me!

Love,

Jimmie Jim Jim

better

Things in both houses are going better.

Amber went to the hospital on Monday. They tested for the flu and gave her an IV for fluid. She was negative for the two flu strains they tested for. She was relived to not need to be medicated. She is feeling better, still sick but better. David has been very sick too, He is feeling better, McKenna seems to be getting over it. Cole still had a high fever today. He should start feeling better by tomorrow.

Amber had her regular OB appointment today. She has not lost weight! They want her to eat iron rich foods and not supplement right now. This was the first Doc. visit that her urine was clean yea! She is basically back to where she was before she got pregnant. The Doc. was happy about that. They are going to start weaning her off the zofran pump when she is feeling better. (getting over the flu) Her BIG ultrasound is next week. Please pray with us that the baby looks great.

My household seems to be better. I am feeling better. Jimmie still has a ton of snot, his cough seems to be better. I do not hear any crackling in his chest but he is still congested.

Lets pray Mom and Justin stay well.

Jimmie was playing outside yesterday in the shed. I caught him in the old firebird. If you look closely you can see the snot. He is sporting a nice farmers tan these days.

Love, Rachael

Sick :(

We could really use prayers right now. First and foremost Amber is sick, she is trying to stay out of the hospital. She has had trace to moderate keytones in her urine. She is in communication with the nurse and they are monitoring her closely from home. Well from my Mom's house. She has a fever that she has to take Tylenol every 4 hours to keep down, it is still 99.7. She has given herself two bolus of Zofran to keep her food down as well. She feels horrific. She really hates taking meds so she is really sick to be taking them like this. The baby is moving around a lot and even kicked Cole's hand. He was delighted.

McKenna has a fever of 102.7 and is lethargic and has the chills

I have a fever of 100 and a very full head and sore throat

Jimmie still has a lot of snot, he has been kinda gaggy, and a few coughs here and there. I am listening to his lungs with my stethoscope (yes I do that) I don't hear any crackling but I do worry about his lungs.

Andrea (my Mom) she is trying to tend to everyone. Mom is not sick but lets pray that she stays that way. Thankfully Justin is home today and I think Rod and Kathy will come out tomorrow to help me.

I know this is not the end of the world but it feels like it. Can I just keep Jimmie in a bubble please!

Love, Rachael

Developmental Peadiatrician visit

Jimmie Recently had a visit with his developmental Peadiatrician Dr. H. I was expecting him to not be pleased with how skinny Jimmie is. Dr. H was not happy about his weight but was very pleased with his variety of diet and how much he eats. He was also pleased at how much he has grown in head circumference and height, He felt like he had made a huge cognitive jump and is not worried about Jimmie getting enough nutrition to feed his brain. He also said he seems to be "caught up" (minus his weight and speech) A huge relief for me. I went in to the appointment feeling like it was D-day.

However he is very concerned with his lack of speech. His language is very good, i.e. he understands pretty much everything we say. It is looking very much like apraxia (the same diagnoses that Amber's daughter McKenna has) Interestingly enough it is not something related to his prematurity. He communicates very well using signs, he has about 50 . He has about 20 words/sounds. but the average person could understand maybe 2 of them. We are moving to speech therapy two times a week. We have 1 hour session, he is not yet two adjusted so his attention span is short, he concentrates and works hard for 10 min out of the hour. I work all day with him on sounds and words. It is just really hard to see him struggle for every sound. He wants to communicate and has a lot to say. In the long run will be OK, but part of me wants to say "give him a break breathing, eating, and talking should not be this hard" I know that we are so blessed at how well he is doing and how much worse it could be.

The big change: Dr. H. wants me to have him involved with peer groups. Jimmie's therapists have been pushing me to do this for a few months now. They think it would really help his verbal skills. I am really trying to let go and not worry about him getting sick. Dr. H said he needs to get sick and build up his immune system. I know this but I really hate it when he is sick ugh. So he will start Sunday School at the end of May (two adjusted) I will try and do play dates with cousins and such. I could really use prayer to let go.

So all and all very good, Dr. H wants to see him in December to start talking about when he turns 3 (gulp) we will lose all of our in home therapist and have to transition to the school district, or private therapy.
Love, Rachael

PS Amber has managed to stay out of the hospital for 3 weeks. She is on the Zofran pump 24 hrs a day (with a few min off to change the site) She is having some anxiety for the next few weeks. They will try weaning her from the pump. If that doesn't work it is assumed she will stay on it for the whole pregnancy. She also has the anatomical ultra sound in a few weeks. Given my history with it she is anxious about that as well. She is having pain in the needle sites around her belly button she is now changing them every 12 hours and it is helping. She is gaining weight just very slowly (sounds like someone else?) She is doing better at staying hydrated and able to eat but is still experiencing extreme fatigue. Her Iron levels are low but they don't want to supplement right now. The supplements can cause stomach upset, she had this side effect from them in the past. The low levels are contributing to the fatigue. Over all she is better.

PPS Jimmie and Amber and her kids are sick fever colds etc.. Pray for them.