Happy Developmental Birthday Jimmie!

Today is Rachael's due date! So Jimmie is now 1 year old developmentally! It's been 3 1/2 months since his actual birthday! That blows my mind. It did last year too.

Birthday- Feb. 11th. Due Date- May 28th. Jimmie was born 107 days before he was due, 15 weeks early in the 6th month of pregnancy.

He is our Rock Star, He is my hero! He is truly an amazing little man.

Uncle Nate took these pictures a few weeks ago . . .

Jimmie's development is nothing short of amazing. He is doing awesome physically with his motor skills and he's also on track with his language comprehension.

Last night Jimmie was wandering around whining and tired, Rachael was sitting on the couch. She told Jimmie, "Ok... go get your blanket and come here to mama.." He loves to cuddle with his favorite blanket before bed. He looked at her and then walked over to the corner to where his blanket was. He would have picked it up and come over to be lifted up on the couch if it were not for Rachael's old cat Misty. She had curled up and fallen asleep on Jimmie's blanket. Jimmie was trying to work out how to get his blanket without getting scratched when Rachael came to his rescue.

He also understood Rachael yesterday when she asked him, "Jimmie where's daddy?" He walked over to the door leading to the garage where Justin was and tapped the door.

Jimmie is also signing "more" while saying "sum" .. Rachael always says, "You want "some" more Jimmie?" So he's saying, "sum" whenever he wants more. So cute. Jimmie is in speech therapy now twice a month with First Steps. His therapist feels he's doing great.

Over all, developmentally, Jimmie is more on target with his actual birthday than his due date. He acts more like a 15 1/2 month old than a 12 month old. This is more than we could have ever hoped for him! Praise God, praise His love!

Go Jimmie go!

Love,

Amber

G-Tube DRAMA!

Oh dear . . .

Jimmie had a rough morning- poor thing. Rachael tended to him sometime around 3am and everything with his g-tube was fine. 3 hours later at 6am Rachael discovered the whole thing had been pulled out of his stomach and he had a hole where it was, but that hole was rapidly closing. Justin came home from work and they both tried to reinsert it how they had been taught, but it was already too closed.

So they went as quickly as they could to the Children's Mercy ER. We were definitely in a panic about the possibility of another surgery if the hole was not salvageable. As it is Jimmie has a fever and a sore throat. This was just horrible timing. Rach and Justin are both sick and Rachael still cannot walk on her foot very well. Stress stress stress!!!

"All's well that ends well" I guess. They were able to dilate his stoma and reinsert the g-tube. It was a bit traumatic. They basically had to put a metal rod in and then move it around to open it back up. They had to hold Jimmie down screaming during the procedure. NOT FUN!



Poor poor baby. He's such a trooper though. I saw him briefly at my moms and he was taking a few bites for lunch and walking around cutely. Uncle Nate took some pictures . . .













As you can see the poor little guy was pretty sober. The g-tube trauma on top of feeling ill made for a pathetic little boy.

Prayers would be appreciated. A bunch of little stresses are adding up this last week.

Love,
Amber

P.S. I just posted the fun post below about Jimmie's trip to Branson! Don't miss it! (-:

My Trip To Branson- By Jimmie Gravitt

So a few weeks ago Mom and Dad took me down to the lake house. Grandpa and Grandma (Rod and Kathy) have a house down there close to all of the action of Branson.

This is Table Rock Lake where we have the house.





While we were there I did lots of fun things.

There is this super cool duck ride . . .



We got to ride in this awesome amphibious vehicle.



I waited and waited to get on that cool lookin thing.

While I was waiting I played with my duck bill kazoo . . .


I make a very cute duck if I do say so myself.

We saw the Branson Belle while we were on the water. Mom and Dad have been on there before at a dinner theater.


Mom says it'll be a while before they brave taking me to one of those shows. I'm not sure why. I'm sure I'd add a lot to the entertainment for everyone there. I can walk, I can run, I can squawk and squeal really really loud. I'm sure I'd be a hit. (-:

We also went on a boat ride through a mine!! It was dark and cool in there. And the best thing was it echoed really loud when I squealed!

I sat on my Grandpa's lap and saw the sights . . .


I saw miners. This guy got some water dumped on his head.

I wasn't sure what to think about everything . . .


Guess what we are lookin at here?



A TRAIN! Cool huh . . .



Me, my Grandpa and my Dad thought so. Us Gravitt boys looked at it and discussed how it works. My Auntie thinks this picture is all kinds of awesome!



We also went to a butterfly palace.

For a second I thought I might have to freak out cause they reminded me of my biggest fear- birds! But then I got brave and decided I was not scared of them flying around my head.

At the end of the day we saw the Fiery Fiddles. That music just made my feet restless and my legs jumpy. I wanted to be up and movin. I mean that music is not meant for sittin. I guess I couldn't be free though cause Grandpa Rod just walked with me back and forth back and forth back and forth... As soon as I started letting my pesky heavy eyelids close for a rest it was all over for me and I fell asleep.

When we came out of the show I woke up and it was raining like crazy!! We were a ways away from our car and it would not let up-- so dad finally put me in the stroller, put the sun shade down over me and we ran! I stayed pretty dry. Everyone else got really wet!! Tee heee that was fun!

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well that weekend I had a virus I was fightin. My food didn't taste good and my throat hurt. I didn't eat so well. I try- especially for my momma cause it makes her so happy, but sometimes I just need a break. Momma did good though and didn't freak out. She still tried to have fun. Good job momma!

I saved the best picture for last. The photo guy tried to get my mommy to buy it. She never does, but I saw it and grabbed and held on to it. I LOVED it. I looked and looked at it. I guess my mom thought it was so precious that I liked it so much that she bought it! I love my family!



Well guys that's it about my trip to Branson, but I do want to let you know that I'm sick again. I have a fever and a sore throat. Mom and Dad have it too. )-: Pray for us k? Also my poor mommy's foot is still really painful and 2 of her toes are numb. She's havin a hard time right now and needs to be taken care of herself.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Love,
Jimmie Jim Jim

Doing Better

Good news. Rachael's ankle is not broken! She has not been able to put any weight on it though and has been using crutches. Today Mom has applied TKM on Rachael and helped her with Jimmie. Then late this afternoon Justin took Rachael to our friend and Chiropractor Dr. Michael for an adjustment. That went really well! After her heel was adjusted she was able to put weight on that foot for the first time since the accident. She can now hobble around without the crutches. Her back and neck are stiff and sore, but not terribly so.

Grandma is home from the hospital and doing better as well.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Love,
Amber

Car Wreck

Jimmie was NOT in the car! Thank God!

Rachael and I had planned to work together on "Jimmie's trip to Branson" post tonight. Instead she will spend the evening at the hospital. Rachael was in a car wreck on her way home from the dance studio late this afternoon. Thank God Justin was off today and had stayed home with Jimmie.

It happened- literally around the corner from their house. She was in their little two door car coming around a nasty blind curve and some lady going the other direction crossed the center line and they had a partial head on collision. Rachael was able to swerve some so it wasn't a full head on crash. Justin was able to drive their car around the corner home, but the other lady's car is not drivable.

Rachael had her seat belt on and has whiplash and a very painful swollen ankle. She is on her way now to get x-rays. Rod is now at the house with Jimmie and Kathy is on her way. They will be with Jimmie until Rach and Justin get back from the hospital.

We are not sure if the other lady got a ticket or not, but the cop did observe the signs that corroborated Rachael's version of the wreck. In other words- it was not Rachael's fault.

Please pray for Rachael and the other lady. Pray that Rachael's ankle is not broken and that the whiplash won't be bad.

Also today our grandma (my mom's mom) is in the hospital. She had an episode this morning and it's possible she's had a mild stroke or heart attack. She is stable and under observation. Perhaps you'll say a prayer for her as well.

It's been a stressful day.

Love,
Amber

Dear Jimmie - Happy 15th Month Birthday

Dear Jimmie,

Happy 15th Month Birthday!

This you right after you were born.


And 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!




Here is your special "Watch Me Grow" montage!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This month you have gained 10 oz. You are 15 lbs 11 oz. You have had a hard time gaining ground with your weight this month. You got sick and went backwards for a while.

You have gained 5/8 of an inch in length. You are 28 1/8 inches long.

You have gained 5/8 of inch in your head circumference. You are at 17 3/4.

You have 113 followers on your blog that's 2 more than last month.

Your "Faithfulness" Video Montage has been viewed 9,716 times. That's 815 times this month!

Your "Jimmie's Wonderful World" Montage has been viewed 834 times. And your "High Places" Video Montage has been viewed 484 times!

Your blog has been viewed 4,656 times this month for a total of 92,126 hits! You have a lot of very cool people who love to check on your progress Jimmie.

As far as your feeding situation goes, it is easily summed up; You do well when you are healthy! You do not eat well when you are sick. That is normal for anyone Jimmie, but the problem at this point is that you do not have the luxury of being normal because you are still so little that you have no back up resources to call upon. A day or two into sickness you start losing weight and you begin chilling for lack of body fat and your normal active energy is gone! So until you can build up your body fat to a place where you'll be ok to lose a little you'll have to keep that g-tube.

You did get sick this month and it did set you back quite a bit. Your mommy is giving you 2 tube feeds at night to try to help you catch back up again.

Your mommy is trying to be patient and just relax into this part of your journey. Having that g-tube is very helpful for you right now when you are sick.

The good news is that this month when you got sick although you did stop eating well you did *NOT* stop drinking- in fact you upped your liquid intake by mouth all on your own!! This is so awesome and such a normal thing to do. That made us very happy Jimmie! We are not worried about dehydration with you anymore. Praise God!

This month you have almost completely dispensed with crawling. You walk and even RUN everywhere! Whenever you are out in public you attract a lot of attention because it is not normal to see a baby so small running around like that. Your mommy gets a lot questions from strangers. Everyone is very polite and amazed though so it's fun. (-: You look older in face, you act older, but you are about the size of a 4 or 5 month old.

You are babbling, but you don't have any words yet. Your 1 year developmental birthday is in a couple of weeks and you'll begin some speech therapy after that.

This month you have been out and about a lot!!

You took your first trip to the Zoo! You wrote the cutest post EVER!


You had an awesome time . . .


Except for the birds! They scared you to death! I thought that was hilarious. Forgive me for laughing Jimme. (-:


We remembered and honored you sister Gracie on her birthday. I wrote out her story, perhaps you'll read it someday Jimmie.

You visited Branson/ Silver Dollar City and stayed at the house on Tablerock Lake! I finally have some fun pictures of that weekend so I'll let you write the next post about that Jimmie Jim Jim.

You got to take part in your first March For Babies with the March Of Dimes!


Your favorite part of the day was seeing all of the dogs. You LOVE dogs Jimmie.






Those dogs belonged to some nurses from Children's Mercy. They were totally AMAZED at you Jimmie. They asked questions and listened to your story. They were so delighted and in awe at how well you are doing.

A lot of friends and family came out to walk for you Jimmie.




This past Saturday you went to Independence to celebrate Harry S. Truman's birthday. Of course your daddy is fireman in Independence so he and his buddies got the truck out so you and your cousins could enjoy it.






You loved sitting with your daddy in the drivers seat.


You have attended 2 graduation parties this month as well!

On Mother's Day I posted some beautiful portraits of you and your mommy and daddy.

This is the picture your mommy gave me for Mother's Day! It will be on my wall as soon as I find a suitable frame.



Mother's Day was also the 1 year anniversary of your homecoming!

1 year ago Jimmie you were like a newborn when your mommy and daddy brought you home from the hospital. Although you were like a newborn you had been living outside of your mommie's tummy already for 88 days! You were so happy to be home Jimmie. It was so wonderful to be able to spend all day and all night in the presence of your mommy. When you lived at the hospital your mommy and daddy had to leave you and go sleep at Aunt Karen's house at night. Your mommy made sure she was with you every possible minute during the day, but it just wasn't possible to 100% be your caretaker. You have thrived at home just liked we hoped you would. This past year has been so wonderful Jimmie! You are amazing in every way. You are strong, curious, loving, feisty and sweet. I got to babysit you for the afternoon for the frst time yesterday and it was such a joy.

I love you so much Jimmie, always and forever,
Auntie Amber

A Year Ago Today . . .

Jimmie came HOME after 88 days in the NICU.

A perfect Mother's Day gift.

This is the gift Rachael and Justin gave their Mother's, Grandmother's, Aunt Karen and me today:





Last year Aunt Karen gifted them a photography session with one of KC's most renowned family photographers- Isaac Alongi. Without Aunt Karen's contribution he would have been waaay out of their price range. (-: As it was Rachael said it was a once in a lifetime splurge. It was her Mother's Day gift as well.













Beautiful! We are blessed!

This year since Jimmie came home has had it's ups and downs. It has had lots of tears and lots of joy. We have experienced both discouragement and awe. Most of all we have been blessed, Rachael has been blessed with the big and beautiful spirit of her son. Jimmie is one incredible little boy. Rachael should be very proud to be his mother. Rachael's spirit is one that never gives up, strives for the best, loves and nurtures her little boy with all of her being. She is an incredible Mother and Jimmie should be very proud she is his Momma!

Like mother like son.

I love you Rachael, you inspire me in motherhood!

I'm proud to be the Sister and the Auntie.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Love,
Amber