Dear Jimmie- Happy 22 Month Birthday

Dear Jimmie,

Happy 22 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 an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

You have gained 3 oz this month! You are 17 lb 14 oz. That doesn't tell the whole story though. You actually broke 18 lbs at one point this month, but you got sick and lost weight. )-:

Your height has increased by a whole inch!! You are 32 1/8 inches long! You are the definition of the term "Growing Like A Weed". (-: You are tall and very very skinny.

Your head has increased by an 1/8th inch to 18 & 1/8 inches around!

You have 124 followers on your blog Jimmie! That's 1 more than last month.

Your "Faithfulness" Video Montage has been viewed 14,503 times. That's 624 times this month!

Your "Jimmie's Wonderful World" Montage has been viewed 983 times. And your "High Places" Video Montage has been viewed 714 times!

Your blog has been viewed 4,446 times this month for a total of 118,211 hits! You have a lot of very cool people who love to check on your progress Jimmie.

Physically you are doing well. You can now reach up and take things off the counters in the kitchen! You love to help your momma unload the dishwasher. There have only been a few things broken. (-:

You have 11 (almost 12) teeth now!

Sleep has been a huge issue the last few months. Your momma thinks that you have finally become aware that you are by yourself in your bed. It seems to be causing you a lot of anxiety and upset. This past week- your momma has given up fighting you on this and you are sleeping MUCH better in your mommy and daddy's bed. Your momma is not settled about this though, she is not sure that's the direction she wants to go- so we'll see.. (-: I co-sleep with your cousins so I'm not much help on this front.

Communication is moving along. There is still great suspicion that you have "Apraxia" like your cousin. You have so many signs your momma can't even count how many. The only words you speak spontaneously that sound consistent are - "dog (buf buf), cat (meow), tractor and truck (tu tu)". You will say, "mama" on request. You learned this month that your daddy works on a fire truck! So now whenever you see a fire truck you do the sign for "work" and "dad". You are so smart!

This month you celebrated Thanksgiving! And boy did you celebrate! Here is a quick video clip of you dancing with Ma. Your arm swinging like crazy is so funny!

We totally failed and nobody took pictures though. So I'm going to post the totally awesome ones from last year. We posed you to match a picture from your daddy's first Thanksgiving.

This is you Jimmie!

And this is your daddy!

This is your daddy!


WOW! You look just like your daddy!

You also like to "be" just like your daddy. You put his shoes on the other day and walked around in them.

You are spending A LOT of time at home right now Jimmie because it's "cold and flu season". Your mommy and daddy try to play with you, but lets face it- being cooped up has it's consequences. One day you arranged all of your various balls around you on the couch. Your momma found you like this. It was not just fun and games.

You were very serious about it.

Your momma took a video of the incident.

Um- yeah, you need to get out more! (-:

Thank goodness you did get out for a whole weekend! You went with mommy and daddy down to the lake with Grandpa and Grandma Gravitt. Branson at Christmastime is wonderful.

You really "lived it up" Jimmie.

The goats filled you with joy!

You were adopted by a nice snowman family . . .

Grandpa made you tall so you could see a snowman sing.

You watched a Christmas Lights Parade.

And then you fell asleep in the car looking at more beautiful Christmas lights.

The biggest thing that happened this month for you Jimmie is your g-tube went "bye bye"! Saturday November 13th your Grandpa and mommy removed it with the doctor's permission.

Here it is before . . .

It's gone! There is a tiny hole in it's place . . .

All bandaged up!

This was a huge milestone for you Jimmie on the road to full health and normalcy. You have come so far and you have overcome so much. Thanksgiving inspires us to proclaim what we are thankful for . . . Jimmie, I am thankful for you!

Someone said to me recently with great love, prayers and support, that they felt so sad or sorry for us (me and your mommy) for all we'd been through with our children. I'm happy to say that I responded with a smile that I am not sad or sorry for us. Now don't get me wrong Jimmie, I am sad that we lost your sister Gracie and I am sorry that you were born so tragically early. However on this journey we have met others, we have connected with many who have suffered in similar ways. This has given us a perspective that will never allow us to feel sorry for ourselves in a "pity party" way. There are certain "hurts" that we have to learn to live with, but with a "thankful" heart it is possible to live with joy!

You bring me great joy Jimmie!

I will love you forever!

Auntie Amber

On The Mend

Jimmie is finally doing better. Check back tomorrow! His 22 month post should be ready...

Love,

Amber

Jimmie Is Still Sick

Jimmie is struggling with this virus. We think it's the same one. He is running low grade fevers, has lots of snot, is not eating well and of course not sleeping well.

He turned 22 months old on Saturday! We will get his 22 month post up. It's just been a rough weekend with sick kids. )-:

Thank you for your prayers.

Love,

Amber

Jimmie And Jon Miguel

Update on Jimmie and Jon Miguel:

Jimmie- It's been a very rough 5 days. His high fever went away, but he has not been eating or sleeping well. Saturday he ate next to nothing. Yesterday was a bit better. This morning Justin and Rachael are weighing the pros and cons of taking him to the Pediatrician.

The sleeping situation has been rough for almost 2 months. He seems to have developed a bit of separation anxiety and even though his crib is in Rachael and Justin's room a few feet from their bed, he wakes up screaming and refuses to calm and go back to sleep. Of course being sick has made this even worse. Rachael and Justin are stressed and exhausted! Prayers are needed!

Jon Miguel- Little Miguelito has made major improvements. He is breathing with no support, his lungs are clear, he spent a day under a bili-light, but his levels are already normalizing. He is also breast feeding well! So now he just has to finish his i.v. antibiotics and he'll be free to go home. I think that will be Wednesday or Thursday. Amy and Jorge are doing as good as they could possibly do crammed into a tiny room with no private toilet and no shower- while trying to adjust to the major life change that just happened with the birth of their first born son. They have inspired me with their attitude. God has given them much grace to get through this week. Truly all that matters to them is that Jon Miguel is doing well! Of course!!

I was thinking about how Amy came to visit the spring Jimmie was still in the NICU. She spent 2 whole days with Rachael in the NICU. Now I know that could not possibly have prepared her for the birth of her own son and subsequent hospital stay, but at least the incubator, oxygen, heart monitors and the whole setup was not foreign to her.

Speaking for myself- knowing what Rachael and Justin have gone through with Gracie and Jimmie has at the very least provided me with some major perspective when dealing with my own kids.

I will update again later if Rach and Justin end up taking Jimmie to the doctor. Rach was encouraged this morning- because he was eating.

Thank you so much for your care and prayers!

Love,

Amber

Jimmie Update & Pray For Jon Miguel!

Okay- first Jimmie! He is doing better! His fever is low grade and he seems to be feeling much better. Yesterday was hard for Rachael. He was so lethargic with the high fever. Jimmie never stops moving so it was really scaring Rachael to see him like that. Keep praying that he heals from this virus quickly.

Second- Our best friend Amy (Remember we were in her wedding in Vancouver last year at this time.) had her firstborn baby boy- "Jon Miguel" yesterday at 40 weeks. From what I know the labor and delivery went well. He is 8 lb 2 oz and BEAUTIFUL! However he is having trouble with his lungs. From what I understand he is in the special care nursery in an incubator on oxygen. It seems he may have aspirated some fluid. They told Amy to expect him to be in the hospital for 5 days. So we ask that everyone please please pray for baby Jon Miguel! Pray also for Amy and Jorge!!

Love,

Amber

Jimmie is SICK!

Update: 10am -Rachael gave Jimmie some motrin a little bit ago and it has definitely made him feel better, so that's good! If it were something more serious that would usually not be the case.

It is likely a virus as we have had heard there is something going around that presents with a high fever and a rash. Jimmie did have a weird rash this weekend. So anyway we are feeling a bit better about things now. It's so hard, especially with Jimmie- to not let the worse case scenario rattle around in your head.

Jimmie has been able to drink about 8 oz and eat a little yogurt.

Thank you for praying! Keep it up!

Original Post:

Rachael called this morning pretty concerned for Jimmie. He is running a high temperature and is very lethargic. My mom is on her way out to Odessa to help. Rachael is talking to Jimmie's Pediatrician. He doesn't really have any other symptoms other than a molar trying to come in. His temperature is over 102 under his arm which is too high for teething. And he's never run a fever cutting teeth before.

Jimmie is not getting out of bed. He's just laying there moaning.

So we are concerned!

Prayers would be very appreciated!!

Love,

Amber