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.