7 Months

Stats: He was 15 lb 14 oz and 26 inches long last week when we went for his well baby visit. He has gotten alot longer! Has been through two sizes of pants in month!

Diapers: Using size 2 still and back to using Luvs. Can't beat them

Clothes: Wearing mostly 6 month and some 6-9 or 6-12 month things. He has outgrown alot this month so its time to dig through the hand me downs again. He maybe has another week in his 6 month pjs. His feet are about to bust out of them.

Sticking out his tongue while showing off some pjs:

Bought this shirt at a consignment sale when I was pregnat. Bought it just for the cute little elbow patches. So excited he can finally wear it!

Dressed up for Daddy's birthday last month:

Eating: Eating is hit or miss. Somedays he takes his bottles other days its like wrestling an alligator to get him to eat. He loves solids and will eat all that we will give him. So trying to hold back on those a little to make him hungrier for his formula. Its a daily battle and game. Try something for a few days then try something else. This is our biggest stressor right now with him. He is still gaining weight so thats good.

His favorite is chicken dinner. Of course he likes chicken! He's a Richards:

Sleeping: He was sleeping great. Its been not so good the last week but getting better. Still sleeps through the night and uses his sleep sack. When he is tired, he will now fuss until you you put him in the sleep sack. He is starting to not want to be rocked which kills my heart! But on the other hand it is nice that he can put himself to sleep in his crib.

Toys you love: Favorite toys this month has been the $5 stacking rings that we gave him at Christmas. Also loves anyone that will play peek a boo now. He will laugh until you are just exhausted from jumping out from behind things. Also loves his new bath toys that Daddy got him.

Milestones this month: Rolls over both directions, still sitting up but much better. Now can roll and scoot all over the place. Nothing is safe anymore. He now eats more solids and has started babbling alot. I think his mouth may get him in trouble in school one day. Also, trying to blow raspberries now. He can easily pick up clifford and flip him around until he can put his paci in his mouth. Loving that he can do this. Makes it so much easier. He will take the paci out and cry until you come check on him, then soon as he sees you put it back in his mouth and just grin. Little stinker!

Activities: Talking, eating, playing in his new bathtub, reading, rolling/scooting and grabbing whatever is within 3 feet. His reach is incredible! Also started chilling, with his hands behind his head and ankles crossed. Everyone asked if we posed him like this for the picture but we did not. He does this on his own. Too funny but it's true:

Medical: Saw our new pediatrician last week. Love her and the new clinic. We are going to a hearing screening tomorrow. No concerns. Just needs one due to the risk factors he has from being a NICU baby and the surgery. We are waiting to hear when he will get his next Synagist shot. In other new, we have to change cardiologist asap. We are getting used to the idea and waiting on a referral from the group at LSU. Hope to see Dr. Keil in the next month for a check up.

Visitors: Had some visitors this month. G and G'momma came to visit for a couple days in January. Then Sassy, G and Poppa came this past weekend.

Holiday: Aaron wants to say "Happy Valentine's Day!!" and also this is CHD week to promote CHD awareness so we took some pictures with Aaron's heart pillow that the nurses gave him after surgery.

CHD Awareness Week

Did you know that congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect?! I didn't! I did not know much about CHD at all until we were blessed with our heart baby, Aaron. We would not change ONE thing about him. Not even his precious heart. Aaron was born on 7/8/11. They said he was small for his age and called him a "wimpy white boy" which is common in small white males born under the expected weight or early. Aaron was sent to the NICU because his oxygen levels were good but he was working too hard to keep them there. We stayed in the NICU for two weeks before they did an echo to look for other causes of his breathing difficulty. That is when they found his CHD, coarctation of his aorta. Aaron was immediately airlifted to Batson Children's Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. We were rushed into the NICU where he had another echo. We were told the diagnosis at that time and that surgery would be needed. They said the heart team would meet and decide when. They wanted to balance giving Aaron time to put on more weight with not letting him get too sick. We got a call early the next morning to say they were doing surgery THAT day! He had surgery on 7/21/11. We were sent to PICU for several days and then to the cardiac floor. We FINALLY took him home on 7/30/11 at only 4 lb 3 oz.

Once we were home the name of the game was weight gaining for Aaron. We switched to formula September 1 and he took off! Still small on the growth chart but he is doing so well! We went for checkups to the cardiologist every few weeks. On one visit we were told they were not happy with Aaron's aorta. They thought he may need a heart catherization to make the aorta wider. It was not growing with his body like they thought it would. It was still too small to provide proper circulation. We were devastated. We thought we were done with hosptials. The worst was that we were sent home to wait not knowing if the procedure would be in a week or 10 weeks from that day. We had to constantly watch him for any signs of poor circulation. It was exhausting and so nerve racking. Finally, the heart team decided to schedule the heart cath of November 1. We went in that morning and had to walk Aaron into the procedure room. Then I had to hold him down as they started his IV. The procedure was a success!! They were able to triple the size of his aorta! We were release the next day and took Aaron home. He took off from that day! He started eating much more! He really started progressing as far as his physical milestones.

Snuggling with dad after his heart cath:

We still go to the cardiologist for regular echos and check ups. By the way, any advice on getting a 6 month old to be still for an echo?! We still travel to Jackson for those appointments. We hope after a few more good visits, we can transfer to a doctor closer to home. But right now, Im just not ready to not use Dr. A. He knows us and know Aaron inside and out.

I read a quote on Pinterest recently that said "You don't know how brave you are until you have to be." That pretty much describes our last 6 months. I asked my mom the other day, "How did we do that?" It blows my mind that we lived through that experience. Our journey has not been what we expected but we would not change anything about it. We love our baby boy and are so happy that he is healthy now. I know that blogs of other heart mommies really helped me at time. Hope that this pinterest link up can help others find some comfort as they start their CHD journeys and remind them that they are not alone.

To see other blog post from CHD mommies click here:

http://pinterest.com/ruth_h/the-faces-of-chd-congenital-heart-awareness-week-f/

Six Month Photo Shoot

Before we moved we had Aaron's six month photos taken a little early. Amber did a GREAT job! I want to order them ALL!!!! Here are some she leaked on facebook last night. Enjoy!

Happy Half Birthday!!

Yes, we are that kind of family that celebrates half birthdays. We celebrated Aaron's Sunday. I cannot believe he is six months old!!

SIX Months!!

Stats: We have not been weighed since December, but I sat him on the bathroom scale this weekend and it was 15.0 lb. No idea how long he is. He is longer because his pants are getting shorter and shorter.

Eating: He's eating anything we will give him. He is still taking 5 bottles a day with 5-6 oz. He has cereal in bottles twice a day. Then solids usually 3 times a day. His favorite is fresh banana but like I said he will pretty much eat anything and lots of it. He had table food for the fist time Christmas Eve. He had a few small bites of mashed potatoes.

Clothes: He is still in a few 3-6 month clothes but only in the brands that run large. He is wearing alot of 6 month clothes and even a few 6-12 month items. We received a ton of hand me downs from some friends once we arrived in Shreveport. This is one of our favorite outfits that he got. He has worn it several times.

Diapers: Still in size 2 but growing quickly so not sure how long we will stay in this size. Got some Huggies from Sams but have not been happy with them so we will be going back to Luvs soon as we use these up.

Sleeping: He actually slept through the night several times this month. He has only done it once since the move which was last night. His nap and sleep schedule was completely messed up the last couple of weeks but I think we are getting him back on track. We have moved out of the nap nanny!! Yea!! It was rough but he is now just sleeping in his crib using a Halo sleep sack. He even rolls onto his side and sleeps most of the time.

Toys you love: A plastic cup or spoon will keep him happy for awhile. His favorite toy from Christmas was the turtle with balls from Chase. He is also loving Goodnight Moon. He will just sit and watch you turn the pages over and over again.

Milestones this month: SITTING UP!! He is sitting up most of the time now. He will not lay on his back to play anymore. He is talking/babbling more and more. Taking less naps and sleeping more at night. He is now reaching out for us to be held. He is also pushing up full on both arms when on his tummy. He wants to crawl so badly but just cannot figure it out. He will get frustrated trying, roll onto his back and scoot on his back. No idea why but that is how he has figured out how to move around. He moves all over his crib like this. He is also now sucking on his toes. If you put him down to change his diaper, he immediately grabs his feet and tries to eat his toes. He never gets tired of doing this.

Activities: Talking, eating, skyping with Nonna and Pops, getting to know Cap and T, belly laughing at Auntie Mo, reading, playing with his toes, going for walks in the neighborhood

Medical: Nothing to report here. Doing well from what we can tell. He goes to pediatrician Feb 2 and cardiologist Feb 9. Trying to decide if and when we will change to a cardiologist here. I just do not think we are ready. Its worth the drive to see Dr. A for a few more times.

Holidays: We spent New Years in our new home just unpacking. We had neighbors on all sides that were shooting fireworks so we took Aaron outside to watch. They did not scare him at all. He loved them!

Watching fire works with Daddy:

New Years family picture:

Moving!!

A couple of weeks ago we moved to Louisiana. It was a crazy few weeks, packing and loading up and then unpacking. Throw in Stephen finishing a job, holidays, and starting new jobs. Needless to say we are tired. But the house is almost completely unpacked. Here are some pictures from the week we moved to document that week in our lives.

Stephen picked up the rental truck the day before we left. He was so excited to show Aaron the big truck! As soon as Aaron woke up from his nap, he took him out to give him the grand tour.

Walking around in the back where ALL of our belongings were crammed a few hours later. It was a 26 foot truck and my dad said they filled up 25 ft and 11 inches of it.

Saying goodbye to our house:

Will miss this house. It was Aaron's first home:

Took this late at night right after we drove across the state line. We had officially been residents for about 5 minutes.

Aaron did GREAT on the drive over which I am so grateful for since I was driving and had him with me with no other help. He slept 80% of the way. However, once we pulled into town EXHAUSTED, he was wide awake and stayed up until after 1:00 am! He slept from 1:00-5:00 then got back up. We lived off caffeine to unload the truck and start unpacking.