Dustin -- 11 Months "Young"

Yesterday was Little Man's eleven month birthday!

We spent it in a fairly boring manner. Mommy was working at home, while Dustin played, played, played!! Dustin remains out of daycare, since there is pneumonia and croupe going around his room.

The lowdown on Little Man:

• As of April 29, you weighed 18 pounds, 6 ounces (within the 10th-25th percentiles).

• Also as of April 29, you were 30 inches long (within the 50th-75th percentiles). You are going to be a tall little boy!

• You wear twelve month clothing, sometimes fitting into the 12-18 month articles.

• You wear size 3 Pampers.

• You are eating everything that your Mommy and Daddy will allow!! Fruits, veggies and meat meals entice your pallets. Of course, you still greatly enjoy your cereal and your bottles. You have been taking formula since shortly after we came back from Vanderbilt, since the supply of breast milk ended. You get excited about puffs. YOU STARTED CHEERIOS YESTERDAY! You recently discovered the sensational taste of Daddy's buttermilk pancakes.

• You so wanted to try Mommy's hot fudge sundae yesterday. Mommy was stingy.

• You adore your doggy. You and Mommy used to play a game chasing Gervase around the house. Now, you chase Gervase all on your own. Gervase thinks your great and shows you with lots and lots of kisses.

• You are a mover and shaker--you make your rounds (crawling) all over the house.

• You are pulling up on the furniture and standing on your own.

• You love to open all of the cabinets that mommy and daddy have not yet baby proofed.

• You are so talkative.

• You enjoy flipping over backwards off of my lap and onto the floor.

• You are calmed by Mommy singing your favorite song--Jesus loves you.

• You are a fun loving, amazing little man who is utterly adored by his mommy and daddy!

Finally, today your Daddy took you for your first "professional" haircut! Daddy says that you did so well! The photos below show Dustin with his wild hair pre-cut and during his cut!

We're Home!

We finally arrived home late Thursday evening!

We are all very happy to be sleeping in our own beds again (especially Dustin, who smiled up at me from his crib). Most of all, Tim and I are very grateful to be home with little Dustin! We certainly believe that all of the many, many prayers raised up on Dustin's behalf were heard and answered! (This is totally happy dance worthy!)

Tim, Dustin and I have each been trying to catch up on all of the sleep that we missed during the month of May. I'm not certain that we'll ever fully catch up, but we are all feeling much better.

Dustin is making wondrous progress. He is now beginning to crawl, can sit up from a position of lying down and has returned to making more of the consonant sounds that he made prior to his surgery. His disposition also more closely resembles the pre-surgery Dustin. I am also relieved that his food intake is progressively increasing, since we've been home. This has been a concern of mine, given that Dustin had lost 3-4 pounds and was looking all skin and bones. He is beginning to fill out a bit.

It is so amazing and encouraging to see the rapid healing progress take place. Earlier this evening, I was even able to remove the bandage covering the chest tube site and replace it with a regular old band aid! The chest tube site is healing over quite nicely!

We were able to enjoy a little bit of pool time this past weekend. We were very careful not to get Dustin's chest tube site wet. We are also keeping him away from other kids and people in general to avoid any potential exposure to illnesses, at this time. Dustin very clearly enjoyed the change of scenery and the pool time.

Below are some photos of our fun time at the pool: