Happy Thanksgiving!

From Nora, the Little Turkey, and the 4-hour Marathon man.

Hospital pictures

We got home from the hospital at about 5pm tonight and Sean went to bed at normal time. Here's hoping the little guy has a good night of sleep. And here are some photos from our stay:

Before surgery, in his hospital duds:

Checking that the equipment is up to snuff:

Sooooooooo hungry:

Afterwards, with mommy:


Puffy face!


The next morning, feeling good after being disconnected from the monitors:

It took a lot of work to keep Sean entertained all day Friday - we had a fashion show with bunny:

We played with balloons:

We walked around the childrens' ward, we looked out the window, and we napped. Lots of short naps.

Finally, the doctor came in and said that Sean was doing so well that he should be a "poster boy for recovery." He gave us some final instructions and we were on our way home.

The morning after

Sean's doing great this morning - he's totally shaken the effects of the anesthesia and is up and about and into everything. His face was really swollen after the surgery, but he's almost back to normal. He even managed to find time to perfect his new move - getting up on his hands and knees!

Early this morning the nurses took out his catheter and unhooked him from all the monitors. He's had about 16 oz. of formula in 6 hours, so I'd say his appetite is back - with a vengeance. The nurses have taught me how to take care of the drainage tubes sticking out of his side (yuck) which should be taken out sometime next week (yay).

Now, we're waiting to see the results of Sean's bloodwork and have the doctor take one more look at him and we might get to go home today - fingers crossed!

Surgery

Sean's surgery is over and all is well. Everything went as expected - the doctor found a "kink" in the tubing between Sean's kidney and bladder, so he took out the kink and connected the good tubing with the good funnel-type part of the kidney. Sean is cranky and sleepy and will need a good bottle when he's finally up - the poor kid hasn't eaten in almost 18 hours!

Why didn't we think of this sooner?

We've had the Pack n' Play forever! It was Sean's "bed" for the first few weeks he was here and we still use it as a travel bed. But it didn't occur to either Thom John or me to use it as a playpen for Sean until last week - duh!! Sean isn't mobile yet, so he's happy to sit and play for a little while and we're happy that Sean has a Pepper-free place to enjoy his toys for a bit.

6-month check-up!

We went to the pediatrician tonight - here are Sean's stats:

Height: 27 in. (75th percentile)

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz. (75th percentile)
Head: 18 inches around (95th percentile)

I'm getting 4 shots? You're kidding!

It's cold in here!

I'll cuddle with mommy

You weren't kidding about the shots.

Rewind!

These are my favorite "Winnie pictures" from the past six months - having these photos in one post will really save time when I need my Sean fix at work...

6 months

Our Sooy baby turned six months old on Thursday! I can't believe how quickly the summer flew by and now we're getting close to the holidays. Well, the first hard task of November is over - Mommy is back from Nebraska and I came home to find all my guys doing just fine. The next task will be lot trickier - Sean is scheduled to have surgery on his kidney this Thursday. The hydronephrosis isn't getting any better and it seems the best thing to do is to take care of this before any damage occurs to the kidney. Sean's a tough little boy and hopefully he'll recover in time to cheer Thom John on at the Philadelphia Marathon, or at least in time to enjoy his first Thanksgiving dinner.

We've seen so many new things with Sean this month:

-he can sit up on his own for long periods of time

-he has two little toothies sticking out of his bottom gums

-he reaches for and grasps anything he can get his little hands on

-he's conquering a new food every week; his menu currently consists of green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples and prunes, along with oatmeal, rice cereal, and wheat cereal (kind of like cream of wheat)

-he loves to play with paper - the crinkly noise seems very satisfying

-he is Mister Personality, smiling at everyone he meets and his giggles come so easily

-he can play independently on his playmat, in his pack n' play, in his crib, or in his exersaucer at daycare

-he can take his paci out of his mouth and put it back in, too

-he LOVES the other children at daycare and we're always getting positive reports about his interactions with the other babies in his class

And now for the good stuff:

Sleepy Baby

Sean flexing the golden pipes before bed:

Long week

Hours between now and early Saturday morning: 128

Miles between home and Omaha, Nebraska: 1,234

Having this blog to read and re-read over the next week? Priceless.

Mama is going to Omaha for work Monday morning and won't be back until very late Friday night. Thom John, Sean, and Pepper will take good care of each other this week while I will obsess over some of my favorite posts from the last six months.

I'll spend some time this week enjoying some shots of our afternoon walk today - we took advantage of what may be our last warm sunny day for a while and went to the drug store and stopped at the playground for some swinging.

Here's hoping this week flies by.

Fall Fun

We took Sean to Lancaster County for some Halloween and fall fun. We cruised through a corn maze, ate some goodies, met some animals, and played in the hay.

Look very closely and you can see two teeny, tiny teethies:

At the finish!!

Super slide!

Sean cracked up looking at the petting zoo animals - this is the same reaction he has when he sees Pepper.