A Great Check-up!!

Sam had a great week to celebrate his one-month birthday. I can't believe he's already a month old, the time has just flown by! He continues to eat well and is growing almost every day. He's also starting to really like his tummy time, he does super with picking up and holding his head and he's looking from one side to the other. He loves looking in the mirror and seeing the baby too. He still likes to be held, but is content to have some "down time" on his own on the floor or in his swing. He's very curious and is looking around at everything all the time.

Friday, Sam had a follow-up appointment with the neurologist and another EEG to look at his brain waves. He did such a good job with the EEG, didn't hardly fuss at all when they were putting the probes on his head and then just relaxed and dosed in Mom's arms during the 1/2 hour test. The best part of the day was when the doctor said that his EEG was absolutely NORMAL!! To quote her, she said "not kind of normal or almost normal, but completely normal"! She checked his muscle tone, reflexes and vision and all were good and she was very pleased with everything she saw. Given the good report, he gets to come off one of his medications so we'll be phasing that out over the next few weeks. Then he'll return in six weeks for another EEG and if all still looks good, he'll come off the other medication as well. The doctor did not see a need for another MRI at this point unless something were to change, so we could not have asked for a better prognosis. The physical therapist from the school district is coming to evaluate him on Tuesday, but given Friday's report, Sam probably will not qualify for the early intervention services, but that is good news in itself.

On the way home Friday, we stopped at Joey & Brenda's so Rylie could see that Baby Sam and Baby Jesse are two different kids. I think she was a little confused at first, but she's starting to know the difference I think.

Here are some pics of Sam in his first pair of blue jeans. I'm thinking I should have waited until he's a little bigger because he's afflicted with his daddy's "no butt" syndrome. When the doctor was holding him up to check his vision, his pants fell right off of him!

Growing and Growing!

Sam continues to get be a great eater and I think he's growing more every day! On Saturday we went down to Grandma and Grandpa Goble's house while Matt and Chad were at the Ice Fishing Extravaganza. The guys didn't catch any fish, but they did catch a lot of chilly and wind burn, so they were pretty glad to be back where it was warm in the evening. Sam spent some time with Julia who wasn't always feeling the best, but they had fun. Brenda and Jesse came over for a while too and it's amazing to see how much bigger and more alert Sam is than Jesse at only 20 days older.

The representative from the school district visited on Friday last week and began Sam's evaluation. It seems that most of the questions she asked about development, he is already doing or starting to do. There are a couple of things we weren't able to assess, so she is recommending that the physical therapist evaluate him as well.

Sam is starting to like his tummy time a little bit more. He's really getting stronger and picking his head up really well, in fact he's starting to even lift his chest off the floor also. He's also beginning to follow things with his eyes really well, so that's encouraging.

Friday he also had his first babysitter, as Auntie Dee and Julia stayed with him for a couple of hours so I could get my hair done. He had his first bottle of breastmilk and did a really good job of eating from the bottle too. Such a big boy!

Me and Cousin Jesse!

Sam went up to the hospital on Wednesday to see his new cousin, Jesse Allen, who was born on Tuesday, January 20th. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 19 3/4 inches. Everyone is doing great and we think that Sam and Jesse are going to be great friends as they grow up. They kind of even look alike, they both have the same puffy cheeks and cute chin and they both have the same hair - not much!

Sam is enjoying time in his jungle swing, as he is happy when you put him in it. He likes to watch the mobile and he really seems to like music. He's getting stronger every day too. Tuesday, he spent a good amount of tummy time and he was lifting his head up really well. While we were at the hospital on Wednesday, Sam had to have his heel stick test done again because they are supposed to wait 24 hours before drawing the blood when the baby is born, but because Sam had to leave for Children's right away, they drew his blood too early, so he had to have it done again. We were not a big fan of that process, and the lab tech was amazed at how strong he was with his kicks trying to get his foot away.

The Occupational Therapist from the school district will be making her evaluation visit to Sam on Friday, so we'll see how that process goes.

Grandparents & Cousins

Here's pictures with Sam and Grandpa and Grandma Erickson and Goble as well as cousin Chris and cousin Rylie. Sam likes to be held (lots of people willing to comply with that one!) and he slept the whole time Grandma and Grandpa and Chris were visiting the other day.

Rylie loved holding Sam and I'm sure she's going to be a big help when her new brother or sister comes along next week :)

Sam's first week home!

We've had a great week so far now that we are home with Sam. It is so good to get into a somewhat normal routine. We've had a few visitors and even managed a few outings.

These are a few pics to start out. The one with the tube in Sam's nose is from his stay in the hospital when he first got to wear clothes. The rest are snaps we've taken here at home. We'll continue to post pics to keep you all updated - especially those of you in sunny Arizona!