Growing up...

Time is flying by. My little guy turned 6 months old. I can't believe it has already been one-half a year since I had this miracle. Harper is such a strong and funny boy. Lately, he has been feeling so much better. He is developing more and more physically everyday. We laugh at his sense of humor and personality he's developing. 

He is learning to sit up, eat baby fruit and veggies, and already gives us quite the personality. It is so fun to watch him grow up, but so sad to have time fly by so fast. 

Doctor updates. We met with Dr. Tani (cardiologist). He said Harper looks the best he has EVER seen him. His heart and lungs look the best they ever have, and he physically looks well. He looks and acts like a normal baby, he just has a few defects inside.
We met with the GI specialist. Unfortunately, we didn't find out anything new. We are very frustrated with his eating and feeding tube. No one seems to have any answers as to why he doesn't want to eat. We've wanted this tube out for a long time, but I don't see the end of it anytime soon. The more active Harper gets, the harder it is feeding him this way.
His therapy for his neck is going really well. We only have to go to therapy every 2 weeks now because he is doing so much better. His head seems to be getting a better shape now that he isn't laying down so much. His neck is also stretching more so he can look both ways without straining his neck. 

To say the least he's growing up. As for us, we just love being parents and watching this boy grow every day. When I seem to have a bad day, Harper just smiles and it makes everything gloomy disappear. He's such a light in my life. 

Can't get enough of this smile

First time he rolled over, he was very confused where he was to say the least 

6 month birthday

 We walked down to this cute pumpkin patch just down from our house to find they had already picked all the pumpkins for the year. We bought a few out of their trailer and headed back home. We snagged a pick of Harper's first pumpkin but it was getting late so the pics didn't turn out (sorry).

 Since it's hard taking a 6 month old trick or treating, we decided to have a party at our house. We just invited our families to come enjoy good food and treats. It was required to dress up, but as always you get the party poopers who don't dress up (aka Andrew). We had chili and lots of treats. Andrew claims he was a missionary on p-day but I beg to differ. Harper was a cute little lion and Lucy was Frankenstein. Lucy was so embarrassed to be dressed up, her costume didn't last long.

 Harper has figured out the lower half, but can't seem to get his arms out of the way. A little stink bug with his bum high in the air. He is rolling all over the place.

All of the kiddos got together at the park to have lunch. It was Harper's first time in the swing and he loved it. Lexi kept playing "peek a boo" and Harper laughed everytime. According to the scale at the park, Andrew is just over 5'6". We had to take a picture. He also pulled out his elementary recess sweater trick, tied around his waist. :)

Harper dressed up for the election even though we didn't get out that day to vote. Andrew voted for the family I guess...

He is loving some sweet potatoes. I love this boy...

We had the chance to go up to the farm again. Harper got to spend some fun time with the cousins. Everyone ended up being sick though, so we spent most of the time indoors. Harper loves playing with his cousins. As you can tell, Brecken is loving Harper as well. I can already tell these two boys are going to be trouble together.

Once again, I slack on updating this blog. In the meantime, we will be enjoying and loving on this boy as much as possible. Never knew I could love someone or something so much as this boy. I love being a mom.

I guess since it is November, just before Thanksgiving, I better give thanks. I am so grateful for the little family I have. They bring me so much joy, happiness, and love in my life. I am thankful for a loving husband who treats me so well. I don't know how I got so lucky... I am grateful for the friends and family who surround, support, and love us. I am grateful for the Lord and all he has blessed me with and His sacrifice for me.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! 

Slacking...

First, I want to apologize for slacking. We have been enjoying the time we've had with our sweet boy. I guess I have been putting this off because there is so much to update (but if I would do it more often, there wouldn't be so much...).


Harper is such a trooper. 

Lately, we have had a ton of doctor appointments and check ups. He had his 4 week post-op check up and they were pleased with how well he was doing. They were able to take him off the oxygen during the day. He only has to put it on at night, just as a little boost in case he falls asleep a little too deep. :) 

We were also told he could catch up on his vaccinations and shots. It's important Harper keeps up on these, we don't want to catch any sickness or infection going around. Shots aren't fun. Harper gets a little sick with shots so it was hard for him to bounce back after those.


Our big boy was weighing in at 15 lbs 12 oz and 27 inches long at 5 months!  


We also met with an Orthopedic Therapist because we were concerned with a flat spot on his head. The therapist is working with us to stretch out his neck on one side. If we can get him better before 6 months, hopefully he won't have to wear the hideous helmet.

Lastly, we met with a Speech Therapist to help with his feeding. He is doing good with food orally. He acts like he really wants the bottle, it just hurts to eat. So they think Harper has a bigger problem with reflux than we had originally thought. We see a GI (stomach) specialist the end of this month to see if we can help him feel better when he eats. We figure if he feels better, he will eat better and we can get that stupid feeding tube out. Fingers crossed. 


Other than these minor things, Harper is doing really well. We have enjoyed every minute with him. It is so great to be home and see him progress. 

Harper's 6 week post-op mark will be on Tuesday. This means his incision and bone has healed from the surgery enough to start activities with him. 

Harper has already shown signs he is feeling better. He rolls to his side (not all the way over yet), he sits on our lap and looks around. His favorite is to watch football with dad or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning. We are trying to strengthen his legs, because of surgery he is a little behind in some things. 

 

Such a happy boy after everything he's been through. Couldn't be a prouder Mommy

 

Lucy and Harper are best buds. She lets him grab and pull. She licks his toes and he smiles. Best friends for life.

 

Grandma Bev came to visit after his shots because he was having a rough time. It's always good to have Grandma come and help out a little.

Andrew's birthday. Turned 27! We had his family down for dinner. His mom made his favorite beef burgundy, I made him a carrot cake. For his birthday, I got him a remote starter for his truck. He loves not having to get into a cold truck on those chilly mornings.

 

We love these jammies! So cute for Halloween, our little bones

 

He puts everything in his mouth.... even toes! Mmmmm 

One fall Sunday afternoon, we took a drive up the Provo Canyon and decided to go on a stroll at Bridal Veil Falls. It was so pretty. I love the fall and I love the Provo Canyon in the fall, it is breathtaking. 

 He eats books

 

Harper was showing off his new kicks "Pop-pop" Rich got him...

Andrew went hunting up to Deseret with his Dad and Josh for a weekend. He shot an elk. So proud

Dana and Bella came to stay with us while Andrew was hunting. So much fun to spend time with them. We went to our favorite place, Cubby's

 First weekend in October, we were able to finally go up to the farm after surgery. Harper loved riding in the tractor and looking at all of Grandpa Alan's toys. We loved spending time on the farm during sugar beet harvest.

                                            

 At night, Harper was fed continuously through his feeding tube on a pump. It would release so much milk every hour. That way we wouldn't have to spend our nights up feeding him. 

When we were in Idaho, we forgot some supplies for the pump. We decided to see how he did throughout the night without food. He slept the whole night without waking up. 

We got home and decided since he didn't need the pump, he didn't need to sleep in our room anymore. We put him in his crib for the first time, he loved it and has slept soundly every night since. He loves his room and his crib. So happy to have our room back. 

I can't believe how much my little boy is growing up. He changes every day. I love spending every minute with this sweet boy. He makes me so happy and I never thought I could love anything more.

Home

We finally made it home. We are so blessed we could come home so early. 

Let me update.

So Harper had some blood in his stool the nurses and doctors were concerned about. They were afraid he had an infection or worse pneumatosis. He had to have abdomen x-rays after a feed 2 times a day. They weren't able to find anything unusual in his stomach. He wasn't able to eat for 36 hours from Friday to Saturday. He was miserable to say the least. So were we. It's so hard to see your baby starving. The doctors decided to let him have breastmilk again and see if the blood appeared again. It did. So then we had to assume he had an allergy to something in my milk. Because the x-rays didn't show swelling or air in his tummy we had to assume my milk was the issue. We started him on an allergy free formula and the blood went away. 

Guess what that means? No dairy whatsoever for me. 

Since then he has been so good. He is in a little bit of pain every once in awhile, but over all he is perfect. I couldn't be luckier to have such a warrior.

Because his diapers were clean, he was gaining weight, his follow-up echogram of his heart looked good, and his incision is healing they were able to send us home yesterday. We were thrilled. Only 6 days after surgery he gets to come home. (I think Andrew and I are pretty excited to not have to stay at the hospital over night with him anymore, we were pretty worn out)! 

Once we got home we were able to get him all set up with oxygen. Not going to lie the oxygen scares me just a little bit, but I'm getting use to it. 

Harper came home with his feeding tube and oxygen. He needs his feeding tube until he can eat all of his bottle by mouth consistently and still gain weight. Once he can do that, we can take it out. We are hoping he is feeling a little better with his new procedure to eat better. He needs the oxygen to help the blood flow smoothly after his surgery. We will see the doctors in 2 weeks to check if he can go off of the oxygen. 

He is doing so good at home. Other than pain every once in awhile, he is a pretty happy boy.

First feed after starvation

Showing off my scar

He got a mobile in his crib and loved it

Cute new outfit to go home in

No more wires all over him

He loved the wagon ride to the car

On our way

Ups and Downs

Today was a roller coaster for us. Harper had a good day of rest. We were able to get on top of his pain meds to ease the pain. But the down parts begin.... Harper wasn't able to get those awful tubes out that are painful for him. We also had some trouble with blood in his stool. We are unsure what's causing the blood, but we aren't able to feed the poor little guy. He hasn't eaten since 10 this morning and he even threw that feed up. He's hungry to say the least. And he lets us know. I try to disguise his binky with water just until he falls asleep to forget about being hungry. They ran a few x-rays on his abdomen and weren't able to find any signs of something wrong in there. He had an x-ray after the diaper at 11 and one tonight at 8. Still no signs of anything. They will continue to not feed him throughout the night, hoping to clear out whatever was bothering his tummy. The doctors will review everything in the morning. Once again, he's the boss and the doctors have to go off him. We are hoping for the best in the morning. 

On the brighter side of things, Harper was able to show off like his ol' self today. We got a few coos and laughs. Maybe it was the drugs talking but I'll take it. It made my day to know he is feeling a little bit better and starting to get back to himself again.

We also enjoyed having Auntie Amber in town. We are sad she had to get back.

We were able to have Grandma Bev, Aunt Nicole, and Great Grandma Hurst come and visit today. I think Harper enjoyed some new faces. I think he might get tired of my funny faces sometimes.

 He also loved playing with Mr. Lion again. Can't leave him home for sure. It's his favorite.