Our Normal

Now that the kidney stones are over and the Aluminum is at its lowest (26 when we went to Boston, 54 when he had stones, and 16 as of last week- Boston prefers it to be under 10), we will watchfully wait. While mothers of typically developing babies are savoring these infant months, and this is not to say that I don't love my infant, I cannot wait for him to get bigger and less fragile. I'll be in white-knuckle mode for the next 2 years. Probably not a sustainable frame of mind. Talk me out of it. No, seriously. This is not a place I like being.

Although squeezing his big cheeks, that I can handle.

Join us in Celebrating our Miracle!

Belated Birthday and Baptism Celebration!

For those of you out of state, we're not sure where you'll be on the 4th weekend. But if you are in town, or feel like coming to visit, Bo's Party will be an open house/pot luck on Saturday, July 5th from 2-6pm. His baptism is at 7pm at St. Thomas More Catholic Church.

Call or email for directions.

Happy Weekend!

We're going to Ann Arbor to celebrate a belated Father's Day with Jose's dad at The Crazy House (3 generations of total madness!).

We're staying at my parents' currently quiet condo, and looking forward to getting formal photos with all the Velarde cousins!

Woefully Unprepared

Unprepared for walking, unprepared for talking, unprepared for life as a one year old. That's us, not him. Riding the razor's edge between gratitude and morbidity, cringing at taking this life forgranted, I never got around to buying anything for a child over the age of one.

Thankfully, we received a kickin' Britax to replace the infant car seat, when Bo ever gets over 22lbs (in another 2 months? he only weighed in at 19.66lbs Monday). And now that he has the world's most extensive baby board book library (thank you, aunties and uncles!), I don't have to fall asleep chanting, "left foot, left foot, right foot, right."

But I think I have to buy him clothes that fit. T-shirts, shorts and bigger pageboy hats. Shoes? Baby gates for the stairs? All that work to get him to one, and now I'm sort of at a loss. Do we live happily ever after, or continue to live in the shadow of fear? Cautiously joyful and sparingly foolhardy, we awaken to a new day with our new best friend, cooing and laughing, grabbing his chubby toes.

More Books, Less Cake

We loved Momlike's lemon cake, Bo loved all his new books.

My 1st Mother's Day (late posted pic)

Good news! the GI doc says we can try opening his unhooked time to 8 hours off TPN! Although his citrulline level hasn't changed from the last time we looked, and he isn't super interested in food, and he's also weaning himself off the boob (this is turning out to be much harder for me than him), I have to keep hoping.

I asked about Gattex, but doc was not willing to try it just yet, especially since its indication is for kids with villi, just short guts. But, she's planning to go to the Short Gut Syposium at Pitt in September, and hoping to meet Puder and Gura. That's the week preceding our scheduled trip to Boston.

Weighed in at 19lbs, 3oz (with cotton diaper; last weigh-in was in the buff)

Broken Record = Mom

I know I'm really a mom now. Even my blog is starting to sound like a broken record: Bo this, Miracle that. But maybe it's simply because moms and dads are continually surprised, daily, by these miraculous little people. It sounds repetitous, but it feels new every day.

And with the packages coming to the house, it feels like Bo's birthday, every day!

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.