Our Whirlwind (a.k.a. the last 4 weeks)

We've had a really busy few weeks.  We haven't been a very healthy family, but things are beginning to improve and we are thankful for that!  Let's just say that we've all been building our immune systems.  

We've learned a lot about the strength that God gives you as parents to provide for your child, especially when you feel horrible.  It's really incredible.  I'm so thankful for the way that He sustained us over the last few weeks.  I was having some health problems and it took 2 weeks to diagnose it as a kidney stone and an additional week for the small pieces of stone to pass.  This was a crazy experience.  Very painful and challenging.  Brett was such a wonderful husband and father and he stepped up in so many ways to go above and beyond at our house and with Isaac.  Also, he bought flowers for me!  So sweet.  Amidst this, Isaac had his first intestinal bug, including a horrible yeast infection on his bum.  Props to Isaac for being such a trooper.  We took him to the doctor when he was on day 4, and the symptoms persisted for 3 more days.  I didn't know this was possible, but our doctor said that it takes babies longer to recover from these types of viruses... whereas adults have these for about 12 hours and then they magically disappear.  We kept him hydrated and he made a strong recovery once the virus ran its course.  The morning after my stones were gone, and Isaac was doing better, we all (yes, all three of us) woke up with a horrible cold, including fevers.  Brett had no voice, and I think his cold was the worst and Isaac won 2nd place.  I was fortunate enough to be in the best shape.  (maybe this was a consolation for being so sick the prior few weeks?)  Anyway, as soon as we all recovered from this, Isaac had his 4 month vaccines.  We were so glad that he bounced back faster from this on the second round of vaccines than he did on the first.  He ran a fever for 2 days but did really well other than that.  During all of this it seemed really overwhelming, but now that we're getting all of this behind us, we can have a better perspective.  Lately I've been reminded that we are really fortunate.  Everyone around us has so much going on right now including facing many hard things.  If a stone, viruses, colds, and vaccines are our things right now, then we have a lot to be thankful for.   

Despite how "gloom and doom" the last paragraph sounds, we have had some really exciting things happening too.  My (Jes') parents kept Isaac and we had our first date night in 5 weeks. (which I think is really not that bad with all that has been going on)  We went to dinner and a movie, which was soooo refreshing!  Meanwhile, Isaac continues to change and grow every day.  His development seems to be moving full speed ahead!   Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.  

This is my favorite time of the work day, arriving home with Isaac and playing together before bedtime.

Father / son jam session.  So cute!!!

Isaac really gets into it.  He's so excited!

Isaac really likes his zebra

Happy boy!  Look at how that face and those chins are filling out!  :)  He has finally reached 16 lbs, which is so hard to believe.  He is now more than twice his birth weight.  Also, he's grown a couple more inches and he's now 26.5 inches.  Keep growing little man!!!

He is fascinated by everything in front of him.  We have to be careful because he reaches out and grabs everything within reach.  I decided that I would use this to my advantage and have him help me make dinner.  He's doing a great job stirring the butternut squash.  My little sous chef!

This is his new pose.  Superman!  He just started lifting his arms and legs at the same time.  He was so proud of himself! 

Isaac loves chewing on Sophie the giraffe! 

So, even with the rice cereal, he's been starving and eating 3 times each night.  So, our doctor advised starting some solids so that he will be more satisfied.  We started with peas.  Wow! He loved it!  It is definitely the highlight of his culinary adventure each day.  He squeals and kicks when it's time to eat them!  So cute!!

Here are a couple of pictures from Halloween this year.  Isaac was a sock monkey!

"Us sock monkeys have to stick together!"