Lincoln has the hiccups!

All dressed up in his little Polo outfit!! I told him to 'look cool' for the pic.. good boy!

Future Ralph Lauren model!

Trying to escape the quicksand.... ohhh it's just Boppy!

WHY is that girl always screaming??? shove a bink in her mouth someone!!!!!!!

Awww... such a big little boy!

I am NOT a toy, Dad!

HA stupid monkey!!

Oh, who is that handsome young man I see?

Lincoln is still doing well.... still taking 2 bottles per day and 3ml per hour of Elecare formula.. he was 'cooing' today as the nurse stated... it was adorable!!!!! He changes sooo much every day! He is also quite nosey in the NICU... keeps his eye on who is doing what and which kid is screaming.. he is the veteran now that he has been there for 149 days!!!!!! He sees new ones come in and out every day... can't wait til it's finally his turn!! Still no word on when that may be.. but we do know it will be a very long time :( . He is a very good-natured baby... has a great friendly calm personality... amazing for all he has been through... he is adorable! He grabs and hits his hanging toys.. soo cute!!!!! 7lb 12 oz.... his due date was July 19 so he is the equivalent of 5 weeks old...

I am working full days tuesday/thursday and monday mornings.. Greg is working allll the time... most days he leaves by 7 am and doesn't get home til after 9pm (including Saturday).. all these athletic events are really making it hard for him to get to Columbus to see Lincoln... it is sooo hard on him and all of us but we know we have no choice at this point... maybe before next summer we will have Lincoln at home with us finally...

Naked Linky Dink!!

HAHAAAA!! HOW CUTE!!

Cole opening gifts on his 10th Birthday!

Mr. and Mrs. Rossman.. oh wait.. Greg and Kitty Sue.. if I get near her while they are cuddling she will gouge my eyes out!

Double rainbows from the deck.. that HAS to be a good sign.. right???

No big updates here... just random pictures... Lincoln is still doing well with the feeds and loving his bottle feedings.. still only 2 bottles per day at 2ml per bottle but that is better than all g-tube! He is getting sooo big! He had one of his favorite nurses today.. thank goodness!! Stressful few days with one we were NOT happy with but today had Andrea so he had a great day! Of course, being the outspoken mommy I have become, I added the big meanie to the 'banned nurse' list so we don't end up with her again... I've only felt compelled to ban 2 nurses so far in our 141 days so that's not too bad! Gotta look out for our little guys well-being! Grandpa and Grandma Rossman are coming to visit tomorrow... he will love to see them and be spoiled a little more!

Lincoln gets a bottle!!!

Mom giving Lincoln a bottle!! He LOVED it!!

Those 2ml's went down really fast.. awww!

Just being cute..

Haha...

Not sure why the 'big eyes' today but adorable!

Lincoln is doing pretty well... he got his first bottle yesterday and he LOVES it!! Unfortunately he only gets 2 ml's by bottle twice a day which is a tiny amount but the fact that he is able to coordinate the whole 'suck, swallow, breathe' process is wonderful! That is a big concern for these little guys that are g-tube fed and he had no problems with it at all.. we are hoping Monday that we can increase the amounts by bottle... that would be sooo great.. He is now 7lbs 10 ounces! He does have a slight fever today and yesterday and seems a little fussy but when I held him he was great.. maybe he just needs more interaction during the day... hopefully one of our primary nurses will get him tomorrow.. he doesn't seem to like new nurses which is what he has had for 2 days now...

Cole's party went well... he had a ton of friends there and they had a great time swimming and running around like crazy... and we were lucky enough to have electricity for the whole day..haha!

Goodbye Libby :(

Cuddle time with my cow....

Exhausted...

Physical Therapists wear me out!!

So... Lincoln Squarepants is doing well! Nurse Kayla and I decided we needed to add a nickname of Lincoln Squarepants because he is such a cute little pudgy square boy right now... short and chubby! What makes us sad is that one of Linc's favorite primary nurses is leaving after tomorrow :(..Libby is moving to Baltimore... She has been with us during sooo many really really bad days and also many very good days.... awww.... we will miss her sooo much and really appreciate the love and care she has given to our little Mr. Squarepants.. it's funny how attached you become to the nurses that devote their lives to these little miracles... it takes a very special person to be a GREAT nurse and we have been blessed with more than our fair share and are very grateful!

In other news.... Cole is turning 10 tomorrow!! Big birthday party at 6! Rain or shine.. who cares!! It will be fun regardless.. and if AEP screws us over one more time we will celebrate Amish style as previously noted... it will be fun for all regardless... Can't believe he is 10 already... time flies...

Linc is till receiving 2ml/hour or Elecare formula and seems to be doing ok with it... no other updates really.. just that he is absolutely adorable!

Amish birthday!

Chubby cheeks on Daddy!

Trying to get a good pic of the adorable doggy slippers!

HAHA... the slippers are sooo cute!

Ok, last slippers pic.... we promise!

Day 135... Lincoln's feeds were increased to 2ml/hour this afternoon.. we are very anxious to see how he tolerates it! We went on a 'field trip' aren't our nurses funny! I suggested since it was a 'field trip' that we should at least go outside for a second so he can breathe fresh air and see a tree.. but that is forbidden :( ... he really enjoyed it and got lots of attention from everyone in the hallways.. he was wide awake and propped up in his boppy a.k.a Bob.. and was totally adorable!!!!!!! The funny thing is that as soon as we got into the dark ultrasound room and they put the warm gel on his belly he fell fast asleep and stayed that way.. this was an ultrasound to see the status of the blood clot from his old picc line... don't have results yet. If they are good they will be able to stop giving him Heparin finally!! Dad got to change 2 poopy diapers tonight... that was very funny... I almost videotaped it but decided against it! Everyone keeps asking us if Linc is "ok"... as in "is he going to be mentally disabled". The answer is NO. He is right on target developmentally and behaviorally right now. Not to say that he will not have some problems but from what we are told if he had severe disabilities that they would be showing by now.. he is perfect other than the feeding problems. He makes eye contact and will watch you.. he follows objects with his eyes, he reaches for and loves watching his toys... he loves listening to his music and reacts to loud noises... he is a good natured baby and usually only cries when he needs a diaper change, is bored, or we annoy him too much (Daddy...lol)... he moves all his limbs in equal motion... he tries to 'stand' when you hold him up... he can lift his head and move it all around and gets stronger every day.. physical therapists work with him often to work the muscles that would normally be used much more if he were a well baby at home... all nicu babies are seen by therapists... he grasps onto things and has a very strong grip! Sorry for the list but I feel bad sometimes for him that people may be expecting a severely disabled brain damaged kid when he is so perfect... yes we know the future is uncertain but we also know that he acts like a normal baby and the latest brain scan did not show much (if any) permanent damage so we are very optimistic for him! I would probably assume that too by looking at some of our less than positive blog posts...lol!!! But babies brains are amazing and still growing,,, there are kids with much worse brain bleeds than he had that are completely normal.... he is one of them... we can see it in his eyes and every day that we spend with him makes us feel that much more positive and happy for him...

As for the rest of our daily life, our living room tv finally went to electronics heaven so we have ordered a new one (add that to the list of things breaking...lol), so Greg has THAT to look forward to at least! Cole's big birthday bash is Thursday... supposed to be an outside party but now looks like it will storm... greatttttt.... and I heard a rumor that our fabuous electricy company is going to shut off all electricity to the lucky few of us that have them on THURSDAY!! LOLLLLL... wow our luck is great! What the hell, the Amish do it and are always smiling, so can we! Amish 10th Birthday... maybe we will eat pie and raise a barn!!!! Everyone is required to dress the part so come in your Amish best!

Linky Dink.. Day 133 in the NICU

I LOVE my toys!!

Stupid Monkey never stays still!

Kayla and I are playing dress-up!!

This is boring....

I am sooo cute..

Whoa!!!

When does my new t.v. get here?? Geeeezzzz

Things are going well for Lincoln.... if you ignore his feeding issues of course! His oxygen is increased to .4liters... he was on .1 before they increased his feeds to 2ml/hour.. he wasn't able to tolerate the increase in his formula and that seemed to alter his breathing as well.... hopefully we can keep going down on the O's and get him back to .1 soon. He is currently on 1ml of formula... not sure how or when they will try to increase it again... so he is still 100% TPN dependent... not good.... but it is what it is!! He is doing soooo well developmentally... I swear every day when I see him he is more advanced than the day before... I am sooo impressed with him!! When I held him today and tried to 'stand' him up he actually straightened his legs and stood like a big boy!! He is really only a one month old baby yet he is doing things that 3 months old babies do... yay!!!!!! He is doing great with holding his head up and loves to stand and bounce on his legs.. Kayla (one of his favorite nurses!) said she has been doing leg'strengthening with him and he is doing great at it... what a strong boy!!!!! She also surprised me today with having him all dressed up in his adorable frog outfit I bought when I was still pregnant.. awww!!!!!!!! We LOVE our nurses!!!!!!!! He is also such a good natured content baby... it reallllly is starting to kill us that we can't bring this awesome, adorable, baby home with us... but we know the reality and that it will take some time... but we also know he will be home with us someday.... until then he is in great hands with our wonderful nurses.... but we miss him soooo much at home.... :( ....

Air Jordan?? NOOOOOO...... Air Lincoln!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why you always lookin' at me?

Really People???

Hey Cole.... that sucker was meant for me!!

Daddy loves me soooo much....

Big brother Cole... the ride home is NO fun!

No, I will NOT open my eyes...until the camera is turned off!

Yeah, that's my mommy!


Sooo... feeds may begin again tomorrow.. they inserted/installed a new PICC line in Linc's left arm tonight... this is the central catheter that takes in his TPN/LIPIDS/etc.. the procedure went ok.... thanks to good nurses and fentynal...

You know... this really sucks.. sucks for us, sucks for Cole.. but REALLY sucks for Lincoln. Yet, he is such a gooooood baby... he is not the screamer next to his bed.... actually he gets VERY annoyed and upset at the 'screamer' and her cohorts.......he apparently does NOT understand why they scream all the time.. he's a funny little boy... and his tv lasted 4 days before it malfunctioned...sooo.. .we re-ordered a new tv and should be here soon... not sure when he might get paroled.. .maybe someday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeds stopped...AGAIN!

Just a quick update on little Lincoln. Feeds were stopped again yesterday... he was having some strange nasty orange stuff coming out of his g-tube area. Apparently when they pulled some fluid out of it they got 10 ml's... he only gets 2 per hour so it sounds like it has been backing up for a while. He made it 7 days this time... the other 2 times he was fed each lasted 9 days before NEC set in.. they did an x-ray last night but did not see anything or could not see anything, not sure which. That is good I guess. This is causing him breathing issues so he was given 'albuterol' i think.. or something that sounds like that (Greg talked to the nurse and relayed it to me...lol). Now I'm worried that this will be a double setback and include breathing problems... he was doing so well with his breathing :(. We will update you all when we find anything new out. Keeping our fingers crossed that this is no big deal and we can continue on, but that's probably wishful thinking!

Where's the remote???

Linc, looking for Sportscenter... oops we don't get cable yet!!

Dateline is soooooo boring!

WHO in the world actually orders an 'AbCirclePro???' lol... DADDY does!!!

ZZZZZZZZZ

YIKES! Mom put that scary raccoon back in my crib!!

You need somethin'???

Loving the swing!

Awww... soo relaxed!

Sleeeeepy....

Mommy pulled his binky out trying to get a good pic... LOL

Lincoln is great... always makes us laugh with his little attitude!! His feeds are going fine... 1ml per hour of Elecare plus pectin... not sure why they haven't tried to increase it yet but that's their call I guess. He seems to be tolerating the feeds ok so far! He is about 6 and 1/2 pounds and maybe a little more now... so he has grown out of his little preemie clothes...he's a big boy! We try to dress him in blues or reds now... green and yellow aren't the best choices thanks to the TPN tinting his skin a little yellow-greenish...! He looks great in blue anyway..haha! I am amazed by his strength.. he really seems to be a very strong little guy! I know physical therapy checks him and works with him often... he is on target for his development and behavior.. that makes us soo optimistic and hopeful! He loves being in his swing and looking at himself in his new mirror! His scar is looking better...still looks awful to me but the nurses swear it looks great and is healing well... I'm sure when he is older he will have lots of explanations for it... like when he had the 'shark attack' or the 'pirate sword fight'!! We will back him up!!! lol! Life is getting very very busy for us here.. Dad's athletic director duties are really keeping him busy!! Cole has his 10th birthday party on the 20th and school starts soon after... We played the Wii tonight.. Cole made a Wii-me of Lincoln... Lincoln actually kicked my butt in baseball!! We just can't wait to get him home with us and have those evenings with him here... keeping our fingers crossed that it will be before Christmas!