Grady's appointment went well this morning other than that the doctor was tied up at the hospital & was 45 minutes late. His weight is up to 11 lbs. 7 oz. & he is 24 1/2 inches long. The doctor was pleased with the weight gain even though I was a little frustrated he didn't gain more. She said that she looks at it over a wider period (not from week to week) because it fluctuates too much otherwise & looking at it that way, he is doing great.

We had her take a look at Colby as well because he started with a runny nose & cough yesterday. It turns out he has an ear infection & we started antibiotics for him. He is supposed to go to a birthday party tomorrow for one of his little friends & is going to be really upset if he can't go. I guess we will have to see how he is doing by then. I had taken Colby to the mall & WalMart earlier this week - I'm guessing that's how he ended up with it. Oh well - it was bound to happen sooner or later. We will just have to be extra careful with handwashing.

Colby & Mariah coloring Easter eggs.

Colby & Grady

Mariah & Grady

There is not a whole lot new to report except that Ken put a sleeper on Grady this evening & it was too small. He has officially outgrown the newborn size & is wearing mostly 0-3 month outfits. I am anxious to see what he weighs at his doctor appointment Friday.

Mariah came over this evening to help Colby color Easter eggs. They had a lot of fun & are now watching Tom & Jerry. It is so funny to listen to Colby when he watches it. This has to be at least the 5th time he's seen this episode & he still laughs out loud!

A while back I had posted about my insurance situation at work. We were expecting the premiums for the entire business to increase 30 percent because of our claim with Grady - which my employer said she could handle for one year and then we would have to figure something else out. We got our renewal for the insurance & it actually went down 5%. We have no idea how this could have happened except that it was God! So, now, we have some extra time to work everything out and who knows, maybe it won't go up next year either?!

We have come from this...

...to this in 6 months!

He's still a little peanut!

Colby is a great big brother!

Grady look so much older in real clothes!

Grady's favorite position to sleep.

Our little miracle is 6 months old! Can you believe it?! He has come such a long way (as you can see from the pictures). He can roll from his back to his stomach, he is cooing, smiling and laughing out loud & he has slept thru the night a few times now. We are really hoping the sleeping thru the night becomes more consistent. He did it 2 nights in a row so I really had my hopes up, but the last several nights he has gotten up again. I'm not quite sure how to "make" him sleep & not get hungry - I'm sure it will come (not soon enough though).

He is doing well with his medications. He is still on a lot of medicine, but he takes it much better than he did at first. Also, the vitamin that he hated, he doesn't have to take anymore. I am still looking forward to the day that he is down to just 3 meds at 8am & 8pm - it will be a breeze then.

Grady definitely loves attention. He is such a little stinker. I can lay him down & he will fuss until someone comes and talks to him & as soon as you walk away he gets mad again. It's hard to get anything done around here but that's ok. Also, he won't go to sleep (except at middle of the night feeds) without being bounced or rocked which is completely opposite of what Colby was. We had taught him from the beginning to fall asleep on his own. We didn't have that luxury with Grady & I don't have the heart to just lay him down & let him scream. I'm sure I will have to at some point - I guess because of all he's been thru he's getting a little spoiled.

I can't wait for spring. Hopefully, when the weather breaks, there won't be as much sickness going around & we can finally go out more. Ken arranged for Michelle & I to go out tonight while he watches the boys. Yippee!

GRADY IS 6 MONTHS OLD!!

Here are a couple of videos of the boys. I will try to post more pictures and an update tomorrow.

Jolie with Grady in recovery.

Let me start by saying that Grady slept thru the night Saturday & Sunday - yippee!!! Hopefully he will continue! It's amazing how good I feel with a full night's sleep!

Jolie, Grady & I went to RMH Sunday night since Grady had a biopsy scheduled for 6:30 am (Colby stayed with my sister Rosy). We got to RMH around 6:00 pm - I wanted to be able to relax & unwind after the drive, especially since we had to get up so early the next morning. I had really been craving Chipotle (I haven't eaten there since January 31 - the day we came home) so on the way to RMH I got myself a Fajita Burrito Bowl and some chips & salsa to go! Yummy!

Grady's biopsy today went very well. The procedure only lasted about an hour & then he had to go to surgical recovery for about an hour. From there we went to echo & EKG & then to the M40 floor to be monitored. They allowed us to leave the hospital at about 2:00 but we were supposed to stay at RMH until the results came back. Dr. Boyle finally called at about 5:45 with the results - ZERO rejection - and cleared us to go home. I had to pull Grady's iv out at RMH (they had left it in just in case there was any rejection). He was pretty upset when I did it but he got over it pretty quick.

We decided to eat at RMH while we waited for the results since it was getting so late. I bet you can't guess what we had - well ok, you probably can - pasta of course. I was able to tolerate it, though, since it wasn't the 3rd or 4th time in a week that I was having it. I know you all think that I hate pasta but I really don't - I just get tired of cooked noodles with pasta sauce poured on top which is what the pasta at RMH consists of. I missed a great meal at home tonight. A lady that Ken is working for sent a really good meal home with him since she knew we were in Cleveland all day. Good thing there are left overs - I will definitely be enjoying it tomorrow!

Well, I am exhausted! I'm going to head off to bed - hopefully Grady will sleep thru the night, but if he doesn't, Ken has offered to get up with him. What a sweetheart!

When Grady gets mad he pushes with his feet & ends up with his head on the floor.

Colby shoveling the driveway.

In the tunnel daddy made.

The trip to the pediatrician went well this morning. Grady's appointment was at 8:45 so we beat the storm. He is up to a whopping 11 lbs. 4 oz. The pediatrician is VERY happy with his progress. She had his growth charted & it pretty much spiked straight up this last couple of weeks - very good news. The biopsy is Monday morning so hopefully we will get good news there as well. It's kind of scary because every time Grady is fussy, seems to have a slight fever or throws up, I worry about rejection. These are some of the symptoms of rejection but also very normal things that most babies experience at some time or another - it's just with him we don't know if it's something we should be worried about or not - so in a way even though having to have a biopsy is not fun, it is reassuring when the results come back with zero rejection, so please pray to that end.

So the big news in our area is SNOW! We were supposed to get 2 to 4 inches today & 6 to 10 tomorrow. The weather man was right for today (approx. 4 inches) and we will see about tomorrow. Ken came home from work early because of the weather so he and Colby shoveled the driveway & played in the snow for a while. Roman & Sue are coming over tonight - hopefully Grady will cooperate so that we can play some games.