If you Pray...say one for us please!

Nathan has been unexpectedly admitted to Children's Hospital to undergo yet another surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. In the past 24-36 hours he has started vomiting and dropping his heart rate pretty regularly. Our Neurosurgeon had told us awhile back that if his shunt were to malfunction, or if there was any sort of problem with his head, that these would be the symptoms to look for.

We brought him into the doctor this morning not fully knowing what to expect. When the doctor turned to us after viewing his MRI results and asked if we brought another change of clothes with us, we knew that couldn't be good news. He was admitted immediately and we are set to undergo surgery sometime tomorrow.

While we knew another surgery wasn't out of the question, we really didn't expect to have this happen so quickly.

This surgery may be the most difficult to handle so far. Nathan has really been playful lately and all smiles for mommy, daddy, and big brother Andrew. This little setback will be difficult to take after it seemed we've been making such good progress.

If you can, please say some extra prayers for our family, and especially little Nathan

Baxter Vehige

Congratulations Tom and Erin on your new puppy, Baxter!! We were so excited to meet him - he's just a precious little guy. We hope you had a great first night and Baxter was a good boy :)


So playful...

Out for the count.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

To celebrate Steve's birthday, we spent the day downtown and were able to enjoy much of St. Louis. The weather actually held out for us and we were able to spend a lot of time outside. It was nice to have a day to ourselves for a change, but we ended up talking about the kiddos and how much we missed them - guess we're older than we think!! A huge thanks to PaPa and Gigi for taking care of the boys ALL day for us!!


The Arch from the Old Cathedral.


Steve and I on the Eades Bridge.

A GREAT view of our skyline.

Sleepy Head

Here are a few pics of Nathan sound asleep from the past couple of days...

Snoozing in his swing.

In his high chair after some sweet potatoes.

Out for the count on his boppy pillow.

Kiddos at Des Peres Park

My girlfriend, Crystal and her family are back in St. Louis visiting for a couple weeks and we all met up for an afternoon at Des Peres Park. All the kids had a GREAT time playing together. Who would have known push-up bars and mulch would keep them entertained for so long ?!?!

Taylor, Reese, Nicholas, Cole, Andrew and Ellie

(Benjamin and Nathan were hanging out in their strollers)

Yard Work

Andrew loved playing on the tractor in between Uncle Tom and Dad hauling loads of rock into the back yard to landscape around our deck. It was a long, hard day of work, but they finished the project and it looks great!! Thank goodness for such nice weather and the right tools to get the job done :)


Andrew inspecting the tractor.


If only he could reach the pedals...

22 Months Old!!

Andrew hit 22 months today!! We can hardly believe that he will be two years old in just a couple months. You would think by now I would be better at multi-tasking, but I haven't figured out just yet how to keep Andrew busy all the time while I am with Nathan.


Andrew throwing our clothes all over our closet.


Ready to take the plunge and wrestle with all the clothes!!

Eating Real Food

We have been sitting Nathan up in his high chair lately to get use to it, so we could eventually introduce solid food. Well, today was the big day and Nathan ate green beans with his Occupational Therapist. He did great!! Steve and I will continue to feed him solids just once a day to ease him into this next stage.


Nathan chilling out in his high chair.


Almost caught a smile after eating.


All ready for more food.

Yum, Yum!!

Go MIZZOU!!

The boys were sporting their Tigers gear for the game today. It proved to be good luck as the Tigers are now 2 and 0!!


Andrew holding his little brother.


The boys playing under the activity gym.

Bubble Picnic!!

This morning we headed to the Bubble Picnic at Parkway's Early Childhood Center hosted through our Parents as Teachers program. Andrew had an absolute blast playing in all of the bubbles and water as well as the other festivities. It was amazing weather and Nathan just snoozed in his stroller.


Making bubble worms.


Blowing huge bubbles with lots of different gadgets.


Andrew swinging around the fly swatter.

Stirring up more and more bubbles.

Playing in the balls - I think this was one of Andrew's favorite activities!!

Chronological vs. Adjusted Age

Lately, we have been asked about Nathan's chronological age versus adjusted age and what they exactly mean. It has taken Steve and I awhile to get used to, so I will do my best to help explain.

Nathan's chronological age is just as it is - his sequential age since birth, 7 months today.

Nathan's adjusted age takes in consideration that he was born 11 weeks prematurely. The easiest way to figure out his adjusted age is to subtract the 11 weeks from his chronological age - Nathan is just over 19 weeks, adjusted.

Nathan's adjusted age is what he is being measured against developmentally so to speak. The NICU staff explained to us that for a rough estimate for Nathan to catch up, we should add a year for each month early Nathan was - since he was almost 3 months early, we should give him a good three years to fully catch up. We know this is just an estimate, but at least it gives us some sort of time frame.

I hope this helps and doesn't confuse everyone even more. We just take each day at a time and focus on the present to get Nathan to reach the next step!!

Seven Months Old!!

Nathan is another month older today. We can't believe how fast the time is flying by. We are enjoying watching Nathan grow and get stronger each and every day. Here are some pics of our big 7 month old!!


Loves staring at the camera.


What's that thing in my face?


Stop, Mommy - enough is enough!!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day Weekend hanging out with family and friends. We attended the 3rd Annual Aiming for the Answer Cornhole Tournament to help raise money for Autism Research. It was a great afternoon at Kirkwood Park. We enjoyed watching all the boys play cornhole, eating bbq, ice cream and playing on the jungle gym. Here are some pics from the weekend of the boys...Andrew sure did enjoy his ice cream!!

Sweet stuff...

On the move.

So Happy!!

I think more ice cream got on Andrew rather than in his mouth.

Still working on it.

Nathan wide awake in his swing sporting Uncle Tom's favorite onesie :)

New Laptop!!

Steve and I ordered a new laptop and it arrived today!! Perfect timing especially since it has been raining ALL day and we are pretty much trapped inside. I hope to be more timely with blogging - sorry for the delay!!

The Sibling Rivalry has Begun

Yesterday morning the boys were having a fun time rough-housing on the floor - well, at least Andrew was :)


Andrew creeping onto Nathan.


Resting his head on Nathan.


And, at another position.

Now, he got dino involved - at least there's more padding for Nathan.

Nathan laughing at Andrew :)