So the day has finally arrived! Today we walked for the March of Dimes with about 20 of our friends and family and it was awesome! Nothing like great friends, great family, and a beautiful 80 degree day to be outside! Our day started with a wake up call at 5:30 and had to be out the door by 730 to pick up our friend Ami from work. Of course in trying to get everything ready, team shirts, sippy cups, diapers, vent, snacks I forgot 2 of the most important things….a spare trache and the ambu bag. Needless to say I said a few prayers on the way to DSM hoping for a smooth sailing day with no trache occlusions! That wont happen again EVER! Braden was not a fan of the car ride down…is he ever? We also were of course 10 minutes late meeting our team…also should not be surprising to those who know us but after that minor snafu the rest of the day was awesome.
Our shirts turned out awesome and were a great, bright color to pick out our group especially since Adam, Evan, Braden and I brought up the rear (don’t worry we still won March of Dimes ;) ) Our shirts said “Braden and Jacob” with their birthdate in the swoosh and “291” for the number of days Braden spent in the NICU. Our team also raised $2000 so kudos to our AWESOME team! Thank you for coming out to support us. It meant a lot to see you all there!
The other great thing about today was we ran into our NICU family and was able to show off the B-man to his girls. It has been FAR too long since we have seen them and it was great catching up! Braden of course had a shirt that matched Jacob’s but he was a giant sweat ball so he did the MOD walk naked…yes that’s how he rolls ladies! We also ran into a ton of our NICU family friends which was a great reminder of the miracles performed every day by the wonderful doctors and nurses at Mercy. The Kamps’ triplets (25 weekers weighing 1 1/2 lbs at birth) looked amazing and so adorable in their expanded stroller and Birk and Addy (also 25 weekers) looked pretty suave in their shades! Birk is our trache buddy and he was rocking that like it was no bodies business! It was also a reminder to be thankful for the children we were blessed with as many families were walking in memory of their little angels who have spent more time in heaven than they did on earth with their parents. If you ever take your blessings for granted, come walk with the March of Dimes and and walk by the “Avenue of Angels” or read some of the heartbreaking t-shirts in memory of their lost children. So, if you have little ones at home, hug them tight and say a little prayer of thanks that you are blessed to be sharing this moment with them.
Jacob rocked his stroller and pom poms and had a great time walking with the “speedier” folks in our group. He hung out with gma and gpa Boesen, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Sara, Erin, my cousins Misty and Liz, Aunt Shelly, and Phil. I hear he was humming along the route, pointing at things, and chasing down the Drake Bull Dog mascot. Evan couldn’t decide if he was going to walk, run, or ride in a stroller and was kind of an emotional basket case but his cousin Michael helped pull him out of his funk. They were having a great time fighting over who was “winning” the race until they decided to take off running into the crowd (Michael probably wouldn’t have but Evan is not the best role model ;) ). You want to see someone in shape?? You should have seen Adam’s cousins wife RUN after the two boys 7.5 months pregnant! Sarah was a rock star and to be honest made me look pretty bad :) She can run faster than I can and I’m 15 months POST babies while she’s still cooking one…not to mention she gave Michael (who probably weighs 20 lbs more than Evan) a piggy back ride. She “wins” MOD for sure ;)
The men of the hour (or 3)…the reason we walk
See they do like each other sometimes ;)
Some of our favorite nurses-Laura and Bri
Other big news from the Byersdorfer front, Braden has been signing more and both boys are into imitating us. Their favorite is to blink or as I call it “double wink” at us. All I can describe it as is I Dream of Genie without the nose wrinkle. Its pretty funny! They are both getting really good at blowing kisses and waving hi and bye to people. Braden’s is a little backwards as he waves to himself and just puts his thumb in front of his mouth and moves it back and forth to “blow kisses.” I pretty sure Jacob even said “daddy” they other day and will still yell “Da-da” when I repeatedly say “ma-ma” to him. He’s a turd. We are also at a loss as to how to discipline him. “NO!” doesn’t work, nor does hand/butt swats. Any combination of these usually results in hysterical laughing by the said culprit. He is also a fan of anything water! Full glasses abandoned on end tables, dog bowls, toilets, you name it. He even recruited Everett, the little boy at daycare, to join him in “toilet swimming”. See, again, my kids are NOT good role models! Seann and Wendy have been working hard with Jacob to try to get him to stand on his own let alone walk. If you are wondering, why them and not you I say…Seann taught Evan how to walk so I think its only fair Jacob get the same opportunity ;)
Other big changes at our house is that 3-4 days a week we have 3-11pm nursing vs overnight nursing. This has allowed us to do more as a family at night. Evan had been BEGGING to go to his daddy’s softball game and we finally went on Wednesday and brought his buddy from daycare and that’s all the boys talk about. I’ve also been able to pick up a few more hours of work which should help since gas prices are now 4 bucks/gallon! The down side is I sort of feel guilty. Now that I don’t come home at 3pm 1/2 the week I am missing out on Braden and my alone time but he is getting taken care of well by our evening nurse. She has taken him on two walks this week and they play nonstop so he is enjoying himself. I know every parent of more than one child struggles with the guilt of spreading their time between kids. I’m trying to cope with the change and hope Braden doesn’t feel like I abandoned him. Oh who am I kidding…he probably doesn’t even know I’m gone!
Well I think that is it for now…I’m off to relax a bit and catch up on my smut reality show TV I’ve DVR’d before Big Jake wakes up. Hope you all enjoyed this 80 degree weather like we did!
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