It's Coming Quick...

So, you may have noticed that after the post encouraging people to subscribe to our blog, the blog has been pretty stagnant. Well, as I am sure is true of most families, we have been pretty busy lately. Not only are we trying to get things in order for the holidays, but we also have been dealing with a sick kid.

A little over a week ago, Jake scared Michele and I with breaths that sounded like choking while he was asleep around 9:30 pm. We quickly woke him up and determined that he was, in fact, breathing. They were just labored, wheezing breaths. It sounded like he was crying, but, in true Jake fashion, he was smiling away the whole time! We called the doctor's office and they advised us to take him to the ER. Of course, by the time we got there he sounded normal. Over the course of the next three hours, they observed him and took X-rays and determined that he did not have pneumonia. They then sent us on our way with advise to contact his pediatrician the following day.

After a few hours of sleep, we headed to the pediatrician's office and they determined that he could have asthma. I guess this is pretty common for preemies, so they were not really surprised. They also stressed that he could very likely grow out of it, or it might just be a seasonal thing. Basically, we shouldn't get too worried that he'll need to be medicated for the rest of his life to treat it.

After that little visit, he is now on Zyrtec as an antihistamine, two drugs given through the nebulizer, and another antibiotic because it appeared as though he might be getting a sinus infection on top of the breathing problems.

Jake has been a trooper through all of this, and besides a few days of being "less happy" than normal, he has seemed just like himself. He sounds a lot better, and we haven't had any more "incidents". Michele will be taking him in for his nine month appointment and a follow-up checkup tomorrow. Hopefully he'll come off of the antibiotic and one of the breathing treatments.

Aside from all that, we have most of our Christmas shopping done. Jake went to 12 Oaks with us last weekend and was an angel in his stroller. We wouldn't have known he was there if he hadn't giggled and squealed out loud occasionally as he grabbed his hands or the belt to his stroller.

Jake has also moved up to rear-facing car seats. As he's near 20 pounds now, it was getting a bit tedious carrying him in the baby carrier. We found some seats that we liked at Babies R Us, and after a "quick trip" to Ypsilanti (which is the only store that had them) I got them home and latched into the cars. Jake looks more comfortable than he did in the carrier, but he seems to like getting out of them better than getting in them.

We also got our Christmas cards all mailed out. We had a few cards that we needed to find addresses for, so they went out later, and we know of one that got lost in the mail. While no one has commented on the card, I decided to divulge our secret in finding the "perfect" photo for this year. You can see all about it in this little video that I made.



Lastly, here are some photos left over from November (including our new Christmas tree and ornaments) and here are a few from December. Michele is out of school now, so she brought Jake down to the Ren Cen where we had lunch with Mark, and Jake got to see Santa.