Hi everyone,
I keep hearing from different people that Michael should be a baby model. So I did it. I signed him up for the search for a child for the cover of Parents Magazine. You can actually help by recommending the photos :)
You can click on each picture in my gallery and rate it, recommend it and even leave a comment...
You have been invited to view my Cover Model Search photo gallery on Parents.com. Please use the link below to view, rate, and recommend my photos! You can do this every day until June 24, 2008
Gallery Link: http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=164200182
Is it wrong to think that your own child is the cutest baby in the whole wide world? ;)
(hee hee)
Thanks!
Nathali
PS. Michael went to his GI appointment and he is finally 17 pounds (at 11 months adjusted) WOOHOO!!!!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
May 12, 2008
Michael's doctor's appointment was fine. The pediatrician managed to get him a few more Synagis (RSV) shots, because he had been admitted with pneumonia. So he got his 15-month vaccinations and his Synagis shot. He already knew when he smelled the rubbing alcohol and started screaming!!! Luckily he is a little flirt, so 2 minutes later when the nurses were talking to him, he already gave them a huge smile again :)
Mother's day was nice. Robert got me a fancy tea from Starbucks and made me breakfast. We took it easy the rest of the morning and went to David and Lesley the afternoon to celebrate Mother's day with them. David has 3 wonderful children: Jessie, Josh and Anna. Mother's day is a difficult day for them, since they lost their mother Amy, 8 years ago to cancer. Lesley has been a great step mom for them. We took Mikey into the pool at their house and Anna joined us in the water. Micheal wasn't really into it like he was that morning at Mommy and Me class.
Today, Monday, I had a follow up appointment with my doctor and I brought Michael with me. It's in the same hospital as our NICU, so we visited them afterwards. It was nice to see 'momma Karen' and 'momma Terri' and some of the other nurses. Karen and Terri gave me some great advice on different subjects, so it was very helpful for me.
Later in the afternoon we went to the fancy Loews Hotel to meet up with Valerie and Greg and their little boy Ethan. Ethan was born a month and a half before Michael (full term) and he is such a big boy!! He is so cute, but he wasn't having a very good day. He woke up in a bad mood and fell and hurt his lip. Hopefully he will do better tomorrow. He was playing with a bucket of ice cubes and when Michael put his hands in the bucket I kind of expected Ethan to tell Michael to get lost. Most kids do, but he did not mind at all. Michael loved it and every time I tried to pull him away from the bucket he started screaming. He has never done that before!!! He usually doesn't care when you take a toy away from him. So funny!!!
Tomorrow I will have to start packing because we are going to Boston for the weekend with Rae and Jules. Their grandson, Josef, will be graduating from Brandeis University. They are so proud of him!!!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
May 8, 2008
Sunday we took Michael to his second swimming class. He still kept his eyes shut most of the time, but he did manage to finish the class this time.
Later that afternoon we went to Rae and Jules. We were going to spend a few days with them.
Tuesday, I took Michael to water aerobics. Rae goes every morning. All the ladies loved having Michael around. Towards the end of the class I took Michael into the water again. He did so much better!! That pool has trees surrounding it and the sun was not as bright. He was splashing, squealing, and was blowing bubbles (like we tried to teach him). Everybody loved it!!
Wednesday, Jules' twin brother, Lionel came over with his daughter Debbie. Debbie is a hair dresser and she gave us all a hair cut, including Michael!! He got his first hair cut and he let her do it. He didn't scream or cry or anything :) We saved some of his hair.
I love the way she cut my hair. From now on, I will go see Debbie for my future hair cuts...
Debbie giving Michael his first hair cut
Uncle Lionel and Michael
Jules, Michael and uncle Lionel
Wednesday afternoon we went out to dinner with Rae, Jules, Lionel and Debbie and after that we drove back home (Robert had to work :( ) We had to go to therapy this morning and tomorrow we have a doctor's appointment.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
May 3, 2008
This was Michael yesterday, on his way to the swimming pool to sign him up for his first swimming lesson (Mommy and Me class)
We had to wake him up this morning to go to the Mommy and Me swimming class. He was not really in the mood to go anywhere. When we got to the pool, we put his ear plugs in, we put sunscreen all over him and we were ready to take him in the water. There were about 10 other children between 6 and 36 months. The first thing we had to do was get him acquainted with the water and rock him in the water a little bit. Next thing we knew we had to pull him under water for about 2 seconds. Michael did not like that at all. He already woke up in a bad mood. He absolutely does not like sunlight and then his mommy pulled him under!! He would not open his eyes for the 20 minutes that he was in the pool. He did not really want to do anything other than clinging to me and keeping his eyes shut!!! You can see in the pictures that he keeps his head down all the time. We took him out before the class was over.
This was Michael today in the pool for the first time ever...
This was after about 20 minutes in the water. He was wiped out!!!
And here he is, happy again :)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
May 1, 2008
Yesterday, Michael had ST and OT. Becky (ST) wasn't happy. Michael would not eat for her. I hope this has to do with his teething and that it's temporary. Robert mentioned that Michael doesn't like to be held when he is eating and I tried that today. I put him in his chair or the car seat and he was right. He ate much better!! I have to mention this to Becky next time...
Michael wasn't in a very good mood for OT. Only when Nina arrived, he started getting interested. Maria (OT) started blowing bubbles for Michael and Nina (they were sitting next to each other, like two little toddlers) and Nina was so funny. In anticipation of the bubbles she would already squeeze her eyes closed, so they wouldn't go in her eyes, but she also missed the fun. She is so adorable!!!
After therapy we had to go see the Pulmonologist. He was excited to see Michael again. His saturations were good and his lungs sounded really clear. He changed the Lasix to once a day and next month, we'll try to get him off the Lasix. He still needs the Pulmicort (air treatments) twice a day.
Today we went to see Megan at the Mailman Center, to get Michael's hearing aids adjusted. They had to be adjusted, based on the last booth test he had done. This is a temporary adjustment, since the testing is not done yet. Megan tested his ears and he might have a little bit of fluid left from the ear infection and the pneumonia. This would make sense, because he doesn't like laying flat after he was sleeping. Hopefully this will resolve quickly.
Megan will be leaving the Mailman Center in June and we are NOT happy about that. We will miss her for sure!!!
Afterwards we went to see Kathy for auditory verbal therapy. Michael loves it. He gets to play with different toys all the time :)
We were able to pick up Natalia, who now works at Jackson Memorial, as a research associate. We gave her a ride home. She had to prepare for her final test. Please keep your fingers crossed for her!!! It was nice to see her, even though it was brief.
Before Michael got sick, Josh had taken some pictures of Michael. Jessie and Anna had given him a tattoo and tried to give him a Mohawk. It looked so cute. Also in the pictures, you can see Uncle David making Michael fly in the air. Michael absolutely loved it.
You can click on the picture to start:
My Montage 5/1/08
PS. Thank you Brett and Jodi for your generous donation for March for Babies!!!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
April 29, 2008
Michael has some new things since he came back from the hospital. He can sit up really well. We are so proud of him. He makes new sounds. He squeals a lot and laughs a lot (we really think he loves being home :) ) He doesn't seem to respond to sounds as good as he did two weeks ago, but we will have to get him in the booth for another hearing test again soon. The only thing that is really different when he came home from the hospital is that 8 out of the 10 times, he wakes up crying. Maybe because he is teething, but this is just so unusual for him. And it's a really sad cry with real tears. He wakes up a few times in the middle of the night. He never used to do that. We hope this is temporary :) He also squeezes his mouth together, as if he is biting with his upper gums on the TWO teeth he has on the bottom.
During the day he is as happy as can be. He absolutely LOVES his jumper.
We bought him a walker, but he doesn't understand the 'walking' part yet. All he wants to do is jump :)
Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment, so Rae and Jules came over to babysit. They loved spending time with Michael and Michael was so good with them. They also brought Shiva back. She stayed with them for about 2 weeks while Michael was sick and in the hospital. This was such a great help, that she was taken care off. Shiva and Michael are so good together. Shiva licks him every time he comes back home and she sits in front of him and 'guards' him. And Michael thinks that everything Shiva does is funny. Jules, Rae and Michael
Last night I managed to video Robert rough housing with Michael. He absolutely loves it and I finally managed to tape his squealing. It's so cute :)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
April 26, 2008
Yesterday we went to see dr. Perello. Michael lost weight. He went from 16.12 to 15.15 pounds. That is a lot for one week. Michael has some feeding issues again since they touched his face constantly (for the O2 or the suctioning). I also tried to feed him some solids again this week, but he doesn't eat more than 2 teaspoons. We'll keep trying. The doctor listened to his lungs and they sounded very clear.
Today was the March of Dimes. We collected $786 in Michael's name. We want to thank Rae and Jules Pincus; David and Lesley Pincus and family; Irene and Evan Katz; Steven and Susan Herrmann; Paul and Tracey Tripp and family; Andy and Nicole Axelrad; Bob Worthman; Lyssett Montiel-Lleonart; John Needham; Jennie Greene; Jane Cucchiara; and Sean, Jolene, Kyra, Morgan, Clara and Ayden (their Angel in heaven) Tuley in Nashville, TN. They donated, without even knowing us, after reading Michael's blog!!!! Thank you all so much!!!
(You can still donate on: http://www.marchforbabies.org/520886)
We also want to thank Celi for making our very nice 'Team Michael - 24 weeks' shirts and onesie (See the pictures below). Celi and her family also wore 'Team Nina/Noah - 26 weeks' shirts and they walked in memory of baby Noah.
Today, David, Lesley, Jessie and Anna came to Key Biscayne to walk with us. The same thing happened like last year. The traffic was so horrendous that we got there when the walk was almost over. It took them 2 1/2 hours to get there. I think that next year we should go to a different location :) Thank you all so much for coming and walking. Nicole and Andy were there also and Nicole walked with us. Andy was giving out beer at the PBA booth and we were able to join them for some BBQ.
