5 months plus

 A friend recently sent an e-mail that discussed using the word "busy" when someone asks how things are going and it has continued to pop in my mind over the last few days.  Several people continue to ask "when are you going to update the blog?" or tell us "we're going through Kelson withdrawls".  So, instead of using the word busy as an excuse to why we haven't blogged, I'm going to tell you that blogging is not a priortiy these days.  We are living life.  Finding our normal.  Making our house a home.  Trying to be the best we can be at the careers we have chosen and raise two semi-well behaved, somewhat polite kids while attempting to keep them fed and bathed on a regular basis. 

So, what have we been up to since month 5....

Kelson has been growing like crazy!  He's starting to eat us out of house and home and we're anxiously awaiting the ok from Dr. A to give him some "real" food.  He has speech therapy on Wednesdays and physical therapy every other week.  He enjoys chewing on his hands, smiling all the time, and is quite the wiggle worm.  Kelson was 11 pounds 3 ounces at his 5 month check up. 

What else has been going on around these parts since our last entry?   We've had a couple weeks off from football games but filled them with other outings.  Last weekend we made our maiden voyage to Curtis Orchard with Trever's sister, Kyla and her two kids.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and we came home with pumpkins and apple fritters.  The kids really enjoyed playing together, running and getting muddy.  Kelson was a good sport through most of it. 

 After the orchard we headed to Rantoul to celebrate with one of our favorite 2 year olds.  Hunter had a construction themed party and all of our kids enjoyed playing with his toys. 

 Yesterday we lounged around the house and worked on little projects around the house before heading to Alex & Theo's house for a hog roast.  We enjoyed catching up with some Piper City friends and introducing many of them to Kelson for the first time.  Claire really enjoyed playing with Alex and taking a ride on his 4-wheeler. 

I caught this picture this morning before church.  Claire loves to hold her little brother...for short amounts of time...and Kelson humors her...sometimes.  They were both in great spirits this morning and it shows here. 

I also have a few prayer requests to share with our faithful blog followers.  Before our time in the NICU I probably couldn't have named a single person that I knew well that had been through a NICU or pediatric hospital stay of their own.  Since that time it's like premie and sick babies have been the theme. 

I want to share my friend Lydia's blog over at Corn Fed Kansan.  Her little girl, Lorena, was born around 28 weeks gestation and wasn't due until around December 1st (I think my stats are right).  But, she's a little fighter and doing great according to her mommy's blog.  One of the hardest parts for this family is that they live 2 hours from the hospital and don't get to visit as often as they would like.  Please keep them in your prayers.

Also, prayers would be appreciate for little Carter who had a very rough start with a diagnois of Cystic Fibrosis and had a large portion of his intestines removed shortly after birth.  I believe that his mommy & daddy got to take him home this weekend.

...for Gabrielle who was suppose to be born around Thanksgiving in Arizona but decided to make her appearance while in Illinois visiting. 

...and finally for Laia who at about 10 days old has been fighting a fever for a few days and took an abulance ride to Peoria. 

We know that all of you have prayed for us and we have truly seen the miracles that God can do!  Please pray for our friends that they may see those same miracles in their little ones.