Portraits and Update

Back in November, we had some family portraits done by Mary Twitchel Photography and here's some of the photos she captured for us. Our sweet boy did so good and smiled quite nicely for the photoshoot. For Christmas we purchased photos of Jacob for our family members, and they loved their gifts!

Many people are asking for an update on Jacob's health, development, etc. Here's the skinny on the Big Guy...

He's weighing about 24 pounds and measuring about 32 1/8 inches (we had a doctor's visit today). He is wearing size 18 months clothes (mostly for the length) and size 4 shoes.

He can sit for hours and hours on end, and moves his torso as though he wants to be mobile, but has not started crawling just yet. When put in the crawling position, he will tolerate it for a longer length of time. He can stand (finally) for longer lengths of time and is working on balancing his weight.

He can use his thumb quite well and is working on incorporating his index finger with it. He can take things out of containers, but tends to throw them on the floor rather than put them back in. :) He LOVES throwing things on the floor. He can say words like "La La, Ma Ma, Ba Ba," and sometimes puts them together to make it sound like talking. He also makes loud grunts to call attention to himself. He can shake his head NO, and moves his body to the beat of music. He has started to wave his hand to say hi and bye. He loves turning pages in a book and making lots of noise in church. :) He has started curling his tongue in hismouth and is blowing raspberries some. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and likes exploring different textures on his tongue. He has 8 teeth, four on the top and 4 on the bottom, and is currently drooling everywhere...the molars are starting to come through on the bottom.

Medically, he is doing well. We have gotten through one bad cold, and a serious stomach bug with things coming out of both ends (if you know what I mean) with no medical problems. Yay. He's currently on 1/8 liter of O2, and satting great! In fact, we have stopped putting the bandaids on his face to hold the O2 in place and it falls out all the time. At night, we will find the oxygen around his neck, on the left and right sides of his face, and his O2 Sats are still great. We go back to the Cardiologist and Pulmonologist at the end of January for a follow up about his oxygen. Maybe we'll be able to wean earlier than expected?????? Maybe....just maybe????

Oxygen or no Oxygen our little Jacob is just the most amazing gift we could have ever been given. Every day with him is a reminder to us that God has entrusted us with a special person to raise and love. We were willing to give him back to God before he was born, and God, in his great love and mercy, gave him back to us. I will never understand that, but will never cease to Praise Him for it.

May you look at your life today and think about all the ways that God has worked to show you love and mercy. Thanks for checking in with us. Have a wonderful day.