Tuesday, September 4th: MAJOR update

 

For the past couple of weeks I have been saying, "Christine, write a blog update." Obviously, that hasn't happened. Sorry! I guess it is good though, because now you'll get a picture overload!

The good news is that Finnegan is doing amazing! Every day we are amazed at how much he has changed and what new thing he can do. He truly is a baby miracle. Because it's been about a month, I'll go week by week and give you the highlights.

Week of August 5th (Finn's due date week):
Finnegan and I had visitors from Warrensburg-Latham. My former colleagues and friends Lauren and Kim came to have lunch and play with the little nugget. Finnegan soaked up the love and freaked out when they left. It was quite adorable. It was so nice seeing Kim and Lauren. They really became a very strong support system for me while teaching and coaching and being pregnant. They are pretty amazing. Grandma Doman came to visit on the rainy Wednesday. I had a "group interview" at Heartland Community College for a part-time adult tutoring position. Nothing came of the interview, but there were 15 people in the group and there was another session the next day. While there were multiple positions, I quickly realized that I didn't stand a chance compared to the other people in the interview. It was good experience though, and I got to play some cool logic games.

On Saturday, Finnegan was welcomed into the Catholic church. His godparents Lonnie and Rich came with their family and a bunch of other family came to celebrate. Finnegan was such a trooper during mass, but was a bit of a stinker during the actual baptism. Father Jerry commented that all the evil was getting out of him. :) He looked so cute in his little jumper (thanks Lonnie and Rich!). Afterwards, we had a taco buffet back at our place. Yummm! On our way to the "afterparty" I received an email from a middle school in Plainfield. They had recently posted an English teacher position and I had quickly applied. I was shocked to find they wanted me to come in for an interview. So, we put together some plans and Finnegan got to spend some quality time with Grandma Bruckner while I went through my first real interview of this intense job search process.


Weeks of August 12th and 19th:
On Monday, I drove with Finnegan to Plainfield and dropped him off at Grandma's. I drove the 5 minutes to the middle school and prepared myself for this interview. With school starting in a week, I had mixed feelings about what this position would mean for my family and what I would be putting myself through if I actually pulled it off. I was really proud of myself during the interview. I felt so confident and felt like I had nailed it. Unfortunately, I didn't receive the position. I found myself somewhat relieved that I wouldn't have to pull everything together in 5 days, but obviously was disappointed.

The rest of the week and into the next, Finnegan and I ran a lot of errands to get myself set to sub at Bloomington High School. My dear friend, Jess, is an English teacher there and was in need of a sub for her maternity leave. The state requires a bunch of busy/paper work to make sure you're "qualified," so we did a lot of running around. He also helped me write cover letters and revise resumes for jobs. He's such a great helper! During this time, Ian and I sold one of our cars making us a one-car family. So far it has not caused any problems, but it is definitely a new way of living! We had another disappointment with a prospective house, so we're still on the prowl.

Week of August 26th: -- The Busy Week!
Sunday the 26th was Finnegan's big "welcome home" and "baptism" party at Grandma and Grandpa Bruckner's house. We were planning on grilling for the 80 some people we had planning to attend, but Mother Nature had other plans. We ended up making pulled bbq chicken and sloppy joes from scratch. That meant little sleep for us, but Ian did an AMAZING job preparing about 20 pounds of yummy meat! I was overwhelmed with all the love for our little dude. At one point I found myself surrounded by about 10 people who just wanted to catch a glimpse of the "little miracle" they've heard so much about. He was such a trooper being passed around and loved on. He probably was really exhausted after a rough night.

On Monday, Finnegan had his 4 month check-up with Dr. Emm. We were absolutely shocked when he got on the scale. Our little boy is now 8lbs and 15oz! He also grew in length and is 20.5inches long. He scored a 6/10 on his Denver Developmental test which is common for most full term 4 month old babies, so as usualy, our little Finnegan is a rockstar. Dr. Emm was really impressed! Right now Finnegan seems to be developing with little to no delay, but we were informed that around 6-9 months is when most preemies start showing deficiencies since that's when most dramatic changes happen for infants. At this appointment, Finnegan was referred to an ENT for his tongue and we were told he would be able to get off of his monitor VERY soon. He also got his 4 month shots. Poor Finnegan did NOT like them.

On Wednesday, we had a quick meeting with his Family Case Manager from the McLean County Health Department before heading to Dr. Russell's office (Finnegan's new ENT). We were meeting with Dr. Russell to get a consult on his silly tongue. Dr. Russell, unlike the other ENTs and doctors we spoke to about Finnegan's tongue, agreed that something needed to be done due to the severity of his tongue tie; however, he requires that all infants are put under to avoid the risk of lacerating salavary glands or any other very sensitive area under the tongue. Since babies who undergo this procedure do not eat regularly after the procedure, he wanted to make sure that Finn was super strong and off of the heart monitor before doing anything. We have a follow-up in October to reassess. It was so reassuring to have someone on our side!

On Thursday, Ian took Finnegan to the ECHO Clinic in Champaign for another hearing screen since the last one was inconclusive. While they were there, I went to ISU to take a civil service test for a job I applied for. On my way to the test, I got an email saying I was invited to take another civil service test for another job I applied to at ISU of which I just took today. I scored well on both tests, so let's hope something good comes out of them!

On Friday, Finnegan was officially taken off of his monitor! It was so awesome to finally take the band off of him, but it was really weird being able to take him around the house without worrying about lugging the monitor around with him. It's definitely a lot nicer when we take him places too!

The rest of the weekend and into this week, we just hung out, looked at a couple houses on Saturday in between rain drops, and otherwise enjoyed our time together as a family on the long Labor Day weekend.

NO MORE MONITOR! :) (8/31/2012)

Our baby Redbird (9/4/2012)

Last night Finnegan decided he didn't want to sleep. While I feel blessed that this is the first time since he came home where he's been impossible at night, I was at a loss for what to do for him. Ian and I tried almost everything between feeding him, rocking him, just leaving him. He wasn't having it. He eventually passed out in enough time for mommy to get an hour of sleep before my test. Finnegan was showed around Daddy's stomping grounds at ISU before I picked him up after my test.



Finnegan Michael: Child of God (8/11/2012)

This afternoon, Finnegan had his Early Intervention evaluations by SPICE (a program through marcfirst). A developmental and physical therapist came to evaluate Finnegan. Based on his adjusted age and his actual age, both therapists were very impressed with Finnegan. They could detect no real delays in his development. The physical therapist wants to keep an eye on Finn's neck muscles since he still favors his right side, but otherwise she was impressed by his symmetry in movement and ability to grasp, swipe, and hold onto things. He will have a follow-up evaluation to monitor his progress in three months. He's just too much of a miracle. Tomorrow he will move to size 1 diapers. They're still a bit big on him, but the newborns were getting just a bit too snug!

 

On Thursday I start work as a substitute teacher. It'll be my first time away from Finnegan. I'm anxious to go back to work and reclaim my former identity as an educator, but I'm still uneasy about leaving my little guy.



Kylie being a goof ball. :)

After all the craziness this year, I'm anxious to see what the rest of it holds. :)