3 months old

Nick names so far:

Buddy Boy

Little man

Baby Brock

Brockers

Brocky

baby B

Budders

Broccoli(brocklee) (even thought Deric HATES it)

He really is a happy baby! he was just so over me taking pictures of him and not holding him by this point. 

Brock Loves to smile! If he catches your eye he will instantly start smiling. its the cutest thing.

 

He absolutely LOVES being in his walker (which is a huge help) and can even start to slowly scoot himself around. 

We have been babysitting this week 3 kids, well they are 16,13 and 8. Brock loves these kids so much! He is going to be so bored when him and I go back home and its just the 2 of us. When the kids come home from school Brock gets the biggest smile. They all love to interact with him. I can constantly hear " HE IS SO ADORABLE" coming from the 8 year old. He is pretty adorable. 

His new favorite thing is to hold his hands and try to figure out what his feet are. He also has been sticking his tongue out a lot at us. Its adorable!

He loves to stand with help of course on your lap, constantly tries to sit up on his own, LOVES to be on his tummy and sleeps best when he is on his tummy or in your arms. He love a good cuddle every once in a while, but also really loves to be left alone in his swing, walker or exersaucer. If there is something infront of him its his! He loves to grab at cell phones, chapstick or even dinner spoons. He stole mine at dinner the other night and was flinging it all around.
I am amazed daily at his progress and learning. I know everyone always says that their kid is so smart, but honestly I am amazed what he can do, considering the size that his brain bleed was and where it was located. Doctors and therapist were thinking that his movement and development would be delayed because of these factors, but the way this kid is going I think he is trying to prove them all wrong!

Photo shoot

While at work today, Addie and I decided we should do a little photo shoot with Brock.

11 weeks and 2 month check up

Finally got Brock into the doctor for his 2 month check up/shots. I was kind of dragging my feet because I didn't want him to have to get his shots after being in the hopsital for so long getting poked everyday. But he did amazing with them!!! He had grown so much. At 1 month he was 7lbs 12oz (2%) 21 inches tall (14%) and his head was 15in (66%)
At his 2 month check up yesterday he was 10.5lbs (4%) 23.8 inches tall (59%) and his head was 15.5 inches (36%). We have a tall skinny kid with not as big of a head now!!!
The doctor was very impressed with his growth and with his development. He CA  hold his head on his own and is trying to roll over and can hold his head all the way up when on his tummy. She was very impressed and said this normal development for a 4 month old. My heart was very happy! Especially since his brain bleed was on his left side where motor function is.
Brock loves to smile and talk. He just started doing a really high pitched squeal that I can not get enough of! He is sleeping pretty well during the night and only gets up once or twice just to eat and then goes right back to sleep.
He gets the hiccups all the time but doesn't ever seem to care!
He loves his toys on his changing table and sometimes just loves to lay in his crib and stare at his stuffed animals!

He loves his dogs! If Diesel is in my lap while I am holding him, he will make sure and find him with his hand and get a good couple pets in. It's the cutest and Diesel loves it. Every once in a while Hank will jump up and try to get some rubs as well but mostly he just likes to lick Brock (which I stop right away. So gross)
altogether Brock is such a happy baby and we feel so blessed he chose us to be his parents! Even in the middle of the night :)

Christmas service

My family likes to do a service project every year for Christmas. And this year I couldn't think of anything better than to collect donations for the NICU. We collected 28 homemade blankets, and countless clothes, hats, bibs, and receiving blankets. We delivered the items today! I of course forgot to take pictures in the NICU. But we got to see some of our favorite people while we were there.

Christmas

We had such a good christmas. It was filled with lots of familu, which is what we love!!!!
Brock was spoiled by everyone around him. What a lucky kid.

1 MONTH 4 DAYS HOME!

Life is so busy at home but so amazing!
Brock came home with us finally on December 1st after spending 32 days at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
On November 28th 2014 Brock had  VP Shunt placed in his head to drain out his spinal fluid that was getting trapped inside. The technical term for this is Hydrocephalus, That words scared the heck out of me for days! I felt like it was a horrible thing, that it was going to hurt Brock in some way in the future, that he had a future of pain, and disability. So not the case!
One of my Facebook friends made a comment on one of my posts that really struck me, She said " how wonderful it is that they can fix this issue!"
I hadn't looked at the positive side of this diagnosis at all while in the hospital. My friend saying that to me really shook me out of my negativity and made me realize that we are lucky there is a fix for this. Not a cure, a fix.
I am amazed at how many people in this world have Hydrocephalus and you don't even know! Honestly I had no idea this issue even existed. Most people with Hydrocephalus go on to live completely normal lives!

I had some more tender mercies in the hospital before Brock received his shunt. We were moved to the Oncology ward in the Children's Hospital to get away from all the sick kids in the PICU. They didn't want Brock to get any respiratory issues. Thank goodness, but the tender mercy of them moving us, we finally got to stay the night with our baby!! The oncology ward was amazing. Its bright and cheery and we got our own big colorful room with a view!!! The nurses there were so great and wonderful to us, (they were everywhere we went! WE LOVE NURSES)
We met one really amazing girl on that floor that we will never forget! She "babysat" Brock for us on Thanksgiving so we could go be with our family for a couple hours. She sang songs to him, hushed the nurses while he was sleeping and made sure he was comfy and warm. She also decorated his IV pole with Christmas Lights and some Christmas decorations. She also gave him a stuffed penguin that he loves to play with, we named the penguin Stella after her!
The other tender mercy of being on that floor was our Physical Therapist for Brock. Jackie! I will be forever thankful for this amazing woman. Her 12 year old son also has Hydrocephalus and has a VP shunt. She told me the things he can do and that he is a normal 12 year old rowdy boy! She even told me that at some point I am going to forget he has the shunt and send him to 4th grade without talking to his teacher about it like she did! That Brock can play basketball and soccer like her son! I really needed to hear these things from her and hear the wonderful things he son is doing! She did say he did break his shunt wrestling around on the floor one day with his friend. But she said it was an easy fix, only a couple days in the hospital.
The last tender mercy was the day that Brock got his shunt! We took him down to the children's surgery center in the hospital and got to meet his surgery team. Brock's anesthesiologist was one of my friends dad! How amazing is that! He had just gotten back off a long trip and was home just in time to be there for Brock! He had no idea, but I know that was for me. I needed that peace and comfort knowing that he was back with my baby, watching and taking care of him while his VP Shunt was being placed.
4 days after the shunt was placed we got to go home! It was such a weird amazing feeling walking out of the hospital with our baby! We had never done that!
Brock is doing amazing. He is eating really well and gaining weight like he should! I gave up on trying to breastfeed Brock. It was so rough on him to even try to breastfeed, He would just scream at me and it looked like he was in pain. I also gave up pumping, It was so much easier to pump in the hospital when I knew he was being watched over by nurses so I could go pump every 3 hours. Its a little harder at home to do that every 3 hours. I was having to fortify my milk with formula because it wasn't fatty enough, so Deric and I decided we would just switch him to straight formula and he is doing amazing! Eating like a champ. I felt guilty for not pumping but then realized if my son is healthy and eating like he should I am doing the best I can as a mother! I don't have to breastfeed to be a good mom!
He is such a happy kid! He is starting to sleep better now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays are over!
Sorry for the lack of posting. but enjoy this photo dump :) (the dates are all wrong on these photos sorry!)

Grandma Wilson holding Brock for the first time since he was born, 

The drain stiches finally came out!

Daddy and Baby Boy!

GOING HOME!

We have a tummy sleeper!

2 months old!

Best buds! Brock and cousin Nathan!

stop taking pictures mom!