New Faces...New Places

I'm all recovered from the spider incident. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes. Aunt Nicole and Grandpa Richard came to visit last week. I was a little delirious still from all the Benadryl and drugs but turns out I'm no longer the main attraction for visitors anymore, so I'm not sure they even noticed. (Okay, so I'm sure that I never really was the main attraction, but a girl can dream, right?) Dylan, of course, loved the visitors and had a great time!

Looking awfully cute sleeping on Nicole with coordinated stripes!

Dylan had his follow up visit with the surgeons at Children's Mercy. Dr. Ostlie continues to be very impressed with his progress. He'll need another surgery or two to fix the hernia that he still has. Basically, with the subsequent surgeries, they will pull his ab muscles to where they belong and flatten out his stomach. They'll also give him a belly button! After the last surgery, he'll be back to normal. And the subsequent surgeries are much less invasive than the initial, usually only requiring an overnight stay. His stomach is very soft and doesn't seem to bother him at all. We'll continue to follow up with the surgeons every few months until we decide when to do his second surgery. It'll likely be sometimes around the age of 2. The good news is, other than the bump he has on his stomach, he's perfectly normal!

Now the main thing we're focusing on is Dylan gaining weight. He was up to 7 lbs. 13 ounces on Friday. He's consistently gaining but not quite as much as we'd like. He's eating really well, but we think he just burns a few more calories than a normal baby because he's still healing and breathes a little harder than normal because of the extra pressure in his chest. We're supplementing my feedings twice a day with some extra calories from formula, so hopefully he'll start gaining a little more quickly soon.

I also had my final check up with my doctor. Everything looked great, so I'm clear to do anything. Billy even made me attempt to run this week. I ran a mile and then ran/walked the mile back. I actually felt better than I thought I would.

Dylan continues to change so much every day! I think I forgot to put it in the blog, but he's already rolling over. He did it for the first time around 4 weeks old. He has a little bit of an advantage because his stomach sticks out creating a bit of a fulcrum, but it's still pretty impressive. My theory is that he doesn't love lying on his stomach so he figured out very quickly how to remedy that situation! We'll try to get it on video soon and post it!

He has also begun to smile a lot! They are so cute, it's pretty much impossible not to just melt when he smiles at you. Sometimes he gets so excited he smiles with his whole face, so big his eyes close...just like his daddy!

Grinning on mommy's lap!
I know he looks like he might cry, but I assure you he was laughing!

Dylan and I have also begun to explore the outside world a bit. Kris gets a lot of credit; she keeps arranging fun things to do that aren't too overwhelming. We were in Children's Mercy nurses withdrawal, so Dylan had his first lunch date with Anna, one of our nurse's little ones who is a few weeks younger than Dylan. As you can see, Dylan is pretty chill about the whole thing, while Anna is clearly pumped!! Then on Friday, we went out to lunch for Kristen's birthday. A bunch of nurses and kiddos met up at a brew house and Dylan and I crashed the party. It was a great time and Dylan loved being held by some of his favorite nurses. We've missed them all since we've been out of the hospital!!

Holly, Kristen Dylan and Anna (see, I told you Anna was pumped!)
Dylan and his favorite nurse on her birthday!
Dylan has missed Sunny taking care of him!

Yesterday, Amy and her kiddos came to visit from Iowa. Karson and Aubrey are as cute as ever! And both were very interested in Dylan. They were very cute with him! Amy, Kristen, Lars, Dylan and I went out to lunch. It was very much like the good old times in college. We had a great time and enjoyed catching up!
Today, Aunt Nicole comes back to celebrate the second half of her Memorial's Day weekend with us. My dad and Billy are in Vegas, so it's just us girls, Morris and Dylan. Hopefully, Morris doesn't get too sick of all of us! We also have plans for Erin, Carrie Mac and Grandma Toni to come back and visit soon, so we're super excited for all the upcoming visitors. And of course my mom comes every weekend, so I hardly even consider her a visitor at this point!

Ella is still very interested in her cousin!

Sleeping like a baby in grandpa's arms!