One home last week, one in surgery this week

About two weeks ago Ryan's Grandpa Roth died pretty suddenly. He had been diagnosed about a week before with stage three leukemia and was being treated in the hospital. I didn't know him as well as I would have liked but I'll always remember he offered to come and teach me how to tat when I was on bed rest. I had a really hard time deciding whether I should go to the funeral, which was on Friday. The nurses and lactation consultants at Carter's hospital said they didn't think it would affect his breastfeeding too much for me to be gone and I knew that other than that, the boys didn't technically need me and I knew they would be well taken care of, so I decided to go. I'm glad that there were no problems while we were gone and I had a really good time out in California. I was able to meet a lot of Diane's family that I've never met and am so happy I was able to go.

Carter transitioned well to his crib and kept getting better and better at eating so we got to bring him home on the tenth. The first night was rough because he wouldn't eat! He got so hungry and frustrated that he wouldn't breastfeed. After a full day of him eating about half of his daily minimum, I figured out that the last good feeding he had was from a bottle that was unfortified. We are supposed to feed him bottles every other time with additional calories added to the milk. So, for some reason, he didn't like the fortifier we were using so I fed him with a bottle of just breast milk and he ate like a pig! Thank goodness we got that figured out! The last week has been good. The house wasn't near ready because we had been out of town for the funeral so I worked on that for a while. I also helped Ryan put together the dresser and crib so things are starting to settle down with that. He has been having a hard time breastfeeding and has started to bite :( He likes to throw tantrums and refuses to calm down but hopefully as he gets bigger it'll get easier for both of us. In terms of sleeping, as long as he eats like he should, he sleeps wonderfully besides lots of grunting. He seems to have quite a bit of gas and turns really red when he's working on something.

Carter is still on oxygen but on the smallest setting for the tank. He really only needs it when he eats because he forgets to breath but we leave it on him all the time. He's getting better too, so hopefully we won't have to deal with it for long. I took him to his eye appointment down in Riverton last week and his eyes are fully developed so we no longer have to have his oxygen monitor beeping when he isn't breathing AND when he's breathing too well. That thing sure is annoying in the middle of the night when there's nothing you can do to MAKE IT STOP!

Ryan has been doing an awesome job with Carter. It sure is fun to see him being a daddy. A while ago Carter wouldn't calm down in the middle of the night so Ryan took him out to the living room. I wake up to Ryan's alarm for work and go out to find Carter in the back crevice of the couch and Ryan on the outside curled around him. What a good dad :) Too bad I didn't take a picture!

Weston had a contrast enema done yesterday to make sure he had no strictures in his bowel so there would be no surprises for the surgeons on Thursday. They put some kind of fluid into his intestines that shows up on an x ray. It's pretty amazing what they can do! A few days ago, Weston weighed 7 lb 3 oz. After I had Carter home for a few days (he now weighs 5 lb 4 oz) I was finally able to go up and see Weston and he was an absolute giant compared to Carter!

Weston's surgery will be fairly similar to the last one in terms of recovery. They will have to put him on a ventilator because he'll be so sedated which he'll probably have a harder time with because he's been used to the freedom of breathing on his own. They'll keep him on pain and anxiety medications and eventually wean him off them. They'll start feeding him 7-10 days after the surgery and slowly work up to as much food as he can handle. Ryan took the day off and Diane is going to watch Carter so we can be up there with Weston. I'm glad it's finally time for his surgery even though it will set him back a lot for a while. I want that boy to come home!!!

I also wanted to mention that my grandparents came up from St. George for a few days so they could come and see the boys. My grandma came up a few weeks after they were born but my grandpa had open heart surgery and wasn't quite ready so they made a special trip before heading to Alaska for the summer. I'm so glad you came, Grandma and Grandpa!

Great Grandma Hanni with Carter

Carter coming home!!!! 

Carter likes to be helpful and hold his pacifier in :) 

Great Grandpa Hanni with Weston

Weston sleeping as is usual for him! He is a very calm baby. 

Though he did get a little upset about his cute neck rolls!