So while it seems each month goes faster and faster these days, we’ve had lots of good news to report. I’d say the milestone we’re all most excited about is that Ian is officially off oxygen!!! He’s been off O2 for a week and a half and is doing amazing. Life is so much easier for all of us now that we don’t also need to tote around an O2 tank everywhere baby goes. We also attended our first church service as a family this past Sunday and it was so nice to be able to introduce Ian to some of the people that have supported us these past few months with their prayers and love. Plus, who doesn’t love showing off their adorable baby?! He also continues to be doing great with breast feeding, and it’s funny to watch him when he takes an occasional bottle. He thinks he needs to suck fast for a letdown and instead ends up with a mouthful of milk running down his face. It’s too funny!
Our next hurdle to cross involves Ian beginning to attend a daycare the three days a week I work. While I know he’ll be in good hands and he’s going to be right next door to me at the child development center for the hospital where I work, it’s still a huge change for him which equals anxiety for me. Prior to this we’d had someone coming into the home to care for him, long story short that didn’t work out due to her cervical cancer diagnosis and they finally had an opening for him at the center. So for the first time he’ll be out of his home environment all day and around other small children. I know in the long run this will likely be a good and healthy development for him; he’ll learn to adapt to change and he’ll get to socialize with other children, but the initial adjustment scares me. I just worry about how he’ll handle all these changes and hope it’s not too difficult for him. Normal feelings I suppose.
All in all these days life has been filled with thankful moments. It’s the little things like enjoying a rainy afternoon with not just a good book and a warm cup of tea but a sleeping cuddly baby in my arms; the sweet smiles & coos that are given in return for gazing into those beautiful blue eyes. Watching him grow and thrive in front of our eyes has been so amazing. There are also the imperfect moments, when he fights sleep crying against what his little body needs, when I’m also feeling the throws of exhaustion and trying to balance his needs and my own. Ultimately though, as life so distinctly tends to brings us balance, the difficult moments give us perspective on those perfect moments we also get to experience. The joy is that much sweeter, the love that much deeper, and the gratitude that much fuller when you have struggled through the hardships of knowing how much life really can change in an instant and how precious this imperfect life we are blessed enough to live each day can be.
