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Okay, I am trying to figure out Facebook. I'm guessing that blogging is more for journal entrying and Facebook is for quick comments. Yes or No?? If you have any insight-PLEASE let me know!

Here are some recent pictures of Joseph. That is the one nice thing about Facebook-I can download a bunch of pictures into an album!

Lynn W. and her mother-in-law threw me a wonderful baby shower! I haven't had one of those in 16 years! The members of our ward are wonderful!

Joseph was awake, but the flash on the camera caused him to jump!

Not sure if you can read what his onesie says - "Fatigued". In which I was very fatigued that day!

Thank you Grandpa V.!! We got Joseph a playmat. He loves looking at the toys hanging down and the mirror!

Prom

Yes, Mike had fun doing this!

Okay, we have now reached a new milestone in our lives. Not only are we parents of a newborn baby, but we just had our (almost by 4 days!) 16 year daughter leave for the prom. Tosha and Kent have been friends for over a year now. We let Tosha go to the prom with Kent since this is his senior year. Kent is a very good guy and he knows and respects our guidelines. I think I was as nervous as Tosha was for tonight! I still remember going to prom during my senior year. It just doesn"t seem possible that it is my baby that is going tonight!

We had Joseph weighed yesterday, and he is now up to 7lbs 6oz.! He is definitely working on getting caught up. Last night it looked like he was about to smile a few different times - and no it wasn't gas! Joseph was awake for well over 2 1/2 hours. Unfortunately that did not make any difference with his sleeping schedule!

I hope that everybody had a wonderful Easter. That was the first time that Joseph went to church. He did very well - of course he slept most of the time! We then went to a friend's house and had a great afternoon and evening with them and their family. I hate to say it, but the Easter Bunny did not hide eggs this year! He left something in the kids baskets, but no eggs to find. We were going to do an egg hunt at our friend's house, unfortunately Mother Nature was not going to cooperate with us (we were going to do the hunt outside, but we were under a tornado watch, and we had some heavy downpours!).

I hate to admit this, but I am obsessed with lion things for Joseph! When Zac was a baby, you could not find all of the cute lion clothing and other items that are available now. Joseph will be so tired of lions before he officially becomes a "Lyon"! (We are hoping that Joseph will be legally ours in every sense by the last Friday in September. We are then planning on having him sealed to us in the temple in Baton Rouge the Saturday after General Conference.) There are so many cute things out there with lions on them. I just can't help myself!!!

On Saturday I competed in my first 5K walk. I came in 60th. There were a lot of people there, and I was towards the front of the pack! I felt pretty good about this placing. I have no idea how many people were officially there, but it was like a herd of cattle to begin with! The bright yellow shirt I am wearing in the picture is from the race!

Is it morning or night?

We are going through the stage of night is day and day is night. I'm not even sure any more which is which!! Last night Joseph wanted to be awake most of the night. I am now only turning on a light long enough to change his diaper, and then it is lights off! I am hoping that this will help him change his internal clock. We worked really hard tonight to keep him awake for a lot of the evening. We will have to see if this will also help. Of course, Joseph objected to our new routine.

We had Joseph weighed last Friday, and he is now up to 6lbs 4oz!!! He is looking so much better. We are to go in again next Friday and have him weighed again. Maybe by then he will be up to 7lbs.
Mike is on his way to Wisconsin. He is sooo excited about this - NOT! Thankfully he is only gone for a couple of days!

Rain, rain go away...

I know that we needed the rain, but I am so tired of the dreary days! Joseph and I went out for a walk around the neighborhood yesterday, just to get out for a little while. I had a friend that asked me if I was tired of being cooped up in the house. The answer was a resounding-YES!! I love having Joseph, but with my other children I was able to go and do things shortly after they were born. I haven't even gone to church for the past 3 weeks. Thank goodness General Conference is this weekend, so I won't feel guilty about missing another week! Mike and I both feel that once Joseph reaches 5 weeks, we can slowly start getting out more.

Joseph is still a great baby, other than thinking that he is to be held in order to sleep (especially at 2 am!). He has outgrown his preemie clothes, and his newborn sized clothes are fitting him well now. This week will be a true test for us! Mike is on his way to Arkansas. He will come home on Friday. I was already doing the middle of the night feedings, but Mike was getting the three older children out the door for school in the mornings! I have a feeling that I will be doing that in auto-pilot mode! I probably won't even remember doing it, much less know what they are taking for their lunches! I hope I don't send them with a bottle of formula or something along that line!!

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures. Joseph is now up to 5lbs 2oz! I thought my other three children were small, but Joseph has definitely got them beat!

Joseph is doing very well. He was really fussy yesterday. He had a hard time burping and developed a diaper rash. We are not sure if the rash is from changing the brand of diapers and wipes, or something else. I had Mike stop by Wal-mart on his way home from church last night to get the brand of diapers we had been using and sensitive wipes. We are using the "butt paste", and he is not screaming as badly today when I change his diaper.

The picture of Joseph taking his first "official" bath looks like he is screaming,

but actually he was yawning. He loved his bath - until it was time to rinse out his hair!

A Whole New World

Life is good!! Life is great!! I am so thankful that we have a Heavenly Father that hears and answers our prayers. Our prayers were most definitely answered on March 12th. We received a phone call about a baby that had been born in the state that we live in, and they were looking to place this baby with a family - immediately!

Joseph was born on the 5th of March and he was 5 weeks premature. He weighed 4lbs 11 oz. The birth mother had complications that had some potential risks to the baby (lack of blood flow and oxygen to the fetus). When we were told about Joseph, the doctors had already run tests on his kidneys, liver, heart, lungs...everything but his brain. But we were told that he did not show the typical symptoms of brain damage. He was not having seizures nor sleep apnea. He was already eating from a bottle and taking a pacifier.

Mike received this call on his way to the Orlando airport, and he was texting me with some of this info. We were able to have a conference call with the doctor and to discuss Joseph's potential health concerns. The doctor was "cautiously optimistic" about Joseph not having any long term health problems.

The agency wanted an answer that night. Mike was still traveling home and I had to go to a Seminary training meeting. So we did a lot of texting that night!! After talking with the doctor there was no doubt in my mind that this baby was here for us. Mike called the agency and told them that we were interested.

The next morning we were able to see the baby. Joseph was in the NICU, with all of the monitors hooked to his little body. When we first saw him, the nurse was feeding him. We were then asked if we wanted to feed him. So, putting both of my hands through the openings in the isolette, I was able to feed him. I was in love by this point! We were then allowed to hold him. It was amazing!!

The agency approved us for the adoption and we were given full access to little Joseph. Between Michael and I, we were there for all of his feedings from 8am-11pm. On Monday, the birth parents signed over their rights, and then we signed our papers. Also on this day, Joseph was moved upstairs to the well baby nursery. He went in for an MRI on Monday as well. I found out on Tuesday that he moved around too much during the MRI, so they had to do it again. This time they sedated him, and things went well. The only down side was that his body temperature dropped, and we had to work hard to bring it back up.

We were told that Joseph could go home on Wednesday. I was so excited!! Mike was in Austin, so I was the one that the nurses were starting to hate!! The doctor was not going to release Joseph until his body temp was higher. I did not put him down for over 2 hours! I had multiple layers of blankets on him, and finally at 1:30 his temp was up to 97.2! Yea! We could go home. As many of you mothers know, it was three hours later, that we were finally able to leave!

Joseph is a blessing in our life. We all love him so much. I am going to do my best to keep this updated with pictures and other things!