Alistair's Favorite Places to Hang Out

In an attempt to get anything done, or not die in the extreme heat holding a little blast furnace, alternate means had to be discovered to hold Alistair and make him happy at the same time. We have 2 pieces of baby sanctioned equipment that has met his seal of approval - the swing and the bouncy seat. He will sit in his bouncy seat for sometime, it is a good place to put him once he is asleep. The swing is a good place to put him to go to sleep. Either way, these give us at least a half an hour of free arms to do other things around the house!

No, I will not succumb to your tricks to get me to sleep...I will stay awake....I will, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"See Bear, when the bubbles go, the fish kiss!"

Judgemental Baby, Patient Dog

In a recent blog entry by Ranae, she remarked on Alistair's proper old grandmother's face and we have been trying to capture it on "film" ever since. We got a fairly decent photo of this - however the full effect includes his hands together with his fingers knitted and his cheeks sucked in even more. But I think you can get the general idea!

"I don't approve of this photo-op, mother!"

Here is also some evidence that Sadie is indeed surviving this whole ordeal. Not only that, but she actually looks happy! We think she is starting to realize that this baby is a good thing - someone is home more, she gets to go for more walks and sometimes those walks include some swimming and fetching time!

We were photographing Alistair and Sadie came running in to get her photo taken too.

Playing Doctor

A little insight into our world as care providers...

...and now Dr. Hennessey will perform S.A.S.H with the Vancomycin - Saline flush, Antibiotic, Saline flush, Heprin flush...STAT!!

Dr. Hennessey obtains the needed tools from the neatly kept medical supply corner

In the official IV administration chair, patient Alistair sits still while Dr. Hennessey uses a highly professional position to do his work.

We are thinking of expanding our private practice.

Catching up on our posts

So I have been a little behind on posting. So much has happened since the last time I wrote anything. Thanks to the Sandholm Ranch blog, it has given me the kick in the pants I need to get up to date on the Hennessey's of Bothell.

So the big news, Alistair has come home! He came home on July 6th. It was a big thing to prepare for to get him home. First off we hadn't done anything with his room other than put up a wallpaper border. So my parents came over and helped us assemble furniture, wash-up clothing, blankets and bed linens and just generally help us feel a little more equipt to have a baby at home. Then off to the hospital we went to learn how to care for Alistair at home. You think I mean bathing him, swaddling him, changing his diaper, right? No - try administering IV drugs, giving him feedings through his feeding tube and learning how to reinsert said feeding tube when he pulls it out and last but certainly not least, administering subcutaneous shots into his arms or legs. Yes Seth and I have become quite the medical professionals. Between obtaining a vast knowledge about the heart and its function to our hands-on experiences in and out of the hospital, we are on our way to obtaining some sort of medical license. Perhaps one that Sally Struthers shills for?

Anyway life at home is for the most part great! Of course we wish we didn't have all this medical stuff to contend with, but it is a small price to pay to not have to leave our little boy every night at the hospital to drive home and do it all over the next day.

Alistair is doing great! He is a good baby, only cries for a good reason, sleeps a lot at night and loves to be held and snuggled. He is growing too! He had his first pediatrician appointment on Tuesday and he is up to 7 pounds, 13 ounces and is now 20 1/4" long. As you can see in the photo above, he no longer has his feeding tube. We got him off of that as quick as we could. He takes all of his feedings by bottle, some breast. We are hoping to get him entirely on the breast eventually. Part of that depends on him and part of that depends on when he doesn't need to have supplemented food anymore to put on weight.

He is making it mostly easy on us so far getting used to being parents of an infant. I am sure that will all change as he gets older!