2008 off to an interesting start...

2008 is off to an interesting start for this Holub family.

Dylan is doing great, has been healthy and is continuing to get busier and busier every day. He is now crawling all over the place and pulling himself up to stand on just about anything he can. Our legs, the couch, ottoman, anything he can pull himself up to stand. Then he takes a few steps back and forth. It won't be long and he will be walking all over the place and he will definetely be cruising furniture even more momentarily. He is eating baby food now exclusively for 4 meals and is taking only 2 bottles a day. He is eating our food sometimes depending on what it is and what the texture is like. Mostly fruit and a few veggies. He now has 4 teeth on top, three across the bottom and 2 molars! And he isn't afraid to show them off, it is so cute!

We took him to the University Odo Dr yesterday to have him evaluated for possible tubes in the ears. The doctor decided that Dylan does have to have tubes put in, so he is getting that done on March 4th. They said the tubes will stay in for 9-months up to 2 years and will fall out when they are ready. We feel very comfortable with Dr. Smith at the University, as Dylan has seen this doctor before for his vocal chords. So it will be a short minor surgical procedure. We will first have a consult with anesthesia at the end of February because Dylan was a preemie and has had anesthesia a few times before.

And now to daddy. He got hurt at work and the MRI showed that he has a torn Miniscus. So daddy gets to have surgery too. These poor men of the house and having to see doctors recently. So Brad will go and see a surgeon and he will decide a time for surgery for Brad. So this has definetely limited the floor time that Brad so much looked forward to spend with Dylan in the evenings. So Dylan just crawls over to daddy and pulls up on his legs for Brad to play with him. Or Brad will sit on the floor when he is able and he has started to teach Dylan how to play catch. Dylan and Brad will throw a small ball back and forth, it is very cute and funny how fast Dylan caught on.

So things with Dylan are really going great, we can't complain. He has been healthy and we will get him tubes and we really think that will benefit him a lot. He is eating like a piggy and being a busy body every minute he is awake!! We LOVE it, this is what we have waited for all along. We just look at each other and giggle because we are holding on for the ride he is taking us on, and it is a fun one. We are really getting a kick out of being parents and playing with our little tyke!

Happy New Year...

2007 brought many wonderful memories for our family.
Here is our top 5 memories of 2007:

5. Dylan came home from the hospital on February 3rd after 141 days in the NICU.
4. Two weeks after Dylan's birthday he came off oxygen!!
3. We were able to take Dylan on our first family vacation, for Thanksgiving, we went to Phoenix!!
2. Dylan graduated from the High Risk Infant Follow-up at UIHC.

***1. Our little miracle turned 1 on September 15th. With doctors giving him less than a 1% chance he would live, he has fought with leaps and bounds over everything that has been thrown at him to be with us today. It is his courage and strength that has made our family very appreciative of our little miracle baby. At no one time should anyone take any day here for granted. Our little man is now a toddler and living a life that many thought he would not be able to live. He has proved them all wrong and we are so thankful that God answered and continues to answer our prayers and that our little man is definetely a fighter!!

2008 is now here and WOW, has time just flew by! Dylan rang in the New Year all snuggly in his bed, sound asleep. We discovered today that he is getting two of his molar teeth in. I am thinking this may be some of the cause of his recent ear infection. Also today, I was getting his pj's on after his bath, and he wanted to chew on the bottle of lotion, so I took it away from him and he said to me, "na, na". I didn't know what to do, this clearly was meaning, "no, no." Brad and I really realized that if he is getting into something he shouldn't be we need to find other ways of correcting him other than saying "no". He is also really starting to mock us when we say things to him. His mouth will move and he will try and say a certain sound etc. It is clearly amazing at how smart these little guys are!
And my oh my is he really on the move, constantly!! He is army crawling around like crazy. In an instant he is over to the TV pulling all of the movies off the shelves or looking for a cord to play with or over trying to pull anything he can reach off of the coffee table. So baby proofing is definetely in full swing at our house!!
We also started to transition to whole milk. We are mixing it with his formula and today is the first day. So far so good, he eats it like he can't even tell a difference. Also today was the first day since he was in the hospital back in Nov, that he ate a full jar of baby food!!! We were very excited to be back to getting him to eat more solids and use the sippy cup too!
Dylan is just getting so big and is literally looking like a toddler now. Our baby is growing up so fast. It is amazing at everything he has been thru the past year and a half and he is just thriving and learning new things daily! He loves to sit on the floor and he will turn the pages in his books and look at the pictures. This is just amazing to Brad and I because he knows how to turn the pages in the hard cardboard page books, we are so proud of him!!

2008 is definetely a year for new beginnings. And with a little one around the house, new beginnings and traditions are a part of our daily routine and we LOVE it! So may God bless you and yours with a Happy and Healthy and Prosporus New Year!! And we will keep updating you with our family's journey that the new year brings us!~