more pictures....

Tommy and Kimberlyn hanging out this morning. We haven't had Tommy on his tummy too much lately as he's been of his meds for spitting up and definitely didn't want to make him spit up any. He did great and showed off his strength too. Now, if I could get the pictures to be more in focus. I wish I could blame my camera, but I think it is me?!?!





Water Fight!!!! June 18, 2007 --side note, this sprinkler fun was before the monsoon weather :) My lands, Oklahoma is far from dry at the moment. Next week could be a different story!
The kids had a blast during this water fight. It started as playing in the sprinkler... Kaitlyn claims to not be getting her face wet as she's standing in the center of the sprinkler :) Then it turned into a water slide dare-devils...see Robby flying off the slide!












Tommy is trying to sincerely find the fun of being in this cold pool...he cried at first, then seemed to like it for a very short time. He really prefers his nice warm bath!




Larry made a new computer for us and we plan to give the old one to the kids after te move, when we should hopefully have space to actually set it up! Anyhow, we also have Vista whatever and the setup and stuff is different for my pictures. This was a cute one lost / misplaced as I learned the new filing system. Tommy finally got sturdy enough to hold himself up and bounce around. He really enjoyed this!

6 MONTHS OLD!!!

Tommy 6 months old. June 25, 2007.

How can this be??? Where did the last six months go? It's so exciting for Tommy to be 6 months old, but so sad that they grow up so fast!

Tommy is doing amazingly well. He had his check up yesterday...weighed in at 12 lbs, 2 ozs and measured 24.5 inches. He's not "on the chart" yet, but when the doc charts his adjusted age on the chart he's still on the small side for a 3 month old...and has a large head :) In our eyes he's huge and Kaitlyn said the other day "man, Annabelle (her doll) feels so light now" CRAZY that her baby brother was lighter and smaller than her doll!

The most exciting news yesterday was that the doctor feels he's developmentally on track for being 6 months old. He doesn't do everything on the check list, but MOST 6 month olds don't do everything on the list anyhow! How cool! He is about a month (mom-estimate) away from sitting alone, which puts him right at a 4-6 wks behind his siblings for sitting. They all sat right around 5 1/2 months old. Tommy actually appears to be sitting in his 6 month old picture we had done over the weekend. He's in a little folding chair, sitting backwards with his hands on the back of the chair...you can't see all the hands on the outside to "catch" him if needed. He was just balanced. It sure made for a more fun picture than all the boring lying down being propped up kinds.

I haven't looked up all the baby stats...but do know that Kaitlyn gained just over 10 pounds from birth to 6 months of age and Tommy has gained 9.5 pounds in the same time frame. NOT BAD! Considering how challenging it was to have him gain consistently during the first 3 or so months, I thought that comparison was a nice pat on the back that he is doing fabulous!


Tommy was extremely happy this morning. Daddy gave him his first ever nigh-night bottle and tucked him in (ON HIS CHEST) last night. In the past I've been home and took over as Tommy would fuss or I'd be called home to take over :) Last night he and dad hit it off great and the older two kids and I shopped for Kimberlyn's birthday present without a baby in tow! Great for all of us!


Here's a pic for you to enjoy??? Great another video game junky! Robby training his bro early!

Prunes?? Anyone??

I told you, he likes prunes :) Tommy almost 6 months old!

Tommy enjoying eating food now!

Tommy tried his first baby cereal on Monday, May 28th. I didn't think I was hitting the road to FL the next day. He seemed to like it fine. For some reason I was waiting for him to be 5 months old before trying it...
Trying his first cereal at 5 months old!

After arriving back home from our second FL trip we continued with baby cereal and added some fruits and veggies. I thought I'd be nervous introducing new foods since he was a preemie...not so much. He's so lucky to be the 4th kid! I do try to only introduce one new food per day. The other three (NO JOKE) had to wait three days??? WHY?? Allergies do not run in our family?? Silly mom! He's definitely a fruit boy. Tolerates veggies, and literally CRIED with peas. He definitely tolerates veggies better with a little fruit mixed in. Thankfully he likes prunes, he's been a bit constipated. I'm guessing with his iron supplement and the added solids it has stopped him up some. He goes in for his 6-month well baby check up on the 26th (a day late)....I can't believe my little guy is almost 6 months old!

When we arrived home and he finished his antibiotics, I took him in for a follow up with his doctor here. All was well and he weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces. This was a bout 10 days ago and he's been gaining about an ounce a day, so my guess is he's right at 12 pounds even today! In Florida, at the doctor he weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces...I couldn't get over that weight. That was exactly an 8-pound weight gain since birth!

Kimberlyn and Robby with my Grandma, their Great Grandma!

Tommy and Kimberlyn with my Grandpa, their Great Grandpa!

COUSINS!! Robby, Kimberlyn, Kaitlyn and Baby (not so baby anymore) Robby

WHAT LOVE! Cool cousins, Brice and Robby!

Finally, something about poor ole Tommy!!

Well, he is doing fabulous! He had his first cold on the drive down to Florida (late May)...he had a little runny nose and some congestion. He proved he truly is a Nance kid as they all (especially the boys) have this very sensitive gag reflex. He puked about twice a day (IN THE VAN TOO) and on the third (last) driving day the kid puked 3 times at which point I wanted to pull off the road, crawl into a ditch and cry! Seriously, if he puked one more time en route, I would have had to find a place to do laundry! This paired with Mom still being alive made for some serious stress. The doctor estimated Mom would have passed before I arrived in FL. Since she was alive, like any normal daughter, I really wanted to hold her hand one last time....I was able to.

Tommy seemed happy, just whenever a little cough came up, he puked...out his nose, projectile puking! On Friday my sister-in-law arranged for us to be able to "walk" Tommy in at the doctor's office she worked at, IF we needed to. I'm totally anti-medicine UNLESS needed. I decided to take Tommy's temp as he was feeling warmer than usual, he's a Nance kid- always HOT! He had a 99.3 temp. I called out pediatric clinic at home and spoke with his nurse...yep, since he is a preemie and at risk yadi-ya-ya, she said I really needed him to get a check up or go to the ER.

I gave him Tylenol and went to the doctor. Super nice lady, BUT now his temp had gone to 100.4. This is the cut-off for this office to admit the 2-month old or less baby to the hospital for more testing. See Tommy had just turned 5 months, but adjusted was just 2 months old. THANKFULLY, she let us try an antibiotic (due to the situation with Mom) and made me promise to take him directly to an ER if anything changed for the worse. He did great and the fever left...I was running on very borrowed energy as I was doing this trip w/o Larry. I just prayed that he'd keep his formula down while I fed him.

Larry flew down to FL for Mom's memorial service and then drove home with us. I was so happy to have his help. I think it was pure adrenaline that got us down there and I didn't know how I was going to get back home alone.

Our new house....in August anyhow :)

I couldn't help but post a picture of this! I'm so excited to move, I know you couldn't tell :)

In loving memory of Mom...

and Grandma
Patricia Emerson
February 14, 1948 to June 3, 2007

Sorry for the delay in posting on here...my Mom went into the Hospice home on May 22nd and passed on June 3rd. Hospice was marvelous at caring for her and keeping her pain free in her last days. She is in a way better place now.

Although this blog was started to let friends and family follow our journey to Tommy-- Quite frankly, I haven't updated this blog because it turned into keeping mom, my #1 blog-fan updated and feeling close to us since we were so far apart and she wasn't able to visit until Tommy was 3 months old. Although our friends and family are important to us...I somehow got in the mind set that I was "writing to mom". See mom had lost her ability to speak in November. Therefore calling her and sharing life's daily excitement wasn't possible...so I just wrote about it and added pictures. Mom checked the blog first thing in the morning and last thing before bed.

So please accept my sincere apologies for not updating sooner. I appreciate all the thoughtfullness of checking in on us and the prayers. I have lots to share with you and hope to upload pictures soon.