Happy day!

Traci was finally able to hold Brett yesterday. He continues to do well. He's making steady progress each day. He is now feeding on breastmilk and he took his first bottle yesterday.

Family picture

Brett came off the vent today! He is doing very well. He continues to breathe well and he is remaining calm as they lessen his sedation. Little by little we are getting to see more of his face.



Traci finally got to touch him today. She still has not been able to hold him but we hope she will be able to tomorrow.

This afternoon Ann and Abby got to go and see Brett for the first time. When we were getting ready this morning Ann and Abby said they wanted to look fancy for Mom and Brett - - so they stopped by Lala's beauty salon.

Abby seeing Brett for the first time

Ann sees Brett for the first time


The Powers first family picture

When I asked the girls what they thought of Brett Abby said, 'He's perfect! It's amazing!' Ann said, 'He's so tiny!'

Traci is also doing well. It's hard to imagine but she is actually moving a lot better now after the c-section than she was with the symphysis pubis disorder during pregnancy. She now has to recover from both but we are all glad that her pain is less.

Preemie or not preemie, that is the question

I spoke with Traci this morning and got very good news. Both she and Brett are doing well. Brett is now down to 20% oxygen in the vent and is only getting 20 pumps per minute. The doctors have lessened his sedation and he is remaining calm.

The nurse said there is great debate right now about how they classify him. Yesterday they said he was 'late preterm' but most of the doctors and nurses agree that preterm babies are not nearly 7 pounds.

They feel now that something just happened to him after birth and he stopped breathing. When he was delivered he had good color, was crying, and moving. Something happened shortly thereafter and he stopped breathing. The agitation he showed the first night was probably due to the fact that he could not breath.

Once he is weaned from the vent Traci will finally get to hold him. (Hoo-ray!!!) Ann and Abby are going up to see Traci today. If the vent is out then they will get to see Brett.

Brett update

Brett continues to do well. They did put him on the ventilator at 100% but have now weaned him to 80%. They have now classified him as a late pre-term baby as opposed to full-term. Here are some pictures from the last day.

And, in a interesting turn of events, which can only be explained by parallel cases of momnesia, Traci is now calling Brett Liam and I am calling Liam Brett. Prepare to be confused.

Traci and Brett before delivery.

Dad and Brett on the way to the nursery

Trying to keep stimulation to a minimum.

Cousin Brett is here!

Brett Joseph Powers was born at 1136 PM last night, 26 June 2009. He was 6 pounds 13 oz and 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well. Brett was having some trouble expanding his lungs last night so he is on oxygen and in the Special Care nursery so he can be monitored.

Bruce and Traci said he had a good night, but the nurses said he is feisty and they had to sedate him to keep him from pulling his lines out. His oxygen absorption improved overnight and they will remove the oxygen later this morning if he continues to maintain his levels.

Traci and Bruce are tired since it was nearly 200 AM when they were able to rest. Please pray for Brett, Bruce, Traci and the medical team taking care of them. Right now the doctor plans to keep Traci in the hospital until Tuesday.

Brett Joseph Powers

Tricks Tante Traci taught me

Tante Traci helped Liam figure out that he can stand up in his pack-n-play. Now he wants to stand up everywhere. The only problem is that he cannot pull himself up to a standing position yet. He finds this very frustrating. He can, however, get himself from a lying position to a sitting position.

The desire to move also means he is not happy in his exersaucer anymore. If it holds him still he wants nothing to do with it. Tobias will convert the exersaucer into the toddler play table this weekend.

New things every day

Liam is changing very quickly right now. Every day he seems to do something new. He now has little interest in bottles and wants real food. He is now eating three meals a day and drinking from a sippie cup.


This weekend we get to Liam-proof the kitchen. In addition to crawling and trying to pull up, he is now opening drawers. Time to get locks on the drawers and doors!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Papi T (and all the other dads out there!!)

I finally decided that Liam is at an age where professional pictures would be a possibility. (I know I am VERY late in coming to this conclusion compared to most . . . ) So, part of Tobias' Father's Day present this year is some pictures of our little man.

The photo session has just reinforced that Liam has a lot of Tobias' personality in him. When he is in new situations he doesn't get upset, he gets very serious and starts trying to figure out what is going on. The first picture here is the ONLY smile we got all day. We have lots of cute pics but he is definitely on the serious side.

Cookies and toys

Further proof that the best toys are free. Liam's new love is watching the washing machine. Today Liam got to try his first finger food. He fed himself a teething biscuit from Germany (Bären Kekse) that his 'aunt' Christina brought him. We are now getting ready for the beginning of the messy phase of feeding . . . but he had fun!

Beach week

This week is Nanna's and Poppa's beach week at Virginia Beach. On Wednesday evening we all went over to join them for dinner at Mahi Mah's. This was Liam's first time seeing the ocean. When we stood on the balcony looking over the boardwalk he started waving at the ocean. I think he was saying 'hi' to Oma, Opa, and Onkel Dodi.

Unfortunately, it was very windy so we couldn't stay outside for long. Liam still has the reflex that makes him inhale when air hits his face so standing in strong winds was not fun for him.

Red flags mean dangerous conditions.
Wednesday there was a threat of rip tide,
which brings everyone out of the water . . . except for the surfers!

Hanging out at Nanna's and Poppa's before dinner

Brudang

Traci had a 3-D ultrasounds Monday. It's amazing to see Brett's pictures and realize he is now as old as Liam was when Liam came home from the hospital.

Since Brett and Liam will be so close in age we figure they will be cousins who are more like brothers, or, 'brousins'. We were trying to figure out the German equivalent of that word and have settled on 'Brudang'. :)

Meet Brett Joseph Powers

The best toys are free

Liam continues to prove what Rob and Ginger told us early on . . . the best toys are free. This video clip is 2 minutes long, but it shows Liam utterly fascinated by the cottage cheese containers. It also shows that he has not mastered object permanence. Once something is out of sight it is out of mind. You will notice I had to kick a container behind him to get him playing again after the container he was playing with rolled around the corner!! He had so much fun with these that I was able to unload the dishwasher.

I always forget that Blogger makes the video clips so small the title slides are hard to read. This one reads, 'The Best Toys are Free: Starring Liam Janke and the cottage cheese containers'

Long, lean growing machine

Liam had his 9 month check up today with his new doctor, Dr. Brady. Tobias, Liam, and I all now see the same family doctor. We have known that Liam was growing, but we still think of him as a small preemie. Time to change that!

Liam's length is now 29.5 inches (74.9 cm), which puts him in the 86th percentile!! His weight is 19 pounds 14 oz (8,682 grams) (46th percentile). After taking his measurements the doctor said, 'I guess I don't need to tell you he is a long, lean boy.' The best news is that he is completely healthy.

One of Liam's new favorite activities - going for all the cords.
This is his face right after I said, 'No, Liam. No touch!'

Liam getting a TINY taste of Mom's fudgecicle.
(Before anyone freaks out, I gave him the stick after it was nearly clean!
No damage.)

9 months!!

Liam turned 9 months old today! For his latest and greatest trick . . . he has started waving 'hello'. Today he even initiated a wave with TT (Tante Traci). He is firmly creeping and can get anywhere he wants to go. He responds to his name. And, he is eating very well. So far we have worked our way through vegetables and we are on to fruits. Coming soon . . . meats!!

His 9 month check up is Monday and we are looking forward to his new stats.

Of course, being more mobile and aware of his environment makes his photo sessions a lot more work.

Liam - 9 months old

Some of the outtakes

More pictures . . . yawn . . .

Oh, wait, can I reach that camera?

Ooooo, a camera strap

Please, let me hold the camera!

New things

Mom brought Liam up to my office yesterday so my colleagues could see him. He was an absolute charmer!! He smiled and laughed the entire time, he allowed everyone to hold him, and much to our surprise and delight - - he started waving at people. We have been working on teaching him 'hi' and 'bye' but yesterday was the first time he waved for every person who walked up to him. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but I took Liam to Tobias' building after we finished at mine and he did it again for each person who walked up to him. That's when we decided he was waving.

This morning he also finally showed us some good forward motion. He is not quite crawling on all fours, but the second Tobias sat down to tie his shoes, Liam focused on the shoes and moved straight toward them without rolling. Looks like we will have a little cruiser on our hands soon.

Since Liam is now mobile it is time to set up the play yard (play pen). I set up the Pack-n-Play this morning and put Liam in it to see how he would do.

Hmmm, do I like it?

I think I like it.

I REALLY like it!!

Babbling with Oma and bubbles

Liam got to hold the phone and talk with Oma for the first time today. We put on the speakerphone so he could hear her and he loved hearing her voice. He smiled and shook the phone whenever she would talk. Then, he just starting pushing buttons.

After we hung up the phone Liam reminded us that his US passport arrived over the weekend so he can now travel to go see Oma, Opa, and Christof. Soon he will have his German passport too. Wonder which one will taste better?!


We always enjoy our Sunday bath time fun with Liam. He now attacks the water and wants to eat EVERYTHING in the tub . . . leaving him with quite a bubble beard!

Rocking baby

Liam is working very hard to crawl but he is not quite there yet. He was rocking on all fours for a good bit of time before I got the camera going. Naturally, once I got the camera he was done. Here's little look at his playtime anyway.

Apple juice

Liam has watched me making his baby food before. He decided to help and make his own apple juice. This discovery made him one happy boy. Note: do not let Liam see you with an apple; he thinks they are all his!

Puke and pasta

Sometimes a video comes along that just makes us laugh and laugh. This is one that gets funnier and funnier to us every time we watch it.

I originally made this video because we could not figure out the German word for a 'raspberry' (as in giving someone a 'raspberry', not the fruit). I figured a video would show Mami what it is and then we could figure out what it's called in German. So, I started my little camera as Tobias was holding Liam and Liam began to give him raspberries on his knee (which Liam does ALL the time to Tobias). Then, it was movie magic. Christof pervioulsy requested a picture of Tobias getting sprayed while feeding Liam. Well, it's not a feeding but Liam decides to spit up on Tobias while they are playing. But, the funniest moment for me is what Tobias does AFTER Liam spits up on his leg. It's proof that Tobias is now a seasoned father . . . he goes right back to eatting dinner. To quote Tobias, 'You gotta eat while you can.'

Enjoy!