We are moving!

Yes, it is true. The cat is officially out of the bag. Greg is taking the job of Area Director of the Sandhills Area which is Pinehurst, NC so we are moving there the end of August. We are very excited! We know that it is the right move for us and were God wants us. Our life is crazy, huge decisions and life changes happening daily. We knew the possibility of moving before Wesley was born and all of that stuff happened. We were scared & nervous about having a baby and moving from family and familiarity, but then all of this stuff happened with Wesley. You would think it would make us even more nervous and scared, but it did the opposite. We have seen in an incredible way that through any hardships and crazy circumstances God shows up. We knew this but we were reminded of it in a whole new way. God took care of us, met us were we where, and provided for us in such an incredible way we could only jump on board in what he was doing in our lives and trust that he will continue to meet us and take care of us no matter the circumstances. We thought if we can do the NICU for 3 and a half months we can move! We put or house on the market and it sold in 2 weeks, and we have already bought a house down there. We are set to move the end of August. So that is why in addition to Wesley our lives are so crazy.

Wesley is 40 weeks!

Wesley in his bouncy chair

Wesley on the porch swing

Wesley on the floor playing with mom

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have a lot less time to blog now that I am home. I want to keep this updated because I am so encouraged by all the people that come and check in on him. Wesley is now 40 weeks old, he is finally a newborn! His due date was July16th. I thought that it was going to be a magical day, we had waited for this day for 9 months, but it

was like any other day. We have so enjoyed being home with our little boy and are starting to relax and not be stressed. We have had nurses coming to the house to check on him, and he now ways 9 pounds! His trips to the Pedatrician was great and he also got a great report from the eye doctor which we were excited about. He wakes up every three hours to eat, almost on the dot. He has peed on us in the car, bath tub, and changing table so far since we have been home. It has been an awesome tiring week!

Wesley is Home!

Thanks Becca, Amanda, & Kelsey! We loved the sign.

He is in there, I promise.

Wesley trying out his new swing

We couldn't be more excited to be home with our little boy. We were so nervous leaving the hospital, but as we headed down the road and I saw that he was ok, my nerves started to calm down. Sorry that I have not posted anything yet. We are working on getting adjusted to life at home with him. Wesley left the NICU weighing in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long. We had a nurse come by our house today and weigh him and he weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces. It was hard to say goodbye to all of the many people we walked alongside of for the past 3 months, but we will be back to visit them. Wesley is doing great. Sleeping through the days and wanting to play at night. We are loving sleepy parenthood and can't believe he is with us and that he is ours. God is so good!

We are heading home!!!

Wesley in his carseat for his carseat test

which he passed, I think


Wesley has gone wireless no feeding tube or oxygen

We have so enjoyed our time in Asheville. We have loved hanging out with old friends. Here is our good friend Betsy holding Wesley!

We are in total shock, so excited, and terrified all at the same time. I posted two days ago not knowing when in the world it would be. You guys must have been praying with us. We spoke with our nurse on Sunday and she was telling us that we most likely would be going home on oxygen in a couple of weeks. Well on Monday we had a new nurse and she said lets take his nasal cannula off and just see how he does. We were apprehensive and scared, but went along with it. We took of his oxygen and he did great! He has been breathing with no help for 24 hours! He also went to ad-lib feedings yesterday which means he can eat as much as he wants whenever he wants within guidelines. He did great on this yesterday and so they took his feeding tube out this morning. The doctor came in this morning and said do you want to go home today??? WHATTT! so we are on the calendar if everything goes well to go home on Thursday or Friday. Tomorrow Wesley will get circumcised so we hope that goes well and that he will tolerate it. We can't believe this day has come. We are so excited but in total shock. Wesley had a car seat test today were he had to sit in his car seat for and hour and keep his oxygen saturation up. He did good! We are having mixed feelings about leaving. This is all that we know about raising a baby. God has taught us so much and met us in such special ways in the walls of this hospital that it is a little hard to leave. We have made such special friendships with our nurses and doctors. So jump up and down because we are. We are also excited to finally have an answer to the question everybody asks, when are you going home? Thanks for all your care and prayers please don't stop now!

Happy 4th of July from our Little Firecracker

Our Little Firecracker!

The fam on the 4th

Wesley sleeping with Pappy (Greg's Dad)

Just had a bath and snuggled in to sleep

The proud grandparents Nana and Pappy! Thanks for coming to see us.

We enjoyed the fourth of July with our little guy. Ben and Meredith McDaniel and their super cute little boy Grady came and visited us and brought Wesley this very cute 4th of July shirt that says "Little Firecracker". That he is! Thanks guys for the visit and the cute shirt! Greg's parents came to visit also this weekend and we had a great time hanging out with them. Wesley is doing great doing what he does best- eating, sleeping, pooping, and being cute. He weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce today. They have been fortifying his milk to add calories for a long time now and they took it away this week because he is gaining weight and they don't want him to get too chunky. He continues to be weaned down on his respiratory support and is handling it great. We are praying to get rid of it soon so he will not have to go home on it. Please join us in praying with us for this. We are anxiously awaiting going home but still do not know when it will be.

38 weeks - 88 days old - 12 weeks old- or 3 months old

Wesley sound asleep in his crib. Thanks Brooke and Wendy for the blanket
still asleep

Wesley chiiling in the swing. We came back to our room today and Wesley was in a swing!

Greg and Wesley snoozing together

Our friends Joylynn and Thor came to visit us on their Southeast Road trip

Greg's Mom and her friend Betty made a day trip to Asheville to visit

sucking on the passie

laying in the crib at 20 inches long

Wesley chilling in his crib

sleeping with arm in front of his face. I think he was trying to hide

Hanging out with PawPaw

Picture with Mimi and Pawpaw

Mommy loves to hold me

Which birthday do you want for Wesley? This Sunday he will be 3 months old. Today he has reached 38 weeks gestationally. We are excited that July 16th is only 2 weeks away. We have been waiting for this date for a long time. Sometimes it felt like it was coming fast and other times it seemed like time stood still. We are still in transition and loving spending more time with our little guy. Wesley is doing great. Getting bigger everyday. Today he weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces. He is continuing to eat more on his own without using the tube and we are hoping to loose the tube sometime soon. We received the results from the MRI yesterday and they were good. The were looking for damage to the white matter of his brain. This is something that is often effected in preemies and would effect their motor skills. The MRI showed that his is good! What a blessing. The rest of the report was kind of scary to read, but was all the stuff that we already knew, just written on paper. When Wesley had the bleed in his brain during the first few days of life there are chunks of his brain that are gone or dead that he will not be able to use. The amazing thing is that his brain is like plastic right now and he does not know how to do anything yet, so his brain should compensate and just use different parts that are healthy. Like I said earlier in the blog, we will not know any effects of the bleed until later when he is suppose to reach specific milestones. He could have no effects and that is what we are praying for. This is just one more thing we are going to have to trust God for and with. We are enjoying everyday with our little boy and can't wait for the day to bring him home.