Our Life In Pictures AKA "I don't have time to write a proper post"

Simon, Linus & Dexter eating breakfast in their jammies. Life is a million times easier now that they can all hold their own bottles. Mind you, the fact that they CAN do it doesn't mean they necessarily WILL do it. Simon is known for throwing his and leaving. He has better things to do than lay around eating. There are flip flops to be chewed on, doncha know.

Simon now has 4 teeth, about to be 6. They're coming in out of order so he looks like a redneck vampire.

Dexter sits up like he's been doing it forever. This week he's even started putting a little pressure on his feet if you stand him up. Notice how his 12-24 month socks don't quite fit his heel? These boys are growing up ridiculously fast.

Linus is making leaps and bounds in his strength and flexibility. He rolls from side to side with no problem. Today he rolled from his belly to his back for the first time ever. Big accomplishments for a guy who was completely immobile 3 weeks ago.

Trina wanted me to see how Linus could pick up his head during tummy time. He thought it was fun at first.

That didn't last long. Tummy time sucks according to Linus.

But he used the anger to motivate himself.

Look at that form! Perfection for approximately .03 seconds. It still counts. :)

All of our boys are snugglers. I really hope they stay that way. Nothin better than getting baby lovins.

Dexter says "Do you mind? We're trying to cuddle"

This was taken right before bedtime. Look at those sleepy boys.

Dexter & Simon snuggling during nap time.

Trina was rocking fussy babies to sleep. Apparently it was a little too effective.

This is my favorite picture of Simon and I. Couldn't you just eat him up?

Two of my favorite people.

Dexter and Simon cheesin in the baby jail.

Everybody still loves Jumperoo time.

A tired Linus getting his tube feed. He's our only pacifier boy. We give them to him during his feeds hoping he'll make a connection between the sucking and his belly getting full.

He loves his Lovie by Swaddle Designs.

My all time favorite bath picture of Simon. That kid is such a ham!

The boys were playing and Dex kept looking over at Linus sitting in his bouncer.

Simon decided to go see what he was up to.

Linus was super excited about having company.

He even let him chew on his coveted chicken toy.

Linus has started eating a little from a spoon. We're trying to encourage him to eat orally so we can eventually wean him from the tube. Unfortunately it usually ends in puke city.

He LOVES cereal. He ate half an ounce before erupting like a volcano. :/

After Linus puked his guts out, I stripped him down and was cleaning him off. He kept trying to take the wet washcloth from me so I got him his own urp-free one to play with. He loved it. Goofy child.

Simon loves his brother SO much. I have a feeling he's going to be a very protective big brother.

Linus finally found his feet. Still can't reach them, but man do they look like fun!

Dex chewin' on his wooden giraffe. I love this kid's face. What a great smile.

Apparently it's "check out your toys in the nude" day at the baby cage. Who knew? I love the concentration they each have. "Hmmm, yep, everything looks like it's in order here. How about you guys?"

Linus is pretty sure he's "Matthew McConaughey sexy." Just look at those abs!

Remembering a Warrior

Sending love to the Bissing family and their many friends on this difficult day.

Family of Five

On May 2 Linus graduated out of the CVICU and downstairs on the cardiac floor. While down there, he started teething and went on a bottle strike. Suddenly he went from eating so fast he vomited, to seeing the bottle and crying and arching his back to get away from it. Luckily he was still progressing with the other aspects of his recovery. Physical therapy was going well & his head and trunk strength was improving. The doctors started weaning him onto a protocol he could come home on. After a few scary bumps and adjustments, he started thriving. On Mother's Day he popped both of his lower front teeth. We hoped teething pain was causing his oral aversion and that he would start eating again. No such luck. The doctors decided that feeding issues would not keep him in the hospital and just focused on his meds. He was almost released on Wed, May 11, but he was sweaty, breathing 100/min, grumpy and agitated. These are symptoms of both withdrawal and unmanaged heart failure so tests had to be done to figure out which it was. "Luckily" it was determined to be withdrawals. They tweaked his meds and he was discharged the next day. After 2 open heart surgeries and 74 days in the hospital, our boy is finally home where he belongs.

Life has been pretty crazy around here. Luckily we were able to transfer Linus from a 3hr schedule to a 4 hour schedule without any major hassle so it meshes better with the big boys. Now he has a 2 hour tube feed every 4 hours instead of an hour and a half feed every 3 hrs. Still doesn't give us a ton of time in between, but it helps. He's down to only 6 meds and 2 of those, Methadone & Ativan, are slowly being weaned. Since he's been home, he's had a pediatrician's appointment and a cardiology follow up. Both went very well. He's 16lbs6oz and 26.25" long. His lungs are clear and his liver is less enlarged. Here's hoping he gets to stay home for a long long time.

Linus is not going to be fun to sleep with when he's older. Look at how this kid spreads out!

This naughty boy is chewing on his PICC line. He's lucky he's so cute.

I nearly had a heart attack when his alarms started going off saying he had a crazy fast and irregular heart rate. When I jumped up I saw he had pulled one of his EKG leads off and put it in his mouth. Brat.

My sweet little oxygen-free cherub.

Less wires and more energy meant it was time to reintroduce the jumper. He had a blast for about 5 minutes. Then he took a loooong nap.

The big boys and I decided it was high time to visit Linus and Mommy at the hospital. Linus was super grumpy and could've cared less that they were there, so they just amused themselves on a pallet.

Linus decided he would much rather wear cute clothes like his brothers instead of this creepy clown hospital gown.

So the next day he got his act together and came home .

Last night after a 2 week feeding strike, Linus not only drank from a bottle, he also held it by himself! We had literally talked the night before and decided he just wasn't going to drink from a bottle ever again and hoped he would take solids when the time was right.

Dex holding his bottle like a big boy.

Simon glaring at me for interrupting his soothing dinner time with stupid camera flashes.

Scenes like this prompted us to figure out a way to contain the babies. Why does he want to break the only 2 teeth he has by chewing metal?

The baby cage was then constructed.

Yay, for containment!

My happy boys. I freaking LOVE these kids!

Seeing them play together warms my heart. There were too many times when I truly believed this would never happen.

Dexter: "Um, I don't wanna chew on this giraffe, lets trade!"

Dexter: "Here, you take this one and you get this one...perfect!"

Simon recently found his toes.

Dexter found his, too.

Linus's tummy-time looks a lot like nap time. Poor kid can't lift his head even one millimeter off the mat. Practice makes perfect, though, so we'll just keep working at it.

See? He's not sleeping, I swear. :)

Linus thinks that baby in the mirror is mighty handsome.

After baby food we're giving the big boys a few sips of water from a little cup. They love it!

I'd say about half of Simon's drools out, but he still has a good time with it.

Dexter is really good at it and smiles so big when he's finished.

Linus got his first taste of avacado today. We can only put a teeny smear in his mouth since he has zero oral coordination. We're just so glad he's taking anything by mouth. I can't tell you what a huge accomplishment that is for him.

I love this kid's smile. He has the sweetest face!

He decided getting onto his knees is kinda fun after all. He's even done some rocking.

Not to be outdone, Simon has started getting on his hands and tip toes.

The other day I put Simon down on his belly and when I went back to him, he was sitting on his butt. We missed it the first few times, but I finally caught him in action.

Look at that proud face.