Home at last!

John Curtis, Jr. got to come home on Thursday! Even though he did not get to eat the three days he was on oxygen, he has already surpassed his birth weight! As of today, he was 9 lb 13 oz!! Here are a few sweet photos from the last few days.

Cousins!


Grandma and John


Contentment


Brody and Alexa!

A Few more photos

John Curtis had a great day today! He took 2 oz from his bottle and has done great without the oxygen. They have even let Misty hold him several times today. She is hoping tomorrow they will let him try nursing! Here's a few recent photos!

Quick Answers!

Many of you received an email earlier this evening just asking to remember Misty and John Curtis, Jr. in your prayers! Well, those prayers have been very quickly answered!! John Curtis is completely off of oxygen now and doing very well keeping his levels where they need to be all on his own! He also drank from a bottle tonight, I think they said about an ounce, and did not have any breathing issues while drinking!

Also, John (Sr) found out from his command that he will be able to come home for the weekend! Pray that he will be released earlier than expected on Friday so he can catch a stand-by flight (his current itinerary puts him into Charleston around 11:30pm). Also, continue to pray for Misty's recovery - she will be discharged tomorrow but will be traveling back and forth from her house to the hospital until John Curtis gets to come home too. Hopefully by this weekend I'll have more photos to post of my nephew!

More photos...

Here's a few more photos of John Curtis, Jr. from yesterday. We went back by the hospital this morning before heading home, but did not take any more photos as he is staying in the nursery right now. Last night, when the nurses took him to give him his bath, etc., they weren't happy with his breathing so they hooked him up to a nasal cannula to give him a little more oxygen.

John and Misty spent much of the night in the nursery with him, since John (Sr.) flew back to Virginia this morning for his Marine training. The doctors all say John (Jr) is doing very well today! They think he probably inhaled fluid during the long delivery and that is why his oxygen level was low, but he will remain in the nursery for a few days until they feel he is breathing well on his own. Misty got to hold him for quite a while today while they changed his bedding.



Please remember to keep them in your prayers as it does not seem like John will be able to go home with Misty when she is discharged. He is such a cute little boy! (all 9 pounds of him!!) He has the longest feet and I cannot wait until we can take a picture of them to show you! He seems to really enjoy not being so 'cramped' and stretches his arms and legs out in his bed! We plan to go back down to visit sometime toward the end of this week and hope to be able to take more photos then!

Also, here's a few photos of my kiddos from our weekend in Charleston!

Newest Family Member!!

First, let me apololgize for the brevity of this email - it is about 11:00 pm and the bed is looking very inviting. At 7:24 this evening, (36 hours after Misty checked in to the hospital) John Curtis Brimm, Jr. was born! He weighs 9lbs 8 oz (yes, I did type that right!!) and has a head full of dark hair! More details and photos will follow tomorrow evening...thanks for the prayers!

Coincidence or Conspiracy?

I've always known that siblings frequently have methods of communicating with each other beyond mere conversation. This secret sibling language works well when conspiring against unsuspecting parents in order to achieve a common goal. What I did not realize is that this may very well be an inborn ability. Case in point...

Earlier this week, we had numerous errands to run. Brody had spent much of the day in his car seat and had reached his breaking point. We again loaded into the car to pick Alexa up from preschool and head to the store to buy dog food. The message of his cry was clear - "I am sick of being confined. I want to be free and kick my legs! Enough is enough!" After about 15 minutes of Brody expressing his extreme displeasure, Alexa suddenly announced, "Brody's got a dirty diaper!" Imagining (fearfully) that, if Alexa could tell he was dirty, I was about to have a reenactment of our plane incident. So, I quickly pulled into the first available business (which happened to be Sonic). After parking the car in an open slot, I laid Brody down in the driver's seat to change him. Upon removal from his carseat, he immediately began to grin and kick. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Brody actually was not dirty. As I begin to change his diaper anyway, Alexa nonchalantly announces, "I'd like a cheeseburger please." It was at this moment, while my baby is happily enjoying his temporary freedom and my three-year old is placing a lunch order that I wondered if I had just become the victim of their first well-laid plan. Coincidence or conspiracy? You decide...

A few photos

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I am not the photographer of the family. Unfortunately, I look at the little image and think I've taken a good photo, then I look at it on my computer screen and realize it's not so great...due to my apparent lack of understanding as to how to use a point and click digital camera, I only have two photos to post.




However, I will be taking many more photos this week as Misty is scheduled to be induced this Friday and we hope to meet baby John by Saturday!! :)




Anyway, regarding updates for this week - my parents and grandparents arrived at our house on Friday afternoon, much to Alexa's delight! Billy and I had a date night Friday night since we had visiting baby sitters, and Saturday we went to Charleston to visit John and Misty. Sunday, Billy left for Ft. McCoy, WI and will be there two weeks. I told him that while I prefer him being home, if he had to be gone, at least it's when I have a distraction!! My parents and grandparents went down to Charleston today and will stay there through this week - little did they know when they planned this vacation that baby John would be making his arrival while they were in town! As mentioned in the post below, my sister-in-law will be induced on Friday!!

Sleep around our house has actually improved GREATLY over the past few weeks! Brody finally started sleeping about 7 consecutive hours, and then completely shocked me last night by sleeping TWELVE hours! I woke up twice to check on him! I couldn't believe it! I think he must be hitting a growth spurt - Alexa used to sleep for longer periods of time during growth spurts. Tonight I hope he does the same so I can take advantage of the uninterrupted sleep! That's all for now - I can't wait until my next post when I can include photos of my nephew!!

Aw Man!

Alexa started preschool at our church on September 11th, and she started Awana Club (also at church) on the 6th. Apparently in both programs, before snack time, they have the children sing this simple prayer (to the tune of "Brother John/Frere Jacques"):

"God our Father, God our Father
We thank you! We thank you!
For our many blessings, for our many blessings
Amen. Amen."

I have to admit though, it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud the first time Alexa sang the prayer for me at meal time at our house...she did great through the whole thing, then got to the last line and very clearly sang, "Aw Man! Aw Man!" (in all our other prayers, we say A-men instead of Ah-men)

Oh, and regarding the baby tally...Ross and Mandy gave birth to a beautiful little girl on the 14th! (2 girls, 8 boys) Also, my friend John found out he and his wife are expecting a girl! (3 girls, 8 boys) However, my friend Leah reminded me that both she and her sister are expecting baby boys, as is my cousin, Deana, so that final count is now 3 girls, 11 boys...

Speaking of babies, Misty (my brother's wife) had her check-up on Wednesday (the 13th) and the baby now weighs 9 pounds! She is scheduled to be induced on Friday, September 22nd...please pray for a safe and healthy delivery for both the mother and the baby! By the end of next week, I hope to have photos posted of my nephew! :)

Male Domination

Our friends Pat and Alexa started the trend with the birth of their twin sons in May. Brody arrived soon after. Sarah and Travis managed to buck the trend with the birth of their daughter about a month ago. My college roomie, Emily, decided to take Labor Day literally and began having contractions that evening, with her son arriving on the 5th. Robin, another college roomie, learned last month that her baby, due in January, is also a boy. My brother and his wife are expecting their son to arrive sometime within the month (preferably sooner than later as he's already almost 8 pounds). While in Utah, we learned that our cousin Jerry and his wife Kira are expecting a baby boy any day now. Ross and Mandy are also expecting a baby this month, and it will be fun to find out if they too buck the trend or follow the crowd!

So here's the total tally: 9 babies - 1 girl, 8 boys, and 1 still a mystery...

But really, you didn't visit this blog to read about my random observations, so below you'll find what you're looking for--recent photos of the kiddos!

Here's a few from before our trip to Utah - Sibling kisses, Alexa with her toys, and Brody proving her doll bed is indeed a bit too small for him! (I know, I'm a mean mommy for taking a photo, but you have to admit, that's a cute smile!!)




Brody's hair in certain lighting appears to have quite a bit of red in it and this photo certainly shows that (hmmm...maybe all those years of hair dye DID affect my babies--Alexa was born with highlights and Brody's hair is red?)



Speaking of hair, I have desperately needed a haircut for MONTHS, so rather than trying to find a new hairdresser in Columbia (which I will inevitably have to do) I called my hairdresser in Utah and Mandy was sweet enough to fit both me and Alexa in during our visit! Here's a few photos of Alexa's first visit to a salon!



Alexa was spoiled rotten by her Komo (Aunt Linda), Komobu (Uncle Chad) and Halmoni (Grandma Sun Tok) during our visit. She also got to play with her friend Henry while in town. Here's a photo of the whole family, Komobu getting his workout while the kids 'dunk' the basketball, and Henry and Alexa in Halmoni's backyard.



We flew back to Columbia on Monday (and by the way, flying with TWO adults and two kids is much easier than taking two kids solo...PS - Brody was kind enough NOT to have a blowout while his father was with us; he misses all the fun!)

Lastly, here's a few photos taken today of my blue-eyed boy and my brown-eyed girl!