Welcome Summer!!!

That's right....Welcome Summer! I love it. We have had the best, most relaxing Memorial Day weekend ever. Of course, the best part was getting to spend lots of quality time with our little man. He is now sleeping on his side at night which is something he has just started in the past week. It is too cute. I feed and bathe him and daddy puts him to sleep. He is a pro at getting him to sleep and I actually think Bryce prefers his daddy to put him to bed:) Other cute things Bryce is doing these days is making sounds when he blows bubbles which sounds something like "a-brr"! It is the sweetest thing...and he loves to sit in his Bumbo seat. We have started sitting him at the dinner table with us while we eat and loves it. He is starting to notice the food on our plates more and more. I just tell him that mommy is eating right now, but he can have it later. :) I know some of you will have a duck when I say this but I was eating ice cream last night and I gave him a tiny drop. Ha..he seemed to like it but then again, what baby doesn't like a little sugar. Anyway, today (Bryce's very first memorial day), we put him in his kiddie pool for the first time. I put on his little bathing suit and sun hat and slathered him in sunscreen....then we heading out in our back yard for a little splishing and splashing with Daddy. He loved it. It took him a second to get used to the water but once he did..he seemed to enjoy it. Jon had put some squeaky toys in there as well and he played with them and of course, tried to eat them. After we got done with that, we all took a nap and headed for dinner at Big Momma and Poppa's house! It was a fantastic day. Boo for daddy having to go back to work tomorrow:( Thanks so much for reading...pics to come soon.

By the way, a big thank you to my grandfathers, my dad, and my brother for their service to our country! I love you and I am so proud of all of you!!

Bryce's First Pool

Bryce in his first pool

Enjoying the water

Cookout at Big Momma and Poppa's house

Worn out from his first Memorial Day

First Little Cold

As I mentioned in my last post, Bryce man has his first cold...which seems to be much better tonight..yay! I took him for his 4 month check-up yesterday and he actually had a little fever and an upset stomach while we were there. Go figure, the only upset stomach he has had the whole time so Dr. Crenshaw wanted to do some tests for RSV and rotavirus. Both were negative which was awesome! She said just to watch him and give him tylenol for his fever and this should pass soon. Also, she told me to hold off on the apple juice (and give him Pedialyte instead) that we give him once a day that has his vitamin in it because it may make the upset stomach worse. Let me tell you friends, this baby boy loves his "baby gatorade" as I call it. He sucked down 4 ounces in no time. It sure is hard for a mommy to see her baby sick. It has been equally hard trying to get this little man to sleep. It has taken us about an hour each night to get him settled down because he simply just doesn't feel good and just wants to be held. I am hoping that our efforts not to do that are going to pay off soon. He really hasn't acted like he felt bad besides that but his cough has been pretty nasty at times. Otherwise, we are enjoying kicking off this Memorial Day weekend.

Bryce's stats at 4 months:

Weight: 13 lb. 4 oz.
Height: 24 1/2 inches
Head circumference: 16+ inches
Eats: Breastmilk and has apple juice once a day to take his vitamin with iron

He is growing so fast and is right on track!! Yay! Dr. Crenshaw said his head control and strength are more like a 6 month old! Praise God!! We are so proud of him!


Anyway, our Memorial day weekend has started off great! Jon grilled hot dogs last night and grilled hamburgers tonight. I have had to keep Bryce in but it has been fun getting to spend some quality time with just the 3 of us at home because Jon has had a pretty busy week at work! Earlier this week, Uncle Zack came for a visit. It was nice getting to spend time with him because he works night shift for TVA and sleeps alot during the day. Here is a precious picture from his visit. Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!!

4 months old

Our little man is 4 months old and yes...time is flying! He is the light of our lives. I had to take him in to see Dr. Hamilton yesterday because he had developed a little cough. No fever, no fussiness, and appetite was still good so Dr. Hamilton said its probably just a cold and there isn't really an meds for the common cold at his age. I may have the lovely weather to thank for this one. Temps in the 80's one week and 50's the next. Yep, the good ole Alabama weather!! We recently got his a Baby Einstein jumper and he loves it....for a few minutes..and then he whines to get out. I'm hoping as he is able to sit up better, he will begin to enjoy it more! Thanks for reading...here are a few pics of him in his jumper...one happy..one sad:)

First "official" Road Trip

This past Saturday, Jon and I woke up and decided we wanted to take a little road trip to Huntsville to see great friends. This was Bryce's first "official" road trip because we weren't going to see the doc. He did awesome! He is such an easy-going baby and he is already very social. Our first stop was to see Brian, Kelly, Landry (3 months old), Harper, and Emma. Bryce is already a flirt so he enjoyed meeting all of the girls. He got to play with a really cool toy while there, a bear that sang to him if he kicked the beach ball hard enough....I know, you have no idea what I'm talking about but I will add a picture shortly:) After we got done there, we headed to Bridge Street for a little shopping and dinner at Red Robin. We were wanting to see Patrick and Amy Delay while we were in town so when we finished dinner, we headed out to Toney to see them. Amy is about 9 weeks pregnant and their home was destroyed by the recent tornadoes so they are staying with some friends that live about 5 minutes away from their old home. Amy is going to be the best mommy ever. She didn't leave Bryce's side the whole time we were there. Bryce had a blast smiling and laughing with them. We were also able to see a bit of the damage that had occurred a couple of weeks ago. Completely sobering experience seeing cars strewn across fields, mattresses stacked on the side of the road, rubble piled high containing people's once treasured items, etc. It was the perfect reminder that the best things in life aren't "things". One day we will all leave this world and we won't be able to take any of our worldly possessions with us. God truly just blesses us with these things to use while we are here. Our ultimate gift lies in our relationship with Jesus Christ and we should truly store up our treasures in heaven. I thank God today for these precious friends we were able to visit and the fact that He healed our precious Bryce man so that we could enjoy days like today showing him off:) Thanks for reading...pics coming soon!

My first Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was amazing! I am blessed to be the mommy of the most precious miracle baby, William Bryce Pannell! I got up early and opened my Mother's Day cards before we left for church. Jon got me one from him and one from Bryce. So special:) Bryce is now 15 weeks and learning and doing new things every day. His latest milestone is focusing on things and putting everything in his mouth:) He absolutely loves books and Baby Einstein videos are a big hit with him too! He is also drooling and blowing bubbles alot so he may be getting ready to teethe very soon! He is holding his head up very well. Just an occasional flop back or forward but for the most part, he is doing it independently. We have also been sitting him up in his Bumbo seat! What an amazing blessing from God he is. We just love him so much and we are enjoying all of the new and exciting things that each day brings. Last but not least, he went to Sunday School for the first time on Mother's Day! This was not planned as I just walked him over there to rock him after he got a little rowdy in our class. I stayed with him (unbeknownst to him) and he did great! He loved the teachers singing to him. He sat by Harrison Mann and Italie McCreless. Everyone of them are so precious. I will post some pics soon. Thanks for reading!

UAB Bloopers

Okay, so I can't help myself! I have to throw in some of the funny stories from our time at UAB. The first comical moment (and one I will never forget) came when Jon and I started staying at the Courtyard by Marriott and had to walk about a mile to and from the Regional Neonatal ICU where Bryce was. The "pod" (better known as room) that Bryce was in had a couch that converted into a bed (designed only for one but Jon and I made it fit both of us...yes, go ahead and get a mental picture...hilarious looking back that we both slept twisted like pretzels on that "glorified couch") After a few nights there, we wanted to get some much needed "real" rest so we walked back and forth from the UAB Courtyard by Marriott. I was still very much recuperating from having Bryce so one afternoon I told Jon I needed a wheelchair to make it back to the RNICU from our room. He gladly obliged, found a wheelchair, and off we went to see our precious son. I had been overdoing it walking back and forth so this definitely gave me some much needed rest. We had almost made it all the way back from to the RNICU. As the last elevator doors opened, Jon steered me in but he must have been a little delirious because the next thing I know, I went flying into the elevator wall (not kidding, I think I nearly fell out in the floor, LOL) He claims he was trying to get me positioned so he could step onto the elevator behind me and thought that it was deeper! All of you women who have had babies, just imagine about 72 hours later crashing into a wall and almost planting your face on the floor. No, not cool! But, I was okay and it provided some much needed comic relief for us! Too funny....more stories to come including some of our favorite nurses, sex toys in the CICU (yep, not kidding...you'll die when you hear the story), and Bryce's amazing recovery from open heart surgery. Thanks for reading:) Stay tuned.
The chair I am sitting in here is the chair Jon slept in a few nights because the "glorified couch" was just too uncomforable and we were both trying to get a decent night's sleep!

First Big Hurdle

Okay, so I'm not doing so hot right now keeping this updated but I promise, I will try to do better. Nevertheless, here is the story of Bryce's first big hurdle he overcame at UAB and might I add, he passed it with flying colors. Upon arriving at UAB hospital, doctors quickly ordered prostaglandins to be administered. I will keep this in laymans's terms so it can be easily understood..... Okay, when we are in our mother's womb, we all have a hole in our heart that is essential while we are still getting everything we need from the umbilical cord. At birth, after the umbilical cord is cut, this hole is designed to close off and we begin to breathe on our own, circulation begins, etc. Well, since Bryce had transposition, God allowed this hole to remain open to sustain life for Bryce because things were a little out of sorts. That being said, prostaglandins are designed to keep this hole open until surgery can be done to correct the problem. By the grace of God, Bryce's hole stayed wide open on its own and he was able to be weened off of prostaglandins less than 24 hours after they were started!! We were so thankful and excited because this was a huge deal. Doctors and nurses were amazed because this is not typical for an infant with a heart defect. Symptoms from prostaglandins can be pretty harsh. The most noticeable symptom is the startle reflex. That first night, he would just jump out of his skin for no reason and was pretty restless. Nevertheless, we were very glad that the prostaglandins were gone. His saturation was in the 80's and 90's on room air (e.g. he did not have to have any oxygen at all) the entire two weeks leading up to surgery. Praise God, he is our little miracle baby! More stories to come. Thanks for following our blog:)
(This picture was taken right after I delivered him at ECM Hosptial- administering oxygen - about the time they were realizing something may be wrong)