Tickle-Time...

It's hard to get the full effect when he notices the camera, but here's a little sample of tickle-time.

Just A Few Pics Since The Homecoming...

Welcome Home Jackman

Ma and the boy

Max... meet your cuz

Diggin' bath time

Not diggin' the haircut (brings back memories)

Great Grandma - Lisa's Grandma

la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...La...LAAAAAAA

Jackman and my Grandmaw

6:30am

Tough day being a baby

Favorite song: Barbara Manatee as sung by Larry the Cucumber

Now you can REALLY see the resemblance

Had a CJ-5 with 4 wheel drive and a Smokey on my tail...

6:30am, different day. Now that's severe bed-head

Cat nap

hmmm. Have I put that in my mouth yet? Have I even tried?

Long Time, No Post...

Well, obviously we must be taking care of a baby or something, because I have been informed by several people that I am "slacking" when it comes to posting new stuff on Jackman. It turns out he's a handful, and keeps us hoppin' like Flo at the Yellow Rose (remember the waitress that used to say "kiss my grits").

Lisa is back at work now, and I'm finishing up my second week of taking care of the boy on my own. I have a new found respect for the "little homemaker" or "housewife" and every other un-glorious name for the job. I didn't realize it would test the limits of my sanity. Hat's off to all you stay-at-homers.

I knew I could handle the lifting, and the heat, and the hours..... that's the kind of things guys consider before they go into a job. I don't think we normally consider the going nuts part of it. This is way different than anything I have ever done before. We are talking totally uncharted territory here.

But seriously, Jackman has really took it easy on his old man so far. Taking care of him is really the easy part... trying to figure out how to keep the house together is what is driving me nuts. It's like I told Lisa, "I won't drop the ball when it comes to the boy, but I'm a little worried about keeping up with the rest". It's coming together though, and I'm starting to get the hang of it.

It's only been two weeks. We're still working on trying to get a routine down. Part of that is Jackman's training. We're still working on eating. That's slow going, but it's getting messier, so that's a plus. We've sped up his feeds from 60 minutes to 38 minutes and he's doing just fine (each time we feed him through the tube, he is fed slowly so he can tolerate it. Speeding up his feeds is a good thing if he is handling it well).

Jackman went last week for a dilation (stretch-y-otomy). That's where he going into the OR and basically gets like an endoscopy, but they use a little balloon to stretch the little area of his esophagus that was sown together. It tends to tighten up, so we have to go back to Children's every three weeks for a while to have that done.

All in all, Jackman is healthy as a horse. We're all very fortunate. It may take us a little while to get the whole baby program figured out. A lot of people forget - for me and Lisa its like we've only had a baby for a month... because we've only HAD him a month. It shouldn't be too long before we get mobile.

Keep your eyes open. Whenever we get a few minutes I'll upload some new home-life pictures so you can see the Jackman in his natural habitat.

6 Months Old!!!

Guess who's six months old today? I you guessed Jackman, you are correct. I know it's a little obvious, but that's okay.

Anyway, we have been at home for over a week now. It's been quite an experience. You may have noticed quite a drop off in the frequency of blog post, and i assure you it is directly proportional to the redness of my eyes. Needless to say we have gotten very little sleep since we got home. Turns out Jackman is used to getting a lot of attention.

Things have gone pretty good, but the past few days are a blur. Me and Lisa both got sick... probably from being exhausted. I think that makes taking care of the boy a little tougher, but we're figuring things out. We keep asking each other questions like: "Is he supposed to sleep this much? Is he supposed to sound like that? Is that diaper going to hold? How do we clean this up? What do we do now?"

We've already had a few crazy moments. You know a diaper change has gone south when someone starts yelling for towels and plastic bags. Yesterday I trimmed his mullet. No joke... his hair was laying on his back. I just trimmed up the back and a little on the sides - just a clean up job. His hair is still in his eyes. I'm still not confident enough to do the whole thing yet.

Well, keep your eyes peeled, you never know when you may see Jackman out on the town. He's getting restless at home, so we are going to start venturing out little by little. We've got one more week of easy time until Lisa goes back to work, and then who knows what's going to happen. It'll be just me and the boy then. I don't know how the two of us will manage without mama around all day long, but we'll take it moment by moment.

We are all enjoying ourselves (don't be fooled by the screaming coming from inside our house). It really is good to all be home together. We all miss the nurses because we had gotten so close to them, but everyone is glad we're home. I think we are all starting to get used to the idea of living together, and finding it pretty agreeable.

Hopefully, in the near future, we'll get a chance to put up some new pictures and videos, and maybe even update Jackman's status. The last major thing to overcome is getting him to take feeds by mouth instead of through the g-tube. That's going to take a while seeing how you could put everything he's ever ate by mouth in his life to date in a single table spoon. The boy is doing good though... I'm proud of him.

Stay tuned...

First Week Home Highlight

Well, all three of us have been home for one week now. Each one of us have had to make some adjustments; Jackman to only having Greg and I instead of the his entourage of wonderful nurses, and Greg and I have been trying to function with little sleep, and adjusting to our high-maintenance little man. From what I've been told all babies are demanding, and ours is no exception. With all the exhaustion of the fit-pitchin' (which my parents would say comes from me, and Greg's from him) there are always those moments that make you forget about how crazy things had been earlier in the day. This is one of those moments that we caught last night. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do. By the way, Jackman did roll completely over today! Lisa

No Place Like Home...

AFTER 174 DAYS...

AFTER 5 MONTHS AND THREE WEEKS...

ALMOST HALFWAY THROUGH HIS FIRST YEAR...

JACKMAN DALE HARPER IS FINALLY HOME!

God has always given us just the right amount of grace and peace to get through Jackman's hospitalization, and everything else during that time. We never lacked for anything. There was always a bright side. There was always a few extra bucks in a card when we came up short. There was always a meal right when we needed it. There was always encouragement... right in the nick of time. There were always nurses and doctors who treated our son like their own flesh and blood. Whatever was needed, He provided..... correction..... He provides.

God never left us hanging, not even once. He has amazed me on almost a daily basis. Today is a new beginning, but the same God, the One True God, will be the One taking care of me and my family every step of the way.

Thank You God

Quick Update...

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. Tonight will be our fifth night roomed in at Children's. Needless to say me and Lisa are ready to get back home. Jackman is just fine; he's an old pro at living in the hospital. As should be expected, we are exhausted. We've got a touch of cabin fever (Lisa hasn't seen the sun since last Thursday). It's just time for the three of us to be together at home.

It ain't over when we get home... it's just the beginning, again. We've learned it's going to take a lot of work to take care of the boy, but when you see him grin at you, it all makes sense.

Must get sleep. I'll try to catch up when I get caught up. Thanks for the prayers and support.