Ian's Baptism

Ian received the sacrament of baptism this past Sunday surrounded by his family.  We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate Ian's baptism in the same church that Joe and I were married.  Uncle Andrew is Ian's godfather and Aunt Caroline is Ian's godmother.  They are both excited to play an extra special role in Ian's life.  If you're wondering about Ian's baptismal gown, it is the same gown that Caroline and I wore when we were baptized. 

Ian continues to practice smiling and is getting better at it every day.  He's also practiced a few frowns here and there this past week and it broke my heart. I'm not sure what he was sad about or if he was just working those muscles but either way I'm going to have to start practicing not to cave when he frowns.  He has a follow-up appointment with the radiologist and orthopedist on Monday to see how the harness is working - hopefully they have good news for us.  We'll make sure to post what we find out on Monday.  For now, click here to see more pictures of Ian's baptism.

Ian's Week

Ian was busy this week practicing his smiles.  He was even practicing his smiles in the doctors office before receiving his first set of immunizations.  After his immunizations he didn't smile too much, instead he screamed bloody murder for a minute or two but then forgave Mom and Dad.  He's been sleeping most of the afternoon except to wake up and scream his little head off until he can eat and go right back to sleep :-)  He's working on growing big and strong.  Today at his appointment he weighed 10 lbs 10 oz.  All of his measurements are within the 50th percentile (yea Average!) 

Practicing his smiles.

Working hard on growing big.

We're already sharing our Valentine's love in the Verbeke residence.

Smiles and Coos

We had an exciting day today.  Ian started out today smiling at the funny sounds mom was making.  Ian has been smiling occasionally for the last couple of weeks but it has been difficult to tell if it wasn't just caused by gas but this morning was different.  He smiled several times in a row after I made some funny sounds.  It is hard to catch a smile on a slow camera phone but you get the idea. I'll try to get better pictures with the actual camera soon.

Then if the mornings activities weren't enough this evening Ian had some of his clearest coos yet.  Again he's had occasional coos when after you heard them we asked ourselves if it was a coo or not. Tonight was different he made some sounds and we imitated his sounds and then he continued the "conversation".  Joe and I are both looking forward to this happening on a more regular basis. We're officially "those" parents. :-) 

Learning Lessons

Ian is learning one of his first lessons (even if he doesn't know it yet).  He's learning how to take a "bad" situation and turn it into a positive.  Since he has to wear his harness which doesn't allow him to wear any pants he gets to enjoy wearing babylegs "leggings".  He is super stylish!

In this picture his leggings kind of class with the blanket he is sitting on but he's still super cute.

Pediatric Orthopedist Appointment

Well I guess it is official, Ian has hip dysplasia in his left hip.  We had another ultrasound done and his left hip hadn't improved any so we made the decision to start treatment with Pavlik Harness.  Ian has to wear the harness 24 hours a day for at least 4 weeks but it will likely be 6 weeks of 24 hrs a day and 4 additional weeks wearing it just at night.  The purpose of the harness is to hold the hip in the reduced position to allow the head of the femur (the ball) to mod the acetabulum (the cup). Right now Ian's left cup is shallow and so the ball doesn't stay seated in the cup.  As the ball molds the cup, it deepens the cup, resulting in a stable hip.  In the few hours Ian has been wearing the harness he is able to sleep and isn't bother enough by the harness to not be able to sleep but it does seem like he cries a little more when he is awake and there is a different tone to the cry.  We can also see that he's trying to stretch his legs out (you might remember I listed stretching as one of his favorite things to do right now) and that seems to bother him that his movements are restricted.  Of course Joe and I know he'll never remember any of this and it is harder on us than it is on him.  Joe and I have mixed feelings - some sadness because we don't want Ian to be uncomfortable or anything to hurt him, a little overwhelmed because with Joe's school we were already feeling stressed and now this is something else to overcome.   We know that we're doing the right thing and since we started treatment early it significantly increases his chances that there won't be any last impacts.  So for now we'll take deep breaths and ask God for extra patience at least for the next 4 weeks until our next appointment.  

It is a little hard to tell what is diaper and what is harness in Ian's picture and I didn't want to take off his clothes but you can see better what the harness looks like in the picture below.  

Ian's Busy Day

Ian had a very busy day today, actually everyone had a busy day today.  Ian and Joe headed out early this morning to Lapeer for Ian's grand introduction to the entire Verbeke side of the family.  This was Ian's first car trip over an hour long.  Dad only had to stop a couple of times for diaper changes along the way and they made it to Lapeer and back without any big issues.  If you are wondering why Mom wasn't with Dad and Ian in Lapeer it is because she was at a MSU basketball game with Ian's Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Andrew in celebration of Grandma's birthday.  Since it was Grandma's birthday, Ian had to see her and wish her Happy Birthday so on the way back into town Ian stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Grandma's birthday party.  While at her party Ian had a great time hanging out with Grandpa and Cousin Owen.  

Here are all the pictures from today's adventures.