Happy Anniversary to Us!!

It's been five years that we've been married. I can't even believe it. Last night we had a fancy dinner with salad, rolls, artichokes, lamb chops, and a delicious homemade chocolate cake for dessert to celebrate. I set the table with our nice china and worked all afternoon while the boys were sleeping. Graham and I even dressed up for the occasion. (We probably would have gone out to celebrate, but Graham was sick and couldn't really go over to a friend's house.). Instead we ate at home with our two wonderful boys. And while the whining became a little much at one point during dinner....this is our life right now, and we wouldn't change it. We celebrate our five years of marriage, and we celebrate our family. It was a wonderful anniversary....Eric, I love you. Thank you for five wonderful years.

What has our family of FOUR been up to??

Today was Rowan's due date. He's already been in our lives for almost five weeks now and it's hard to remember life without him. We're so blessed. He lost a little bit of weight the week after he came home from the hospital, but is now gaining again. He also had some blood in his stool, which we think could be a dairy issue. He's been fine since we changed the formula we are fortifying my milk with, as well as cutting out dairy in my diet. His heart is stable and he's still on medication to help him not get so tired when he eats. If he continues to do well, the surgery will not be until he's 4-6 months old. We have had a lot of help from family and meals from friends. Having two boys is very busy....I don't get a whole lot done during my days beyond taking care of their basic needs. I will say, though, that today I packed them both up and headed to the duck park. Graham was in desperate need of this. He played on the splash pad while Rowan and I hung out in the shade. It was a lot of fun, and I was proud of myself for going on this adventure. We're doing well and so enjoying Rowan and Graham. I love being a mother of two boys. We are so blessed.

Here are TONS of pictures for you to enjoy. Some from Easter, Eric with Graham building a tool box, Rowan's first bath, family pictures, Rowan's fuzzy "bird hair" after his bath, Graham next to his puzzle that he just finished (he is SO into puzzles right now!!), brothers together (one of Graham reading Rowan a book....SO SWEET!), etc.

Rowan's Homecoming!

Rowan was able to come home from the hospital yesterday. We found out on Sunday that they wanted us to "nest in" Sunday night to see if he would continue to do well with feeding throughout the night and day. He did pretty well....and the doctor's felt he was ok to come home, so we got to take our little bundle home yesterday afternoon. He's doing well so far, and his brother, Graham, just adores him. We are so thankful for his homecoming. We feel like our family is complete, now that we are all together. Thank you so much for praying that he would progress quickly. We know it is because of your prayers to our heavenly Father that Rowan is doing so well. We thank God for you and for your concern for our family. We feel so loved!

It is a rare occurrence to see Rowan's eyes open, but when they do....he is so sweet.

Rowan is getting a kiss from Doggie. Very special.

This is Graham pressing his cheek against Rowan's. He is so sweet with him.

A very proud Mama and Daddy....

Rowan is home and now "cord free"!!

Our Little Rowan and Our Big Boy, Graham

So we are home from the hospital now. We have one boy at home and one still in the hospital. Graham is happy to have Mama home again, and Rowan is getting better and better. Rowan is doing better with nipple feeding, which is his last big hurdle to jump before coming home to us. We have tried breast feeding a couple times, but he's just not strong enough. So, we are just working on the bottle in hopes he will be able to come home soon. Hopefully next week. We are praying that he will continue to do better and better with this and not regress. He just gets so tired and then has to have his "feed" through his feeding tube in his nose. About every other time, he takes the whole bottle. He is off the lights for now for his jaundice.....you'll see a cute pic of him getting his "tan". Another praise is that he does not need an IV anymore. Every day we go, he is doing better and better. We know these are answers to prayer and that God is causing him to become stronger and stronger even more quickly than we expected. It is hard to have him away from us....I miss him when we leave, but it helps that every time we go, he looks stronger. We are looking forward to his homecoming, just like we looked forward to his birth day. All in all, he is doing exceptionally well for him being premature and for a baby with Down syndrome (we received the news on Saturday that the chromosome test results came back positive for Trisomy 21). He's our little Rowan....we don't see him as Rowan with Down syndrome, but rather just little Rowan. I don't think I quite understood what that would mean until we had him. Now that we can hold him and see him and touch him.....it's so fun to have a baby again. The fact that he has DS hasn't even really been in the forefront of these past days. It's so all about one day at a time. To us, he's our little Rowan....not a future burden, but a true joy in our lives. Graham is blessed to have Rowan and Rowan is blessed to have Graham. We just adore our two sons! We wouldn't trade our "Grammy" or "Ro-Dawg" for anyone else.

Rowan James Braun

Welcome to the world son!

Born 3/25/2009 at 4:56PM

4lb 12oz 18.5inches

fuzzy brown hair and a squeaky little cry

The surgery went well, Rowan was out in about 2 minutes. Natalie is doing very well in my opinion, she is walking about 40 yards to the nursery already and is "enjoying" her buffet of clear liquids-broth, tea, jello, popsicles and water. She'll get to eat food soon.

Rowan's heart is doing well. The echocardiogram done this morning validated the earlier concerns of the heart defect, but it also shows that his valves are working well and leaking only a small amount and the aortic arch is fine- no kinks or obstructions! Amazingly this baby is not in need of a ventilator and has been held by half a dozen family members already. His IV is of concern, as it was in his hand but needed to be redone after only half a day. They tried in his foot, head and one other place but were not able to place it, so they are going to try to use the umbilical chord. Please pray for this procedure, they do it all the time but there are possible problems that can come from it.

Graham was able to come visit today and actually did get to see his brother! Rowan was off all his tethers at the moment because they were about to go to work on the new IV so they brought him to the window and Graham got to see him! Then the nurse snuck him out of the nursery into the hallway for them to meet! Graham can already say Rowan's name!

Rowan is not yet breastfeeding but Natalie is pumping and I got to feed it to him today (or try). He was really sleepy and I did the tricks I know to wake a baby but the nurse was more successful and he ate 5ml of milk! this is very important because the sooner he learns to eat the sooner he can come home. He was 5 weeks early and babies with Down's tend to have trouble feeding anyhow, so we are encouraged at his first small success.

Natlie is going to be in the hospital until at least Saturday, maybe Sunday. I'm home tonite to sleep and will be back in the AM. If anyone wants to visit, all are welcome.

Praise God for a successful delivery and a pretty healthy little boy!

My sister and brother-in-law stopped in on Sunday afternoon on their way back to California for a little visit with us. It was fun to see all of them. (I didn't get pictures of my sister and her husband, though!!) Graham and his cousin, Caitlyn, LOVE playing together. It is so fun to see them giggle and play so well together. Here are some pics.

Caitlyn and Graham playing "hide-and-go-seek".

Enjoying a brownie snack. YUM!!

Hanging out with Aunt Natalie. :)

Getting Ready for Baby

My mom came last week to be with Graham and I and also help me get the room ready for the baby. She washed lots and lots of clothes and blankets and put them all away in the drawers. It was so fun to get them all out again. I am looking forward to putting them on our new little boy! Eric and I got to go on a date to the Keg for my b-day dinner while she watched Graham. It was so nice to go out just the two of us! Thank you, Mama. She also spent some quality time with Graham. He likes his Nana....they had lots of fun together!