A Picture Heavy Month

Michael is one month old. It's weird to think that we've had a baby for so long and yet so short a time. Our boy is constantly eating and we think (from a bathroom scale) that he's about 11 lbs. I estimate he has already gone through at least 350 diapers. Considering he's only 34 days old, that's approximately 10 diapers a day. He's lucky he's cute and we can't live without him.

For Memorial Day, we took a 4 day weekend to visit my family in Colorado. It was a long drive but the trip out there was pretty uneventful. Michael was an amazingly good boy and slept for most of it. He would wake up every hour and a half or so to be fed and changed but would pass right back out again on the on-ramp to the freeway.

We did stop at a windy scenic area to stretch our legs and give Mike a break:

We also stopped by the children's hospital in Denver to visit my dad and Ki. Michael finally met his Grandpa Veronin:

And my dad had a lot of fun holding his first grandson:

Ki was awake and interested in Michael. First impressions:

He said "baby" a lot and consented to having his picture taken with his nephew (P.S.-Ki's pathology came back clean! They got all the cancer!):

Michael making the rounds in the family with Grandma Veronin:

his Great Grandma Durney:

Aunt Mary:

Aunt Joe:

And Aunt Katie:

They even took an adorable nap together:

We also got to see how much Tess-a-Bess has grown!:

On the way home, we stopped at Goblin Valley. It was overcast and a perfect day to hike around for an hour with our little boy. Jeff carried him in our baby carrier:

We climbed around a bit:

And Michael slept, very content against his daddy:


We let Michael ride in the car in just his onesie and he seemed very pleased:

For a bit:

He reached his limit for the car seat about an hour before we got home. Music saved us that last hour, but everyone was exhausted and very cranky by the time we got home. I don't think we'll be taking another road trip anytime soon.

Here are some recent pictures of Michael that I love:

Fluffy hair after a bath:

His first fist bump:

Cuddling with daddy on the couch:

So dang cute!:

We love our little boy and we're so glad we were able to travel with him to see my family! Thank you Mom and Dad for letting us take your blue swing. Michael really loves it:

Happy Day!

Ki's surgery yesterday went exceptionally well. The surgeons were able to remove the tumor without Ki needing a new liver. They did have to remove 75% of his liver, but it should be able to regenerate and grow back to its normal size in about 6 weeks, which is pretty amazing to me.

Ki spent the night in the ICU, but my dad thinks he should be able to move into a normal recovery room today. He was breathing on his own and his vitals were excellent last night.

It looks like all the cancer has been removed but we have to wait for the pathology report in a few days. Hopefully it will confirm a cancer-free Ki. If all goes well, he should be released from the hospital in about a week.

Dimples and Chins

Finally, here is a picture of one of Michael's elusive, adorable dimples. It takes some time to get him to grimace to show them off since he doesn't really smile yet. You're welcome:

I know we've already mentioned that the boy is bulking up, but he didn't have three chins back then. He'll be four weeks old on Thursday and we half expect him to add yet another chin in celebration:


Our little boy had his first real bath (not just a sponge bath) and was pretty unhappy that mommy kept taking pictures instead of drying him off and getting warm clothes:


Supervised tummy-time turned into an adorable nap:

Forgive the dark picture, but I get this wide-eyed, tight-lipped "O" after most feedings and I think it's just the cutest thing:


On a quick, but important, side note:
My little brother, Ki, is going into surgery today to see if he actually needs a liver transplant. From what I understand, if he doesn't need one, they can just remove the tumor today. If he does need the transplant, they will close him back up and wait a few days with Ki at the top of the transplant list. If there still isn't a cadaver liver available then my little sister, Katie, will be giving Ki a piece of her liver.
There is a risk every time Ki goes under the knife, so please keep him in your prayers today.

Pictures! and Acid Reflux?

Our boy is getting bigger. You can see that his face is fatter and that he's a few inches longer (remember, the top picture is mostly blanket).

The doctor has told us that Mike might have some acid reflux. Nothing's definite, but he's got a lot of gas. This is him on the changing table getting changed after burping up his past few feedings. What you can see is less than 1/3 of the total, the rest being on Cyndi and our covers.


Acid reflux - more like Gas-id reflux!

Some of you may have noticed that Cyndi's baby picture wasn't, strictly speaking, Cyndi. She's acquired this picture of a baby picture that's actually Cyndi this time. Notice how it's still summer. Since Cyndi was born in July this can't be more than a month or two old and she's got nearly as much hair as her mom.


The picture of Cyndi's sister Jessica as a baby puts the count at 6-2 in favor of the Veronins. To even things up a bit, here's a picture of my niece Kelsey holding the baby with Kimberly's help.

That's Kelsey's version of smiling for the camera.

The baby in green, which Cyndi absolutely loved.


The cats reacting to the baby. They're doing pretty well overall, they've never been aggressive towards him in any way, although they do take every opportunity to get affection from us that they can.



And finally, just a whole bunch of pictures that we haven't had a reason to post, probably won't have a reason to post, but are adorable and might interest some of our readers. Highlights include the chair that Karen gave us and is his favorite place to sleep. Highlights, unfortunately, do not include his ridiculously cute dimples.

Who's Your Daddy?

Just to show people how alike Michael is to his parents, here are some fun pictures:

This is Jeff as a newborn:

This is Cyndi as a newborn:

And these next two pictures are Michael as a newborn:

Let there be no doubt as to where our little boy comes from.

2 Weeks Old

Michael turned 2 weeks old yesterday. As you know, yesterday was also my first day alone with him. He was adorable, as always, but I didn't believe people when they kept telling me to take advantage of his naps to take one of my own. There's just so much to do and so much I can accomplish without having to hold or watch the boy.

I tried to take a shower while he was dead asleep. I could hear him crying after just a minute and rushed to get through the rest of my shower as fast as possible. I know it doesn't hurt him to cry for a few minutes, but it was heartbreaking to hear him shriek the way he was when I got out. He calmed down quickly but wouldn't let me out of his limited sight for a while. I should have just napped.

To make things easier for me while he worked, Jeff bought a baby carrier so I can have my hands free but keep Michael close by. Here's what he looks like from the top:

and the front:

Michael seemed very pleased with the setup.

We also had his 2 week doctor's appointment where we learned Michael has gained some weight. To put this into perspective, when he was born, Michael weighed 6 lbs 11 oz. When we were discharged from the hospital he only weighed 6 lbs 4 oz. Two days later he was up to 6 lbs 6 oz. At his two week appointment yesterday, he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz. I had to have the nurse repeat herself a few times before it really sunk in.

Our little boy has really bulked up!