A Balancing Act

Today was our first big balancing act between spending time with Riley and getting up to the NICU to see Liam.

We started the morning with driving from Pensacola to Daphne for Riley's basketball game early in the morning. After a quick stop by the house for some items, we were back in Pensacola again and I got to go up and see Liam first. I hadn't seen him in 12 hours! :( Steve stayed back with Riley at the Ronald McDonald House playing games.

The morning visit was good. Another little poopy diaper overnight! Still not quite enough to start feeds, but encouraging! His gastric output is way down, but still a little green (again, a step in the right direction!). The night nurse had to give him a few doses of pain reliever when she couldn't console him. I think he might be more hungry than in pain, but that's just me. He had another dose at 8 am but nothing the rest of the day shift. I got to hold him for a long time and got so comfy that I fell asleep. A nurse woke me up- ooops!! After that I cruised on my iPhone instead of staring at my precious baby boy's sleeping face so I could stay awake. A picture I need to upload from today was taken when I was getting Liam back into his bed. The nurse was connecting all of his leads and tubes again and I noticed Liam slooowly inching the blanket up his face with his hands to where he nearly covered up his eyes. It was almost like he was trying to disappear so she wouldn't mess with him. Too funny- sorry buddy!

With Liam-time done, it was now time to move back to Riley-time. I swapped with Steve and his parents and went back to the RMD House with Riley to play Monopoly (his new favorite game!) After they were donw visiting Liam, we all went to Five Guys (that place was hoppin!) and then used free passes from the RMD House to go to Fun Zone. Fun Zone has inflatables, a rock wall, a batting cage, swing rope, trampoline, a log roll, and an arcade. Riley was in heaven!! What an awesome gift for the owner to donate "anytime passes" for kids to run and play and burn off energy on a chilly day like today. Just what these parents needed!!

Then it was Liam-time again. Steve's mum and I went to the NICU and Sheryl got to hold Liam for nearly an hour (since they ran out of time on their earlier visit). He just loves being held!

Then back to Riley-time. We made it through a very eventful week and decided we all deserved to have a fantastic meal out- away from the hospital, away from the RMD House. We went to Melting Pot to celebrate Riley being a big brother and Liam coming through his first week so well! Riley loooved cooking up our food for us in the fondue pots. He felt like a little chef, I think.

Bellies full, Steve's parents headed back to Daphne, Steve took the evening visiting hours with Liam, and I got Riley into bed at the RMD House. Steve reports that no more diapers to celebrate this evening, but he hasn't had pain meds since the 8 am dose so he's doing great!!

First day of running back and forth worked out pretty well. Hopefully we don't have too many weekends like this! I would love to have all of my boys under one roof, enjoying each other. We're getting there, one week at a time!

PS- This Ronald McDonald House is so amazing! The amount of nice things donated to make our stay so much more welcoming and entertaining has been unreal! And there's always groups coming in to cook dinners (which I love!). The kitchen is completely stocked with all kinds of things to eat, drink, and make, but the volunteers have kept us so well-fed, I have yet to cook anything! Today a group of high school kids came in and had a bake off. Tons of cakes, brownies, cookies, etc made to see who's came out the best. Then tonight a church came in and put on a huge fiesta night. I felt a little bad we didn't stay because they went through such effort- complete taco bar, spanish rice, sides, and even decorations! The outpouring of support from the community and donors has really got me thinking about how we can give back once we get home...