Miles' Blessing Day

Miles was blessed this past Sunday, December 23rd.  I took the picture above before church.  LOVE IT!  James is such a good dad.  One of my favorite things in the whole world is watching him interact with Miles.  Nothing better!  It was a beautiful blessing.  Some of the things that stood out to me are that he will serve in the church and serve a mission, that Heavenly Father is aware of his physical difficulties and that they won't hold him back, and that he will be influenced for good by the testimony of his parents and grandparents. 

(from left)  Bishop Doxey, Cody Taylor, Jeff Kirk, Keith Neumann, James and James Miles, Reed Haight, Beau Finch and Tom Bateman

The Mathatas Family

(from left)  Ernie Schippman, Jennifer Bateman, Laura Kirk, Susan Bateman, Jeff Kirk, Mike Bateman, Jim Scott, Tom Bateman, Joan Scott

James' dad and stepmom were able to come for Christmas and were there for the blessing.  My parents came from Parker.  Laura and Jeff came from southeast Aurora and Jen and Ernie came from Chicago. 

1 Month Old?!

 I can't believe Miles is one month old already!  He had a check-up today and he's doing good.  It's a little hard to tell accurately how heavy and how tall he is.  He's still a small guy, but he's growing and reaching the milestones for his age.  So tonight I put him on his stomach, and I know his casts give him leverage, but he turned over onto his back on his own.  Ahh! 

 

The OT/Hand Specialist at Children's Hospital said kids that have distal arthrogryposis end up being really smart because they have to start using their problem-solving skills early to learn how to get around.  She said to watch out because he will get into trouble really fast because of that.  Way to use your problem-solving skills turning over, Miles!

 

I went ahead and indulged myself in a faux-hawk. 

 

At the doctor today I asked her if it was normal for his pupils to dilate a lot when he's eating and looking at me and she said that is an expression of affection.  Aww.  Love that little guy!  He is so cute, I love kissing his chubby cheeks!

Big Fat Baby Post

Introducing James Miles Mathatas, born November 13, 2012 at 2:34, weighing in at 6 lbs, 4 oz., 18.5 inches.

How can you not love that face?

It's only been a few weeks, he looks so tiny in this picture to me.

Glad we got a picture before we started casting.

 

Since then he has grown to 7.5 lbs.  Miles was born with club feet and bilateral adducted thumbs.  We hadn't been able to see it in the ultrasound so we were surprised.  The night he was born James and I talked and realized we both knew Heavenly Father sent Miles to us because He knew we would love him and take good care of him.  We are proud and privileged to be his parents. 

 

We started the casting process for his club feet on November 26th, the day before he turned 2 weeks old.  The chances of success are much better if you start before they turn 2 weeks old.  He did great with his first set of casts!  They didn't even seem to phase him.  He will get a new set each Monday and they will position his feet a little differently each time.  After 6-8 weeks of casting, they will cut his achilles and position the feet properly.  Then he will have a brace that he will wear morning and night and the achilles will reform.  By the time he's crawling and walking, he'll only have to wear the brace at night.  We feel so blessed to have such great doctors and to live only 10 minutes away from Children's Hospital, where we will be going every week.  The staff is awesome and just seems to know exactly what they're doing.  This method of treating club feet is much less invasive and painful than how they used to treat them, which was extensive surgery later on in life.  Our Dr's say he won't believe us when we tell him he was born with club feet, we'll have to show him pictures. 

 

Week 1 of casts-"Sugar water on my binky?  Don't mind if I do!"
 

 

Yesterday, December 3rd, was his second set of feet casts and we also went to see the hand specialists.  For whatever reason, Miles hyperflexes his hands.  I thought they were going to tell us there was nothing they could do about it, or that he'll grow out of it, but the treatment is also casts for this.  They asked us if we wanted to cast his hands, too.  We said, "Is it the sooner the better, like the feet?"  They said, "Yes, but he'll have both casted at the same time."  It was a little harder to say yes this time, but we know he will appreciate what we did for him later.  The hand casts are softer.  He didn't really like them as much as the feet casts, but he seems to be doing much better today.  The hardest thing for me was that he holds onto my thumb while I'm feeding him and I thought those days might be over for a while, but he still can!  Makes me so happy!  The hand casts are smaller than we were picturing.  He is an amazing little boy.  Again, I'm amazed by the staff at Children's Hospital, so awesome!  We'll go back each week for another set of hand casts.  And there are lots of color choices!  White for his blessing day, though. 

 

I feel so blessed to be his mother.  I'm going to write his birth story eventually, but not tonight.