First Thanksgiving

Today was Michael's first thanksgiving, and ours as new parents. What a true blessing it is to have him in our life, especially with the inital trial that we went through with him when he was born. Though we;ve experienced many trials this year as a family we still have been extrememly blessed and I'm truly grateful to God for all that he has blessed me and my family with.

This thanksgiving was a day of firsts ...
First thanksgiving for Michael
First thanksgiving as parents
First thanksgiving without family

Though it wasn't a complete lost, we still got to spend it together and also got to spend time with a new friend. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, potato rolls, stuffing, corn, and homemade apple pie yum yum (my first time making a pie, tasted oh so yummy). We did have one downside to the evening; right before we left we noticed some water dripping down from one of the cubboards so we went upstairs to see what was going on and low and behold we find the upstairs bathroom covered in about 2 inches of water ... dozen towels later and a shop vac to suck up all the water and we finally got it all cleaned up and the pipes fixed so the water would run through them properly (they got a bit frozen due to the extremem temperature drop the previous evening). Definitely a memorable thanksgiving :-)

Gosh it's been ages!

So since it's been so freakin' long I better add a few updates before pressing onward with the pictures.

1) School has started back up again and for poor Jay the work never ends

2) Michael is now 6 months old and he can ...
- Sit up compeltely unassisted
- Is trying to sit up on his own while lying down (work in progress)
- Trying to rock himself up onto all fours
- Jabbering nonstop
- Smiling and laughing constantly
- When not smiling/laughing he's whining and wishing to be held by mommy (sigh*)
- Absolutely LOVES eating solids (one that he really wishes to try but just can't yet is pizza ... goes to show you that he's certainly my son)
- Grabs at everything (he especially likes the feel of the cats fur)
- Sit up in the bathtub on his own now (makes washing his hair so much easier)
- Found his toes and now sucks on them
- Now has 2 bottom teeth (which are pretty darn sharp by the way)

3) I'm trying to get back into shape (work in progress) ... BYU-I holds some free exercise programs in the evenings that I've been trying to go to (Turbo kick and yoga are the 2 that I'll be doing)

4) Went apple picking for the first time after recently finding out that BYU-I orchards are opened to the public (did you know that they have over 100 different types of apples growing in their orchards! ... because we went so late in the season most of the trees were picked clean but the few apples that we did get were very delicious --- Michael even agreed)

Now ... Onto pictures ...

Michael enjoying the sweet nectar of a BYU-I apple



Future Linebacker

Newest pictures of our chubby guy

So Michael will be 4 months old next week (HOLY COW! time is flying by so fast) so I thought I'd add the newest pictures of our little chunky monkey ... Enjoy :-D

MOM! I'm naked!

Holding his bottle all by himself

Such a big boy siting up on his own

And they call it ... Puppy Love

Michael has this little dog, that his grammie Mangum got him, that hums "rock a bye baby" when you pull it's tail. He absolutely LOVES this little dog and will fall asleep while it plays its little song. This little pup has saved us many pouty fits and is a sure bet to crack a smile or laugh. Hope y'all enjoy the video :-)

Kitty Love

It's early morning and Michael is awake demanding his morning feed. I'm cold and still pretty tired so I do what I normally do if I want more sleep, go in, change his diaper, and bring him back to bed with me where he happily nurses next to me while Ilazily doze for a few extra minutes. Socrates and Bella, like usual are lounging about on different sides of the bed, completely relax and asleep. After Michael finishes his meal we both doze off for a short time, blissfully enjoying the warmth that the blankets offers us. After a short time I awake and look over at Michael when to my surprise I notice something different ... Socrates has decided to join us for a quick nap of his own. He's curled up directly behind Michael with the back of his head against the back of michael's head, completely sprawled out with both front paws drapped over Michael's side. It was pretty hillarious, Socrates puts up with Michael very well. One of those times I wished I had my camera. :-)

2 1/2 Months

Michael is getting pretty darn close to his 3 month mark (HOLY COW!) and he's growing like a weed, his baby blessing will be on the 11th of July. He's moving around constantly, has pretty much outgrown his swaddle blanket, and his hair is lightening up to a reddish/brown color. He found his fist and loves sucking on it every chance he gets (especially when I'm carrying him around in his sling/wrap) He also smiles every time he wakes up (granted it only lasts for a short time before the pouty face starts but its sure cute ... he also has the BEST pouty faces EVER! lol). He's all about movement, so I can't wait to get him into a bouncer swing. Well there's tons of stuff I could keep writing about but I need to get off the internet so I hope y'all enjoy his latest pictures.

Earthquake test

One thing about Michael that is always predicatable is that he absolutely LOVES movement. Bounce him around, take him for a car ride, swinging in his swing, or even being swung around while in his carseat, he doesn't care just keep him moving and he'll be completely happy and even give you a smile or two to show his appreciation.

Halibut Fishing

Lisa and Brad surprised us with a chance to go halibut fishing on Saturday (May 29th). At 7:30am we met the caption of our charter while Michael happily spent some one-on-one time with his grandparents. We went about 15miles out to sea and for 4 hours cast our lines overboard, allowing the 2lb weight to sink 200 feet. Any time we had a bite we had to reel and reel and REEL our catch up to the surface where the crew would hook it and bring it the rest of the way up onto the boat. It was fun but very tiring. Jay and I each caught at least 6 halibut (could only keep 2), I caugh one of the biggest fish of the day weighing in at a whopping 50lbs (and boy was it tiring reeling that sucker up, Jay had to finally help hold my pole while I reeled cause my arm got so tired). On the way back to port we incounted numerous birds, a gang of sea otters, and 3 harper seals. The weather was just perfect and all in all it was a very relaxing adventure, and much needed time alone together.

--- My fish is the one farthest to the left (right next to Jay)

--- I caught a fish this big ---

Life Thus Far

I am now the proud parent of a 1 month old 9lb happy and healthy baby boy. After a rough start in the beginning of life Michael appears to have completely recovered from his ordeal and is happily guzzling 4-5oz of milk a feeding and growing like a weed (lol at least weight wise). He's a fairly easy goping child who is fairly happy and content most of the time, calms down quickly when he starts fussing, and usually sleeps 3 hours in between feedings. The cats could care less about having a new addition to the house, and usually look the other way when he's any where near them. Michael just started tummy time this week and has altready scooted himself off his mat and lifted his head a few times before he breaks down crying from frustration (he'll be a strong son buck before long). He has pretty beastly thighs and forearms, hopefully he got his daddy's strength. Life as a parent is great if not a bit tiring and Jay's job/internship is going very well and we're hoping that his boss will allow him to stay on for his 2nd and final internship so once we return back home to Idaho we can just concenrate on schooling and then make a final move to wherever Jay gets a job (instead of moving around for an internship, school, and then job). Alaska is gorgeous (you se Eagles and moose everwhere). Summer has officially set in, blue skies and 50 degree weather now with it staying light out till midnight. All in all life is pretty darn good :-)

---- Below is Michael's most recent pictures (1 month)

Recent Pictures of Michael

Michael Jay Mangum

Michael Jay Mangum
Born: April 20, 2010 at 9:52pm
Weight: 6lbs 13.8oz
Length: 20 inches
Miscellaneous Information: Born at exactly 37 weeks, water broke unexpectedly 2 hours before I was suppose to go in for an ultrasound appointment. Labor was a total of 12 hours, 3 of which was spent pushing. He was born face up and slightly turned, which explains the long time spent pushing. He developed pneumothorax which turned quickly into tension pneumothorax. He had to be put on oxygen and came very close to having a chest tube. He was life-flighted from the Homer hospital to the Providence hospital in Anchorage (5 hours away) where he was instantly put on an oxygen canula and placed under an oxygen tent where he was kept for the next 2 days of his life. He was able to be taken off the oxygen after a few days and appeared to be doing well. The tension pneumothorax resolved itself, he'll be stopping his antibiotics for a possible pneumonia Wednesday (April 28th) at 6pm, and if all continues to go well he should be able to come home Thursday.

UPDATE: We ran into a set back today (April 27th), he has been placed back onto oxygen to help relieve some possible apnea-like episodes that caused his oxygen levels to drop while in deep sleep. Hopefully all will be resolved soon - may your prayers continue to be with little Michael as he heals.