"Fishing" in the backyard with Daddy

I think Daddy enjoyed teaching the kids about fishing.

He looks like he has the proper 'casting arm' down.

Emerald striking her pose, yet again.

Although Zachary wasn't learning to fish, he did get to enjoy the nice weather.

Daddy was so excited to teach the kids how to fish last night. The kids got fishing poles for Christmas, and it was gorgeous yesterday. Skip broke the poles out of their packages and started the learning process so he can take the kids fishing with him this spring. Emerald did a great job casting from on top of Ft. Garmin. Calvin, well, he still has some learning to do. As soon as Skip handed him the pole he took it and said, "I do it myself" and refused to listen to a single bit of advice. This independence streak in him is quite challenging at times!! Maybe you'll soon see pictures of the kids with real fish soon.

Grandma & Grandpa time

Grandpa's first time holding Zachary.


Grandma & Grandpa came up to visit this last weekend for the first time since Zachary came home from the hospital. They both enjoyed getting to hold Zachary without him attached to any wires. Mom held him in the hospital, but dad hadn't held him yet. It is always sweet to see your parents holding your baby. Aunt Heidi also enjoyed seeing how much Zachary had grown in the short time since she'd seen him.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Emerald!!

Emerald at about 2 weeks old, on her first Easter. So tiny!

Emerald at 6 months of age, on her finalization day. I love this picture of her.

Age 15 months skipping rocks trying to be just like daddy.

Hiking in Alaska at 15 months.

18 months and those cheeks--you just want to squeeze them!

You love cheering on those Cats. We are raising a future K-Stater.

You've always loved your Mango.

Age 2 1/2 just before we moved back to Kansas.

You are and always have been a cowgirl--loving those horsies.

Emerald at age 3 1/2 on her first day of preschool.

Age 3 1/2 and loves to play dress-up!

Age 4 and this is the smile I get when asked to pose for the camera.

My little girl is turning 4 years old!! 4 just sounds old. No longer a baby, no longer a toddler even. She is our big girl and shows her independence even more each day. She still loves her Mango, her puppy-girl, and is in love with all the men in her life--especially daddy and her 2 little brothers. We worry about that boy-loving thing when she gets older, especially with those beautiful eyes of hers. She can be stubborn at times, but never too bad. She is definitely all girl, loving her princess things and playing dress-up. We can't seem to get her un-glued from the television these days. Emerald's brilliance continues to amaze us as she proves over and over just how much more she knows than we realize. She couldn't be any sweeter to her 2 brothers. We are so incredibly lucky to have this little jewel in our lives. We thank God for her each and every day. On this special day we wish for you a year continued with health and happiness and for you to continue to be the sweet little angel that you are. We love you Emerald Rea Pankewich! Happy Birthday munchkin!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Near my lobster so you can see how big I'm getting.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the smallest Pankewich family member. He is our McCutie! I watch too much Grey's Anatomy :)

Some goofy kids

I got the camera out today and got some goofy reactions from 2 little stinkers. Too sweet not to post.

More catching up

Where did Zachary go? Such a cute outfit/blanket combo we got from a good friend.

The kids were playing like they were in a bathtub--wash, wash, wash. Bubbles and all!

Thanks Mrs. Tracy for this stylin' outfit. It finally fits me--well almost, still wearing different preemie pants. I do love the giraffes, though.

Reading one of our favorite books. Love Eric Carle. Emerald likes to be the "big girl" and read to Calvin these days.

Stretching Zachary

I had to blog this for my own personal benefit. This is Zach doing his morning stretches. Those feet are his signature move--straight out flexed feet. I swear I felt this when he was still inside me! He's so cute when he does his stretches.

More cousin pics

Josiah giving us a big smile.

This is what we look like most evenings. Feeding Zachary with some "help" from the big kids. Calvin loves to give him hugs.

The kids wanted to hold Simon. It's not quite the same as when they hold tiny Zachary!

Uncle Skip getting some Simon loving. How happy does Si look??!!

I loved this shirt Simon wore while he was here.

I just found some more pictures from when Simon was visiting. Too cute to pass up! We miss you cousin Simon!!

Updates

Sorry for the delay in posting lately, life seems to be getting in the way of my blogging! :) We had an ultrasound of Zach's spine last Friday and still haven't heard results-but waiting patiently. It was kind of weird, when we were in the room, I got this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm sure it is fine, routine, that the ultrasound was ordered. However, I was sitting there looking and that crazy mommy brain turned on and started me worrying that we'd made it this far pretty smooth sailing and now we were going to get these bad results about some awful spinal issue. I got hot, dizzy, and had to sit down. So, needless to say, I'm anxious to hear the results.

We've been playing phone tag with lots of docs, nurses, etc., about another issue with Zach, an issue with his fraenulum (or tongue-tie). I finally talked with the neonatologist, Dr. Lancaster, that had taken care of us in the NICU and discharged us on the phone yesterday about this issue. We have seriously been chased all around by this issue and have been on the fence as to it's impact on Zach both now and later. Poor little kid, such simple minor issues, but yet they don't seem to go away. After discussing things with Dr. Lancaster, we are pretty sure we are not going to do anything about it for now.

Next week we go to the pediatric urologist with our little Z-man. We are doing some follow up from his 2 vessel cord issues to make sure there isn't anything wrong in his renal department. We will also be discussing the circumcision with him at that point. Yikes!! Again, poor little man.

Zach got a Synagis shot this week, which is a shot to help him prevent getting RSV. Calvin got RSV and it was so awful. We are fortunate that our insurance covers these shots and that he "qualified" with his prematurity and birth weight. Each shot is $1500 and he has had 2 so far with a possible 3rd shot in April. That shot is still debatable, though. While that seems like a ridiculous amount of money to spend, if Zach got RSV (which for an older child is basically like a severe cold or flu) it could easily send him back into the hospital. That is not something we want for him at all! For the insurance companies, spend $1500 on a shot, or spend that much or more on 1 day in the hospital! Speaking of hospital bills, I totally have to share a recent "bill" we received from Zach's hospital stay. Simply for his bed in the NICU for 43 days, no extra doctors (that is separate), MRI's, medications, labs, etc., just the bed alone was over $350,000! Can I just say that I am thanking God every single night for good insurance?!! We are so lucky to be at Garmin and have such fantastic insurance. What would I do w/o that??I do feel for those families that have that extra stressor riding on their shoulders. So, all in all, one $1500 shot doesn't sound too bad on their end.

Our home health nurse, Joan, came out yesterday. Can I just re-state how much I love her?!! She weighed our Zach-y and he is at 7 lb 10.5 oz now! He has been slowing down on his weight gain a little, nothing too serious, just not gaining in huge chunks like he was. He is also slowing down on his eating, so we are watching him closely to make sure he continues to gain weight. He still likes his sleep and for that we are thankful. We had a little boy from Emerald's preschool come over for a play date the other day. His mommy was a nurse in the NICU that took care of Zach! Her 7, 5, and 3 year old, and my 4 and 2 year old were making such crazy noise in our basement--Zach slept thru it all! I love it!

Emerald has a big birthday this weekend--she's turning 4! I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast. She continues to amaze us with the things that come out of her mouth. She has been pretty into her letters and trying to "read" with daddy (not with mommy only daddy). We have both sets of grandparents coming in town to celebrate so it should be fun for the kids.

Calvin said something funny the other day. Emerald was all into what she wants to be when she grows up--a princess and a ballerina. She was asking us and we happily shared. She didn't ask Calvin, but he contributed to the conversation anyway. "I want to be Snow White when I grow up" says he!! Obviously he lives with an older sister!!

We are thankful for insurance, healthy kids, and our job at Garmin. They announced this week that they were laying off like 160 people or so. In this tough economic times we can't imagine not having our wonderful job at Garmin. We feel so badly for those who are now w/o their job at Garmin and hope that they won't have to lay off any more. We also include in our prayers Emerald and Calvin's birthmothers (I always think of them a lot around their birthdays). We pray for Dawson and Isaiah, both NICU buddies of Zach's. Isaiah got to go home, but has since returned to the hospital--scary for his parents I'm sure. Dawson has had several surgeries and I know they are working on trying to figure things out. He has moved out of the NICU and is now at a different hospital where they have a neurosurgeon on hand 24/7 for him. Prayers for these sweet boys, please!!

Pictures are priceless!

We have been so blessed to have been photographed by 2 wonderful artists lately. Angela with Artistic Expressions came and shot the cousins pictures. She took the fantastic picture of my family at the top of the blog. I think it is just beautiful! Her blog is http://joplinexpressions.blogspot.com/ and if you scroll down to "The Gang" you will see us, Simon, Josiah, and the cousins.

Julie with Julie Ellen Photography took some great pictures of Zachary the other day, too. Her link is http://julieellenphotography.com/journal/ You can go and see some sweet shots of my naked baby boy. I know these 2 ladies will be sending me more pictures soon, and I will share with you all, as you all know how much I love pictures (especially of my kids). Hope you enjoy.

Zachary has his last home health visit this Thursday. We will miss Joan, who has been fantastic with us! He also has an ultrasound at Children's Mercy South Hospital on Friday, so say a prayer that all turns out ok with that. Not that major, but one that we need to be with a positive result. He then gets another Synergis (RSV) shot on Tuesday. I am thankful that he "qualified" for these shots and hope it will keep that nasty RSV away from our little boy. You see, each shot is $1,500 and if a baby is too little or born too early then insurance will cover it. I guess we are lucky, right? We will be meeting with our Parents as Teachers woman that week as well. She should help us make sure that Zachary is on track with his development. The following week he goes to a pediatric urologist. This is partly due to his 2 vessel cord and making sure that all his inner plumbing is functioning properly. We've had 2 positive ultrasounds, so that is a good sign. I think that is all his extra appointments for now until his follow eye exam this summer and the normal well-baby visits. We continue to be thankful for his continued health. We also are thankful for his demeanor. He sleeps so well at night, only waking when we wake him to eat, then drifting off to sleep again.

My sweet big boy got a new bed in his room this week. We placed the toddler bed in his room and Calvin is quite excited about "my big boy bed." He has both the bed and his crib in his room for a short while so that he can get used to the idea. Hopefully it will be a smooth transition. We will eventually need him out of the crib, as it is already spoken for in another room once we kick Calvin out :) Pictures to come of this transition bed.

Emerald and Calvin had dentist appointments yesterday. They both did so well and each got a special surprise. Emerald did an especially good job b/c she had to go back by herself to start the appointment and didn't bat an eye at me. She is turning into such a big girl! I can't believe she is going to be 4 in a couple of weeks.

It snowed about 3-4" or so here this weekend. We had fun playing outside for awhile Saturday morning. It was pretty dry snow, so not good for sledding or snow-ball fights. I don't think the kids minded at all, though. Good thing we weren't hit with the snowfalls of the east coast!! However, tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees, so hopefully we will be back outside playing. Cabin fever is really setting in!

Now go check out the so you can catch sweet pictures of my family! You can also see other gorgeous pictures that they have taken.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. I wanted to update you on Dawson. He had a major surgery last Friday and has been doing fantastic since. He came thru the surgeries well. He had a shunt put in and had hernia surgery. Everything seems pretty positive since and we continue to pray that Dawson and his mommy, Christy, get to go home soon. I know she is ready! She's been in the NICU since early November and hasn't been home to Hutchinson since then. I'm sure she would love to take her baby boy home soon, so prayers for Dawson, please!

It's March--So Let's March for Babies

Now that it is March we have a goal. We are happy to announce that the Pankewich Party of 5 is going to be walking in the March of Dimes, March for Babies, on May 3rd in downtown KC. Our little Z-man has inspired us to help this wonderful organization. Our 42 days in the NICU at Overland Park Regional opened our eyes to see just how much of an impact this amazing organization can play on the life of a baby and their family. Even from the beginning of finding out about Zachary's 2 vessel cord condition, March of Dimes was the first place I looked to for help in understanding what it all meant for myself and my unborn son. We feel blessed that Zachary is doing so well. We are thankful that someone before us had figured out how to help a baby born at 31 weeks to be able to leave the hospital completely healthy. I remember a story I heard a long time ago about a boy throwing starfish back into the ocean. Saying that he couldn't save them all, but it made a difference for the one he did help. I'm sure we can't save the world with our one little family walking and earning money for March of Dimes, but hopefully we can help to make a small difference for one person or one situation.

Silly as it seems, I couldn't decide which beautiful picture of my son I wanted to post on our page. I decided to post his first picture, the one of his first day in the NICU needing the most help of all. It reminds me just how far he has come!

If you'd like to join us as we walk, please, let us know, as we'd love to have a large crowd!! If you feel like donating in honor of Zachary Stanley Pankewich, or any of the babies in the OPR NICU, we'd appreciate any little bit. Don't feel obligated at all. Even knowing that so many of you have given your thoughts, prayers, time, and love to helping us these last 2 months have meant the world to us. Thanks everyone! Click on the badge to the right for more info or go to our March of Dimes page: http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?w=161013804&u=pankewich&bt=7