Larkin's First Month

Larkin is a little over a month old now (actually 6 weeks today). He is changing every day and starting to develop a cute little personality. He is definitely keeping us on our toes, but we are loving every minute. Most nights he sleeps about 4 hours at a time. He has had a few nights of wanting to party hard and doesn't seem to want to sleep at all! I literally played with him on his play mat one night last week at 2:30 AM. I'm sure parenting books would not approve but when those big blue eyes were looking up at me, practically asking me to play, I had to give in. :)

Larkin has a had several "firsts" over this last month and we wanted to share a few of them:

- First time to go to church. He LOVED the music, but started crying when preaching started. :)

- First bath (in the bathtub)

- First trip to the mall (followed quickly by his second, third, and fourth trips)

- First walk around Homewood

- First trip to Edgewood Creamery (in the Denson house this is an important one)

- First trip to Daddy's office

It really has been a fun, yet sometimes challenging, month. We look forward to many more and are thankful for these first memorable moments of our little man's life. We also wanted to share a few pictures to recap his first month. We also hope to load a video soon, but we're having some technical difficulties. Enjoy!!!

Precious baby sleeping. And he LOVES his paci.

Going on an outing. And seeming to be waving at us. :)

Larkin's response to my photo shoot. He hung in there for a while, but eventually let me know he was finished participating.

First bath!

This is what we see every time we change his diaper. The kid loves to be stretched out and kicking around.

Hanging out in the Boppy waiting on mommy to get ready.

Larkin loves to be held up on our chest or shoulder...such a sweet boy!

Just getting home from his first time at church.

Welcome Home, Larkin

Well, I'm a little behind with this update. Larkin has been home for 2 weeks! It has been a great 2 weeks having our little man with us. Joe and I agree that we'd rather have sleepless nights with him here over a quiet house without him, so while we were able to get some sleep the week he was in the NICU we are thrilled to have him home.

Our first two nights were quite an adjustment as Larkin didn't know night from day as the NICU was constant 24 hours a day. He heard the beeping of machines, nurses chatting about life, and babies crying all day and night. He now seems to be getting on a better schedule of sleeping during the night and only wakes up when he's hungry which is every 2-4 hours.

We had a welcome home party with our family. Many of them had not gotten to meet Larkin since he left for the NICU shortly after birth. It was so sweet to see everyone oooh and aaah over him and I hope he can tell how much he's loved! We continue to thank God for taking care of Larkin and healing his little body! He truly is a blessing.

Sweet Little Larkin

Oh, how I love him! Larkin is doing so well and hopefully will be home on Saturday. His infection seems to have cleared and his breathing is now normal. He is basically just hanging out in the NICU getting his antibiotics and giving the nurses a fit about every 3 hours. :) Every time I get there, they are anxiously waiting as he is always ready to eat! I have been able to nurse him twice a day and he eats like a champ. It's hard because he seems so well and "ready" to come home but we just have to wait for the round of antibiotics to complete. We did find out that we will have to stay with him overnight on Friday night so in my mind he will be "home" on Friday.

It has been a tough week but Joe and I have been able to see the "silver linings" in all of this. We have also been overwhelmed by the amount of calls, emails, blog comments, and texts we have received and know that our little man has been thoroughly covered by the prayers of many! God has been so gracious as we know this infection could have been so much more serious, but thankfully it was caught VERY early! The dr's have been incredible and I will forever be grateful to the nurse who on the first night of Larkin's life felt the need to personally monitor him and run some tests as she felt that something just wasn't right.

Please continue to pray for Larkin and for us as we await his homecoming. Pray that everything continues to go as planned and for complete recovery. Also pray for Joe and me as we are anxious about getting him home. While I am SO excited I know that I will be very watchful and worried in the initial days home. I am praying for a peace and trust in our God as I know Larkin is in His hands! Thank you all.

Larkin is Here!

Samuel Larkin Denson

7 lbs 9 oz

21" long

born 7/21/2010 8:54pm

It has been a crazy 3-4 days. We wanted to post some pictures to share with everyone. As many of you know, Larkin is currently in the NICU with an infection. Please continue to pray for healing and strength. So far, he is improving which is a huge praise. We are so thankful for the outpouring of prayers and support from family and friends. We can't wait for many of you to be able to meet Larkin.

Still Counting...

We are getting closer and closer. There is even a slight chance that next week I will be induced! I am not getting my hopes up but due to the size of Larkin and the fact that I have measured at least a week ahead throughout my entire pregnancy, my dr. feels good about inducing if I have progressed more. So PRAY for that progression! :)

Larkin's room is still somewhat "under construction", so those pictures are still to come. I did want to post one last picture of me in all my hugeness! As you've probably noticed I chose to slack on posting prego pictures. In fact, I have pretty much run from the camera this last trimester. However, I think you have to see it to believe it....this is going to be one big baby!

Countdown to D-Day

We have been so busy lately and blogging has been the last thing on my mind. We have officially begun the countdown to Baby Larkin's arrival. 26 Days and counting! We also are realizing that there is a good chance he could be early (or I like to think so). At our 36 week ultrasound this week, he already weighed 7lbs 1oz!! It is comforting to know that if he does come early, he would hopefully be healthy and well-developed. We are so excited as his arrival gets closer and closer.

We still have a lot to do in preparation. As Joe put it this week, we are emotionally prepared, but there still are so many logistical things to take care of. The nursery is coming along! I've posted a few pictures of the progress and will update once we get it totally finished. We've also been "showered" by our friends and family and seem to have everything we need to welcome little Larkin. We are so thankful for everyone's generosity.

Well, I will keep everyone posted! Have a great and safe 4th of July!!

** I tried loading pictures from showers, but it's not cooperating so more to come...

Baby Larkin in Claymation

I still have so many pictures from different events to post, but I just can't find the time to sit down and blog! I did want to post a few pictures from our 4D Ultrasound. A friend put it well when she said that 4D pics look like Claymation...you know the old Christmas movies where the people are made out of Play-doh. Anyway, while Larkin looked like those little clay characters he also looked pretty cute in some of his little pictures. Everything seemed healthy and he was right on average in all of his dimensions. We are now just counting down to meet him. Here are some of the pictures:

Here we see an arm and foot trying to cover his face...he's a flexible little guy.

This is his foot...all 5 toes!

This is him with one fist up...he is nestled next to the placenta, so that got in the way on several of the pictures.

Sweet little Larkin is smiling...again covered by the placenta.

This one looks like he's sucking on his lower lip...either that or he looks like Bart Simpson. :) This was definitely my favorite b/c of his cute little nose.