We Have A 6-Month Old!

Wow.. I absolutely cannot believe how quickly time has gone by. Our little bub Ezekiel is 6 months old today!

We definitely didn’t think he would still be in the NICU; we imagined that he would be living a somewhat normal life at home with us by now! But the Lord’s plans continue to take us by surprise.

Ezekiel’s heart defect started acting up just as we were talking about trying to bring him home earlier in the month (for the second time), and his neonatologist thought it would be best to keep him in the NICU until the cardiology team was ready to do his open heart surgery.

Of course, I was devastated. I had gotten my hopes up for the second time, just to have them be shattered once again. But even in these heavy moments, I never stopped trusting in God’s plan.

As much as my mama heart aches and longs for my baby to be home, I know that God has a reason for keeping him in the hospital for a little while longer. I trust that this heart surgery will make our little boy feel and do so much better. I trust that God is constantly working through all of Ezekiel’s doctors, and guiding them to make all of the best decisions for him. And who knows, maybe God is keeping Ezekiel tucked away in the NICU for awhile longer to protect him from this second spike of the coronavirus pandemic that’s happening around us here on the “outside”.

But regardless of what the reason is or if any of it even makes sense, I know in my heart and in my spirit that this is all apart of God’s well thought out plan for ours and Ezekiel’s lives. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” We don’t always have to understand, but we just have to give everything to the Lord and believe that He is always guiding us on the right path and working all things for our good.

In the midst of this crazy NICU rollercoaster, Ezekiel has continued to show us how resilient he is through it all. It’s so amazing to see how much life and strength God has breathed into him.
– He is growing daily, and is 7lbs and some change now.
– He’s a little stinker and knows to cry for attention and be held.
– He’s been smiling so much lately, and just started making little laughs this week!
– He is getting stronger with all his muscles and is holding his head up so well.
– He just discovered a new talent yesterday—playing the piano with his feet. Maybe he will be a worshipper on the keys when he grows up? I’ve already sent his video to one of our church’s lead worshippers as an audition! Lol.
– He gets very excited when mama and daddy go to visit, and he flails his arms and kicks his feet like crazy to show it!
– He loves his new elephant Wubbanub paci, and he’s getting so good at holding it and putting it back in his mouth with his hands.
– He is staying awake so much throughout the day lately, just playing and interacting with us and his nurses. He also likes to watch when the nurses are doing stuff with him, or when the doctors come to assess him.
– He has been a very good boy and sleeping through the night.
– He has been very talkative, and his favorite thing to talk about is Jesus.
– He loves to exercise, and smiles so much when we stretch his little arms and legs.
– He is such a happy boy, and we just love him so much!!

I know this milestone birthday post isn’t an ideal or “normal” one, but we are grateful that God trusted us and knew that we would be strong enough to walk through this wild journey with Ezekiel. HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY, MY LOVE!!! ♥️