Matt Update

Well, Matt left seven weeks ago, today... another ~33 weeks to go. Not sure whether ~33 weeks or ~ 8 1/2 months sounds like less time. We talked to him last Tuesday in a family therapy session by phone, and it was kinda sad. He has worked really hard in the time he has been there, but the 'honeymoon' is over and the road ahead is just so long.

John spoke briefly with his counselor Kassandra yesterday and she said that Matt is exactly where he needs to be and she is very optimistic and positive about Matt - he talks a lot in therapy (which is a huge, positive change over his sessions with counselors here, where he would b.s. his way through or wouldn't talk at all), and he is working hard on his issues.

Matt has written to John a few times per week and in each letter he expresses remorse over taking things for granted here at home, he lets us know how he is doing in school - and he is working his butt off to earn credits and better grades, and he always asks about Kyan. He has yet to even see a picture of his little brother, but hopefully if he works through his current level, we will get to see him within 4 -5 weeks for a weekend. We'll see, but we are SO ready to go the minute they tell us we can.

Matt will be joining the DRA football team, and will be at football camp the week of the 13th. He will be the smallest and youngest on the team, but we're glad he is participating. We are a little unclear on who DRA plays, given its high turnover of students, the age ranges and grades being kind of wacky as compared to 'normal' schools, and not knowing how many schools are in Hurricane, Utah... but as with everything in this program, we are learning as we go and we think this will be a good outlet for him. And it will give him a sense of normalcy.
That's all I have on Matt right now - but as soon as we get the go-ahead to pick up and go to Utah, I'll send an update!

Aunt Millie and Uncle Rick's Gift

As his cousin Quinn received his, Kyan has been very hopeful of receiving a matching, gorgeous, handmade blankie. :-) I think he likes it! Thank you to Aunt Millie and Uncle Rick!

Glad he is cute!!

OK, so Kyan had a MISERABLE day. Someone, please tell me this is normal for day 11 of
life or something. OMG - he was just a grumpy dude. The birth certificate paperwork hasn't been sent in yet, so I'm tempted to change his name from Kyan to Groucho!! To be fair, he seemed pretty uncomfy at times - maybe it was the 90 degree day, or maybe he had a tummy ache. There were some pretty impressive noises coming from his
south end, but WOW - what a day!

To that, good thing he is a cute little guy... these were taken during cheerier moments today and yesterday.

Kyan and his pal, Elvis.

Typical post-meal doze pose... check out the pseudo-widow's peak!

In his towel, he had just had a bath and he was so snuggly in his big, fluffy towel I didn't want to disturb him with actual clothes. Of course, he pee'd and pooped all over the place, and on me. Until the uncivilized potty moments, I was thinking budoir photography for the handsome devil - now, not so much!

A few more pics...

I am not too timely with the pics, nor am I too creative... but here are a few more. Elvis and Kyan's first meeting went well (a little blurry, though) and I dig his little Buddha boy pic. Otherwise, there is no theme here - just our cutie boy.

The Mighty Quinn

OK, so no news with Quinny, but he is so darn cool and cute, he deserves a spot on my marathon blogging session. And here is a picture of Alex with Quinn. She is the reason you don't see my first photo with Kyan - who looks that good after giving birth?! Apparently, Alex does! (I need newer pictures of him! He was born May 9 and has gotten a wee bit bigger over the course of the past 5 weeks!)

Matt's Status

Matt called yesterday. He had a family session by phone with his mom and afterward, his counselor let him make a quick call to John. We were at an appointment at the time he called, so he caught Alexa at home - and this was the first time since he left that he has been able to talk to his sister. He also got to say hello to my mom for a very quick moment. Then, he caught John on his cell, so they had a few minutes. I overheard his voice, which wasn't enough, but it never is. And we have family session on Tuesday of next week. On the call, John learned that Matt had written letters that hadn't reached John, so very quickly, they took care of whatever email glitch was going on, and by last night, there were two 'new' letters from Matt in John's inbox. Matt is doing really well in the program, and without getting into details, he has been working very hard and his attitude is quite amazing. Here are recent photos (wearing maroon) which are quite, quite different from his first photos at DRA (wearing blue).

Newborn Exam

Ok, so one of the differences between home births and hospital births is how the exam is done afterwards. At home, Kyan was cleaned up in a soup pot, dried off with a hair dryer, and he was weighed in a pillowcase which was hanging from a hand-held fish scale. :-)

Kyan's Birth Day

Kyan Andrew Shea was born on June 15, 2009 at 5:34am. He was born at home in candlelight after a nine hour labor, 12 days overdue. Here he is with his very proud and very tired Daddy, and during his newborn exam. Mom avoided the camera because she didn't look nearly as good as Alex did when Quinn was born on May 9.

Ok, so I said I would never be a blogger...

When I first heard about blogging, I swore I would never, ever partake. I figured that anyone who wants to know about me will already know my life, so why spend the time writing it down? My life isn't that exciting anyway, right? And further, I have very strong opinions about people who have kids and then (wrongly) assume that everyone wants to know about every diaper change and every nail trim, and everything in between. So, here I am - creating a blog on the back of our new baby boy's birth. Ta-da!! Bring on the "I told you so's". But seriously, if I ever post pics of Kyan with spaghetti smeared across his face, and saying how cute he looks, slap me.