Not going as planned.....

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post lately. Things did not go as good as we hoped for at the Fairview hospital, so we came down the St. Mary's, the hospital at the Mayo for further testing and evaluation for my pancreatitis. I am updating the caringbridge website if anyone is interested, which is: www.caringbridge.org/visit/shannoncaswell.

Hopefully, I will be out of here soon and back home with my boys.

Gall stones and a wedding

We had Kate and Will's wedding last weekend, which was a blast. I ended up going to the hospital the next day though with Pancreatitis, and ended up having my gall bladder taken out Tuesday night. I had a bad stomach ache about a week before the wedding, but I wanted to push through it. I was hoping the stomach ache was just from the stress of going back to work and the upcoming wedding. It's a good thing I went in because I ended up having a ton of tiny gall stones in my gall bladder, which apparently is more dangerous then having larger stones. Yikes! Things are going well now though and I am home recovering. Going back to work has been delayed to September 1st, so we can make sure I am 100% before starting. I have posted some pics from the wedding below.....

I go back to work next week, so I am just trying to cherish our last days together as much as I can. I know it will be hard for me because we have had so much fun together during the days. It has been a great summer to have my maternity leave. We visited "Melanie's Munchkins" on Monday and dropped off all of Declan's cubby items. Melanie has two new little boys. It was cute, one of the boys, who is about 4 years old came up to Declan's carrier and said to me, "You know what? You have a really cute baby!" It was adorable! As hard as it will be for me to have Declan in daycare, I know he will have so much fun playing with all of the little boys....even if he is just able to watch them. Hopefully, he will learn to walk/crawl earlier having the boys to look up to everyday! This week is a crazy last week for us with Katie's wedding, but I wanted to post some 3 month pictures of our little one. He was three months on August 9 - it's gone by so fast!!

Tummy time in his Wild jam jams!

Finally, we had a cool day where he could wear the Twins windsuit that Grandpa and Grandma Caswell got him!

Getting kisses from Grandma Rooney

Hanging out with mom

Declan loves his Aunt Tols

This Saturday, Will will officially be Declan's uncle!!

Hanging out with Uncle Conor before he heads up to SJU to play hockey - GO JOHNNIES!

Mmmm, this tastes good...

Goobering all over his shirt!

Sporting the bath robe that Nikki gave him - so cute!!

Like two peas in a pod.....Tony and mini Tony

After bath time he is always so snuggly!

Who is this girl!? It's Nikki!

He loves Lulu - thanks Katie and Adam!!

Aunt Katie and Uncle Will

The summer is coming to an end.....

Although we still have the whole month of August left of summer, it feels like it is coming to an end. I officially have two weeks left of my maternity leave before I head back to work. Although I am looking forward to getting back to the challenges that my job gives me, I will really miss hanging out with my little buddy everyday. We have had so much fun, but I think he will really like going to Melanie's Munchkins! We decided to go with a home daycare in July (last minute) because we happened to know of someone opening a home daycare. Tony and I had Declan all set up with the Kindercare in Lakeville, but we thought it would be worth looking into. We learned that there were many advantages in going with a home daycare, so we decided to give it a shot. Melanie has three boys of her own, so she definitely has experience with little boys! Plus, Declan is her first child (and only child at this point), so he will get lots of attention!

Declan is getting to be such a big boy. Some of his new accomplishments:
- Smiling ALL THE TIME!
- Talking, talking, and talking. He loves to have conversations with us.
- His neck is getting so strong that he loves his Bumbo seat now. He loves to be able to sit up and look at us without laying down!
- He can flip over from his belly to his back again! If you remember, he did this a few times when he was a month old, and then never did it again for a while. He's back!
- He is almost flipping over from his back to his belly. He has all of his body flipped over. All he needs to do is bring his arm over, and he'd be there!
- His naps are getting more on schedule! He will nap in his crib in the morning - no problem. However, we are having trouble getting him to nap in his crib in the afternoon. For some reason, he will not fall asleep in there. He loves sleeping in there at night and in the morning, but not in the afternoons....wierd! So, for now, he's in his swing. We just have to keep trying!
- At night, he's gone 7 hours a few times! Not all the time, but he's stretching it out, which helps mom out alot!

The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty crazy as Katie's wedding is next weekend! There are alot of Will's family coming into town from England, so we have to show them a good time! Kate comes home tomorrow, and she's got lots to do for the big day!

Declan and I are getting ready to go watch a baseball game that Grandpa Rooney is coaching today. Hopefully the weather can hold out for a few hours without storms.

Have a good Sunday!

July Update.....

It has been a while since I have updated! Let's see what's new in Declan's life....we had his 2 month appt. the other day, and he is 13 pounds and 24 inches long! He's in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. We have a big boy on our hands! The shots were harder on me then they were on him. His cries were so sad to hear! He did well though - quite the trooper, and ended up sleeping the rest of the day. Healthy as can be though, which we loved to hear!

We went and visited all the great Grandparents the other day, and took a picture of four generations!

Great Gramcrax and Declan!

Luca and Declan spending some quality time together. Luca is such a good girl with Declan. He gets plenty of kisses from her!

We are trying out the bumbo seat. He is okay in it for about 5 minutes, but then he gets sick of it. He has a really strong next for 2 1/2 months, but it gets tired if he has it up for too long of a time period. He's so cute in it!

Grandma Rooney bought him a cute lil' basket ball outfit (however, dad has made it very clear he will NOT be playing basketball, hockey instead!)

We have officially taken out the pad that goes behind his head. I told him what a big boy he was, which made him very happy!

My mom came out and watched Declan for a few hours, so Tony and I could celebrate Angela's birthday with some drinks out on the patio.

He's lovin' tummy time!

He looked too cute in this picture....still trying to figure out this sitting up thing....

He loves to look at himself in the mirror during tummy time. He has been talking (well, you know...cooing!) like crazy lately. He loves to talk to himself in the mirror.

He is all smiles these days!

Hanging out with his Godfather, Mike!

I couldn't believe how strong his neck is getting

We met Annie, Molly, and Carter at Panera for lunch. Mom and Dec hanging out before we had to head home....

One month pictures....

Tony and I decided that we wanted really casual photos taken of Declan in our own home, so we had a freelance photographer come over and take some pictures of us just hanging out! I can't believe how much his looks have already changed! These were taken when he was one month old, and he was two months old this past week! He is growing so much everyday!

Go Saints!

Tony and I took Declan to his first Saint's baseball game. We only stayed for an hour, but we had a great time! They had little "Saints" sweatbands for everyone, and Declan sported it quite well! He did great, and seemed very interested in the game before he fell asleep. We think he's going to be a baseball player!