Julie brought David into my work today for a weight update. And he's still growing! David is now up to 7 lbs., and 6 oz. (3350 grams)! He does continue to eat well and he's still sleeping a lot. As Julie can attest, he seems to be eating all the time ( and not sleeping enough !) He's been spending a lot of time with Judy, as she will be headed back to Missouri Friday.

I've got the bug that Isabelle has today. So far, just a little sore throat. I hope this is where it stops. And I just made a comment about my immune system too, which used to be so good. Oh well. Perhaps it's another drawback from the lack of sleep.

We have a new family potrait as you can see. We'll get a formal one done soon, but for now, here we are! And yes, we need to trim Isabelles hair.

Ogh Oh. What we feared has arrived. Isabelle has a bit of a cold. It looks like she picked it up from a couple of playmates. So far so well, as this is mostly a upper respiratory cold. Just when we were starting to sleep a little bit better too. I'm sure David will be fine, especially if he inherited my immune system. And in a sense, this will be a good challenge for him. Here's hoping Isabelle recovers quickly and David has no problems.

Now I've seen just about everything. Grandma Judy and Isabelle have a little routine with the 'Hokey Pokey.' It's half choreographed, half silly mimicry, and half crazy abandon. I'll have to digitize it for you all one day.

I am happy to report that David is doing well, and I really don't have much else to report. He's doing all the baby stuff babies should do, but it really doesn't merit much talking about. At the risk of jinxing myself, he is starting to sleep a little bit quieter at night, which helps a lot. We are still not getting a good stretch of sleep, and therefore we are not getting any quality REM sleep. Hence, we're getting dumber.

We all went to the park today. David still pretty much just sits in his car seat, which neatly snaps into the stroller. But Isabelle played and played. At times, she almost seemed to have too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it all. She slides down the slide, then runs over to the see-saw, but hesitates and looks over at the other slide or sand pit, then gets on the see-saw for about 7 seconds, then runs to the swing, no wait, the slide again!

My mom also brought a few pictures of me when I was a wee one. That's me in the photo with the red rocking horse. Isabelle has a rounder face, but I can certainly see a resemblance. We'll have to try to find a picture of Julie when she was about 2 years old as well.

Lots of fun with the family today. Both grandmas went goo-goo over the little one, and always enjoy watching and playing with Isabelle. Also, they had a good time visiting with each other. They were both so busy with the little ones, hardly any photos were taken. I did get a couple when I got home. Isabelle had a fun game of peel the tree and hand us the bark. Eventually, she saw the tree was going to require more then one afternooon to completely peel, and she decided not to wear her fingers to the bone, and save some for later. She also saw the BBQ fired up for the first time. She's very smart, and knew to stay away at a good distance.

Isabelle also learned the word 'pie' very quickly. She still doesn't know diaper, get down, or pick-up your toys, even though we've been saying those words for months. It seems the grocery store was giving away pies when Julie was there, so she brought home an apple pie, and Isabelle only had a tiny bite. But she sure knows that word.

David got to spend some quality time with Grandma Jeanne today. And so did Isabelle, of course. David did just about the same thing he does with anyone holding him, or no one holding him; he just laid there and grunted and squirmed. But he's so cute when he does it. Speaking of grunting and squirming, he's starting to do a little bit less of that at night, so we are getting a bit more sleep. Or, we are getting accustomed to his noises, and we're just sleeping through it. We didn't get any pictures though, the batteries needed charging, then after diner, we were just too busy. Jeanne is here for a couple of days though, so we'll have some photos up soon.

Today I gave Isabelle her first lesson in relativity, 100 years after Albert first put the theory forth. OK, here's what happened. We went to the park down the street, and between running to the slides, horse-go-round, and sand pit, Isabelle went for a swing. She really likes the swings. She's going back and forth, and having a grand ole time watching the ground move beneath her feet. Then I jumped on the swing next to hers. This was not the easiest thing to do, as this was one of those childrens swings, with the belt included. I think they are called bucket swings. Anyway, those swings are designed for skinny little butts of kids that weight under 50 lbs (22.6 kg). It was a snug fit to sit on top. But I digress.

I started to swing with her, in the same period, so when Isabelle looked at me, I wasn't going from a distance of 1 ft. (30 cm) to 8 ft. (2.4 m), but I stayed the same distance from her, as we glided over the tanbark. She liked that a lot.

Isabelle also spent a lot of time collecting all of her stuffed animals, and placing them on the couch. Then sitting on them. Fun, fun, fun.

Today also marks David's four week birthday! Has it gone by fast or slow? I can't really tell. This is actually the weekend we thought he might be born, just two weeks early. Just like Isabelle.

yeah, I'm a geek.

David slept a little too much yesterday, and Julie and I were up most of the night. Oh well, just a few more weeks. We are still just so sensitive to his squadling and grumbling. I got up this morning to tend to the little ones, and Julie slept 'til lunch, then I went to bed after lunch.
Isabelle did have fun discovering new things to do with necklaces. Now she only needs rollerblades and a Olivia Newton John soundtrack.

David went to see his pediatrician today, for a general check up and weight check. And guess what. He's over 6 lbs! 6 lbs, 5 oz. ( 2865 grams), which means he's gained a whole pound since birth. David has gained more, since he lost weight the first week, but that's a good sign. He continues to do well in all other respects too. He is a little more aware, in that he turns his head towards noises, and he almost seems to look at us too, although I think he's only capable of seeing light/dark at this time. We don't have to bring him back to the pediatrician for another month. Which is a good sign as well.

Big bath night for David. And he did his business all over Julie ( again ) just before getting all cleaned up. He seemed to enjoy his bath, in that there was no screaming. Then he peed on Julie when she was drying him off. David's only a few weeks old, and already has mastered slapstick humor. This kid is awesome! No pictures of that adventure though.
Julie and her mom went to a huge kids products consignment sale this afternoon. They seemed to have scored big. There's a new Snugli, and a Kelty kid carrier, and a couple bags of winter clothes for the two wee ones. For like $50. Julie's such a good bargain shopper. Now, with all your gifts, and these latest purchases, I think we've got two full dressers.

Tom and Nancy Canty must be walking zombies by now. How people cope with having twins is beyond me. Maybe the babies are so in tune that they grunt and poop and eat around the same time...? Fat chance. Tom, care to comment?
David is doing beautifully. His appetite is great now and he has no problem eating every 2 or 3 hours regardless of the time. His favorite sleeping and non-grunting position is laying on our chests with his mouth open. (See photo). Last night or this morning or whatever time it was, I actually tried to sleep this way. Thank goodness my Mom is here to entertain Isabelle so I can get some sleep!! Even in my sleep deprived delerium, I can't help but marvel in his perfection. He's got the cutest little sweet face... and Mommy's dimples.
Speaking of Grandma... we've enclosed a photo of what seemed like a good idea at the time. Grandma took Isabelle to Long's Drugstore and couldn't resist buying her this giant cow balloon. If you can't see from the photo it really is bigger than Isabelle! At first she loved it and had to hold onto it's foot the whole stroller ride home. Then she was afraid of it... she cuddled up on Grandma and said looking hesttantly at it saying "Cow, bite." So cow stayed outside for a while. It didn't take long for her to get curious about it again and then she couldn't be without it. She even tried to ride it and make it sit next to her while she played with her blocks, and of course wanted to take it to bed.
Grandma now thinks that giant cow should meet his demise via a pin to his hiney, but since she told Isabelle is would be here in the morning and doesn't want to traumatize her, I guess we'll have to wrestle with it for one more day.

David is doing very well. Mostly at sleeping when we are awake! The one thing that he hates, is geting his medicine. We are still giving him Prevacid in case he has a little heartburn. I'm not really sure we still need to give it to him, but since we have all this stuff, with banana flavor, we kight as well use it.
Sometimes it looks as if David is growing quite a bit. I think he's just stretching a lot, but he does seem longer. I bet he's up to 6 lbs ( 2725 grams) by now. We'll find out in a few days, as David has a recheck on Friday with his pediatrition.

(love that tan line huh?)

I missed another day? Wow. Well, now that I think about it, I am busier now that he's home. (Go figure.) It seems that after feeding, bathing, playing and getting Isabelle ready for bed, then spending a quality hour with the little man, doesn't leave me with a lot of time for these posts. I'm still pretty tired too. David seems to have a 2 hour cycle, so we haven't got any good long sleeping done. That will change though. We don't know when, but eventually he'll start sleeping longer. Julie is definitely doing all the nighttime work though.
Yesterday was Julie's night to have a freak out about David sleeping. She sat up all worried, and looked at him. Of course, in the dim light, it's hard to tell if his little chest is moving a tiny bit, so she gave him a little nudge. He grunted his mild annoyance, and Julie lay back down. I slept through the whole thing, since I know he's OK, and I would never worry about him at all.
As you can see from the pictures, David sleeps very well when we have to hold him. Especially after he burps. And boy, can he let out a burp! Sounds like he just drank a pint of beer. Isabelle still does that too, but she adds a smile and looks at us for approval sometimes. And Isabelle wanted to show us all her new ideas for hairstyles.

We didn't get a post up yesterday. Just too worn out. I did catch up on some sleep today though. We gave David his first bath today. He wasn't very happy about it. He's much happier being all wrapped up. David also got to meet his regular pediatrician for the first time today. She gave him a brief exam, and we found that he's gained even more weight. Now he's 5 lbs, 14 oz (2665 grams)! He's doing very well. David still seems so small though. And it's funny to think that he should still be inside mom for another 4 weeks.

Here's a neurotic parent story for you. As you all know, David was in the hospital for breathing problems. He's home now, and all night long we are very attuned to his breathing and all the little noises babies make in the night. That's one reason we are short on sleep lately. So the night before last, I close my eyes at 1-ish when David is sleeping quietly. Next thing I know, it's 3:56, and he's still quiet! Oh no! I jump up, and check him in his bassinet. I'm sure the sound of my bounding heart will wake everyone up. Of course, he's fine, just sleeping away. Whew! Nothing like a little new parent scare to keep me up the rest of the night. He, naturally, was up again about 10 minutes later, just in case I could go back to sleep.
I have put a new photo album up on the dotPhoto site for both Isabelle and David.

Busy day today. Of course, it always seems that way when you don't get a good nights sleep. Yawn. Sorry. So we slept with David in the bassinet next to the bed, and we heard every little grunt and squawk. No crys though. In a odd way, we were glad to hear the noises, even if it did keep us up. David is doing fine though, he's eating, sleeping, and pooping. Just what he need to do. I think we have gone through about half of his clothes already. That is partly due to occasional poor fitting diapers. Those diapers are just too big for little bitty babies.
Today was also the first full day Isabelle had with her new little brother. She did great! She played an her own, then would come over to see what we were doing with the baby, and point to him and tell us, "Baby baby." She has also learned to be gentle with David. She is learning all the parts of her face, and like to point out ears and eyes and such on her stuffed animals. Well, she came over and wanted to poke him in the eye and tell us about it. Julie was right there holding him though, acting as damage control. We emphasized the word gentle, and touched her gently, and she then learned to touch his little head gently. That got her excited, and we had to do damage control again from the smiling, wiggling little girl. Later in the evening though, she kissed him on the head. She sure learns fast! You might not be able to read Isabelle's shirt, since we are taking low light photos, but it says, "I'm the Big Sister." Thanks Sherrill! She likes being called the big sister. Isabelle has also started to change diapers on her stuffed animals. Fortunately, she doesn't know how to open the baby powder we sometimes use on her.
To sleep, per chance to dream, tonight? ( apologies to Shakespeare)

Home at last! Yeah!!! Uneventful trip home, thankfully. And Isabelle is, of course, very curious. She did offer her favorite stuffed bear to David though, so I think that's a good sign. We'll have many more pictures soon. I just wanted to get the news out there.

Well, we've been very patient. I felt sure that the Dr would write the order to have David discharged today. I brought his clothes and the wagon with the carseat (vs. the more fuel efficient vehicle), but when I got to the hospital, no orders. The Dr. is busy... meetings, meetings, hasn't done rounds yet, 20 babies to see... blah blah blah. WHY can't he see David EARLY... "check check why yes, he can go home today." FRUSTRATING!!
So anyway... in a nutshell, I became the dreaded squeeky wheel and guess what?? I got some grease!! David is coming home tomorrow!! We don't know what time yet; again, this depends on the Dr, but word on the street is that tomorrow is the big day for sure. HOORAY!
We are so happy that he's passed his final hosptial challenge and is ready to keep us up all night! It's been a tough 15 days on all of us... Isabelle hasn't really understood what's going on, just that we keep talking about this baby thing and one or the other of us is gone a lot. But, hopefully the bad stuff is behind us and we can move along to being one big happy family. And I can finally have some time to write Thank You cards to all of you who have been so kind to send us gifts for the baby and Isabelle.
Tomorrow we should have new pictures to post! He's so cute!

Gladly, there is not much to post today. David still eats and sleeps well. He is up another 25 grams, to 5 lbs. 9 oz (2525 grams) But I do have a new photo. Maybe he'll be home tomorrow. I've heard that parents of premies shouldn't expect them home before the actual due date, but we hope to beat that by a few weeks.

David just keeps getting better with the bottle. We forgot to bring another set of bottle/nipples this morning, but he did well last night anyway. He took 50 mls, then 60mls, then 70 mls on four hour intervals! That's a very good sign.
I did something all parents do, and it still bugs me. I was trimming his nails, and....do you know where I'm going with this? Yes, I clipped his skin and made him bleed. What kind of dad am I gonna be!?!? Argh! And the best part was having to swallow my pride and tell the nurse, so she wouldn't freak out if she came over to look at David and found a bunch of blood everywhere. 'Cause you know those kind of cuts take forever to stop bleeding. Well, I guess it's out of the way now, so I'll be extra careful for the rest of my life.
We've attached a couple of pictures of him as he was sleeping, then waking up. And one which is pretty obvious.

2500 grams! Yeah, a new milestone. That's 5 lbs, 8.2 oz. So that continues to be a good sign. Also, he passed his Car Seat Challenge! He just slept in his little seat and his oxygen stayed high, as we hoped. However, he didn't do very well with the new and improved bottle nipple combo. But the problem wasn't the latch, but the nipple. He went through the motions, but no milk was going through the nipple. So it could be the nipple pore is too small for fortified milk, or his suction isn't strong enough, or the nipple is defective in that it does not have a hole at all. I suggested the nurse poke another hole in the nipple with a 30g or 25g needle to see if that helps. We'll find out tomorrow.
I almost forgot, I saw the results of his brain ultrasound. Nothing really to report. One of his ventricles is a bit larger then the other, but there is no sign of actual bleeding. There is also a tiny amount of fluid outside the left side of his brain. What does that mean? It means there is a tiny amount of fluid outside the left side of his brain. It's not diagnostic for anything, so we just need to keep watching him. I know, some of you medical types might be thinking (viral?) meningitis, but he has no other clinical signs. Actually, now that I type this, he did have a few other signs of a possible viral meningitis; lethargy, and a weak suck, and jaundice. But he certainly would have had those conditiond being born so early anyway. Probably just a coincidence. Julie also had viral syndrome back in May, but I doubt if that would still be a factor. Babies brains are still so immature and resilient, so he should develop just fine. It seems getting delivered naturally may be the most traumatic thing that happens to babies, and happened to many of us as well.
Another test he passed - hearing! He had a otoacoustic emission test, and responded normally. So we are pretty happy with little Davids development. We'll be out again tomorrow morning to see how he ate over the night. And see if he had any beter luck with the Avent bottle. Maybe we'll bring out a couple of other types too. Isabelle had about 4 different type of bottle/nipple sets!

We visited David today and found that he is continuing to improve. The doctor has discontinued gavage feedings, so David has to take all his nutrition by bottle. That's a good thing, since it is an indication that David is nursing well, and is one more step closer to coming home. Another test he has to take today is the Car Seat Challenge!(PDF) Sounds like a game show huh? Well, it seems premies have harder times in car seats. I think it is a matter of weaker necks and chests being strapped down. No one could really tell me, except that premies have a harder time. But the test consists of placing David in the car seat, strapping him in, and placing a pulse-ox on him. Then we watch the pulse-ox for an hour to check for a decrease in his oxygen saturation. For the lay persons, we need to make sure he is breathing well. This is usually done a couple of days before discharge, so here's hoping David comes home Monday or Tuesday.
The doctor also asked us to bring in a new bottle with a wider nipple. One of the weaknesses David has is getting a good latch, which is partly due to the bottles/nipples used in the NICU. They are very narrow, more like a pacifier. So we went out during the nursing rounds, and picked up an Avent set. These have been the most recommended by the lactation consultants at the hospital. Of course, since we were there, Julie nursed him instead, so we'll have to wait to see how the new bottle works, and how David did with the car seat challenge. The first picture of David today show him just after nursing. He's milk drunk. Then he moved to my belly, and liked my heart beat.

I just had to put up this picture of Isabelle at the park. She loves the big curving slide. I almost have enough for a new photo album to post. Look for it in a few days.

David continues to gain weight. Tonight he is up to 5 lbs, 7.5 oz (2480 grams). He was a little tired later today though, as the unit has had a lot of visitors making noise throughout the day. But he sure can sleep when we hold him close to our chests. Must be that heart beat. Unfortunately, he still does not eat as well as we'd like him too, which means he'll be in the unit for a few more days. Sometimes he finishes a bottle of 50 mls in just 15 minutes, other times he nurses a bottle for 35-40 minutes, and only drinks 30 mls. He does tend to nurse from Julie a little better.
On the bright side, he has just about cleared up the thrush in his mouth.
We've received a few gifts from some of you, and we are very appreciative. Isabelle likes her Big Sister gifts too! I'll put up a picture of her in some of her new stuff soon. And some of you have asked where we registered for our new baby. Well, quite honestly, he haven't. So many of you were so kind to help us out with Isabelle, and we still have so much baby stuff ( with low miles ) we didn't plan on it. Is that rude?

I'm glad to say that there was not much news today. Oh, except he pooped all over Julie! She was changing him, and just when he was all clean, BLURT! He shot poop about twice as far as he is long. All over Julie's right arm and chest. It was so fast, it made Julie squeal, which brought the nurses running. So everyone got a new change of clothes, and he was fed, and ate well. He's doing better with the bottles, and he's gaining weight. Today, David passed his birth weight to 5 lbs 6 oz (2440 grams).
David's working his mojo on the nurses too. Tonight, they all said he's the cutest baby in the unit, which we've known for quite a while, thank you.