Sling baby

Hiking

Went for his first real hike yesterday. We took his whole sleeping window, 90 mins, since the sling just puts him straight to sleep. A major perk of the new house, hiking to spots like this door to door in an hour and a half. We found this vista between Bear and Fern Canyons off the Mesa trail just two miles out the door. The little man is now 7 lbs & 13 ozs, dr. appointment today, and we can ween him slow off the fortifier. Carrying this rapidly growing package uphill will certainly help me drop out of the triple digit kilo club, bye bye beer belly?

What went right

Things that have gone right.

- cloth diapers, the mini-shower attachment on the toilet makes all the differance (thanks Chris for the diapers!!).
- breast feeding & pumping (practice at the breast once a day because he still needs his fortifier).
- a regular schedule for all.
- his steady weight gain.
- a beer fridge in the garage.

Things that have not.

- my steady weight gain.
- the failed escape plan to breck.
- cuttting the lawn at 11:00 pm by headlamp, neighbor friendly non-motorized push reel style.
- the ever growing to do list.
- the birth plan.

Most important things.

- a healthly, happy wife and baby at home.

Ash 2 - Us 0

Notice the look of defeat, the little man has once again exacted his will. Sure we spotted him the first point, babies do hold sway over parents sleeping habits. Who would have thought that he cared for such worldly things as Real Estate! A little escape to Breckenridge, change of venue, Boscoe swimming in the Blue, altitude training for the babe (no more EPO) Besides triple digits on the Front Range and Summit County a high of 80, maybe and a low of 45, ahhh. This issue will be revisited come winter, because you will do anything, "unless it dumps."

p.s. The defeat of a early retreat back to "the bubble" was lightened by the August 06 Outside magazine waiting in the maibox. On the cover,"I Hate Boulder, Colorado! Why perfectville drives me nuts." A hilarous column by Marc Peruzzi, "The Gore-Tex Vortex."

Eat, Play, Sleep, Repeat

Mainly sleep, sleep, and sleep when he sleeps. Play at this point being changing the diaper and burping after feeding. Eating not glamorous, two people handing him to the next so the other can finish eating. Do it again in three hours.

Home SWEET Home

We're home and loving it! We arrived home on Saturday afternoon, and are so glad to be here! At the hospital, after they said we could go home since he ate all his feedings from a bottle for two days straight, there was a battery of tests. Ash had his hearing tested, his car-seat test to make sure he could breathe while in there since he's so tiny (thank you Nicky for the car seat!!), and he had his circumcision (which Sean so generously offered me the chance to attend rather than him. Can't imagine why...). His final weight was almost exactly 5 pounds - good improvement from his low of 3 lbs 5 oz!!

The house was a bit of a mess since we'd been only dropping by and picking things up / dropping things off for a month. And we really didn't have our stuff together - so his first diaper change was kind of funny. No changing station thing, where's the diapers? Do we have any wipes? He just peed all over himself. Where are the clean onsies? and so on... Then we realized we hadn't really washed and prepared everything for him - like washing the bedding, all the blankets, etc. I think we honestly did 7 loads of laundry before going to bed.

After two trips to Babies R Us (a.k.a. BRU) and a few to Target on Sunday & Monday, we're pretty much set up and have a bit of a groove down. (I had to drive all the way to BRU and leave the bubble of Boulder just to get preemie diapers since my order of preemie cloth diapers hasn't arrived yet and I couldn't find that size anywhere in Boulder... grrrr)

Mary gave us a bedside co-sleeper thing she used for her twins that we're using as his crib while he's in our room that has worked perfectly for Ash to sleep in (THANK YOU MARY). It is right next to the bed (my side of course) and its easy to settle him if he's making noises. He's been getting up about every 3 hours or so to eat - sometimes it stretches to 4 hours, sometimes it's every hour. We're still learning his schedule, but we did learn to read his cues so we can get his feeding going before he cries. One thing is that he is eating a lot more than he did in the hospital. I think that's kind of weird, but maybe a sign that he is happier here.

When he isn't in his 'crib', he's really into being held. We can't use the snuggly thing that holds him against your body (baby bjorn or something) until he is 6 lbs. Can't wait for that!! So now when we need our hands free, we either prop him on the couch with supporting blankets (rolling them to make a little 'nest' for him like they did in the NICU) or he hangs in the bouncy seat.

When I'm not feeding, holding, pumping, changing, rocking, etc., I've had time to get back to cooking! Dad & Kim - I found a great shrimp and pasta recipe that I made last night - it tastes JUST like the dish at Cami's. Let me know if you want the recipe. Today I'm tackling a blueberry tart - also a new recipe. We'll see if I haven't already messed up the pastry cream...

Last thing to note - Ash had his first doc appt yesterday, and he passed with flying colors. Since we've left the NICU, he's gained 4 oz - that's 2 oz a day and their target for him was 1 oz a day! Whoo hoo!! He also had his blood drawn for a final hermaticrite (sp?) test, and he passed that so no more blood doping for this little guy.

Now we just have to decide where to watch the fireworks... Big decision for his first 4th of July!

Where's the baby?

Showing a little smile after getting the news. HOME! A bit of a whirlwind right now but we will settle in somehow without the nurses. Big thanks to all the fine ladies of the NICU, nurses, nurse practitioners, NAP team, Boulder County Public Health preemie outreach and the doctors. And of course Plotnick. Without all of them the past month would have been much more trying. To those who still remain, Stay Strong and Take Care of those little ones.