Fat and Happy

The day we brought N home.  

Ethan has been great at learning to occupy himself while I help Noah.  He truly built that train track mostly by himself.  He was so happy - running around it saying, "I DID IT! I DID IT! LOOK AT ME!"  I had to take a picture.

 Our family.

 Ethan loves Noah.  He'll go to him and give him kisses while he sleeps.  Here he wanted me to take a picture of him with Noah. I forgot what we started laughing about, but I love that I captured his silly personality.

And, Ethan has decided he wants to potty train.  When we are home, he wants to be "all naked".  It was so cold last week, that I decided he needs to at least wear underwear.  We have few accidents, and he is great at telling me he needs to go "poo poo potty", though sometimes he means he needs to pee.  Terminology mix up aside, I am so proud of him!  We love this "too cool" pose he struck.

Noah now weighs 6 lbs. 5 oz. as of Tuesday.  He is growing so extremely well.  He is also sleeping 4 hour stretches sometimes, so it's promising that we'll get even better nights sleep in the coming weeks as he gets bigger.  We are all very very thankful.

Sunday's the Day!

It looks like our journey in the NICU will end on Sunday!!  Noah is coming home!!  HOORAY!   Here's our big boy!  5 lbs. 9 oz. today and ready to come home!  

It's been a long month, but we are so incredibly thankful for all the help, blessings, and prayers we've received.  Here Ethan is enjoying a gift we received in the mail from our dear Sugar Land friends the Armendarizes.

When Phil's parents were here they blessed us with a kitchen re-organization, complete with some much needed Elfa shelving.  Here is the work in progress.  HUGE difference in the functionality of our kitchen.  Everything is so easy to access!

I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but in the midst of this I had to complete defensive driving online.  I got a speeding ticket last November for going 35 in a 25 in our neighborhood.  :(  I would like to note this was my first speeding ticket in 12 years, if that excuses my lawlessness.  While taking the course, I finished knitting Ethan a hat and knit Noah's hat.  Unfortunately Noah's hat fit more like a yarmulke (yamaka).  

Phil and I had to kick in it gear to get his nursery ready.  We still need to replace the E's with N's, but Ethan is now in his new big boy room, so we've been spending our nights in here getting things ready.  BIG thanks to my mom for making the bumper to match the crib skirt.  It helps having a great seamstress for a mom!

So anxious for Sunday!  We're trying to prepare ourselves in case there is any reason he can't come home on Sunday.  It almost seems too good to be true!!!

The Countdown

It's like the NICU nurses told me, once you settle into a routine, it will be time to prepare to go home.  I arrived on Monday to a 5 lb. 2 oz. big boy!  Look at those chubby cheeks!  He's taking bottles like a champ - 4 feedings a day he'll take the full bottle and then the other 4 he eats over half and then poops out and gets the rest by tube.  He's 34 weeks now, and his maturity is still wowing the nurses.  We are so proud of Noah for working so hard so that he can come home.

The NICU is now estimating he'll be home in less than 2 weeks!  There are a number of things we need to do to prepare...I bought his new sheets for the crib, borrowed newborn clothing from friends (and got some cute warm pjs from his Gram), and secured a car seat.  Now we need a double stroller and a new monitor.  Anyone have a double stroller we can borrow?  Preferably one that works with a Graco car seat?

I'm trying not to get to fixated on a coming home date.  I won't know the exact day until 24-48 hours ahead of time.  So many things have to align perfectly before he is released.  Please pray he doesn't have any more apnea episodes; his last one was Jan. 30, so five days from Feb. 1 he is considered safe to be released, but he still has to take every feeding fully by bottle, and still not have any new apnea episodes which will incur another 5 days in the NICU.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Phil went out of town this weekend on a pre-paid trip to Dallas.  We had booked it on Hotwire, non-refundable, thinking, of course, I'd still be pregnant and I'd be able to go.  He found a friend to go in my place.  Anyway, he came back from the trip with the flu and today returned to work.

I'll take another picture of Noah tomorrow.  By then, he would have gained a few more ounces.  Maybe I'll try to take one so you can see his little fat rolls developing on his legs.  ;)