Game Day!

Since the last post, Andrew has hit the 10 pound mark! He was 9 pounds 12 ounces at his visit to the pediatrician last Thursday. While we were there, the doctor did a little check up. She checked Andrew’s reflexes because I noticed that he twitches quite a bit while sleeping and stretching. The eye doctor said that as he is starting to look around more, he will still have some jerky movements. She said that I should consult the pediatrician if I was concerned. So while we were there for his last RSV shot, she did a little check. It is normal for babies to have little movements. One of the trickiest things about being born early is that it is hard to know which “birth date” to go by when looking at Andrew’s development. On Friday, Andrew turned 12 weeks old! He had his first play date with his friends David and Anthony from the NICU. We took a long walk and then visited for a little while. It was so good to see our friends; we haven’t seen them since we left the NICU. As you can tell from the picture, Andrew was exhausted after the long walk. Fresh air does wonders…and now the cold weather has kept us inside again!

David, Andrew and Anthony

I'm exhausted!

Great Gram's Birthday!

can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks since the last post! Time flies…and Andrew is growing so fast! He will be 12 weeks on Friday! We made the trip to visit my grandma (see picture) for her 80th birthday and Andrew did really well on the car ride. He slept the entire 2 ½ hour ride. We are working our way up to the 3-3 ½ ride to New Buffalo. That drive might require a stop to eat! We had a really nice visit with my grandma and my aunt who was here from Seattle. Andrew is the first boy on my mom’s side of the family…my mom has two sisters and they all had girls (five granddaughters for my grandma), so my grandma was excited to meet her new great grandson! He is the fourth boy to have Martin as a middle name on my dad’s side of the family! Andrew, my dad, grandpa and great grandpa all have Martin as their middle name. Last weekend we had grandma and grandpa Hull here to visit. They haven’t been here since the weekend before his discharge, so they were surprised to see how he has grown. Andrew is 9 ½ pounds! He has more than doubled his birth weight! I went out to dinner with the DG’s and Brian and his parents stayed home with Andrew…who was a little fussy. We have taken every opportunity to go for walks when it is warm out and Wrigley loves having long walks with the family! He wasn’t so sure about the stroller following him at first, but he quickly forgot about it. It has been so warm that we finally met our neighbor friend, who was born in October (6 weeks early). It was nice to visit and share experiences from the NICU. We went to the eye doctor yesterday. His eyes are still developing. The doctor said that she usually likes to see babies for 8-10 weeks, so we will be going back in another 2 weeks. She said that he will start looking around and focusing on objects more, which he already has been. He has a new mobile in his crib and he seems to really enjoy that (when he lets us put him down). While we were at the doctor, we saw his old “pod mates.” During the last week of his stay, Andrew shared a corner with triplets (2/3 babies). So it was good to see all of the babies! Things have been getting better in the eating and sleeping department. Hopefully he is starting to grow out of the reflux, but we still have our moments. It’s getting better. We are back to swaddling to help him sleep a little better. We gave it up because he would get out of it every time. So we have to swaddle him when he is really sleepy, otherwise he gets out of it and startles himself awake. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor for his last RSV shot. Thank goodness RSV season is coming to an end and hopefully all of the flu bugs will disappear! We are so grateful that Andrew has stayed healthy since he has been home from the NICU.

Happy Birthday Great Gram!
This is the life!

So sleepy!

Happy dreams!

Family

We have had another great week…Andrew will be 10 weeks old tomorrow. We have been on a bottle strike since Sunday…with the hope that he will regulate his eating patterns a little better. The good news is that he doesn’t seem to be over eating, which helps with the reflux. The bad news…not a lot of sleep for me. But hopefully that will get better. He still loves to be held but we’re working on that one! We did go for a walk on Monday, since it was so warm. It was nice to get out and I think we all enjoyed getting some fresh air. He slept the entire time! We went to the eye doctor on Tuesday…everything is still developing normally. We’ll go back again in two weeks. We’ve noticed that he is starting to show an interest in the books that we read and the toys that we hold in front of him. He seems to track them with his eyes as we move them. He is getting so big! We are starting to put newborn clothes on…well now they actually fit. I think I’ll have to put the preemie outfits away. We’re taking another trip this weekend to visit my grandma. She has recovered from her fall, so we’re excited to introduce Andrew this time. Today is her 80th birthday.

9 Weeks Old Tomorrow!

Andrew turned 2 months old last Friday; he will be 9 weeks old tomorrow! Monday was his original due date…we have been blessed to have him so early and so healthy! My mom and sister came to visit this week…it was nice to have a few extra sets of hands! I was able to take a nice uninterrupted shower! Last Thursday we went to the pediatrician for Andrew’s RSV shot. RSV season is over at the end of April (I believe) so thankfully we won’t have to go through that again. That was his first shot (that I witnessed) and it broke my heart to hear his little cry. When we went for the shot, he weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces. We then went on Saturday because Andrew was having a lot of tummy issues. He started to have all of the symptoms of reflux (common in preemies) and sure enough the pediatrician recommended Zantac. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces…a nice 6 ounce gain in only a few days. So that leads to his most recent visit to the pediatrician. Aunt Erin came went with us to his 2 month check up on Tuesday. I needed someone to be there when he had four shots! He also had to have an oral vaccine. It was quite the outing for the little peanut…he slept and slept and slept after that appointment. I was worried when he didn’t wake up every 2-3 hours at night to eat. I do have to say that it was one of the best nights of sleep that I have gotten in a while. He weighed a whopping 7 pounds 14 ounces at this visit…so another 6 ounce gain since Saturday. I can’t believe he is almost 8 pounds…and he probably is as I type this message. He also measures 20 ½ inches long and his head circumference is now 36 ½ cm. The doctor thinks that he is gaining weight “beautifully” and that he will have no problem on the growth curve. We can’t wait for it to warm up, so we can venture outdoors a little bit! We only leave to visit the doctor. We will go back to the eye doctor this Tuesday for another check up and then we’ll have a break for a few weeks before his next visit.