7 Months and Moving

We have officially moved back to Pocatello! It has been a crazy couple weeks full of packing and unpacking. The most stressful part was finding out that we were moving 1 week before we were supposed to be out of our apartment. We own a house in Pocatello that we have been renting to some of our good friends while we were living in Twin Falls. They decided to move out this summer and we had been contemplating whether we should rent it again or try to sell it. Todd thought that he would look at a couple of jobs in Pocatello just in case and found a few that were pretty good but we didn't think any of them would work out. That was back at the beginning of September so when the 1st of November started getting closer, we had figured we'd be staying in Twin. Todd was offered a great job just 1 week before the end of the month and after much thought and hesitation, we decided to take it and move. We were so sad to leave Twin Falls. It has become our home and so many there have become our family. We have been supported so much over the past year by all of the wonderful friends we met. We are going to miss it!!

We moved last weekend and were able to have the week to get unpacked and settled in and feel much better about the situation now. 

Now for news on Nate. This little bug is 7 months old! He is weighing in at about 13 pounds. 13 pounds!!! Can you believe it?? He is growing up so fast and learning new tricks every day. 

• He is such a happy boy and is always smiling and talking to us.
• He has been a little stinker when it comes to eating lately. He is just so busy looking around and playing with his hands or bottle or my hands that he just can't be bothered with eating. Each feeding is at least a half hour ordeal!
• His hands are ALWAYS in his mouth. He has gotten very good at getting them straight to his mouth and he chomps on them all day long. 
• He has learned how to grab toys. Of course, they go straight to his mouth too :)
• He is rolling over. He has mastered rolling from his tummy to his back but can only roll to his left right now. He gets so pleased with himself when I put him on his tummy for tummy time and within 1 second he is looking up at me from his back. He smiles because he knows tummy time is up to him now!
• He is still sleeping like a champ but has not quite reverted back to his wonderful 7:30 am schedule since the move/ time change. He now wakes up between 5 and 6 and no matter what we try, we cannot get him to sleep later.
• During physical therapy we are really working with his neck at the moment. He has suddenly started having a hard time keeping his head up straight when he is upright. His head tilts to his left. It is most likely due to his strong preference for laying on his right side in the NICU so we knew it could be an issue  at some point. His little neck is tight on one side and weak on the other  so we do stretches and exercises with him throughout each day to try and correct it. 

My good friend Mishelle got the babies some super cute outfits from one of our favorite stores and Nate finally fits in it. He looked so handsome and I couldn't wait to get some pictures. (You can really see his head tilting problem in this picture)

He still loves his Mickey. He especially loves him now that he can hug him and slobber all over his face :)

New tricks

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. My goal is to update each week but things just get so busy and I realize that it's been more like 3 weeks. I don't have too many excuses anymore though because we have a lot less appointments these days. We even had our very first week with NO appointments last week. Nate and I didn't know what to do with all of our free time. He actually got a whole week of uninterrupted naps. It was wonderful!

 Nate has been growing and changing so fast lately! He's 12.6 pounds now and so stinking cute :) He is a sleeping champ and has recently started sleeping through the night. He went from waking up once or twice to sleeping 11-12 hours over about a week. I think it has a lot to do with his physical therapy exercises that we have to do with him throughout the day. He is working very hard every day to try to catch up to all of his friends.

This is my favorite new trick of his. Every time he goes down for a nap, we rock in the chair for a minute or two and I sing to him. About a week ago he started singing along with me. Now he tries to "talk" every time we talk to him. I love it!

Mommy's turn to have a nap with the little bug.

 Mishelle came to visit this week and Nate loved her! He was very happy to just cuddle with her all afternoon :)

 He loves his monkey! Todd likes to put it in crazy places and see if he can get it. He didn't care too much about having his friend on his head.

This video is from a couple of weeks ago. Nate loves to play on his mat. He'd much rather be playing with his fish than any other toy right now. He's just learning how to reach for it and is trying so hard to grab it. He gets it every once in a while but can't figure out how to get it down.

Growing up

Nate is 6 months old this week and we can't believe how much he's grown! 

2 days

1 1/2 months

2 1/2 months

3 1/2 months

4 1/2 months

6 months
His leg now is about the size of his whole body when he was born. He's getting huge :)

This was the first premie outfit we put him in when he was 2 1/2 months old. It was huge on him in this picture.

Here he is next to the same outfit

And here are just a few more pictures from the week...

We got out his Bumbo chair last week and he loves it! I set him next to me while I eat at the table and he thinks he is pretty cool.

I used to babysit a little boy (not so little anymore) named Nate and he had a monkey exactly like this one that he absolutely loved. When we saw this monkey we had to get one for our little Nate too. He likes to lick his face whenever we put it on him :)

My mom got this outfit for Nate for Halloween but we are worried that he is going to be too big for it by the end of the month so we decided to use it as pajamas now. Doesn't he look so stinkin' cute!?!?

Super busy!

We have been so busy since we have been home! Not only do we have a newborn to take care of, but he comes with a lot of extra work :) Between twice weekly home health visits, physical therapy, pediatrician, eye doctor, surgeon, urologist, and developmental specialist, we have had 16 appointments in the 4 weeks that we have been home. This past week was especially crazy because we had 3 appointments in Boise on 2 different days so we had to stay the night there. We were so lucky that the Ronald McDonald House had a room open. It made it so much easier than driving back twice or staying in a hotel. 

Here's an update on all of Nate's progress.

• At his appointment on Wednesday he weight in at 10 pounds 1 ounce and was 21.5 inches long. He is getting so big!!!
• His eyes are STILL not quite mature yet. We have been back to Boise twice since we have been home for eye exams and every time we go he is sure it will be the last one until he does the exam. Little stinker is so close. They are at the same stage that they have been for the past couple of months with no signs of worsening so we are pretty hopeful that he will be fine. He will still likely need glasses but they won't be able to do a vision test on him until he is about a year old.
• The surgeon has cleared him for at least another 6 months! She still wants to keep an eye on some other problems that may need surgical correction down the road. He has a couple of hernias that are bad enough that they may not clear up on their own. She is going to check him out again in 6 months and possibly repair them then.
• The urologist has also cleared him for another 6 months. Remember Nate had a UTI a while back in the NICU. When babies get UTIs it is often caused by kidney reflux. Basically, urine flows back up into the kidney and causes kidney infections. Some follow up tests were done in the NICU before we left and since we've been home and things are looking better. He will have to have another kidney ultrasound in March.
• So far, developmentally, Nate is right on track! They will keep track of his age in 2 different ways for the next 2 years. His chronological age will be from his birthday (April 1). So his chronological age is 5 1/2 months but, of course, he isn't doing anything that a typical 5 month old would be doing. Developmentally, Nate will be monitored by his adjusted age, or the age from his due date (July 19). His adjusted age is 2 months. So far, he is doing everything a normal 2 month old would be doing. He is still at risk for significant delays so they are going to be watching him very closely but this is a very good sign.
• There are still quite a few minor things that his pediatrician is watching closely but, overall, he is doing really well!

Fortunately for us, we will have a lot fewer appointments from now on so hopefully I'll be able to be better at updating the blog. I didn't realize how many people still read it :)

Here are the latest pictures of our little man

We tried all evening to get a cute picture of us kissing him... this was our best one :) It didn't turn out like we planned but it showed his feelings about the situation perfectly.

After his bath the other night I tried to do a mohawk. You can barely see it poking up there.

He thinks it's fun to stand in his bouncer. He's quite the risk taker :)

I realized that all of the other pictures were of his serious face so here's one to show our happy little boy :) He is such a good smiler these days.

Settling in

Nate is now 9 pounds and 20 1/2 inches long! He is back on track gaining about an ounce a day so he is quickly catching up in the weight department. He's still not even close to being on the height chart though. Poor kid. He's so much fun lately because he is just starting to smile. He isn't super consistent yet but every once in a while we can get a good one out of him. Here's the only picture I've been able to get so far. Also notice his shirt in the picture. Our good friends got Nate this shirt and it's Todd's favorite :)

Here's a couple other random pictures from the past week. I need to start getting the camera out more often...

He's definitely got his Daddy's grey eyes

He has just started growing out of his newborn size clothes but he still isn't quite big enough for some of his 0-3 month stuff yet. I could resist trying this one on him the other day though. Hopefully he'll fit into this a bit better before it gets too cold.

We're HOME!!!!!!!!!

After 140 very long days in the NICU, we finally have Nate the Great home!! We were expecting to be going home sometime last week but the NICU staff surprised us last Sunday morning kicking us out. It was absolutely crazy! The doctor decided it was time around noon and we were out the door by 6pm. Since all the doctors and nurses knew we would be leaving, they had most of the process ready but Todd and I had NOTHING ready. We had to go back to the Ronald McDonald House and pack up everything we had accumulated over the past 4 months including 3 coolers FULL of milk. Our car was absolutely packed. Todd had to go to work and pack up his office. We needed gas in the car and the car seat installed. It was madness. 

Nate in his going home outfit with all of his wires and cords off!

Last family picture in the NICU

Ready to go.
It was surprisingly hard to leave.  We are really going to miss the staff that have taken such good care of our boy.  

Nate has done so well being home so far. He has been sleeping amazingly well. He had been in the habit of staying up most of the night in the NICU so we were a little worried about how he'd do. He wakes up for his feedings and goes right back to sleep. He's also in heaven being able to eat as much as he wants. The first few days he went a little overboard and starting throwing up and not gaining any weight so his doctor restricted him just a bit. He now gets enough to be able to grow and feel satisfied but not so much that his body just pushes it through without absorbing anything. He needs to learn that we aren't going to starve him anymore so he doesn't have to stuff himself. Poor kid :(

First family picture at HOME

Nate loves all of his toys but he especially loves looking at his Mickey that Grandma got him. 

The weekly Sunday afternoon nap for the boys.

Day 134

Oh boy! It has been a very LONG week. Little Nate has had a week full of infections, antibiotics, wound packing, morphine, and starvation. The poor kid's incision got infected which, of course, delayed his eating and made morphine induced naps the only way to get him to stop screaming. We all had a lot of sleepless nights which made for one grumpy family :(

Fortunately, the end of this week turned out better than the beginning. His doctor started his feedings back up slowly on Friday and Nate has been a much happier boy. His infection also seems to be improving but another 7 day course of antibiotics is going to be necessary. The doctor is hoping that his feeding issues will all work themselves out by the time the antibiotics are done because those are the only 2 things keeping him here now. I can't believe we could be coming home by next weekend if everything stays on the right track!!!!

Here's hoping this week is full of eating and pooping!!!! :)