What a difference a MONTH makes!

Time has flown since our sweet boy was born! It doesn't seem like long ago that we had this ultrasound taken (Nov 2) and began our exciting anticipation-filled journey to meeting Johnny!

Just a few minutes old! (Wed, Apr 27)

Working on eating by NG first

Leaving the NICU at 35 weeks corrected age (2wks and 2 days old) on Fri the 13th

First doctor's visit! (Mon 16May)

1 week after discharge--the NG comes out and stays out! (Fri, May 20)

Happy and clean after his first bath at home! (Fri, May20)

First outing! (Sat, May 21)

1 month old!! (Fri, May 27)

such a good little poser!

This month has really FLOWN by! I'm sure this will continue. So far we are the luckiest parents ever. Not only is Johnny the most adorable boy in the history of the world, but he is really a good baby. I have had friends and of course soooo many patients who've had difficult babies who cry constantly, don't eat, etc, and he's really really great. He's got nursing figured out now, and has made steady progress with this since birth, and done amazingly well, especially for being a premie! He has slept really really well, for a full 3 hours between feeds almost always, letting us get some rest! He loves to be held and sometimes gives a yell if he's not that sleepy and you try to lay him down, but usually is so agreeable. Just in the last week he's started a more sustained cry if he's really mad about something, usually hungry or wanting to be held, but that's still rare, so we know we're lucky! Often he'll just give one yell and look around and patiently wait for someone to come get him when he wakes up!

Likes:

Eating

Being held

Pacifier

Being swaddled

His swing

Being sung to

Hates:

being alone (not in someone's arms) if he's awake

diaper changes

NG tube--so many sneezes!

Whacking his head on our shoulders when we're holding him and he suddenly thrashes!

When he gets his hands out when swaddled and hits himself in the face/knocks his pacifier out

Wardrobe changes, especially onesies--the over the head part is awful!

We have loved growing into our little family and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be Johnny's parents! We are excited for you all to meet him. We're coming home for the 4th of July so the CDA crowd will have their chance to meet him soon! Thanks to everyone for their outpouring of love with cards and gifts for our little peanut. I'm behind on everything, but will someday send you all Thank You cards!

A huge blessing of this whole experience is getting to be home with Bob and Johnny. Bob is officially done with Bath Fitter and a full time stay at home Dad now, which he's loving! I'm on research through June, which means I work a half day a week for my continuity clinic, and one weekend a month of call. The rest of the time I'm working a bit on my research project from home and mostly hanging out and enjoying my boys! We know we'll never have this opportunity again and are making the most of it! We've taken >1500 pictures of Johnny so far, and although that's slowed a bit, we still are enthralled with him every day and always finding new things to coo over! We're excited to get to know him better each day and see more of who he is and trying to do everything right even though we know it's not possible to be perfect, but having a kid definitely makes us want to be better people in every way. It's exciting to imagine the little person he's becoming and the man he'll be someday!

Hope this finds you all well and you're enjoying some sunny weather too!