We have survived the return to work.....

... Tuesday was my first day back to work. I cried daily for 9 days before going back. The morning I returned to work, I allowed myself enough time to get ready and leave the house. I did change his diaper, kiss him goodbye and hand him to Daddy. I then left quickly. I did very well this week and missed him like crazy, but we survived. I want to thank Dea, who is taking care of him during the week. He is doing very well with her.

I am so lucky to have Patrick. He is such a good husband and a wonderful father. He has been so helpful during the difficult transition. He has been a great emotional support to me (and I had been an emotional train wreck). He gets Nate fed/dressed/to Dea's in the morning. He takes good care of us and we love him very much.

Nate has been trying to turn over from stomach to back, but we still have a ways to go before that happens. He has been laughing more and cooing more. The developmental specialist came out Monday and mostly we did paperwork, but she is returning Wednesday to do a developmental assessment. We will find out more soon.

Here are a few pics from this week. Nate is wearing his robe in a few shots and is in a few shots with Gramps Little.

Click to enlarge.

I got chastized today....

....for not updating the blog. Sorry. I have been preoccupied and a bit panicking over my return to work next week. I have been pretty useless and emotional and will try to be better about the updates.

Nate is doing very well. He is eating pretty well most of the time, although he doesn't like to eat much first thing in the morning. He gets put to bed after his last feeding about 11:30 pm and has been sleeping through the night until he is awakened for a 6:30ish feeding on weekdays. On weekends he wakes up on his own between 6:30 am and 8:30 am. He normally goes back to sleep until 10 but that will change next week when he goes to Dea's house in the mornings. He really is a good sleeper. We are very lucky.

Monday the developmental specialist is coming to evaluate Nate for developmental delays. He is behind for his age, but preemies are supposed to be judged based on their due date age, not actual age. So Nate is 23 weeks actual age, or 9 weeks adjusted age. I believe that for 9 weeks he is hitting most developmental milestones well. The specialist will tell us more Monday (yes, she is working on the holiday).

When I was pregnant, I signed Patrick up for a Daddy Boot Camp class where he went for 4 hours one day and learned the essentials of new fatherhood- ie: changing diapers, feeding, holding, safety issues. This past Saturday, Patrick returned to the class with Nate. Nate was one of the babies the newer fathers-to-be got to practice on. The picture where he is getting fed , he is getting fed by one of those fathers-to-be. Notice the stream of formula coming out of the corner of his mouth- he was not cooperating very well.

The pictures in the crib were of Nate with Averie, my friend Debbie's daughter. She was born in late February at full term. She is 3 weeks ahead of Nate based on ADJUSTED age. I think the look on his face in those pictures says "why do you have me surrounded in all this pink??" He was in Averie's crib.

The last pic was just taken tonight.
Have a good week everybody!!

Click to enlarge.

Growing ......

....and he is - just look at these pictures! Nate is over 10 pounds now- probably close to 11 pounds by now. He is smiling a lot and has had a few giggling episodes. He is eating better now that we have switched to a different bottle, but continues to be a difficult child to burp- and when he doesn't burp, he spits up on us easily. Patrick found a new technique that burps Nate well. It involves inverting him and some near acrobatics- but it works most of the time-- if you ever see us do it, please try not to laugh. We stopped by to see The Miller family- our podmates from the NICU- there is a picture of Patrick/Nate and Chris/John.

Nate had his first trip to IKEA Friday and is going again tomorrow. He went to Bonefish Grill tonight and every person that walked by our table stopped to look at him and ask us about him. I am not exaggerating- every person/group of people. Who can blame them ? He is irresistible!!

I may have gone a little overboard on the pictures this week- but I couldn't resist.

Don't forget to click to enlarge!