A Cold, Winter Day

It is beautiful outside this morning! Most people know that I LOVE serious weather, be it snow, ice, rain, hail, etc. I once considered being a meteorologist, knowing this, plus thinking that your wardrobe is paid for (I don't think this is true), but then realized that I don't really like being in front of people so this wouldn't work. Bill Meck thanks me for this realization. Anyway, I am very thankful to be tucked away in my house with heat and electricity and with my little Adam to snuggle! I like all the excitement that comes with weather. Everyone catches up with the news, family members call, people feel the need to run to the store, and it gives everyone something to talk about. If you're working, its a nice distraction, if you're in school, you have the chance of missing a day and sleeping in, and when its snow, you can even play outside! I like that sometimes it forces you to slow down, think if that trip outside is REALLY necessary, cook something warm, and stay inside together. Today is one of those days.

This morning I was amazed by all of the ice on the trees so I took some pictures. Later, my mom called to tell me to look at the size of the snowflakes outside - huge! When the snow stopped, I became even more worried about the trees outside. I already thought the ice was weighing them down, and now with more snow on top, we have lost several big limbs and I hope that the trees perk back up when everything melts.

One thing we knew when we bought our house is that the positive of having a sloped back yard is that it will be perfect for sledding, especially the right side of our house. Well, some of our neighbors must have thought the same thing! There were kids outside doing full body rolls down the hill this morning (this only lasted a few minutes; I don't think their mom allowed them to be over here). Later, some bigger kids were over sledding down the same hill. I was watching from the window and thinking that 1) we need to get a sled sometime in the future, you know, to be ready for a good snow and 2) Adam is going to have so much fun in our back yard...if we can keep him out of the creek.

Hope you are home, warm, cozy, and with people you love!

Congrats, Jessica!

I have exciting news to share! My friend, Jessica, who has taken all of our beautiful photos of Adam, was selected as one of the local photographers to have some of her pictures displayed in the rooms on the maternity floor at Central Baptist. Each one will be posted with a nameplate and her business information. This is great for her as she would like to do photography full time rather than essentially work TWO full time jobs and this is one way to gain some family / child photography business to add to her crazy-busy wedding schedule. She has chosen this picture of Adam as one to be on display! I went with her to the reception that was held on Wednesday evening to see the pictures of all the beautiful babies and it was a treat. I am so proud of her! So all of you who are expecting babies soon and will deliver at CB, keep an eye out for Adam's picture.

Around the House

**In my excitement to post the link for the photos I forgot to mention that we were able to stop using the home apnea monitor as of yesterday so Adam is now "cord-free" and David and I can stop using phrases like, "Did you plug him in?" and "I've already checked his leads". Last night was our first night without the monitor. I thought this might be an anxiety-ridden night but honestly, I was so tired and it felt like I was up every 15 minutes anyway. So I guess I made it just fine! (Okay, I admit, we hooked up the Angelcare monitor's sensor pad so I was pretty comfortable in the first place). Anyway, this was all good news, and will make traveling...heck, even traveling from one room to another...much easier. Okay, now back to the original post...

Today was my due date for Adam! Can you believe it? I can't imagine the last almost-ten weeks without him!

Here is a link to a slideshow of pictures Jessica took around our house, while we were just going about our normal routine. http://www.jessicacampbellphotography.com/babyadam/ Enjoy!

Two Months Old

Yesterday marked Adam's two month birthday. In honor of that, we took him to the pediatrician for his two month checkup. We really liked the pediatrician, and we received some great news. Wait...are you sitting down?...Adam weighed 7 lbs, 3 ounces! Isn't that awesome? Even we were surprised by how much he had gained. I expected 6 1/2 lbs or so.

Everything went well and all reports were good. He was still anemic, but I think we still expect this for right now. So we will continue his iron supplement. The bad part was that the little guy had to have four shots, an oral vaccine, and a heel stick! This is so difficult to watch! By the end, I felt like he was covered in band-aids. He was pretty tired the rest of the day but we were also giving him tylenol so that could have also made him sleepy. He seems to be back to himself today thankfully. We discussed that he is going to hate leaving the protection of home if he continues to get a shot every time he leaves the house! We are learning, though that babies are pretty resilient and also have a pretty short memory.

The other big piece of news is that we can now let him wake us up for feeding times at night. Previously, we were still adhering to the schedule he was used to from the NICU of every three hours, and we were told to continue this to help him gain weight. We will be happy to have the opportunity to get a little more sleep! Last night, though, he still woke us up every 3 hours, so we'll see. We are very thankful for the great checkup (minus the shots, for sure) and are definitely enjoying him at this stage.

Christmas pics...late

There have been several times recently where I wanted to post updates about our little miracle but I either don't get a chance that day or I forget what I was going to write about. Sleep deprivation will definitely do that to you. The other day I thought I was really ahead of the game by getting some things together that needed to be mailed and putting them by the door for David to take to the mailbox. That evening when he came home from work he told me that I had put the stamp in the wrong corner on one of them. Really!?! Isn't this second nature since we learned this in first grade? I am telling you, without sleep, all of those brain connections are NOT working.

Adam will be two months old tomorrow - isn't that hard to believe? I cannot believe how much he has changed, yet in some ways if I look back on the early pictures from the hospital, I see him making faces and doing things that he still does - I just didn't recognize them at first until we have gotten to know each other better. He has outgrown his first outfit, too - I realized this yesterday after trying to squeeze him in it one last time and finding that his legs could not stretch out. There are a couple others also close to being outgrown but I must admit I'm having trouble letting go of his first preemie clothes.

We are at a point now where the spoiling has begun. We knew that this was coming as a first grandchild, but now Adam thinks that he must be held to fall asleep, and sometimes just for being awake. We have a week of Christmas and family being around to thank for this, though we know we are not innocent, either. I think of many times when he was in the hospital and all I wanted to do was to be able to pick him up, hold him next to me and give him kisses as much as I wanted. I guess we are now making up for that as best we can.

I am posting a few pictures from Christmas that my friend Jessica took. I waited to post these because they were surprise pictures for our moms and then have been slow about putting them up here. There are more to come, but here's a few.

By the way, many people have asked me about Jessica's work. She is available for baby or family sessions (or more!) and I think her prices are a steal for the work that she does. You can check out more of her work at http://www.jessicacampbellphotography.blogspot.com/ and find her contact info there if you are interested.

Question for Moms

Adam was given instructions for 3 formula feedings each day of Neosure that is made to help preemies catch up. We are very close to graduating from the little bottle that we brought home from the hospital to a bigger bottle and I wondered what kind of bottles we should buy. Did anyone have a certain kind that you really liked?