Great beginning

oooohhhh, someone sneaky stole a photo and caught Nicholas smiling. (thanks Allie!!!) Now we just have to work on his brother. Both boys absolutely LOVE the new exercauser. Alex was playing hard in it and just "resting" his eyes before mommy snapped this one. I swear they have a sixth sense when the camera comes out.....but the camera will persist, ha,ha!!!

We've had a very good week. It took the boys quite awhile to get back to where they were feeding wise and weight wise since their stomach bug but this week they seem to be back on track. For the last two weeks, we have been back to middle of the night feedings to get in extra calories and we are hoping that we will all be getting some more solid sleep soon.

We saw Pulmonary yesterday and it was a GREAT visit. Alex is back up to his weight from two weeks ago before he got sick (12 pounds, 12 ounces!!!) The doctor thinks he looks great. We unfortunately didn't get a weight on Nicholas because he's doing so well from a pulmonary standpoint, he's been discharged!!! But Nicholas has been downing his bottles again and feeling quite solid!!!

Anyway, back to Alex and the appt, The doctor discontinued THREE of his pulmonary medications. No more diuretics or nebulizer treatments. Each one was given TWICE a day so this is a big deal. He thinks he is likely outgrowing his medications so they that were probably not doing much for him anyway. Woohooo!!!!!! We'll just keep a close eye on him as he tapers off of these and hopefully they will be gone for good.

We also talked about his oxygen again. His oxygen saturation levels remains 99-100% on the tiny bit of oxygen he's on. The pulmonologist will send his office note to the cardiologist about this and we will follow up with his cardiologist in a few weeks. He will likely want to do another Echo (scan on his heart) before any decisions can be made to discontinue the oxygen but I am hopeful!!!

Alex also had a couple very rough nights getting used to sleeping in his helmet. Initially he'd wake up every half hour to hour to cry, which broke our heart. He was having a really hard time even moving his head in it initially and obviously couldn't get comfortable. He'd then wake up his brother which didn't help matters. We have tried working out some of the kinks in the crib to make him more comfortable and after a couple of more nights, we are relieved to say that he's beginning to sleeping much better! He is such a trooper!!

I think the illness and the new helmet has pushed Alex back a little bit more and we were getting a bit concerned that it might hamper him further. He could barely lift or turn his head and I think between the fatigue from having been sick and the helmet, I was worried how long it would take him before he was able to get back to his baseline, let alone have energy to try new stuff. Again, the "are we doing the right things by him?" came into mind again.

I was also referring to "the book"----you know the one that says what your baby "should" be doing about now. Its helpful to use as a guide but it can also stress you out as a parent if your baby is not doing literally EVERYTHING on the "supposed to" list by a certain time. (Heck the type A people even skip ahead and worry about the future stuff already too, not that I would happen to know about that, just something I've heard.....) So anyway, I was speaking to the therapist about my newfound concerns just today after reading the book. She reassured me and then went on with her visit with both boys. Mark unfortunately doesn't usually get to be around for the visits because work tends to get in the way so I went ahead and taped a couple small segments from the visit for him and thought some others might enjoy it too.

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Yep, they both rolled all the way over for the first time today!!!!! What are the odds of that? Both of them hitting that milestone in the very same day, heck in the very same hour???? Just incredible. I was just asking the boys therapist when she arrived today if she was concerned that they still hadn't rolled over fully yet "because the book says that they should be by about now......" ha,ha. Guess the boys just read that chapter and decided to go along with things! Its funny how you worry about something and then when they've accomplished it, you think, it was silly for me to worry, I know they have and will always do things in their own time. Why can't I just relax and enjoy the ride???

P.S. How do you like our new carpet? I've been wanting one for awhile now, you know a little more cushion on the hard wood floor. I was imagining something more neutral toned......but what we won't do for these handsome little boys!!

What a great beginning to the new year!

Hope you all have your own great beginning, Happy New year!!!!!!