He Looks Like Me

Since Max was born I always saw Andy in him and every once in a while I saw my dad when he would smile. I never saw me and I was ok with it. My grandma, mom and aunt have been saying that Max looks like me when I was a baby. I thought that was interesting so my mom sent me a couple of my baby pics when I was 3.5 months old. I see it now! That handsome little boy sure does look like me! 

Always smiling just like Max does!

I think he definitely looks like me in the above photo. Some days though he definitely looks like Andy 100%. (Obviously I am the smiling/laughing baby on the left.)

Developmental Appointment

Maxim had his big appointment with the developmental doctor yesterday. This is the first time he has seen her since he was in the hospital. This appointment was booked months ago as it takes up to 6 months to get him in and we were told how important it is for him to see this specialist. This doctor sees all babies in the NICU and then again when they are 6 months old after they have gone home. The doctor does tests on him to see how he is doing developmentally to see if he needs any further help by any other specialists. I know this sounds like what nurse Jackie does when she comes to the house and that's what we thought too, but we continued with our scheduled appointment because we were told how important this is and it's necessary. 

It ended up being a very good appointment. He weighed in at 15 pounds and is 25 3/4 inches long. The doctor told us that all of her tests were to measure him against a 3.5 month old since that is his age developmentally. She told us that there are no expectations of him to test older than that. She informed us that she was immediately impressed by his hospital records and how well he did in the hospital. Then after she saw him she was impressed again at how alert he is and she said that it seeems as if he has forgotten he is a premie because for the most part he is not acting like one nor does he look like one. She did tests with him on his back and he tested at a 5.5 month old. He tested as a 3.5 month old (right on target) for all stomach exercises. Other tests he sat at a 4.5 month old. For all tests he was either at or above his developmental age, so that was great news! The only thing we have to work on him for is his flat head. I guess premies tend to pick a side they like and they only look that way and move their head in that direction. This causes a flat spot and if not corrected it could lead to neck problems down the road. This is not something Andy and I had noticed, but once she pointed it out now we see how he only goes to his favorite side. She gave us tips and exercises to do with him to fix it. There is no specialist needed unless he is not showing any improvement in the next 6 weeks then he will need to see a therapist to fix this behavior. She was not concerned at all since it is not that bad.

She also informed us that we cannot put him in any jumpers or activity sets where he stands confined. Nurse Jackie also informed us of this too, but the doctor explained in more detail why these are bad for premies. Since premies did not fully develop in the womb they are missing "something" that allows them to play in those activity centers without developmental problems. If a premie uses a jumper this can cause them to be a tippy toe kid and it also causes issues with them being able to walk and know their boundaries. Something about how they did not learn flexion in the womb, and they are learning it now. 

She was also very impressed with how he is such a happy and very chill baby. She liked how much he was talking and giggling. He was just his normal happy self and it was great as a mommy to see how he kept impressing the doctor. He had two very proud parents in the doctor's office yesterday.

The big man will see the developmental specialist again in early May. He will also continue to see nurse Jackie as the next time he will see her will be in February. It's pretty nice that we have all these resources to make sure the big man doesn't begin to face challenges that we cannot detect on our own.

Sick Baby

It's kind of ironic that we decided not not travel to WI for the holidays to avoid cold and flu season and the big man got sick anyway here in AZ. I have no idea how he got sick because we have been very careful with him since his doctors instilled fear in us since they kept stressing to us "don't get him sick the first year because he will end up in the hospital." That statement worked on us especially since we spent 7 weeks in the hospital and have no intentions of going back anytime soon.

This week Max started sneezing on Monday, so we were watching him to see if he would get sick. We woke on Christmas Eve to him coughing and so we knew he was sick, but were taking his temperature constantly. He only got a fever up to 99.7 and Tylenol took care of that. We also put baby Vicks on his feet and Andy ran out to purchase a humidifier for his room. We were watching him carefully because the last thing we want to do is spend Christmas in the hospital. 

We woke on Christmas morning to the big man crying, but it was hard to hear since he lost his voice. He sounded absolutely awful. Now this mommy was feeling horrible as I just wanted to take his sickness away, but obviously there was not much I could do since it was obviously just a cold. As the day went on he just kept sounding awful, but you would never know it because he was laughing and smiling through all of his coughing and sneezing. He was his normal self and that was another reason why I was not too worried about him. I feel more bad for him than anything as I hated to see him so sick. We had plans to go to the Seifert's that afternoon but I called and canceled. I know we sounded like worried first time parents for canceling on the Seifert's, but we thought it was best to keep him home so he could sleep and rest. Needless to say, Christmas was kind of a bummer in this house this year.

The next morning we decided to call the doctor just to see if they want to see him since they kept stressing how he cannot get him sick this year. I gave them the run down on him and the nurse said they wanted to see him due to his premie status. She said that if he was a full term baby they would not want to see him at all since his fever never got over 99.7, so Andy took him in. They looked him over and said he looked pretty good for a sick premie. They just told us to continue to monitor his temperature and make sure he continues to breath normally because a very congested baby like that can start to have problems breathing and can stop breathing all together.

After all of this the big man got me sick. It was inevitable since I do nurse him and he is constantly hacking and sneezing in my face as I burp him. I feel awful! I am just glad the big man is handling his first sickness pretty well. I feel as though he is a better sick patient than I. Through this whole thing he has been pretty happy, chatty, laughing and giggling like his normal self.

Here he is in the waiting room ready to see the doctor holding his blanky in one hand and one of his favorite toys in the other hand.

6 Months

WOW! I cannot believe Maxim is 6 months old today. I do not know how much he weighs but a couple weeks ago he weighed in at 14 pounds 3 ounces. He has his 6 month check up appointment next week and that is where I will find out the exact weight and his length.

Here he is at 5 months. Not a whole lot of change but Max is definitely bigger now.

Maxim, this past month has been so much fun with you as we watch you learn and do new things. You have discovered your feet and you find them very fascinating. If you are super crabby we just hand you your feet and you find it funny as you hold them. Due to your NICU experience you are unable to flex and get your feet yourself. That's ok as we don't mind handing your feet to you and watching your face light up as you grab them.

You have also found your tongue as you find that fun to play with. We crack up all the time as you play with your tongue while you are talking to us. You just want to always grab onto your tongue as if you are trying to figure out what it is. It's hysterical.

You also figured out how to blow bubbles...well sort of!

You love your play gym and rolling on your side underneath it. I think you are getting close to rolling over.

Madison and Izzy are very good with you and when they get up in your face you are in awe of them. I think you are trying to figure out what they are. Izzy did not mind at all when daddy sat you on her and of course you just wanted to look at the TV.

Your hands have definitely gotten much better as you grab at EVERYTHING and want to hold onto EVERYTHING! This is also fun to watch you learn this, but definitely hurts when you grab onto my hair and don't want to let go.

Maxim, you are definitely obsessed with the TV. We don't like you to watch it but you will break your neck to look at the TV. I have turned cartoons on to see what you would do and you immediately get bug eyes as you stare at the TV. You have also talked and laughed during the cartoon shows.

You are definitely one happy baby and we are very appreciative of this. You wake up in the morning laughing, giggling and just excited to see us. You pretty much stay this way for most of the day. If you get crabby there is typically a reason. You are either tired, hungry or gassy. Since your gassiness has calmed down (and by that I mean it doesn't cause you to get fussy, but you still fart really loud all the time) it's typically that you are tired or hungry and that's easy to figure out. You now rub your eyes when you are tired and slam your body down (if someone is holding you) to the side and put yourself down for a nap. I give you your paci and all is good. We feel like we have lucked out with you since you are so laid back and go with the flow...that is as long as you can see mommy and daddy.

You love playing the nose game with me. I point to my nose and say "mommy's nose" then I point to your nose and say "Max's nose." I repeat this with lips, chin and then we say "yay" as we clap our hands. You get a kick out of this and you anticipate me touching your nose, lips and chin. It's fun to watch you giggle over such a simple game. Also, this past week I have taught you "kisses." This is where I say "kisses" a few times as I come in towards your face. You always smile and get ready with your mouth open to lick (aka kiss) my face. It's the simple things right now that bring so much joy to my life.

You have slept through the night about four times this month and let me tell you it was glorious. You definitely woke up ready to party from all the sleep you got. Now you will sleep for 5-6 hours straight at night instead of the 3-4 hours. This is much nicer since we do work.

You are going to the sitter's house about three days a week and you are doing excellent. It was a little bit of an adjustment for you, but once you got used to the change you just love it there.

You even made this fun craft project last week for us while you were with Stephanie and Kristen. What awesome caretakers to do a project like this with you when you were not even 6 months old. I just love it and it's going in the scrapbook.

You got to visit Santa Clause this month and today is your first Christmas. We decided to stay back in Arizona to keep you healthy and stay away from the cold and flu season in WI. That plan backfired on us since you are now sick with a cold. This started yesterday morning and you quickly got congested and sound awful. Even though you sound bad you are not acting like it as you are still laughing, playing and talking like nothing is wrong. Since you are sick we are staying home on this holiday. Here is your Xmas Eve and Xmas day photos. All smiles as nobody would know you are a sick baby.

Maxim, you are such a sweet little boy who has brought so much joy into my already very happy life. I can't believe you are already 6 months old as time is speeding by so fast now. I definitely look forward to watching you learn many more new things and I know Xmas 2014 is going to be a ton of fun with you.

Love, your mommy

Chatter Box

The big man is a very happy laid back baby who loves to just talk your ear off. His favorite thing to do is to sit down with you and talk or just hear himself squeal. This cracks us up. I just love it when he wants to chit chat...which is ALL THE TIME! His latest trick is blowing bubbles...or trying to. If I can get that recorded I will post that as well because it is super cute!

Here is a video of the big man squealing with daddy last week.

A Good Nights Sleep

I am probably going to jinx myself by blogging about Max sleeping through the night, but I am excited. Just note in no way am I bragging and I am 100% realistic that this is not gonna happen every night going forward. 

A few weeks ago we went to get the big man some overnight diapers thinking it might help him sleep through the night since he is a pee machine. We were surprised to find out the overnight diapers did not come in a size 2 and the smallest they went was a 3. We bought the diapers anyway in preparation for his weight gain. Can you tell we just really want him to sleep through the night? Hey, this mamma is tired. Well, last Thursday Andy thought 14.3 pounds was close enough to 16 pounds to strap on a overnight diaper just to see if it would help. I fed the big man and hit the sack at 10:30. Normally I am up again at 2:00am for another feeding, but to my surprise I woke up at 5:30 for work in a panic thinking something was wrong because he did not wake up. After checking on him I found out he was just fine. I then realized I got a solid 7 hours of sleep and I am wide awake and ready to start my day full speed ahead. I haven't felt like that since sometime prior to June 25th...ahhhh, seems so long ago.

I didn't want to get too excited about this, but I did have a repeat on Friday night. I am now beginning to think these diapers are magical and we should have strapped him in these months ago. I wish I could say we had the same experience Saturday night, but I can't because we had our holiday fondue party with our friends and so we were off the routine. That's not fair to the big man so I won't count that. On Sunday night he did sleep for a good 6 hours straight so that is something. Like I said earlier, I don't think this is how it's going to be going forward because I am a realist, but I will enjoy every night that the big man allows me to sleep for more that 4 hours at a time!

Soooo BIG

The big man had his second round of the RSV shot today and he weighed in at 14 pounds 3 ounces. He has gained 10 ounces since his last RSV shot four weeks ago. He's getting so big. I would love to know how long he is because I believe he recently went through a growth spurt that caused him to lengthen out. The spurt allowed him to grow out of some pajamas with the footies. One day they fit perfectly and four days later they were too short in the legs and I had to retire them with some of his other clothes. This makes me very curious as to how long he is, but they don't measure that at this appointment. His six month appointment is in less than a month so I will find out his length then.

Andy said he took this shot like a trooper. What a good little boy!

Visit With Santa

Last night we decided to take the big man to meet Santa and get his photo taken. As Andy likes to say, this was done more for his mommy than for his benefit. I am totally ok with that assumption because I had a GREAT time taking him to see Santa. He has been quite fussy lately and we have been assuming it's because his gums are getting ready for his teeth to come in. This made me worried about how he would be with Santa. I chose last night mainly because I assumed that it would be a short line since it was black Friday and people probably wouldn't want to go see Santa on Friday night after shopping all day. I was right because there was no line to see Santa and this made mommy and daddy very happy.

My parents (aka grandpa Jeff and grandma Vicki) were in town for Thanksgiving so they joined us to visit Santa and they too were excited to see the big man's first visit. They even got the big man a "My First Christmas" onesie that he wore to see Santa. Again, this was more for the adults entertainment than it was for a 5 month old baby who had no idea what was going on. I must say, even after being pretty crabby lately he  was pretty good with Santa. For a brief minute his lower lip started to quiver as Santa held him up and he stared back at Santa in the below picture. This is when I thought the whole Santa adventure was going to come to an end.

I was wrong as he did not cry at all. Instead he just stared at Santa and wondered what was going on. Santa turned him around for a few more photo shoots and Maxim just stared at everything around him like the curious baby he is.

Then Santa busted out a very colorful book that glowed from the inside and this got the big man's attention very fast. It's also a favorite photo of mine because it appears Santa is reading to him.

We then had one last photo opportunity where Santa and the big man waved to everyone.

Of course I paid a pretty penny for the above photos, but what better way to say Merry Christmas than to say with very over priced photos of your super cute baby with Santa?

While we were there I struck up a conversation with a mother who had a three month old with her. The little girl was born on September 4th which of course is very close to my due date. So to see Maxim and this little girl next to each other was nice to compare his size. They were the same size except Maxim was much longer than the little girl. For once I got to see that he is right in line with the size that he should be instead of always comparing him to premie sizes. I get stopped all the time when I am out from people commenting on him and asking if he is two or three months old and when I say he is five I get weird looks. I then have to inform strangers that he is a 10 week premie and that is when the strangers faces change from scared to awe.

Following the visit with Santa we did a family photo shot in front of the Christmas tree at Kierland Commons.

One happy Max.

...and he is done!

Happy Thanksgiving

Last year I blogged about the top 10 things I am thankful for, so I will make this an annual blog post and let you know the top 10 things I am thankful for this year.

1. A healthy baby boy
Of course I couldn't be more thankful for having a healthy baby boy, especially at 10 weeks early. To have a premie that early and only have a feed and grow baby is amazing. I am very thankful that he didn't have more problems. He is the most amazing little boy that has brought so much joy to my life and I am very thankful for that.

2. My amazing husband
Andy has been so amazing this year (not like it's different from any other year). He was my rock when Maxim was born prematurely and he stepped up to the plate and took six weeks of paternity leave all so Maxim didn't have to go to the sitter's at a young age. I am very thankful for him. Not only was he my rock and Maxim's daycare provider, but he also cooks and cleans too. He is one heck of a guy and I am very thankful for that.

3. My little family
I just love the little family that Andy and I created together. We have created a life here in Arizona for our little family of 3, plus 3 fur babies.

4. NICU nurses
The ladies at the hospital who take care of premature babies are beyond amazing. They are the ones who are there for your baby when you can't be. They get to know your baby and they show them tons of love. Not only are they educated to be your baby's nurse, but somehow they also are a psychologist. They don't just take care of the babies, but they also take care of the hormonal mommy's. It takes a very special person to be a NICU nurse and I am very thankful for NICU nurses as they are very special people who have a heart of gold.

5. NICU
Since Maxim spent seven weeks in the NICU I am VERY THANKFUL that a NICU even exists. Think about way back when there probably was not a NICU and specialists for premature babies. What did they do back then? I don't even want to think about that. I am just very grateful that there is something called the NICU so my baby boy had somewhere to go and he was taken care of very well by my #4.

6. Friends
I know this item was on my list last year, but I am still thankful for them in 2013 and it will probably be on my list again next year. Without good friends to get you through the tough times and be there for the celebrations in life you will live a lonely life. I am very thankful for my amazing friends here in Arizona, the Midwest and Oregon.

7. Captain
I have to be thankful for Captain as he is the cat who will spot a bug in our house from a mile away. Not literally as our house is super teeny tiny, but you get where I was going with that. Once he spots the creature he always lets you know about it. He is the perfect bug killer/announcer. Perfect example is the snake incident a few days ago.

8. My sweet dogs
I am very thankful that I have two very sweet dogs who have been very chill about Maxim joining our household. You hear stories of dogs not liking the new baby in the house and will rebel. Not our dogs and I am very thankful for that because I would have hated if we had to get rid of them.

9. Pomegranate tea
I have to insert this in here because it's my latest obsession. I just love green tea with pomegranate and I am drinking it as I am typing. It is so yummy and it gets me through these cold winter mornings. Ok, it's cold here for me in the mornings and the tea helps warm me up. The caffeine is also a nice benefit too since I do not drink soda or coffee.

10. Sirius XM
I have to give a big shout out of thanks to Sirius XM. It gets me through my long commute and my workdays. Right now I am loving the Holly channel as I can listen to Xmas music on my way to work, during work and my way home. It gets me in the Xmas spirit and I enjoy it this time of year. I also love the Morning Mashup as those guys help wake me up, or keep me calm when I am fighting traffic in the mornings.

I am wishing all of you a happy Thanksgiving. We are heading to the Seifert's with my parents, Tim and Shelley (they are all in town) for their Thanksgiving.

5 Months

Maxim is five months old today, or two months and 25 days developmentally. I do not know exactly how much he weighs, but I am guessing it's over 14 pounds. About two weeks ago he had an appointment for his RSV shot and he weighed in at 13 pounds 9 ounces so I am sure he is over 14 pounds now.

Maxim, it's crazy to think you were born five months ago already. Time is surely flying by fast. This past month we got to celebrate mommy's favorite holiday. It was so fun to make your Halloween costume, carve pumpkins and take you to my work event. I know you had no idea what was going on, but I had a ton of fun doing it.

This past month we also moved you from the bassinet to your crib at night. We started doing this shortly after you turned four months old. I thought it was going to be a difficult transition on both you and I, but you made the move to your crib easy with no cries. I was too tired to notice that you had been moved, so it was easy on me too. A couple weeks ago you slept through the night without waking up and I panicked at 5am when I realized you didn't get up. I thought something happened to you, but when I checked on you to make sure you are ok I saw that all was good. I wondered if this was going to happen every night, but you assured me the next night that it was only a fluke. You get up about once a night to eat (about 2am) and then you fall back asleep pretty fast.

You have been a very lucky boy as you got to spend this past month bonding with your daddy as he took care of you every day. You just love your daddy as he makes you laugh a ton...even more than mommy can. I do get to benefit from this as your daddy sends me pictures of you during the day to make my work day much easier.

Maxim, you have turned into quite the chatter box. You start your mornings off with breakfast and then a good hour or so of chit chat with daddy during the week and with me on the weekends. You just want to sit and have a conversation. You will just sit and talk our ears off for a long time and you seem to prefer doing this over playing with your toys.

Your big new thing this month is rolling on your side. Once you discovered this new adventure you always do it over and over again. When we put you under the play gym you will flop from side to side and you giggle the whole time you are doing this too.

This past month was the first time I left you over night. Actually, I left you with daddy for the weekend while I went to Palm Springs. It was tough to leave, but I knew you were in good hands. When I did get home and you saw me you just talked my ear off. Daddy said that was the most you talked all weekend, which told me that you missed me just as much as I missed you.

You do love watching TV. We do not like you to watch TV right now as your daddy read somewhere it's not good for your development at this age so we try and prevent you from watching. However, you are always determined to watch. You will break your neck to turn and face the TV. I cannot feed you with the TV on as you will turn and watch instead of eating.

You still clench your fists closed tight quite a bit, but you are doing much better. We are working with you to teach you how to grab things and I feel you have improved. We got you ball that is easy for you to grab and I think it's been helping you.

I am starting to think teeth are right around the corner as you are drooling quite a bit and you keep munching on your fist all the time. You are also "eating your gums" too which is a nice sign of your gums getting prepared for teeth. Mommy bought you a couple teething rings and you do have Sophie the giraffe to munch on, but for some reason you just want your fist.

Maxim, it's been an amazing five months. Being your mommy has brought so much joy to my life and it's way more fulfilling than I ever imagined it would be. You are such a good and sweet little boy and I just love watching you discover and learn new things. I look forward to more adventures with you.

Love, your mommy