Thursday, January 25, 2007

Good Times with Grandma

We sure miss Grandma's company, but are working to get outside everyday. Grandma helped us break in the stroller. Eric cried through some of his first stroller ride. The bumpy road in the Presidio kept waking him up. It took some getting use to but he really looks forward to his strolls now.





Hanging out in our favorite chair.



Meeting Jen & Tony in town from New York (introduced Mom & Dad 8 years ago) - (little Lucy hung outside with my Mom)



Mom & Dad's night out at the wedding with good friends (first time mom has worn something other than sweats in the last month & did both make-up and hair. Mom came home between the wedding and reception to change a poopy diaper and feed Eric.



Sunday, January 21, 2007

Grandmas & Grandpas Are the Best

Grandma Lorraine has been visiting for the last week. She has been a great help cooking, doing laundry, and even a little babysitting. Eric and Grandma Lorraine have had fun getting aquainted.





Grandma Linda and Grandpa Terry also stopped by to say hi. Eric loves his grandparents.



Eric had another eye doctor appointment last week with Dr. Good who gave us the good news that his blood vessels have developed all the way out to the edge of the eye and fully matured like they are suppose to so he has no ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). He has to go back in on year to see if he has developed and near sightedness, but he is more likely to get that from Dad than from prematurity.

Our good friends Kate & Joe were married this weekend. Joe stood by Aaron's side as his best man at our wedding. Aaron was honored to do the same for him. Thanks to grandma we were able to share in Joe & Kate's special day and catch up with a lot of old friends. It was an awesome wedding andvery reflective of the two of them.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Welcome Home Ryan



A lot of you have been asking how Eric's buddy Ryan is doing. Well, he is doing great. His proud parents recently made the drive to Santa Rosa (their home town) WITH Ryan.

Jennifer, Kevin, and Ryan spent a total of 129 days in the NICU in San Francisco and drove nearly every single day back and forth for a total of 15,000 miles. Their love has given Ryan all that wonderful energy so he can be loved at home. He is a beautiful boy.





We are so happy for you guys.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Communicating More


Eric has been watching quite a bit of football with Dad. Here is in his All-Star uniform that Uncle Sean and Aunt Courtney gave him.


In the NICU Eric hardly every cried. In fact sometimes he would be awake and just waiting for us or the nurse to come by and see that he was ready to eat. He has now learned the more effective way to get food to his tummy, his hunger cry. He has also learned his "I am annoyed cry".

Eric seems to have a little bit of acid reflux, common in babies. So Doc McMahan started him on some medication to help him out. He is not a fan of the taste of the Zantac. When I give it to him he give me the scrunchiest face, as if to say "what the heck is this". Most the time he swallows it.
We are still working on breast feeding. I am not one of these super milk producers so we breast feed once or twice a day for now and I pump about half of what he takes from the bottle. He was 8 lbs 10 oz and is becoming quite the forearm workout.


Eric is also smiling a lot and loves to listen to us babble. Our water bill is going up because we have discovered the running water really helps him chill out.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Getting the Hang of Things

Eric had a busy week last week between the visiting nurse swinging by, shots at Dr. McMahnn's office, and a another trip to gets his eyes checked by Dr. Good. He is doing well. He cried for about 5 minutes after receiving for shots in his meaty thighs. At the eye Dr. he got to see he friends Pacita (parents Momma Pacita) and Emma (parents Tina & Dan). It was nice to say hello. The blood vessels in his eyes still have a little more maturing to do, but they look good and Dr. Good will check them out one more time to make sure they mature properly.

Mom & Dad have been learning a lot like Eric likes the sounds of running water, the dishwasher, Sean Colvin, and Andrea Boccelli. He likes to join us in his bouncey sit while we eat dinner popping the paci back into his mouth every once in a while. We have also learned we don't like Tushie brand wipes, the stick together and you can't pull them out with one hand, and we don't like Tushie diapers, the sticky tabs are too weird and the diaper too bulky. As much as we wanted to like the Tushie bio-degradable brand, they just aren't going to work for now.

Eric's holidays outfit. He didn't want to sit still very long, which is why his hands are blurry.







We have been out for a couple of strolls. Eric usually falls asleep while we walk around the neighborhood. Eric doesn't seem to impressed by Lake street despite our discovery of a new, secret street off Lake.






























Eric chills out with his buddies. Eric really likes to take a good look at his buddies. They are communicating on some level.



















I have managed to get out on a couple of good jogs a week and Aaron on a few mountain bike rides. This truly makes us better parents.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Its All about the milk

I know I talk about milk a lot but that is because it consumes 75% of our 24 hour days. Someone is either feeding it, consuming it, or producing it about 8 to 12 times a day. Eric's first hunger signal is sometimes a pout then several minutes later he will squirm and cry out for food.

The doctors have told us that we need to fortify my breast milk for most of us feedings and that about 3-4 times per day he can get it directly from the tap. This means the pumping continues. Dad plays a key role in this milk making by feeding Eric, burping him, and changing him several times a day so I have the time to pump out more milk.

At our last pediatrician appointment Eric was up to 8 lbs. So the doctor recommended we try to get 4 breast feeds in a day. When Eric breast feeds he usually is hungry again in 2 hours so Mom and Dad have to be on their game if they are going to have time to pump more milk and mix more milk for the next feeding. When he is satisfied you will see and array of happy smiles and expressions on his face, unless he is working on a burp in which case you got a grimace prior to smiles.

As for time for Mom and Dad to eat, well, the answer to this is MILK. We drink a lot of it because it is quick, balanced nutrition you can get down without all the hassle of preparing food. I add in some eggnog to my milk just of the extra calorie boost. There is a lot to be said for liquid nutrition.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy 2007

We rang in the New Year with a celebratory bottle of milk.





Yesterday I was trying to tell Eric about my most fun New Year's Eve ever. It was really tough to choose. When I was a kid Mom would order pizza and rent 2 or 3 movies to keep us up until midnight. It was a pretty big deal to be old enough to stay up until midnight for New Years Eve. Those New Years were definitely good times.

Then I decided that to think of my outrageous New Year's Eve ever. It was a close tie between '92, the first time a drank A LOT of grape brandy (bad news), actually this was my stupidest New Years ever, ask Sean. Back to wildest, that would be either '97 up at Big Sky with everyone of my college buddies and then some, and '99 at Kennedy's in San Francisco. Good times.

The past few New Year's Eves I have longed to be home, infront of my TV eating pizza and watching movies again. Good news for us is that is exactly what Eric wants to do too.