Rubber duckies

Garmin sent Gwen a gift basket.  It included a rubber duckie.

I find it quite entertaining.  Gwen, alas, seems unimpressed.

Halloween

Just needed to show off Gwen's first Holloween outfit.

Pumpkin goodness!

Jenni decided Gwen needed to be scared by the cuddly bear of DOOM.

The Baby K'tan

This is me.

This is a Baby K'tan:

This is Gwen:

This is Gwen in a Baby K'tan:

This is Gwen learning to bake:

And this is me looking like a total goof:

Note: This thing uses back muscles I've never used before in my entire life.  I didn't even know I had these particular muscles back there.  So carrying little 6-ish pound Gwen gives quite a workout.  She squawked a bit when we first put her in it, but after that she fell right asleep and seemed perfectly fine with me doing laundry and cooking until she got hungry. 

She'll grow into it...

We've been showered with gifts and loans from many friends with children who've outgrown clothes, toys, etc.  Wes and Jessica loaned us a swing for Gwen.  We decided to check it out last night since she was fussy.

Think she may need a little bit more growth for this one.  She's sure cute in it though.

Hey, look! A post!

I know, I know.  It's been quiet on the blog.  That's because it hasn't been quiet at home.  Quite the adjustment for all of us, let me tell ya. 

Jenni's mom, sister, and nieces came up to visit yesterday.

Morgan and George

The girls meeting Gwen

Christy and Gwen.  No, she wouldn't turn around for the picture.

Cheryl and Gwen

Morgan holding Gwen

Morgan, Megan, and Maddie

Maddie and George.

Apparently nobody took a picture of Megan holding Gwen with my camera.  Once I get a copy I'll add it up here.

We got this from one of Jenni's coworkers:

It was tasty indeed.

UPDATE:

Here's a picture of Megan holding Gwen.

Birthday widget thingy

Just added a birthday/age counter widget.  Got the idea from Amelia.

Mmmmmmmm.... Morning.....

We don't have a terrible setup as things go.  I can't stay up past 10:00 or so, but I wake up really early.  Jenni often has trouble falling asleep, but can sleep in very well once she finally does fall asleep.  Granted, needing to pump interrupts her, but this may be the best it gets for awhile.  :)  I've also heard from a reliable source that once we get comfortable with a routine, she'll change it on us.  Ah well, I can't say no to her.  This child is going to have me wrapped around her finger, and I think she already knows it.

Still got a lot to learn.  So far Gwen doesn't cry much, and I for one haven't yet learned the differences between them.  We keep checking the video monitor every 5 minutes to see if she's awake.  At what point do we swoop in to keep her from going into a full-fledged cry?  The milk just doesn't heat up quickly enough when she's hungry.  I can't tell if the diaper is wet if it's already dirty.  I can get her to fall asleep on me when she's very worked up, but then what?  If I move, she wakes back up mad again.  Watched 2 hours of Mythbusters straight last night since I was afraid to move.

Also need to decide whether a section 529 plan for Gwen to go to college, simply pay off our (substantial) school debt, or some mix of the two.  Need to set up a will ASAP, or would a trust make more sense for us?  Need to set up a day-care flex spending account - or would the child-care tax credit be better?  And we've got a few W-4s (and K-4s, and an MO W-4) to adjust for our new (and very cute) tax exemption.  I hate money, I really do.

Bah, that's enough of an early--morning rant for me.  I've made at least one spelling error each sentence so far.  Need another cup of coffee.  Or is it another pot of coffee?  I just can't remember...

Must indoctrinate them young

Home sweet home

We're all home.  Finally.

Both the girls are napping, so it's quiet.  Too quiet, some would say.  I have the strange feeling that's going to change all too soon.  But until then, here's Gwen's official very first at-home picture.

She keeps flinging her hat off turning her head around.  I thought it'd be best to leave it that way for now.  More than enough time to fix it once she wakes up.

Heading home!

So we got the okay on the carseat we borrowed from friends (Thanks Jessica and Robert!) and Gwen passed her carseat test earlier this morning. Her blood work all came back good.

Luke will be coming by soonish and we'll do our official discharge sometime this afternoon. Thanks for all the good thoughts everyone!

Twenty four hours and counting!

Gwen turns three weeks old today! Besides this good news, she has also done very well eating the last day or so. She's stayed in the room with me the past two days, and it's been really nice having her here, rather than in the NICU.

So good, in fact, we're hoping to pull her feeding tube out early this afternoon, and there's talk of her possibly going home tomorrow if her blood work (to be drawn tonight) looks good.

Keep sending us good thoughts! Gwen and I are ready to be at home!

Invasion of the baby snatchers!

We have stolen our baby.  Bwahahahahaha!

OK, not really.  Peggy decided that Gwen was doing well enough to hang out in Jenn's room for a couple hours.  She took an entire bottle from me and did a good (but not perfect) breast feed.  She's still here, but she'll have to go back to the NICU eventually tonight.  It's just so nice to have her here.

Old videos

We haven't been making any videos with Gwen recently; the last one was on the 16th.  The camera's just not that good at them, and the sound is so hideous you have to crank it up just to hear our utterly inane conversation.

Nevertheless, here's a few of them.  They're not all that interesting, but some people may want to see them.  You have been warned.

Dr Lentell, Jenn's obstetrician (Gwen's about 30 minutes old)

 

It's cold out here damnit!

Waxing philosophical with Luke

BRAIN SUGAR! (she's nearly 1 day old at this point)

Neck control problems (about 2 days old, no sound)

More inane conversation with Luke (4 days old)

This was her early cry.  She's gotten quite a bit louder by now.

On October 5, 2015...

This will happen.  I'm sure of it.  Every little girl's dream birthday party, come true at last.

More random pics

Random baby picture goodness.

This is the NICU's "Wonder Bread" outfit.  It's not as good as this one though:

The real Wonder Bread outfit.  Baby not included.

I really like the nose-touching poses.  No clue why.

Gwen got a new hat from Paul and Esther today.

Day 17

Well, Gwen had two complete bottle feeds today.  She's also up to 5 pounds 10.8 ounces.  This fortified breast milk stuff is awesome.

Still not sure she'll fit in the car seat since she's so short.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

One pic

We actually got some pics tonight, but I'm too tired to post them all.  Here's one.  Gwen's expression is priceless.

Another family member

We have an older baby, as most of you know.  His name is George.

This is George.  He's really old.  And skinny, since he won't eat much.

This is one of George's toilets.  The other one is behind the dining room table.  Most of the time he makes it on a pad.  Not so much recently, though.

Since I needed to baby-proof the kitchen at some point anyway, I decided to try to keep George in there since he won't always use the pads.  This is the result:

It's fixable, but I need to brush up on my sewing skills.  He did an even better job on his cage, but I can't find the pictures of it.  He actually ripped out welded bars with his jaw and bent the door open.  And these weren't silly little wires, but actual solid, beefy chunks 'o metal.  I do wish I still had a picture, it was impressive.  And sad.

And this is pineapple fried rice.  It has no relevance whatsoever, but I had forgotten it was on my phone and it was really tasty.  I had it at Bo Ling's, it was this meal that the zombies nearly got me.  They don't have pictures of their zombies on their web site.  Zombies are clever that way.

Day 16

Still no pics, I realize I'm letting the clamoring masses down.  Sorry, masses.

Gwen did't do as hot as we'd like so far today.  Pretty much eat half and be done.  She did eat an entire bottle for me again though. This isn't a magic touch like the nurses are saying.  At least, I hope not.  I'd rather not do 100% of the feedings, after all.  :)

Food is good

Good news!  Gwen took an entire bottle from me at her 5:30 feeding.  This was her very first non-nose-tube feeding, ever.  The first step on her way home.

14 days and counting

Well, Gwen turned 2 weeks old yesterday.  That's 14 straight days in the NICU.  It's really starting to get to us.

Some older pics

Jenni's mom sent me a few pics she had on her camera.

At least we have this part under control

Or at least, Jenni does.  As usual, I'm just here for the heavy lifting.

This is breast milk.  30 vials of it.  The NICU said we had to take some home since we filled up their freezer.  And we've got to take another batch home tomorrow.

They're not all full, but still...

Need to reorganize the freezer.  Quickly.

And yes, that's Curious George on the refrigerator.  Because he's awesome.

A possibility

We spent some time talking to our nurse last night and she mentioned that Gwen really doesn't look like a 38-week baby to her, maybe closer to a 35 or 36 weeker.  Jenni says that every new nurse has also assumed that Gwen's a premie.  Since the only way we could get an age estimate was at the 5-monthish ultrasound, and it's a +- 2 week guess anyway, maybe she really is a premie.  It would help explain her eating problems since she really doesn't match the book's description of what she should be doing at 2 weeks old at all.

Then again, maybe not.  The doctors have never questioned her age, so...  We may never know for sure, but having all the nurses (so far) think so makes us feel better as to why she's having these problems...

Sunday update

A small amount of excitement, but not all that much.  Gwen got moved to a crib last night.  So far she's managing to keep her temperature up but if it drops she'll have to go back into the isolette.

We're going to try alternating bottle and breast feeding.  Gwen's just not eating well enough and we'd really like to take her home soon.  She needs to gain weight constantly for 5 days before they'll let her leave.  She gained 12 grams last night; not an amazing gain, but at least it's still in positive territory.

A few pics: