7 weeks, 2 days old; 34 weeks, 1 day gestation

Hi everyone,

Lindsay here. I haven't blogged in a while; I'm not sure I'll be able to live up to Josh's high standard. Everyone seems to love Josh's posts, including me. The blog is what keeps me going at work, seriously. It's pretty hard being up there when Josh and Willow are down here. But all it takes is a quick glance at the blog photos and I'm able to grind out another couple hours of work. (**note** if my boss or the IT guy are reading this: I don't waste a lot of time - probably a total of 5 minutes a day. :) )

Josh is back in Houghton now and I'm here alone tonight. My parents are coming down tomorrow. Josh and I visited Willow this morning and I kangarooed her for a couple hours. The lactation specialist, Kelly, suggested that we put Willow down by my breast while she was getting her feeding. Even though Willow's not quite ready to feed that way, she could at least smell the milk and associate that area with eating. Well, it was an interesting experience, I guess. It was pretty awkward, she didn't really seem comfortable. She didn't have her mouth on it or anything but I started leaking a lot (even though I had just pumped) and we had to abort the mission before milk got in her eyes, which almost happened. Oh well. We'll try again soon and maybe it will go better. It's little weird talking about breasts and stuff when I know that a lot of people read this blog who I don't know well, and coworkers and people like that, but I guess if we want this blog to be a chronicle of Willow's progess, I'd better get used to it. Soon breastfeeding and how well she learns it will be a big part of her progress and her journey towards coming home. Oh well; it's a natural process I guess, and anyone who's had kids (or most people anyway) have been through it. I promise we won't be too graphic!

I went back tonight and held Willow baby-style. There are really no changes to report in Willow. She's basically the same weight as yesterday (she gained 10 grams) and on the same cannula settings as well. It's all good. She's been favoring her cupcake hat lately, though in these photos it's not really on all the way.

I hope everyone has a lovely Easter!