Sunday, September 27, 2009

Bagels with Friends















Hello,

We had our friends Andi and Jim over for a bagel brunch this morning. Josh makes a mean bagel. We also had zucchini bread, fruit/yogurt parfaits, juice and coffee. Yum! Andi and Jim have 15-month old twins, Cat and Lewis, who were 26-weekers as well. They're so cute! They look huge next to Willow. Here's a shot of the three kids together:















Willow busting a move:


Thursday, September 24, 2009

Mid-week post?!

Hi everyone,

I had a free minute (actually, I'm pumping and the computer happens to be on) so I figured I'd do a quick post. Thank God Tomorrow's Friday!




















Is that hair??


















Yes, it's starting to come in...just a tiny, tiny bit.

She used to have hair...
















...but I think as her head grew, the hair didn't, and it got swallowed up by the head! Now it's coming back.


Helping with the harvest:















Have a great weekend!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

7 Months Old





Willow turned 7 months old yesterday. On Tuesday she'll be 4 months adjusted age.

The good news of the week is her awesome weight gain! On Wednesday she went to the doctors, and she is now up to 11 pounds, 6 ounces. That was a 10-ounce weight gain in 2 weeks. We've lightened up yet another notch on the feeding schedule, but we decided we don't feel right about letting her sleep all night. We figured, why mess with our system if it caused her to gain so well the past couple weeks? We still feed her about every 4 hours at night, but like I said, we're a little less strict about it. We try to get the feedings to line up with my pumping so I don't have to get up as many times. During the day, generally it's still the same as well. We just stress less if she isn't hungry at the allotted time, and hopefully she'll make up for it later!

It was a pretty uneventful week otherwise. Busy, busy. Our summer weather continues - it's been the most beautiful September. I guess it made up for our crappy July. Here's the week in photos:

Checking out a sunflower in our garden:

















Bath time. I know, I know - the PBR shirt again. I got a lot of crap for it the last time. I guess I don't change clothes very often.
















Enjoying the bumbo,apparently:




















Josh modeling the new moby wrap:




















Cam and Liz came over earlier in the week so Josh and Cam could brew beer. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the weather and some homebrews from earlier. Congratulations to Cam and Liz, by the way, on their engagement! Here's both of them with Willow:



















I added a couple new blogs to my blog list on the side. I've been following the story of another micropreemie whose parents live in Houghton as well. Charlotte was 1 pound, 7 ounces at birth. She's still in the hospital (she's not very old gestationally yet) but is doing great and we're so happy! Check out her blog and please send some happy vibes, or prayers, or whatever you'd like, to her and her parents. The other blog is another 26-week girl from Minneapolis. Jaleah's older than Willow and is also doing well. Her mom ran across Willow's blog and contacted me and now I'm a follower of her blog. We've had a lot of the same challenges and have commiserated about breastfeeding and pumping!

One more thing: Josh says, GO VIKINGS!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Labor Day weekend















Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted. We went to Josh's parents' house over Labor Day weekend, and I swear it's taken us this long to catch up on all the stuff around the house. I feel like I'm so far behind, both at home and at work, on everything. We're trying to get used to a shifting of priorities so we don't run ourselves ragged - like, it's OK if the bathtub isn't sparkling clean right now; it's more important to go for a walk tonight with Willow and Scout than it is to clean the bathroom. There are only so many hours in the day.

At my last post I mentioned that Willow had a doctor's appointment coming up. That appointment was on August 26. At that appointment, she had again only gained 3 ounces in two weeks. So we went back to 3 and a half hours as a maximum between feedings, 4 hours at night. Willow's been a really good eater the past couple weeks though. Feeding don't take as long. She definitely wants to go to demand feedings - sometimes she gets hungry long before the 3.5 hour mark, and sometimes she just refuses to eat when it's time. We're both very weary of the scheduled feedings and the alarm clock going off at 3 AM. Willow has another appointment this Wednesday; I hope she's gained some ounces! It sure seems like she has. She's outgrowing clothes. She's now too big for the gerber brand newborn onesies!

In the twin cities, we shopped as usual. We got Willow a high chair. It's pretty deluxe. I'm excited about it. It's all eco-friendly, with sustainably harvested wood, PBDE-free cushion, BPA and pthalate-free plastic tray. It's sweet. When she starts sitting in it, I'll have to take a photo for the blog. We also got a new baby carrier - the Moby wrap. I guess I've become a bit of a connoisseur of baby carriers. The reason we wanted to get it is because our sling is too small for Linda and Josh, and we also wanted a carrier where Willow could face forward, because she loves to stare at things when we walk, and when she's facing us, she has "swivel-neck" as my mom says, trying to see what's going on. The Moby wrap has about 6 different holds, and one is outward-facing. Plus, it is SO comfortable for the adult, and I think Willow too. I guess I don't have a photo of it in action yet...but here's me wearing Willow in the little carrier Michelle got me in Papua New Guinea:
















Our trip was good otherwise. Willow was a little fussy though - I don't think she liked the deviation from her routine. Jenson's had hired a photographer to get a family photo, and Willow ruined the photo shoot by crying the whole time. We were bad about taking photos ourselves while we were there, so I don't really have any from the trip, unfortunately.

Our friend Robin got Willow got one of those bumbo chairs at a garage sale. She looks so funny in it. She's so small to be sitting!




















She loves to "stand" on your lap too.




















She's really getting into her toys. She can shake rattles and loves to put things in her mouth.















Well, gotta run. The blog is such a time-suck...there are diapers to be washed, groceries to put away and milk to be bagged up!