a monkey in our house

Our monkey loves to lounge in the bouncy chair. Perhaps this is why he has zero interest in sitting on his own. It would seem he is a little, ahem, lazy. He doesn't like to be strapped into his chair, he likes the freedom to squirm. Which usually ends up something like this.

Or this.

Or some other varying degree of almost falling out of his chair. You'd think he'd get upset about this, but typically he doesn't. It is all part of his game. I am waiting on the day he scoots himself out of the chair entirely. He was really close today. He is starting to attempt rolling over while sitting in his bouncy. I think he will accomplish this before he completely rolls over unassisted lying on the floor. He seems to find acrobatics in the bouncy much more exciting then merely playing on the floor.

I have a tiny hiney!

I am sure Rhys's first girlfriend will love this picture.
All belly and no buns!

Today I am: 10 months and 2 weeks old.
Adjusted I am: 6 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old.

Rhys has a room?

As a matter of fact he does. That he rarely enters said room is another thing entirely, but he does have a room. Witness, Exhibit A: Rhys sleeping in his room. Yes, I am aware his crib is full of baby no-nos. No, I probably wouldn't have allowed it prior to my micro-preemie, but as soon as my boys were born all bets for strictly following the rules were off.

Nothing to get too excited about, but today is the first day Rhys has actually done anything purposeful in his own bed. In the afternoons the cannula comes off for a bit at bath time. I bathe Rhys in his bathroom, and bring him to his room to dry and diaper him and put on the PJs. That is really the only time Rhys visits his room. Our bedroom is where Rhys lives at night and takes his naps during the day. The monitor and pack 'n play are in our room where we are in close proximity to put the cannula back in when he pulls it out many times through the night. The O2 concentrator is on our side of the house and it is pain to move. It is heavy, bulky, noisy, and generates unbelievable amounts of hot air among other things. The tubing is only so long, and that doesn't get it to the opposite corner of our house so it stays put for the most part. Occasionally we do move it to the hallway that is on Rhys's side of the house. Today was one such occasion. Cody is [still] sleeping in (call it a belated birthday present to my love), the O2 concentrator is on Rhys's half of the house, he needs a nap, so what to do? It's sad that I had to think for a few minutes before putting him in his room became obvious. It's kind of nice to feel like the room we put so much effort into is not going to waste. :o)

Today I am: 10 months, 1 weeks and 1 day old.
Adjusted I am: 6 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

Rhys says....

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Daddy's little helper

Fresh from a nap, Rhys is chillin' in his stroller and watching on as Dad installs the new door pulls on the office built-in. We're getting him started early!

Today I am: 10 months and 5 days old.

Adjusted I am: 6 months, 1 week and 6 days old.

10 months old

Today Rhys is 10 months old. Though sometimes I think he believes he is an adult. We have had a few days of constant screaming and boy have I had enough of it. In Rhys's defense I think he has a tooth that is finally on its way. When I can get his tongue out of the way long enough to take a peek it looks as though it is really close to breaking through him gums.

We are still in PT once a week and working on rolling from back to tummy and unsupported sitting. The rolling Rhys can do in stages, from back to side and then side over. I have never seen him do it completely by himself though. He can shift his weight and get his arms from beneath him and is getting better at pushing himself up. Pushing up while lying on his tummy and standing up are his two favorite things right now and he gets a huge smile every time. As far as the sitting, let us just say that Rhys likes to throw mini temper tantrums and pitch himself backwards while sitting. For some reason he is putting weight on the upper portion of his rear instead of the lower part and he isn't able to balance as easily. We are practicing it as much as he will allow it, but it isn't his favorite thing. He really isn't into his Bumbo chair either, and he actually sits in that chair the same way he tries to sit on the floor so he is sort of leaning backwards. He also has decided he is boycotting the spoon. He clamps his lips closed and avoids eye contact every time. He doesn't mind when you touch his face or mouth, and he will suck on my fingers (as well as his) all day long, but he hates the spoon. He will eat his purees off my fingers, but he doesn't want to eat it off his own. Silly boy. This is good news because it doesn't seem as though he has an aversion since he's tolerating his mouth being messed with. But it still doesn't change the fact he needs to learn to eat. I guess this is another one of those things where he will do it when he's good and ready. Oh bother. I am ready for him to make progress on either the rolling, sitting or eating. We've been working on those things for what seems like forever.

Rhys is doing great with his glasses. We haven't had them on him "every waking minute" as we were told, but we are working on it. It is hard to keep the wire frames on him all day long when he isn't sitting on his own. I am scared the wire frames are going to break (here is part of where we said the wire frames are more maintenance than the plastic ones) or dig into his face so we do it most of the day. He doesn't appreciate when you put them on his face, but after that he pretty much forgets about them. Though he sometimes gets lucky when he grabs for the cannula and gets a double bonus when the glasses come too!

Logan Neutron, Space Scientist

Okay, so here is little man with his new glasses. He has an advanced degree in Diaper Theory and Bib Mechanics. Dad thought that was funny. We just picked up his glasses today and so far he isn't ripping them off his face. I think he's too concerned with keeping the cannula out of his nose to notice the glasses. Boy doesn't he look cute?

I knew this day would come.

This is Rhys every time I turn around. Even when the cannula is

out for his bath he swats at his nose. GRRRR.

Today I am: 9 months and 4 weeks old.
Adjusted I am: 6 months and 6 days old.

More pictures

More pictures of little man. Sorry for the low lighting, Rhys doesn't appreciate the flash of the camera.

His newly discovered FAVORITE toy.
He gets so excited when you hand this to him.What a smile! If only those dang two bottom teeth would come in.

Today I am: 9 months, 3 weeks and 5 days old.

Adjusted I am: 6 months and 4 days old.

Happy Mother's Day

Where's my ball going... COME BACK!

Once again, the hedgehog feels the pain from Rhys's right leg kick.

Play time photos

I'm working on pushing myself up while lying on my tummy.

I'm trying really hard and then Mom puts the camera in my face.
(Mom says, that's a nasty look if I've ever seen one!) That was hard work, I think I'll just rest for a minute.

Today I am: 9 months, 3 weeks and 1 day old.

Adjusted I am: 6 months old.

Pedi/Opthamologist Update

Today was Rhys's 9 month well baby checkup. He's a few weeks late, but Supermom here can't get everything right all the time. :o) All is great and the pedi is still very happy with his weight gain, etc. He weighed 14lbs 14.5oz with his clean diaper and was sporting his huge muffin top belly for the nurses. He is still on the way short end of the adjusted growth chart, but he is also getting really close to landing on the non-adjusted growth chart for his actual age. In between seeing the regular pedi and high risk clinic we apparently never got the last of his 6 months vaccines. This one was on back order the first two times he received it so I am pretty sure that is why we didn't get it at six months.

After the pedi visit we headed over to the see Rhys's opthamologist. This lady is truly one of the best in the country for pediatric eyes and has headed several studies for new medications with the FDA. We are very lucky to have her. She is very big into ROP prevention and implemented the O2 saturation guideline of 85-95% at our hospital. For those who don't know, ROP is basically where the retina detaches itself as a result of the use of supplemental oxygen in preterm babies. By keeping a baby's saturation below the 100% mark, the amount of oxygen "consumed" by the body is reduced thereby reducing the chances of ROP. She is also very big into early treatment for the ROP, which keeps a lot of babies with healthy eyes. So, if you've ever wondered why preemies have so many eye checkups, this is it.

Anyway, back to the appointment. Both of Rhys's eyes were patched separately to see how he tracks with one eye at a time. Everything looked very good with that. Well, I am assuming it all looked good, we didn't hear otherwise and the resident kept nodding and saying "Mmm hmm, mmm hmm". Rhys then had his eyes dilated. The boy fussed significantly more for this than he did his shot. Rhys does not like eye drops.

After waiting for 30+ minutes for the drops to work the exam was over lickety split. The diagnosis? Rhys is farsighted and has a potential lazy left eye. How can they tell this you ask? I have no clue, but if our no nonsense doctor says it is so I believe her. The farsightedness could be either from the O2 use in the NICU, or maybe it would have been that way regardless. I am assuming the lazy eye is genetic, courtesy of Mom. The solution? Our little man is going to be wearing glasses. While I was almost certain Rhys would need glasses to correct the lazy eye, I didn't expect them this soon. I think Cody was quite shocked, but they are somewhat preventative at this point and the prescription is very low. The hope is that if he wears glasses now to support and strengthen his eyes the farsightedness will resolve and he will not need to patch his eye later on. The doctor said a lot of times, with treatment this early, they don't need them anymore after a year so we will be followed closely starting with a checkup in two months.

We went to pick out his glasses today and though the plastic frames would probably have been less maintenance, we couldn't pass up the adorable wire framed pair. The pair we chose had the option of a bendable ear piece that was more compatible with Rhys's needs, whereas the plastic ones did not. Rhys looks like a little professor with them on. They should be ready next week so we will be sure to post some pics.

New Videos

Some new videos of Rhys for your enjoyment. I captured these with my cell phone. You may have to turn up the volume to hear them.

Hedgehog...know my wrath!

Rhys is ticklish

Today I am: 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old
Adjusted I am: 5 months, 3 weeks and 5 days old

Today I weighed in at 14 lbs 12 oz.

Rhys wants to know...

Where did it go??

Today I am: 9 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old
Adjusted I am: 5 months, 3 weeks and 3 days old