Busy Busy Busy

So I’m doing a terrible job again. I probably need to do shorter updates so I can crank them out quicker.

Anywho, Thomas is standing... This time I’m only half-kidding. Again, this is another Thomas legend that has yet to be corroborated by independent witnesses, but Saturday night, one of Thomas’ admirers/nurses was giving Thomas a nice towel bath and had him propped up in her hand, kind of sitting on his bum, when all of a sudden, Thomas extended his legs and stood up. He obviously was still being supported, but the leg strength was all his and he stood there for a good little while, just looking around and checking things out. He has very strong legs. Another rumor yet to be verified was that he kicked a 45 yard field goal barefoot, but if any NFL scouts happen to be reading this, I’m pretty sure I could, with some practice…and a strong tail wind.

Thomas continues to grow and expand. At last count, he was 3 pounds and 4 ounces and just under 14 and a half inches. He’s developed chipmunk cheeks and has applied some of his strength to repeatedly remove his feeding tube and pull up or down his snorkel gear. He’s beginning to learn the power of audio communication and is more than willing to let anyone within hearing distance know if he is uncomfortable. Fortunately, so far, these little episodes last less time than it would take to react to them. He seems to be able to either alleviate his own discomfort or is just testing response times of the various people that hover around his isolet. This brings up an interesting, if not all together awesome, side effect of growing up in the NICU. One of the nurses told us that all of the nurses love to hold the babies when the babies get to the point where they can be held. Everyone loves a baby and it makes sense. If I worked in a bike shop, I’d probably want to try out all of the bikes. The nurse said the only problem is, the babies really grow to like being held as well. So typically, by the time a baby goes home, they like to be held a lot, which is great when there is a line of nurses waiting to take their turn, but maybe not quite as great when it’s just mom and dad? A very small price to pay, but check back with me in a couple months.

Thomas has gotten big enough where they can start using the little nose plugs occasionally to breathe, rather than the full snorkel. This gives him a break, which is important, because at this age, any constant pressure can lead to head misshaping. That is also why Thomas is constantly being rotated like a rotisserie chicken. They try not to let him sleep on one side for more than 4 hours at a time.

No news on Thomas’ eyes. A brief conversation with the doctor, leads us to believe that there’s no serious concern at the moment and we also learned that there are some alternatives to the laser surgery, should Thomas need it. Rebecca spoke to one of Thomas’ neighbors’ parents who told Rebecca that their child was given a drug alternative and had really good results. I think Thomas may get another eye exam tomorrow.

This weekend, Rebecca went to Shreveport to pay homage to her sister again (she loves when I mention her). She was also allowed to carve out a small portion of the weekend to focus on the upcoming nuptials for a baby shower for Thomas, who appears to be well on his way to being spoiled. Thank you to everyone who was there and shared our excitement for Thomas. I sadly missed the baby shower (dang it, dang it, dang it), but spent my time trying to shape up the nursery. This included putting together a rabbit hutch for the current tenant of Thomas’ room. Bunny rabbit, Mopsy, will find a new home just outside of Thomas’ window, so they can still kind of hang out.

I will have another story tomorrow…(hopefully)…

One final note, yesterday was my mommy's birthday (yes, just 3 days after my dad's). Please wish her a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!