Wow.

A year ago, I was still in the hospital. This summer has been so amazingly different! I was able to go OUTSIDE! I experienced WEATHER! We spent so much time in Okoboji, and a weekend in Minnesota. In June, Jon and I were able to take a trip to Puerto Vallarta with my parents and Patrick spent his first nights away at Gramma Vickie's house. Of COURSE he got his first ear infection while we were gone.

Patrick has been doing great. He's crawling everywhere! He pulls himself up and gets into all kinds of things he shouldn't. There was a week where he was sleeping in his Pack N Play because we were worried he'd pull himself out of his crib, which had to be pulled apart to lower the mattress.

In less than a week, it'll be Patrick's first birthday! We're planning a party, and I can't believe it's been an entire year. I can't believe I was in the hospital for that long and didn't (completely) lose my mind!

He'll have his 1 year check up next week. Last month we caught up with his eye doctor, and things look good there. We're expecting him to be far sighted by the way his eyes look, and we don't really have to have another check for him until he goes to school. He might need glasses at that point, definitely later on.

On his big NICU follow up, he was doing well. Pretty much everything we could have expected. His hearing was fine, his motor skills were okay, his language skills were ok, and his size was a little small. I have a hard time believing the small stuff anymore! Right now, we're putting him in 18 month clothes, and some of those are too small!

I think we have a new routine, and Patrick has been doing okay with sleeping through the night. Still working on that.

He can make a clicking noise with his tongue, and that's the new coolest thing ever for him! He has two bottom teeth, and a top one working through.

Debating

Time flies!

Don't they look like they're having so much fun?



It's been a long, long time. Wow.



Patrick is just over 6 months old now! He's falling into the 20th percentile in length, and the 25th for weight. Around 26 inches long, 16 lbs. As far as milestones, Patrick is rolling over now! Only from back to belly, he can't quite get the rest of the way over.

The doctor is really happy with his progress. He's doing a lot of things that you'd expect of a 6 month old. We don't have to support his head anymore when we carry him around, and he really likes to stand as much as possible. He does really well in his bumbo seat.

It's really fun to watch him play with his toys now. He reaches and grabs for colorful things -- last night when I was changing him, he twisted, grabbed a stuffed lion and pulled it onto his chest and started gnawing on it.

Oh. Don't insult Patrick by offering him a pacifier. He absolutely does not want it. He would rather have his fingers, or possibly a blanket.

Patrick gets really chatty sometimes. He'll just talk and talk... some very serious conversations happen. I think he likes to tell me what he did that day. Today he told me all about shopping with Katie.

In May, Katie's heading back to the Hamptons, so we're going to have to start sending Patrick to daycare. He's had a great time with Gramma Vickie on Fridays and sometimes Mondays, but it's time. We're not so worried about colds anymore though. He had a really good winter. Only a little stuffy sometimes!


He's been sort of crabby lately - we're not sure, but he might be getting teeth soon. It's fun to give him orajel, and he liked chewing on my string cheese the other day, and my banana. No solid foods though, he doesn't know what to do once it's actually in his mouth!

Other than that, it's been sort of a crazy month for us. I guess the biggest, dumbest thing that happened is that a ton of Jon's tools were stolen. Thankfully our homeowner's insurance is going to help out, but it's just awful.

I might try to get something up here sooner next time, I can't believe how long it took!

Sorry it's been so long!

Patrick turned 5 months old yesterday! He had another shot this morning for the RSV vaccine, and they said he weighed 14lbs 2oz! He is getting so big, I can't believe it. It's hard to remember how small he started out. We're starting to run out of clothes that fit him -- I never thought that would happen!

The kid is hilarious. He has the greatest smile, and it's a good thing because we see it all the time. He hasn't been giggling, but he grins like crazy. Gramma Vickie introduced Patrick to patty cake (appropriate) and it's his favorite game! Jon's cousin Brooke and her husband Aaron (the ones who saved Thanksgiving by finding a bottle with a nipple to feed Patrick) have come to our rescue again with a big swing. LOVES IT. I think it was Jon's cousin Ericka that gave Patrick a security blanket with a dog rattle on top... also one of Patrick's favorites. We call it his "Woof" and he gives Woof kisses kisses kisses!

He's been getting really good at supporting his head, we don't have to hold it for him as often when we have him sit with us. Patrick also spends a lot of time chewing on his hands. It's great when he gets both thumbs in, then pulls them in opposite directions. He stretches his mouth out and has no idea what to do next! We have conversations with Patrick sometimes. I swear, he's said "Hi" to me more than once! He gets so excited sometimes when we're talking, he starts bouncing and flailing his arms.



On the 30th, we took Patrick and some flowers up to the NICU for the nurses who took care of Will. It was a rough day, but we were able to keep pretty busy. It's hard when we get those reminders that we should have a 2 year old around here too. I still feel awful because I confused nurse Kindra with nurse Laura. I'm terrible with names.



Last year was our first year participating in the March for Babies, and we're going to do it again this year. The walk is on April 26th, and it's a Sunday morning at Mahoney State Park. We'd like to get a group together, possibly get some shirts done for all of us. If you would like to support us, here's our team website.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/585968

If you want to donate and walk with us, I would suggest that when you sign up, you make your fundraising goal the amount you would like to donate so you won't have to worry about making a goal. As long as you are on our team, the donation on your page counts for the entire goal we have.

I did end up making a new team for us this year because it isn't just in memory of Will now.


I would put up some pictures now, but it's taking forever to load the video and I need to go to bed. So here's a link to all the pictures on Facebook. I'm warning you -- Patrick is HUGE.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2099873&l=4ae87&id=63201664

(Ok, it's 11:50, I'm going to publish this in the morning)

4 months!

Patrick is 4 months old today. He had his 4 month check up today. Right now, Patrick is weighing in at 11 lbs, 11 oz! He's huge. I can't believe how tiny he used to be sometimes. The doctor is happy with his progress. He's in the 20th percentile for weight for 4 month olds, and he doesn't get on the chart for length. Too short!

I got a new camera for Christmas, so I have about a million pictures of Patrick.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097862&l=9f251&id=63201664

You can see most of them there...

We had a good first Christmas with Patrick. Lots of places to go, even more people to hold him. I really think for the first couple days after Christmas he was just bored because we didn't have to leave the house. Nothing too exciting for Patrick, but we're looking forward to next year.

He's taking about 5 oz every time he eats, and every once in awhile we have issues with reflux, but not nearly as much. We can't put him in preemie clothes at all any more, so he's in newborn and 0-3 month sizes! I think he had 3 or 4 special Christmas outfits with a couple of funny hats.

Look at how big he is!!

I think Jon and I are getting more sleep now. Either that, or we're getting used to the lack of sleep. Sometimes Patrick will go 5 hours without waking up and he goes back to sleep a lot faster than he was. The other day I sat Patrick in his bumbo chair, and he's doing a pretty good job of keeping his head up. He gets tired after a while, but it's something new for him. He's still not a big fan of being on his tummy, but he pushed his foot into the floor and took care of that a couple nights ago! Pretty sure that it counts as rolling over on his own.

I don't know, we haven't had any big news for a while! It's kind of nice. Right now we're waiting to hear if Jon's cousin Josie has had her baby yet. We know she's on maternity leave right now!

I know it's late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!