Ch ch changes

Changes are a coming! I'm excited about the opportunity I just received to go back to work part time. I will start tomorrow working for Renasant Bank. I will work all week to train and then start working part time on Mondays and Fridays and will be home with Will on Tuesday-Thursday. Who you ask is going to keep Will? Well this week I'm so ever grateful for my husband, in-laws and my mother who will fill in and keep him for me this week. My mother will be keeping him on Mondays and Fridays and I'm so happy for her commitment and her willingness to keep Will for me. Yes I had to "twist" her arm to do it! HA!

I was very hesitant about going back to work but I prayed about it and if it was God's will then everything would work out according to HIS plan and it has. HE has been in this decision the whole entire time. I get to work part time and still stay home with Will and enjoy him so I'm very thankful for this great opportunity! The transition will not be easy for me but I've got excellent people who will take great care of Will while I'm at work!

Enough about me, here's an update on Will!

Will weighs around 12lbs. He eats vegetables about 2 times a day. His absolute favorite vegetables are peas, green beans, and carrots. He HATES sweet potatoes and we think it is because it messes with his reflux. He eats rice cereal in the mornings. He sleeps from 9/10pm to about 7:30am. He takes an hour morning nap and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap. He is such a HAPPY and GOOD baby. He laughed the other day while on his changing table and it literally melted my heart! I've tried to get him to do it again but he just looks at me. He is smiling more and cooing more too. He loves to be talked to. He is wearing 3 months clothes and wears a size 1 diaper. He is enjoying lots of tummy time and is getting really good at lifting his head up and holding it for about 10 minutes and then he's done!

We have taken several pictures lately so please enjoy!

Mommy and Will

He has the prettiest eyes

Just one of the many smiles I get

Yep, my mommy digs me!

Big Boy!

He can fall asleep anywhere

Snoozing in the car

Snoozing in his nap nanny

Getting ready to eat cereal!

Nicu Follow Up Clinic and Eye update

Will had his Nicu follow up clinic appointment this past week. So far he is doing everything developmental wise he is supposed to be doing. We do have a few things to work on like grabbing and grasping toys, more head exercises, learning to lift our head, and kicking our legs more instead of having them be a little bo-legged. He is doing well at tracking things and looking at you when we talk to him. So all in all he had a great follow up appointment.

As far as his eyes they are doing great. We had a follow up appointment on Tuesday and Dr Calzada will continue to check his eyes once a month until he is 70 weeks gestation. He is currently 52 weeks gestation so 18 more weeks once a month and we should be good to go.

Here are a few pictures of Will.

Happy 6 Months Will

Will is 6 months old today but only 10 1/2 weeks as far as developmental wise. It's confusing, yes I know! He weighs around 10lbs 4oz at his last pediatrician's appointment. He got his second set of shots last Friday and did well. He did run a low grade fever which made mom and dad a little nervous, but tylenol did the trick and helped it come down in a couple of hours. Will sleeps from 10pm to 5am at night. He takes a bottle and goes back to bed until around 9am and then takes a morning nap and then an afternoon nap. I think we have a pretty good baby. He gets his sleep habits from his mother. We started more tummy time this week and HE LOVES IT! He usually takes an afternoon nap on his tummy and will sleep for about 2 hours. We started eating rice cereal twice a day with a spoon and let me tell you, its an experience in itself. We got the go ahead because of his age to start fruits and vegetables but we decided to wait a little while because he is really not that good with the spoon yet. Half the time we end of putting the rest of it in his bottle. Bath time is still his favorite! Whenever he is fussy before bed and we put him in the bath tub, he starts cooing and loving it!

Take a few minutes to enjoy a few updated pictures of Will.

Look at the belly on that boy

Always flexes his "pecks" during bath time

Starting rice cereal with a spoon

The aftermath of what normally happens when we are done

Asleep on my owl nap mat

Happy 6 Months sweet Will! Our future golfer!!!!!!

Pictures of Will

We got the go ahead by the pediatrician to add rice cereal with his formula by bottle. He only gets 1tsp per ounce at each feeding. He is currently taking 4 ounces of formula so he gets 4 tsps of cereal. Let me tell ya, rice cereal is AWESOME! Since being on rice cereal Will goes down at night for bed around 9:30-10pm and doesn't wake up till 4 or 5am, then goes back to sleep till 9-9:30am. Ahhh so wonderful! He is still eating every 4-5 hours during the day but at night, he stays asleep longer. So thankful for rice cereal! LOVE IT!!!!!!

Anyways, we had a mommy/son date today and ventured out to the mall. We strolled around the mall, ate lunch in the food court, and went shopping. We had a great time! We are looking forward to having daddy home for a long week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! We are also ready for Will to celebrate his first 4th of July. We are going to cook out at my mom's house and watch the fireworks from Ballard Park. Looking forward to a great 4th of July!

Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

Will enjoying his crib

This is what happens when I leave and go get dinner. I love it though!

Enjoying time on my owl nap mat

Funny face

Just a video of Will swinging

Life with Will

Life will Will is awesome! We are having a great time. He is still sleeping really good at night which makes for a happy mom during the day. He is still taking a morning nap and an afternoon nap. After his 4pm feeding, he likes to stay up and swing, talk to us and just simply be cuddled. He loves his swing. We put him in there yesterday morning and he swang for about an hour and was alseep. He loves bath time. He gets a bath about every 3 days. He is fussy when we put him in there but when he gets the water drizzled over his body, he is in heaven! He is baby talking to us every now and then. He is beginning to reach and grab for things. He hates his feet tickled and hates to have socks on them. When I put socks on his feet, he does everything to take them off. He hates to be covered up with a blanket while napping too. Overall he is a happy baby! We have been to my mom's house several times this week just for a new change of scenery. We have also ventured out to Sam's Club. We went to visit our friends at the NICU. We went to Memphis last weekend to celebrate Ross and Kalyn's birthdays. He met lots of family members. We haven't been strolling much this week because the temperatures have been so HOT in the mornings. Overall, life with Will is great. Oh and by the way, he weighs around 8lbs 7.5oz according to the pediatrician scale on Thursday. He is growing and is almost out of newborn sleepers. He is now wearing 0-3 months clothes. His legs are getting so chubby and I LOVE it!

Sweet face I get to look at every day

Precious feet

This is how we chill in the mornings in our Nap Nanny

Will at home

Will has been home for almost 3 weeks. We have finally gotten into a good routine. I had some problems at the beginning when he got home. I didn't think I was being the best mom to him. Nothing I did was working and I never could figure out what he wanted. It got to the point that in the afternoon he was so tired that he wouldn't sleep at all and I had 5 hours to entertain him before Doug got home from work. I tried everything I knew to do and it wasn't working. I heard something on the Today show this week about white noise machines. I have a white noise machine on my alarm clock so I tried it and Will slept that afternoon for 2 HOURS and I was one thrilled mother. Since then he has so far taken an afternoon nap for about 2-3 hours and this makes for one HAPPY momma!!

Will's day usually goes likes this: wake up at 7am for a bottle by daddy before he goes to work; then goes walking with momma; sleeps from about 9-11:30; eats again at 11:30; sleeps from about 12:30 to about 2:30-3; occasionally will run errands with momma sometimes; eats again between 4-4:30; daddy comes home from work around 5; we cook dinner while Will enjoys some awake time in his swing or bouncer; bath time around 8:30 every other day; he eats again at 9pm and then goes to bed around 9:30-10; sleeps till 2:30am and eats again; sleeps till 7am and our day starts all over again.

We believe we have Will on a great schedule. It took us about a week to finally get this down pat since the pediatrician told us to stretch his feedings to 4-5 hours. I was so used to the schedule of 8,12,4 that he was on in the Nicu that I just had a hard time readjusting to a new schedule.

He recently developed a horrible hacking cough so we went immediately to the pediatrician and come to find out he has silent reflux. We got some medicine for that and so far it is working.

Will sleeps in the room across from his room and on the other side of the house from our bedroom because he moans and groans all the time during his sleep and it drove me crazy at the beginning and I wasn't sleeping. We are constantly monitoring him on the video monitor and we have the angel care monitor set up as well. We are sleeping much better at night. I have to admit I watched the video monitor like it was a tv at the beginning but moving him across the house was the best thing we did. I was scared to death but we are all sleeping better at night.

Will enjoys tummy time on his play mat, swinging in his swing, napping in his nap nanny and morning walks with his momma. He is starting to make baby noises like ah and ooh. It is so cute.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to the most wonderful father Will could ever have. Doug you are an amazing dad and Will loves you more than you will ever know. I can't wait to see you and him continue to bond and have the most wonderful father and son relationship y'all can ever have. Thank you for taking care of him and not complaining about it when I need you to help me with him. You are absolutely amazing with him and that makes me love you more and more each day. Happy FIRST Fathers day!!

Also Happy Fathers Day to Poppa Bill and Papaw Steve. We love y'all very much!!