Miles hits the big 1-0

Long time, no update. Sorry to those that still might be reading this but well, it takes time and so much energy to care for an infant and when I have that spare 30 minutes at the end of the day before that last feed, blogging is the last thing I want to do. But you dont read this to hear what I want, its for Miles that you bother to visit this page. And without further ado, the update...

MILES IS OVER 10 POUNDS- over 3x his birth weight! He had us holding our breath these past few weeks as his weight trajectory plateaued around 9 pounds 11 oz. So close, yet so far and somehow 10 pounds seems like such a huge achievement. Turns out, our little guy is a bit of a lazy eater. He takes his time, lolls over his bottles, suckles on the breast. We think he has had enough and close up shop. Not so fast anymore and with vigorous effort, he made the jump and his weight gain is back on track. Miles is with the program now and is embracing cluster feeding in which he will feed for a couple hours non stop. Trust me, its not a pretty sight - me on the couch, under siege by my 10 pound son, remote in one hand and Dave bringing me food and water. They say it happens when he goes through a growth spurt so will see how much he weights next week....11 pounds?

He is now 6 weeks old and FINALLY getting past some of the forever newborness. Yes, its cute but remember we have experienced this for 16 weeks. Our first 4 weeks with him at home were really just practice...extra time to wait for a smile, coo or some kind of recognition. We are seeing his first perfect smiles that just melt your heart. His big blue eyes gaze into ours, show happiness when tickled and frown deeply when something is not going his way.

To any random stranger, he is just a happy and quite adorable 6 week old baby. It is only us that know he gets monthly Synagis shots to decrease his chances of getting RSV and worry about where we take him, who might try to touch him and what germs he might get exposed to. Is it worth it? The good news is that the last lingering remnant of his early birth - the Intraventricular Hemorrhage is now completely resolved. I repeat, quoting from the radiology report, completely resolved which according to the pediatrician, is really, really good news.

So, our little guy is just a normal 6 weeker and we are just your average parents of a newborn and though still sleep-deprived, we (mostly) have it under control.