Where Did November Go?

A very good friend recently wrote me an email asking if we were OK, she hadn't heard from us in a while and then checked the blog and saw it wasn't updated and worried. I felt awful and confused and realized that though I had thought about her and her beautiful new twins almost every day, I hadn't picked up the phone in weeks, I had written "upteen" blogs in my head and none on paper, the pictures my family has come to depend on have not been uploaded in over a month... where does the time go?!?

November flew - Harris is getting bigger and bigger it hard to believe that he is going to be six months in two days!

Harris had his first real illness this month. A respiratory infection with a fever - it was hard to watch our little man struggle. The congestion left him struggling to breath and the doctors watched him carefully to make sure that this seemingly harmless cold did not progress to RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) or pneumonia (both major concerns for preemies). But with lots of care and time we managed to make it through without the congestion moving to his lungs - thank goodness!! And when he finally got over it, he was able to get his first round of Synagis. Ironically, Synagis is a series of shots that offer protection from RSV. The vaccine had arrived at our pediatrician the first day Harris ran a fever, and like with most vaccine's doctors will not give them when the baby is sick. So we had to wait it out!

Despite spending much of the month sick Harris is making tons of progress. Here are some highlights:
1. Harris is back on solid foods and loving it. Right now we are limiting to barley and cereal (each once a day). But we introduced bananas the other night and to his Aunt Hayley's disappointment - he LOVED them.

2. When he eats well - which is getting to be more days then not - and is not sick, Harris is consistently sleeping 8 hours at night! He then wakes up for a feeding and goes right back to sleep giving Mommy a pretty good night.

3. He is using his arms and hands much more every day. He seems to be favoring his left, but w with little choice (for instance when you had him a toy only within the reach of his right) he will grab with his right hand also. It is not perfect but so much improved then a month ago it is great!

4. Our Little Man is working hard on sitting and crawling. He is much more successful in the sitting department. Crawling is a long way off but when he is on his stomach you can tell he wants to move - right now it really just results in a frustrated scream - but we celebrate intention!

5. We heard him laugh. OK so it was only once or twice but still music to a mommy's ears.