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.

Halloween Week

Harris had a great week full of exciting events (some Halloween related others not). All week long Harris dressed in his best fall and Halloween attire. At the beginning of the week Harris discovered a FAVORITE toy. Now I may have said before he had a preference for something, and even called it a favorite but now that I have seen Harris with this green ball I know everything else was just to pass the time. It is in fact one of the only things Harris will use both his hands on.

The Halloween festivities began on Wednesday night with an early trick-or-treat visit to Grammy and Pop's - they needed to see their little man all dressed up before they were off to Florida. Thursday was the parade and and festival (read band, fire truck and pumpkin decorating) in Princeton. Harris, Martina (Harris's beloved Nanny), and her son, Nicholas, met Mommy at work and we all went over together. Martina had found Harris and Nicholas matching Dragon costumes and they were adorable together! In true Harris form he LOVED the parade and the commotion but, despite being in an incredibly warm costume, was not happy as the sun set and had to be bundled up!

Friday Harris celebrated Halloween by going to dinner with Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Hayley. After dinner we ran a few errands... and by the time we got home the little man was exhausted.

Finally, Halloween came. Harris started the morning at music class, most of his friends were in full costumes, Mommy opted for the more manageable outfit. We waited for the rain to somewhat subside and then went out trick or treating at Grandee's & Grandpa's, Aunt Lynn's and Aunt Harriet and Uncle Bill's.

Developmental Follow-Up

Today Harris had his first appointment at the Developmental follow-up clinic. This clinic follows high risk newborns (i.e. those who were born very early, as is the case with Harris, or full term babies who had significant respiratory distress or a history of apnea). So today was Harris's 3-month appointment. No that's not a typo -- though Harris turned 5 months this passed Saturday the clinic records time by "corrected age." So though our little man has been here with us for 5 months the doctors and therapists at the clinic all consider him 3 months.

We arrived on time, even a bit early. Interestingly, while I have some personal experience doing these evaluations, being on the other side was 100x more nerve racking then I would have ever imagined. So maybe it was the nerves, or the fact that the appointment was at 2:00 just a precious 1 and a 1/2 (2 if we pushed it)) hours away from nap time, but the 30 minute wait seemed to be forever As the time ticked by and Harris charmed the other families in the waiting room with smiles and coos I knew the inevitable. He would do NONE of this in the room -- I briefly contemplated asking one of the mom's in the waiting room to come with us, you know to vouch for our little man's skills.

We entered the examine room with a wonderful physical therapist. She watched how Harris could (or should we say would) move his tiny little body. No surprises here... his head control - "age appropriate" (for a 3 month old), his ability to push his head up from his stomach - good; supportive sitting - impressive; supported standing - even more impressive; refusal to reach or grab with his arms - ummmm, well there is always room for improvement. All in all the effort we put in, the exercises and the encouragement has been paying off and before the PT left she gave us our next set of exercises so that we can work on his arms.

Next up the Speech Pathologists. Bottom line here is that Harris did actually smile for them (good thing one was a blond and he seems to have a thing for blonds) -- but despite this the speech team declared a slight delay in expressive language. (Remember in their eyes a delay is below 3 months). Why you ask? Because he doesn't laugh - well not out loud. I thought long and hard about how ridiculous this is and then realized maybe he is just a silent laugher. We all know those people the ones whose mouths open and bodies move but no sound comes out -- and this is exactly what our little man does!

Finally the medical team came in Growth - AGE APPROPRIATE (not corrected actual)
Weight - 15lbs (with a diaper and onsie - still I can NOT BELIEVE THIS)
Length - just over 25inches
General health good. You know with the exception of all the eating nonsense we already know about.

All in all a pretty good appointment. OH and by the way our little man is teething! So it seems that when it comes to how and when Harris is going to develop - your guess is a good as mine!

"I just can't...

...keep my fingers out of my mouth"




Could this be teething?

We must be crazy....

...because we decided, against all rationale ideas, to take our little man to Grandee and Grampa's condo in Florida. A consult from the doctor gave his approval as long as we went BEFORE flu season. And so we got on a plane and landed in sunny Florida. Harris loved the airport - all the people, the amazing lights, the noise. He loved the plane - flirted with some woman and cooed when we hit turbulence. He LOVED the hot weather (so did Mommy). For all our little man has grown and changed one thing has remained the same - he still HATESbeing cold, and so the 90 degree hot and humid weather suited him just fine. We had a great long weekend, swimming in the pool, napping in the shade, visiting Great Grandma Jeannie (Daddy's grandma) and generally enjoying our first family vacation.



Mommy and Daddy got to see Harris turn from his stomach to his back and loved having all the time together.



While we were away Harris started to take a full feeding of oatmeal... unfortunately it didn't work out too well and he began to have gastro problems again. So we are no on a break from solids for a week and then we will try something else. In the mean time Mommy is keeping her fingers crossed that we are not encountering a grain allergy. The good news is that a few days off the oatmeal and Harris is a much happier boy (even though we are back home and it is COLD here!)

Football and Feeding

When we went to the doctor last week, he suggested that we try and start Harris on oatmeal. With all of Harris's challenges eating he was thinking he might benefit from having more then just formula, and as he puts it we generally start babies at 4months so we should give him a chance. Though, he also said he probably wasn't ready, and so if we give it to him and he can't swallow we should just try again each week until one day he will do it just right.

So today was a big day for our little man... First he started off by sleeping through the night, then Daddy got him dressed in his brand new JETS outfit. I must admit I find the entire football outfit on such a little person to be hysterical (in a good way).


Around 9:30 Harris, dressed for a big football filled Sunday, had his first attempt at eating. Daddy was the one who got to give him his first spoonful.



He took it made a very funny face, swallowed (no choking!) and then let out a loud coo.



After two spoonfuls Daddy let Mommy take over. Harris did GREAT! I have to admit I was surprised he could do it, and he tuckered out after about 10 little spoons but he definitely liked it. Each little bit of oatmeal resulted in the same funny face, then a swallow and then happy sound.



I have to wonder if eating is going to be the same slow progression as bottle feeding was... he can do it but then it is a SLOW go to get him to the point where he takes enough in. Even if eating goes that way I am OK with it - I know that in the end, our little man will be eating hotdogs at a JETS tailgate some day and this will all be a distant memory.

Is he using his arms? YES

Yesterday despite having an horrific day (i.e. wouldn't eat, cried a lot, generally inconsolable - most likely because he was starving, but still unwilling to eat) Harris started to push up using his arms!