Mama caught flirting with other babies (but I forgive her)

Some paparazzi caught mama consorting with another baby at a party. She said she'd had a lot to drink and it didn't mean anything, though, so I forgive her.

Dada says this baby weighs four times as much as me. Wow! But I'm pretty proud of myself anyways. My official weight yesterday was 3 pounds 15.8 ounces, but considering I gain at LEAST an ounce a day, I'm sure I'm WELL over four pounds by now.

-Lily

This time, she got me

Remember a week ago, when Lily missed me with the projectile poop but said she'd get me next time? Well, it took her a week but she is a woman of her word. Funny though, it really is true that parenthood changes you, because we actually found it cute.

This photo was actually taken earlier in the day, but I now realize she was proactively mocking me, because she knew what was going to happen later.

In non-poop news, we took a baby CPR class today, which we hope to never need but are glad to know! Pinky was very cute in the practice with the mannequin, she seemed to not want to disturb it. Lily is continuing to feed like a champ (up to 3 lbs 12.6 oz now), and dad even got to get in on the act by bottle feeding her TWICE. Yay! Dad likes feedings because he gets to harass his child to keep her from falling asleep halfway through. "No sleep, Pinklet!!" But once she's done she gets to sleep with mama or dada cuddling her, and that's nice for everyone. Aaaahhhhh, bliss!

Lily's FAQ: when do I get to come home?

Hi, everybody!

The most common question we get about Lily is when does she get to come home. Just to debunk the common myths, it's not a set time, and she doesn't need to be a particular weight. Here's the deal on how it works:

They say the rule of thumb is, expect to stay in until your due date, but most babies beat that so I think it's a parental placebo to keep us chilled out. What it actually comes down to is (and Lily's status regarding said items):

- off any IVs and medication (check)
- no assisance needed to breathe (check)
- can maintain own body temperature (check)
- remembers to breathe, i.e. no apnea episodes longer than I think 20 seconds at a time (check)
- can suck, swallow, and breathe in a coordinated fashion, i.e. eat (check)
- is consistently gaining weight without help (wellllll...)

Basically, Lily just needs to get stronger and bigger. She actually feeds really well for her "age", but she gets tired and can't consistently eat as much as she should for them to feel comfortable taking out her feeding tube. SO that's really her last major hurdle. When they think she's almost ready they give her essentially a 3-day "trial period" where she has to do all those things under supervision in the NICU, and if she passes, home she goes! If she backslides on any of them (which can happen, and is totally normal, nothing to get concerned about), she's bought herself an automatic 5 days more.

She's doing really good on all of this, so we think she should be home pretty soon!

Happy Valentines Day

This year, Pinky has the best Valentine's gift ever. (But Marcus will still have to take her out for sushi. Now that we're not pregnant, we have LOTS of sushi)

Plus, an added bonus video:

Mooooommmmm! When's dinner??

Hi! Lily here again. One thing dada forgot to mention in his last post is that I'm also getting a lot stronger. Since I'm not tired all the time anymore, I have enough energy to cry when I'm hungry. Which is pretty much every three hours, on the dot, so don't be late! I'm very reasonable about it, though...as soon as I get just a little food in me, I'm happy as a clam! Mama and Dada also do this think called "containment" where they put one hand on my head and the other on my feet. It's oddly soothing! They use that to buy some time when the nurses aren't ready with my food yet. Dada says he's the Baby Whisperer, I think that's some sort of pop culture reference. Don't get too comfortable Dada! You have yet to see me REALLY mad!

(In this picture, I hollered so loud it made my hat fall off)

What a difference two weeks can make!

Our little Lily is really advancing in leaps and bounds. By now, she's off her IV, they took off her blood oxygen monitor, and she's gained six ounces over her birth weight (and is packing it on at more than an ounce a day). She's become quite the champ at bottle feeding and can polish off the whole 30ml they give her if she hasn't been tuckered out by other excitements. And TODAY, she decided to get serious about breastfeeding...she did a solid 15 minutes tonite!

Although she still spends most of her time snoozing, you can see that she's very alert and curious about her surroundings, always searching for new and interesting things to look at. Or lick, if they get too close.

She has also become a very deep thinker.

Pretty in pink

Hi, everyone! This is Lily, dada is letting me borrow his computer again. Fortunately, I have such loooong fingers that typing is a snap! Sometimes I use my toes, too. Dada says I have monkey toes but I know he means that in a GOOD way.


So what's been going on with me since my last big update? Well, I'm really becoming a big girl! As of last night, I am officially over my birth weight, which mama and dada think is very exciting. Better still, I am off my IV! That makes ME excited because people don't stick me as much anymore (it makes me mad sometimes when people stick me too much), and I have one less dangly thing to deal with. Dada says I'll be wireless soon...he seems to think that's funny, but I don't really know what he's talking about. I suspect that's going to be an ongoing problem with him...


In other news, I am now eating what my nice nurses call a "full feed" of 30 ml every three hours. They seem pretty impressed that I'm so good with the nipple, apparently most babies my age don't really know how to use one. I don't know why, it's EASY! Other than that, I sleep a lot, and I hardly EVERY cry. Today, I am wearing another new outfit from my Tata Rina, this one is pink (like my nickname!). Oooh, and I almost forgot! Today, I played a trick on dada! He was changing my diaper, and I projectile pooped! He managed to catch most of it in the diaper he was about to put on me, so I didn't get him this time, but there's going to be lots of chances in the future so I'm not worried.

She shoots, she SCORES! I'll get dada for sure next time.

Later today, mama and dada are going to give me a bath. I'm not so sure about that, my first one made me kind of mad, but we'll see how this one goes.

OK, that's it! Kisses to everyone! Thanks for all the nice visits, I hope to meet the rest of you soon!

Love,
Lily Scholz