Charles in Charge

Charles is definitely in charge of our days and our nights. He is however a really good sleeper. The one thing I wanted him to take after me- score! He slept straight from 11 pm- 9 am earlier this week. Hope I'm not jinxing it but we have found the silver lining to having a feeding tube that can pump him full of milk while he sleeps!

While we're getting a little more sleep, we are still very much off our game. We have lost all ability to keep track of keys and close doors. We've now gone to bed with our keys hanging in the door multiple times including once where Aaron's were in the front door and mine were in the back. We've also left our door wide open while we've gone for walks, left multiple car doors flung open for hours and I've closed the trunk with my keys inside at least twice. There's only so much brain power left for these things when you're trying to keep a brand new human alive.

Aaron went back to work last Wednesday so I've survived a full week of days with Charlie on my own. We've made it out of the house quite a bit (while leaving our house and car exposed to theft) and are starting to slowly fill the calendar with social outings here and there since the weather has been so nice!

Charlie now weighs almost 11 pounds. In fact, he has grown so much that his doctors have now put him on a diet! We're hoping the diet will result in us finding our son's long lost neck. Charlie has also been making some progress on the feeding front and is taking a bottle/nursing up to 4-5 times a day. Still taking it slow until we do a swallow study at Seattle Children's Hospital next week where they'll take an x-ray video of Charlie taking a bottle to examine his swallow mechanics and to see if there is any danger that he's aspirating any milk into his lungs. Depending on what they see, they'll recommend how quickly we progress his feeding plan. Fingers crossed we can keep charging ahead!

And here are the latest photo highlights...

Someone has been giving us a smile every once in a while. 

Doctor said its 50/50 whether he's smiling at us or at his own gas. 

Turns out Charlie has a dimple hiding in his cheeks!

Pooped from watching the Auburn Spring game. 

Charlie hosted his first Easter brunch and had lots of fun with multiple outfit changes! What a diva.

Outfit 1

Outfit 2 (Thanks Mindy! It ain't Easter without some smocking!)

Outfit 3/one too many- (also care of Mindy)

Staying warm with his cool new hat from Stephanie!

 Testing out a pee pee tee pee (also from Aunt Steph)! 

Sorry Charlie- your mommy has no shame. 

Beating Dad at a staring contest.

Cry babies on their second date. 

 Not feeling so good about that second date 

(even in his nautical best from Aunt Emily and Uncle Bob).

Cheered up by some toys!

RIP biggie smalls (care of Uncles Erik & Andrew in SF!)

And lastly, here are some photos from Charlie's newborn shoot-  including some more bunny pics!
http://ashleyaguillard.com/2014/04/charlie/

Charlie is home!

Well, actually he's been home for a week and a half. Turns out that taking care of a baby without the help of nurses 24 hours a day is a lot of work and doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. 

I'm happy to report that we have managed to keep our child alive for a full 10 days! We haven't even forgotten to feed him. We have however forgotten to change his diaper quite often which is why his entire wardrobe has been washed several times over now.

We love having our little boy at home and the NICU already feels like a thing of the distant past. Charlie is spending a lot more time awake now and is very alert and expressive when he is. He's still pretty cute when he sleeps too which is the majority of the time. Aaron and I are still getting used to all of his equipment. We did end up coming home with the feeding tube as well as oxygen to help Charlie with his oral feeding. We take turns knocking over an oxygen tank each day and cursing his feeding pump. The good news is that everything comes in portable form so we were able to get out at least once, sometimes even twice a day in the amazing weather we had last week in Seattle. The nice weather also allowed us to be a little more social than we expected to be our first week home. Charlie loves riding in the stroller and getting fresh air and by love, I mean he instantly falls asleep.

We just got back from a marathon of appointments at Seattle Children's Hospital today to meet with Charlie's feeding therapist, pulmonologist and nutritionist. They'll all follow Charlie as long as we need them. They think it will take anywhere between 2-6 months for Charlie's lungs to develop enough for him to be able to eat without the feeding tube so we better learn to love all of Charlie's accessories for now.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support. I don't know how we would've made it through the last 3 months of hospital living without you. We have a lot in front of us still. I'll keep posting about all of the adventures ahead. For now, here are some pics of our last days in the NICU and our first week home as a family!

Love,
The Brady Bunch!

Did you know Maggie Simpson is a resident of the University of Washington NICU? 

Modeling his mom's hand-knit goods!

Celebrating 2 months before Grandma Lee & Aunt Grace had to leave. 

Milk does a body good. 

 Last room shot. 

Last view shot. 

 All dressed up and ready to go home! Last pic with Charlie's physical therapist, Danika!

Impossible to drive any slower.

First stroll!

Daddy time on the couch.

First park outing.

First date with Ada Jacob!

Feeling like his first date went really well. 

So happy to be home!!