Adventures with the babysitters

Dictated to Auntie Cara Richoux!

9.24.2011    Call of the Wild

 Today I am officially a term baby!  Yesterday was my due date!  Can you imagine if my mamma had to give birth to me now? I am a far cry from 2 pounds! As with most important people, I had my own ideas and agenda, so I determined my own due date. Today I am a very healthy 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and I am ready to bust out of this NICU!

  My parents had to jet over to LA for my uncle’s wedding this weekend, and they decided that I am now big enough to be left with a babysitter!  My NICU nurses are wonderful, but my mamma is quite particular, and wasn’t quite comfortable leaving me for the day unless she could be sure that some reliable babysitters were close at hand. She needed to be sure that I would be cuddled and loved by some familiar faces, so she left me to my very loving, capable Grandma Colton and my Auntie Cara. This may have been a mistake….

 While Grandma Colton was here, we cuddled, ate, and slept. Auntie Cara came shortly after my noon feeding, and I was sound asleep. Or so it seemed. As she lifted me from my crib… sniff, sniff… Declan?!  My nurse had instructed Aunt Cara that it is really important for protein synthesis that I be allowed to get some good REM cycles in after feeding, so Aunt Cara decided that the stinkiness that she smelled was a passing breeze (hopefully!),  and she cuddled me anyway. I slept soundly for the next 1 and ½ hours, but my tummy sure didn’t sleep! Guuurrrgle, gurgggglllee, gurrrgglllllleeeeee…

  I set a record today! When I was woken from my slumber to prepare for my 3:30 feeding, the nurse had to come help Cara because when she changed my diaper, I just kept going, and going, and going, and going…4 diapers later I finally stopped so they could put on a clean diaper!  I even soiled 2 outfits! Some might say I look a *lot* like my Dad. I may have learned some other tricks from him, too! ☺

  After my nap, Aunt Cara decided that I was rested enough to begin a very important lesson. My little rested brain is like a sponge! Aunt Cara spent a lot of time thinking about what to teach me while my parents were away. There’s so much she wants to show me, but my attention span isn’t very long yet, so we needed a simple lesson to begin. What better way to start than to learn something very special that is unique to our two families ? Someday when Uncle Bill & Aunt Cara have kids, we’ll be able to find each other anywhere! Today, I learned the Call of the Wild! (i.e. the weird hippo call that Mama and Uncle Bill learned in Africa last year.)

 Observe.  The resemblance is uncanny!

 Next post coming soon...."My Arrival at Mount Olympus"

Mama & Me

Most people say I look just like my Daddy...and I agree.  Mama and my nurses just can't believe how identical I look to Daddy, but one of our family friends just commented on how my mouth looks like Mama's.  

You decide....

Mama circa 1978

                                                                                                         Me circa 9/2011

I'm 8lbs10oz today...quite a chunky monkey!  Still working on my feeds, but I am getting better slowly!  Mama & Daddy are hoping to take me home by the end of next week.  I will miss my nurses, but I'm starting to get excited at experiencing a whole new world!  I've never been outdoors yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing the sunshine (with appropriate sunblock applied), and feeling the wind on my face!

We got Inked!

Mama & Daddy came to visit me one day sporting some new ink!  Mama came up with the idea to get my name tattooed on her side, and designed a very cool one with my first name in Celtic and my middle name in Greek. Daddy has been talking about getting a tattoo of the Second Law of thermodynamics for years, so when Mama told him that she was going to get one, he felt like he had to put his money where his mouth is!  Indeed, Daddy liked Mama's idea so much, that he decided to get the exact same tattoo in addition to the one on the Second Law of thermodynamics.  Daddy has already been teaching me the Second Law - it doesn't seem too complicated to me yet, so I'm not sure why it's this scary looking equation!  I don't think I'll ever forget it since Daddy has it forever on his arm.  I'm glad that I was at least equal importance to Daddy as his passion for the Second Law.   Mama & Daddy better hope that they don't give me too many brothers & sisters someday, because it wouldn't be cool to have my name tattooed and then not do the same for them. 

My nurses & Mama & Daddy had a little fun with me at the hospital and put a fake tattoo on my chest so I can look just like Daddy.  (Don't worry, it came off the next day!)

 

Oh...I'm 8 pounds 2 ounces today.  I was officially put on a diet since I am getting too fat too quickly!  So, they cut down a bit on my volume of breastmilk.  I'm still working on the feeding thing, but it is still so much work to finish a full bottle!

House Invasion

Hi Everyone -

First, I would like to apologize for taking so long to get another blog post up.  Mama was really busy this week, and though I am incredibly intelligent, I still need her help as a scribe!

This week was Mama's ENT conference in San Francisco.  Though she didn't really go to the meeting during the day because she spent the days with me, she had obligations every night.  She says they were for work, but I know she was just really having fun with her friends from Boston & our family!
She even went to a SF Giants game & brought me back some cool gear!

Daddy's side of the family has other ENT doctors, just like Mama...including Granddad, Aunt Kristi, and Uncle Steve.  So, the whole House family was in town and they all had dinner on Sunday.  I was the talk of the town!  Uncle Hans (AKA Uncle Poseidon) came to see me on Sunday which was awesome!  He looks a lot like Daddy & he has a little girl named Sophie, my cousin!  I can't wait to meet her someday, but she couldn't come visit me in the NICU this week.   Granddad, Boppy & Uncle Steve also visited me this week...here are some photos!  Mama couldn't stop talking about how much I look like my Granddad!  I think that's a good thing!

Aside from all the "work" that Mama had to do this week, she did spend a lot of time with me trying to help me learn to eat better.  I have to say that I still really don't like this eating nonsense!  I mean, it's ok for 1 ounce, but they want me to drink 2 ounces, and that's just a crazy amount of work!  So, I still have my feeding tube for when I fall asleep while eating.   I'm 7 pounds 14 ounces today, which the doctor thinks may be a little too fat, so they cut back on my volume of feeds a little bit.  Mama says this is good because she still wants me to get home while I still fit into my cute newborn clothes!

                          Mama & Daddy at the Giants game.  I can't wait to go with them next time!

 

Mama & Daddy brought me this cute outfit as a peace offering to see if it would make me eat better!  (It hasn't worked yet!  I demand more expensive bribes!)

   The House family dinner.  (From bottom left around the circle:  Cousin Sophie, Aunt Kristi, Daddy, Mama, Uncle Steve, our friend Josh Meier, Boppy, Granddad & Uncle Hans

                  Me with Boppy, Granddad & Uncle Steve (he's getting married to Aunt Beth in 10 days!)

 Me with Granddad.  I look just like him!  Even the dimple in my chin.
 

 Mama with her people from Boston!

Great Grammie & Uncle Ben

Mops, Pops, Great Grammie (on Mama's side) and Uncle Ben (Mama's brother) came to visit this week.  It was actually Pop's birthday, so the family got together for lunch in Walnut Creek before they came to visit me.  Great Grammie & Uncle Ben have visited before, but this was the first time that they got to hold me.  It was really cool!  We took some fun photos, and even got to take a four-generation photo with Great Grammie.  I behaved myself the whole time too.  Mama says I'm a pretty mellow baby, but I'll prove her wrong once I come home! 

                                                  Great Grammie & me in my favorite hippo outfit

                    Uncle Ben holding me.  I can't wait until Aunt Aubree & Uncle Ben give me a cousin!

                           Pops holding me!  I was so relaxed with him.  He promised to take care of me when Mama & Grammie are out shopping...since boys don't like to shop!

                                                                  Four Generations!

I love my beautiful nurses!

Ok, so I am a lucky lucky man!  How many guys get to have at least 5 beautiful women wait on them hand & foot 24 hours a day?  I know you all must be jealous. I am definitely living a dream right now!

Ever since the day I was born, I have had 5 "primary" nurses.  Sure, I have other nurses sometimes since my primaries occasionally have to spend time with other babies (or even their own families)...but most of the time I get the same ones.  I got to hand pick which nurses I wanted to have for my primaries, and I sure did a good job! 

My nurses love me too...not only do they feed me and wipe my bum, but they also rock me and take me for walks around the NICU to visit other babies and other nurses sometimes.  After all, one can go a bit stir crazy staying in the same room & the same crib for 9 weeks! 

They treat me so well that I'm not sure I ever want to go home.  Besides, I've never even seen this mythical place called "home", though Mama & Daddy assure me that I will like it a lot.  I'm skeptical though, since I don't know how it can get much better than it is now...and Mama told me there aren't 5 beautiful women waiting for me at home! 

Here are some photos of me & my nurses:

This is Jenny, Alyssa, and Leilani

 This is me with Corie

This is me with April - she was the very first one to take care of me!

Oh, and I'm 7 pounds 3 ounces now!   Mama can't stop rubbing my fat little belly for good luck!

Pathway "D"

Hi Everyone!

I hit a new milestone yesterday.  I advanced to what my beautiful nurses call "Pathway D".   Pathway D is the second-to-last step in my feeding regimen.  The ultimate goal is for me to eat whatever I want, when I want it (Pathway E).  Up until now, however, I was being fed through a feeding tube every other feeding.  That way I could stay asleep during those feeds, and only wake up every 6 hours to drink from my bottle.  I love sleeping!!!  But now, on Pathway D, I have to feed through a bottle every 3 hours -- they are not using my feeding tube!  Eating on my own is totally exhausting!  I prefer to sleep and be fed.  But, Zeus (my Daddy) tells me that I cannot come home to Mt. Olympus until I feed entirely on my own.  So, I am doing my best.  While Zeus feeds me my bottles, he occasionally hits me in the back with the force of a god.  See the video below...