Xavier Hugs the Blues
Greetings to all.
Not long ago, Rebecca had an event which required her to dress up in her blues. I wanted to get pictures of her alone, but she agreed to pose with Xavier. Personally, I think Rebecca looks striking in her blues.
It took a while to get Xavier to forget Lt. Mom's chestful of medals long enough to look at the camera. Even then, Xavier used his hands to keep a placeholder for when the shooting ended.
Nine Month Checkup
Greetings to everyone!
Xavier had his nine month checkup today. Dr. Abbey was out of town, so Xavier was introduced to another doctor in the office, Dr. Schimalel.
Dr. Schimalel provided much encouragement. Though we are generally happy with Xavier's development and growth, still we have that little nag of "he's not growing as fast as he should" in the back of our heads. Of course, that nag is put into our heads by his doctors.
Dr. Schimalel told us Xavier is behaving like a 9 month old should. A 9 month old, not a preemie-adjusted 7 month old. She also told us not to worry over his growth, everything developmentally looks good. Glory to God! Rebecca and I know this, but it's nice to hear it from the same source (doctors) who plant the little doubts. Overall, Dr. Schimalel was very impressed by our little man; she predicted he will be tall and lanky.
Rebecca told Dr. Schimalel about how she now wakes Xavier up a couple of times in the night and feeds him while he is mostly asleep (because he drinks most of bottle at such times). Dr. Schimalel laughed and said this technique was inventive.
Xavier had two more shots today, his third and final Hep B and another Polio. He got two pokes and cried very little with today's shots. This impressed Rebecca, who is always sensitive to his pain.
Here are today's stats:
- Weight
- 12 pounds, 1.6 ounces, a gain of two ounces in a week.
- Height
- 25 inches; a full inch longer in 18 days
- Head Circumference
- 43.5 cm, or 17.13 inches; a gain of 0.13 inches in 18 days
Xavier poses in his bassinet, something of a feat as this was taken in a lull of his activity. He often is in the bassinet when Dad has work to do, but needs to keep an eye on him. (one of the "Big Three" rules of the Parents Discharge class at the NICU: never leave a child unsupervised!)
Closing in on 12 Pounds
Greetings to everyone.
We got a surprise check in the mail, a refund from Apria, the company that supplied Xavier's oxygen tanks last summer. They reviewed our file and found we had overpaid about $116.00. We were excited to see Apria reimburse us. Immediately, Rebecca had the money spent!
We went out and found a high chair for Xavier. It's a nice one; the seat can be removed and used as a booster seat later. Of course, it was a little more than the refund, but not that much more. We put it in the cart and headed for the checkout.
Xavier likes the chair, and it's easier to have him join us at the table while we eat. In the last couple of weeks, Xavier has had a "quantum leap" in some development skills. He sits up on his own and is very stable. He is also about to figure out the whole crawling thing--he is so close! The high chair allows him to sit rather than recline, which annoys him now that he has a good command of sitting up.
Xavier had a checkup today. We thought it was his 9 month checkup, but we were mistaken. We learned that, just because he turned 9 months and had an appointment (for his RSV shot), it would automatically be his 9 month check up and exam. Nope, we learned we had to actually and explicitly schedule his 9 month exam. Armed with that knowledge, we have scheduled him for next week.
We do have a new weight for him as of today. It's an impressive number given his recent weighings. He is now at 11 pounds, 15.6 ounces. That's about a three-quarter pound increase in the last ten days. Glory to God! Rebecca has been pulling her hair out trying to get him to eat the amounts the doctors want him to eat. Xavier, however, is having none of it; he eats what he wants, when he wants. Rebecca's newest trick, which is generally successful, is to wake him up and feed him before he becomes fully awake and distracted by every shiny object or noise. Speaking with the PA who saw him today, she told us "he's not on the average curve, but he is maintaining his own curve." That is Xavier's story for the last year!
Sitting in his Johnny Jump-up, Xavier squeezes a slice of banana in his fist. Off to the side and vigilant, but out of frame, Lena the Dalmatian waits for him to drop something to the floor. Lena has been really good around Xavier, but this was a lesson to us to not leave her unsupervised when Xavier has food. It was one of those "aha" moments for us.
Here, Xavier demonstrates how to properly smooch a banana slice on the table of his new high chair. Later, he will try to pound it into the plastic tray top. Failing that, he will drop several slimy chunks into the seat.