Getting Old!!

I have been a blogging fool lately. I've had some down time at work lately and it got me into beautifying my blog and spending more time with my entries. We'll see how long it lasts..

So tomorrow my sweet little boy turns 3 months old. I can't believe it's gone by that fast, and I'm sure it'll start flying by faster and faster. We had an appointment with his nephrologist today and everything is looking really good. His labs are great and we didn't have to make any medication changes. Of course they show that he's dehydrated, but that just goes along with his syndrome. He now weighs in at 9 pounds 4.7 ounces and is 21.5 inches long. He's still underneath the 5th percentile, which is understandable because of his prematurity, but he's following the growth curve. Normal infants are expected to gain 25-30 grams per day (usually less for Bartter's kids) and since his last nephrology appointment he gained 28 grams per day. WAY TO GO ZEE-BUG!! They increased his total volume from 570 ml per day to 850 ml per day. Over the past week or so he'd been taking around 700 ml per day so it's not as big of an increase as it sounds. They told me that I don't need to put the NG tube down right away, and he'll be fine as long as he makes it to his new goal within a week or two. Really that's only about half an ounce per feeding increase, so I think we can do it. They are really impressed with how well he's been doing. We follow up with labs in two weeks, and another doctors appointment with labs in a month. We're finally getting a hang of this volume thing, and it'll be a whole new ball game once we introduce solids in the next several months (or more since he was a preemie).

This little boy is so amazing and here are a few things he's doing and that I love about him at 3 months:

-Smiles like crazy at anyone who will give him the attention with his big, beautiful smile

-Is starting to tolerate tummy time more and more, and is improving at lifting up his head. We need to spend more time on the floor to help those neck muscles get stronger.

-Is improving on holding his head steady, and loves to do supported sitting.

-Loves his dad and will almost always turn towards his voice. Is starting to track mom and dad. Also started tracking the monkey mobile in his play yard.

-Still eats regularly every 3 hours, including during the night. We used to have a 6 hour stretch at night, but I guess he's a growing boy.

-Doing wonderful taking in his large volume and gaining weight wonderfully. Takes his medication like a champ.

-Acts like we've been starving him for days anytime we feed him, and is so dramatic when he gets full. His arms wave up high and he starts squeaking like he can't breathe. Good thing we know better.

-Continues to talk to himself while looking in his mirror, and is starting to talk back to mom and dad. Figuring out how to make more and more vowel sounds.

-Starting to try to laugh. He's very ticklish and whenever mom tickles him he wants to laugh so bad, but just can't seem to make the right noise. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon.

I know this ended up being a super long post, but I must admit this kid is pretty dang cute!!

Quote: "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be"