The boys were good last night. Dad was off in Detroit so I had them all to myself. Allan had gained a little weight and Griffith lost a little so they both weigh the same again -- 3 pounds 8 ounces.
I remembered to get Allan's tape out of my bag last night and we sat there for quite a while holding hands and listening to Aunt Kathy read Bad Mousie. It is a cautionary tale of a little mouse who was bad (hence the title) because no one had ever taught him to be good. In the manner of all good children's literature, it is a terrible story and I have no idea why any one would think it was appropriate for kids. In short, Bad Mousie lives with a little girl (Danica) and her mother and he does all sorts of awful things. One day Danica's mother has had enough and embarks on a campaign to rid herself of Bad Mousie -- she ties him to the fence for the owls to eat him (he escapes), puts him in a box and throws it in the washer (ditto), and ties him to a kite and sends him sailing (he eventually drops in to a mud puddle). Rather than skedaddle somewhere with less homicidal (mouse-icidal) people, Mousie decides that he would like to be good and goes home and learns the rules from Danica. A cautionary tale, for sure. The boys should take heed -- this could be you. (Jesus is coming - R U ready?) ANYWAY, Allan was very alert through most of the story, clearly listening and looking around to try to find where the sound was coming from. He fell asleep listening and apparently was an angel all night long.
Griffith got a bath last night. Just in case you were wondering, he didn't really like it. He wriggled and squirmed and looked at Caitlyn and me with pure fury in his eyes. It is hard being so little and unable to fight off these people who seem to live to plague you. He settled down after that, though, and had an uneventful night.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Thursday afternoon postscript
I completely forgot -- Cheryl was playing the tape of Aunt Kathy reading stories and singing campsongs for Griffith this morning. He (and Cheryl) really enjoyed it. He was apparently wide-eyed and looking around while it was playing. I keep forgetting to leave Allan's though. (Already favoring one over the other. How awful!) Griffith will be so far ahead of him academically that Allan will never catch up.
Thursday afternoon update
As you can see, I've added a few photos to the site. Have to even up the score with the boys. Don't want it to look like we favor one over the other. It just took me a while to get a picture of Griffith with his eyes open. He's not awfully cooperative with the picture-taking.
The boys are doing well this morning. Cheryl came back today and brought each of the boys new matchbox cars. They are going to have quite a collection before they get out of the hospital. They'll be ready to sit in the dirt under the maple tree at mom's and play for hours. Allan mostly slept while I was there. Griffith started off that way, but when Alissa came in to check on him, he struggled to open his eyes. Ingrate. He's quite the little flirt, that's for sure. I don't know that Alissa wants to fool with him, though. He was working very hard at making a mess of his pants while I was there -- complete with adult-size sound effects. More room out than there is in, I suppose. Especially in his situation. Cheryl and I were discussing child-proofing the house right before I left and I turned to see Griffith grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I'm sure he was thinking, "go ahead, you can try to childproof it......"
The boys are doing well this morning. Cheryl came back today and brought each of the boys new matchbox cars. They are going to have quite a collection before they get out of the hospital. They'll be ready to sit in the dirt under the maple tree at mom's and play for hours. Allan mostly slept while I was there. Griffith started off that way, but when Alissa came in to check on him, he struggled to open his eyes. Ingrate. He's quite the little flirt, that's for sure. I don't know that Alissa wants to fool with him, though. He was working very hard at making a mess of his pants while I was there -- complete with adult-size sound effects. More room out than there is in, I suppose. Especially in his situation. Cheryl and I were discussing child-proofing the house right before I left and I turned to see Griffith grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I'm sure he was thinking, "go ahead, you can try to childproof it......"
Thursday June 1st
Dad reports that the boys had good nights last night. According to Krista, Allan slept the sleep of the innocent all night which made her return from vacation easier. Caitlyn reported that Griffith was also an angel, but that he was wide awake for a long time starting with the 3 a.m. care time -- watching his mobile and listening to music. I am glad that he is keeping himself entertained, but hope this does not become a habit. While I am willing to indulge both of them silly, Momma isn't at her best at 3 a.m. And mobile-watching and listening to Enya has only limited entertainment value for me.
Not much else to report -- Allan's weight was down a fraction (the tremendous poop he had at lunch would probably account for that!) Griffith's was up a bit -- 3 pounds 10.5 ounces.
Not much else to report -- Allan's weight was down a fraction (the tremendous poop he had at lunch would probably account for that!) Griffith's was up a bit -- 3 pounds 10.5 ounces.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Very big day - May 31
The boys had a big day today. They got to meet great-great Aunt Evelyn. Technically only parents and grandparents are allowed in the NICU, but we got special dispensation since we don't have any grandparents close at hand. She has given her seal of approval so we get to keep them. That's good because I'm not sure how we would have gone about returning them any way. Plus, we've grown rather attached to them. They both were on their best behavior. They opened their eyes to say hi and stayed awake for a little while so that we could visit. Evelyn was surprised at how big they are and by the fact that Allan's belly is chubby (he weighed 3 pounds 8 ounces last night.) She thought that she might be afraid to touch them, but realized soon enough that they are just regular little guys. She's ready to sign up for rocking duty just as soon as they come home. We left after they both settled down for their afternoon naps. Other than that, nothing new to report.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Tuesday afternoon May 30
The boys were fine at lunchtime. Allan was pretty sleepy so we didn't get to visit too long. (We take the "never wake a sleeping baby" thing seriously.) I have been told that they will sleep a lot when they are going through a growth spurt so maybe he's trying to overtake his brother. Griffith had a good morning, too. He woke up for his care time and we spent about 30 minutes or so holding hands and catching up on the news of the day. He's spending more time in "calm alert" mode which seems to mean that he has his eyes open and is looking around. He seems fascinated with his hands, opening and closing them up next to his eyes. He has managed to poke himself in the eye several times which comes as a complete shock to him every time it happens. They have decided to hold off on the steroids for the moment. He and Allan have their follow up eye exams on Thursday or Friday and those are pretty traumatic for them. They don't want to go through the stress of getting off the vent and the eye exam all in one week. We hope they'll start with the steroids next week.
Weekend recap
Sorry about the no post on Friday. As you could see, I tried twice, but, for some reason it wouldn't publish. I hope this one does.
The boys had a pretty good long weekend -- no major malfunctions. As of last night we no longer have a "big" boy and a "little" boy. Allan has caught up with Griffith -- they both weighed in at 3 pounds 6 ounces. Griffith is so much longer though that he looks much skinnier than his brother. Allan is taking on the appearance of a little cherub. He's quite the pretty boy.
After having taken a brief hiatus, the boys have both returned to the guerilla pooping tactics. I guess they were just lulling us in to a false sense of security. Griffith managed to soil 3 diapers on his nurse the other night before she was able to wrestle him in to submission. Allan's nurse had a different problem. She knew he had let loose with a projectile poop, but couldn't find where it had gone. That's a pretty neat trick when you consider that he's in an incubator.
Griffith is starting a short course of steroids today (3 days) with the goal of getting him off of the ventilator by the end of the week. He has graduated and is out on a "warming tray" instead of in an incubator. He even has a mobile to keep him entertained. He hasn't quite figured out how to focus on it, but he's working on it. He's still very active and loves to hold hands -- tightly. He's also had hold of his dad's nose on occasion. Aunt Kathy has sent a tape of her reading and singing. We'll see how he likes it as compared to the Enya that Nurse Jenny has been playing for him. The rest of you are going to have to get cracking on the tapes. You don't want Kate to get ahead of you.
Allan has two more treatments for the yeast infection and he is done, done, done. He's a little behind his brother on the whole getting off the vent thing, but now that he's feeling better and picking up weight, he should catch up before long. Nurse Cheryl has already started the boys' Matchbox car collection -- Allan has one with "buzz off" on the side. A sentiment that he feels deeply --- it seems like they are constantly being poked or prodded by someone.
I'm going to put up some new photos, if I can. The older ones apparently archive after some point, but if you play around on the site, you can still find them.
The boys had a pretty good long weekend -- no major malfunctions. As of last night we no longer have a "big" boy and a "little" boy. Allan has caught up with Griffith -- they both weighed in at 3 pounds 6 ounces. Griffith is so much longer though that he looks much skinnier than his brother. Allan is taking on the appearance of a little cherub. He's quite the pretty boy.
After having taken a brief hiatus, the boys have both returned to the guerilla pooping tactics. I guess they were just lulling us in to a false sense of security. Griffith managed to soil 3 diapers on his nurse the other night before she was able to wrestle him in to submission. Allan's nurse had a different problem. She knew he had let loose with a projectile poop, but couldn't find where it had gone. That's a pretty neat trick when you consider that he's in an incubator.
Griffith is starting a short course of steroids today (3 days) with the goal of getting him off of the ventilator by the end of the week. He has graduated and is out on a "warming tray" instead of in an incubator. He even has a mobile to keep him entertained. He hasn't quite figured out how to focus on it, but he's working on it. He's still very active and loves to hold hands -- tightly. He's also had hold of his dad's nose on occasion. Aunt Kathy has sent a tape of her reading and singing. We'll see how he likes it as compared to the Enya that Nurse Jenny has been playing for him. The rest of you are going to have to get cracking on the tapes. You don't want Kate to get ahead of you.
Allan has two more treatments for the yeast infection and he is done, done, done. He's a little behind his brother on the whole getting off the vent thing, but now that he's feeling better and picking up weight, he should catch up before long. Nurse Cheryl has already started the boys' Matchbox car collection -- Allan has one with "buzz off" on the side. A sentiment that he feels deeply --- it seems like they are constantly being poked or prodded by someone.
I'm going to put up some new photos, if I can. The older ones apparently archive after some point, but if you play around on the site, you can still find them.
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