Gearing up for Christmas

Hello.

Lochlan's been making some great progress lately. He's been liking his cereal. We are now up to about 2tbsp. He's tried rice cereal and oatmeal. Seems to like oatmeal a lot better. Can't say I blame him! I'm aiming to try barley over the next few days. Mmmm...sounds yummy doesn't it?!


He's like, "give me my cereal, and nobody gets hurt!" So funny.

His pediatrician Dr. Moore said that we can start him on purees anytime. However, she said that it won't have as many calories as the cereal. It would be just to introduce him to food and textures. I think I'm going to hold off just yet on introducing veggies. I'm going to aim for 4tbsp of cereal a day at least before trying out sweet potatoes which is probably what I'll start with. (Abby started with the same)

On Monday Dec 20th, he weighed 8lbs, 12 3/4 ounces. I was excited to see that he'd gained 5 oz since his last appointment. Actually in 12 days. The previous weight (8lbs, 7 3/4 oz) he was the same one week apart. Which was very frustrating. But I altered a few things that I was doing and it seems to be working. In fact, he gained 1 1/2 ounces in two days. (since Monday as he had an appointment today) He now weighs 8 pounds, 14 1/4 ounces. Hooray!! So proud of my little man. Have I mentioned that I think he is amazing? He's just shy of being 9 lbs!!!! I think I'll celebrate big time when he gets over the 10 lb mark. Dr. Moore said Loch's going at his own pace in the weight gain department and that we'll concentrate on getting it up in the New Year. But I'm so happy he gained what he did in two days. So awesome. Keep it up!

He had his second dose of the flu shot on Monday and his third RSV shot today. (Wed) So thankful for those shots. They are definitely keeping him healthy. Must give a "shout out" to Dr. Onyette. She is amazing. She is so good at what she does and is so kind and caring. She even makes her own appointment reminder calls. What an incredible lady. (and doctor of course!)

Lochlan has also been developing fabulously these days. He had his special infant clinic two weeks ago and they are very happy with where he's at. We are continuing to work on getting his tummy time in so that his head and neck control get even stronger. His head is still so big in comparison to the rest of his body and so it's pretty heavy to lift up when he's on his tummy. They said that his chest area because of this needs a little more support as is the usual for preemies.

These pics were actually taken a few weeks ago.

Lo and behold, our little miracle baby is rolling over from his back to his tummy. He did this a few times a couple of weeks ago but tonight, it was constant. He has a harder time rolling from his tummy to his back once he's there though so you really need to watch him and help him out. Which is strange because he can roll back to his back when I put him on his tummy for tummy-time. So go figure. I guess it's just where his hands end up and whatnot. He'll get it. But every time I turned him back over tonight, he'd heave-ho and put himself back on his tummy. Funny boy. You could really see the concentration and determination. LOVE him.

And he continues to smile these big smiles. He's got quite the little personality already. Already so social. He's been chatting a bit more the past few days as well. Not cooing nearing as much as Abby when she was his corrected age but I shall not compare. I'm soooo very proud of him.

He had his eye test last week with Dr. Arthur to test his vision. (rather than to check for activity with the blood vessels) He did very well. It's tough to really know since he's still so young. Dr. Arthur and his colleague seem to think that his left eye is a bit slower than his right. No real big surprise there as that's been the one with the most difficulty. So time will tell. We're sure he'll need glasses at some point but who knows if he'll have baby or kid glasses, or just need them as an adult. He goes back in March to test again.





As we near Christmas, I want to wish everyone a VERY merry Christmas and a joyful and blessed New Year. Thank you over and over and over again for your continued prayers and support. We feel very loved and fortunate to have so many friends, family, and strangers cheering Lochlan and the rest of our family on.

This Christmas will be extra special and we can't wait to wake up on Christmas morning with stars in our eyes and love in our hearts with our amazing family of four.

Miracles exist.

God Bless.
Jenn, Rob, Abby and Lochlan
xoxo