The Day Big Brother Parker Discovered Baby Grant

Yesterday Baby Grant turned one month old! Even though he has already been a part of our family for thirty days, he (and I) have only been home from the hospital for 10-days. Big Brother Parker has been such a trooper during this transition and through all of the irregularity lately. For the most part it has seemed like Parker has hardly even noticed that Grant is even here…

Until yesterday. When Parker "discovered" Baby Grant and then played a little game with him! It was adorable and I took maybe a million pictures of them together. Fortunately I'm only sharing a few hundred here!

My mom, Twinkle, was burping Baby Grant and Parker came over to check out what was going on. He "helped" burp Grant:

Then we asked if he wanted to kiss his little brother:

Well that started a game Parker made up where he pretended to kiss Baby Grant, then walked to the end of the couch, then came back to pretend to kiss him again. Laughing the whole way of course! He did it over and over again. He LOVED it!

Most of my pictures look like these because Parker was in constant motion!

But I somehow managed to get a few of him playing:

Once we took Baby Grant's bib off, Parker found the moon and stars on Grant's outfit. (Parker is very into suns, moons, and stars right now.)

We also took a few minutes to identify Grant's body parts that Parker knows like "hair":

And shortly after that Parker got SO excited he could hardly contain himself! It was quite funny. I was so proud of him though because he was still so gentle with Baby Grant:

 

Parker Bear even showed his little brother how to make funny faces:

My heart was so full watching them "play" and interact together! I never ever want to forget these precious moments as Parker learns about becoming a big brother!

Oh and did he ever actually kiss him? Well, almost. This is as close as he got!

Such a sweet big brother! I am so proud of our Parker Bear!

And because I never want to forget this day, the day that Parker "discovered" his little brother, I'm including a 30-second video of these two playing this "game"...

Life in the NICU: From Here to Home

Our last week in the NICU was full of surprises, frustrations, and blessings. When the week began we had a completely healthy baby. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever for us to be in the NICU as far as Baby Grant's health was concerned.

So creeping in to week #3, why were we still there? Eating. Baby Grant had to learn to eat.

Eating is difficult for little preemie babies. They have to learn to the breathe/suck/swallow cadence. They also have to use tiny mouths to nurse from rather grown up anatomy. On top of that, their tiny bodies do not have ample stamina or energy to sustain long nursing sessions.

Little pre-term babies nurse for as long as they can which may only be for three minutes and then either drink the rest of their meal from a bottle - which is much easier compared to a breast - or if they just can't stay awake, then their meal is delivered through their feeding tube.

With me staying at the hospital every day and night I had the opportunity to practice nursing with Grant every time he was awake. It wasn't long before the feeding tube was removed and he was taking all oral meals! Every meal was half nursing and half bottle. Grant just wasn't - and still isn't - strong enough to take an entire meal by nursing. But in order to leave the NICU he had to take all meals orally for 48 hours. 

We worked together to make sure he could nurse or take a bottle. At first such a goal seemed impossibility far away from us. But with each passing day, Grant got a little bit stronger and a little bit better. He could stay awake longer and he had more energy to eat a full meal.

Before I knew it the feeding tube was removed! We were doing it! We were nursing and bottling but we were doing it!

Once we met the 48 hour oral meal rule, we were on the home stretch to come home. I was moved to a room where Grant and I could "room-in" together, he got a couple of vaccinations, he had a car seat study and then the preparations to GO HOME were being made. 

On Saturday afternoon, April 12th, Honey, Parker, Grant, and I walked out of the NICU and got in our car - with two carseats - and drove home. 

And never looked back! The search for "new normal" began and life as a family of four has never been so sweet. 

Thank you for the love and support! We are so blessed with such great friends (real life and virtual!) and family!!

Parker Takes His First Steps

Ever since we found out we were pregnant with Baby Grant we became very focused on Parker learning how to be mobile. I knew it would be impossible to carry two babies around! We were already involved in Physical Therapy and were so excited when Parker crawled on October 27th at seventeen months old.

Here is a short video of him crawling for the very first time. Funny story: I was washing dishes and heard a new sound coming from the play area. Honey was reading on the couch and I asked him what that sound was. He looked up and said - "It's Parker, he's CRAWLING!" And we instantly got it on video… (The sound I heard was his hands hitting the carpet with each crawl.)

After that the focus changed to getting him to walk. And if you're a regular reader you know about Parker's Wheels and how much they have helped... Not to mention how much fun we have had with them!

Well, on Thursday, April 10th, exactly two days before Grant came home from the NICU, Parker took his first steps unassisted! Here is a quick (7 second) video of his very first steps:

Since then we have practiced walking with him every chance we get! We are so excited about this big step for our Parker Bear and can't wait to see where those precious steps lead our boy!

Silent Sunday

We are home. WE ARE HOME!! It feels so incredibly wonderful to be home. To have our family under one roof. But more on that later… Since today is Silent Sunday, I am posting a few pictures from our last week in the NICU…

Baby Grant has been opening his eyes much more these days. He's taking in the world around him!

But post bath he looked very concerned:

What I looked forward to so much: napping with Parker on the days he visited!

 What Parker looked forward to: playing on the hospital bed:


And eating the free chocolate ice cream!

Sweet Grant can hold onto that paci!

 It was so special when my Honey was at the hospital with me and we get to love on our baby together.

 

 It is hard to remember how small a 5 pound baby really is until you see him next to a newborn outfit! It comes down way past his knees. Here he is pictured with a premie outfit and a newborn outfit:

Parker has been having a ball at home with Twinkle! He went to play group, play dates, and played outside in his "wheels"!

My little peanuts. How did I get so lucky?!

 This week we had three visitors and two care packages! One had something for both boys (and mommy too!). Thank you Aunt Lindsay, Uncle Ryan, David and Rachael! I love this sequence of Parker opening everything:

Grant will need these and I love that homemade granola!

We are so very thankful to be HOME! Now to find our new normal, our new balance, as a family of four!