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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

2/18/10 (Thursday)

Today was a pretty exciting day for Cara at preschool. She got to play in the snow outside (we brought her snowpants and mittens and hat for the purpose), plus apparently the teachers had the Lollipops play curling! Then they all got olympic medals (everyone got a silver one). I believe the kids were the "pushers" and the teachers had brooms and were the sweepers. This is pretty cool since Cara and I were just watching Olympic curling yesterday.

Then in the evening it was ballet time! Cara finally got to give her dance teachers some valentines, which they enjoyed, and she got a cupid sticker. Then it was home for dinner, a speedy shower, and some books.

Evie and I had some shopping to do this afternoon for various boys' birthday parties, and Owen's first feeding lasted a while, so we ended up leaving before his second feeding. But his first feeding went rather well! He took about the same amount from Evie, the bottle, and in his tube. Apparently he also took an entire bottle in the night! So that's some great news. He really seems to be getting the hang of things! He has had a habit of getting his coordination off and having his heart rate dip majorly. He still did that a couple of times with us today, but fewer times than yesterday.

I still have been unable to successfully burp him. I feel that he senses my lack of confidence and purposely holds in his burps. But he makes a very funny expression of extreme surprise while I'm holding him up and patting his back.

2/20/10 (Saturday)

Friday was Pajama Day at preschool! I saw the sign on the door at Yellow Brick Road the other day and explained it to Cara. Not only could she come to preschool in her pajamas, there was to be pancakes as well! We had to plan this out, because if Cara was going to wear her favorite butterfly pajamas to preschool, she couldn't wear them to bed; and if she was going to have pancakes at preschool, she couldn't have them for breakfast. We managed these hurdles. On the way to Yellow Brick Road in her pajamas, Cara became worried. "Is it really pajama day?" she asked me. I guess she was concerned that she would arrive and be the only one in her pajamas (in a very similar situation to a library book she had recently). I assured her it was the case, and when we arrived--joy of joys--it was Pajama Day! Everyone was in their pajamas, and there were pancakes. It looked like tons of fun.

The day just got more exciting for Cara after that, because her Grandmama picked her up for an evening of fun. Meanwhile, Ev and I had an extra-long day with Owen. We got to try several feedings, with pretty good success. The exciting part was that at 6 PM, Owen was "officially" weighed with all his clothes off; his clothes and his bedding were totally changed; and his foot sensor and other monitors were replaced! And, even more exciting, he had a bath. Since I happened to be standing in front of him when we learned this, I ended up giving him the bath. Now a "bath" for a preemie in the NICU involves wiping him with a lot of wet squares of fabric. And he hated it! It was great.

Today, Saturday, was just as thrilling, because it was PJ's birthday party! Mommy went to the hospital for the morning shift, while I stayed home and got a few chores done. The original plan had been for me to stay at home during PJ's party and let Cara have fun on her own while I perhaps got some painting done in Owen's room. But I felt very silly being just a few houses away from my daughter at a birthday party, so I came over. Grandmama was there too! It was a crazy party. PJ and all his friends from Susan's were there--and even Susan made an appearance, to the great joy of all the children. There were tacos, of which Cara ate several, and a pinata. The pinata (which looked like the Transformer Optimus Prime--PJ didn't actually want to open it because it looked very cool) was very difficult to crack open, but Ron helped by dumping some bags of candy very near the pinata. Cara was enjoying the gum and lollipops she got from this for the rest of the day.

As if an exciting birthday party was not enough, when Cara got back home, it wasn't long before Claire and Casie arrived! I had the evening shift at the hospital this evening, so I wasn't around for most of it, but I understand that a lot of dancing occurred. Claire and Casie taught Cara to do the twist. She was wearing sunglasses and waving streamers and posing and jumping all over. She was still bouncing around even at her (very late) bedtime.

My time with Owen today was nice. He was hungry and fussy when I arrived, so I held him for a while as we waited for his bottle. He is taking 54 mLs now at a feeding and he took 25 from the bottle, which is pretty close to half--not bad. Then we had a little bit of time together before I had to leave for the evening.

2/21/10 (Sunday)

Today was the second day of our birthday-filled weekend. This time it was Vinnie's birthday. Cara knows Vinnie from preschool. Unfortunately, us parents don't really know Vinnie, so we had to totally guess on what kind of gift he might like. I'm still wondering whether he liked the Hot Wheels playset and Batman toy we got him, since he didn't open his presents at the party. It was at his house, and there was a magician! And pizza! I wasn't there, but it sounded good for kids. Cara told me afterwards that the magician pulled a real rabbit out of his hat, a very long string out of his mouth, and found some numbers that might have been on playing cards. The child also got a balloon in the shape of a flower. "And if I turn it upside down," said Cara, "it's a sword!"

Cara also got to see her South Jersey grandparents today (incidentally, I got to see my parents, which was also nice). They brought a very nice Big Sister gift for her from her Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jim (she's gotten more of these than I would have expected), the highlight of which was a large winged fairy doll of the Tinker Bell ilk. Cara immediately got out one of her other Tinker Bell dolls, who was not wearing a shirt. Grandmom tried to convince Cara that Tinker Bell had a certain amount of modesty, but Cara was having none of it.

One of the other presents Cara got, I think at Ev's shower, is a DVD from the twins. It is a "Bratz" movie. I have to admit that Evie and I are not fans of the Bratz dolls, but we had never seen them in real, three-dimensional animation. With all respect to the twins, who no doubt are very generous and no doubt are very experienced in what little girls like, I was hoping we could indefinitely delay the experience; but today the DVD was brought up and the child decided she wanted to see it. Evie went to the hospital this evening, so it was just Cara and me, and I agreed to watch it.

It is just the kind of movie which Cara normally wouldn't get through: it features a bunch of characters she was totally unfamiliar with, and almost the entire show consisted of big-headed, strange-lipped girls telling scary stories to each other. Cara has never done well with scary things. At the end of the anthology-style plot, in an utterly bizarre twist of fate, the entire group of Bratz are inexplicably transformed into a pack of scaly, bug-eating fiends. They are not only undisturbed by this, but wonder why everyone around them is acting so strange.

The movie left me scratching my head. The oddest thing about it was that, though she was alarmed by one or two scenes, Cara watched the whole thing, and later this evening told me she couldn't wait to watch it again--"show it to Mommy" were her words, I believe.

Ev is still at the hospital with Owen, though she should be returning soon. Neither of us had a chance to get down to the hospital for the noon feeding or the 3 PM one, so she waited for the 6 PM feeding and stayed for the 9 PM as well! While Ev does not hold out a lot of hope for the 9 PM feeding being very productive, Owen apparently finished his whole bottle for the 6 PM!

One of the things that PJ got for his birthday which I forgot to mention was an old Super Nintendo system, donated by his relatives. He went tearing through the bag, looking for his favorite Super Nintendo game, which he plays with me all the time: Samus. (The actual game is called Super Metroid, but the character in it is named Samus.) It was not there, since PJ's cousins didn't have that particular game. But I donated my copy to the Loefflers today. Em called me this evening to let me know that I was still not off the hook for playing Samus, because it's just not the same to play Samus with grown-ups who don't know how to play the game and keep getting Samus killed. It's hard to know whether I should feel proud about this situation or not.

2/22/10 (Monday)

Owen did, as Steve said, do really well last night at six, and then he was ready to nurse again at nine. Today, the nurses report that he was quite awake in the morning and that he has learned enough to know that being picked up means good things. He was sound asleep when we arrived. He stayed asleep when we unwrapped him and changed his diaper and his clothes and picked him up and weighed him. After a while, at the nurses' suggestion, I tried nursing him. He seemed willing to participate while asleep, but he accomplished nothing. Gradually, he woke up a little and did take part of a bottle for Steve. It was not one of his best days, and we couldn't stay longer because Cara was going to the dentist!

The dentist was fun, as usual. Cara is thrilled about her new toothbrush and her Bratz stickers. She also got three tiny plastic treasure chests, which are for her to put her teeth in when she loses them. Which is a scarily major milestone to contemplate!

Cara did show me her Bratz movie this evening. The best thing I can say about it is that it will introduce Cara to a number of cliches and tropes that she might recognize later in life. It also uses the word doppelganger. Cara really really loves this movie. It also might teach her that people stay awake during a sleep over, but I'm not sure she'll get that out of it.

2/23/10 (Tuesday)

This morning Cara and I made some biscuits from a mix. She helped me pour in the mix, pour in the water, and stir the stuff. They came out good! Last night we were playing a Bratz game on the internet for a couple of minutes, and part of the game involved having to choose possible careers for yourself. After the obvious "ballerina," Cara's second choice was "chef." Hmm.

Owen seems to like to alternate between good and bad feedings these days. After his sleepy, non-productive one yesterday, we hear he took a big bottle. His feeding amount has gone up again. Today when we tried, he nursed for a veeerrrry long time and took 42 mLs--a new record! We decided to skip the bottle since the nursing took so long, and let him rest till the next feeding. But this was his off one, so he was sleepy and only took 6 mLs from Evie and only a little more than 10 from a bottle. No doubt after we left he took a whole bottle.

After preschool today we took Cara home and put her in the bath. This is a new routine we'll be following since it is "RSV" season and we have to have Cara wash off her preschool germs for when Owen comes home. RSV is a cold-like thing that Owen could catch easily, and which could re-hospitalize him. Cara had a fun bath and was excited because she remembered that it was Taco Night. Having a dinner to look forward to could really help us wrap up our baths faster.

2/24/10 (Wednesday)

Today I finally remembered to bring into the hospital the Flip camera my dad loaned me this past weekend. We shot some movies of Owen taking his bottle and being burped (well, an attempted burping). That was exciting, but Owen did not do a lot for us today--some nursing, some bottle, some tube. It's pretty tough watching other babies around us in the NICU getting to go home, while our little guy is still creeping along! But hopefully progress is being made. We hope we can get in to see him tomorrow, but we have to see how the weather is, as it appears yet another snowstorm is on its way.

Today was a big day for Cara, even though she didn't really know it. We enrolled her for Kindergarten! It involved sitting around in a crowded room for a long time, then handing some papers to a person, then getting more papers from another person. So not particularly thrilling, but a symbolic milestone all the same.

Today was a big day for PJ also--his Samus character got some missiles! But I kid PJ. Today was a big day for him because it is his actual birthday. We were going to go over to his house to celebrate for dinner. Cara objected to this plan and whined about it; she didn't want to go. Eventually she was convinced. Then it turned out that PJ was running a fever and the safest thing for us to do was stay away. Cara broke into tears and ran to her room to sit in the dark and cry. We were able to console her eventually.

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