What Owen is Doing and What We're Working On

Okay, since we've been home Owen has really struggled with eating.  Sucking for an infant is instinct only for the first few weeks of life, then eating becomes a learned behavior.  Owen suffers a little from GERD (we think) and also because of his prematurity eating is just hard work.  He eats still like a newborn only little meals 3 to 4 ounces at a time every 2 to 3 hours. . . . . .before you say "he's snacking" . . . . I assure you he is not!  He is now taking zantac twice a day to help cut back on excess stomach acid. . . . it has been almost a week and I don't know yet if I see a difference.    We now finally have an in home feeding specialist occupational therapist who is going to be coming weekly to help monitor and guide us!  Yea!!

He is however mostly sleeping through the night about 7-8 hours so that is awesome.

He is getting great head control and able to push up on his arms in tummy time and stay there for extended periods of time.  You can tell he wants to crawl, but his heavy belly keeps him down!

He loves playing with his rings and his crinkly peacock those are his favorite toys.  He is passing things back and forth, using both hands and sucking and chewing on everything . . . I think he is getting ready to put some teeth through.

He can sit up very well supported and enjoys the view.

His favorite thing still is face time he chuckles when he gets you to smile or stick your lower lip out at him and wants to pull on your nose and lips.

He is very very close to rolling over, another couple of weeks I think.

He has really started to explore with his voice and loves "talking" which sounds very much like a baby gorilla.  He enjoys a good screech.

He rarely rarely cries.  I have to keep the monitor turned up loud because when he wakes up he just grunts and wiggles and tries to eat his hands or just hangs out and will do that until someone comes to get him.  Usually if he cries it is something to do with feeding!  But even that is not very common.  I would say I'm lucky. . . . but to be honest, I think I've earned at least this.

We continue to work back, side, and belly time with lots of flexing into a curled or fetal position.  We are teaching him about his feet and that he can grab them and roll from side to side.  We work on bringing our hands to center or midline instead of flailing about like a person falling backward off a bridge!  He is a hard worker and you can tell he wants to advance. . . . he amazes me with how far he has come.

Its easy to get frustrated with feeding and because I just want to help him "catch up", but babies are amazing.  I look back on the things we have accomplished and I know that what seemed impossible a week ago, is mastered today.  They just keep going, and going, and going and growing!