If one thing is for certain, we are full of emotions this week, forever thankful, and truly blessed as we kick off the holiday season with Thanksgiving.  Watching our family grow with our bundle of joy, Jimmy, has been remarkable these last couple months!  As we celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s given us a lot of time to reflect and we find it difficult to express in words all that we have to be thankful!

This past week was an exciting one at best, and further emphasizes how grateful we are this holiday season.  For those keeping track, Jimmy’s original due date was November 19th, just this past Saturday.  It is hard to comprehend how far Jimmy has come these past two months.  Before Jimmy’s arrival, one of our goals was to see that he was baptized prior to Christmas and maybe even Thanksgiving.  Well, given his early arrival, we were able to meet that goal and celebrate Jimmy’s baptism on November 20th (one day after his expected delivery date 🙂 ).  The celebration was certainly special and it was wonderful celebrating James Xavier’s entrance into the Catholic faith.  A special thanks goes out to St. Philip Neri for accommodating a private service so as not to expose Jimmy to germs ;).

One other important update…. Jimmy had a super followup at his eye doctor on Wednesday.  The hemorrhages they were monitoring are no longer an issue at this time and he won’t have to go through another eye exam for another 10 months 🙂

We know if we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times… we are forever thankful for all of our Family and Friends love and support.  From our family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Angie, Jim, Jimmy and Dunder

(Note, this post is back dated… stay tuned for more updates)

Last week Jimmy had his two month doctor visit, which included his 8 week immunization shots.  He was not a happy camper afterwards, as there was lots of crying!  There was so much crying that once he finally settled down, Dunder Dog was able to get some rest and immediately starting snoring heavily.  Unfortunately, the office didn’t have all of the shots and Jimmy had to go back to the office on Friday to received his RSV shot.

Little Jimmy is probably around 8 1/2 pounds now. Also, Jimmy passed the 20 inch mark – a whole 3 inches longer since birth.  Based on a preemie growth chart of babies at 39 gestational weeks, he was right in the middle of the pack – 50th percentile.  As the doctor described, he is a newborn but is starting to acquire the skills of a 2 month old baby.

Jimmy went on another field trip to Valley Forge park to eat lunch with his grandparents near Uncle Matt’s tree.  It was a beautiful day of 70 degrees and the leaves were falling.  Like last week’s adventure to the park, Jimmy was sound asleep through it.

It is hard to believe that Jimmy is seven weeks old this week, and is technically 38 gestational weeks today.  It’s been two weeks since Jimmy has made the treck home, and he has been adjusting remarkably well.  At his weekly doctor’s check-up this past Thursday, he weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces!  It is amazing to think that he has almost doubled in size from his birth weight.  On average, our little guy is gaining 1-2oz per day.  In the next week, Jimmy will be 8 weeks old, and will receive his 2 month immunization shots.  In addition to the standard shots, he’ll receive his RSV shot to help ward off this nasty virus.

Getting comfortable with weekly routines… Jimmy has bath nights Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and he is gradually warming up to the concept with less fuss.  Also, Jimmy is sleeping better and when he sleeps better, Angie does too :).  Fortunately, there have only been two nights that were tiresome for both Angie and Jimmy.

Last Sunday, Jimmy had the opportunity to attend his first birthday party for Aunt Abbie.  Angie did a terrific job embroidering a cute onesie that said “Happy Birthday Aunt Abbie”.  Jimmy was the only one at the party that got the message to come dressed appropriately 🙂

To help pass time, Angie is coming up with creative ways to entertain Jimmy, and this week he went on his first of many adventures with Mom.  With Doctor’s orders limiting visitors to only immediate family, we have to be creative and avoid areas with crowds.  On Thursday, Angie took Jimmy out for a nice car ride and visited Uncle Matt’s tree at Washington Headquarters in Valley Forge.  It was a perfect Fall day for Jimmy to get some fresh air.  He enjoyed it soo much that most of the trip he was sound asleep.

Jealous Dunder… While the attention in the household has been centered on Jimmy, we do have to remember our puppy needs some attention as well.  The one thing that confuses Dunder the most, is Jimmy is fed every three to four hours.  So whenever Angie or Jim exclaim “Is Jimmy ready for Food?” Dunder runs to his food bowl thinking it is his time to eat.  He’s starting to get the hang of this, although we sense Dunder’s not happy only being fed twice a day.  Hang in their buddy, we’re sure you’ll get Jimmy’s leftovers in due time 🙂

Woooooooohoooooooooooooooo! JIMMY IS HOME!

After exactly five weeks, Jimmy has made the trip home on Wednesday, October 19th, and Angie & Jim (and Dunder too) are thrilled 🙂

Some other good news is Jimmy broke the 6lb mark, and his follow up ultrasound this week shows that he is developing nicely.  Jimmy also had his first car trip after discharge to his doctor.  His doctor was very excited to meet baby Jimmy (Angie had met with him a few weeks earlier), and he is very pleased with how well he is progressing.

Although it was a rainy day for his discharge, we were able to keep him nice and dry and Angie kept him company in the back of the car for the trek. Angie prepared a personalized a warm fleece outfit for Jimmy’s big day.  Since we have two favorite college’s in the household, and we couldn’t agree on Penn State vs Notre Dame, she put her creativity to work and embroidered “Notre Dame, Penn State #1 Fan”.  What a thoughtful Mommy!

Upon our arrival to the house, Dunder anxiously awaited his chance to meet his new friend. Our gentle giant of a puppy seems to be in awe and inquisitive of our little boy and Dunder’s been very gentle with his interactions. It’s neat watching Dunder stop what he is doing to check up on Jimmy when he hears a noise.

So, how was our first night sleep? Let’s just say that we didn’t get much rest, but we learned some things as a result. While staying in NICU, the environment could be a bit noisy with alarms, conversations and all the activity that is going on in the area. Over the last five weeks, Jimmy learned how to drain that noise out very well. At home, it is a bit more quiet, so we will have to improvise and play some music, run some appliances, or turn on the TV. Fortunately, Jimmy sleeps soundly while we are doing cleaning and listening to music. Here is hoping this will keep up.  The last few nights have improved, and Jimmy seems to be adjusting to life at home quite nicely!

As always, we are grateful for the support from our family and friends thought these weeks. Be sure to keep watching the blog as we share our story.

Love, Angie & Jim

Well, things have been quite busy for the family over the last week, so unfortunately we haven’t been able to update the blog as regularly as anticipated.  The good news is Jimmy has been doing phenomenally well, and Angie, Jim and Dunder are anxiously awaiting the big day.  There have been a number of big milestones for our little boy:

• Jimmy celebrated his one month old birthday last week, and will be 5 weeks old tomorrow
• Five Pounds and Growing!  He is now around 5lbs 12oz 🙂
• Over the weekend, Jimmy had enough of his feeding tube and yanked it out.  After careful evaluation, the doctors and nurses determined that Jimmy is doing extremely well with bottle feeding and won’t be needing the tube any longer 🙂
• As a result, Jimmy has graduated to ad-lib feeding, where he is no longer on a stringent four hour schedule, but a “feed as he needs” plan.  Woohooo 🙂
• In preparation for discharge, Jimmy passed his first two tests…. Hearing Test and Car Seat Test.  The car seat test is unique to preemies, and is used to ensure that he can sit upright and maintain his oxygen levels for 90 minutes.