Poop and pictures of visitors

OK, now that I have your attention... We all poop. No doubt. But Gerard had not pooped in four days and the result was that yesterday (after Michael left to teach of course) had a poop of poopumental proportions! I had no idea that this was possible for newborns, but I learned yet again today "not to panic" and that it is "perfectly normal for some newborns to go for up to a week without a messy diaper." I find this curious. I called the doctor. I consulted books, I researched on the internet, and today...La Leche League dishes me that question in the group. I swear, I pulled that question from the hat to ask the group at random. I won't go into detail about the La Leche League meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised by the intelligence and caring nature of the other moms in the meeting. The only thing that took me by surprise was the myriad of other children there (some moms were on child #5 or 6). Hmmm...not a lot in common, but hey, we were all moms. Not all of us moms with rambunctious toddlers, but moms nonetheless.
I still can't believe that I'm a "mom" - the word still makes me think of my own mom, or of all the other wonderful moms I know. It's bizarre to hear people refer to me as "Gerard's Mom." Can I really be a mom? How is this possible? But today, I got to hear myself in the circle announce that I'm a new mom, my baby's name is Gerard, and he was in the NICU for a long time. (Kind of like at an AA meeting, although I've never actually attended one but have seen them on TV). He's home on oxygen, and I'm attending the meeting for support and information that might be helpful. And...informative it was, especially the part about poop. For those of you who don't know, baby's who are breastfed can poop up to 3-4 times a day. It's mustardy in appearance and grainy in texture and they went on and on about poop. On and on and on. Yes...that's why I was getting concerned about him not pooping for 4 days. We think he's just using the milk he's getting to grow. He's looking a lot rounder.
Also - see all the fun photos from Carla's visit and other visitors who have come 'round in recent days. Today marks 6 weeks that we've been home. It feels like it was just yesterday, yet we've come so far -