Nine Month Update

Gerard weight - 16.15 lbs. Height - 26.5" L Head - 17.1 "
Gerard is officially "on" the charts! He's in the 5% range for weight and height, and 7% for his head. Tremendous progress. These are "non-adjusted" numbers for prematurity. So he's moving along nicely. The doctor was very pleased with his progress, and he was a happy baby for the entire visit (until the very end when he got poked in the finger). That one took him by surprise.
Developmentally, he's starting to sit and balance, rolling from side to side like a wild man, and he loves to shake his head "no" when he's sleepy. He looks in directions when I point at something, and he loves tracking cars on the street. Gerard has the funniest laugh. He laughs really hard when I turn to look at him quickly. It's a fun stage. He's getting the hang of the eating bit, but still doesn't like bananas all that much. Ah well. He loves rice and oatmeal cereal, and sweet potatoes. He's eating @ 30 - 34 oz. per day of formula. That's quite a bit from the little cc's I used to log in his journal. I'm amazed at the amount of laundry such a little person can produce now that he can make a mess. He's wearing 6 months clothing now, and fits the 3-6 range most of the time.
We went to the last Saturday's farmer's market with Gerard and had a nice time getting our last watermelon of the season. Gerard always gets lots of attention, and this Saturday was no exception. I only regret that we didn't take photos. There's always next year. We had to put a new car seat in for him since his length has outgrown his old one. I'm going to miss the convenience of the infant carrier. He doesn't seem to mind riding rear-facing like I hear other kids fuss over. Let's hope it stays that way.
I'm posting today as I'm home with strep. I haven't been feeling so hot for the past couple of days, but today it finally got to me and I went to Instacare first thing this morning. Got some antibiotics so I hope not to infect the little guy and Michael.

Just growing...

Gerard's growing like a weed. He's starting to eat some solids (rice cereal, sweet potatoes, pears and carrots). We keep trying bananas, but he doesn't like them! That's impossible since everyone loves bananas. We'll keep trying. With the introduction of food, he's not been drinking enough milk.
He has discovered TV and is fascinated with it. I put on a cartoon the other day and when got in his line of sight, he bent around to see the screen. Oh boy.
It won't be long before he's sitting up on his own. He loves to sit in the corner of the playpen and play with his toys. He eventually topples over onto his back and plays with his toes. When he sees something he likes, he gets excited and says, "ooooh" and kicks his legs like mad and shakes his head. It's pretty funny. These are all good milestones for him. Speaking of the playpen, we've had to take the bassinette out and he goes to the lower level now that he's too big. Yeah! He's finally too big for something. He's also on his way out of 0-3 month clothing and is a solid 3-6 months size. His legs are short (could this mean a future swimmer?) and his torso is long. But according to some comments we've heard lately, he was called "fat" and "stout" - which must be a good sign.
On another note, we've been worried about our friends and family battling hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. Gustav and Ike...those two guys were pretty mean. Coverage here hasn't been great, so drop us an e-mail when power is back up for you.

Go Wildcats!

Gerard's first football game!

Here is the fabulous Little G with our University President. How cute is this? Gerard loved his first Weber State home football game. It was a slaughter. Below are photos with "Yas" - our new Dean. She can seriously whistle! Check out the video.

Beautiful baby photo

I just love this photo of Gerard.

8 month pics and update...a little late

With Gerard being sick the past 9 days, getting his 8 month info posted has been a challenge. Here are photos of him at 8 months (August 24). He's doing very well considering. We had an unplanned visit to the instacare that day, and he weighed in at 16.2 lbs. No height measurements on him, but we know he's grown since his long pants are at least 2" too short for him...at least the ones that fit around the waist. Most people say he looks like his dad, some say mom. Anyone who knows me will recognize him as looking exactly like my baby pictures (but we won't tell Michael). Little G's starting to grab things and transfer easily from one hand to the other. He's rolling back and forth and front to back with greater ease. He's showing a preference for his left hand (Mike's left handed). His favorite story is "Midnight Moon" and he looks up at me when I read during certain parts and smiles. Gerard loves meeting new people right now, and especially loves to smile and flirt with all the ladies. He's starting to laugh a lot more and unfortunately, in the past couple of weeks, has developed a little whine...which sounds more like a little puppy. He does this when he's hungry. The biggest new development is that two lower baby teeth have emerged in the past 9 days or so! Since then, he loves clinking his teeth on the spoon when taking a bite. He's finally eating rice cereal and loving it, and even tries to grab the spoon to feed himself. I think his favorite thing to do is sip water from my glass. He doesn't care for the sippy cup yet. He does still love his binkie, although he chews the back side and around it - a most creative use (for teething).

NICU Reunion

These pics are from August 16, the same day as the run. It's taken me a long time to get this post logged in. Photos feature the adorable Gerard and some of the NICU staff. We had a great time catching up with our favorite docs and nurses. Gerard had fun, too...just take a look at the last photo in this entry for evidence.