Unbelievable

Allison had her final home health nurse visit yesterday and her current weight is 6lbs!! That's a 30% increase from her birth weight. We are almost out of preemie diapers as well. I can't believe how big she is getting... Rather, how small she was. I was looking at some of the pics from the hospital today and she was so tiny her binky took up her entire face and now it fits her almost perfectly. It's amazing that's she's only been home with us for not quite a month because I feel like she's been with us forever.

Story Time with Aunt Re

Mmmm... TastyDaaaad, I wanna hold it!

Procrastination

Honestly, there isn't much going on in the Binning house... Matt is at the hockey game with Dan and his mom, so I'm left to my own devices with Allison. I should be pumping, but I'm procrastinating... I'm not very good at doing things a couple times a day, let alone 8-12 times. But since she still won't latch, this is what needs to be done to keep up my meager milk supply. I figured that I spend about 8 hours a day between bottle feeding, pumping, and attempting to nurse. It doesn't leave much time or energy for anything else. The hardest part is not being able to keep up with my other household tasks, but I know it's worth it for her to be getting at least some of my milk with her formula. The whole thing is just so frustrating... Ok, now I've guilted myself into doing it... Sorry to bore you guys with my new mom rants.

So Big!

Allison is definitely growing like a weed!! In the last week, she has grown out of two sleepers so I knew she was getting bigger but had no idea how much. When we went to the doctor yesterday she had gained 11oz in one week! That's almost double the expected 1oz per day growth!! She has also spent the last few nights in her "big girl bed." Not that sleep is something that comes easily around a newborn, but her constant preemie grunts were keeping us from catching any shut eye. She has done pretty well (some of which I can attribute to the vibrating bouncer I put on the other end of the crib!) and it allows me to actually sleep in bed rather than the recliner.

Happy Belated Easter

Well, as you may have noticed, blogging hasn't made it to the top of my To Do list, so here's a little catch up. Matt and I enjoyed an adults night out on Saturday with Julie at the Adult Easter Egg Hunt at Queeny Park. We found our allotted 10 "regular" eggs right away and then spent the rest of the time searching for a golden egg. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful, however, I did have 2 winning eggs. Out of all the cool prizes, I won coffee. Ha. I also won a free car wash, so I guess we still broke even since one of our admission tickets was free. It was definitely fun and would love to do it again with a big group of people. Just need to remember to dress really warm and bring a big flashlight!

Easter Sunday was a very busy day for Allison, but she was great! We began our long day at Steve and Barb's for lunch and then headed over to my folks house for dinner. Of course, she slept most of the day, but everyone had a great time seeing her. Next year will be even better when all the kids can hunt for eggs together.

Doctor's Visit

Just a quick post about Miss Allison's progress... She is nearly 5lbs!!! The doctor also said that we can progress her feedings as she tolerates. She is currently taking 2oz, but if we can get her to 3oz then she'll be able to sleep for 5 straight hours at night. Which would be a blessing! The broken sleep is not doing much for my performance. (I was applying for jobs last night and forgot to attach the resume at least once and left my blog signature at least twice... ergh) Not much else is going on, so I'm off to take a nap while Matt is in charge of the baby. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bath Time

The other night, we gave Allie her first tub bath... We had been hoping that she would enjoy the experience a bit more that her usual sponge bath, but not so much luck! Hopefully she will grow to love the water, as she is a Pisces.

Rain

We have decided that very good things happen for us when it rains... The wedding, bridal and baby showers, and Allison's continual progress have all been accompanied by some sort of rainy weather. So, it only seems fitting that we finally got to bring our baby girl home on Monday after nearly a week of precipitation! Everyone at the NICU said that preemie girls are especially tough and generally make it home quickly, but we were still surprised to hear over the weekend that Monday marked Allie's 5th day without any apnea spells and her 2nd day nippling all of her feedings. Overcoming these obstacles meant that she could be discharged! As difficult as it was to leave her in the NICU every day, we know that she is as healthy as possible and that we are more prepared to care for her than if she had been full term. Now she just has to grow!! She's already put on 6oz in the last 2 days!! Soon she should actually meet the minimum requirements of her car seat... Here are some pics of her first days at home.

Getting ready to come home.

What a big bed!!Bath time isn't my favorite...Finally, someone that's smaller than me!Daddy's girl...