Happy Two Months!

Today Charlie and Lily turned 2 months old! We celebrated with mini cupcakes and a reading of Birthday Monsters. Well, the nurses got the cupcakes and the babies got the story, although Lily’s nurse snuck a cupcake into the unit so we could take a picture of her with it. The picture is adorable, but I think Lily was annoyed when the cupcake was taken away before she could have a taste. Soon enough, baby! The nurses also made Charlie and Lily cute birthday signs for their isolettes.

Charlie kicked off his birthday early this morning with his first attempt at bottle feeding. According to his nurse, Charlie got in two good sucks before he realized that there was actually something coming out of the nipple. He held the milk in his mouth with big wide eyes and sputtered in confusion. He swallowed after his nurse massaged his throat, but he let the second sip dribble out of his mouth. That was the end of Charlie’s foray into feeding. This is pretty much normal behavior for a preemie’s first bottle feeding attempt, though, and the nurses will keep trying him with the bottle until he catches on. It’s exciting that he even got to try, and we’re confident he’ll catch on soon.

Lily began her day with some progress in the breathing department. The doctors declared that she was ready to begin weaning off the CPAP, so she will now be alternating between the CPAP and nasal cannula for four hours at a time. This method worked well for Charlie in helping him get off the CPAP so we’re hoping it does the same for Lily. Lily’s day ended with a bath from mommy! Lily’s wonderful nurse Alicia supervised me as I sponge-bathed the Bug. Oh how mad baths make Lily! But I had a fantastic time scrubbing her down. After her bath she came out to get weighed and amused us by rolling around on the scale and punching Daddy in the eye when he leaned down for a kiss. She gets her right hook from Mommy and Billy Blanks. Alicia then instructed Joe to pick up Lily and carry her back to the isolette. Joe got a fantastic quick snuggle with Lily sans blankets and breathing apparatus. She was even wearing her “Daddy Loves Me” onesie – so appropriate!

So Charlie and Lily had a nice 2 month birthday! Being with them makes Joe and me so happy and just makes us feel better – we would spend all our time in the NICU if we could!

Tomorrow will a slightly more difficult day. We’ll begin up at the NICU for a memorial service being held for Annaleigh. We are honored that the NICU staff is choosing to celebrate our little girl like that and we know it will be a nice way to remember her. After that we need to sign some papers at the cemetery and choose a headstone for our baby. Not pleasant tasks, but all we can do now to continue to take care of our precious Annaleigh. We take comfort in the fact that Charlie and Lily will be there waiting for us when we’re done, ready to make us smile again.

Charlie has the "sucking" thing down (note the pacifier) but the whole "suck/swallow/breathe" thing is a bit much for him.

Brooke was pretty thrilled to give Lily her bath today. Lily... not so much.

This shirt is not just for show. It states the complete and utter truth.

Lily's birthday sign is so pretty (just like her). Her nurse Julia did a great job on it!