6 Week

Yesterday we celebrated 6 weeks as a family of 6! 

A few stats:

Weight: 5 lbs 8 oz. 

Length:

Will's head is completely closed up and healing and hair is even starting to grow over the top of his scar. The amoxicillin seems to have cleared up his ear infection and it seems as though his eyes had an infection as well, that has since been cleared up with the antibiotic. He spends much more time with his eyes open now, which is SO.MUCH.FUN!

Will's lungs are clear and his breathing only seems to be worrisome if we push him too hard and at nighttime. He started another new med at the end of last week to help his stomach and it has worked wonders. We can actually comfort him now. Where before he would cry for hours and nothing we did would pacify him, (his whole body was tense, clenched fists, eyes, toes, legs pulled up, crying til he was hoarse) now when he is crying, it has purpose. We can change him, feed him, or rock him and is slows his crying and calms him. When he's quiet or sleeping his fists are no longer clenched, his arms rest by his side instead of tight to his chin, his legs are long and relaxed instead of pulled to his tummy. Even the muscles in his face seem more relaxed. The calm of his body alone makes him look like he has grown so much since he isn't compacted into a tiny ball. His nurse and social worker both commented that he looked like a completely different baby this week. 

Now that he seems to be feeling a bit better, he is also eating and sleeping better. He has doubled his intake and is up to 2 oz at each bottle, which has allowed us to go almost 2 hours between feedings. The last 2 nights instead of crying after his bottle he was calm and went back to sleep making everyone in our house much happier. We now have the normal exhaustion of a newborn instead of the crazy exhaustion we were trying to function with. 

Although he is 6 weeks old, given that he was a month early, he technically is only supposed to be hitting his 2 week milestones. Even these will be delayed a bit. Now that he is feeling better we are excited to see how much he can do. Week 6 was a winner!

Our favorite part this week...Will is now sitting in his high chair and has joined us at the table for meals! It may sound silly, but simply filling his chair at the dinner table has changed the feel of our family. Meals as a family have always been a top priority for us, so now that he is at the table with us, our family seems complete. 

Since he is feeling better he is also making it easier for us to feed him. The girls love that now they can take turns feeding him and caring for him without as much worry that he may choke or be in pain. 

Family game night was also more enjoyable this week as he joined us without crying. He even woke up long enough to finish out the game and bring a little luck to the Cubs in game 7!

Here's to a restful, happy week ahead. Our future president wants to remind you to get out and vote this week!