One Month Old

My sweet little guy is one month old today!  I can't believe it, time has gone by so fast, and he is so funny!

This month he has been through a lot! 

*He had open heart surgery on December 15, 2010

*He finally came home on December 23, 2010 and we got to spend our first Christmas as a family at home instead of at the hospital.

*He likes to scowl and shows us all the time while he is awake and asleep.

*When I unswaddle him to change his diaper or his clothes he makes a funny face and stretches his whole body!  He puts his arms above his head and moves his head from side to side; it is really funny, his whole body sort of wiggles.  Also if I leave him unswaddled his arms are still really spastic and it looks like he is practicing his freestyle swimming.

*He "talks" in his sleep; we have him in our room right now so that I can hear him (his voice is still not completely back).  He sounds like he is waking up, but when I look at him he is still sound asleep.

*He growls awake and asleep.

*He does not like to be bathed... his little belly button has not fallen off yet so he just gets sponge baths, but he screams and growls the whole time.

*He gets the hiccups all the time and he hates it!  He will start to hiccup and it makes him mad so he growls and when they don't go away he starts to cry angrily and that just makes them worse!  It is a vicious cycle, and I am a mean mom because I think it is funny when he has the hiccups... he always looks so surprised when one happens; his eyebrows go up, his eyes get really wide and his mouth goes into a little "O".  So funny.

*He pulled his feeding tube out... twice... in the same week.  It was really special, and we ended spending about five hours in the ER at Primary's to get it replaced.  He now gets swaddled really tight, with the Velcro swaddle me blankets, with his hands at is sides.  He doesn't like it, but I don't like spending any more time at the hospital than I have to.

*He had his first follow up with the cardiologist and he is doing really good!  He increased the volume of his feedings so that he can continue to grow, and we are slowly coming off all his medications.

*He also had his first swallow study and even though he did not pass completely (he did well with thick liquids, but he silently aspirated the thin liquids, so they left his feeding tube in his intestines), we get to practice eating from a bottle 3 times a day!  Today was our first day to try it and it was great and scary... he vomited through his nose the second time.  Not fun.

That is really all that has been going on this month.  He continues to get cuter everyday and I love him more and more!  Hopefully by the beginning of February his feeding tube will be gone and he will be able to eat all by himself!  That is our next milestone, and I know he will do great because he is a superstar :)

 This is during one of his "baths" and he is NOT happy

  He is so sweet!  Happy One Month Birthday little guy!  I love you so much!