Ch-ch-ch-changes

Our sweet little premie is now nearly 6 pounds. He's becoming a real person! He's still small enough to balance on one arm, but big enough to hold and flop around without feeling like he's going to break in half. This makes cuddling a lot more fun.

(Speaking of, cuddling is peculiar. Whenever Lisa or i hold Soren skin-to-skin, it's like a drug. We start to fall asleep in a hurry. Any insomniacs who want to hold a munchkin, you let us know.)

People have been asking us when he is coming home. Contrary to popular opinion, weight doesn't even factor in. Instead, he'll leave the NICU once he proves that he can master the suck-swallow reflex. Right now, when it's time to feed, he gets really excited and eats so fast that he forgets to breathe. If i saw an adult do this, it would make me snicker pretty uncontrollably; since it's a tiny baby, though, it's really adorable.

We have talked about snatching him late at night when no one is looking. But nurses make sure that babies are pretty filch-proof.


One of my uncles told me that we are in the eye of the storm. Having a premie is a whole different beast, and i am so grateful for my friends (like Joel and Jenni) who have been through the same experience. It is so unlike what we were preparing for, and the experience itself is so emotional and exhausting that it leaves us both frayed. People laugh when i say this, but i feel like i'm visiting a loved one in jail. Everytime we come in to see our son, we have to park in a garage, be buzzed through a door, wash hands for 30 seconds, sign in, and sanitize hands before even touching him. I am grateful for the great nurses and facilities; however, we'll be so grateful to just have him in our quiet and dark house after all of this.

I can't stress, again, how grateful we are for all the presents, cards, emails, and phone calls we've had from people. We feel completely guilty that we have not had time to respond to them yet, but we will (now that school is out). I have been so busy that i've started to cut sleep out of my daily routine, which just leads to grumpiness. We've both been tired, snappy, and cranky; but we are so grateful for all the prayers, thoughts, and well wishes. And once we get some semblance of order back, we hope to tell you this in actual written/spoken words.