hungry much? or is it pure butter?

So, Dennis went to the doctor today for his 2nd Hep B shot and I asked them to weigh him just for fun. With his clothes and dirty diaper on, he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz!!!!! On average he is gaining almost 2 oz a day! He definately was going through a growth spirt yesterday. I didn't get a single thing done because Dennis didn't sleep. eat, burp, eat, burp... I was surprised that I was still producing... I wonder if I am turning into a cow. I could win at the state fair.

I tried to capture him dreaming of eating but I never could get it on film. Here is a video of his peaceful sleep (thank heavens he slept today- we needed groceries!)

"1 day old"

Yesterday was supposed to be when Dennis was born. We were so busy that we forgot to take pictures yesterday so I took some today. First, here is what Dennis looked like the first time that we saw him (not in the OR). Here he is the following morning when we woke up.
Here he is today...

I feel very blessed to have had an extra 7 weeks with my newborn baby.

Our sweet setup: So that I don't go insane, Ryan and I have set up a routine where I go to bed around 8:00 and sleep through Dennis's 12:00 feeding and wakeup to Dennis's cries after that. Some nights I sleep until 4:00! That's 8 hours of sleep. Some nights however, I don't go to sleep until 10:00 or 11:00 and then have to get up at 1:30 like this morning. That's only 3 hours. It's very flexible, and I am sooooo grateful for those 8 hour nights. Hopefully, we will be able to get Dennis to sleep through the night before I go back to work. Here are a couple of pictures of

Ryan's daddy time with Dennis.

This one was taken in the day but this would not be unusual for the middle of the night. Ryan plans to wake up to Dennis by sleeping right next to him in a different room, closing the doors in between. But, I will always wake up before Ryan if he falls asleep.

We didn't manage to get a picure of pappa and Dennis in the last blog-Aren't they handsome!

The Funks

We had Ryan's mom, dad and sister come out to visit these past few days and boy did we have fun. Dennis had lots and lots of lovins... and so did Buster.

Here is a picture of Kristen getting some quality time in with her new nephew, who is sporting the cute outfit that she picked out.

The first day we went to the zoo. This is my favorite part- the hippos.
Kevin, Maree and Kristen went up in the arch...
...while Dennis and I waved from below.
We found the best spot to take pictures infront of the arch. I have spent hours and hours hanging out on the river front watching people attempting to find the best picture taking spot of the arch... not because I was a river bum, but because I used to drive the horse carriages. For all of those that will be going to the arch, have the people stand on the bench accross the street and the camera man crouched down. You too can have such a marvelous picture as this.
We ran into all of my carriage buddies... and Jeff gave us a wonderful ride around downtown with Larry. Dennis's favorite spot was the climatron in the Botanical gardens. Dennis was wide eyed and hanging around.
Ryan loved feeding the huge carp in the Japanese gardens. While watching the fish for quite a while, a group of kids came up and I heard one say, "holy carp". I had to laugh. Thank you for such a wonderful visit, Nonnie & Pappa!

Emily Southerland Photography

Our amazing friend is a great photographer. On our first week of being home from the NICU Emily came over and took some great pictures of Dennis. She said to pick a time of day when Dennis is usually sleepy. Well, at that point it was different everyday. We obviously didn't pick the right time... but they turned out well anyways. Near the end of the photo shoot, Dennis started to get cold (he didn't have much fat at that point) so I fed him and wrapped him up after some "kangaroo care" (skin to skin contact) and then he fell asleep.

To see more of Emily's work, you can go to her website.

She does any kind of setting not just babies.

General Conference

A few images from the Saturday & Sunday sessions

Happy 1 month!

Dennis went to his doctor's appointment today. He now weighs 5lbs 14.5oz. He gained almost a pound in the past week! IMPRESSIVE. When we got home, Dennis took a snooze on the couch proud of his accomplishment. "Soon they won't call me tiny", says Dennis. This was the best Birthday present ever. I read in my gardening book early this summer how to grow red peppers. All the books that I read in said that it was nearly impossible to harvest good red peppers- that they were really finicky plants. We planted some with hopes to find a good experience... maybe some ideas for a better crop in future years. Mostly with the travel that we did and our frequent medical visits our gardens were ignored. Were we ever surprised when we found that ignoring them was the best thing we could have done! We have had 3 good red peppers so far with hopes of more to come. On the other hand, our squash plants turned into squat because of our neglect. And, tomatoes always turn out OK.

Over 5 lbs!

I've got to show off my handsome boys... ... all 3 of them.

Buster is the best dog for children. Last night we had some friends bring us dinner and stay to eat with us. They have a 6 month old little boy who thought Buster was hilarious. Buster is very excited just to have more people around. So, we are cautious about the two meeting- it could be disaster. Finally, after many sniffs we put the kid on the floor with Buster. NO PROBLEM! Buster would lick the top of his head and walk away...then come back and do it again. After a while, Buster layed down right in front of him, both on their tummies with their hands holding their bodies up, gazing into eachothers eyes- Both very content. Buster can't wait til we let him loose with Dennis. Dennis has had a hard time passing stools. He only pooped the day we brought him home (12 days ago) and then once when we made him poop with a glycerin something or other. We were so worried, especially because EVERYONE thought there was something terribly wrong. "Infants are supposed to poop at least twice a day", people would tell me. I had several nurses tell me to go to the doctor's office to get him checked out. So- we went. Our pediatritian did a thorough check: feeling way into his gut, looking in his ears, down his throat, feeling his soft spot on his head, moving his legs all around. Our little Dennis looks perfectly healthy... then where is all of the poop?? Dennis just has extra productive bowels and sucks almost everything from the milk right into his chubby cheeks. He continues to clip right along with his weight and is rarely uncomfortable. One unfortunate side effect is that he has terrible smelling gas.
He also has trouble burping... but I think this problem is more common... so we haven't been to the doctor about it. This is the process: