Remarkable Robbie: Catching Up

It really has been such a crazy few weeks in Robbie's world.

The week before his birthday, he finally cut his first tooth. I'd begun to doubt they were ever coming, really. We'd had several rounds of drooly-chewy-whiny-gum-swelling and still nothing.

But about 10 days before he turned one, we were playing and I found myself covered in drool. I asked him if he was ever going to get those teeth and tried to take a peek. He wouldn't have it, but finally let me stick my finger in his mouth and have a feel. And...hey! that's sharp.. there was something poking me.

So we wrestled a bit more and I had a peek, and sure enough, there was a little corner of a tooth in there. And much to my surprise, I could see another one right next to it just under the surface of his gums. Sure enough, the next day, his second tooth and broken through. Two in two days!

Thankfully, he took it very well. The 4th day, he was a bit crabby and seemed more bothered by his mouth than normal, so I gave him 2 doses of Tylenol during the day, but other than that and some restless sleeping for a few days, he was pretty unaffected.

He's also been gaining weight pretty well. He had a really awful reflux flare up the weekend of his birthday (yeah, happy b-day to him. ugh.) and was on a light diet for a few days, but outside of that, he's gaining an average of an ounce a day. As of tonight, he was 14 lb 13oz.

He's still sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed. The trouble is that is has a 15 lb weight limit, so in the next day days, he's going to be transitioning to his crib. (Yes, I know, you're all gasping that he's 1 and still in our room. But it worked for us. Let's move on.)

He's obviously getting stronger and stronger as well. He sits up quite well and only falls over occasionally, usually when reaching especially far for something or twisting around backward to watch something (usually one of the pets or his dad.)

In a very tiny thing that made me very happy, he managed to feed himself a puff the other day. The solid food is still very intermittent. He'll eat an ounce or two of baby food, but lately he's been puking it back up very quickly as well. And anything with chunks at all, and he gags and chokes.

He has gummed a few puffs and some yogurt whips, but usually if they make it to the back of his throat without being completely dissolved, he freaks out and I end up having to sweep it out of his mouth or he'll gag himself to the pukes.

The puff he fed himself, he actually picked it up and put it in his own mouth and CHEWED it. It was amazing. Then he swallowed it! Of course, 2 seconds later, he gagged until he threw up some milk, but hey, baby steps, right?

He's also been able to visit with more people and do more things. On Saturday he went to a birthday party for his NICU buddy, Gavin. Overall it went well. Gavin's a preemie superstar and had a good time. He's crawling very well and kept coming over to Robbie and another preemie friend, Lexi, and trying to push them over. I don't think he quite gets the concept of "play" yet, but at least they interacted a bit.

Robbie, on the other hand, is a completely sensitive soul. Every time one of the other kids would cry, Robbie would well up with tears, look at the crying child with great concern and start to whine. I hope he keeps his sensitivity as he ages.

We also had a big outing this last week. We visited the daycare that Robbie will be going to when I go back to work.

I was extremely, extremely nervous about it. I dread going back to work as it is. I wish I could stay home permanently, but it just isn't in the cards. Thinking of having to leave Robbie with someone else is daunting anyway, but then you add in all of his feeding difficulties, and I was really concerned they would say they couldn't handle it.

We ended up spending about 2 1/2 hours there. I did a complete G tube feeding for them so they could see what was involved. They seemed relieved that it was as easy as it was. (It's really quite simple.) My biggest concern, though, was the writhing and crying that comes with a feeding. Robbie didn't puke, so they didn't get the full experience, but he did whine and cry a bit. They got to see that it's not the pleasurable experience that eating is for most people. And they were okay with it.

We talked a lot about everything, went over all of my questions and all of theirs. In the end, I came out feeling MUCH better about everything.

I still wish we could hit the lotto before August so I could just stay home, but barring that, I at least feel like he'll be well cared for in my absence.

Overall, it's been an amazing few weeks. We still have a long way to go until "caught up" but it's nice to see some strides in the right direction.

We could still use some prayers in the stomach department. I know his feeding issues will take a long time to be resolved, but if we could just get him to outgrow this God forsaken reflux, it'd be a HUGE leap in the right direction.

And without further ado- pictures!