One week old

The many facial expressions of Benjamin Watson....

Good News!!! Ben graduated! He is now on the second floor NICU where apparently the more stable NICU babies go. He's hanging out with babies 2-3 times his size, but he is holding his own. He just has to keep growing and work on his "suck, swallow, breath" skills. The little pipsqueak needs to stay awake during a feeding so we don't have to keep gavaging him. Right now he has the energy to drink about 1 full bottle a day and the rest of the time he gets it through the tube. He's doing awesome and we're so proud of our little warrior.

We have the girls this week. Poor Cassidy is really sick. I feel even more sorry for Cal who was up most of the night last night with her. He went to the hospital about 11:00 last night and stayed until about 2:00 AM. About an hour after he got home little Cassidy woke up. They both had an awful night and day today. Poor Cal. He's got to be exhausted. He has to run me back and forth from the hospital since I can't drive for a couple of weeks, he's been chasing the girls around wiping snotty noses, cooking, cleaning, and comforting me when I cry for no apparent reason. I'm afraid he's going to drop, but he's still holding strong. I think that's where our little Ben gets his strength from. He's got a heckuva good daddy. Cal gave me a blessing tonight so I'm sure I will be healing (both physically and mentally) soon.

Cal is at the hospital right now. He goes at night after he gets the girls to bed. With Cassidy being so sick she has been really clingy to Cal and won't let me put her to bed. Anyway, I just called him to find out how much Ben weighed in at tonight. They weigh him every night at 9:30. The nurse said he is now at 1515 grams. What a little pork chop. This is so awesome. He weighed 1450 grams (3lbs 3oz) when he was born. Last night he was 1445 grams. So he is up 70 grams from last night. Cal said he just had a big blow out though (good for him) and probably doesn't weigh that much anymore. Every little gram counts when you're such a little guy. He has changed so much already. Today is his 1 week birthday. He's lost a lot of his lanugo (baby fur) and his hair has gotten lighter. He is such a little sweetheart.

Thanks everyone for including us in your prayers. We have definitely felt them and know that Ben is doing so well because of them. I never knew you could love someone so quickly and completely. I've been waiting for him for a very long time. I guess those feelings go toward both my son and my husband. There is a sign in the NICU that says "A person is a person no matter how small" I definitely agree!

I also wanted to include some fun pictures of McKenna and Cassidy. As much as I'd like to take credit for their high fashion, I have to admit, they got ready by themselves. What cuties!