Cousins

Josh, Jenni, and baby Jake came to stay with us for the weekend. We had a lot of fun doing a whole lot of nothing. We actually rounded up all of the rug-rats and dressed them up in beautiful outfits from Grandma Lynne. I always have a hard time choosing my favorite pictures so here is a few of the best. Thanks Grandma for the outfits. You've got some adorable grandbabies.

Mother's Day pictures

Because having a preemie in the NICU can be very stressful and hard, they decided to get a professional photographer to take pictures of the NICU babies and parents. The pictures turned out really cute, with the exception of Cal's hideous tie :)I am just going to post some of my favorites. In some pictures you can see Ben's gavage tube and in other pictures it has been airbrushed out. A lot of the NICU mom's had the photographer leave the tubes in the pictures because it had become such a part of their babies. I think he looks great either way.Ben is such a sweetheart.





Here's a cute picture of Ben in Cal's ugly hat.I love this picture because it looks like Ben is waving.Look at little Ben grab onto his daddy's finger.

Nip Tuck

It was a sad day for mommy Watson. Today Ben had his circumcision appointment. He did really well. In fact he probably cried less than his mommy. They numbed him up nicely though. Cal watched the whole thing. I sat at his head where I couldn't see the action and just kissed him and stroked his hair. I don't understand how mom's could go through that back before anesthetics.

The good news is that he's grown even more. He weighed in today at 5 pounds 7 ounces. He is now 18 inches long. Wow. What a little champ!!!

1st doctor appointment

We took Ben to the the doctor this morning. He is doing very well. He weighed in at 4 lbs 12 oz. He's growing so quickly. He is just a little below the chart for weight and length (17 1/4 in) but he is in the 5th percentile for head size. He has grown about 7 oz since his last weigh in on Sunday night. He takes his food very seriously. He eats every 3 hours. Cal and I take turns during the night with him. He is such a good tempered baby. The only time he fusses is when he is hungry. He wakes us up at night right on schedule. When the doctor was examining him, he made a comment about how strong he is. Ben had is little arms out and held his head up on his own. Pretty good for a preemie!
We had the girls yesterday. They were very excited to see their little brother at home. Kenna is still pretty nervous about holding him, but Cass has no reservations. They were less than impressed with his poopy diaper. Both of them ran out of the room covering their noses. Sometimes I wish I could do the same. I'm posting some pictures we've taken this week. This is the first chance I've had. Enjoy.
Ben had to pass a car seat challenge before going home. He had to sit in his car seat for an hour without his oxygen levels dropping. The nurses said he passed it easily. This is a picture of Ben getting ready to go home.Ben is all bundled up in his car seat ready to go home. That ride home was much better than that first ride home from the hospital when I had to leave him there. I rode in the backseat with him.




Patti brought Taylor and Preston over to visit their new baby cousin. Ben loves Taylor. He had so much fun sitting on her lap. She took a bath before coming over so she would be nice and clean for him.McKenna and Cassidy ran through the door when Cal brought them home. No hellos for me or hugs, just "where's Ben?!?" I think they are happy to have him home.Ben loves to place his hands high up over his head. He doesn't like us to put his arms and hands in the blanket when we swaddle him.

Cassidy is having a bit of a rough time sharing her daddy's affection. She was super clingy and crawled up on Cal's lap to take a nap. They all crashed and got a good rest.

Good News...

He's home. Ben came home on Monday, May 12, 2008. We are so happy to have him here. He came home weighing 4lbs and 5 oz. We've already had two sleepless nights. He's doing so great and got his first bath at home today.

Ben really did like his bath. He just chose to scream for a second since Cal was taking a picture.
This is totally one of those pictures that Ben is going to dispise when he gets old enough to know better. That's one of those priveledges mom's have. I personally think that those are the most adorable cheeks EVER! You can also see his little birthmark on his back in this picture.
We still bathe him in this little bowl like they did in the NICU. He's still a little too small for his bathtub.

Ben got all snuggled up in his blanket after his bath. This is one of those rare minutes where his hair isn't sticking up all over. What a sweetheart!

Cell phone videos...

Girly-girls

After seeing my hideous grow-out line in pictures, I decided it was high-time I hit the salon. I got my hair cut and highlighted, but the real fun was watching McKenna and Cassidy. You would have thought they were at Disneyland. The pictures speak for themselves. Cal just doesn't get this "girly" stuff and McKenna will just roll her eyes and say "dad, it's a girl thing, you just wouldn't understand". So true! I'm glad he's got his little male companion now. As for the girls and me, we will continue to be as girly as ever and Cal and Ben can just go rebuild a carburator.

Ben is a cutie pie!

This is just a post of adorable pictures of our little man. I think he's got about the cutest head of hair ever! It a bit receding but so, so cute. Notice in the picture with Cal's hand and Ben. His little arm is the same size as Cal's finger. It's a little blurry because he was moving and it was dark, but it still shows how tiny he is. Here's an update on Ben's progress. Last night he topped 4 lbs. I made the nurse weigh him 3 times just to make sure it was accurate. As of tonight, he is at 4 lbs 2 oz. He is doing so well. He has been nippling about 65% of all of his feedings instead of being gavaged. Which means he can stay awake and suck swallow breath out of his bottle most of the time. They have moved him to a open crib. They kept his isolet plugged in in case his temperature drops and they have to put him back in. The pediatrician actually referred to him as a "rock-star". I think everyone is pleasantly surprised at his progress. To come home he has to nipple 100% of his feedings for 24 hours, sit in his car seat for one hour without his oxygen level dropping, keep his temperature up on his own and grow a bit more. He's kickin' butt and taken names! He'll be coming home soon. Keep praying for him they're really working!

Time-out

Sure this looks like a great place to count during hide & seek, but unfortunately no such luck. This is that yucky location in the Watson household that our 5 and 3 year old DREAD!!! The good news is that they are so well trained. Now after a simple pushing or shoving incident all Cal or I have to say is "time out" and they run over. I think they prefer this to a spanking or a priviledge loss consequence. By the way....don't feel too bad for Kenna, this was just a set up shot. Not the real thing. We're not so cruel that we punish them and then exploit their time served. I'm sure they will train Ben up in the ways of this house.

A little of this and that...

Here are some cute pictures of the girls in Cal's hat. Funny story about this hat. I hate it!!! When Cal and I first got married he was going to come to school and help with our track meet. I didn't want him to wear this hat, so I hid it. I thought I was being sneaky. Unfortunately, I was outsmarted!!! He showed up at the track meet with the "dreaded" hat. He told me he couldn't find his hat that morning, but fortunately, he has four or five of them. I had no idea he had so many of them. So I've given up any hope of breaking him of his nasty, brown, APEX hat. I've accepted it and even find it kind of cute on him now. Love is a strange thing!!! Here are some of my favorite shots of Ben. I especially like the one where he pulled a Houdini stunt and pulled his arm out of his outfit. That's a tiny little outfit that just drowns him. He likes to get his arms up so that he can pull his gavage tube out. What a little stinker!




This is what I spend most of my day looking at. This is Ben's little $100,000 condo. He's sound asleep inside.


Here's the view I had from the NICU. The girls can't come in so Cal held McKenna up and had Cassidy on his shoulders. If you look really closely you can see Cal and Cassidy in the picture too. That's as close as the girls have got to come to their new little brother.
Here are pictures of the nurse taking Ben's footprints. He was a good little guy and has some very tiny footprints!

We wanted to get some pictures of the girls online too. Cassidy spends most of the time she is here chasing Bella around, hugging her, holding her, putting her in the stroller.