Eliza's Taste

Eliza has not tasted many things at this early stage in her life. She has had breast milk, formula, liquid vitamins and iron. The most exotic thing she has tasted was children's Tylenol, cherry flavored.

Supposed To Be Birthday Eve

Hey do you know what tomorrow is? It is the day Eliza was supposed to have been born! And it is the day her "corrected age" begins. You see, even though she was born nearly 2 months ago, we aren't supposed to count those towards any sort of milestones babies reach. Like something full term babies will do at 6 months, Eliza will do at 8. Or so they say, but we will see.

Amanda sure is glad Eliza came early. She often will look at E and imagine she was still in there and needed to come out. She's much bigger now, you see, and it would hurt more.

Well then, this second day of being back into daily posting post is over. I hope you enjoyed it. They should get better as I get back into the ol' swing of things. See ya!

I Think We Should Start Again

It seems like the time is right for a return to daily or almost daily blog postings. I have gotten pretty lax in doing so lately. So I declare today that I shall make an attempt to get back on the daily postings.

We have sure enjoyed having Eliza at home. She has been out of the hospital for 9 days and it has been a blast. Having a kid is pretty awesome, if you're ready for 'em and all. There is not one thing negative about it, I have found. Sure, a few nights consisted of very little sleep, but sleep is over-rated and that's what coffee is for.

When I look at her it amazes me every time. It's not just my daughter, but the fact that people in general all start out like this then get bigger and then do whatever it is they do. The miracle of life is just that.

Here's a fun game. Name any person you want to. 100% of the time this person started out as a baby. The only exception I know of was on Saturday Night Live when Will Ferrell was born a full grown man. But that's make believe, and hilarious.

Well then, it's the middle of the night and Eliza is back to sleep so I probably should do the same. I will type to you later today or tomorrow though. See ya!

51 Photos of Eliza

One for (almost) every day of her life. This is the third installment, it gets bigger every time, and so does Eliza!. It's fun!

Eliza Eats A Lot

Every 4 hours or so, Eliza takes a bottle. This bottle is filled with 80 ml of milk or milk substitute. And she eats this in 20 minutes or so.
Eliza is almost 8 lbs as of her last weigh in. So it's about 10 ml per pound.

Imagine, if you you will, a full grown adult eating the same amount. A 200 lb person would consume 2000 ml, or 2 liters. Not just once, but at least 6 times a day. And taking around 20 minutes each time. That seems pretty impressive to me.

Maybe it is not so much if you are Joey Chestnut or Kobayashi, but I certainly couldn't do it. However, I am also not a growing baby who shouldn't even have been born for 10 more days so she needs all that nutrition and whatnot. But still she's a super eater. And that's pretty neat.

Eliza Is Coming Home

Dear Eliza,

Today is your last day in the NICU! You are coming home! Mom and I are just waiting for the doctors to do whatever it is they do to discharge patients.

We spent the past 2 nights with you at the hospital. You even got to sleep in the same room as us! We feds you whenever you were hungry and you took your bottles so well. One thing I did find out about you is that during the day you will want food every 4 hours and you'll sleep all the way through. During the night, when daddy is trying to sleep, you like to eat every 2 hours and don't sleep "like a baby" and toss and turn and fuss about.

Last night we had you do what they call a car seat challenge. This is where we stick you in your car seat to see if you handle it well, since you usually lay flat on your back as opposed to uprightish. You passed. 

So now we wait. It's been 6 weeks but these few hours today seem to be the longest of them all. We cannot wait to get started on our life at home with you. It will be quite different than hospital life where we only saw you 4 hours a day.

It is a whole new chapter and this chapter will be filled with great times and also some not so great times. There will be fun and games. There will also be sleepless nights and frustrating times. But we will go through these all together as a family, and we will remember them forever and cherish those memories.

Well Eliza, this is the last letter I will write to you as a part time parent. From now on yer mom and I are full timers so I hope you like what you get. We sure like what we got in you.

Love,

Dad

Eliza's Face

It is free from tubes and tape and everything! She is eating from a bottle real good too. If she keeps this up she'll be home on no time. We are super excited.