Mom, take my picture!

When James was still on a ventilator and only wearing a diaper, every picture seemed to turn out pretty much the same. But now that we're able to dress him in clothes and he has all his tubes out (except for the thin feeding tube), he's getting so fun to photograph! Of course, it seems like whenever I do remember my camera it's during his sleepy time, but that's okay. His nurse today said she thinks his face looks just like Maddie (if you don't look at the hair and high forehead)...I'm not sure I see that resemblance quite yet. His face is long, whereas Maddie's was quite round, but I'll have to look back at her baby pictures and compare!

sweet kisses from Big Sister Maddie
(this may be one of the last photos we have of them together until the New Year...
no kids allowed in the NICU anymore due to the Swine Flu scare)

Yesterday and today we had another milestone with James--his first time feeding from a bottle! Since he's on IV nutrition and a very slow drip of breastmilk in the feeding tube, I thought it may be months before they let him actually take anything by mouth. Granted, they only let him have 4.5 mL in the bottle today (30 mL are in an ounce) and once he realized there was actually something in the nipple it only took him like 2 seconds to gulp it down, but what a fun 2 seconds to have with him! They've been slowly increasing the breastmilk amount every day and then measuring how much his body is able to absorb, which they'll continue to do until he reaches his "max". He is gaining weight quickly and is now up to 4 pounds 12 ounces and will probably soon be outgrowing his preemie clothes! Go buddy go!

Mmm...that's good stuff, Mom!
(This pic captures James in the middle of one of his cute facial expressions. It's probably just his mouth twitching, but we could swear that he often *smiles* at us!)

Keith and I are anxious to get him home as soon as we can, which the surgeons have said could take another 3-4 months (UGH!), but we're hoping that we can encourage the doctors to move up that date by showing a lot of interest in learning how to take care of James' needs while he's in the NICU and being as hands-on as possible. Of course, it's up to James and how quickly his wounds can heal and how he can learn to absorb/manage food, but he's been quite the trooper so far. Today James' doctor said that if everything went smoothly and quickly that James could possibly be home in a month or two (but "not to quote [him] on that"...hee hee). I'm not going to get my hopes set on that, but it sure would be amazing! :-) Until then, this is "home sweet home", which I decorated this week with family photos so that at least he'd have something interesting to look at all day!

And here's my new screensaver (even with the furrowed brow, he looks so sweet)...