The Baldwin Family

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Mr. Personality

Hi folks!

It's been a great couple of weeks. Zachary has been introduced to more family and friends.

This is Crystal. Notice Zachary just staring at her...he loved being held by her. When she fed him, he burped very easily...that's rare these days.

Here is Crystal with her husband, cousin James. They drove four hours to come meet Zachary. They surprised Mommy in the hospital with a visit back when she was on bedrest before Zachary was born. When we go visit Daddy's relatives in the country, we stay at their house.

Here are Summer and Mandi.
Mommy used to work with both of them, and they stayed in touch.

Summer's a natural - look at her cuddling sweet Zachary!

Mandi loves her some Zachary!

Zachary spit up on his boppy cover so he's just enjoying it bare.
He's so cute!

Shhh!! Don't tell that we shared this...
but we call this the "Franken-Baby" sleep pose.

Snuggle time...
Mommy snuggling with Zachary and
Zachary snuggling with his bear.
We hope you enjoyed the pictures. Love to all!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Zachary is brilliant and handsome!

We got such great news yesterday and today!

Yesterday Early Childhood Intervention came out to see how Zachary is doing developmentally. As we have explained earlier, Zachary is four months old, but developmentally is recognized as being one month old, corrected. The corrected age is based on his due date and not his actual birthday. He will have a corrected age until he is about two years old and then he should be caught up to his actual birth-age.

Anyway, ECI came out and after assessing him and watching him interact with both the ECI personnel and with us they have determined he is at or above where he should be for his one month developmental age. In some things he is doing what a one-month old should be doing and in some things he is doing what a two-month old should be doing. He's brilliant, but we aren't surprised! He currently does not qualify for ECI as he is where or beyond where he should be (and is not delayed), but they will monitor his progress and should he develop any special needs, they will be there for us. This is such great news!! It was so neat watching him interact with strangers and then interact with us. He definitely knows who his Mommy and Daddy are. While he'll allow anyone to hold him, with us he cuddles us while we hold him, which he doesn't do for just anyone. He was very alert for his exam and they did make a specific mention to that even with his original Grade III brain bleed, he does not favor one side over the other. Again, this is such wonderful news!

Today Zachary went to the pediatrician. He now weighs seven pounds 15 ounces and measures 18 and 3/4 inches. We are so proud of him, as is Dr. Gray. He is growing and gaining as he should be, even with his problem with reflux. Dr. Gray suggested that we add a little bit of rice cereal to his milk to see if that help with his spitting up (that darn reflux keeps acting up!). He received his four-month vaccinations today and overall is just doing wonderfully!

We dressed him up special for his appointment. Thanks to Auntie Devin and Uncle Paul for the onesie that states the obvious..."handsome"! Ha ha!

It's exhausting being so handsome!

Snuggling with Daddy.

Sleeping on Mommy.

Anyway, we just had to share the good news. Love to all!

Monday, June 23, 2008

The NICU Mommies

Hi folks!

Over the weekend Kim went to Lisa's (Brinson's Mommy) baby shower. It was a lot of fun and Kim says she felt like a celebrity...she walked in and most people recognized her from this blog...they said "hey, it's Zachary's mom!". It was a special moment for her. Kim enjoyed seeing Lisa and celebrating Brinson.

Here's a picture of the NICU Mommies...
Top Row: Kim, Lisa (Brinson's Mommy) and Nancy (James' Mommy)
Bottom Row: Jessica (Aubrey's Mommy) and Laura (Noah's Mommy)

And that's Brinson on the TV behind us!

In other news, Zachary is four months old today! Tomorrow Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) is coming out to see how Zachary is developing and to determine if he has any special needs at this time (i.e., to see if he has any eating issues that an occupational therapist may be able to help with - only an example) and then on Wednesday he has his four month check-up with Dr. Gray, his pediatrician. He did very well this weekend without his cannula. Yay Zachary! He also got to meet his cousins James and Crystal who live in Rockdale in Central Texas and with whom we stay every time we go to the country. Pictures of their visit with Zachary are coming...

Here are a couple of pictures that Mommy snapped with her cell phone over the weekend.

The "Milk-Drunk" look.

Sleepy Baby!

Please keep Brinson in your prayers, she continues to have a bunch of issues that the doctors are trying to figure out and correct medically (instead of surgically). We are praying that any additional medical issues are not serious and are easily corrected without further surgery. As for the other NICU babies, Noah is off his cannula and weighs over 7 pounds and is at level 2 status (unofficially) and Aubrey is loving life at home with her Mommy and Daddy, she now weighs 7 pounds 9 ounces. Both Noah and Aubrey were born at 27 weeks, just like Zachary!

Thanks for remembering us and the other NICU babies in your thoughts and prayers and thanks for all the comments, we really enjoy reading them.

Love to all!

Friday, June 20, 2008

No More Cannula!

We got great news this morning, Zachary no longer needs additional oxygen via the nasal cannula! Whoo hoo!!

Here are a couple pictures we took with our cell phones this week...