Twelve Weeks

Dear Peeper,

You are twelve weeks old today, and you're just doing great.

Of course you are, developmentally, more like the eight-week-old that you were suppose to be at this point, but that's to be expected, and we can see you growing and changing almost daily.

We're getting smiles from you more and more often, and the occasional coo-ish type sound.

You're fascinated with lights, anything high-contrast and, especially, the dancing panda mobile over your changing table.

(Diaper time is now playtime!)

Your gross motor skills seem to be a little more advanced. (Maybe because you have been out and dealing with gravity for the full 12 weeks?)

You're holding your head up really well now - we don't trust you with it completely yet, and still spot you a lot, but that's probably more our issue than yours, at this point.

You nurse a lot which can be kind of tough on both me and Mommy at times, but given where we started out, I won't complain.

In fact, you haven't had a bottle in over six weeks, and have now been nursing exclusively for longer than you got supplements, either from finger-feeding or bottles!

I guess now that we've reached that milestone, it's probably time for me to stop counting the days since the last bottle, huh?

Let's see, what else are you up to these days?

Yesterday, you had some boogies in your nose and I was trying to get them out with the snot-sucker.

Not only were you not crying and fighting me, you were kind of smiling about it. Maybe it tickles your nose?

I've never heard of a kid thinking the snot-sucker was funny, but you're kind of a funny kid.

You enjoy taking a bath in the big tub with Mama, but you're not so keen on getting out when we're done. In fact, I think it's safe to say that you hate that part.

Mommy and I are working on figuring out the best way to keep you warm and happy while we get you dressed, but don't quite have the system down yet.

Please be patient with us, we've never done this before and we're still learning.

You're continuing to grow well, and you are really packing on the ounces. I know that you'll be over eight pounds at your next appointment, which is coming up on Thursday.

I'm sorry that appointment's going to include a shot, but it will only hurt for a minute, and it's a lot better than getting RSV.

(And now that we know that the doctor's office has a special goody room, we'll head right over there as soon as the shot is over!)

On Friday, you'll be seeing your cardiologist and getting another echocardiogram.

I'm sorry about that one, too. I know you hate having the echos done, because you have to lie still while they rub that thing around on your little chest and get that goo all over you.

(Believe me, Mama understands - but at least I was getting to see pictures of you when they did it to me! And at least both our doctors warm it up. Sometimes its reeeaaallly cold!)

This is a pretty big appointment for you because, depending on how your little heart hole is looking, Dr. C might decide to start talking to the surgeon about fixing it.

We sure hope that you're getting it all healed up yourself, but if you can't, and you have to have surgery, we'll be right there, holding your little hands, and taking care of you.

On the one hand, I wish that you were old enough to understand why all these various medical things are happening to you (or might happen), but on the other hand, I'm glad that you won't remember them.

Sometimes I wonder, though, if you will remember, on some level, and what affect that might have on you.

If so, I hope that you will remember that Mommy and I were always there, and that we did everything we could to get you through it all with as little trauma as possible.

And if not, I guess you can talk to your therapist about it, when you're not talking about all the other things we did to screw you up.

But I promise, we'll try to keep that to a minimum.

I love you, my little schnoodle,
Mama