We continue these measurements. We track how much he eats and when he eats. When he naps. His dose of medicine and breathing treatments. And, a big one, his weight. We are happy to report that we have a boy that's literally measuring up. At his University check up this week he weighed in at a hefty 15 lbs 5 oz. This is in the 50th percentile for his adjusted age of 4.5 months (based off his due date) and not yet on the charts for his actual age of 8 months - but he's very close.
He's also on track for his adjusted milestones. He's grabbing toys, holding his head up well and started rolling over from tummy to back.
But more than any of that, Alexander is just simply a joy to be around. He's ticklish and giggles up a storm. He doesn't stop talking and adores watching his brother play. He's eating pretty good and sleeping amazing. We couldn't feel more blessed to have him in our lives.
At our high risk follow up appointment they were thrilled with his progress. Dr. Klein said yet again that he is just amazed and that you would never know how long he fought for his life. He said once Alexander ditched the lovely cannula no one will ever know he was a preemie - especially due to his size and head shape (doctors and nurses love talking about head shape by the way). We were able to reduce his oxygen to .5 liters so we are getting close. Our hope is to be able to decrease again in two months and then be off around his first birthday!!
We got to see great friends who had a follow up appointment the same day. We happened to meet the Mills family in the NICU but I know it was the beginning of a life long friendship. Karin has been there for me like no other person could during our days in the NICU. I look forward to continue to get Alexander and Frances together!
Andrew continues to keep us on our heels and basically laughing at all times. When I say he is obsessed with Tim Stop and John Mayer, that would be an understatement. He knows the names of all the songs so he can make his requests and full out jams with his fake guitar. He also loves to play every sport but especially golf and tennis.
We've gotten out of the house a lot more - enjoying time with family and local summer hot spots, like the River Bandits game and 4th of July Parade. We also were especially blessed to be witness to Pete's Aunt Sara's wedding to her long-time partner, Pam. Andrew was the "flower boy" and we look forward to the future when we can explain how special this day really was to us. Plus, Pete's brothers and sisters were all in town, many for the week.
We also traveled home to Ankeny for a friend's wedding and got to see most of the Eckhardt clan, who got to love on Andrew and Alexander. Surprisingly it was an easy car ride - Alex slept the entire way and Andrew read books, listened to John Mayer and watched videos on my phone. It was great to finally introduce Alexander to most of my family.
I think I had really become obsessed with Alexander's measurements. Instead, I lost sight of what I should be focusing on - measuring life by all these moments captured above. If we are measuring, our life is really off the charts!
