closer...

so we are down to the final days in the nicu (for what it looks like right now) because riley is eating really well and that is the main thing he needs to do to be able to go home. He has a minimum to eat but is on his own eating schedule, which has been about every 4 hours or so.
he is on simalac neosure, which is for babies born prematurely, but when he goes to the doctor his pediatrician will let us know if he will stay on that or switch to something else. i picked some up just in case and the hospital will give us some as well when he leaves (nice, 'cause it is expensive!). I looked for the dr. brown bottle which is what he eats the best with (he has tried various bottles during his stay) and I bought the standard flow but he needs the preemie flow still so i will look for those tomorrow...although he will also have the one he uses at the hospital. anyways, this is just me rambling because i am all nervous and excited and cant believe this is really going to be happening in the next few days. We are rooming in at the hospital tomorrow night, which is basically staying the whole night in one of the rooms reserved for parents and it is just us and riley, like a dry run before going home so if we have any issues or questions there is someone right there to ask. plus, the nurses and his doctor can see how he does.
anyways, i am here to close the restaurant and rocky is at home painting our apartment, it is looking so good! we are doing the kitchen a bright light green and the living room is going to be a "virgin olive oil" yellow green but more yellow. i will take pictures, it looks a lot better than it sounds even reading back how i described it! we like light bright modern fun colors and rocky says it looks amazing. we did part of the kitchen yesterday (painting over a melon orangy color) and i loved how it looked even partly painted! the only thing is that rocky said he could do it with a quart and i thought a gallon would be better because even if we ended up with extra it would be better to have extra than too little and the prices of two quarts and a gallon were almost the same. well, we went back for another quart for both the kitchen and living room plus a quart of white for the living room (because we are doing two walls white) but in the end it will look amazing and i love rocky for taking the time to paint it before riley comes home! we need to do riley's room too but we tackled the living/kitchen areas first.
besides that, work is work and i am hoping to start working more hours from home once riley is home. going up to the hospital and being up there takes big chunks out of my day. i would not trade the time i am spending with him for anything but it will be so nice to not have daily trips up the mountain and be able to have mister riley home with us!

gettting close!

time has been flying by! my updates haven't been as frequent as my visits to the hospital but now we are in the last stages of his time in the nicu, which means MORE hospital visits, mainly focusing on the times when he is eating because he does better with consistency vs having different people feeding him all the time (that's what they tell me) but I think he really just likes it when his mama or his daddy feed him! He has done really well with us, drinking all his milk with only a few times drinking just a partial (the rest being given to him through his NG tube). He has to drink 3 full bottles during a 12-hour shift before he can go on his own schedule and they just go off his cues with when he eats and how much. He has been up and down as far as taking bottles. His doctor says that as he grows and gets stronger he will be able to last longer drinking. He seems pretty strong to me, he can lift his head and upper body up off my shoulder when i am burping him, but i know he needs to keep building up his endurance.

Riley is now weighing 6lbs 3oz! He is long and skinny and fits into newborn clothes but hasn't quite filled them out yet. He is so cuteee and we cant wait until he is finally home. Not to say that him being home won't have its challenges but at the same time it will be nice to not have to go up to the hospital various times throughout the day! I think Riley will probably appreciate a change of scene too ;)

We have gotten his pack n play (which he will sleep in to start with), carseat, we were gifted a great baby swing and playmat from my cousins, and he has also gotten some clothes and diapers plus homemade gifts from family and some friends. I am trying to make sure I have all the essentials...yesterday I realized I didn't have any baby shampoo or lotion so i picked some of that up. I love DI (a secondhand store) for picking out fun children and baby books for cheap! Riley loves it when we read together, he is so attent.

I really want to paint his room this weekend just in case he is home next week. He wont be sleeping in his room for a while but we will have some of his things set up in there.

anyways, i am a little sleep deprived right now (yeah, that doesn't start start when he gets home, it started when he was born! although i admit that i am probably getting more than a new mom with her baby at home with her from the start). I went to give Riley his 5am feeing, so I got up about 4:15 am.

also, happy birthday Rocky!!! You are the best daddy Riley could have and he reminds me so much of you, you two make life so much fun and so much of an adventure! Love you!!!