I've been trying to set a goal for every day. Nothing too lofty. Nothing lofty at all in fact. One day it was take a shower. Another day it was do one load of laundry. Yesterday it was go for a jog. Today it was take Ruby on a walk. I have to go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back because every day that I set a goal, I met it. And even though they are really things I have to do anyway, it feels like we accomplished something. And that always feels good, doesn't it?

Plus, Ruby saw the surgeon yesterday. For the last time. AND she weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce. So excellent.

Here's Rubes in her Moby wrap. She loves it. I love it. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow (maybe that's my goal).

She is 5 pounds 10 ounces. Just barely meeting her weight gain goal. Some days she will wolf down almost her whole bottle every time. Other days, we can't wake her up for anything. We know she can do it, she just needs to want to.

Russell is really good at swaddling her.

I think he loves her.

Usually when I have the curtains open, Otis will bark at ANYTHING that walks/drives/rolls by. He's not barking.

Ruby liked St Patrick's Day more than she let on.

I'll be working on a better pic for you, CM...

First Drs appointment (& first trip out of the house)? Done. Ruby is up! She is presently 5 pounds 7 ounces and 17 1/4 inches long. Our goal weight gain is 3-7 ounces per week. She'll have another weight check next Thursday.

She's really wasted after all that laying around and having people look at her.

Ruby has her first appointment with her pediatrician in less than an hour and a half. Now the question is: how long is it going to take us to get out the door? Crap. I still haven't showered. And wait, what goes in this diaper bag, again?

I hope you can excuse me - I can't be blogging right now. I have to go report to the authorities that be that Ruby's place of residence has changed.

No luck getting home tonight. Our neonatologist wants to see Ruby gain weight again tomorrow. I will weigh her at 2:30 this morning. I've never been so excited to wake up at 2:30 in the morning.

She was up all night and she slept all day. Russell didn't sleep at all either and he had class at 7:30. I spent the entire day here. How many hours has it been since I've left this place? I don't want to count. We laid around in bed all day long. Right now I'm reading a book/staring at Russell & Ruby - they are both sleeping.

Here is Russ trying to get Ruby's diaper changed. Every time he turned around to throw away his wipes, she was going again. 4 diapers later the job was done.

We're going home this week.

Russell is taking baby CPR, we're doing a carseat study and tonight we're spending the night with Ruby. Would it be weird to get pizza delivered to our hospital room?

Here's rooting for Tuesday!!

Oh, come on

Wait, look at this one.

It's like she's asking, "why are you doing this to me?"

5 lbs 4 ounces

We scored one of these recliner chairs a couple days ago and yesterday I fell asleep while we were snuggling. Cheri, one of our favorite NNPs, came around the corner and snapped a pic. She thought it was funny that Ruby was awake.

Not much to report. Still working on bottle feeding. Ruby's surgeon signed off and said he would see her in his office in 3 weeks.

We brought home a pacifier and Otis got a hold of it. I have no idea how. Eventually it ended up in several pieces. We're not sure if it was an act of aggression or excitement.

Look how peaceful she looks. I know they say never wake a sleeping baby but Ruby got her PICC line pulled last night and I couldn't wait to put her little right arm through a sleeve! She is getting all her calories from breast milk. She doesn't need IV nutrition anymore! Thank you to Great Grandma Gibbons and Aunt Debbie for the cute outfit! I love these little pants! (I can't stop with the exclamation points! Sorry.)

Doesn't she look so long? 16 & 1/4 inches.

One week post-op yesterday and Ruby is doing everything she needs to be. She took 4 bottles in a row! She can't stay awake to take the whole volume so we give her the rest through her NG tube but it's getting better and better every time.

We stopped her pulmicort nebulizer (a breathing treatment) and her RT officially delegated her respiratory care to her bedside nurse. I thought for sure I would be giving Ruby nebs at home. My baby, born at 23 weeks, 4 months early, is going to go home on a milk fortifier and vitamins. That's it. Pretty amazing.

And another thing: look at her cheeks.

4 pounds 11 ounces today

Do you think they'll kick us out if we just start sleeping here?