Nicu Follow up

Collin is now 11 months old!  We can't believe how fast the first year is flying by.   While being on bed rest the past 2 months awaiting the arrival of his little sister; I have been planning his first birthday party :)  We are very much looking forward to it.. it's going to be Winnie the Pooh themed, and I even got him a Pooh costume for Halloween :)

We recently went for a NICU follow up clinic.  This is a very long appointment ( took 3 hours this time!!)  Every 6 months to check up on Collin and see his progress since 'graduating' the NICU.  He sees a nurse, nutritionist, physical therapist, and neonatologist.   The best news of the appointment was that overall, he is doing fantastic!

He weighed in at 22.5 pounds and 29.5 inches!  They measured him twice to be sure because it was such a big jump from last time.  He is following his actual age size (11-12 months) not the corrected chart which would be closer to 8 months.  So he is a BIG boy!   He now wears 12 month size clothing, and he has his 2 bottom teeth!

The physical therapist was very happy with his developments, he can sit up by himself, roll over and army crawl.  He likes to stand up assisted, as well as jump assisted.  He is a very busy little guy..and we need to baby proof this house!!  He gets into everything he shouldn't and loves to make a mess of whatever he can get his hands on! Typical boy..

He passed his last eye exam with no issues, they would like to see him in one year. Also next year he will be getting a hearing exam.  We are not concerned at all about his hearing, but it is suggested for any baby who had an extended nicu stay.

As for food..the nutritionist said he is obviously doing well by the looks of him.  He still takes a formula bottle a few times a day and he eats baby food 2x's a day.. Fruits in the morning and veggies for dinner.  He likes pretty much anything we have put in front of him.  We tried a few times to give him 'puffs' they are like the size of cheerios very similar, BUT, he has choked every time :(  So I'm afraid he is not quite ready yet.  They suggested we continue to introduce soft table food whenever possible and we have also introduced a sippy cup.  He mostly just chews on it right now instead of actually drinking it. Not a huge rush to get him off of the bottle, but the Dr. would like to see him off of it in the next 4 months, as it can cause oral issues later on, such as interfering with new teeth coming in!

Collin in all other aspects has been doing just awesome! He is a great baby, with the occassional "brat" streak!  He has figured out to fuss and cry for attention (Ut-oh!)  He will get upset when we are out of view..and has also figured out how to fight nap time and stay awake!  It can be tough at times, but its actually quite comical sometimes because he will fight the nap..and play and play until all of a sudden he screams out crying for a very short spurt..as soon as he is snuggled and bottle in his mouth he passes right out.

Nothing else big going on with Collin right now.. Most important milestones lately were getting his first 2 teeth, switching to 12mo size clothes and also switching to the stage 2 carseat!   We keep saying .. "I can't believe how big he is!!"

Here are some photos from a few weeks ago when we brought him pumpkin/apple picking :)

Our next update will probably be about his 1st birthday! We are SO excited :)