10 Weeks Adjusted: Hitting Milestones

I know milestones might be a touchy subject around these parts since Dylan may not hit them like his non-preemie friends, but so far he's doing great!

We are going to the pediatrician weekly, mostly for weight checks, and Dylan currently weighs about 9 1/2 pounds.  This is not on the growth chart and is slowly than we'd like, but he is gaining weight which is good.  We are currently fortifying his feeds to 24 calories (from 20).

Dylan is awake for some long stretches now.  Long meaning 2-4 hours, about 3 times a day.  I think this means we will soon get into a nap schedule.  During these awake times, we do lots of tummy time, funny face making, and singing (I sing - he just listens).  He is rolling from his tummy to his back quite consistently.  He can do it quickly, slowly, however he likes.  I'm not quite sure how tummy time works with a baby who is rolling over!  He's a bit ahead of the adjusted curve on this one which is cool.  It's probably due to the fact that he's been doing tummy time for a lot longer than term babies.

He can also push down with his feed and therefore "stand" while we hold his chest.  His neck isn't totally solid yet, but he can hold it up well with just a little wobble and he doesn't need much support when we pick him up.

Dylan discovered his tongue this last week or so.  He loves sticking it out and rolling it around.  And of course sucking on things.  His favorites are his fist and his arm.  He's getting better at actually finding his mouth with his hand.

Dylan is still smiling a ton and almost laughing (like a silent laugh).  It's still hard to catch on camera, but I've got a few mini smiles that are not blurry.  (I keep my camera open to the side and then move it when he smiles since the smile goes away as soon as he sees it.  The strategy is not quite working.) : )

We've got a pretty good schedule going for the moment too.  Dylan eats at 10 or 11pm, then 3am, 6am, then every two hours or so after that for a total of 10 feedings.  He's eating about 18 ounces a day which is less than the low end of average, but it's really consistent for him.

I have this wonderful app on my phone (as do his Dad and his grandparents) called Baby Connect.  It's AWESOME and I highly recommend it to any parent of a baby.  It allows me to log his feedings every day (or any caretaker to do the same) and then I get all kinds of awesome graphs.  It even tells me his 7 day average for that exact time of day.  When he's around his average, I don't worry so much.  And I've learned that if he's slow in the morning, he usually makes it up later in the day.

Dylan is getting a bit fussier, but in general, we have a really easy baby which I think is extremely fair considering what we've been through!

And now for the pictures!

(The last one is with his cousin.  It's great to show scale.  His cousin is 9 months old.)