Milestones

Today marks the eight month mark since Zachary came home from the hospital.  That's significant because he also was in the hospital for the first eight months of his life.  So tomorrow he will have been home longer than he was in the hospital! 

Think he's happy about that?

Here's what he looked like the day he came home last June:

 

It's hard to believe that we will have finally been home longer than the hospital.  Seems like the time at home has sped by much faster than the hospital stay, not surprisingly.  And we've been relatively fortunate that he's only been readmitted to the hospital three times since his initial discharge.  Once for a respiratory infection and twice for bleeding from the trach, a still unresolved problem.  I guess if you add up the time from these readmissions he still has been in the hospital longer than he's been home, but I'm not going back and changing the post, so please play along with me. 

He's been developing a LARGE personality.  He doesn't hesitate to express his likes and dislikes.  Likes include "walking" around the room aided by mommy or daddy, trying to bear hug Sammy (our outlandishly large cat), grabbing the ventilator tubing, removing the oxygen attachment from his speaking valve, reading books, playing in his bouncy, and taking baths.  Dislikes include eating, diaper changes, going to bed, and not getting enough attention.

Speaking of large, Zachary now weighs 16 pounds, 8 ounces.  Not quite as much as Sammy, who tips the scales at 17 pounds, 2 ounces, but a long way from the 1 pound, 9 ounces he was at birth.  I still can't believe how big he is (Zachary, that is).  Though now that I think about it I can't believe how big Sammy is either.  Z-man loves the cat and sometimes gets a handful of whiskers or ears.  And despite his sometimes surly nature, Sammy obliges and waits until he lets go to make his getaway. 

Zachary wore shoes for the first time today.  Check them out:

What a big boy!  He's not a baby anymore, that's for sure.  He sits up on his own.  And though he's not yet crawling, he has a mean butt-scoot that gets him from here to there quite quickly.  Going to need to buy one of those fences to create a play area so he doesn't get into something he shouldn't when we're not looking.  He's also started pulling himself up on the furniture and anything else that works, like toys or mommy or daddy. 

Still waiting for his first word, though he babbles a lot.  Any guess what it will be?  I think da-da!