Jacob is smokin' hot!

Yesterday, Jeremiah was off from work so I had the opportunity to attend the temple with my mom and grandma. It was a very eventful morning...before mom found out her recommend was expired, grandma had already been long gone to the fitting room. Mom went home while grandma and I went to the temple session. It was wonderful and my goal is to go at least twice a month this year! After that, I took my parents out to a late breakfast at Ole's Waffle Shop in Alameda. Then, we went shopping in Alameda and grandma couldn't resist the sunglasses below. She bought Jacob a pair of sunglasses and some crocs! It's so cute! While I was in the Bay, Jacob and Jeremiah had a great time at home bonding. It was a fun day out with my parents, but it got much better when I came home to my little family.

Exploring my environment!

Jacob loves his activity gym, especially because he is more aware of his surroundings now. He likes to grab the toys and make noises. His occupational therapist says it's good because it means he can see the objects and make distinctions in his environment. Jacob gets about 15-20 minutes of play time before each feeding. We can see how much it's helping him because of what he is able to do now. By the beginning of March, Jacob goals are to use his arms to prop himself up at 90 degrees 'consistently' and open his hands to grab objects 'consistently.'

Meeting the Occupational Therapist

Jacob's occupational therapist came today! She is awesome! She was so great with Jacob and he responded so well to everything she introduced to him, i.e. toys, jelly bean therapy ball, etc.) The assessment results showed that Jacob's gross motor skills are closer to his chronological age, which is 5 1/2 months. However, his fine motor skills are closer to his adjusted age at 2 1/2 months. It was a good day. She will be visiting once a month! We were hoping for more time, but it's okay. She gave us some things to work on for the next visit. She was totally impressed that he was trying to roll over. It was lots of fun today!

Tonight as Jeremiah and I were playing with Jacob, we noticed that he used his left arm a lot to grab or dangle his toys. We realize that he'll need more exercises stimulating his right arm...or he might just be a lefty like his Uncle Ben! =)

Holding my head up!

During Jacob's time with his development teacher, he began pushing himself up using his arms. He had great head control. It was so much fun to see. I'm still amazed at his progress...I love watching the new things he's able to do.

13.6 and learning to turn over!

Today, Jacob had an appointment to get his synagis shot for this month and we found out that he is 13 lbs. and 6 oz.! We were soooooo happy! Especially with the problems we've had with feeding. He's doing better with eating now. We're using the fastest flowing nipple (6-9months) and it seems to be working better.

On top of that great news, last night Jeremiah noticed Jacob trying to turn over. Jacob would swing his right shoulder over in attempt to turn over. He did it all night and we were so surprised. Gosh, our son is learning to turn over!! I guess all of the stimulation and exercises are working. We feel like proud parents!

Tonight, I have class and am so bummed because I want to be home with the family! I only have 4 more classes this month and will have a month break before finishing up my last quarter for graduation. Yay!

I don't want the bottle!

It's been a week since we've posted! Nothing has changed much, except Jacob's eating patterns. He is not eating as well as he used to. We have been so worried the last few days because he'd only take half of his feedings. There are no signs of a fever, infection, or anything that might be a red flag. His temperature and bowel movements appear to be regular, so we really don't know. We've emailed our doctor and we are hoping to hear from him soon. After speaking to his NICU nurse, she thinks Jacob is ready for something different, texture wise. That might explain him not taking his bottle as well. We're just waiting for the doctor's orders. We'll keep everyone posted. He has an appt. to get the synagis shot tomorrow to protect him from RSV. Next Tuesday, he has an appt. with Dr. Millar for a routine check up.


Jacob has totally outgrown his 0-3 months clothing, with the exception of a few. (Why do some clothes come bigger than others when they are the same size? Get what I'm saying?) I've pulled out all of his 3-6 months clothing and some have already appeared too small for him. For example, the outfit he's wearing now is riding up his bottom...hehee...not the one in this picture, but one he's wearing at this moment. Anyway, in this picture, I was trying out different clothes for him to get him ready to meet his NICU family on Valentine's Day. We'll see, we might have to change the wardrobe. Jacob's not exactly thrilled about it...he hates getting dressed, but does not mind the camera so much anymore. He actually stares at it and knows when it comes on when he hears the power button.

Just another cute picture of our little Jakey. We might have not mentioned in earlier postings that Jacob has been receiving services from Valley Mountain Regional Center. He currently has a developmental teacher that come to the house to work with him, once a week for an hour. This Thursday, an occupational therapist will come to do an initial assessment and evaluate how many hours he'll need her support. He will also see a speech therapist. We've yet to be in contact with him/her. In addition, our great development teacher has hooked us up with a massage therapist that will work with us as well. Lots going on! Our Tuesdays (Jer's day off during the week) are packed with appointments and services! They can be stressful, but we are enjoying that time as a family. Our schedule is so bad, with my schooling, seminars, Jer's day off, and calling that it has been difficult for us to share our time to attend church. We are hoping and praying that things will work out so we can enjoy the blessings of being around our ward family and learning more about church doctrines. I'm sure things will get easier, but this is just a HUGE bump in the road for us. We just hope that with everything that is going on, the daily stresses, we don't forget who we are and what our roles and purposes are on this earth.

5 months chronological and 2 months adjusted!

Confused eh? Today, Jacob is 5 months old chronologically according to his premature birthdate. However, he is only 2 months old if we adjust his birthdate to his actual due date. He has two birthdays! I'm sure he'll use that to his advantage when he's old enough to figure out he can have two birthday parties in a year!!

Jacob is doing well. We don't know his current weight, but we know he is gaining because he's getting a little heavier each day! Nothing has changed much from the last update. Eating amount is still the same, except it has taken him about an hour to finish...he's like a marathon eater. He's still on reglan and pepcid and vomitting less frequently...so we thought. His developmental teacher came for the first assessment last Tuesday and asked about his reflux and vomitting. We said he wasn't anymore and whadayahkno? That night, he projected about 40 mLs 2 feet across the bedroom floor. That's our luck! Poor baby though...


Recently, one huge milestone of Jacob's is sleeping through the night! Last Thursday, we decided that it was time to turn off the lamp at night. Our fears of bradycardias and apneas were close to long gone, so it was time that we transitioned ourselves to go through the night without the lights on! Well, little baby boy slept like an angel! He didn't even wake up or anything! A little scary, but we finally enjoyed a good night's sleep as a family. He woke up on the 6th hour for feeding, but that was pretty darn good! It has been 3 days since and we are loving it! However, the number 3 seems to be our 'unlucky' number as Jacob usually figures out what we're doing by the 3rd day and changes the schedule around! We hope he continues to do well. The more sleep we all have, the happier the family will be! =)

By the way, Jacob has clearly communicated that our mattress is highly preferable over his bassinet. He co-sleeps with us, but we are very careful and are doing EVERYTHING to reduce any risks of SIDS or other potential dangers.

As you can tell, I love taking pictures of Jacob dressed up. My reason behind this, other than capturing how cute he is, is to put him in these adorable outfits before he grows out of them. He has so many cute church outfits and I hate that we can take him out because of the RSV season because he's growing out of them before anyone can see him in it! I seriously cannot wait to take him out. It looks like his last RSV shot will be given in March...which will last him until the beginning of April. Until then, he will continue to hibernate inside the house. His outtings will still be limited after the RSV season until his first birthday...which will give him a few months before the RSV season hits again! It stinks, but we rather have him healthy than sick and in the hospital.

As for me, I have 4 more months before I graduate with my masters degree in educational leadership, which includes 15 classes in Hayward and 4-all day educator's seminar in SF. Jeremiah is still working and will be taking a week off in February to spend time with us! Yay!

How sad is this??

Learning to grab

Jacob is doing well. He is growing fast and learning new skills. His favorite thing to do is GRAB. He likes to grab and pull my hair, grab his burp cloth during feeding, grab or hold on to his bottle (left hand only...right hand not quite there yet), grab my shirt, grab or pull my lips, the list goes on and on and on. He is also learning to mimick my facial expression. Sticking out his tongue is one of them. We try to stimulate him as much as we can since we really can't tell what he can or can't do b/c of his age. However, he's really good with letting us know when he's not in the mood...He has also learned, just recently, how to soothe himself to sleep after mommy and daddy puts him down. He gets into his quiet alert stage and eventually falls asleep. He sleeps anywhere from 4-6 hours at night now. =)

Though he's learning new skills, we have noticed that he does not want to be on his tummy for a long period of time like he used to. He also does not have a long attention span during reading time. After the first 2-3 pages, he'd cry. We've learned to read to him when he's on his activity mat so that he gets visual stimulation from his toys and hear the stories simultaneously.

Jacob continues to take 4 oz. per feeding. Sometimes he has a big appetite and will take 5-6 oz. He feeds about 6-7 times a day. His feeding schedule is not predictable as it used to be b/c sometimes he'll eat after 2 hours, 6 hours, or in between. We are strictly on his schedule...we had to toss ours out...hehe

Somehow the pictures uploaded in the wrong order...dont' know that happened, but enjoy!

After his bath...
Before the bath...

Pacifier helped soothe his hunger...

Gettin' chunky by the hour...

tummy time...focusing on how to get my attention to change his position...

We call him the 'squirmy wormy' during feeding time

twisting n' shouting

"help me?"

his bassinet...

For Aimee and Laurie: he cried several times during the photo session =)

I found myself doing jumping jacks and all sorts of things to get his attention and keep him from crying

he was mad for a while

Mom's photo session

The 'Tom Cruise' look...

The 'Uncle Adam' look...

Hmm...don't know what kind of look this is...

The 'College bound' look...

The 'I've got to poop look'...

The 'I'm done pooping look'...

Looking back...

He likes to use his arms to hit the dangling toys...

A typical day...get a warm bath, get dressed, and wait for the bottle to get warm for feeding time...

A monster invaded our house...

Tummy time working on developing strong neck muscles...trying to get him to follow the mirror has become an everyday activity that he usually moves it to the other side automatically

A fever? Oh no!

Jacob had a very eventful week!

On Tuesday, he got his RSV shot and then on Wednesday, he had his well visit and got his 4 months immunization shots. Ouch! He didn't like it very much, but after I held him, he stopped crying in less than 5 seconds (the nurse was counting down to 1 after he gave Jacob the shot...haha)

The doctor said that Jacob is progressing very well. As a matter of fact, according to his weight, he is in the 1 percentile...he's finally on the charts! =) He weighs 11 lbs. 10 oz., is 21 3/4 inches long, and 15 inches for head circumference. In 2 months, he'll start on rice cereal...to be continued...he just woke up...i'll be back...

A warm bath and bottle did it, he's asleep! The doctor's visit went well. He'll be seen again in 2months. We discovered that his fever was directly related to the shots. It scared both of us to death, but we're all okay now...thank goodness for tylenol.

Dressed up for his RSV appointment. Right before we put him on the scale, he threw up about 3 oz. of milk all over himself...me too. It was everywhere! Poor guy...I felt bad. His weight was 11 lbs. 7 oz.
Dressed up for his well check the next day. He spit up again, but it was very little. His weight here is 11lbs. 10 oz. (add 3 oz. he lost yesterday!)

After he got his shots. His nub nub helped him fall asleep...oh and I changed his outfit to something easier to put on b/c he was already stressed out.
Home at last and ready for a bottle.

He wouldn't sleep in his bassinet. He wanted to sleep on my chest, but after a few hours, my body began to ache so I placed him right next to me on the bed. He was content, but it scares me to have him there.

I'm a Rock Star!