Special Anniversary

Today is a special anniversary for our family...it's the anniversary of the day we got to bring home Marino from the NICU! I know this day is really important to lots of preemie moms (some say it's more special to them than their preemie's 1st birthday). While it is special to us, for me, it's tempered by the fact we had another 14 day stay in the hospital 10 days after we brought him home. Nonetheless, today is the anniversary of the day Marino came to live with Mama and Daddy (and Max).

Here's a picture of Marino from the day we brought him home from the NICU (July 31, 2008) He was only 4 pounds, 15 ounces.

And here's a picture of Marino on the anniversary of that homecoming. He's about 21 pounds now.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

I took the day off today so Marino and I could spent the whole day together. Unfortunately, we started sleep training last night, so I literally had a migraine, complete with nausea and no appetite, the whole day (presumably from listening to so much screaming). More on the sleep training below. In spite of the migraine, Marino and I did have some fun today. We went to visit our friend's we made in the NICU: Hayden, Jackson and Audra. We got a chance to swim before the rain came. Here's a few pictures I took today. Hayden and Marino are the same adjusted age, but Hayden was born a whole month before Marino.

Miracle babies.

And here's some cute ones of all 3 of the boys.

After our visit, we came home and had lunch and then took a glorious nap together! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing, reading, etc. It was a nice day.

A few weeks ago, I met with one of the Early Intervention Specialists regarding Marino's unwillingness to sleep through the night. I know lots of parents have expressed we should just let Marino cry it out in his crib, but he gets so worked up that he starts coughing, choking and scratching himself until he bleeds:( So the specialist suggested we go to sleep in the room with him and put him to sleep drowsy but still awake, to take away the separation anxiety portion of Marino's sleep problems. She also said not to make eye contact with him and if he gets out of control to pat his back, but don't pick him up.

Last night was tough. He screamed and cried for an hour and fifteen minutes until he passed out from sheer exhaustion. Not fun. Then he woke up at 3 but he just babbled and fell back asleep until 4am (he wakes up every morning at 4 to eat and I'm ok with that, for now, 8 hours is a decent start). Tonight was soooo much easier! I put him down awake (he didn't fall asleep after his night bottle). He fussed for 15 minutes (not shedding tears, just yelling) and then just laid down and went to sleep! We'll see how the next few nights go, but so far so good!