Enjoying the nice weather....

Nicholas continues to grow and is becoming more interactive on a daily basis, which we love. We haven't had his weight checked recently but anticipate his is somewhere around 12 pounds. He is tolerating his new formula well when we blend it in the blender. He's not as fond of it when we just shake it to mix it. He has quite the palate already. Yesterday, we got his labs drawn to check his hematocrit level. We are hoping for improvement and to be able to discontinue the iron supplement he gets on a daily basis. Nicholas's apnea monitor has been going off regularly for bradycardia's (low heartrate) at night. We are getting an over night study done to make sure his oxygen levels aren't dropping also. If they are, we may need to bump up his oxygen during the night. He is in a deep sleep when he drops his heartrate. We anticipate this is normal for babes and most people don't detect it because they don't have the monitor.

We are planning a celebration party for Nicholas on July 31st at our house. All of Nichola's blog readers are welcome to join us. We haven't sent out the evite yet, but expect it in the next week. If you don't get the evite by next Friday, we likely don't have your email address. So, please send us an email with it and we will send you the details: ddmm0811@yahoo.com.

Some of Nicholas's Mancuso cousins came to Madison this week to visit. They were great helpers and entertainers for Nicholas. Nicholas looks forward to meeting his great aunt and uncle, Dave and Judy, this weekend.

Still on the oxygen...

We saw pulmonary yesterday and Nicholas continued to desat when we took him off the oxygen. Thus, we are sticking with 1/8 of a liter 24 hours a day. Our next appointment with pulmonary is in August, so, we'll remain status quo until then. His weight is up to 11lbs 9 ounces and he is almost 22 inches long. They are happy with his weight gain and in discussions with the nutritionist at the peds specialty clinic, we've decided to switch to normal formula versus the preemie high calorie formula. He still gets about 1/2 breast milk and 1/2 formula and takes approximately 3ounces every 3 hours, including the night. Every once in awhile he'll skip one night time feed which we appreciate. If only we could get him to consistently miss it; in due time.

Denise R. had to be in Lake Geneva, WI for work last week, so, Denise M. and Nicholas came down for a night. After work, we spent some time walking around the shops in the resort town and found the onsie and sun glasses Nicholas has on. He's not too keen on the sun glasses just yet. We'll see how much actual use we get out of them.

We moved Nicholas into his own crib on Friday night. He has done well in there so far.

Some of Nicholas's Rasmussen cousins visited last weekend. Nicholas loved seeing his cousins and they all enjoyed their time with him.

Great traveler

Nicholas did well last weekend up at the lake. He did great traveling. We stopped a couple of times to feed him and give him a break from his car seat and in between times, he slept. We couldn't have asked for a better traveler. We included a couple of pictures from our trip. Nicholas enjoyed getting acquainted with the house and seeing his Mancuso cousins that he hasn't seen since early March. They couldn't believe how big he has gotten.

We see pulmonary on Monday with hopes of decreasing the amount of oxygen Nicholas is getting. We know we won't be off it completely, but, hoping for decreasing the amount. We'll update you on his weight and O2 status after his appointment.