Homecoming

Jake came home a little over a year ago, and I think that even though we try, we don't always appreciate it as much as we should. I frequent a chatboard for preemie parents and just last weekend one of the moms who posts there lost one of her triplets to NEC - a truly wretched disease. (You may recall that Jake had two scares where the doctors thought he might have NEC but luckily he never contracted it.) The triplets were 25 week preemies who were all doing amazingly well - the one who died had actually recently started breathing on her own and seemed to be perhaps the strongest of the three. If you would like to read their story, you can find their blog here. My heart just aches for these parents and all the other preemie parents who don't get to bring their little ones home. We will probably never know why Jake was premature, and we'll certainly never know why he survived when other preemies don't.

So tonight I held Jake a little closer and I'm grateful.

He keeps growing and growing...

Jake had a NICU follow-up at Duke last week. The doctors and nurses said it's hard to believe he's a 27 week preemie. We agree. He's now 21.5 pounds and 29.5 inches, which puts him on the growth chart for both his actual age and his adjusted age. Pretty remarkable when you consider that we brought him home a little less than a year ago at 5 pounds and 18.5 inches - nowhere near the growth chart for a 3 month old and not even on it for his adjusted newborn age.

He's taken a few tentative steps on his own, and he's still cruising and crawling all over the place. He's saying a few words but they don't quite seem to be in context yet. "Mama" is said to just about anyone and seems to be an indication that he wants to be picked up. "Dog" comes out sometimes with the dogs and sometimes randomly. We also get lots of "Dada" but not necessarily with Jeff. And he's still blowing lots of raspberries and likes to make the "rolling Rs" sound with his tongue - maybe he would have more words if we were Spanish speakers. Yelling/screaming is another fun favorite as our friend Andrea discovered at dinner the other night (sorry fellow diners at Pei Wei).

Jake also took his first two trips last month - back-to-back in an unexpected twist. The first trip was up to our friends Lanier and Scott's cabin in the mountains for Fourth of July weekend. We had a great time with Lanier, Soott, Nate, and Hallie. Jake especially liked have two more dogs to chase around. And he loved the cold mountain water - the only one of us brave enough to get in...

It tired him out though...

The second trip involved his first plane ride (which went surprisingly well) but was sadly a trip to see my grandmother before she died. We made it back to Indiana before she passed, and I think she knew we were there. She had wanted to see Jake for some time but the inability to travel long distances on both sides made that difficult. I do wish she could have seen him when she was fully herself. She was almost 91 - a very strong and proud woman. If there is something positive to come out of it, it is that my sisters and all our children were together for the first time - three girls ages 7, 2.5, and 2, and two boys - ages 1 (Jake) and 2 months. Jake wasn't ready to keep up with the girls yet, but next time...

And finally, Jake's nursery is complete with the addition of his super cute name plates from Amanda and Ben. Thanks guys!

March for Babies Walk Followup

In the "better late than never" category....

Thanks so much to everyone who donated to the March of Dimes for our March for Babies! (If you donated online through our site, you hopefully got a thank you in the mail from us a long time ago.) Team Cubby raised a total of $2,200!! We are in awe of everyone's generosity!

Special thanks to friends and family who came out to walk with us. It was NOT a scenic route, but the weather held up and we had fun. We'll probably make it a yearly tradition (maybe we can convince them to move the walk to downtown Raleigh).

And thanks also to my sister and niece who walked in the March for Babies in Chicago and raised a bunch of money there too $1605!

The Cubby Chronicles XLVIII

(Note: Blogger is having some video upload issues which will hopefully be resolved. For the meantime I've added a few pictures)

Some of you might not know but my mom is currently in the hospital recovering from a knee replacement. Of course, considering me & my sister have also had knee surgery this might not come as a surprise although each one was different (Mom--knee replacement, me--ACL reconstruction, & Jen--kneecap/patella/femur augmentation). Still, I would be a little concerned if I was my dad....

Anyway, since she could use some distraction here's a couple Jake videos that everyone can enjoy. They're fairly recent (& clearly unedited) but in the short time since we took them he moves around 100% better. Still, the basics are consistent--we spend much of our day chasing him around.

Here Jake lets his true lust for smartphones come out:


Of course, not even the iPhone can match the lure of the (unrequited) love for Benny the dog:



Jake is always trying to get up close & personal with the dogs. Since Ben's slower (& much more tolerant), he gets the brunt of the 'affection.'



As mentioned, Jake is eating all kinds of fun stuff. His latest dish is pasta & tomato sauce which he enjoys but isn't without it's cleanup issues. His favorites include avacado, chicken, frozen yogurt & his one interaction with french fries was quite a treat. No doubt he's K & my son...

Jake is also really into feeding himself instead of taking things from a spoon. Of course it can create some messy situations....

Jake's buddies in Seattle made him this great birthday poster. He likes to shake it when standing holding on to the fridge....

The Cubby Chronicles XLVI

Not long after we brought Jake home from the hospital, one of Kristin's co-workers made gave her the following piece of advice: "In parenthood, the days are long but the years go by fast." At the time I took that attitude of 'okay, he's got grown kids so he must know something but we'll see..." (How very Gen-X of me). After logging into the blog to (finally) post an update & seeing that the last CC was back in February (!), he might be on to something.

Ever since Jake's primary residence has been here in Raleigh instead of Duke hospital, our days are basically chock-full of Cubby. This is great, of course, but all of you who are parents know that babies are a handful & there's not a lot of free time. Thus, in the past several months there's been no posting from me & few from K & all I can say is it was much easier to find time to post about the little guy when I wasn't able to be around him all the time.

Anyway, this is all a round-about way of coming to an apology as we know that we have tons of loyal family & friends who rely on this site to get an update or a picture of how the little guy was doing (and plenty of you had let me know). So, here's a sampling of some recent pics:



Jake has become an 'excellent' eater & is tackling solid foods with aplomb. As a carnivore 'm proud to say he's started eating chicken but don't worry vegetarians, veggie patties are next.


Since the weather's been so nice (& we finally had some landscaping done) Jake's been enjoying the yard. He's still a little leery of grass (the texture is a lot stimulation) but it's growing on him.


Jake loves to be thrown (& caught, of course) up in the air & spun side to side. He really enjoys the sense of weightlessness & the wind in his face but it gets tiring for the parents.


The Cubby is crawling all around the house & loves to stand up & 'cruise' on the walls & furniture. He can even pull himself up without handholds, Peter Parker would be proud. Walking isn't too far away.....


Jake also loves interacting with the dogs, though they aren't so sure about being on the receiving end of his 'love.' He tends to grab their fur & pounce on them (probably some foreshadowing of rough & tumble antics to come) which Ben tolerates better than Chloe but even he avoids playtime when possible.

11 Months, Crawling, and a Walk

Jake turned 11 months almost 2 weeks ago, which means that he's very close to the big first birthday! Jeff and I both think he's looking more and more like a little boy and less like a baby. The above picture indicates that somewhat. He's started inchworming/crawling his way around. So far cellphones and remote controls seem to be his biggest motivators. He also likes to pull up on your hands and stand and take a few tentative steps, although his developmental therapist is lukewarm on that - seems that gravity usually wins when 11 month olds try to walk.

We had another busy month - my mom came out to help for a week while Jeff was out of town - a big thank you to her. Jeff's parents came for Easter and we had a great brunch at Cousin Todd and Aunt Suse's. (complete with new nicknames :-))



Jeff's best friend Ben and his wife Amanda came up for a weekend - making it just under the "one year since we'd seen them" mark. Jake seems to have adapted quite well to all this company, although he definitely clings to mom and dad a little at first.



Tomorrow is the March for Babies. Thanks to everyone who's donated. If you haven't yet, it's not too late! And check back for pictures! We've got some really cute Team Cubby t-shirts for the walk thanks to our good friends Carmen and Jeff at Koalatee.

10 Months!

So we meet again Bernard...

I'm gaining on you...

10 months old, and what a busy month it's been! Jake's had visits from the Michigan grandparents, Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Michael and Cousin Hannah, Aunt Jen, and my soul sista Jenny. The month in pictures...

Kickin' it with Grandma Jan (aka Michigan Grandma)

Good times with Aunt Kathryn!

Cousin Hannah actually got to hold Jake this time and not just look through the glass

Aunt Jen picture coming soon to a blog near you

Happy and squinty with Jenny

The Happy Family (minus Chloe)