Look Ma, almost no tube!

Quick update on our new addition (and our busy lives). Liam is doing really well, gaining strength and eating a lot more on his own. His IV got pulled a couple of days ago and he is into a regular bed (not an incubator). His feeding has really picked up and he is barely ever eating through the feeding tube. I think that he is basically gaining the strength that he would have gotten if he has stayed in the tummy a couple of more days, and so he is able to do all of this stuff on his own now. He has to go 48 hours without taking any food through the feeding tube before we can take him home, so we still have a little bit to go.
The house is coming along. I was just dropping some stuff off in the garage at 7:30 and there were still people there working. There;s not really that much left to do, but I have a feeling that we will have some trades people hanging around after we have moved in. Of well, 30 years from now, when we are selling, this will look like nothing.

Liam news

Well, Liam is still in NICU, which is sad, but the outlook is good, which is happy. He slept really well last night (which seems to be all he does), but was awake for Tracy and I this morning, and fed pretty good off her breast. He seems to be gaining strength and endurance almost every time we feed him. The doctor said that things are looking good and he should have his IV out shortly. Since all of the food has been staying down and getting digested lately he doesn't need to be supplemented through the IV, which is happy. Unfortunately, he still is not taking enough food in on his own and needs to be tube fed, which is not sad but not happy either. Things are looking up everyday.
Dominic went to see Liam again today, and was quit excited just to look at him through the window. He says that he likes Liam and wants him to come to Dominic's home. I'm getting the feeling that Dom thinks that this Liam kid lives at the hospital and we just visit him lots.

Liam update

So little Liam is still in the NICU. His blood cultures came back and they are infection free. He has been improving on his breast feeding technique and is awake a little more often (though it is usually around the 8:00 pm feeding, so hopefully he'll have his days and nights worked out soon). He is still not eating a tonne of food yet, and sometimes has trouble keeping it all down. But he's getting stronger and things are looking up.

Welcome to the big world little Liam

So once again Tracy had here oven set too high, and our little baby was finished before the recommended cooking time was over. On Tuesday night at 10:47 we welcomed little Liam into our world. He was very small (5lbs 3oz) which should have made the delivery easier, but he came out face up (as opposed to the recommended face down) which made the delivery more uncomfortable. And not just for mom. At one point, Tracy bit down on my thumb, and I think that I still have teeth marks.

Everybody was happy to meet Liam. and aside from a little jealousy, this includes Dominic. He loves his little brother, was so proud to be holding him, and got upset when he couldn't go into NICU to see him, but he was a little jealous when Mommy was holding Liam and not Dominic.

So for those of you reading every second word, I did say NICU. Because Liam was small and early he has had a couple of issues. First, he is having trouble staying warm. Second he was a little dehydrated. This all led to him being admitted into NICU and the wonderful (I really mean wonderful) staff there taking care of him. I'm happy to say that he is doing great, and it is just more of a precautionary thing then anything else that he is staying in there.

As for Tracy, she is doing really well. With Liam being formula fed in the hospital, she is pumping to get her milk in. She came home today, but we'll all probably spend the next couple of days at the hospital watching over our new addition. Special thanks to Aunty Aimee who put in the request for the baby to be born during her vacation in Lethbridge and for watching over Dominic when Mommy was delivering too.

Counter tops are an option?

So, we took a quick tour of our new house today to talk about the tiles. We also saw our cabinets, installed, for the first time. I was away in Europe when Tracy made the final decision on the cabinets, so I actually had only a small idea of what to expect. I am very satisfied though. Our Kitchen is not as open as the one we have now, which I think is going to take some getting used to, but I'm really excited.
We also got word that we might be moving in without counter tops. We are putting granite into this place, and the guys who do that in Lethbridge are a little bit behind. So even though Rob Pohl (our builder) is putting the pressure on, there isn't to much hope in moving in with them installed. The good news is, they should be in right around our possession date.
Speaking of excited, Dominic was very excited about his new room. Tracy told him that he could have hockey pucks on the wall which in his mind equates to hockey pucks, hockey nets, hockey sticks, and basically anything related to hockey! Oh well, we'll do our best.

It's just like coaching?

Someone once told me that refereeing rugby was just like coaching, because you could coach the teams while you were in the actual game. That's probably true if you are in the right position, not out of breath, and the teams are listening to you. Don't get me wrong, there are coachable moments on the pitch, but there are a lot more "Oh $%^&!" moments.
First year reffing has been a blast. Hopefully I'll get a lot more games in before the end of the season, and feel a lot more comfortable on the pitch.

Jaiku to you too...

So you may notice that I have a Jaiku presence badge on my blog. Following in the fame of Twitter, Jaiku is a "new" mini-blog site. Once you sign up, you can post quick messages (140 characters or less) from just a computer or SMS (text) from your cell. I'll admit, it sounds extremely stupid, but it is very addictive. I wasn't going to get involved, but after all the hype around Twitter (you have to listen/read techie stuff to hear the hype) and the news about Leo Laporte (TWiT fame) moving over, I took the plunge.
Another cool thing is that you can use it as a type of RSS reader, allowing you to subscribe to blog feeds. You can also set up contacts of other people who are using Jaiku and keep track of their Jaikus as well. Again, sounds lame, but once you leave it running for a day on your computer at work, you just get drawn in and end up posting because you can.
Click on the badge to check out mine (if you want) and let me know if anyone signs up so I can put you on my contact list. Or if you are into Twitter, send me the RSS feed link.