It's a Big World, Mason

Give Peas a Chance

Mason turned five months old today, and his doctor wanted us to start him on vegetable baby food along with his formula and rice cereal regimen. I thought it would be a good idea to start with the greens since they aren’t as sweet as some of the others and he hasn’t had anything but non-sweet formula and breast milk.

We went with peas. Opening the container I was surprised at how good it smells. It’s really peas! We fed Mason little by little, and he managed to eat about 1/3 of the container before getting full. That’s fine since he’s only supposed to have half now anyway.

Did he like it? Well, you be the judge:

12 January 2011 ·

Nearly Five Months

As I write this, I am both shocked and awed. Mason is in bed asleep after a bath where he splashed, laughed, and didn’t cry once. Ok, he did cry a little when getting his clothes back on but that was different and I totally diffused the situation with silly faces and sounds.

It’s hard to believe, but in just three short days my little boy will be five months old. It seems just like yesterday he was in the NICU strapped to all sorts of machines. Now, he’s growing fast and becoming quite a happy little man. He continually makes his mother and I very proud. Especially now that we actually get sleep at night, in spite of the onset of teething (yay!).

Mason has been eating formula-mixed rice cereal from a spoon and is finally getting the hang of it. He still has his tongue reflex so he pushes a lot of it back out, but that’s nothing a quick save with the spoon can’t handle. He’s getting to the point where he finally enjoys it. I caught him actually smiling during his solid food experience today, in fact. He’s not quite opening up wide to eat, but he’s getting close.

That’s a good thing, because when he hits the five month mark he gets to be introduced to vegetables. We’re going to start with the greens first, and try one veggie at a time for a few days just to make sure he can handle it. I’m sure he’ll enjoy the variety from the milk-flavored everything he gets now.

9 January 2011 ·

Four months

Mason was born four months ago today. He came to us early due to complications in the pregnancy and we were worried about his development. The time for worry seems to be in the past as Mason has caught up in every way so far, very much exceeding our expectations. His height and weight are spot on, he is very vocal and expressive, he has opinions, likes, and dislikes, and he’ll be figuring out how to roll over any day now.

Right now his favorite game to play is turning himself sideways in bed to get closer to his stuffed animals. We’ll go to his room, see him between a couple of toys, and he’ll laugh like he’s just been caught doing something sneaky. Needless to say we’ve moved the toys out of his crib in one of many killjoy parental moves designed to keep him safe.

While he doesn’t understand the meaning of what he’s saying yet, he’s getting good at mimicry and babbling in baby language. His favorite words now are:

Agoo. It means anything from “I’m good” to “I’m very happy right now” depending on how he says it. Nine times out of ten it is said with a big smile on his face.
OK. This is mimicry of his parents who obviously say that word quite often. We’ll ask him, “Mason, are you OK?” to which he’ll respond, “OK!”
Ee-gah. We have a picture of a bald eagle hanging in our living room. When I sit with Mason in the chair, him on my shoulder, he has a great view of it. He’ll sit and stare at it for as long as I’ll let him, smiling and babbling at it the entire time. We tell him often that it’s an eagle, and he mimics back “Ee-gah!” when we do.
Ooooohhh. It’s like he’s wanting to say, “Ooohh, shiny!” He says this phrase when he sees something he really likes. I think he picked that up from Lori.

I’m still trying to teach him to say “daddy”, “ruby”, and “meta programming” but for now I’m happy with his current progress.

12 December 2010 ·

Two Months

On 10/12/2010, Mason turned two months old. I can’t believe how quickly the time is flying by.

Ok, I can. It’s all a big blur to me with the absence of that long, lost commodity of sleep. But I will admit caring for this wonderful boy is the best reason ever for losing sleep. He’s worth it!

He went for his two-month checkup today. He’s doing well, weighing in at 11 pounds, 13 ounces. I was quite surprised to see that number pop up, considering he was only 5 pounds when we brought him home from the NICU. His height is gaining also, coming in at 22.5 inches long. It won’t be long before he reaches the two foot mark!

He had his first big series of vaccinations. Five shots in his thighs, done expertly in rapid succession by his nurse, and he was done. He cried a little, but recovered quickly, especially after getting some yummy tylenol. When we got him home after that he seemed a bit loopy; I think the tylenol contributed to that.

Tomorrow a new adventure starts for him: daycare. I have mixed feelings about sending him off, but the woman watching him is a pro and I have every faith he’ll do well.

Ok, now about that sleep… I better get some before Mason wakes up.

13 October 2010 ·

Welcome home, Mason

This afternoon after watching videos and surviving our first sleepless night with Mason in the NICU, he was finally discharged. So now our happy family is home and ready to get life started.

Mason weighs 5 pounds now and is eating like a champ. Now it’s time for daddy and mommy to get used to waking up every 2-4 hours…

27 August 2010 ·

Daddy’s Perspective

Just like any other day, Thursday started out normally. There wasn’t any indication that the usual mundane routine would suddenly be turned on its head. But that’s how these things go: It’s sudden, sharp, and takes the breath out of you. I felt like I was ripped out of one reality and forced into something both scary and absolutely amazing.

Instead of working from my home office, I spent the day at my desk at the OKC Coworking Collaborative since I was going to give a presentation there that evening for our local Ruby users group. Lori had a doctor’s appointment and an ultrasound scheduled that I was regretfully going to miss since I was saving my time off, so we decided to do our own things this once.

I gave my presentation without any indication that anything was going wrong. The presentation was well-received and generated some fun back and forth discussion. But as I got on I-35 headed back home, I got a call from Lori at the hospital.

“Tim, you have to get here NOW”, she said.

Starting to get concerned, I asked, “Why? What’s wrong?”

“They are going to do a C-section.”

I found out just exactly how fast the Mustang can go after that. Well, not exactly, because I’m fairly certain it goes faster than the speedometer reads.

I got to the Norman Regional Healthplex in record time, even before the anesthesiologist, so I didn’t miss the operation. Lori was being prepped for the surgery and her doctor explained what was going on.

At her visit they didn’t like her continued high blood pressure and the lab work ordered confirmed that she was experiencing HELLP Syndrome. The only cure would be to deliver the baby. So at 9:22pm on August 12th, 2010, Mason Christopher Gourley was born nearly 2 months early. He weighed in at 4 pounds 15 ounces and was 18.5 inches long.

Both Mommy and baby are doing wonderfully, and Mason is still in the NICU as he continues to grow strong enough to come home. He’s a strong kid and already is as stubborn as his parents.

It’s been a roller coaster already, and I know it’s not going to let up. But this experience has been both the most amazing and frustrating thing we’ve ever gone through and I look forward to every little step along the way.

16 August 2010 ·