Check Out My Changes!

I've been very busy this week, let me tell you. I did lots of things for the first time, and my PT, Kelly, is very very happy with me. YEAH!! :-D

This week I have managed to reach for a toy and grab it, stick out my tongue, put my toy in my mouth to discover a little more about it, and have some really good tummy time which is helping me keep my head up straight without scrunching up my little shoulders! Man - it has been a lot of hard work but i'm really lovin' it. I paly with my Gerry Giraffe all the time now, and I pull his tail, bite his ear, and gnaw on his check and he doesn't evenc are. He just smiles at me and lets me play!

My family is also going to do the March of Dimes Walk America walk this year. It helps raise money for research to discover technology and other tools to help save the lives of other little preemies like me. I'm really proud of my family, and they say that I'm going on the walk with them!! WOO HOO. Our team name is Ethan's Journey, and so far the walkers on our team are my Mummy, Daddy, Nana, and Aunties Tracy & Pam! I can't believe that they are all going to walk 8 miles to raise money!!! Oh, and I get to ride the whole way. hee hee hee. If you want to help them out to raise money you can click the link to the right, or go to
www.walkamerica.org/ethanshah to sponsor my Mummy
www.walkamerica.org/ethanshah1 to sponsor my Daddy
www.walkamerica.org/ethanshah2 to sponsor my Nana
www.walkamerica.org/ethanshah3 to sponsor my Auntie Tracy
www.walkamerica.org/ethanshah4 to sponsor my Auntie Pam
If you want to walk with us on our team, and get people to sponsor you you can join on by going to www.walkamerica.org and sign up with an existing team: Ethan's Journey.

Now I shall get off my sopabox (whatever that is) and get on with the growing! Talk to you all soon - and I love you!!

The Eyes Have It!!

I think that I'm getting a little better with my posting. It has been about 2 weeks since I last was here, and my aim it to get to doing something each week. Don't hold your breath, like my Mummy would say, cuz I am a very busy boy! :-)

In the last 2 weeks a lot has been going on with me. I went to my final visit with Dr. Gold, my eye guy, and he said that my eyes are not just like a full term babies eyes! So I don't have any of those pesky preemie eye issues now, and I am so happy. Dr. Gold is so nice to me, but he's always peeling my eyes open and holding them open with some contraption and I hate that... I SCREAM the whole time! My poor Daddy is lucky not to be deaf by now from hearing that screaming.... the only other eye doctor that I need to see is a Pedi eye doc to check for lazy eye or any signs of crossed-eyedness in about 4 months time. That should be a snap for me.

Kelly comes to see me every Wednesday, she is the Easter Seals Physical Therapist, and she is really getting to be my friend now. Mummy calls her my 'date'... what's a date?? Anyway, this week I was really happy to see her, and I smiled at her and everything. Next think I know she has me all flipped over doing some 'tummy time' and I am maaaad! I don't like tummy time at all. It's hard work for me, and it makes me cranky. But I guess that now she has Mummy siding with her on this issue, and tummy time is going to be happening often... OY. She also works on helping me relax my neck muscles so that turning my head to the left is not as hard for me. The whole thing is hard work, and it makes me tired...after 30 minutes today, I needed a nap....BAD!

I saw my Dr. John yesterday too. He is so nice to me! I weigh 13 lbs, 2 oz now!! He is so happy with the way I am growing, and he says that I look great. I gave a little muscle flex of the arm when he was checking me out...and I think he noticed cuz he said something about the rolls on my arm....UM, NO... those are MUSCLES! I am going to have some follow up visits with the gastro-something person there to check on my feeding progress, and talk about what Mummy, Daddy & I can do to get me more interested in my bottles. Mummy & Daddy try everything, they really do. I think we are going to get some new bottles soon, Mummy found some that have the same nipple as the pacifier that I got from the NICU and that is my MOST FAVORITE.

I went to the Elliott Wellness Center and had an evaluation there to see how I'm doing on some of my skills... I guess I did OK. But the whole thing took about 2 hours, and I was so exhausted that I just wanted to go to sleep food or no! Jill was there doing testing on me, and I liked her a lot. I smiled a lot at her, and I got to play with toys and stuff. I tried to show how good I was at everything - I did better on some suff than others. I have a lot of work ahead of me with my gross and fine motor skills - but my social skills are FANTASTIC! I see her again in about 4 months... I hope we get to play again.

Well... I need to go and eat now. Not that I have any interest in doing that - but Mummy insists. ;-)