Family outing.

Wednesday Oct. 29th was a really great day. Joey and I had doctors appointments, check ups at the four week mark after Joey's birth. I was looking forward to all three of us going out for a while. We have not made too many trips out around town yet, and I was looking forward to showing Joey off at my doctors office as well as meeting his pediatrician.

My appointment went well and it was every bit as much fun as I imagined showing off our baby boy to my doctor and his nurses. To top it off I got a picture of the four of us together which I really wanted. I don't think I will ever forget my doctor and his nurses they will be in my heart forever for the part they played in the arrival of Joey. They all took really good care of us.

After my appointment we were able to grab a quick bite to eat (Five Guys Burgers, yum) and run one small errand (Target, gotta love the baby stuff) before we went to Joey's appointment.

I've been anxious for this appointment. Anxious in a good way, expecting to hear how well Joey is growing but also a tiny bit anxious in a nervous sort of way hoping we get along well with Joey's doctor, which we did!

Joey's doctor confirmed Joey is growing well and shows all the signs of being a healthy baby boy. The doctor answered our questions and helped put us, as parents, at ease reassuring us that we are doing a good job. He also told us a few things we have to look forward too. He explained that around the time a baby hits 12 pounds or so that they seem to turn a corner and begin to get into more of a consistent routine and should begin to sleep longer at night. Joey is now 21 inches long, four weeks ago he was 19.25 inches. Joey now weighs 8 pounds three ounces, four weeks ago he weighed six pounds one ounce. His growth amazes me, and makes me very happy, who doesn't love chubby baby cheeks? I'm not sure how soon Joey will weigh 12 pounds but I don't think it will be too long. Joey no longer wears the newborn size diapers, they might still fit around his waist but they look too tight on his legs, so he really is growing.


Joey was very good for his appointment, he was very good for his big day out in fact and I think we might have to begin venturing out a bit more.

Bath Time

It is amazing how much intense emotion can be read in the face of a newborn. The books we have read tell us that the happy looks are just a reaction to passing gas, but the frustration that he displays at not being able to get any milk out of a pacifier is easy to read. You can see from my latest photo upload that Joey is happy (most of the time) and healthy and gaining weight. We are still waiting to see how his personality will develop. So far his routine is pretty much just Poop, Eat, Poop, Sleep, Poop some more, Sleep some more, etc. My favorite moments are when he appears to be wide eyed and actually seeing some of the things around him. Christie gave us a black and white book that he seems to like focusing on. That is something to do with enjoying certain patterns at this age. I am gonna say bye for now... Tomorrow is 4 weeks and doctor's checkups for Joey and Jenifer so I am sure I'll have more to blog about then.
Later!

Hello Sports Fans!!!

I have never been a follower of sports. I think that is a result of my Dad not being very interested in sports. I usually only have the patience to watch a game if I am at the venue with a group of friends. I come from a place where college football is king. Early on I would have said I was a UGA fan due heavily to the influences of Howard and Ed R. It wasn't long until I realized that my best friends in the whole world (Keith and Gary) were Georgia Tech fans. Since I had no real allegiance to UGA, I changed sides. If you asked me today I'd still say Georgia Tech is my favorite team... but the only time I don't pull for UGA is when the two play each other. I decided long ago that I am a home team fan... and Atlanta will always be my home. So for me it's GA Tech, The Braves, The Falcons, The Hawks, The Thrashers, and any other team associated with home. The reality of it, though, is that I still don't lose sleep over sports. I have a great love for hunting, fishing, camping, Jeeps, cooking, and anything else I can remember that created a closer bond with my parents. I have a lot of good memories of those things.
Jenifer is a baseball fan. She is also a home team fan... but she considers Oakland her home since she lived there until she was 11. She loves to see the Oakland Athletics win. So this raises the question in my mind... Who will Joey like? Tampa has The Buccaneers and The Rays. I think it is very cool that the Rays are in the World Series this year. Eventually Joey will want to play some sort of sports... probably baseball if Jenifer has her way. I think when that happens I will finally have a team to get excited about! In the end I am sure his friends will have more influence over these things than we will... But right now he is a blank canvas.
Funny how a blank canvas can be the most beautiful thing we have ever seen!

One on one time with my little man.

Joey,
Your Daddy went back to work on Thursday Oct. 16th, after having two weeks off for your arrival. His return was to night shift. I knew I'd have my hands full but I thought you and I would do well and have good bonding time. So far there have been some good times; quiet times together where I get to quietly tell you how very loved and wanted you are, and a few tears from nights when your appetite seemed insatiable and we spent three or four hours awake in the middle of the night trying to fill the void. I wouldn't trade a single moment of our time together, but I have wished for an extra set of hands and an hour or six of sleep. I'm trying to learn from you, Joey, and take every moment in never to be forgotten. I'm learning to trust my instincts but I'm also learning that just when I think I know what to expect, you change things up. That's okay baby you go right on ahead and change, I'd never hold you back. I do long for the days ahead when you sleep a little longer at night, and every day I hope I'm an even better mommy to you than the day before. Every day (and night) I look forward to spending time with you, gazing into those deep blue eyes, caressing your soft baby skin and fine baby hair. I hope as you grow, learn and become increasingly aware of us, your parents, that you too will always look forward to spending time together.

What have we created?

Joey was a good eater from the beginning. He did have problems with eating so much that he spit up right at first, but he never had a time when he refused to eat. That first few days we were thrilled to see the bubbles in the bottle that meant that he was actually eating and It was great to have him nearly finish a 40ml bottle of Enfamil. Today (only 2 weeks later) I fed him a bottle with 100ml in it and that didn't quite satisfy him. If his appetite continues to follow this trend of doubling every 2 weeks... then by the time he is 3 months old he will be using 2 Liter Coke bottles. I hope that isn't the way it works in reality. It is exciting to see the changes that are already happening. He's getting a little pot belly and his cheeks (both sets) are filling out too.

Jenifer and I have been trying to see our own features in him. Trying to answer the question who does he look like. While I can see similarities... I don't see an overwhelming likeness of either of us. He is just Joey... with some of each of us built in. I will say this without a doubt though. When he is mad... when he tunes up and demands to be fed... and he gets angry... He reminds me of my dad. His forehead wrinkles up and his whole head goes instantly flush with red. It hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I noticed it... I had seen that look before!!!

I guess he has a little redhead in him after all.

Rising Star

Tonight Joey made his first web cam appearance. As you can see, he has quite the fan club online. He is certainly a wiggly little monster. I had a tough time keeping him in view. His stomach was doing his thinking at that particular moment. Not much else to report right now. Jenifer and I are just relaxing and savoring the last bit of my vacation time before I go back to work. I hope you are all doing as well as we are right now.
Later

What's in a Name?

One of the first things I asked my mom after telling her about Jenifer being pregnant was what she wanted to be called. I told her I was gonna teach the new arrival to call them Granny and Pappy just to tease her. This question is something that she took to heart and put a lot of thought into. I can understand why... after all, despite my teasing, my mom doesn't look like a granny or a grandma. Ray and Faye (Jenifer's parents) already have lots of grandchildren. We need to find out from Shannon (their oldest) what their grandchildren call them. I am not sure who came up with the idea... but the names that Mom has settled on are Nanalaine and Papa. We'll just have to see how long it will take Joey to be able to say that.
Nanalaine and Papa left yesterday to fly back to Atlanta. Mom has been here since the day Joey was born. I know it was hard for them to leave. They came at a moment's notice and stayed to help us take care of all the things that we needed help with since Joey came early. We have very much enjoyed their help and company. I hope that they will come visit Joey a lot. Thank you Mom and Dad, We love you.
With just the three of us here we will focus on getting our routine figured out and enjoying our together time before I go back to work on Thursday night. Joey is a complete angel so far. Our biggest challenges have been dealing with the hiccups after feeding, and his talent for holding his bladder until right after the diaper is removed. That last one is more comedy than challenge. We have some of those Pee Pee Tee Pee things... but he wiggles so much it is pretty difficult to keep it in place until he is done.
Right now he is sleeping on his tired mommy's chest next to me on the love seat.
Life is good!

P.S. I changed the spelling to Nanalaine at Mom's request.

Thursday was a big day.

Yesterday was Joey's first Pediatric appointment. The doctor said he is doing very well and that we haven't broken him yet. While she was examining him his cord fell off. I asked her if he is gonna have an inny or and outty bellybutton but she said it's still to early to know. She said if she was guessing by the looks of it she would guess inny. The Doctor also told us that they recommend that we not let lots of people around him for the first 6 weeks. Especially since it's flu season. Jenifer and I will be going to get our flu shots on Saturday. The other advice was to make everyone wash with soap and water and use lots of hand sanitizer before touching him. They even gave us a neat little stop sign to hang on his carrier that says to wash up before touching him. It may be overprotective on my part... but I am taking bids on having a bubble built around his room until after flu season.
My dad came back yesterday. He happened to be delivering a truck for a store in Bradenton FL. Mom went to meet him at the drop off to give him a ride back here. The two of them will be here until some time tomorrow. It has been very nice having them around so much. I love seeing how excited they get over Joey. It is clear that he will never have a shortage of attention.
Jenifer's glider came in yesterday as well. I was very pleased that it arrived so quickly. Dad and I went to pick it up at the Babies R Us in Brandon last night. I was also very happy that it was so easy to put together. All I had to do was hand Dad the screwdriver. I think today I will take some more pictures of the Jungle. Joey's room has changed quite a bit since he arrived. I am sure that I will have some more pictures of Joey to upload later today too. Until then...
Y'all take care and keep in touch.

Happy Birthday Mommy!!!

Today is Jenifer's Birthday. The best Birthday present by far is that Joey is finally home. He was released to our care from the NICU Yesterday around 2pm. Both Mom and son are doing very well. I want to express my gratitude to the Doctors ,Nurses and PCA's who took such good care of Jenifer and Joey. Nurses are amazing people. If you know a Nurse... please give them a hug from me.

Jenifer and I are quickly learning all of the demands of caring for someone who completely relies on us. Changing diapers, feeding, keeping up with the laundry and dishes... these things are all about learning a routine. Sleep comes last and in very short spurts, but we are so very happy that it doesn't matter.

I've included my favorite picture from today.

Like Father Like Son.You might notice that I have changed a few things. I have deleted the links in the individual posts to the Photobucket account. I have placed a link to the pictures in the column to the right instead. I have also re-arranged the photos some. It seems that in my hast to post photos for all my friends and family to see, that I just deleted the blurry ones and uploaded everything else. I found when I went to upload this morning's pictures that some of the photos had been removed by Photobucket for nudity... I think someone reported them. I can't imagine that Photobucket staff can review each of the millions of pictures that are uploaded there. It never even occurred to me to think of the pictures of my brand new son as being offensive or inappropriate. I guess I won't make that mistake again. Rules are Rules.

If you go to the picture link you will also see that I have created an album where I can post a daily picture of Joey. I have been informed by his Aunt Christie that I am not to miss a day of taking pictures or I will be in big trouble.
I also want to thank my brother in law Maurice. With the way that all of this happened, we didn't have much time to take care of some things that needed to be done. Maurice assisted us in getting pictures of Joey into the hands of Jenifer's parents. It was a very nice thing to do for us.

I am sure that I have much more to to write about, but Jenifer has just handed Joey to me and I have totally lost interest in blogging for the moment.
Later!

Happy Mommy!

How's this for a picture of a happy mom? Jenifer was released from the hospital yesterday as expected. She is doing very well. I only wish she would act like someone who just had surgery and take it easy. She is so focused on getting back to spend time with Joey that she forgets she needs to rest until her body reminds her. Joey is doing well too.He has some jaundice and the nurses said that they need to see his bilirubin levels stay low when he comes out of the photo-therapy light. They are also monitoring him for reflux which causes him to spit up some of his formula after eating. He has been switched to a formula with rice cereal mixed in and this seems to help greatly. Once these things have been resolved and he shows a weight gain he will be released to come home with us. I don't know when this will happen yet but the hospital staff all seem to think that some time this week is a safe bet. It will most likely not be on Monday as we had hoped.
Christie arrived yesterday to see her handsome young nephew. I have uploaded the few pictures that I took yesterday to the photobucket... but between my parents and my sister there are tons more that I don't have yet to upload. My Dad has even used this new arrival as an excellent excuse to finally get that SLR camera he has been wanting. Christie and Mom and Dad are having fun visiting Joey when they can and helping to organize and find places for all the baby stuff we have so that Joey's Jungle will be ready for him when he does come home. Jenifer and I are very grateful for their help.
Thanks again to everyone for the well wishes and congratulations. I will keep you posted on our progress.

More Pictures!

Hello everyone. The hospital doesn't have WiFi access or very good cell phone reception for that matter... so I am doing these updates each day when I come home to shower and get ready for another night at the hospital. The Doctor tells us that Jen will be released tomorrow after lunch. She is doing very well. Joey is still in the NICU for monitoring. He is doing very well and we expect them to release him to come home at the very latest on Monday. Thank you all for the flowers and the well wishes. We are truely blessed to have such great friends and family. I will keep you posted and keep posting pics so stay tuned!

Baby Joey Announcement!!!

Joseph Warren Sims (Joey) was born by C-Section to Jamie and Jenifer Sims at 1:21pm on October 1st. Despite being 34 days early Joey weighed in at 6lbs 1oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Both Mother and Baby are doing well. Due to the early delivery and C-Section they will be in the hospital for a few more days yet. I am sure we will have much more to blog about this experience soon... but I wanted to go ahead and get these pics out there for everyone to see. I realize I haven't posted pics of Jenifer holding Joey yet... but I will soon. So far those are on her phone and I haven't downloaded them yet.