Nini has reached 3 pounds

3 ounces. This is a step closer toward

one criteria for her to leave the NICU,

which is to weigh at least 4 pounds.

She may be home before the new year!

Max is 5!

We had a little party for Max today, but will be having a bigger party next Saturday at Monkey Joe's for both Max and Kaz. It should be a blast!

November 24, 2009

Terri and I stopped by the NICU this morning and spent a little time with Nini. This was my first time to hold her and Terri's third. The doctors were going through rounds when we got there, and they indicated Nini was doing fabulously. The boys can't wait to see her.

Nini is up to 2 pounds 12 ounces! In this picture she has a grip on my pinky finger.

Kaz's first grade photo! He still has front teeth in this picture.

Today was a fabulous day to be outside. Chris raked leaves in the backyard into a perfect jumping pile. There was gravity defying joy.

Nini--Day 10

Things continue to progress well. They took the picc line out--which pleases us quite a bit--and they're giving her something like 24 ml of milk every three hours. Terri got to see her this morning while I played with the boys at a playground near Children's Hospital. Here's a picture from Terri's visit.

One Week

Here's a photo of Nini that we took this morning when we visited. She's still doing extremely well. They put her back on the bili lights--not a big deal as the bilirubin levels sometimes spike after they remove them from the lights for a day. She's now getting 12 ml of milk every three hours, and they hope to start her on the bottle when she's at 33 weeks (another three weeks). At that time we hope to be able to actually hold her. Max saw this picture and said in the sweetest voice, "She's so pretty."

Antonina Simone Militello

Antonina (Nini) arrived a little after 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 November. Conventional wisdom indicates she was ready to get into the world and start playing with her brothers. At the official weigh in she tipped the scales at 2 lb 8 oz (super ultra lightweight division), and she was 13 1/2 in long. She's doing great! The breathing tube was taken out on Wednesday night, and the attending nurses tell us she's quite active--pulling off her monitoring lines and kicking off her blanket. These two pictures were taken a few minutes after her delivery. Terri comes home on Sunday, 8 November, and we're quite excited about that. More later.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Halloween

Commander Fox (Kaz), Commander Cody (Max), Buzz Lightyear (Zach), and I went trick-or-treating last night, and it was a blast. It was a beautiful evening, and the boys (and me) cleaned up. They got a lot of candy, and I got a beer at one of the houses. It would have been a perfect Halloween if Terri would have been with us. These pictures are for you Terri.