Prunes?? Anyone??

I told you, he likes prunes :) Tommy almost 6 months old!

Tommy enjoying eating food now!

Tommy tried his first baby cereal on Monday, May 28th. I didn't think I was hitting the road to FL the next day. He seemed to like it fine. For some reason I was waiting for him to be 5 months old before trying it...
Trying his first cereal at 5 months old!

After arriving back home from our second FL trip we continued with baby cereal and added some fruits and veggies. I thought I'd be nervous introducing new foods since he was a preemie...not so much. He's so lucky to be the 4th kid! I do try to only introduce one new food per day. The other three (NO JOKE) had to wait three days??? WHY?? Allergies do not run in our family?? Silly mom! He's definitely a fruit boy. Tolerates veggies, and literally CRIED with peas. He definitely tolerates veggies better with a little fruit mixed in. Thankfully he likes prunes, he's been a bit constipated. I'm guessing with his iron supplement and the added solids it has stopped him up some. He goes in for his 6-month well baby check up on the 26th (a day late)....I can't believe my little guy is almost 6 months old!

When we arrived home and he finished his antibiotics, I took him in for a follow up with his doctor here. All was well and he weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces. This was a bout 10 days ago and he's been gaining about an ounce a day, so my guess is he's right at 12 pounds even today! In Florida, at the doctor he weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces...I couldn't get over that weight. That was exactly an 8-pound weight gain since birth!

Kimberlyn and Robby with my Grandma, their Great Grandma!

Tommy and Kimberlyn with my Grandpa, their Great Grandpa!

COUSINS!! Robby, Kimberlyn, Kaitlyn and Baby (not so baby anymore) Robby

WHAT LOVE! Cool cousins, Brice and Robby!

Finally, something about poor ole Tommy!!

Well, he is doing fabulous! He had his first cold on the drive down to Florida (late May)...he had a little runny nose and some congestion. He proved he truly is a Nance kid as they all (especially the boys) have this very sensitive gag reflex. He puked about twice a day (IN THE VAN TOO) and on the third (last) driving day the kid puked 3 times at which point I wanted to pull off the road, crawl into a ditch and cry! Seriously, if he puked one more time en route, I would have had to find a place to do laundry! This paired with Mom still being alive made for some serious stress. The doctor estimated Mom would have passed before I arrived in FL. Since she was alive, like any normal daughter, I really wanted to hold her hand one last time....I was able to.

Tommy seemed happy, just whenever a little cough came up, he puked...out his nose, projectile puking! On Friday my sister-in-law arranged for us to be able to "walk" Tommy in at the doctor's office she worked at, IF we needed to. I'm totally anti-medicine UNLESS needed. I decided to take Tommy's temp as he was feeling warmer than usual, he's a Nance kid- always HOT! He had a 99.3 temp. I called out pediatric clinic at home and spoke with his nurse...yep, since he is a preemie and at risk yadi-ya-ya, she said I really needed him to get a check up or go to the ER.

I gave him Tylenol and went to the doctor. Super nice lady, BUT now his temp had gone to 100.4. This is the cut-off for this office to admit the 2-month old or less baby to the hospital for more testing. See Tommy had just turned 5 months, but adjusted was just 2 months old. THANKFULLY, she let us try an antibiotic (due to the situation with Mom) and made me promise to take him directly to an ER if anything changed for the worse. He did great and the fever left...I was running on very borrowed energy as I was doing this trip w/o Larry. I just prayed that he'd keep his formula down while I fed him.

Larry flew down to FL for Mom's memorial service and then drove home with us. I was so happy to have his help. I think it was pure adrenaline that got us down there and I didn't know how I was going to get back home alone.