Life goes on!!

Hey everyone! It's been awhile now but I see that a lot of you are still checking in (what amazing friends and family we have!) so I thought I'd do a quick post.

Douglas continues to grow and do great... he's at 8 lbs, 3 oz as of yesterday, and is doing what babies do... sleeping, eating, and growing. And lighting up everyone in the room in between. :)

Life at the Wilson household has resumed some sense of normalcy (as close as we ever get) ... it's been a big 10 days or so around here for the family as a whole.

As you can see above, Deaven went to her junior prom last week, in a REAL PROM DRESS and everything (she even pulled up her dreads to look all sophisticated). Her mom and Douglas were not her prom dates, but this is Doug's site, so that boy will just have to deal! We are still in amazement that our first little baby is now taller than her mom (only in serious pumps!) and it's really something trying to remember that she was smaller than lil Duggie is now.

This week Halen turned 11 and Deaven turned 17. Douglas turned zero, as he was originally due this week as well. We had nice family birthday dinners with Mamaw Judy and Ray included Wednesday and Thursday, and both of them are having their birthday celebrations with their friends tomorrow. And so tonight, as you can see in the video below, we are stealing some wonderful time at home, doing alot of nothing. Doug and especially Mommy seem to approve.

Take care everyone and we hope to hear from you all soon.

paw

Happy Mother's Day

Apparently there are a bunch of folks still lookin for Duggie updates... and why not? I guess happy news is the best news of all.

His first week at home has been wonderful in so many ways. Some highlights include another good checkup with the ophthalmologist on Wed, hitting 7 lbs at his first regular pediatrician checkup and going to his first softball game (Halen's) on Thursday, having dinner at his first restaurant with Uncle Rob on Friday, and going to his first party (another great crawfish boil with the Miller's) on Sat.

Today we had a day out and about with the family for Mother's Day, and he got to meet the rest of his wonderful Kennard family from Rockwall. And then tonight his amazing big sisters kept him for a few hours so I could take mommy out for a little dinner-and-a-movie time alone.

Our thoughts and love are with my mom, still dealing with the loss of her mother in Shreveport, and her first Mother's Day without her today. I spoke to her the other day and she has an awful lot of stressful stuff going on, but sounded in her typically good spirits despite the circumstances. We know that we will see her soon, either here in Austin for a nice long stay or we'll bring the baby for a tour of friends and family in Shreveport.

We probably won't be blogging as much as we have been now, since things are back to normal somewhat, but I know that so many of you have sent so much love our way and so much strength to our young son, please don't hesitate to call or email if you ever want a Duggie update or for any other reason. This has been such a tough time for our family, but a really inspirational one and reassuring as well, to be reminded of what an amazing community of loved ones we have around us for whatever comes.

We look forward to being the ones lending an ear or a hand next time any of you need it.

Here's a nice little video that shows off Douglas livin it up in his bassinet at nap time, listening to some New Orleans playground music.

BABYDAY

Awhile back, I was lucky enough to be staying at the Wilson home when a call came one quiet evening during a staring contest with Tits the cat....it turned out that instead of heading for Fiji, Maw was heading for some emergency baby time. Deaven and I raced over to the hospital just in time to see fairly flustered but firm-fisted Mr. Douglas (whom I had already randomly nick-named Avalanche) enter the world.

I'd just arrived for another visit this week when word came that after a legendary hospital tour, Avalanche would be making his debut as a full-time resident of Lost Oasis Hollow...

Instead of trying to describe the moment, I'd rather invite you to check it out here:

http://cityfish.org/Babyday.mov

Seven Years to the Day

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, it was seven years ago today that I posted quite possibly the saddest message of my life to the Internet, trying to get the word out to friends and family, many of the same people in fact that have been keeping up with this blog since Feb 15, that Doug Myres had left us just before midnight the night before.

It somehow seems no strange coincidence that today I get to post a very happy message, to tell you that our son gets to come home tomorrow. We got the word today from Dr. Dekowski that his breathing studies looked really good and that Douglas is all clear to come home, and will not be needing a monitor sent home with him, which is a great relief. Maw and I are headed back up there in a few hours, hopefully for the very last time we'll ever need to visit St. David's Hospital, and especially the NICU. We will spend the night there with Doug in a special room they have set up like a hotel room, with no monitors, nurses coming in, etc. A little dry run to make us all feel better about bringing him home tomorrow morning and doing the same thing with him at home tomorrow night.

I suppose in the back of my mind, at least for the last couple of weeks, I was wondering if little Doug might get sent home today, because as soon as we got word this morning, my thoughts turned to the calendar and to our long lost friend whom we proudly named our son after. While we were visiting the hospital earlier today, I was reading some of the letters from Doug's memorial site, which still bring the tears as quickly today as they did seven years ago. We still miss Doug in our family and extended family deeply every time we think of him, and he still serves as the greatest inspiration for how we will attempt to raise this special boy who has fought so hard to get here.

Here are a couple of pix ... one of Douglas the day after he was born and one we took today just before waking him up to breastfeed. Pretty crazy stuff. Thanks to all of you who have been so amazingly supportive to our family through all of this, and we will keep you posted on how things go when he comes home. I hope all of you who haven't gotten to meet Douglas can come see him soon.

Paw

Almost Home

We are so close to finally bringing Doug home. He's up to 6 pounds and 5 ounces and looks great. When I visit it is hard to resist bundling him up and taking him home with me. Every day he is getting better and better with his 8 bottle feedings. He also had the head MRI that the docs said he would get before discharge and everything looked great. Dr. Dekowski told me yesterday that he would be coming home next week! Of course these last few days seem to be crawling by. We'll keep you posted!