Baby Steps!

Max took his first "official" steps this week! Although he's been cruising and taking a step or two between pieces of furniture for months, he finally took his first, unassisted steps. He was walking back and forth between Mom and Dad in that classic "drunken sailor" toddler style. He had a great, big smile on his face the whole time and was giggling up a storm. He got so excited that he didn't want to stop long enough to regain his balance before starting back ... his little feet were moving a mile a minute and he just wanted to go, go, GO! I'm sure in a couple more weeks he'll be running around the house.

Unfortunately, Max also had a much less pleasant "first" this week -- he finally caught his first cold. He had a cough, a runny/stuffy nose, a slight fever, and obviously felt rotten. Since his cold proceeded to get worse for several days in a row, we took him in to see the doctor. The bad news was that he finally caught the virus I've been dreading all winter -- the good news is that he was actually tolerating it well. This virus is the dread of the preemie community, so it's good to know that Max is sturdy enough and his lungs are strong enough to handle it. The doctor said he had bronchiolitis and the beginning of an ear infection (both caused by the virus) and sent him home with a nebulizer and a prescription for antibiotics to use if his ear infection got worse. The doctor did say that he was probably over the worst of it, which proved to be the case -- Max started feeling better later that day. One perk of the visit to the doctor is that Max had an official weigh in -- he's up to 21 pounds, 12 ounces!

The cold put a damper on his Easter, so although he managed to find the three eggs the Easter bunny hid (in plain sight) for him, he wasn't too enthusiastic about the hunt or his Easter basket (or maybe he was just mad because the Easter bunny didn't leave him any candy). Thankfully, he was feeling a bit better by the afternoon and enjoyed the money egg hunt and Grandma and Grandpa's house (money eggs make FUN noises when you shake them). Max still has a slight cough and stuffy nose, but he's back to his normal, cheery self. Unfortunately, Max decided to share his nasty cold with Mom, who has been good and sick herself (and it looks like Dad is next in line).

Now that he's feeling better, Max is back to being Mr. Busy. He has been very much into playing with his toys lately and has recently becoming fascinated with putting objects inside other objects. He'll spend 5-10 minutes putting his stacking boxes inside each other and dumping them out (which, in baby minutes, is a LONG time). Of course, he somehow managed to firmly wedge his round, plastic basketball into one of his round stacking cups and we're not sure how we're going to get it out!

On the pregnancy front, things are going well -- I'm halfway there! I've been feeling more and more kicks in the last couple of weeks, which is always fun. I started the progesterone shots and, although they're mildly painful and make my leg sore for a couple of days, they're not too bad. We did our first "do it yourself" shot on Monday -- it was actually easier and less painful than the one the nurse administered! My regular checkups have been fine -- after the next checkup I start going in every two weeks. In addition to the weekly shots, I'll be getting a type of early-labor test every two weeks. Although a positive results doesn't tell us a lot (there are many reason for false positives), a negative results should let us know that it is highly unlikely that I'll go into labor in the next two weeks. I'll have another ultrasound at 24 weeks, to make sure everything is going well (and to sneak another peek at that baby). I'm going to ask them to double check that there really is a little girl in there ... otherwise I have some baby clothes to return. ;)

I hope everyone his enjoying the nice weather -- it looks like spring is here at last! As always, new photos have been posted on Flickr.