Trout gets out!

T.S. Alford and R.E. Alford wave buh bye to the NICU. Don't call us, we won't call you.

Trout snugged up for the car ride home!

Grandma Penny comes up to the Chalet for a few days to help out

Which is good as Rose is pooped, and after being home one night I'm pooped too! Hard to take my eyes off the little one, even at 3 in the morning. So happy to have all the family together in one place for a few days!

Trout called safe at homebase!

Rose is psyched to finally have the little guy out of the NICU and with her at Das Chalet along with Penny, Jenny, Kdub and others helping watch over Trout. Trout seems to be liking it as well and is packing on the weight, now over 6lbs 14oz! Can't wait to get home tonight and have all my family in one place!

Trout getting out!

Barring unexpected delay Rose will be 'rooming in' tonight down at the hospital with Trout. She'll check into a room and get to care for Trout overnight while he is still monitored by the nurses and if all goes we'll take him home on Wednesday! Penny will stay with Rose at Das Chalet until I can get home Friday and then hopefully Shirley will arrive next week for a stay while I head to Interbike. I wasn't aware it was actually possible to juggle this many momentous tasks (and it may not be) but we're giving it the ol' college try! After this I forsee a long winter hibernation for the Alford family, snuggling into our new Steamboat pad and watching Trout grow until we're all ready to make the scene again in the spring. Oh I can't wait to never have to go to the NICU again!

1st snow!

Drove thru a bit of the white stuff on the way to Steamboat Springs this morning + a lot of rain and the mountains have defintely made the shift to fall colors with lots of yellow popping up all over the place. Another great weekend with little Trout who is now 6 lbs 4oz, breastfeeding like a champ and threatening to come home any day now! If he continues to do well we may get to take him home on Thursday which would be dreamy. Rose and I were/are a bit freaked out at the prospect but we feel like we are fully stocked up with all the nescessities now after an expensive outing to Babies 'R Us and a huge haul of gifts from the baby shower this weekend. 20+ of Trout's aunts took Rose out to brunch and outfitted the little tyke head to toe, and gave us a sweet stroller/jogger/trailer to wheel him around in. We naively thought we were prepared for parenthood before but I'm not sure what we would have done without all our supporters and friends stepping up big time with food, clothes, help and love. Humbling and awe inspiring.
We rented a little house in Steamboat over the weekend as well so whenever Rose and Trout are ready to come out I'll be ready for them. As soon as I set up mail service I'll post our new address and this week I'm going to work on getting the place spruced up and painted. Fun! Now if someone will only buy Das Chalet we'd be almost able to pay for all this ;) When we decide to shake up the status quo we REALLY shake it up!

Great weekend with T.S. Alford

We spent a lot of good times with Trout over the holiday weekend and got to bathe the little weasel, start some breastfeeding (which he is taking to like a champ) and bottle feed him as well. He is over 5 1/2 lbs now and is starting to chub out though he still needs to mature and get the sucking, breathing, swallowing coordination down pat. They have taken him off caffeine and he is not having too many bradycardia/apnea attacks so that is good as well. Because Rose and I really felt like we didn't have enough going on right now I have accepted a new job in Steamboat Springs, CO and will move up there and start work on Monday, Rose and Trout to follow in the next couple months...and the hits just keep on coming! So if you have any leftover prayer energy to send our way after putting one out there for Trout, you can pray we sell our house easily and quickly... mucho love M

3 weeks old!

Having a great family Labor Day weekend with Trout and loving every minute of it! Yesterday we got to give the little guy a bath which we accomplished with much less drama than last week and today we got to breast feed for the first time and then bottle feed as well. We are so used to them slowly feeding him thru his gavage tube (in his nose down into his stomache), giving him 40ccs of milk over an hour that we were really psyched to see him wolf down 50ccs from the bottle in about 15 minutes, wide awake and remembering to breathe and swallow...great progress. Poppa Matt got to administer the bottle and burp the little guy and we also brought him in some of his own duds for his 3 week birthday. Aunt Tia sent some sweet hats all the way from England and Rose and I picked up a suave kimono-esque shirt to match. You'd need at least two of these size shirts to make a decent hankie but he looked good! He also loves to be swaddled up tight so we'll bring him a nice froggy blanket that the La Sportiva crew gave him into the hospital tomorrow, and we'll find out his growth over the last week...