I don't know how (since I've not really been anywhere in public), but I have caught a cold. I felt exhausted all weekend, but put it down to cumulative sleep deprivation... then on Monday I started feeling ill and it developed into a full blown cold yesterday.

As soon as I realised I was getting sick, I started praying without ceasing that Daniel would be protected... but during last night he started coughing...

Protecting him from infection is THE one thing we were told we needed to do... so we are feeling pretty desperate... he doesn't have a fever and the coughing is intermittent, but we would really value prayer right now...

Also, we had booked to go away for a long weekend to Yosemite this weekend... we're going to seek the pediatrician's advice this morning - but we're preparing ourselves since we are guessing it is likely they will not think it's a good idea to take Daniel too far away if he's coming down with something...

It's a challenge to trust. I'm not sure we're managing it.

Ooooh - and an exciting update (for me!)... Daniel has now done 4 nights in a row where he has only woken up ONCE during the night! Wahhhoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Here are some more cute photos of our uber-hunk-in-the-making!

It's taken a while for me to get round to posting it, but this what Saturday morning lie-ins now look like...

Things are going well... at the pediatricians on Tuesday, we discovered that Daniel is now tracking on the low end of normal for his weight compared to FULL TERM babies born on Feb 8th! He's growing fantastically well and is already catching up with his full-term peers!

He coped for 1/2 an hour yesterday, at the respiratory clinic, without oxygen. He kept his saturation level between 93 and 98%, which means that his lungs are doing great - if it wasn't for his eyes needing almost 100% oxygen, we could start to wean straight away... as it is, it's likely he'll be on oxygen for another month or so... humph.

We've had the joy of some great friends of ours visiting over this past weekend. The Carters are old friends from University days who now live in New Zealand. We're God-parents for Tim (their oldest son) and they arranged to stop off in SFO for a few days on their way home to England for a Europe trip... it was LOVELY seeing them all!

Apologies for the paucity of blog posts over the past week or so, we have been having fun with Ed's sister, Emily staying with us!

Daniel is LOVING getting to know his Aunty Frim. He's been to the beach and a restaurant for the first time, which he seemed to enjoy, and he has been thriving on all the extra cuddles! It's all been so exciting for him - he's been awake a lot more during the day and (to his Mummy's utter delight), he has been SLEEPING better during the night! Wahoooooooooo!

In honour of England's first World cup match against the USA, Daniel has been proudly sporting his 'Daddy's little dribbler' top! So sweet!

Daniel and I are loving having Ed back with us (he had to be away in the UK for a very brief visit with work last week, but got back yesterday)... although, for Daniel, the excitement of having Daddy back was just too much and he consequently decided he'd rather scream than sleep last night - oh the joys of parenthood!

Anyway, the camera is now back in the country and so I thought I'd upload some cute photos we took while waiting for the pediatrician last Monday...

Isn't he GORGEOUS?!!!

We are LOVING being parents! And Daniel is doing really well... he weighed 8lb 8oz at the pediatricien appointment on Monday - so he gained 10oz in his first week! Pretty good going!

His eyes looked as though they had improved at the appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully that improvement will continue in the weeks ahead... it is looking more and more likely that he will not need the laser surgery to correct them! Wahoo!

And he is SLEEPING really well!

Ed is back in the UK for a 4 day trip with work, so we are both missing him lots - Daniel has consistently slept 10.30 - 3.30am and then 3.30 - 6.30am since he got home from hospital... but on the first night Ed was away, Daniel did not go to sleep until 1am! (grrrr!) Proof positive that he was missing his Daddy! I am glad to say that last night he seemed to have gotten used to his Daddy being away and was back to his old sleeping pattern!

Ed has taken the camera with all the recent photos on it with him back to England, so i'm afraid you'll have to wait for more photos of our little man... rest assured though, he is STILL completely GORGEOUS!!!

Ok, so we're into our 4th day of being full-time parents... and so far, we are LOVING it!!!

We have had projectile sick (it literally travelled 1.5 metres, soaking everything in it's path - pretty impressive!), fountain-esk pee and explosive poo in the bath (my wonderful husband did the clean up after that one - he's fantastic), and the sound of wind from either end is constantly with us... but it's WONDERFUL!!!

The Gilchrist's, having done getting pregnant, pregnancy and the first 3 months in about the most difficult way we could, seem at last to have hit a stage that seems easier than expected. He really is the most perfect baby. He sleeps for 4 - 5 hours between feedings - even through the night, and he really only cries when there is genuinely something wrong... He is a complete joy and he seems to be loving being home!

Hope you enjoy a few photos from his first few days living with his doting parents!