Hip hip horray for Family Day

Yesterday I was starting to feel like I have a real "baby." And today was a sweet day for our family.
Last night, Beckett had a pretty good night. He didn't gain any weight. So another day at 5 lbs. 0.4 oz. Dr. Simpson said she wouldn't really get too concerned about lack of weight gain, and says she looks at it week by week. As long as he is growing along a steady growth curve, that's what we want. And Beckett is.
The night nurse bottle fed him at 5 am, and he took 22 mls.
I usually get up to pump only once in the night, but this morning I woke up at 6 am, and was awake. Awake, and so happy. So I decided to spend some sweet time with Jesus catching up on my devotionals, and thanking Jesus for blessing me with such a sweet family...and a lot of sweet days. I feel like we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...we are still praying Beckett can come HO HO HOme for the Holidays!
Ellie and I spent the morning together since Ben went to church work day. She was talking about how she wanted to see Beckett, and I decided why not. While we are healthy, and RSV season hasn't hit yet to close down the unit to children visiting...sure! Ellie was so excited all morning getting ready! On the way to the hospital she asked me if she would wash her hands with soap and water for 3 minutes at the little sink. She also said we were going to see Beckett's room with the airplanes. She sure remembers! And she hasn't seen Beckett in awhile! We got there for the sibling visiting hours, and went to Beckett's room to find the nurse feeding Beckett a bottle! Ellie watched ever so intently, every move. When the nurse put him back to bed in the isolette, I set her down (since I was holding her the whole time at a distance), and she started crying. She wanted to see Beckett again. She also kept asking to hold him. :( we stayed for about 45 min.
He has had no residuals all day. Hasn't had a poopy diaper, but is definitely doing his business moving smelly air through his system. I asked Dr.Simpson if she thought we were maybe past the intestinal issues, ad she thought so. As nothing is a guarantee, I was still encouraged to hope that we might get to put that in our past.
He has been hanging out around 25 percent all day, still on the 1 liter. I still feel like he is desatting more often, but he brings it right back up. He hasn't had any episodes last night or today! :)
After Ellie's nap, Ben and I decided we should just all go during the sibling visiting hours between 4:30 and 6:30. We wanted to hang out as a family tonight with Beckett. He was due for a bath, and we would also be there during his 5 pm feeding, so I could try breastfeeding again.
When Ellie woke up she was so excited to find out that she got to go back to see Baby Brother. It was too cute, we signed into the unit, and started our scrubbing, when Ellie says, "oh no, we forgot to take my temperature!" They weren't going to have us do it again,  but Ellie was insistent. Plus, she gets a big sister sticker when she does it! :) Daddy gave Beckett a bath, while Ellie and I watched every move. I tried breastfeeding after the bath, but he was pretty tired. Kind of predicted that, but he was awake so we thought we would try. He nursed maybe for 5 minutes, so he actually got the whole 45 ml feeding by gavage.
We stayed there the two hours we could with Ellie and she did great! She even read some books to Beckett while he was being held by Daddy...they were in Ellie language, but hey, maybe Beckett understood. :)
We came home, and Ellie immediately started playing with her dolly. Since Beckett doesn't need the sheepskin anymore, Ellie does for her baby. She swaddled, fed a bottle, and even had a paci for her baby.  (Gotta love when a paci in the NICU drops on the floor...banned from further use for Beckett. Not the case for Ellie's dolly!)
Felt so wonderful to have all four of us hanging out as a family. I am getting really excited to bring him home. After all...it is almost December people! :) We did set some stuff up in Beckett's room too. Ellie got a big girl bed, so we moved the crib. Aunt Audrie found a super cute airplane mobile and lamp, so yep, Beckett will be getting an airplane themed room when he comes home too! I found a matching clock, and then we have some airplane decorations, that awesome name sign with the same colors, blue and red....So Yay!
All in all, a great day. When I called in to check in on his 8 pm assessment, the nurse said he barely grunted...he was a pretty tuckered out little dude. Hoping and praying he gets some good rest tonight to gear up for another brave day tomorrow.