Fay is doing exceptionally well. She has a reputation in the NICU as being “too cute to handle”. She has been doing very well with her feedings and is being fed three times a day. There have been a few times, including last night, when she ate so much from Elisabeth that she didn’t need to be supplemented from the feeding tube. The nurse said yesterday that she might be moved to 3/4 feedings a day soon.

Fay weighs almost 5 lbs.  She loves the color pink. Her favorite hobby is pulling at the tape which holds her feeding tube to her face. She loves taking baths. She doesn’t really like having her temperature taken. Fay likes showing off how well she eats when she is being observed by an occupational therapist. She gets the hiccups every time she eats.

Basically, she is adorable and doing awesome.

One note about the very last picture. When Fay was born, she was about the same size as that bear next to her. Look how much she has grown in two weeks!

 

Here is an update on the rocking chair that I’ve been building for Elisabeth.

After letting the glue dry for a few days it was time to get back to work. The back and the front were already done so I attached them with cross bars.

Next was adding the seat. The seat, along with the back panels and the arms, is made out of cedar. I added some angled braces to help support the weight so the seat wouldn’t break.

This is the chair, which looks more like a throne at this point, after adding the arm rests.

The easy part is now over. The final requirement is to make the chair rock. I used a 2×8 made of redwood and cut the rockers out. I traced the rockers from another rocking chair just to make sure I got them right. After cutting them out I hand to sand them down so they would provide a smooth rock.

Once the rockers were cut out all that was left was to attach them to the bottom of the chair. In order to get a good rock (not too far back and not too far forward) I had to cut a bit off the legs (more off the back).

The construction is now complete! The chair is pretty comfortable and rocks nicely. Elisabeth wants to make some cushions for it, which would look nice on the solid wood. I just need to sand it down and lacquer it.

Summary:

Weight: about 5 lbs.

Height: 50″

Cost: $65

Types of wood used: Redwood and cedar

Hours taken: Around 10

Power tools used: Miter saw, jig saw, scroll saw, biscuit jointer, belt sander, electric screwdriver

Broke: 2 drillbits, 1 jigsaw blade, 1 scroll saw blade

Non-power tools used: Tape measure, square, pencil, wood glue, clamps, pliers, muscles–although these probably belong under the list of power tools 😉

Times cut: 0–an all time low!

Trips to home depot: 1–another all time low!