A lovely Saturday in the Bay Area- and an even lovelier one in the Alta Bates NICU.  First, Sam latched on and fed for a good 35 minutes.... then his big sister came to visit for 2 hours!

Peter and Irene got to the NICU while Sam was out and feeding, and Irene just lit up when she saw him in my lap.  I think seeing Sam out of the incubator and without a lot of the tubes and CPAP machine really made him look like a "real" baby to Irene.  She was so sweet- rubbing his head, holding his hand, touching his leg.  What amazed me was the moment Irene came in and put her hands on Sam, his oxygen levels got really good.  It was like he was saying I love you big sis!

Family hands- Irene, Sam and mommy

Sam also put on quite a show of smiling for us:

Smiling!

More smiling (I couldn't choose between them!)

So, after the cuddle and feeding... it was time to play dress up with Sam.  Thanks to Elisa and her boy Bennett, we had a lot to choose from.  Irene selected a lovely footie pajama with a football theme.  Sam liked the outfit, and really got into the theme:

Touchdown

All in all, it was a great family day in the NICU.  For fun, here is a quick video of Sam:

And now for you (and my!) moment of zen:

Me and my kids!