6/27/07

Request for thoughts & prayers

Kris & Bry were discharged from the hospital yesterday, only being able to bring one of the twins with them. Little Abby is slow to eat, and has to spend what is hopefully only a day or two longer in the NICU.

Here she is!

I think she's got Nat's eyes, and Joey's nose and mouth. She's a doll!




Photo of mommy and daddy for comparison:

6/26/07

Fun fun fun



Rod and I got to go up to the Soo this weekend for a conference with a few other couples from Rod's work. We had a blast, actually won money at the casino, and had a little mini-vacation.Jeff & Melinda
Tracy & Dave
Jen & Brad
Pat and Helene

She's here!!

Congrats, Nat and Joey! This morning (9:22am), a little girl - Rowley Marie - made her entrance into the world, weighing 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 19.5 inches long.

Will post pics when I get them!

On the growing-family note, 40 fingers 40 toes is soon to be (okay soon as in December 21st) 50 fingers 50 toes! Congrats, J&M!

6/19/07

Destined to be odd

The number of teeth in Victoria's mouth, that is! She's been stuck at 7 teeth since January:

I finally was able to feel around a little bit in that mouth, and found not one, but two more teeth! Finally the fourth front bottom tooth has appeared, along with a molar on the upper right. Fun days for us!

6/17/07

'Nuff said

Happy Father's Day

To all the dads out there. Have a wonderful day!

Love,
us ;)

6/14/07

How fortunate we are


Sometimes the heartache others are going through serves as a solemn reminder of how lucky we are that our little NICU graduate did so well, and continues to do so well, and that we have these beautiful eyes to stare into every day.

Please keep A, B and little G in your thoughts and prayers (I hope she doesn't mind me sharing - I figure they can use all the help we can give). Little G is going on week 10 now in the NICU, after being delivered at 34 weeks due to IUGR. At what would now be 4 weeks adjusted age, he's up to 6lbs, 10oz, but has many other issues. Finally the doctors were finally this week able to diagnose his situation as Tracheal Bronchial Malacia, or a softening of the airways. They are now faced with the very strong possibility that he will most likely have to have a tracheotomy, and that's a long-term thing (anywhere from one year to a few years). Where at one point, I felt as if I could call A and be one of the few who could truly understand the heartache she felt each time she left her child to go home, I now feel like I'm with the masses who just don't understand the difficult decisions they face in the upcoming weeks, months, years. Little glimmers of hope: the best things for Little G to help his situation are time and growth - no miracle cure, just demands a high level of patience. His mommy is fortunate enough (blessed with good bf-ing genes) that she's able to produce enough breastmilk for not only him, but to donate to others in need as well (both their freezers, and that of a neighbor!!!). After I mentioned to her that if all breastmilk is liquid gold, preemie mommy breast milk is like liquid diamonds (is that more precious?!? whatever. you kwim), A's in the process of getting screened to be a donor. Preemie mommy breastmilk has a different mix of calories, and milk banks are usually able to give that milk to other preemies who really need all the help they can get.

6/11/07

18 month stats

Victoria had her 18 month well-baby checkup this morning, which would normally mean shots. Unfortunately, the scheduler (and I) didn't pay close enough attention to the dates, and this appointment was 3 days too soon to get shots. So we did the well-baby portion, everything looks good (I forgot to ask about percentiles) both physically and mentally according to their developmental tests.

Stats I did manage to get:
Height: 31 inches; 35%, 50th % adjusted
Weight: 22 lbs, 7 oz; 25th %, 35th % adjusted (our scale at home said 22 lbs, so it's good to know it's close!)
Head: 47 cm (I think?!?); 60th %, 75th % adjusted

Percentiles listed are actual (18 month) and adjusted (16 month) percentiles based on what I could find on the CDC website.

When we go back in 2 weeks for her shot, I'll double check, but am assuming they're still charting her by her adjusted age.

And now today's baby blues pic:

6/9/07

18 Months

Wow. A year and a half. On one hand, it seems like just a short while ago when we had to endure all that accompanied Victoria's sudden arrival. But then on the other hand, it's tough to remember our lives before Victoria was such an integral part of our family.

Today was spent napping, playing in the yard, napping some more (all Victoria, of course!), then rounding the night out with a Great Lakes L00ns minor-league baseball game. I wasn't quite sure how Victoria would do... kind of figured she'd get bored after 15 minutes, no way would she stand to be in one place for 3 hours. But she proved me wrong. It wasn't until about halfway through the 8th inning (about 9:30pm) that she started getting a little antsy. Mostly, though because she was tired and wanted to be home in bed left alone.

All in all, a great day to top off a wonderful 18 months we've enjoyed so far.

6/8/07

New Pool

Nice weather prompted the use of the new pool. Wonder if Victoria enjoyed it...



Happy day

Hopefully. The morning is usually a good idea of what the rest of the day's going to be like. Here's this morning's attitude.

Yesterday was not so fun... no naps, hot, restless night.

6/3/07

Random Stuff

No new Victoria photos in the past few days, but I did finally get copies of some of the pics from our trip to Chi-town, so I'll share those. In the first one, it kind of looks like just a shot of Marie, but if you look in the median, you'll see me, and if you look even further in the background across the street, you'll see Jeff!



On a side note, I had my first missed "first" this past week... Victoria peed on the potty TWICE for Charee (the sitter)!!! I let her try a few times this weekend with the little potty I bought, and she went once for me, too! We're by no means close to potty training, it's just a step in that direction of toddlerhood, I guess.

Also, I think I finally felt a molar coming in. I'm having a hard time these days getting her to let me feel around in her mouth, so it's tough to tell.